Some of you are inquiring about GATA consultant Harvey Organ's excellent work calling attention to the huge increase in the use of the New York Commodities Exchange's "exchange for physicals" procedure for fulfilling long contracts for gold and silver:
http://www.gata.org/node/17873
It seems that most gold and silver bought through futures contracts on the Comex in New York and claimed for delivery now is being delivered in London through what long had been described as an "emergency" mechanism. Since the metals are reported to be in backwardation in London -- prices for immediate delivery being higher than prices for future delivery -- all this suggests an extreme shortage.
Even so, your secretary/treasurer suspects that the monetary metals issue still comes down to how much metal central banks are willing to disgorge for price control.
From the EFP data at the Comex and the explosion of gold swaps arranged by the Bank for International Settlements this year, as reported by GATA consultant Robert Lambourne --
http://www.gata.org/node/17790
-- which the BIS refuses to discuss --
http://www.gata.org/node/17793
-- it does seem as if metal offtake has sharply increased lately, and as it long has been, London remains the center of the price-suppression mechanism because that's where governments keep so much of their metal. As many governments were part of the price-suppression scheme during the London Gold Pool of the 1960s, most of those and many more are probably part of it now, as all major central banks are BIS members.
But we don't know how much metal is really being delivered in London, nor how much cash is being paid in London to the former Comex longs for their agreeing to delay delivery or not to claim delivery at all. This could be a very nice racket for insiders, providing a regular income for traders not going public about what's happening.
In any case as GATA been pursuing gold market rigging for 18 years now, so we're learning not to predict the day of deliverance even as no one disputes the documentation we have compiled about the rigging:
http://www.gata.org/taxonomy/term/21
Since the rigging can't be disputed, the big challenge is simply to get the mining industry, investors, and good citizens everywhere to care rather than be bought off.
As much as we hope for the day of deliverance, predictions about it don't help. In regard to predictions your secretary/treasurer, being of a certain age, is often reminded of the "End of the World" skit from Dudley Moore's "Beyond the Fringe" stage show back in 1962. It's about a doomsday cult that goes up to the top of a mountain to count down to the moment of the prophesied apocalypse. Audio of the original Broadway version is at YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjEtB3rJB9o
A video of a 1979 performance, which may be more fun, is at YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjEtB3rJB9o
After 18 years all GATA can do is endorse the advice the cult leader gives at the end.
