The central bank of Singapore increased its gold reserves by 20% this year, buying gold for the first time in two decades.

The gold purchase was made between May and June, totaling 26.35 metric tons, according to the data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) International Reserves and Foreign Currency Liquidity report.

This boosted Singapore’s total gold reserves to a reported 153.76 tons.

The gold acquisition was only noticed when the data was included in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) monthly update. According to the IMF numbers, this was the first increase in Singapore’s gold reserves since 2000.

It is unclear how much MAS, Singapore’s central bank, paid for the gold bullion. But according to Monday’s gold price, the acquisition would be worth around $1.5 billion.

The purchase was also highlighted by the World Gold Council’s senior analyst Krishan Gopaul, who tweeted last week: “Here’s something interesting in the latest IMF stats: The Monetary Authority of Singapore added 26t of #gold to its reserves over May and June 2021. This is its first gold purchase since at least 2000, and another instance of a developed market CB buying (along with Ireland).”

Singapore’s central bank chose not to advertise the significant increase in its gold holdings. And many analysts are trying to figure out why such a large acquisition went under the radar…read more.

To fathom the magnitude of Venezuela’s financial collapse, travel southeast from Caracas, past the oil fields and over the Orinoco River, and head deep into the savanna that blankets one of the remotest corners of the country.

There, in the barber shops and restaurants and hotels that constitute the main strip of one dusty little outpost after another, you’ll find prices displayed in grams of gold.

A one-night stay at a hotel? That’ll be half a gram. Lunch for two at a Chinese restaurant? A quarter of a gram. A haircut? An eighth of a gram, please. Jorge Pena, 20, figured that eighth came to three small flakes — the equivalent of $5. After getting a trim one recent weekday in the town of Tumeremo, he handed them over to his barber, who, satisfied with Pena’s calculation, quickly pocketed them. “You can pay for everything with gold,” Pena says.

In the high-tech global economy of the 21st century, where tap-and-go transactions are the rage, this is about as low tech as it gets.

Most of the world moved on from gold as a medium of exchange over a century ago. Its resurfacing in Venezuela today is the most extreme manifestation of the repudiation of the local currency, the bolivar, that has swept the country. It’s been rendered almost worthless by hyperinflation. (Nicolas Maduro’s regime just lopped another six zeroes off it.)…read more.

Metals are all around us, from our phones and cars to our homes and office buildings.

While we often overlook the presence of these raw materials, they are an essential part of the modern economy. But obtaining these materials can be a complex process that involves mining, refining, and then converting them into usable forms.

So, how much metal gets mined in a year?

Metals vs Ores

Before digging into the numbers, it’s important that we distinguish between ores and metals.

Ores are naturally occurring rocks that contain metals and metal compounds. Metals are the valuable parts of ores that can be extracted by separating and removing the waste rock. As a result, ore production is typically much higher than the actual metal content of the ore. For example, miners produced 347 million tonnes of bauxite ore in 2019, but the actual aluminum metal content extracted from that was only 62.9 million tonnes.

Here are all the metals and metal ores mined in 2019, according to the British Geological Survey…read more.

Gold prices advanced past the key $1,750 level on Thursday as investors sought haven after a new labor report pointed to an uneven recovery in the US jobs market.

Spot gold rose 1.7% to $1,757.38 per ounce by 11:55 a.m. EDT, its highest level in more than a week. US gold futures gained 2.1% to trade at $1,760.30 per ounce in New York.

Still, gold is on course for its biggest monthly loss since June, with precious metals pressured by the prospect of a pullback in stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve.

The latest labor data shows that applications for US state unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose for a third straight week, led by another surge in California. The dollar fell after the report, boosting bullion’s appeal for investors holding foreign currencies…read more.