Thursday, September 27, 2012

Harvey blogspot - gold and silver data and news items of the day.....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-27/south-africa-strikers-swell-to-100-000-after-drivers-join-miners.html


South African Truckers Swell Strikers in Country to 100,000

By Carli Cooke - Sep 27, 2012 12:37 PM ET
South African truckers swelled the ranks of workers on strike to almost 100,000, escalating a conflict with mine owners and police that has shut 39 percent of the nation’s gold production and led to 46 deaths.
“This truck drivers’ protest has been accompanied by serious provocations, intimidations, public violence and even elements of criminality,” Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said today in a statement. Workers must refrain from intimidating and assaulting those still working, or destroying property, he said.
Enlarge imageStriking Miners March In Marikana
Miners have been emboldened to bypass union-led talks and make pay demands directly to management after Lonmin Plc last week awarded platinum workers a record increase of as much as 22 percent. Photographer: Alexander Joe/AFP/GettyImages
Security forces yesterday fired rubber bullets at strikers at a factory in Howick, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa Regional Secretary Mbuso Ngubane said today by mobile phone. About 20,000 transportation industry workers are on strike, the South African Press Association reported today.
Wildcat strikes have spread as workers sidelined traditional representatives for negotiating with management including the National Union of Mineworkers, a backer of the governing political party. Julius Malema, expelled by the ruling African National Congress, has called for workers to disrupt mines and the state to take over the operations.
The call to make mines ungovernable by Malema could be considered economic sabotage, the NUM’s Secretary General Frans Baleni said Sept. 4. Malema canceled a plan to address workers today at Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.’s Rustenburg operation.

Fresh Demands

Impala faces fresh demands from workers after agreeing to higher salaries to end a strike during January and February. The company said today in a statement that a pay review will add 4.8 percent to its wage bill starting next month.
A six-week walkout at Lonmin Plc (LMI)’s Marikana mine erupted into violence, with 46 killed including 34 shot by police. The miners won wage gains of as much as 22 percent, more than four times the August inflation rate. Miners have also struck at all ofAngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG)’s mines in South Africa, which has the world’s largest platinum, chrome and manganese reserves.
AngloGold, the third-largest gold producer, employs more than 32,000 in South Africa, its 2011 annual report shows.
Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), the fourth largest producer of the metal, said most of the 15,000 employees at its KDC West site are on strike, along with 9,000 at its Beatrix mine. It said today there aren’t any talks scheduled with employees.
Gold prices have risen 9 percent since June 30 and are set for the biggest quarterly gain since the second quarter of 2010.

Anglo American

Strikes at Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the largest producer of the metal, may lead to job losses after at least 21,000 staff halted work without following required dispute resolution procedures, Chief Executive Officer Chris Griffith said yesterday in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg.
The company began disciplinary action today that may lead to dismissals, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Disruption may spread as mine workers demand “the Lonmin settlement,” David Davis, an analyst at SBG Securities Ltd., said in a note yesterday. Workers at Coal of Africa Ltd.’s Mooiplaats mine, employing about 370 people, have also downed tools.
Harmony Gold Mining Co., the nation’s third-largest producer, is unaffected by labor unrest, it said today in an e- mailed response to a query. Xstrata Plc’s South African alloys unit hasn’t received any demands, it also said today by e-mail. BHP Billiton Ltd. said labor relations at its operations in South Africa “are normal.”
South Africa’s mining industry employed 498,141 workers in 2010, according to figures on the Chamber of Mines’ website.
Moody’s Corp. downgraded South Africa’s bond rating by one step to Baa1 from A3 today, citing the “challenges posed by a negative investment climate” as well as “increased concerns about South Africa’s future political stability.”

and.....





http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-28/euro-and-swiss-franc-fall-new-record-lows-against-gold


Euro And Swiss Franc Fall To New Record Lows Against Gold

Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/28/2012 07:53 -0400




Euro And Swiss Franc Fall To New Record Lows Against Gold
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,781.00, EUR 1,374.65, and GBP 1,098.77 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,755.25, EUR 1,365.32and GBP 1,084.16 per ounce.
Silver is trading at $1,670.75/oz, €26.96/oz and £21.52/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,670.75/oz, palladium at $637.90/oz and rhodium at $1,075/oz.
Gold climbed $26.00 or 1.48% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,777.30. Silver surged to hit a high of $34.74 and finished with a gain of 2.15%. Euro gold rose to a new record high at €1377. 
Gold prices are up on Friday, as the new austerity budget from Spain was received favourably and it increased the appetite for higher risk assets, sending bullion, commodities – brent crude oil at $112, the euro and equities to rise.  

