•    High Grade COMEX Copper set two consecutive records for combined futures and options open interest this week, surpassing the previous record of 171,065 contracts on 11/4/2010.
o    1/31/2013 – 178,470 contracts
o    1/30/2013 – 173,518 contracts
•    NYMEX Palladium set four consecutive records for combined futures and options open interest this week, surpassing the previous record of 48,489 contracts on 1/25/2013.
o    1/31/2013 – 53,587 contracts
o    1/30/2013 – 52,761 contracts
o    1/29/2013 – 51,050 contracts
o    1/28/2013 – 50,359 contracts
•    NYMEX Platinum set four consecutive records for combined futures and options open interest this week, surpassing the previous record of 96,087 contracts on 1/25/2013.
o    1/31/2013 – 99,676 contracts
o    1/30/2013 – 98,105 contracts
o    1/29/2013 – 97,477 contracts
o    1/28/2013 – 96,967 contracts

Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like to speak with a CME Group representative about our precious and base metals products.

Best, Chris

Chris Grams
Director, Corporate Communications
CME Group
o 312 930 3435
m 312 813 5122
chris.grams@cmegroup.com

20 South Wacker Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60606
www.cmegroup.com

This edition comprises:

Gold investment commentary. A summary of Q4 and full year 2012 and macroeconomic developments likely to influence gold in 2013.

Gold and currencies: hedging foreign-exchange risk. Explores some of the benefits gold can provide from a currency-hedging perspective. Given the prevailing low-interest rate environment, the search for yield is driving investors to look into more aggressive strategies, and some investors have begun to rotate into risk assets – notably equities, emerging markets and alternative assets, including commodities related to the growth cycle. A prudent hedging strategy necessitates allocations to assets which offer diversification benefits, hedge currency risk and unexpected market turns. Hedging investments in foreign assets entails a cost, and gold can mitigate certain risks, in particular those related to emerging-market currencies.

Tail risk hedging: an international perspective. Considers gold’s role in mitigating the impact of tail-risk events – unpredictable events that might be considered unlikely but nonetheless can cause considerable damage to investors’ capital when they do occur. The advantages of gold’s role in portfolio risk management have, over the past decade, become better understood in Western markets. In Japan, the role of gold in a portfolio context has only recently gained recognition, yet has advanced substantially in the past 18 months; gold is increasingly being considered by Japanese institutional investors as offering a solution that meets today’s needs.

Foreign-reserve diversification for emerging-market central banks. Examines the role of gold for emerging market central banks from a local-currency perspective and looks at optimal gold-allocation ranges for foreign reserve portfolios.

Marcus Grubb
Managing Director, Investment

To download or subscribe to our gold investment research studies:
http://www.gold.org/investment/research

World Gold Council
10 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7NG, United Kingdom

T 44 20 7826 4700   F 44 20 7826 4799   E investment@gold.org   W www.gold.org

This message is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or offer to buy or sell securities or related financial instruments. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free. The sender does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which may arise as a result of e-mail transmission.

© 2013, World Gold Council. All rights reserved.

Highlights:

After languishing between $3.50 and $5.50 for most of the time from 1990 through 2002, silver prices then rose to as high as $49 in the first half of 2011. Silver prices have trended lower since then, mostly trading between $26 and $36 since September 2011. While some silver market observers continue to hypothesize that silver prices will head higher, CPM Group identifies several emerging trends in the market that could result in wobbly investment demand over the next decade, which may weigh on prices going forward.

One of the key variables that determine silver prices is investment demand. Investors were net sellers of silver from 1990 through 2006. They have been large net buyers of silver since 2006, with their interest fueled by the series of economic and financial crises to occur since that year. The single most important question facing future silver prices is how much silver investors will want to buy going forward – or whether they might revert to long-term selling as they did only a few years ago. The CPM Group report studies the economic and financial variables that have been driving silver investment demand in recent years and presents an unbiased argument for somewhat weaker silver prices over the projected period as well as a detailed analysis of global and regional economic and financial trends expected to unfold over the coming decade.

There is a substantial amount of silver mine production capacity that potentially could to be added to supply over the next ten years. The extent to which this wave of possible new production comes on stream will depend in the interaction of silver price trends, management of the development programs, and the availability of financing for new projects. The updated report contains details about the new mines expected to begin production over the next ten years.

Higher silver prices and technological innovations such as digital imaging and the shrinking of electronic components have reduced silver use over the past decade. The extent to which these trends are offset by higher unit output in electronics, the emerging solar power industry, and other applications using silver is reviewed carefully in CPM Group’s 10-year projections. The report contains industry analysis of each major source of silver demand and projections for silver demand from each of these sources.  

The CPM Group Silver Long-Term Outlook is part of a series of long-term studies of precious and specialty metals markets that CPM Group has produced since the 1980s. These studies are used by producers and industrial users for strategic planning and in the preparation of technical reports. In addition, institutional investors and physical traders supplement their internal research with CPM Group’s comprehensive analyses, conclusions, and projections. The reports serve as authoritative reference guides for platinum group metals market statistics. CPM Group sells the reports as stand-alone products, although most clients use the CPM Group reports as parts of broader consulting packages related to the specific metals markets.

