USA has "only" 8,133.5 tonnes of gold

TreasureHunter

TreasureHunter

Well-Known Member
I just checked the Top 20 gold-holding countries' list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve#cite_note-10
(figures according to the World Gold Council)

The USA has 8,133.5 tonnes, which is way down from close to 9,000 tonnes - previously reported/believed.

Roughly 800-900 tonnes less than the previous 8,965.6 tonnes in 2011:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33242464/page/16

More than 800 tonnes of gold are "missing". I don't know if they're being missed emotionally speaking, but physically speaking they simply aren't there! :rolleyes:

Do you know what they did with all those 800+ tonnes? (It's a huge amount, it's about as much as Russia has and about as much bullion as Japan owns!)

:/
 
Wikipedia could be wrong - it's not the most reliable source - but I can't verify the WGC figures without an account.
 
Actually can access the January 2013 report that Wikipedia referenced through the Google backdoor of cached PDF's.

They say the data is from the IMF. Could get the below from the publicly available data but need a subscription to get the country level info:

6824_imf_ifs_gold.png


Importantly, the IMF data says "Advanced economies" gold holdings have been constant.
 
I read an article on this site last week that says China secretly has 10,000 tons and Russia has 20,000 tons.
 
I believe the US has virtually no Gold left. Just remember the extreme resistance put up by relevant government officials when Ron Paul demanded an audit.
 
Whats a few tonnes of gold between friends?

331_demonocracy-gold-10_tons-100_tons.jpg


"10 Tonnes of Gold vs 100 Tonnes
The Central Banks of western countries usually handle their nations' large Gold Reserves. Couple generations ago the US dollar was backed by Gold, so the Fed had to hold Gold. Today, the dollar is backed by the confidence in United States' repayment of its debt (bonds). The US Central Bank's- The Federal Reserve's Chairman Ben Bernanke, says that Gold is only held as a tradition and that Gold is not money."

"All the Gold in the World - In a Solid Gold Cube
If all the gold ever mined was melted into a solid cube, the cube with sides of 20.5m would fit in an Olympic Swimming Pool."


more at http://demonocracy.info/infographics/world/gold/gold.html
 
Bullion Baron said:
TreasureHunter said:
The USA has 8,133.5 tonnes, which is way down from close to 9,000 tonnes - previously reported/believed.
Roughly 800-900 tonnes less than the previous 8,965.6 tonnes in 2011:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33242464/page/16
More than 800 tonnes of gold are "missing". I don't know if they're being missed emotionally speaking, but physically speaking they simply aren't there! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Good chance CNBC has just grabbed that figure from google and run with it without verification...

http://www.gold.org/download/pub_archive/pdf/Rs23.pdf

8137 tonnes according to above document in 1998. Highly doubt they added 800 tonnes between 1998 and 2011 and then removed the same. CNBC has their figure wrong.

You can check the Treasury reports of the US holdings here:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/gold/backissues.html

May 31, 2013: 261,498,926.247 Ounces
January 31, 2011: 261,498,899.316 Ounces

Pretty sure the few extra ounces have come from audits on their bars where slightly higher readings on purity have been measured and they adjusted the AGW of the bars (recall reading that anyway).
Click to expand...

I think pretty much everyone is quoting everyone without much verification. Anyway, we can't audit the Fed's gold vault.

The "almost 9,000 tonnes" have been repeated over and over again by various sources. I placed a link here, but there are many more speaking about 8,900-9,000 tonnes.
 
TreasureHunter said:
Bullion Baron said:
TreasureHunter said:
The USA has 8,133.5 tonnes, which is way down from close to 9,000 tonnes - previously reported/believed.
Roughly 800-900 tonnes less than the previous 8,965.6 tonnes in 2011:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33242464/page/16
More than 800 tonnes of gold are "missing". I don't know if they're being missed emotionally speaking, but physically speaking they simply aren't there! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Good chance CNBC has just grabbed that figure from google and run with it without verification...

http://www.gold.org/download/pub_archive/pdf/Rs23.pdf

8137 tonnes according to above document in 1998. Highly doubt they added 800 tonnes between 1998 and 2011 and then removed the same. CNBC has their figure wrong.

