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China is the world’s biggest producer of gold, with Chinese mine output reaching a record 340 tons last year. Even with this record production, China’s imports through October 2010 rose to 209 tons and, just in the first two months of 2011, China’s imports climbed to 200 tons. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China started opening physical-gold linked savings accounts in December 2010. More than 1 million such accounts have already been opened with more than 12 tons of gold stored on behalf of investors...

Silver Price Rises 78 Percent Intra-Year
Industrial Demand for Silver Posts a 20.7 Percent Increase Over 2009

(NEW YORK – April 7, 2011) Booming silver investment was the primary source of the astounding
78 percent intra-year increase in silver prices in 2010. A sturdy rebound in total fabrication demand, led by the industrial sector, was also significant, according to World Silver Survey 2011, released today by the Silver Institute...

Utah has now become the first State on our list to actually enact a sound money bill into law.

On Friday, March 25th, Gov. Gary Herbert signed HB 317 the "Utah Legal Tender Act," into law.

The law recognizes gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal currency in the state. The coins do not replace the current paper currency, but may be used and accepted voluntarily as an alternative.

The law exempts the sale of gold and silver coins from the state capital gains tax, since you would simply be exchanging one form of legal tender currency for another. It also calls for a committee to study alternative currencies for the State and a means for Utahans to pay their taxes with gold and silver coins...

Mother nature, one could say, is the ultimate asset allocator over a long enough time span. Going by that notion, silver is very undervalued versus gold.

Silver is about 16 times as plentiful in the earth’s crust as gold, according to John Stephenson, author of the “The Little Book of Commodity Investing.”

According to the basic laws of supply and demand, especially given that the two metals are quite similar, the price gap between the two metals should be much smaller...

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has introduced a bill in the United States House of Representatives to repeal the legal tender laws, to prohibit taxation on certain coins and bullion and to repeal superfluous sections of the law related to coinage.

Rep. Paul is the chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy. His bill, H.R. 1098, was introduced on March 15. Rep. Paul describes himself on his Web site as a tireless advocate for “limited, constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policy.”

The short bill has four sections...

Gold and silver remain supported by continuing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. Inflation, the European sovereign debt crisis, conflict in Libya and the wider Middle East and the nuclear disaster in Japan are all factors which will likely result in gold reaching new record nominal highs in all currencies sooner rather than later.

Gold and silver’s record highs yesterday were barely reported in the non-financial press and media yesterday which is another sign of the lack of animal spirits and popular participation in the bullion markets. One of many strong indications that gold and silver remain far from the speculative bubbles suggested by some.

The US dollar and Swiss franc are down 1% and 2.5% respectively so far on the week. While sterling and the yen have fallen nearly 2% against gold in the week so far...

 The price of gold may hit $5,000 per ounce, nearly three times current levels, in three to four years, as demand from sovereign states, central banks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rises, the chairman of two Canadian gold mining companies said.

"Gold is used as insurance for bad governments," Rob McEwen, chairman and chief executive of Minera Andes Inc and US Gold Corp, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Mines and Money conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Gold is traditionally used as a hedging tool against inflation and economic uncertainty. The yellow metal has also been a favorite investor hedge against loose monetary policies in the wake of the global financial crisis...

The situation in Japan is getting worse, not better. There are shortages in food, fuel and warm dry shelter. To make matters exponentially worse, nuclear power plants there continue to burn out of control and emit high levels of radiation. Japan is a stark reminder of how fast a modern technologically advanced society can be brought to its knees by an unforeseen calamity.

On the other side of the Pacific, the devastating pictures from that island nation are taking the attention away from our own, much more predictable, calamity coming from a tsunami of debt...

Utah took its first step Friday toward bringing back the gold standard when the state House passed a bill that would recognize gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal currency.

The House voted 47-26 in favor of the legislation that would also exempt the sale of gold from the state capital gains tax and calls for a committee to study alternative currencies for the state...