Gold prices in euros held near the prior session's all time record high of EUR 1,380/oz, hit after rising spot prices coincided with a weaker euro on Thursday.  Euro-priced gold was up 1.1% at EUR 1,375.48/oz.  
US gold futures for December delivery were up $2.50/oz at $1,783.00 this morning. 
Quarterly performance for, gold, silver and platinum were all up.  Gold is on the way for an 11.4% gain. Silver racked up the largest gain and rose over 25%.  Spot platinum and palladium were up 15.4% and 9.8% for the 3rd quarter. US gold American Eagle coins was improved from last quarter (138,000 ounces vs. 133,000 ounces) however still the lowest quarterly figures in over 2 years.
Gold reached highs in euros and Swiss francs yesterday, in London trading it hit EUR 1,379.60/oz compared to EUR 1,375/oz last September.  In Swiss Francs gold traded at CHF 1,666/oz.
Europeans have been viewing scenes of violence and riots from protestors in Madrid and Athens over the past few days. 
Barclays Plc. announced yesterday it was opening its own London vault to store gold and other precious metals due to demand from their clients.
Investment banks have readjusted price targets upward in the past few days with some calling for gold at $2,000 and higher in the next few months.  
This signals that the recent rally of the euro against the dollar was largely due to the poor US monetary and fiscal situation and the greenback’s weakness and not due to any great confidence in the single currency per se.

Protests and violence clearly show that the eurozone debt crisis is far from over and there remains the risk of a currency crisis in the European Monetary Union (EMU).
Finally, we are confident that the new record euro and Swiss franc highs will soon be followed by new highs in gold.
For breaking news and commentary on financial markets and gold, follow us on Twitter.

NEWS
COMMENTARY
Spain Must Leave The Euro – The Telegraph


and....









http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/1013.cfm


Are JPM's COMEX Silver Positions Only A Hedge Against Physical in the Warehouse?
Bix Weir
Printer-Friendly Format

   
Many people have emailed me an article going around the internet about JPM's short position being a hedge against physical silver that they own. A certain bullion banker claims that the banks don't manipulate gold or silver although the hedge funds do with computer programed algo trading. This bullion banker, David R, claims that all the banks do is arbitrage buying physical while simultaneously shorting COMEX contracts. Here's the article that I was sent:
My take: NOT A CHANCE IN THE WORLD for the following reasons:
1) There were over 100 BILLION ounces of COMEX silver shorts sold in 2011 according to the CME data. How much silver was physically purchased to counter these shorts when JPM controls over 30% of the short according to CFTC's own data? Is David R. saying that JPM bought 30B ounces of physical in 2011?! Utterly ridiculous.

2) David R. claims that he can show the physical silver in JP Morgan's vaults. But wait...JP Morgan is the custodian of SLV which is supposed to hold 322M ounces of the physical silver in Trust for the ETF. If JPM is using the SLV inventory to justify their shorts it's the biggest fraud in history.
3) If there are grand warehouses of silver stockpiles...who owns them? How many times have they been "rehypothicated"? Is it leased-in silver that must be paid back? Are they part of a silver storage program? Are they "Moly-Bars"?
4) To suggest that the large bullion banks don't use "algo trading" and it's only done by the hedge funds is naive at best. Why wouldn't the largest, best funded traders use the best technology to improve their trading results? The simple fact is that the Bullion Banks have been using computer rigging programs since the 1970's as I've shown many times on the Road to Roota. YES! The name Roota or "RootA" comes from the computer language called BASIC invented by John Kemeny and none other than Alan Greenspan for the purpose of rigging the markets!
5) The question of "manipulation" should be obvious to anyone who looks at the data from the CME. It's about CONCENTRATION and what effect it has on price. Do the trades of one or two traders distort the price of silver? If these traders were removed from their long or short positions would it change the price? On the long side the answer is "NO" as there is no large concentration held. On the short side the answer is "YES" as there are just a handful of short holders (JPM being the largest with over 30% of the net short currently).
6) If David R.'s analysis of the situation were correct then JP Morgan would have accumulated over 75M physical ounces of silver since July. That's how large JP Morgan's COMEX silver short has grown in that time frame. How come it takes Eric Sprott months to get his hands on 10M ounces for his PSLV fund and yet JP Morgan seems to get 7x more at the drop of a hat?
7) So David R. lays out a challenge to us crazy "Tin Foil Hatters" who don't believe they own physical silver: "They are clear as day on the "Notes to consolidated financial statements under 'physical commodities.' You can see the assets." So of course I took the challenge and was shocked to find that JP Morgan lists $26B worth of all "physical commodities" on their financial statements as of year end 2011. So, crazy me, I went to the OCC website and found how many "physical commodity" derivatives JP Morgan held at the end of 2011...
Are you ready for it? According to David R. JPM hedges commodities 1 for 1 right?
Drum roll please...