You can check the Treasury reports of the US holdings here:

http://www.fms.treas.gov/gold/backissues.html

May 31, 2013: 261,498,926.247 Ounces
January 31, 2011: 261,498,899.316 Ounces

Pretty sure the few extra ounces have come from audits on their bars where slightly higher readings on purity have been measured and they adjusted the AGW of the bars (recall reading that anyway).
Click to expand...

I think pretty much everyone is quoting everyone without much verification. Anyway, we can't audit the Fed's gold vault :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

The "almost 9,000 tonnes" have been repeated over and over again by various sources. I placed a link here, but there are many more speaking about 8,900-9,000 tonnes.
Click to expand...


or fort Knox...
No need to supply or provide US government sources, all unreliable. Just remember who is running this show.
 
Bullion Baron said:
TreasureHunter said:
I think pretty much everyone is quoting everyone without much verification.
The "almost 9,000 tonnes" have been repeated over and over again by various sources. I placed a link here, but there are many more speaking about 8,900-9,000 tonnes.
Click to expand...
I have provided verification from the IMF and the US Treasury that the 8133 figure is correct.

World Gold Council agrees (United States 8,133.5) via https://www.gold.org/government_affairs/gold_reserves/
Also on this page is quarterly excel download showing little/no change in US holding over last 13 years.

What reliable source do you have for the 8965 tonnes? Just because it has been copy/pasted on many sites doesn't mean it's worth considering the information valid.
Click to expand...

From the media... various news articles, reports etc.

But your sources have more credibility. Thanks for sharing.

I guess there are a lot of myths and false figures quoted upon quote... One doesn't know what to believe nowadays!
 
Yes, I just wanted to reply to mmissinglink's post. I already mentioned that those 800+ tonnes are roughly the amount that Japan has and, almost as much as Russia has.

If The WGC publishes wrong figures, it's a very big problem for us, who do research and analysis. Too bad!

I could post dozens of renown publications, news sites, famous blogs that talk about 8,965 tonnes or similar figures close to 9,000 tonnes, but it's needless.

The internet is full of quote-upon-quote and rumour-upon-rumour that's hyper-analyzed.
 
In a .PDF file downloaded on 03 april 2012 from the WorldGoldCouncil website titled "WORLD OFFICIAL GOLD HOLDINGS
International Financial Statistics, March 2012*" the USA stock is listed as 1 United States 8,133.5 76.7%
So if there was a drop, it has to have happened between your 2011 moment and march 2012. In both cases, and if no figure revision (the Wiki states the exact same amount tonnes in july 2013) it's news of more than a year old.
Maybe I have some 2011 figures somewhere, gonna check

Apparently, even third parties like http://www.commodityonline.com/news...-really-exist-in-us-vaults-27225-3-27226.html mention that 8,133.5 tonnes. Article published 8 april 2010. And http://www.onlygold.com/Articles/ayr_2005/Fun_With_Gold_Numbers.asp "The United States' gold reserves, which are held by the Federal Reserve Bank, consist of some 8139 tonnes.". Article published in 2005.
And many other sources for that lower number:
http://goldnews.bullionvault.com/china_gold_121420094 "That contrasts with the US Treasury sitting pat at 8,133 tonnes"
http://www.gata.org/node/873 FRANKFURT, August 30, 2000 "This would exceed the value of the entire gold reserves of the United States of about 8,140 tonnes."
If I google for "8,133.5 tonnes", I get 3950 results, with floods of official sites.
If I google for "8,965.6 tonnes" I get 169 results, with no official sites.
I think that makes clear which number is correct.
One thing I find remarkable, that seekingalpha is among the 196 results. That surprises me, so far I gave the site some creditibility, I may have to revise that. If you see how little effort it takes to check, those that don't, should be questioned.
[img=FluxBB bbcode test]http://demonocracy.info/infographics/world/gold/images/demonocracy-gold-world_government_reserves.jpg[/img]
That one says it loud and clear.
 
Without an audit you may as well assume that all the bars held by the US is tungsten filled. That would explain China's accumulation of $10,000 T and Russia' s holdings of 20,000T. We will only know for certain when the whole system crashes. As for the other European countries like Germany haha. You need to wait until they mine more gold....The original German gold I have no doubt has been shipped to Hong Kong via some lease agreement and is now recast into official Chinese bullion. It has entered the black hole never to reappear.
 
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