About CPM Group:

CPM Group is an independent commodities research, consulting and corporate advisory company headquartered in New York. The company is considered the foremost authority on markets for precious metals, and provides detailed and highly regarded research on specialty and base metals, energy, and agricultural markets. CPM Group provides advisory services relating to commodity risk management and asset management as well. The group has produced annual reports on gold and silver since 1971, and annual surveys of the platinum group metals markets since 1981.

To view the full table of contents, please click here. Alternately, contact Matt Taub at (212) 785-8320 or info@cpmgroup.com to learn more about CPM Group’s advisory and consulting services as well as our research product offerings.

Dear Readers:

We are suspending temporarily the publication of the daily JLN Metals newsletter as we search for new sponsors.  Due to budget cuts, NYSE Liffe US has discontinued their sponsorship of this newsletter.  Thus, we are seeking new sponsors for the site.

In the meantime, we are suspending the daily newsletter delivery for the foreseeable future.  Secondly, we are moving to an intermittent blogging format.  We will continue to blog on the metals markets and create original content, but we will not necessarily do so on a daily basis.  We will however continue to tweet from @JLNMetals on a daily basis.  

We are seeking other potential sponsors for the newsletter and its website and will re-evaluate the publication schedule should enough new sponsors and advertisers emerge to support its operations.

John Lothian News Website

We will be combining all of our JLN newsletter websites into a single site, www.johnlothiannews.com, with special bespoke landing pages for each of our newsletters.  This single website strategy will create a more dynamic market news portal which will feature original JLN created content, as well as regular newsletter fare.  We believe it will enhance the readers experience and deliver greater value to our sponsors.  It will also make our mobile strategy (an app for 2013) easier to deploy.

JLN Financials

We will be combining JLN Interest Rates and JLN Forex into a new combined and expanded newsletter called JLN Financials.  This new JLN product will aggregate content in interest rates, forex and indices news, as well as feature JLN original content about the same.  With short term interest rates pinned down due to Federal Reserve and Central bank policy, and so much happening structurally that impacts several different financial sectors, we decided to take a broader perspective for the financial markets.  Thus JLN Financials will be launched later in January.

Thank You

Thank you for your readership of JLN Metals.  Please continue to follow us on Twitter at @JLNMetals for news updates and look for updates on our blog at www.jlnmetals.com.

If you have interest in becoming a sponsor, or suggestions on who we might approach, please let us know.  We will keep you updated as to our progress to find new sponsors.

Regards,

John J. Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News

Gold Extends Longest Streak Since 1920 on Central-Bank Stimulus
Bloomberg
Gold rose, heading for a 12th straight annual gain, on renewed concern that central banks from Europe to China will take steps to spur economic growth while U.S. lawmakers near a budget deadline.
http://jlne.ws/WW0qVp

Lonmin’s CEO resigns due to ‘serious illness’
Mining.com
Simon Scott is Lonmin’s acting CEO after Ian Farmer stepped down due to a “serious illness”.  Lonmin, the third-largest platinum miner in the world, has faced a tough year due to worker strikes in South Africa. In the past year the company’s stock has dropped 71%.
http://jlne.ws/WVTjw3

The top 10 most bizarre uses for gold
We all know that gold is not always used for monetary purposes or in jewellery. Due to its many qualities, the precious metal has countless uses in other sectors including technology, medicine and even food supplements. What most of us may have never imaged, however, is to find gold in one of the following quite unusual products launched this year…
http://jlne.ws/WVU20l
**A $28,000 cupcake??  Only in Abu Dhabi.

Greenland can, but doesn’t want to, be globe’s new top rare earth producer
Greenland’s treasure trove of rare earth metals, the largest deposit outside of China, cannot be mined because the elements are connected to restricted radioactive materials.
http://jlne.ws/WVXt7c

Author says precious metals in Penokee range
Superior Telegram (Wisconsin)
A Bayfield County author says he has unearthed documents that show precious metals exist along the Penokee Range iron ore deposit. 
http://jlne.ws/WVZNv1
**Hmmm….he’s an author of fiction…

Morning Call: Gold Rises Ahead Of ‘Cliff’ Deadline, Copper Rises On China Data, NatGas Falls On Weather
Commodities are mixed on the last trading session of the year, as traders wait for U.S. politicians to make their next move in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations. Both the Senate and House of Representatives will convene today in hopes that bipartisan legislation can be crafted and passed before the end-of-year deadline.
http://jlne.ws/WW3Ebr

Forex Flash: CFTC report on commodities see Gold in downtrend – TD Securities
FXstreet.com (Barcelona)
The CFTC Commitment of Traders Report of the last week of 2012 (through December 25th) indicated the resumption of Gold’s downward trend for spec net position, as Gold specs liquidate length and grow short positions.
http://jlne.ws/WW5OYH

Curacao police arrest 3 in $11.5M gold bar heist
The Associated Press
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao — Police in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao have arrested three suspects in connection with the recent heist of 70 gold bars worth an estimated $11.5 million.
http://jlne.ws/VkHKfV

Central Banks Accelerated Gold Buying In 2012 To Protect Against Global Economic Turmoil
International Business Times
National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said Friday it raised the percentage of gold in its reserves this year to 7.72 percent from 4.36 percent a year ago.
http://jlne.ws/RWtiz3