And the total derivative value of JPM's commodity book is....
$497B!
Oops. Guess he shouldn't have said to check. That just shot David R's credibility strait into the gutter!
And of course...
8) Since when did we start taking the word of admittedly one of the largest bullion bankers in the world?! It's like a mouse telling you he didn't take the cheese!
Doesn't it always seem like the "great silver destroyer revelations" come out right around the time that silver is about to take off? From everything I watch it is time to batton down the hatches and prepare for the silver fireworks.
If this article was a message from the bullion banker community to the awake and aware bullion investor then I believe the massage was delivered loud and clear...
BUY MORE PHYSICAL SILVER BECAUSE THE BANKSTERS ARE DESPERATE!
May the Road you choose be the Right Road.
PS - There is a picture of huge stacks of what appears to be physical silver in some of the article postings. If you wonder why it looks a little odd it's because no warehouse in their right mind would stack silver 30 bars high without racking or pallets! Gotta love PHOTOSHOP!

















http://harveyorgan.blogspot.com/2012/09/anglo-gold-shuts-down-all-south-african.html


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012


Anglo gold shuts down all South African mines/Another run on Spanish banks/ Rajoy contemplates raiding Spanish pension funds /

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is good to be back.

Gold had a stellar day rising by $27.00 to $1778.30 blowing right through the resistance level of $1775.00
Silver also had a great day rising by 73 cents to $34.62. This is the first time in quite awhile that gold and silver rose the day before any first day notice. Today gold got a great boost from Anglo Gold who announced they were shutting down all of their mines in South Africa because of the turbulence there. Anglo Gold is the 3rd largest gold mining company in the world. Gold production in South Africa has about 39% now off line due to the strikes. North Korea is so desperate for money that it sold its only 2 tonnes of gold.  Even the small country of Paraguay bought 8 tonnes of gold. South Korea increased its gold reserves by 30%

In Spain, it looks more and more likely that Spain will ask for a bailout.  They have already raided its pension funds. Yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks, we witnessed 10 yr bond yields rise above the 6% level. This morning, the ECB announced another huge run on the Spanish banks to the tune of 17 billion euros last month.Berlusconi the former Prime Minister of Italy announced his plan for Italy.  He wants Germany to leave so they can QE to infinity as well.

In the USA we had a whole batch of bad numbers raging from a plunging durable goods orders,  a lousy Chicago manufacturing index and another poor Kansas City Fed manufacturing index.

We will discuss these and other big stories but first.....


Let us now head over to the comex and assess trading today.

The total gold comex open interest fell dramatically today to the tune of 8951 contracts as I guess some of the longs decided not to roll into December.  This is strange as the cost to roll is tiny.  Judging from the action in gold today, we have a few traders crying the blues as they did not participate in gold's rise having pitched their longs yesterday.  The total gold comex OI for the complex tonight rests at 480,965 compared to yesterday's level of 489,516.  The active month of October saw its OI fall from 16,032 to 8984 contracts for a loss of 7048.  We still have one day left before first day notice which is tomorrow.  I will have a good idea of what will stand tomorrow afternoon.  Tonight, I get to see first day notices sent out and I will report that on my comments section. The non active November gold month saw its OI rise by 152 contracts from 993 to 1145.  The big December contract saw a tiny loss of 1281 contracts from 340,887 to 339,606.  The estimated volume today came in at 172,677 which is pretty good.  The confirmed volume yesterday was even better at 220,371.The total silver comex OI again plays differently to gold.  Here the OI rose again by 1239 contracts from 133,163 to 134,402.  The bankers will probably have another of those midnight oil meetings and plan again how on earth they are going to obliterate as many silver leaves as possible from the silver tree.  The non active November silver month saw its OI remain exactly the same at 23 contracts.  The big December contract again slowly inched higher by 283 contracts resting tonight at 84,679.  The estimated volume today was good at 41,750.  The confirmed volume yesterday was very good at 52,641.
*  *  * 


