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Breaking news from the precious metals industry. Gold, silver and platinum group mining, refineries and refining technologies, minting and distribution.

News and information about the global drivers of prices in the precious metals markets. Including central banks, interest rates, industrial manufacturing, electronics and investors.

Kitco.com Website Down Resulting From Cyber Security Incident

Over the weekend, the website for Kitco went offline. After the outage, the company posted a message on their website that announced that they were responding to a cyber security incident.

In addition to being a precious metals dealer, Kitco is well-known for its news, data, and analysis on the precious metals, mining and commodities markets. It provides live prices and charts for metals such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, as well as market news and reports.

What is the Federal Reserve?

The Federal Reserve is part public entity and part private entity that has operated as the central banking system of the United States since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The Federal Reserve System, often referred to simply as the Fed has a unique public-private structure that controls the nation’s monetary policy by managing interest … Read moreWhat is the Federal Reserve?

The Countries with the Largest Gold Reserves

Gold is considered a crucial element in diversifying a central bank’s foreign reserves because it bears little correlation with other assets, such as currencies and bonds.

While many are monitoring the developments in BRICS, the United States continues to hold the largest stockpile of gold reserves in the world by a considerable margin.

Russian Economist Confirms: BRICS Currency Is Almost Ready

dedollarization and the introduction of a BRICS basket currency

When trade happens in many different currencies, you have high costs of arbitrage of exchange rates between countries. When approaching dedollarization, central banks and countries need to simultaneously consider the fluctuations of national currencies of different countries.

Collectively, BRICS countries encompass over 40% of the world’s population and account for roughly 26% of the world’s GDP, representing a substantial share of global trade.

Gold & Silver Bars of the Atocha

According to historical records there were 1,038 silver bars, 160 gold bas and discs and over 255,000 silver coins, mostly consisting of “pieces of eight”. These coins were minted in the Americas and used as a global trade currency during the era.  The silver coins had been hand-stamped at mints in Potosí, Lima, La Plata, Mexico City and Santa Fe de Bogotá.