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Gold-buying central banks may extend its rally
By Pham-Duy Nguyen
Bloomberg News
Friday, april 29, 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-29/gold-buying-central-banks-may-s...
Central banks that were net sellers of gold a decade ago are buying the precious metal to reduce their reliance on the dollar as a reserve currency, signaling demand that may extend a record rally in prices.
As developing countries accelerate purchases, gold may reach $2,000 an ounce this year, compared with a record of $1,538.80 yesterday in New York, said Robert McEwen, the chief executive officer of producer U.S. Gold. Euro Pacific Capital's Michael Pento, who correctly predicted gold’s highs for the past two years, forecast a 2011 high of $1,600.
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Prophecy Resource Spins Off Platinum/Palladium Venture:
World-Class PGM Deposit in Yukon
Company Press Release, January 18, 2011
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Prophecy Resource Corp. (TSX-V:PCY)and Pacific Coast Nickel Corp. announce that they have agreed that PCNC will acquire Prophecy's Nickel PGM projects by issuing common shares to Prophecy.
PCNC will acquire the Wellgreen PGM Ni-Cu and Lynn Lake nickel projects in the Yukon Territory and Manitoba respectively by issuing up to 550 million common shares of PCNC to Prophecy. PCNC has 55.7 million shares outstanding.
Following the transaction:
-- Prophecy will own approximately 90 percent of PCNC.
-- PCNC will consolidate its share capital on a 10 old for one new basis.
-- Prophecy will change its name to Prophecy Coal Corp. and PCNC will be renamed Prophecy Platinum Corp.
-- Prophecy intends to distribute half of its PCNC shares to shareholders pro-rata in accordance with their holdings.
Based on the closing price of the common shares of PCNC on January 17, $0.195 per share, the gross value of the transaction is $107,250,000.
For the complete announcement, please visit:
http://prophecyresource.com/news_2011_jan18.php
Prices reached a record 14 times this month on demand from investors seeking an alternative to the dollar after the currency slumped to the lowest since 2009, U.S. debt widened, and the Federal Reserve signaled April 27 that borrowing costs will remain near zero percent for an extended period. The economy in China, the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, grew 9.7 percent in the first quarter.
"China is out to have more gold than America, and Russia is aspiring to the same," McEwen said yesterday in an interview in New York. "When you have debt, you don't have a lot of flexibility. China wants to show its currency has more backing than the U.S."
In 2010, central banks became net buyers for the first time in two decades, adding 87 metric tons in official-sector purchases by countries including Bolivia, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius, according to World Gold Council data. China, with more than $3 trillion in foreign-currency reserves, plans to set up new funds to invest in precious metals, Century Weekly reported this week. Russia purchased 8 tons of gold in the first quarter.
China, which has just 1.6 percent of its reserves in gold, may invest more than $1 trillion in bullion, Pento said. "China wants to be an international player, and they need to own more gold than they currently have."
The U.S. Treasury Department projects the government could reach its debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion as soon as mid-May and run out of options for avoiding default by early July. The Fed has kept its benchmark rate between zero percent and 0.25 percent since December 2008 to help stimulate the economy, driving the dollar down 11 percent against a basket of six major currencies during the past year.
"Until monetary policy changes, you're going to continue to see gold go up," said Michael Cuggino, who helps manage $12 billion at Permanent Portfolio Funds in San Francisco.
"Ultimately the best thing we can do to create strong fundamentals for the dollar in the medium term is, first, keep inflation low, which maintains the buying power of the dollar, and, second, create a stronger economy," Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said on April 27.
As of April, China was the sixth-largest official holder of gold, with 1,054.1 tons, according to World Gold Council estimates. The U.S. has the most, with 8,133.5 tons, or 74.8 percent of the nation’s currency reserves, council data show.
Central-bank buying may have the same impact on gold as the introduction of exchange-traded funds, Cuggino said. Prices have more than tripled since the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest ETF backed by bullion, was introduced in November 2004.
Central banks in emerging markets may aim to hold 2 percent to 8 percent of their foreign-currency reserves in gold, Francisco Blanch, the head of commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, said in an interview.
Gold is "close to" its cyclical high, said Blanch, who expects the metal to average $1,500 this year.
"The enemies of gold are rising interest rates and a balanced budget," said Pento of Euro Pacific Capital in New York. "I look for a summer swoon once Bernanke exits the bond market. You're going to have a temporary rise in real interest rates."
The Fed said it would buy $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries through June.
The Federal Funds rate would have to rise to "Volcker" levels before gold enters a bear market, said U.S. Gold's McEwen, who expects the metal to rise to $5,000 over three to four years.
Prices have advanced 7.7 percent this year, extending a decade of gains in which gold jumped sixfold from a low in 1999. The all-time inflation adjusted record is $2,338.92, based on the value on Jan. 21, 1980, according to a calculator on the Web site of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker ended gold's rally to a then-record $873 by raising borrowing costs to 20 percent in March 1980.
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Sona Drills 85.4g Gold/Ton Over 4 Metres at Elizabeth Gold Deposit,
Extending the Mineralization of the Southwest Vein on the Property
Company Press Release, October 27, 2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Sona Resources Corp. reports on five drillling holes in the third round of assay results from the recently completed drill program at its 100 percent-owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property in the Lillooet Mining District of southern British Columbia. Highlights from the diamond drilling include:
-- Hole E10-66 intersected 17.4g gold/ton over 1.54 metres.
-- Hole E10-67 intersected 96.4g gold/ton over 2.5 metres, including one assay interval of 383g of gold/ton over 0.5 metres.
-- Hole E10-69 intersected 85.4g gold/ton over 4.03 metres, including one assay interval of 230g gold/ton over 1 metre.
Four drill holes, E10-66 to E10-69, targeted the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein, and three of the holes have expanded the mineralized zone in that direction. The Southwest Vein gold mineralization has now been intersected over a strike length of 325 metres, with the deepest hole drilled less than 200 metres from surface.
"The assay results from the Southwest Zone quartz vein continue to be extremely positive," says John P. Thompson, Sona's president and CEO. "We are expanding the Southwest Vein, and this high-grade gold mineralization remains wide open down dip and along strike to the southwest."
For the company's full press release, please visit:
http://sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR19_2010.pdf
