Raspille-Tieche river near Crans-Montana
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Blick magazine has shed some some light on the largest-ever chunk of gold found in Switzerland, reportedly found in the Tieche river near Crans-Montana by a 34-year-old German hiker in September. But the Valais cantonal geologist says maybe it’s a nugget someone lost: there’s no gold in that river.
The gold nugget is 7cm long, 3.5cm wide and weights 128.5 grams.
The rivers in this area have not until now been known for carrying gold. And it’s possible they never will be. Geologist Jean-Daniel Rouiller told Le Nouvelliste, the Valais news service, that it’s quite simply impossible because the right bank of the Rhone is limestone and gold isn’t part of the rock there.
TRIPOLI, LIBYA – The new governor of Libya’s central bank says the hunt is on for assets hidden around the world by the Qaddafi regime. He is cited by AFP as confirming 8 September rumours that former leader Muammar Qaddafi sold at least $1.7 billion in gold at discounted prices in April and May, saying the money went for salaries and other running costs. The sale equalled about 20 percent of the country’s gold reserves and he believes the gold itself probably made it across the border into Tunisia.
Qassem Azzoz says the interim government has enough cash to function, with most of what is on the books intact, although he concedes that much of the country’s money is hidden in investments and accounts around the world.
Links to other sites: AFP/ABC Australia, Khaleej Times/AP
Melting old metals, Heraeus in Switzerland (photo, ©2011 Heraeus)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Deep in the trade figures published 20 July by the Swiss government is a note that imports were down largely because no gold was imported from Vietnam.
Switzerland melts down the gold for use mainly as bullion, although some is used by the watch industry and increasingly, by the electronics industry.
Switzerland is one of the world’s leading gold smelters, partly as a result of its currency being the last to be linked to gold, until 1999, when Switzerland joined the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
The Swiss trade surplus, the difference between exports and imports, grew by a mere 2.7 percent in the first half of 2011 despite a very strong franc that should have made imported goods cheaper, giving imports a boost. Imports in fact slipped, and Vietnam’s gold was the reason, or lack of it, was the reason, but mainly because imports earlier were very high.
Three factors played a role, says economist and spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Finance Department Sébastien Dupré: Vietnam’s export quotas, the record high price of gold, and the “immense” stocks of gold in Vietnam.
“The Vietnamese government delivered export quotas for gold at the end of 2008. Before then, gold exports were strictly forbidden. Companies that are active in the market tend to use their quotas as rapidly as possible in order to get a new one; in other words, before the government makes an about-face.” China Post this week in an article on the Swiss trade balance notes that media in Vietnam say the government is considering tightening gold trade restrictions.
The price of gold in mid-July rose to a record high of $1,600 per ounce, and has since continued to climb, with a dip Friday morning below $1,600 following news of a second bailout for Greece. The price rose 8.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared to Q1, according to the World Gold Council.
Analysts are offering varying predictions for how high it can go, reports the Financial Times 21 July in a series of interviews.
“The high price of gold has encouraged potential sellers in Vietnam to sell their gold immediately, in other words, to fill their export quotas right away,” says Dupré. “For the Vietnamese, the rise in the price of gold is made yet more attractive by the simultaneous depreciation of their currency, the dong. As a result, theincentive to sell gold is more marked in Viettnam than elsewhere.”
Vietnam has always been a huge gold importer, he notes, with 80 to 100 tons a year. “Given the longtime ban on exporting it, the gold stocks in the country have risen so that the country now has immense stocks.”
The country is reported to make massive quantities of jewelry, which can be exported, in part to get around government restrictions on exporting it in a monetary form.
Link to: wikipedia on gold, video: the making of gold ingots at Heraeus
SNB profit, a tale of currency movements
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A net profit of CHF1.9 billion for the first three months of 2011 at The Swiss National Bank was due largely to currency fluctuations, the central bank said Friday 29 April. The net result from foreign currency positions was CHF1.6 billion, while losses from Swiss franc holdings were CHF106 million.
