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Rush to turn European gold paper into real metal vaulted in Singapore
Singapore Has Golden Ambitions
By Clementine Wallop
The Wall Street Journal
Sunday, September 30, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044475250457802380187784713...
Singapore has emerged as one of the world's hubs for private banking for the wealthy, and now it is making a play to become the Fort Knox of Asia.
Starting Monday, the Southeast Asian city-state is scrapping a 7% tax on gold and silver in an effort to turn the city into a precious-metals trading hub to rival London and Zurich, where value-added taxes don't apply to the investment-grade gold trade.
Investors have flocked to gold and silver in recent years as the world economy sputtered. The most nervous among them shunned the futures and funds often used to invest in gold and instead bought bars, ingots and coins to stash their wealth.
Singapore, touting its image as a safe, stable, and few-questions-asked haven for investors, is hoping to store an increasing amount of that gold and silver.
... Dispatch continues below ...
GoldMoney adds Toronto vaulting option
In addition to its precious metals storage facilities in Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, GoldMoney customers now can store their gold and silver in a high-security vault operated by Brink's in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
GoldMoney also has recently partnered with Rhenus Freight Logistics to offer another gold storage option in Switzerland. The Rhenus vault is in the secured zone of Zurich Airport and offers customers superb security as well as the ability to inspect their gold.
Storage at the new vaults in Canada and Switzerland is available at GoldMoney's lowest fees. Customers can select their storage location when placing their buy order.
GoldMoney customers can take delivery of any number of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars from any GoldMoney vault, as well as personally collect their bars stored in the Hong Kong, Switzerland, and U.K. vaults.
It's easy to open an account, add funds, and liquidate your investment. For more information, visit:
http://www.goldmoney.com/?gmrefcode=gata
"There has been a dramatic increase in customers wanting to move out of paper, that is over-the-counter gold, and into physical," said Cedric Chanu, director, Asia precious-metals trading at Deutsche Bank. "We're seeing customers wanting to move their gold from Europe into Singapore."
Following the tax exemption, Singapore is aiming for a 10%-15% share of global gold demand within five to 10 years, up from around 2% now, government agency IE Singapore said at the time the exemption was announced early this year.
Gregor Gregersen, director of Singapore-based physical gold and silver supplier Silver Bullion Pte. Ltd., pointed to Singapore's low crime rate and political stability as key factors in Singapore's transformation into a precious-metal trading hub. "People feel safe storing their bullion here," he said.
Gold sales in Singapore are expected to jump after the tax change takes hold Monday, in part because investors have been holding off on purchases awaiting the tax break, according to Singapore's United Overseas Bank. "Due to the pent-up demand in the local market, UOB expects local demand to increase by around 10% in October" compared with September, said David Wong, director for bullion trading at the bank.
Mr. Wong cautioned that the extent of gold's demand recovery in Singapore may depend on gold prices in early October. Gold futures settled at $1,771.10 an ounce in the U.S. on Friday, up 5.1% since the start of September.
The exemption will come during a broader long-term uptrend in demand for precious metals in Asia. Singapore's position between India and China, the world's two biggest gold buyers, also makes it well-placed to benefit from growing Asian demand.
"Within Asia, investors want to hold their gold in Singapore," Mr. Chanu said. "China is riskier than Singapore, so Singapore should attract more demand."
The actual Fort Knox of Singapore is known as Singapore FreePort Pte. Ltd., a high-security storage facility designed for valuables, including precious metals, art, and wine, which is located in its own duty-free zone near the city's airport. Freeport opened in 2010 and is already doubling in size to 50,000 square meters, including more storage space for precious metals, in part because of that tax change.
Traders of physical gold and silver in Singapore are offering services to investors where they can buy precious metals there and have the bullion stored at Freeport.
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Prophecy Platinum Intercepts Best Pt+Pd+Au Grades Yet
at Wellgreen Project in Yukon Territory: 5.36 g/t
Company Press Release
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL, OTC-QX: PNIKF, Frankfurt: P94P) announces more results of its 2012 drill program on the company's fully-owned Wellgreen platinum group metals, nickel, and copper project in southwestern Yukon Territory, Canada. Four surface holes and four underground holes all intercepted significant mineralized widths, ranging from 28.5 meters (WS12-201) and up to 459.5 metres (WS12-193). Highlights include WU12-540, which returned 8.9 metres of 5.36 grams per tonne platinum, palladium, and gold; 1.73 percent copper; and 1.01 percent nickel within 304.5 meters of 0.66 g/t platinum-palladium-gold, 0.20 percent copper, and 0.27 percent nickel.
The surface drill program started in June and has completed 16 holes (assays pending for 12 holes) with two rigs now on site. The surface program continues to progress at a steady pace.
Prophecy Chairman John Lee commented: “Wellgreen is a very large nickel, copper, and platinum group metals project with near-surface high-grade zones. High-grade intercepts will be incorporated into resource modeling and mine planning in the pre-feasibility study. We expect further positive drill results from Wellgreen shortly.”
Wellgreen features a low 2.59-to-1 strip ratio, is situated at an altitude of 1,300 meters, and is only 15 kilometers from the two-lane paved Alaska Highway. Those factors significantly minimize the project's indirect costs.
For the complete company statement with full tabulation of the drilling results, please visit:
http://prophecyplat.com/news_2012_sep11_prophecy_platinum_drill_results.php
