Having held the threat of substantial gold sales over the market for decades the IMF finally began selling 400 tonnes of gold late last year. News that India had bought half of the available 400 tonnes sent the precious metal substantially higher.
According to Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors. "I just spoke with Eric Sprott, who bid to buy [the IMF's remaining gold on the block] and they refuse to sell it."
By all accounts, the IMF is far more interested in releasing 191 tonnes into the open market, than lending to poor countries.
The Brown Bottom.
To top the month off, on the very last day before being judged in contempt of court the UK Treasury released details of Gordon Browns infamous gold trade. (The original documents are available on our web site www.signaturerarities.co.uk./brown.pdf).
We believe this story could dominate the forthcoming UK election, and only add to the gold conspiracies. The documents themselves show Brown almost begging the Bank of England to publicly back the sale. They steadfastly refused.
In a memo two days before Christmas 1998, with spot gold at $286 per ounce, the Treasury were getting testy: “That is not quite the feedback…. The Chancellor is keen that officials at the Treasury and the Bank work together to produce a joint proposal.”
They didn’t, and Brown went ahead and sold half of the UK’s gold reserves. The 17 auctions achieved prices for the gold of between $256 and $296 an ounce, with an average of $275. Today the spot price of gold is $1,100. four times as much.
That decision alone has costs UK taxpayers nearly 7,000 million pounds.
