Bigworld, I've come to expect the gold suppression, so am not surprised. The good thing about keeping it artificially low is that us small fry can keep accumulating at low prices. China also wants to keep the gold price low for now while they accumulate. But Rickards says the day will come when China/Russia will use the Shanghai Gold Exchange to push gold higher as part of a concerted attack ('coup de grace') on the US dollar reserve system.
Rickards says China produces/mines approx 450 tons of gold per year, far more than any other country (next is 250 tons/year), and they keep it all in China. They're also aggressively buying gold on the international market, with the goal of reaching parity with the US. China's 'official' gold holdings are something like 1500 tons, but the actual amount is believed to be around 5000-6000 tons and rising fast. They want to reach rough parity with the US (8000 tons) and the EU (10,000 tons) and thus have an equal say in the post-dollar reserve financial system.
One big recent development is China's offer to oil producing nations to buy their oil for yuan (instead of dollars) and then automatically convert the yuan into gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, with the added ability to hedge that gold position against any subsequent gold price fluctuations. Oil producing nations can thus be paid with gold rather than dollars, which represents a huge existential blow to the US dollar reserve system, which has relied upon the petro-dollar scheme to maintain its dominance since the 1970s following the collapse of Bretton Woods.
The Russians have been accepting yuan for their oil for several years, and last month the rest of the BRICS agreed to this arrangement also, with Iran already there, and Venezuela also jumping on board. Can the Saudis and other Gulf states be far behind? To stay competitive, the Saudis are under pressure to accept this yuan/gold arrangement, and when/if this happens the already crumbling petro-dollar system will be no more.
So a lot of crap hitting the fan for the US, with the likelihood of a yuan mega-devaluation in the cards in 2018, plus war with N. Korea looming, impeachment clouds darkening over Trump, domestic false flag events happening almost weekly, and on and on. 2018 has the potential to be one crazy year..