China unlikely to be ousted as world’s main gold producer
Mining.com
China is expected to remain as the world’s top gold producer for the sixth consecutive year in 2012, the country’s gold association forecast Thursday.
According to China.org, the industry association’s latest data shows the nation’s gold production between January and October was of 323 tonnes, which represents a 11% increase from the same period last year.
http://jlne.ws/VkMylq

GOLD’S SAFE HAVEN STATUS TO RE-EMERGE IF NO ‘CLIFF’ DEAL
APMEX Market Commentary
Precious Metals prices are trading lower this morning, though Gold is headed for a weekly gain to end the year. The safe-haven appeal of Gold could be boosted if U.S. policymakers fail to agree on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff before the end of the year. Peter Fertig of Quantitative Commodity Research said, “Now it is looking like the U.S. economy might head to a fiscal cliff. However, if the politicians do find a timely compromise, stocks will perform well, crude oil is more likely to stabilize instead of fall, and Gold will go up with other risk assets.
http://jlne.ws/RWmEsu

METALS-Copper up as data signals China growth acceleration
Reuters
Copper rose to a one-week high in thin trade on Thursday, rebounding from falls in the previous session, as encouraging data from China reinforced signs of a recovery in the economy of the world’s top metals consumer.
http://jlne.ws/12IwPmn

Part I: The 3 Legs of The Precious Metals Bull Market
ETF Daily News
Jeff Nielson: Normally, at this time of year writers tend to turn their thoughts toward making predictions for the upcoming year. My own belief is that this practice has turned into a Fool’s Game; as the saturation-level corruption in our markets and endemic propaganda from the Corporate Media mean that rationality is out the window.
http://jlne.ws/RWo5ae

Latin American metals, mining sector “mostly stable” in 2013 – S&P – Regional
Business News Americas
The outlook for the Latin American metals and mining sector in 2013 is mostly stable, although ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is expecting metals prices to continue to drop.
http://jlne.ws/RWp3TU

Reviving Tungsten – Interview with EMC Metals
Tungsten watchers know that tungsten (APT) prices have shown considerable volatility over the last 24 months, which makes 2013′s long-term decisions regarding new tungsten projects all the more challenging. Still, tungsten remains a valuable and critical metal, and several juniors are ploughing ahead with their exploration projects.
http://jlne.ws/RWr6aw

Retail investors lean towards debt, gold ETF schemes
The Hindu Business Line
Mumbai, Dec. 28: Debt-oriented schemes of the mutual fund industry had a good run in 2012, while equity schemes continued to struggle. Between January and November, the assets under management (AUM) of debt-oriented schemes rose by 26.77 per cent to Rs 5.69 lakh crore. Debt-oriented schemes refer to schemes under the income, liquid/money market and gilt fund categories.
http://jlne.ws/RWs3zJ

Tin Stockpiles Climb to Highest Since June 6 on Malaysian Supply
Bloomberg
Tin stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange rose 1.5 percent to 12,750 metric tons, the highest since June 6.  Most of the gain was from deliveries to Port Klang and Johor, Malaysia, according to data from the LME today. Tin stockpiles have climbed 4.6 percent this year. Lead stockpiles dropped 1.3 percent to 323,400 tons, the lowest since Nov. 8, on declines in Port Klang and Johor, according to the exchange. http://jlne.ws/RWszhk

A rare look inside a Swiss gold refinery (video)
BBC News Europe
As the global economic crisis continues, there is a rush on gold, as it is increasingly regarded as one of the only safe commodities around. The world’s four major gold refineries are in Switzerland and most of the world’s gold is processed there. Last year a record 2600 metric tonnes or almost $100bn-worth (75.9bn euros) was imported and refined in Switzerland.
http://jlne.ws/TpLrSI

A Time To Pause And Look Ahead: Precious Metals, Emerging Markets And The Macro Situation
Seeking Alpha
There is a time for every purpose under heaven. But aside from doubts about the correlation of divine blessing and economic-market-fiscal matters, the main issue of the day, indeed for the past four decades, is uncertainty. Timing is more important than ever, so how does one approach various sectors and allocation when the ambiguities of policy unsettle even cash-rich mega-caps?
http://jlne.ws/VCUrBC

1980 Top in Gold as a Reference Point for Precious Metals Investors
Goldseek.com
This essay is inspired by a question we received from one of our subscribers. On December 2012, we published an essay on gold and the dollar collapse in which we pointed out why you might profit from gold even if the U.S. dollar doesn’t deteriorate completely. Today, we will elaborate on why we actually use the 1980 top in comparisons.
http://jlne.ws/VCUQUH

Precious Metals Decouple from Stock Market
Resource Investor
At the end of July we wrote an article examining the relationship between gold stocks and general equities. We sought to understand the huge variance in performance between the two markets. Sometimes they trended higher together. Sometimes the gold stocks surged while conventional equities fell into a bear market.
http://jlne.ws/VCXBVY

Lead Stories

Gold is about to do something that no other asset has ever done: Jim Rogers  (video)
Mining.com
Jim Rogers told Kitco (video embed below) that if gold closes 2012 higher, it will be an unrivaled accomplishment.
“If gold stays up this year, this will be the 12th consecutive year that gold rises. That is extremely unusual,” says Rogers.
“I don’t know of any asset in history that has gone up 12 years in a row without a down year. There may be some, but I don’t know about it.”
http://jlne.ws/VCFlMy