Today, we had tiny activity inside the gold vaults today.
 we had no  dealer deposit and no dealer withdrawal and no customer withdrawal.

The customer at the following deposit:

i) into Scotia:  69,338.444 oz

we had a handful of adjustments.

i) at brinks:  102.45 oz was adjusted from a customer back to the dealer
ii) at HSBC:  88,855.754 oz adjusted from a customer back to the dealer.

and over at Scotia:

i) 58,349.974 oz was adjusted from a dealer back to the customer

The registered or dealer gold rests tonight at 2.554 million oz 79.3 tonnes of gold.

The CME reported that the last issue of notices  came to 4 for 400 oz.  Thus the final number of notices filed for the month is represented by 771 contracts or 77,100 oz.

Thus the final number of gold ounces officially standing for September is as follows:

771 notices x 100 oz per notice =  77,100 oz or  2.398 tonnes of gold
This is a superb performance for gold in a non active month.

Again, we had considerable activity inside the silver vaults today.
However we had the following dealer deposit

 i) into Brinks:  597,504.75oz
The customer had the following deposit:


1) 2025.28 oz into Brinks.

we had the following customer withdrawal:

i) 2018.45 oz out of Delaware.

we had a tiny 32.151 oz counting error at a Delaware vault.

Thus the registered or dealer inventory rests at 41.182 million oz
The total of all silver rests at 141.459 million oz.




The CME reported that on the last day we had 21 notices filed for 105,000 oz
The total number of notices filed for the month of September is represented by 1,856 notices or 9,280,000 oz.
Thus the final total number of silver ounces standing in this active month of September is as follows:

1856 contracts x 5,000 oz per contract =  9,280,000 oz

*  *  * 


"The Kopanang mine was shut down after a strike last week that began with 5,000 workers, and AngloGold decided to halt all South African operations as most of its 35,000 employees have joined the industrial action."

No wonder the physical price of gold overpowered the paper shorts.

Here is your summary of gold trading from Europe early this morning which certainly had an impact on the physical price of gold, silver and platinum;

(courtesy goldcore)



South Africa Unrest To Affect Bullion Supply And Support Gold


-- Posted Thursday, 27 September 2012 | Share this article | Source: GoldSeek.com
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,755.25, EUR 1,365.32, and GBP 1,084.16 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,763.75, EUR 1,369.80 and GBP 1,089.07 per ounce.
Gold fell $10.10 or 0.57% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,751.30. Silver hit a low of $33.32, but it recovered and rallied back finishing with a gain of 0.56%.

Gold inched up on Thursday but continued tension over the eurozone debt crisis has bolstered the dollar, weakened oil and is expected to limit bullions gains.
Protests against government austerity are on the rise in Greece and Spain and have led to violence against police in Athens.
Downward pressure on oil is negative for gold. Higher oil prices, a sign of soaring inflation, sends investors to gold as a hedge to rising costs.  The correlation between oil and gold was at 0.367, just under a 6 month high hit earlier in the week.  A reading of 1 shows perfect correlation and the two assets move in tandem.

SPDR Gold Trust ETF saw its largest 1 day drop in holdings since May (10 tonnes), but this may be due to end of quarter window dressing.
Gold will continue to be supported by the ‘US Fiscal Cliff’ which is the US government deadline to agree on a plan to decrease the federal budget or trigger $600 billion in spending cuts, which will create austerity for the people and a huge knock to an already unstable US economy.
In South Africa, gold mine strikes ceased nearly 39% of production, at AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) and Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI), as labour walkouts spread across the country amid demands for above-inflation pay increases.

