Map of all the gold reserves held around the world.

[Beagleboy]

Interesting article. It says 88% of gold in the world is held by 20 countries.
http://www.mining.com/web/this-map-shows-you-which-countries-have-most-of-the-worlds-gold/

 

[Wishfull]

So we don't even rank a mention

 

[grubstake]

To me, the weird thing from this map is the nations that are sitting on huge gold reserves while their economies are down the toilet. If they're keeping it for a rainy day, surely this is it right now? Italy for example, with enormous financial problems, has 2,452 tonnes of bullion in the vaults gathering dust, way more than the UK, twice as much as Switzerland and more than even China has stashed!

 

[DrDuck]

So we don't even rank a mention

Back in 1997 Peter Costello as Treasurer signed off on selling a big proportion of Australia's gold reserves at $US 306 per ounce. The amount would have been around 6.5 million troy ounces (just over 200 tonnes), and realised around 2 billion $ at that price.

He said that gold "no longer plays a significant role in the international financial system".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-03-05/worth-its-weight-in-gold/351864

Go figure.

 

[Beagleboy]

To me, the weird thing from this map is the nations that are sitting on huge gold reserves while their economies are down the toilet. If they're keeping it for a rainy day, surely this is it right now? Italy for example, with enormous financial problems, has 2,452 tonnes of bullion in the vaults gathering dust, way more than the UK, twice as much as Switzerland and more than even China has stashed!

In the great war there was a huge shift in wealth around the world. British empire was the wealthiest country in the world at that time. It is obvious where all the gold went looking at this map. Apparently they were paying 5,000,000 pounds a week to US to keep afloat. USA now have 25% of the reserves.

 

[bazza2210]

Australia's reserves at 79.6 tonnes ranks us at 38th in the world and is stored in England

 

[Beagleboy]

So we don't even rank a mention

Back in 1997 Peter Costello as Treasurer signed off on selling a big proportion of Australia's gold reserves at $US 306 per ounce. The amount would have been around 6.5 million troy ounces (just over 200 tonnes), and realised around 2 billion $ at that price.

He said that gold "no longer plays a significant role in the international financial system".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-03-05/worth-its-weight-in-gold/351864

Go figure.

Not a very smart move, is it?

 

[bazza2210]

in 2011 it was said that all the gold ever mined in the world if presented as a cube would measure 20.6m x 20.6m x 20.6m - the mind boggles...

 

[mbasko]

Australia's reserves at 79.6 tonnes ranks us at 38th in the world and is stored in England

Would be interesting to see our current reserve of 79.6 tonnes vs. an estimate of what has + what is yet to come out of the ground in Australia.
In 2014-2015 Australian gold mines produced 272 tonnes - imagine what's left our shores since the 1800's!
In 2014 our reserves of gold (unrecovered) were estimated at 9,800 tonnes (the highest of any country) or almost 18% of total global reserves.
(Source : http://www.minerals.org.au/resources/gold/production_and_resources )

Like all of our precious natural resources we tend to export for short term wealth without looking at the bigger picture at times. I'm no doomsayer or doomsday advocate but I reckon there'll come a time when natural resources & being more internally self sufficient could become more important again rather than short term wealth gain. Hopefully we manage our natural resources well for our kids & theirs future to keep Australia the lucky country! I hope we keep a good chunk of that 18% reserve. Gold will always be important globally IMO.

Edit: fix spelling & minerals.org link

 

[DropBear]

Canada nothing? ummmmm yeah....

 

[SCROUNGER]

As more and more of the world becomes cashless, commodities such as gold (or maybe something else?) will once again be the true measuring stick of a countries financial worth imo. The world needs one pinnacle commodity against which to judge everything else but the trouble is gold is only worth something while every country acknowledges that.
Gold can be used to buy anything in the world but countries must be prepared to sell what they have to keep it valuable.
Maybe as some say, one day in the future, water and agricultural land will have more worth that a token metal taken from the ground that has very little real use?

 

[thedigger]

Who would believe these numbers???
Germany has a thousand odd tonnes in the US and they wanted it back,guess what.

http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/why-the-us-wont-give-germany-their-gold-back

I would say the crooks in the US have sold it to supress the price of gold.

You would be better believing in the tooth fairy than these numbers.

Regards Frank

 

[Phoenix76]

What surprised me was Italy. An absolute economic basket case, but ranks 4th in the world according to the map. Us poor Aussies, well as someone said we rank 34th, but apparently we can blame Mr. Costello for that. Vaguely remember when that happened.

Our currency is no longer based on the gold standard, but if you watch the financial markets you will notice that when the stock market crashes, gold heads to heaven. Anyone who says gold is not worth storing, including Mr. Costello, is crazy. Guarantee that there would be few if any people in the world who would knock back payment in real gold.

It will always remain that mystical, often very hard to find, gem. Why is it then that when we go fossicking, we never pass up the smallest piece of gold we come across? No way, every little piece goes into our little bottle. They all add up, and when the price of gold is around $1,750 an troy ounce, there is no way you will leave the tinniest bit behind.

Just image if we sold that 6.5 million troy ounces today. Somewhere around 11,414 million dollars. Think our budget deficit would disappear quick. Sorry I don't know how to say that number in trillions or whatever, but it would have been a lot of money.

 

[Jaros]

Tis ONLY 11 Billion-nowhere near enough......