Euro appreciation led to exchange rate gains
The bank says that the Swiss franc depreciated against European currencies from January to 31 March, ” leading to exchange rate gains, especially on euro holdings. A depreciation in the US dollar and the yen, however, meant that the overall exchange rate gain amounted to CHF 2.4 billion. A slight rise in interest rates depressed prices of interest-bearing instruments by CHF 2.9 billion. Interest income on these securities of CHF 1.4 billion and price gains on equity securities of CHF 0.6 billion were not sufficient to offset the fall in prices.”
Gold contributed little, UBS loan repayments reduce risk
Tunisians marching in Geneva (photo ©2010, Rohit Acharya, reproduced with permission)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The protests were calm compared to those in the streets of Tunis over the weekend, but Geneva’s Tunisians also took to the streets to call for more freedom.
Photographer Rohit Acharya caught them as they marched from the Rue du Marché across the Mont Blanc bridge (more images on flickr) in the city centre Saturday 15 January.
The abrupt departure Friday of Tunisian President Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia, has not received any official comment in Switzerland, but the two countries had strained relations over Swiss comments on Tunisia’s human rights record, particularly in the past five years.
Geneva's Tunisian population during 15 January protest march (photo ©2010, Rohit Acharya, reproduced with permission)
Swiss lawyer Ridha Ajmi told news agency AFP that he has filed a request for the Swiss government to freeze assets Ben Ali might have in Swiss bank accounts.
The Swiss government, which has in recent years tightened laws covering potentate funds, has not commented other than to say the situation is being watched.
Rumours have swirled online that Ben Ali’s wife fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold, stories that have as quickly been denied by Tunisia’s central bank.
More photos: Rohit Acharya, flickr
Tunisians march in Geneva as Ben Ali's government falls (photo ©2010, Rohit Acharya, reproduced with permission)
Losses in future years could touch shareholder gov’ts budgets
The SNB has head offices in Bern, shown, and Zurich
Update 11:45 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is likely to post a CHF21 billion loss for 2010 as the result of exchange rate losses of CHF26m, it announced Friday.
But the federal government and cantons will receive their expected share of profits and dividends so their planned budgets will not have to be cut.
The SNB loss was softened by a CHF6b gain in the value of gold holdings. The central bank in 2009 has a profit of CHF10b. The bank notes that “despite the reduced allocation to the provisions for currency reserves, the SNB’s capital base continues to be robust, also by comparison with other central banks.”
The bank builds long-term equity capital by allocating money every year to the provisions for currency reserves.”The events of the past year have highlighted the fact that an adequate capital cushion is paramount for monetary policy independence. The SNB will therefore continue to pursue its long-term strategy of increasing its equity capital on an annual basis by means of allocations to the provisions for currency reserves.”
Bouches-du-Rhône, France (GenevaLunch) - The value of their theft has risen from CHF8 million to CHF21m in the six years since a group of men stole 668 kg of gold, thanks to the soaring gld market, according to TSR. The haul has never been found. The five men, from Corsica, are accused of stealing the gold from the head offices of Metalor in Marin, canton Neuchatel, in January 2004. The prosecutor in the French court is asking for sentences ranging from seven to 22 years, with 18-20 years for the man behind the scheme and 22 years for another who is a repeat offender.
Stolen gold jewelry, melted down, is often a source of smuggled gold
Lake Como, Italy (GenevaLunch) – Italy’s financial police have seized 150kg of gold, according to an ats agency report, but they also arrested 30 people as they uncovered a gold smuggling ring between Italy and Switzerland.
The group appears to have smuggled more than 5 tons of gold, mainly to gold-working factories in northern Italy, according to TSR (Fre). Most of the smuggling was reportedly done by hiding the gold in car trunks.