Today, AngloGold, the world’s 3rd largest gold producer, said all of its South African mines have been stopped. Gold Fields lost nearly 32,000 ounces, or metric ton, of output because of strikes at its KDC and Beatrix sites. The Kopanang mine was shut down after a strike last week that began with 5,000 workers, and AngloGold decided to halt all South African operations as most of its 35,000 employees have joined the industrial action.
In addition to the mining strike there is also a transport strike.  More than 20,000 freight transport workers are also on strike, demanding a wage increase of 12%, reports the South African Press Association.  Unions rejected an offer of a staggered increase of 8.5% next March followed by an additional 0.5% in September, SAPA said.
   
The Lonmin Plc’s Marikana platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg endured a six-week strike that took 46 lives and concluded last week with miners receiving pay increases of almost 22%, which is four times the country’s August inflation rate.

Due to the settlement on Sept. 20th with Lonmin platinum workers, gold miners have decided on wildcat strikes instead of using the National Union of Mineworkers representative’s to negotiate with employers.

AngloGold workers on strike at the Kopanang mine since Sept. 10th were told by a company spokesman, “Wages are not something that’s negotiated at company level, and won’t be.”

While the company received wage demands today from the strikers, it doesn’t intend to negotiate directly with them.

Production costs for Mining companies in South Africa have been soaring as above-inflation hikes in wage and electricity costs have risen in the past 3 years.  Power costs rose 26% in 2011 and 25% in 2010.  Mines have to dig deeper and it is harder to yield output as orebodies continue to dwindle.

South Africa’s gold yield was 1.35 million ounces this quarter, according to the Chamber of Mines.  It was the 5th largest gold producing nation in 2010, according to GFMS Ltd. However, South Africa’s production has been decreasing every year.

In total there are about 100,000 miners and transportation workers on strike in South Africa. 

Certainly this disruption in production will cause a contraction in supply, while consumer demand and central bank demand in the yellow metal are on the rise, compiled with the central banks printing money to bolster their sagging economies - all signal a very bullish environment for gold.

*   *   * 

http://www.silverdoctors.com/libor-scandal-roars-back-as-court-docs-reveal-rbs-traders-boasted-of-libor-cartel-rigging-rates/


LIBOR SCANDAL ROARS BACK AS COURT DOCS REVEAL RBS TRADERS BOASTED OF LIBOR ‘CARTEL’ RIGGING RATES

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 BY  4 COMMENTS
The LIBOR scandal is baaaaack as the Telegraph has discovered court documents which reveal internal messages between Royal Bank of Scotland traders who ‘boasted about operating a “cartel” that made “amazing” amounts of money by rigging interest rates‘.
Just when the banksters thought that had successfully removed the LIBOR scandal from the public consciousness thanks to assistance from the London Olympics, it appears the scandal is about to become greater than ever.

Senior traders at Royal Bank of Scotland boasted about operating a “cartel” that made “amazing” amounts of money by rigging interest rates, it has been disclosed.
Internal messages revealed in court documents apparently show how traders claimed they could manipulate Libor, which is used to set borrowing costs for millions of businesses, consumers and investors.

The messages, some sent just months before the taxpayer was forced to bail out RBS at a cost of more than £40bn, suggest the practice was condoned and encouraged by senior executives at the bank, and have now dragged the taxpayer-backed lender to the heart of the Libor scandal.
MPs have warned that the scale of RBS’s involvement in the scandal means it could face an even bigger fine than Barclays, which paid a record £290m in July after admitting attempting to manipulate Libor. The bank could also be hit with billions of pounds in damages claims.
Tan Chi Min, a former senior trader at RBS’s global banking and markets division in Singapore, has alleged that managers “condoned collusion” between staff to maximise profits by rigging Libor.


BERNANKE IS OUT OF AMMO!

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012 BY  10 COMMENTS

Source:Economist Online
Submitted by SD Contributor AGXIIK:
JPM is about to lose it all with their bad bets on the IR swaps, CDS, derivatives and other manipulative profit centers. They will be destroyed, of that you can be sure, right along with the many other major banks.  This is inevitable and Bernanke knows it.  QE 3 is worthless to anyone but the money center banks.
There is not enough money in the world or the Fed to stop this.  QE 3 is nothing but a delaying tactic since Bernanke has NO AMMO LEFT.  NOTHING!   He is little  more than a drowning man trying to save himself and his notion of the economy by climbing on to the shoulders of his rescuers.  
And there are no rescuers coming to save him.  [Read more...]

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1 comment:

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