Miners file South Africa’s biggest ever class-action lawsuit against gold giants
Mining.com
Four thousand former miners suffering from lung disease have launched South Africa’s biggest ever class action lawsuit against some of the world’s leading gold producers. Al Jazeera reports the miners have filed affidavits in the High Court of South Africa against Anglogold Ashanti (NYSE:AU), Goldfields (NYSE:GFI) and Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY).
http://jlne.ws/VCGjbH

Shanghai Futures Exchange to open up to foreign players
Reuters
The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) will open up to foreign institutions and develop options and other derivative contracts under a plan to become a leading Asia-Pacific bourse over the next five years.
http://jlne.ws/VhrGeQ

Futures & ETF News

Physical platinum fund unveiled by Sprott
Mining.com
Investors have a new tool for investing in physical platinum.
Sprott Asset Management  completed the initial public offering for its Sprott Physical Platinum and Palladium Trust last week. The fund is listed on the NYSE Arca (SPPP) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (PPT.U).
http://jlne.ws/VCMYT9

Silver ETFs Lead Precious Metals Rebound
ETF Trends
Silver ETFs were up more than 1% on Thursday to lead the bounce in precious metals, which have been pushed lower in December with all eyes on the U.S. fiscal cliff.
http://jlne.ws/12Iw7FS

Commodities & Macroeconomics

The End of the Global Commodity Boom?
The Motley Fool
Commodities have been booming for more than a decade.
Gold has been on a historic bull run, increasing manyfold since bottoming in the early 2000s. Oil prices peaked in 2008, but are still up roughly ninefold since the late 1990s. Compare these returns to stock prices – mostly flat over the last decade – and we’re talking real money.
But no bull market lasts forever.
http://jlne.ws/VCREZc
**A video interview with Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO

METALS-Copper up as data signals China growth acceleration
* Softer dollar supports metals prices
* China industrial profit jumps 22.8 pct in Nov
* Indonesia to raise purity requirements for tin exports
Reuters
Copper rose to a one-week high in thin trade on Thursday, rebounding from falls in the previous session, as encouraging data from China reinforced signs of recovery in the economy of the world’s top metals consumer.
http://jlne.ws/12IwPmn

Company & Production News

Fortescue Metals to restart $1bn Kings project, but job cuts stand
FORTESCUE Metals Group chief executive Nev Power says the miner will not reinstate the 1000 employees and contractors it sacked four months ago despite reactivating its $1.1 billion Kings deposit under a plan to boost production to 155 million tonnes a year.
http://jlne.ws/VCUDRh

Analyst Favorites of the Metals Titans: Silver Wheaton Corp Ranks As a Top Pick
Forbes  
A study of analyst recommendations at the major brokerages shows that Silver Wheaton Corp (NYSE: SLW) is the #1 broker analyst pick, on average, out of the 50 stocks making up the Metals Channel Global Mining Titans Index, according to Metals Channel.
http://jlne.ws/VCWrcY

Observations – Statistics – Commentary

A Gold Hoarder’s Legacy
By Devin Leonard, Bloomberg
Walter Samaszko Jr. was not a guy who wanted company. He covered the windows of his house in Carson City, Nev., with cardboard so the neighbors couldn’t see inside. He made the postman stick the mail through the slot in his garage rather than coming to the front door. He was so good at keeping people away that when he died of heart failure at age 69 in June, nobody noticed until his house began to smell. Someone called the sheriff’s department. A hazmat team removed Samaszko along with part of the floor he was stuck to.
http://jlne.ws/UUSe5u

**** Sad story about one of the potential costs with gold.

In Calif. Gold Country, A Rush That’s Out Of This World
On the crisp, clear morning of April 22, a 50-ton asteroid slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere and shattered into countless pieces. Remarkably, they rained down onto Sutter’s Mill, Calif., the exact spot where gold was discovered back in 1848, triggering the gold rush. And so follows a story of serendipity and scientific discovery.
http://jlne.ws/RIKmIz

**** I would wear hard hat all the time if I lived near there.

Sinclair incandescent – biggest manipulative play in gold ever
Jim Sinclair attributes the latest raid on the gold price to a U.S. Fed orchestrated takedown which he sees as “the height of rank, blatant foolishness and ignorance.”
Author: Lawrence Williams
LONDON – Veteran gold investor, Jim Sinclair, posted no less than three of his own comments on the recent gold take-down on his own website, jsmineset.com, yesterday, describing the latest gold price moves, brought on by heavy instantaneous selling on COMEX, as a ‘move of desperation by the Fed’.  Sinclair’s view is thus that the selling, which has seen the gold price fall over $100 in around three weeks, is in fact a concerted effort by the U.S. Fed, and its bullion bank allies, to artificially depress the gold price and by so doing hide the true state of the U.S. and global economies and protect the dollar.  “You cannot fix the problems of the Western Economic system by breaking the telltale thermometer, which is the price of gold.” he says.
http://jlne.ws/Tcvcsf

