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In today’s GSC news, we have a gold smuggling story that sounds like something from an Indiana Jones movie—across the Atlantic ocean over to the Congo, a black market in gold is growing. Also, remember that old commercial that said, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen”? Well, the same can be said for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. We have his latest public statements for you. That and more is waiting for you.
Let’s dig in…

International
Gold Smugglers in Congo Hurting Legal Trade Using Manipulative Buying Tactics
In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, illegal gold traders are offering premium prices to miners who are scraping by. This is impeding efforts to squash a regional black market that keeps growing. This black market is thriving in the Congolese gold trade according to the IMPACT organization. Tons of gold produced by subsistence or “artisanal” miners in the Congo get smuggled into the global market through its eastern neighbors as the country’s official exports are tiny in comparison. “Since illicit traders evade legal taxes and fees, they can offer better prices to miners than the legal market does,” IMPACT, whose Just Gold project traces gold from artisanal mines in Congo, wrote.
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Price
Newmont CEO Sees Gold ‘Elevated’ While Keeping Their Plans Grounded
They are the world’s biggest gold producer, and they are firmly committed to keeping their focus on fiscal discipline despite the yellow metal’s price remaining elevated. When the price of gold shot up above $2,000 an ounce in August, many miner’s had their cash flow lifted, along with their stock prices. But that also caused the shareholders to expect higher returns. Spot gold has since dropped a tad, while the haven metal is still trading in record territory above $1,900. “There are a lot of signals that point to gold staying at these elevated levels -- with I think a lot of volatility around it -- for some time to come,” Newmont Chief Executive Officer Tom Palmer said by phone.
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Economy
Gold Inches Higher as Federal Reserve Signals Rates Holding Near Zero for Foreseeable Future
A broad risk-on tone across markets helped push commodities higher, with the ANZ China Commodity Index up 0.6% overnight. The energy sector again led the complex, with crude surging on lower inventories. LNG futures were stronger. Industrial metals rose, led by gains in copper and zinc. Agriculture inched higher, as soybeans and sugar rose. Gold eked out a small gain, offsetting falls in silver and PGMs. Iron ore futures fell, pushing the bulk commodity sector into the red.
Crude oil futures rose sharply on data showing a large fall in US inventories. The weekly EIA report showed crude oil stockpiles fell by 4,389kbbl last week. More encouraging was the apparent rise in gasoline demand; inventories fell 381kbbl while refinery utilization rose sharply. The only negative from the EIA report was that distillate inventories are still high and show no sign of falling. The market was buoyed by reports that the UAE will reduce output. The OPEC producer has been exceeding its quotas under the OPEC+ alliance supply agreement. It notified refiners and traders that they should expect reductions in oil shipments in October and until November.
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Commentary
When Jerome Powell Talks, Investors Listen
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered his thoughts at the latest U.S. Fed FOMC meeting yesterday and the gold and silver prices fell back, which happens frequently after a Powell public statement, regardless of his message. As Lawrie Williams writes, “There thus has to be a suspicion that those who would like to see gold and silver lower are poised with their fingers on the ‘sell’ button immediately a Fed statement is forthcoming, no matter what it actually says.”

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Stock Market
COMEX Gold Futures – Let’s Look at Recent Market Developments
Financial markets love nice, round numbers. Maybe the most famous nice, round number of all is a price of 2,000 US dollars for a troy ounce of gold. In early August, COMEX Gold futures (ticker symbol GC) crossed that threshold for the first time ever with the GC contract for August delivery settling at $2,001. The December 2020 delivery contract went even further, reaching a price of $2,069 on August 6. After having reached that level, the market came back down somewhat but it remains above $1,900. Understandably, the recent price action captured many traders’ attention. One item at a time, we look at recent developments in the gold market. READ MORE
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Price
Cobalt Price Rally Bumps Up Mining.Com EV Metal Index
The MINING.COM EV Metal Index, which tracks the value of battery metals in newly registered passenger EVs (including plug-in hybrids) around the world continued to recover month on month in July, after dropping to its lowest level since January 2018 in April. A modest uptick in raw material deployed (with the exception of nickel) and a sharp year-to-date rally in cobalt, combined with improving prices for nickel used in the supply chain lifted the value of battery raw materials tracked by the index to $194 million for the month. At $988 million year-to-date, the index is still more than 17% below 2019 levels although, as testament to the youth of the electric vehicle market, is double the value of the same period in 2017. READ MORE ([link removed])
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Gold Silver Central

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