US officials have told the New York Times that Afghanistan contains huge reserves of several minerals, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and “critical industrial metals like lithium”. The US Geological Survey began carrying out studies in 2006, working with the US military and using old Russian maps and have found evidence of enough veins to make Afghanistan, which now has an annual GDP of $12 billion, a wealthy nation, potentially one of the world’s largest mining centres. The lengthy article reviews the good that could come from the economy getting a boost, but also the potential problems that could arise from the discoveries, such as worse corruption in a country already troubled by it and increased tension if “resources-hungry” China makes a bid to obtain the minerals.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank ended the first three months of the year with a
consolidated profit of CHF1.5 billion, with gold pulling the balance sheet up and exchange rates tugging it down. The rising price of gold accounted for CHF1.3b of the profit, while currency losses, notably the fall in the euro, accounted for a loss of CHF2.46 million.
The stabilization fund that was part of the UBS bank bailout in late 2008 was reduced by CHF2.6m to CHF17.7m, and it contributed CHF921m to the overall profit for the period.
Gold continues its climb to record prices this week, and the Swiss franc reached a new high against the euro in trading Friday morning.
Links to other sites: CS Monitor, Reuters
Lindsey Vonn’s win in the Women’s Downhill and Shani Davis’s in the Men’s 1,000m Speedskating pushed the US to the top of the gold medals list at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver with four, while Germany, Korea and Switzerland each have three. Vonn is the first American to win the downhill, reports Reuters, and Davis the first man to win the 1,000 at successive Olympics.
Lindsey Vonn puts on fine show
Dominique Gisin's crash affected other skiers (photo: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
Gold winner Lindsey Vonn (sstock photo: ©2009 US ski team)
Vancouver, BC, Canada (GenevaLunch) – American Lindsey Vonn took gold in the Women’s Downhill at Whistler mountain, in a race marked by her excellent performance, four crashes on the undulating course and wide gaps between skiers’ times. Vonn, with a time of 1:44.19, finished an impressive .056 ahead of fellow American Julia Mancuso, who won silver. The bronze medal went to Austrian Elisabeth Goergl, a full 1.46 behind Vonn. The best performance by a Swiss skier was Fabienne Suter’s. She came in nearly two seconds behind the winner, for fifth place, a remarkable performance considering that she came close to crashing and managed to right herself dramatically.
Racers appeared affected by the series of crashes that started with Swiss skier Dominique Gisin. Her spectacular wipeout left the crowd silent while they waited, then cheered when she sat up: she walked away from the course, in tears, but on her own.
Didier Defago, Switzerland, winner of the 2010 Olympics gold medal in downhill skiing
Didier Defago (stock photo, Swiss Ski 2009)
Vancouver, BC, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Didier Defago Monday evening Swiss time has won a second gold medal for Switzerland in the men’s downhill race at Whistler Mountain in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, after Simon Ammann Saturday 13 February in ski jumping. Defago, from Morgins, was until recently not even sure he’d make the cut for the Swiss team. The 32-year-old gives Switzerland its first Olympic gold in the downhill event since Pirmin Zurbriggen won in Calgary in 1988.
In the 2008-2009 season Defago won impressive back-to-back wins at Wengen and Kitzbuehel, two of the toughest runs on the World Cup circuit. He won with a time of 1:54.31.
Defago is a close friend of another Swiss sports winner, Roger Federer.
Didier Cuche, the current world number one and the favourite to win the race, came in sixth, after losing a lot of time in the final sector, for a time of 1:54.67.
Silver was taken by Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, with 1:54.38 and bronze by Bode Miller, USA, 1:54.40.
The other Swiss hopeful, Carlo Janka, came in 11th at 1:52.02.
Links to other sites: Didier Defago site, Vancouver Games on Mother Nature and ski racing, TSR (Fre), wikipedia
Other Olympic news: downhill postponed, luge moved to lower place
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Simon Ammann won gold for Switzerland, taking first place in ski jumping on the normal hill in the 2010 Winter Games at Whistler Mountain. He sailed 105 metres, nearly three metres further than anyone else, an extraordinary feat on the smaller normal hill. Ammann won two golds at Salt Lake City in 2002.
