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Market: .
Sector: Gold Mining
Epic: GOLD
News: Latest news
Web Site: Gold
Other Articles: 19-08-201018-08-201010-08-2010

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Thursday September 02, 11:00Baobab Resources identifies distinct ore domain at Tete’s South Zone

Baobab MD Ben James said the latest drilling results from the Tete project's South Zone characterise a distinct, higher mass recovery, ore domain.

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Thursday September 02, 08:15Indonesia edges closer toward uranium mining and nuclear power

After nearly five decades of national debate on the issue, Indonesia's central government may finally be ready to develop a national nuclear policy, which may lead to domestic uranium mining.

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Wednesday September 01, 01:25Green Dragon Gas reports significant growth as China’s thirst for energy continues

China's thirst for energy resources has continued with an increased focus on domestic supplies of gas, Green Dragon Gas chairman Randeep Grewal said today. In the company's interim results, [...]

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Gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and the currency code is XAU. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.
Monday, July 26, 2010

Bullion, coin dealers call for investigation of U.S. coin blanks supply

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By Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb.com

Witnesses before and members of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy have urged Congress to direct the U.S. Mint to buy U.S. manufactured blanks for gold and silver bullion coins and discontinue the practice of using Australian-made blanks.

Meanwhile, the Director of the U.S. Mint Edmond Moy told the subcommittee that, if the Mint can begin production by September, "we will be able to produce about 830,000 one-ounce silver American Eagle coins to meet collector demand for this product in the remaining months of 2010."

Moy told the subcommittee uncertainty surrounding traditional investments and inflation concerns "drove investor demand for bullion precious metals in all forms to exceptional highs in 2009."

As a result, the agency did not mint and issue what Moy called "the very popular" American Eagle One-Ounce Proof Gold and One-Ounce Proof Silver Coins in 2009.

Although bullion coin demand seemed to be subsiding earlier this year, in May, the Mint experienced an increase in orders for silver bullion coins to over 3.6 million coins. In fiscal year 2009, bullion coins sales reached an all-time high of $1.7 billion, nearly 80% above the sales of fiscal year 2008.

While Moy said the Mint had no difficulty in obtaining gold, silver and platinum in raw materials form, "We experienced considerable difficulty in getting this raw material fabricated into planchets by our vendors in sufficient quantities to meet public demand."

As a result, sales of discretionary gold and silver proof and uncirculated coins where hurt because they use the same planchets as their mandatory bullion coin counterparts. Moy told the committee that all incoming planchets were diverted "to fulfill our statutory obligation to meet public demand for bullion coins."

Moy said he was encouraged that the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy "is exploring the possibility of an amendment that would afford the Secretary [of the Treasury] the authority to approve the minting and insurance of American Eagle Silver Proof and Uncirculated Coins even when we are unable to meet the public's demand for the bullion versions of these coins."

"Indeed, such a change would be one of the most positive customer satisfaction measures that could be taken to benefit your coin collecting constituents without having an effect on Americans' ability to acquire investment-grade silver bullion.'

However, he added, "such a change needs to be enacted soon."

Meanwhile, Moy told the subcommittee, "Compared to their face values, never before in our nation's history has the government spent as much money to mint and issue coins and, with regard to the one-cent and five-cent coins, never before has the nation spent more to mint and issue a circulating coin than its legal value."

"This problem is needlessly wasting hundreds of millions of dollars, he declared.

The Department of Treasury is seeking the authority to determine the materials for all coin dominations. Moy said "we are proposing to save millions of dollars per year-over one billion dollars in the next 10 years-by determining the materials for the other coin dominations."

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Melvin Watt, D-North Carolina, said, ‘We need to evaluated whether it would be a good idea to divert refined gold and silver from the bullion program to meet demand for numismatic products and what impact this would likely have on the supply of metals for bullion products."

Ranking Subcommittee Member Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said he opposes the Mint's current efforts to gain greater power in determining the composition of circulating coinage.

"We could not maintain the gold standard nor the silver standard. We could not maintain the copper standard, and now we cannot even maintain the zinc standard," Paul noted. "Paper money inevitably breeds inflation and destroys the value of currency."

Michael B. Clark, president of the Diamond State Depository, a subsidiary of the Dillon Gage group, one of 12 authorized purchasers of American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins, told the subcommittee, "The Mint's inability to keep pace with demand has had a negative and unnecessary impact on the investment and hobby community."

He added that the Mint's reliance on just three suppliers for planchets or blanks "is flawed. Moreover, there is some irony in the fact that while Congress requires the Mint to procure the gold for its Eagle bullion coins from newly mined U.S. deposits, the Mint then ships that gold to Australia to be made into blanks. Then, the fabricated blanks are later shipped back to the United States for the production of coins."

"The efficiency of this system is obvious, and it seems that we should be able to create jobs at home by sourcing these blanks in the United States and eliminate the costs of inter-continental shipping," Clark noted.

Clark, who is a past chairman and currently a director of the Industry Council for Tangible Assets, asked Congress to take the following actions:

1.     Authorize the Mint to produce both proof and uncirculated versions of the Gold and Silver Eagle Coins, regardless of the bullion coin demand requirements;

2.     Direct the General Accountability Office to undertake a review of the Mint's blanks procurement process and seek GAO's recommendations on what can be done to improve it; and

3.     Require the Mint procure the blanks for its bullion program from sources within the United States by no later than 2014.

The Industry Council also is asking Congress to produce a palladium bullion investment coin through the American Eagle Bullion Coin Program.

"Further, the introduction of a palladium coin may absorb some of the demand for the Silver Eagle, and reduce some of the Mint's production burden for that coin," Clark advised.

He also suggests a palladium bullion coin would create or maintain U.S. mining and refining jobs in Montana, New Jersey, California and South Carolina.

Finally, Clark urged Congress "to take swift action to protect consumers" from the increasing counterfeiting and subsequent marketing of counterfeit numismatic, rare and investment-grade level tender U.S. Coins.

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