***** It was the Mayans unloading their gold Mr. Sinclair.

MarketsWiki Page of the Day

IntercontinentalExchange Inc.
On December 20, 2012, the exchange announced plans to buy NYSE Euronext in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $8.2 billion. The terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2013, pending regulatory and shareholder approval, calls for $11.27 in cash and 0.1703 shares of ICE for each NYSE Euronext share. After the deal closes, ICE plans to spin off the European equities segment, Euronext, in an IPO. ICE CEOJeffrey Sprecher will remain chairman and CEO of the combined company;NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauerwill become president of ICE.
http://jlne.ws/cnzIb7

Lead Stories

Brazil Doubles Gold Reserves as Central Banks Buy Bullion
By Glenys Sim
Brazil boosted gold reserves for a third month in November to double the country’s holdings since August as central banks from Russia to Belarus and South Korea add the metal to diversify their assets.
http://jlne.ws/ZnWzps

Gold Gains in New York as Central Banks Boost Bullion Reserves
By Maria Kolesnikova
Gold rose for the first time in four days in New York on expectations central banks will continue buying bullion after data showed Brazil boosted its reserves for a third month.
http://jlne.ws/RIDn2h

PwC sees gold and silver miners well positioned for promising 2013
All the senior gold mining companies surveyed by PwC intend to pay cash dividends next year, while 28% of junior/mid-tier gold miners intend to offer a dividend, and overall most see better gold price in 2013.
Author: Dorothy Kosich

PwC sees gold and silver miners well positioned for promising 2013
RENO (Mineweb) – Eighty-eight percent of gold mining executives questioned for PwC’s annual gold mining survey believe we will see a rise on the price of gold in 2013, with no executive anticipating a decline in gold prices. Indeed,executives of some of the largest gold companies expect to see the price of gold climb beyond $2,000/oz.
http://jlne.ws/VVTEwk

Mitsubishi Shifts Global Metal Trading Headquarters to Singapore
By Yuriy Humber, Bloomberg
Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), Japan’s biggest trading house by market value, will move its global metals headquarters to Singapore, joining a stream of the nation’s companies shifting business overseas to cut costs and access a bigger talent pool of workers.
http://jlne.ws/T5dOZP

Futures & ETF News

A Foreign Stock ETF For A Rapidly Declining Currency
Seeking Alpha
Throughout 2012, I chose ETF assets that offered twice the annual cash flow of what the 10-year U.S. Treasury yielded. This meant pursuing capital appreciators and/or yield producers with a 3.0%-4.0% annualized income stream.
http://jlne.ws/RICJ4T

Gold ETFs Fall Below 200-Day Average; First Time Since August
by Paul Weisbruch, Street One Financial
For the first time in months in gold ETFs, we saw more evidence of put buying in SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) than outright call buying, and this comes with little surprise given the metal’s sharp reversal in recent days.
http://jlne.ws/VUfLmv

Ten Things You Need to Know About Gold ETFs
ETF Trends
Gold prices have fallen below $1,700 an ounce but ETFs tracking the precious metal are on track for another year of gains in 2012.
http://jlne.ws/12E60ir

Commodities & Macroeconomics

Copper Gains After Biggest Drop in Two Months on China
By Agnieszka Troszkiewicz – Bloomberg
Copper rose in London after the biggest fall in two months yesterday as data showed a rebound in imports by China, the biggest metal user.
http://jlne.ws/UMQQCu

Company & Production News

China Copper Imports Rebound as Exports Rise to Five-Month High
By Bloomberg News
Refined-copper imports by China, the biggest user, rebounded from a 15-month low in November as exports climbed to the highest level in five months.
http://jlne.ws/RIDrze

ArcelorMittal and Vale write off $8.5bn
By Adam Jones and Javier Blas
ArcelorMittal and Vale, two of the world’s largest metals groups, have been forced to make writedowns adding up to a combined $8.5bn amid weak economic conditions in Europe.
http://jlne.ws/TFY6Rd

S Africa mine nationalisation ruled out
By Andrew England in Bloemfontein
South Africa’s governing African National Congress on Thursday ruled out the nationalisation of mines, but said mining houses will face additional taxes and the state should play a greater role in the economy.
http://jlne.ws/R8LCmE

Molten gold signals revival in Calif. Mother Lode
SUTTER CREEK, CALIFORNIA — The gold miners who made California famous were the rugged loners trying to shake nuggets loose from streams or hillsides. The ones who made the state rich were those who worked for big mining companies that blasted gold from an underground world of dust and darkness.
http://jlne.ws/Zo5t6e

Observations – Statistics – Commentary

eBay jumps into the precious metals game with AMPEX-powered Bullion Vertical
By: Anthony Garreffa
At the moment, eBay sell virtually everything – but one market they haven’t gotten into is precious metals. Gold and silver are pretty much safe havens for investors, with stocks and currency constantly fluctuating, as it is easily manipulated at the top of the food chain, but precious metals are scarce.
http://jlne.ws/T9CZYY

US Mint testing new metals to make coins cheaper
By JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — When it comes to making coins, the Mint isn’t getting its two cents worth. In some cases, it doesn’t even get half of that. A penny costs more than two cents and a nickel costs more than 11 cents to make and distribute. The quandary is how to make coins more cheaply without sparing our change’s quality and durability, or altering its size and appearance.
http://jlne.ws/12rqwU2