Ammann holds a degree in engineering.
In other Olympic Games news, the men’s downhill race, scheduled for 13 February, was postponed due to too little snow. The men’s luge has been moved to a lower starting point, which should reduce speeds by 10 percent, following the death of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili Friday during training.
Links to other sites: Simon Ammann (Eng), TSR (Fre), Vancouver Sun profile of Ammann
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank expects to see a “large profit” of CHF10 billion for 2009, thanks to the rapid rise in the price of gold and currency fluctuations during the year. The valuation of the gold holdings of the central bank rose by CHF7.3 billion during the year, with the price of gold moving between about $800 and $1,200 an ounce (chart).
The bank’s foreign currency positions brought in another CHF2b.
The profits are shared in part with the federal and cantonal governments, some CHF2.5b.
Barbara Ann Scott, a diminutive 81-year-old with a girlish smile, carried the large Olympic torch into Canada’s Houses of Parliament in Ottawa Thursday 10 December, to warm applause. Scott was Canada’s sweetheart when she won the Olympic figure skating gold medal in St Moritz, Switzerland in 1948. The torch is wending its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Links to other sites: The Globe & Mail, Olympics Vancouver 2010
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The US dollar continued its slide in world currency markets, pushing the price of gold higher. It reached near parity with the Swiss franc, at 1.0048, in trading Monday 16 November, and was virtually at 1.50 euros: 1.4960. Gold rose to $1,132.95 although it later slipped slightly.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Financial Times
The price of gold, which has risen 16 percent in the past year, reached a new record high of $1,048.40 ($1,054 an ounce for immediate delivery) 7 October as investors seek a hedge against the dollar. The Independent in the UK stirred fears earlier in the week with an article saying that oil-rich Arab nations could be moving out of dollars and into gold, although other market watchers disagree and the story was later discredited by several other media. A Credit Suisse gold market analyst told the Daily Mail that gold will continue to climb while investors move out of dollars. The Financial Times Thursday 8 October says “The depreciation of the US dollar is sparking growing jitters among critics of the Obama administration over the potential loss of America’s reserve currency status.”
The dollar Thursday morning was trading at $1.61/£, $.068/€ and $1/CHF1.03.
Links to other sites: BBC, Bloomberg, bullionvault, CS Monitor, Financial Times, goldprice.org, Guardian, UK, Independent, UK, Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones wire
The unemployed man who discovered a 1,300 year-old treasure in the field of his farmer friend with a metal detector two months ago may get to share $1.6 million when the 1,500 pieces of gold and silver are sold. Several museums have expressed an interest in buying the pieces of intricately worked gold and silver pieces that are parts of adorned military equipment from the eighth century. They were found in what used to be the Kingdom of Mercia in what is today Staffordshire. The exact site is being kept secret because archeologists are still picking out pieces from the ground. The man, Terry Herbert, bought his first metal detector 18 years ago. Boston Globe, The Guardian
(correction: price of gold) Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank has posted a positive half-year result of CHF5 billion before provisions, compared to a loss of CHF3.4b a year earlier. The SNB ended 2008 with a loss of CHF4.3b. The central bank’s legal obligations require it to set aside provisions that allow it to maintain currency reserves at a level necessary for monetary policy. For the first six months, CHF701.8 million will be allocated to provisions. The stabilization fund set up to bail out bank UBS had no impact on the results, the SNB points out.
Swiss foreign trade, climbing down
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss foreign trade plummeted 16 percent in the first half of the year, according to figures published 21 July by the Swiss Federal Customs Administration (SFCA). Both import and export figures dropped to levels last seen in 2006, and the second quarter figures were much worse than those for the first quarter of the year. The fall in exports is the worst six month period decline recorded.
The balance of trade was CHF9 billion, down 10 percent over a year, a fall explained by an unusual, massive import of gold jewelry for remelting, from Vietnam.
