"Michel Chossudovsky" - Geopolitics and the World's Gold Holdings
April 25, 2011 By Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, April 23, 2011
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24462
Both the US dollar and the Euro currency systems are in crisis. During a period of waning currencies, where the value of money (in paper and/or electronic form) is tumbling, the strategic control over gold reserves and gold production is of paramount importance.The issue is not only who controls the stock of central bank gold reserves, but who, namely which countries, control the production of mine gold.
While the US has the largest official gold reserves, China has become the World's largest producer of mine gold.
The main players with regard to mine gold are China, Australia, Russia, South Africa, the US and Canada.
Anglo-American corporate interests exert a dominant control over mine gold. The World’s largest gold mining companies are Barrick Gold (Canada), GoldCorp Inc. (Canada), Newmont Mining, (USA).
Below are the official country level central bank holdings of gold (scroll down) as well as estimates of mine production of gold by major gold producing countries.
The figures on gold holdings pertain to central bank holdings. They do not include private holdings of gold by individuals and financial institutions.
The official central bank figures cannot be verified, nor can the total amount of gold derivatives transacted in financial markets. There is no reliable data on private gold holdings, which have developed over several centuries.
With regard to official US gold holdings at Fort Knox, there has been no independent audit of official holdings. According to Rep. Ron Paul: "Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing, and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious, and even if you are not suspicious, why wouldn't you have an audit?” (Ron Paul calls for audit of US Gold Reserves, quoted in The New American, August 30, 2010).
"The last and only time that an audit was performed on the gold held in Fort Knox was issued within hours of President Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration on January 20, 1953." (New American, op.cit. emphasis added)
Physical gold holdings constitute a crucial geopolitical variable in the confrontation between competing economic powers. They are also central to an understanding of the debt crisis.
Both Russia and China have significantly increased their gold holdings in recent years. Large amounts of US dollar denominated debt instruments have been converted into gold.
The official figures for China are based on released data by the People's Bank of China. There is reason to believe that only part of the official purchases are made public, to the extent that the People's Bank of China reserves may be much higher those recorded in official statistics. Conversely, there is reason to believe that US holdings at Fort Knox may be significantly lower than what is conveyed in official figures.
"China is on a gold buying spree these days. The Chinese central bank-the People's Bank of China-is taking a series of steps to increase its gold reserves to ensure that the precious yellow metal replaces forex reserves held in the US dollar. In the last few months, there have been talks of China following India in buying gold reserves from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So when IMF announced that it would be selling its remaining 191 tonnes of gold in the open market, several bullion analysts predicted that China would somehow jump into the fray and buy IMF gold. Both China and India are competing in the global bullion markets to be the largest consumers and importers of gold." (See ibtimes.com).
Both China and Russia are major producers of gold. Of geopolitical significance, China is the World's largest producer of physical gold.
2009 Mine Production
According to 2009 figures, China is the World's largest gold producer; 313.98 metric tons,
representing 11.8 percent of global gold production.
1. China: 313.98 mt
2. Australia: 227.00 mt
3. United States: 216.00 mt
4. South Africa: 204.92 mt
5. Russia: 205.00 mt
6. Peru: 180mt (estimate)
7. Indonesia: 90.00 mt
8. Canada: 95.00 mt (estimate)
9. Ghana 90.20 mt
10. Uzbekistan 80mt (estimate)
Other: 854mt
TOTAL: 2572mt
http://www.goldsheetlinks.com/production.htm
The Gold Standard – World Gold Holdings
SOURCE:
www.thegoldstandardnow.org
View PDF File
Country Tonnes
1. United States 8,133.5
2. Germany 3,401.8
3. IMF 2,827.2
4. Italy 2,451.8
5. France 2,435.4
6. China 1,054.1
7. Switzerland 1,040.1
8. Russia 784.1
9. Japan 765.2
10. Netherlands 612.5
11. India 557.7
12. ECB 501.4
13. Taiwan 423.6
14. Portugal 382.5
15. Venezuela 365.8
16. Saudi Arabia 322.9
17. United Kingdom 310.3
18. Lebanon 286.8
19. Spain 281.6
20. Austria 280.0
21. Belgium 227.5
22. Algeria 173.6
23. Philippines 156.5
24. Libya 143.8
25. Singapore 127.4
26. Sweden 125.7
27. South Africa 124.9
28. BIS 120.0
29. Turkey 116.1
30. Greece 111.7
31. Romania 103.7
32. Poland 102.9
33. Thailand 99.5
34. Australia 79.9
35. Kuwait 79.0
36. Egypt 75.6
37. Indonesia 73.1
38. Kazakhstan 67.3
39. Denmark 66.5
40. Pakistan 64.4
41. Argentina 54.7
42. Finland 49.1
43. Bulgaria 39.9
44. WAEMU 36.5
45. Malaysia 36.4
46. Belarus 35.3
47. Peru 34.7
48. Brazil 33.6
49. Slovakia 31.8
50. Bolivia 28.3
51. Ukraine 27.5
52. Ecuador 26.3
53. Syria 25.8
54. Morocco 22.0
55. Sri Lanka 17.5
56. Korea 14.4
57. Cyprus 13.9
Country Tonnes
58. Bangladesh 13.5
59. Serbia 13.1
60. Netherlands Antilles 13.1
61. Jordan 12.8
62. Czech Republic 12.7
63. Cambodia 12.4
64. Qatar 12.4
65. Laos 8.8
66. Latvia 7.7
67. Mexico 7.3
68. El Salvador 7.3
69. CEMAC 7.1
70. Guatemala 6.9
71. Colombia 6.9
72. Macedonia 6.8
73. Tunisia 6.8
74. Ireland 6.0
75. Lithuania 5.8
76. Bahrain 4.7
77. Mauritius 3.9
78. Canada 3.4
79. Tajikistan 3.3
80. Slovenia 3.2
81. Aruba 3.1
82. Hungary 3.1
83. Kyrgyz Republic 2.6
84. Mozambique 2.3
85. Luxembourg 2.2
86. Hong Kong 2.1
87. Suriname 2.0
88. Iceland 2.0
89. Papua New Guinea 2.0
90. Trinidad and Tobago 1.9
91. Albania 1.6
92. Yemen 1.6
93. Cameroon 0.9
94. Mongolia 0.9
95. Honduras 0.7
96. Paraguay 0.7
97. Dominican Republic 0.6
98. Gabon 0.4
99. Malawi 0.4
100. Central African Rep. 0.3
101. Chad 0.3
102. Congo 0.3
103. Uruguay 0.3
104. Fiji 0.2
105. Estonia 0.2
106. Chile 0.2
107. Malta 0.1
108. Costa Rica 0.1
109. Haiti 0.0
110. Burundi 0.0
111. Oman 0.0
112. Comoros 0.0
113. Kenya 0.0
* A tonne, also referred to as a metric ton, has a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kg
Statistics acquired from: "World Official Gold Holdings." World Gold Council.
World Gold Council, Jan 2011. Web. 1 Feb 2011.