What’s bugging gold?
Izabella Kaminska, FT
We made the case a few weeks ago that the gold price may have reached its choke level and that it was arguably capped from that point on. One good indicator of this, we noted, was the divergence between the gold price — which had been flat-lining for some time — and real interest rates.
http://jlne.ws/UQlWIE

Lead Stories

Silver Vaults Stuffed Means Price Rising 30% in ’13
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Nicholas Larkin
Silver Bullion Pte, one of Singapore’s largest suppliers of coins and bars to retail investors, says sales tripled since October, part of a global surge in demand that drove holdings to a record.
http://jlne.ws/RG3QgW

Going for Gold? Don’t Forget the Vault
WSJ
Investors in Asia are increasingly dealing with a seemingly anachronistic problem: finding a place to stash their bars of gold.  Gold is a popular choice for those seeking to diversify their holdings and spread risk, but it isn’t the most mobile of assets. Still, gold has been moving east, and that has created opportunities for security companies in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai—financial hubs where the metal’s popularity is soaring.
http://jlne.ws/R6Mmsu

Byron King: How To Up Your Investing IQ With Gold
Have you ever actually held gold in your hands? Byron King, editor of the Outstanding Investments and Energy & Scarcity Investor newsletters, suggests that you do. But becoming a smart investor shouldn’t just be about physical gold, King says. He also encourages investors to use investments in gold mining juniors to increase their exposure to precious metals. Read on in this Gold Report interview to find out the handful of companies he’s expecting to shake up the market in 2013.
http://jlne.ws/WrtYtF

TEXT-Fitch: Latin American metals, mining remain profitable
Dec 19 – The 2013 outlook for Latin American metals and mining is stable and companies are expected to remain profitable despite commodity price fluctuations, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.
http://jlne.ws/SYG28i

Central Africa: The quest for clean hands
By Katrina Manson, FT
A Dodd-Frank act provision on stemming ‘conflict minerals’ trade has failed to rein in Congo militias
http://jlne.ws/UQhXfa

Futures & ETF News

IntercontinentalExchange to Acquire NYSE Owner for $8.2 Bil lion
By Nina Mehta and Jeffrey McCracken
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) — IntercontinentalExchange Inc., the 12-year-old energy and commodity futures bourse, agreed to acquire NYSE Euronext for cash and stock worth $8.2 billion, moving to take control of the world’s biggest equities market.
http://jlne.ws/RFXxdm

Commodities & Macroeconomics

2012 gold price performance really disappoints readers and experts alike
Gold price predictions for 2012 at the beginning of the year from experts and non-experts alike proved to be far too optimistic – market manipulation looks to have been the reason.
LONDON (Mineweb) – As the year draws to a close it would appear that very few of the more than 100 of you who entered this year’s Mineweb gold price competition have come anywhere near close to the reality. Mineweb readers are obviously, for the most part, a pretty bullish community as far as precious metals are concerned, and although in past years average predictions have actually been pretty good given the gold price’s good annual rises year on year, the yellow metal’s 2012 performance has not (barring a huge jump in the last week of the year) come up to readers’ expectations – or anywhere near.
http://jlne.ws/VTzx23

Company & Production News

South Africa’s ANC Rejects Mine Nationalization for Taxes
By Franz Wild & Mike Cohen, Bloomberg
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress rejected proposals to nationalize mines in favor of higher taxes in the world’s largest producer of platinum and chrome.
http://jlne.ws/SYM1Ko

Russia’s Klondike? Not yet
By: Clara Ferreira-Marques
BODAIBO, Russia, Dec 20 (Reuters) – It looks like any one of remote eastern Siberia’s low-lying, peat-coloured hills: only the thin trenches that scar Sukhoi Log hint at the work of generations of geologists to measure the riches beneath.
http://jlne.ws/ZTHXgw

Miranda Gold Closes $5,000,000 Non-Brokered Private Placement
VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Miranda Gold Corp. (“Miranda”) (TSX-V: MAD) has closed a non-brokered private placement with aggregate gross proceeds of $5,000,000 from the sale of 20,000,000 units at a price of $0.25 per unit (a “Unit”). Each Unit comprised one common share and one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”).
http://jlne.ws/12C51Py

Sprott Launches Platinum/Palladium CEF
Sprott launches a physical platinum and palladium fund, but it’s not an ETF.
Sprott Asset Management, the Toronto-based firm run by precious metals investor Eric Sprott, today is launching a physical platinum and palladium fund, though it’s crucial to remember that it’s a closed-end fund and not a bona fide exchange-traded fund.
http://jlne.ws/WrvLz1

Didipio delivers first concentrate for OceanaGold
By: Esmarie Swanepoel
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual listed OceanaGold has produced its first copper-gold concentrate at the Didipio project, in the Philippines, as commissioning of the processing plant continues.
http://jlne.ws/SYKpAh

China’s rare earths exports dive: 2013 quotas to remain similar
China’s long-time monopoly on the rare earths market may be weakening as exports are expected to hit a 10-year low in 2012.
RENO (Mineweb) – Liu Yinan, vice-chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters told China Daily that rare earths export volumes in 2013 will be similar to those of 2012.
http://jlne.ws/XOIsDa

Iron ore miners near year highs
By Javier Blas in London, FT
Shares in iron ore miners have surged to a near one-year high after the price of the commodity used in steelmaking rallied 50 per cent from a low in early September
http://jlne.ws/R6N4pF

Regulatory News

Metal recycler to fight 12 fines
By George Plaven of The Montana Standard
A California-based metal recycler will contest $59,000 in fines stemming from workplace safety hazards following a federal inspection of its Butte facility in July.
http://jlne.ws/SYH8Bd

Changes in ‘Copper Theft Act’ now in effect
UNION COUNTY — It’s still free, but a permit to transport or sell non-ferrous metal will now be for two years instead of 48 hours or 12 months.
http://jlne.ws/T9Ddza

Observations – Statistics – Commentary

Old lead factories may stick taxpayers with cleanup costs
Lohud.com
PHILADELPHIA – Several companies manufactured lead for more than 140 years at a massive factory surrounded by homes in the city’s Port Richmond area: John T. Lewis & Bros., National Lead, Anzon and others. The factory is long gone, and tests show dangerous levels of lead in nearby yards are putting children at risk of being poisoned by playing in the dirt.
http://jlne.ws/Wotjcu

**** The cost of production is not the full cost of production.

Iowa firm, South Korean CEO pushing for $1 coin give $500K to senator’s institute
The Windsor Star
IOWA CITY, Iowa – A South Korean businessman and his Iowa metals company gave $500,000 to a university institute honouring U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, who is pushing for a dollar coin that could generate tens of millions of dollars in new business for the company, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
http://jlne.ws/V6dyUk

**** A $1 coin would be a good thing.  Trying to influence a Senator in this way, not so much.

Even Gold Bull Jim Rogers Is Turning Cautious
CNBC
With gold prices being hammered in recent weeks, and trading near four-month lows on Wednesday, longtime gold bull Jim Rogers is sounding a word of caution, saying it’s possible the correction in bullion may continue into the new year.
http://jlne.ws/T7s1mJ

**** Bull is a good word to describe Jim Rogers.

TAYLOR: Millennials should support return to the gold standard
Unchecked inflation will impoverish youth
By Travis N. Taylor
Washington Times
My generation, the so-called “millennials” between the ages of 18 and 29, is looking toward the future, and we don’t like what we see. Washington is bursting with chatter about debt and deficit, and Capitol Hill is overrun by progressive politicians ready to pillage the wallets of young people to atone for government’s shortcomings in payments to our parents and grandparents.
http://jlne.ws/YkpOb1

**** Millennials should read their history and learn the golden rule.

Gold panning ban defeated in Larimer County
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) – Panning for gold in Larimer County will still be allowed after commissioners rejected a measure that would have banned it.
http://jlne.ws/VQYCuc

***** You are also still allowed to pick up pennies on the sidewalk.

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Mark Pumfrey is the new Head of EMEA for Liquidnet. He will be responsible for overseeing and growing Liquidnet’s European business and focus on identifying new sources of actionable block liquidity, providing asset managers with access to Liquidnet’s full product suite, and adding new Members to the network.
http://jlne.ws/ZKMBx2

Lead Stories

BullionVault Says Customer Accounts Climbed 29% Through Oct. 31
By Claudia Carpenter
Bloomberg
BullionVault, an online service to buy, sell and store gold and silver, said the number of funded customer accounts climbed 29 percent in its latest year.
http://jlne.ws/R4MBED

***** A company to watch, or even open an account with.

Indian gold ETF holdings now exceed $2.1 billion
By Shivom Seth
Mineweb
India, despite its tradition of possessing physical gold, now has a new love, with gold ETF purchases soaring.
http://jlne.ws/WqXraV

***** Gold is not just for weddings anymore.

Alcoa May Be Cut to Junk by Moody’s
Bloomberg
Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, may have its credit rating cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service Inc. after the price of the metal slumped. …
http://jlne.ws/V6wyGB

**** After junk comes corporate recycling.

Three of four top NA gold miners burdened by debt and rising costs – S&P
By Dorothy Kosich
Mineweb
North American gold miner Goldcorp “has stood alone among gold miners” in increasing production and earnings without adding large amounts of debt, says Standard & Poor’s analysts.
http://jlne.ws/UDdkpB

**** Just like the American taxpayers.

Home News ISRI Seeks Comments on New CFTC Regulations
ISRI Seeks Comments on New CFTC Regulations
Recycling Today
Trade group requests member involvement on hedging regulations proposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI, www.isri.org) has submitted a letter requesting tightened restrictions for companies providing hedging services for metals firms. The letter is in part a response to the collapse of financing firm MF Global in October 2011.
http://jlne.ws/V6uQVZ

Futures & ETF News

A Face-Off Between Passive & Active Investing
By Frank Holmes
Resource Investor
Exchange-traded funds continued to attract assets in 2012 while money has been exiting equity mutual funds. Still a majority of assets continue to be invested in actively managed products: As of the end of 2011, of the nearly $13 trillion invested in funds, index and exchange-traded funds comprise only about 8%, according to the Investment Company Institute.
http://jlne.ws/12zKX0p

JPMorgan Physical Copper ETF Approved: What You Need To Know
Seeking Alpha
Just days ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved JPMorgan’s request to issue the first ETF in the U.S. that will be allowed to buy and hold physical copper. The fund’s approval comes after heated debate on the issue as there were numerous complaints from merchants and fabricators that the ETF will lead to a shortage of metal. Following this, expectations have grown that the Physical Copper ETF proposed by BlackRock will also receive approval.
http://jlne.ws/ZO8Dzf

State Street quits bidding for Credit Suisse ETF unit
(Reuters) – State Street Global Advisors has dropped out of the bidding for Credit Suisse’s $17.34 billion European exchange-traded fund business, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
http://jlne.ws/VPu6Rj

What Schwab’s Commission-Free ETF Plan Could Mean for Investors
ETF Trends
A commission-free market of exchange traded funds. Is it too good to be true?. Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) is reportedly in the process of creating such a platform, but it will probably still cost investors something.
http://jlne.ws/Yke74j

ETF Fee War: The High Cost of Low Price
ETF TRends
The exchange traded fund low-fee war has been ongoing and providers are banking on hopeful investors seeking to maximize returns. However, there is much more to ETF investing than lower fees, and critics argue that the ongoing fee cuts can be costly over time.
http://jlne.ws/WqVrzz

Not All Physical Gold ETFs Built The Same
By Paul Baiocchi
Index Universe
With four different ETFs offering physical storage of gold, investors may feel like they are at Best Buy trying to find the best plasma TV.  Fortunately, there are some key differences between the funds that will make the decision easy, as long as you care about these distinctions.
http://jlne.ws/ULIElo

Commodities & Macroeconomics

That’s Not What The End Of The Gold Bull Market Would Look Like
Seeking Alpha
Since the gold price failed to advance after the Federal Reserve’s latest stimulus measure last week, that is, the one where the central bank raised its open-ended money printing effort to a cool $1 trillion per year, an increasing number of calls have been heard with the same refrain – the secular gold bull market is over.
http://jlne.ws/WoxF3n

Not All Physical Gold ETFs Built The Same
By Paul Baiocchi
Index Universe
With four different ETFs offering physical storage of gold, investors may feel like they are at Best Buy trying to find the best plasma TV.  Fortunately, there are some key differences between the funds that will make the decision easy, as long as you care about these distinctions.
http://jlne.ws/ULIElo

Gold-hunting in a frugal age
The Economist
Austerity-battered Western companies are looking everywhere for growth
THE age of austerity shows no signs of waning. The International Monetary Fund reckons that the rich world’s economies will together grow by a paltry 1.3% this year, down from 1.6% in 2011. Britain’s government now says its fiscal squeeze will last until 2018. America’s is preparing to introduce tax rises and spending cuts. The euro zone’s situation is so dire that four countries (Cyprus, Greece, Poland and Portugal) have decided they cannot afford to take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
http://jlne.ws/TYUtod

Selling Gold for Riskier Assets
By Sharps Pixley Ltd
Share on email Share on print Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone
The U.S. Comex gold futures fell to a three-and-a-half-month low of $1,662 on 18 December. After falling 1.55 percent last week, the gold futures dropped another 1.55 percent this week. In contrast, risky markets such as the S&P 500 and the Euro Stoxx 50 went up 2.35 percent and 0.49 percent respectively this week. The Dollar Index fell 0.28 percent in the past two days, after falling 0.28 percent last week.
http://jlne.ws/Wr1Vyd

HSBC Upgrades 2013 Platinum Price Outlook; Expects Supply Deficit
Dow Jones
HSBC Tuesday upped its forecast on platinum prices for next year, based on its expectations of continued tight supply of the metal to the market.
http://jlne.ws/UDhUnu

Company & Production News

Rising Risks for Global Miners From South Africa
CNBC
A day after being re-elected as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party on Tuesday, South African President, Jacob Zuma kicked off five days of discussions over the country’s economy, including the possible introduction of a mining tax and greater state intervention in the sector.
http://jlne.ws/T6XnIO

Agnico-Eagle Outperforms Peers After Arctic Gold Rebound
By Liezel Hill
Bloomberg
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., Canada’s fifth-biggest gold producer, is outperforming global competitors after overcoming weather conditions at its Arctic mine that sent costs soaring.
http://jlne.ws/U8iziP

KGHM Advances as Erste Advises Accumulate Polish Copper Miner
By Piotr Bujnicki & Marta Waldoch
Bloomberg
KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH), Poland’s sole copper producer, rose to the highest in almost 1 1/2 years after Erste Group Bank AG gave an accumulate recommendation on the stock.
http://jlne.ws/R4MKYA

Regulatory News

B.C. recycling law may be decreasing jobsite thefts
SHANNON MONEO
Journal of Commerce
B.C.’s almost six-month old Metal Dealers and Recyclers Act appears to be making a dent in metal theft.
http://jlne.ws/TynJU7

County to require more documentation for scrap metal, jewelry sales and pawns
By Ronica Shannon Senior News Writer
The Richmond Register
RICHMOND — Scrap metal dealers, pawnbrokers, jewelry store and secondhand store owners will have a new record-keeping requirements if the Madison Fiscal Court passes second reading of an ordinance heard Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/T6Vr36