
The Only Gold You Have Is The Gold You Have!

… and not the gold someone else says they have for you
Here are three separate accounts of an international news story that underscores an important point about your wealth that we have made over and over again: the only gold you have is the gold you have!
DAKAR, Reuters (January 13, 2025) – Canadian miner Barrick Gold will have to suspend mining operations in Mali after the government seized gold stocks from the company’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex and flew them out by helicopter over the weekend.
Around three metric tons had been taken from the mining complex in western Mali on Saturday, two sources told Reuters on Monday, with one putting the value of the gold at $245 million.
DAKAR, AP (January 12, 2025) DAKAR, Senegal — Mali’s military government has started seizing gold stocks of the Canadian mining company Barrick as part of a legal battle over the share of revenue owed to the West African state, according to an internal Barrick letter seen by The Associated Press…
A senior Barrick manager confirmed that three tons had been seized by the military government and placed in the capital, Bamako. The manager spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly… the gold was taken from a mine near Kayes in the west and transported by plane and truck to the capital late Saturday.
Agence France-Presse (January 14) – Mali’s junta has begun seizing gold stocks from the Loulo-Gounkoto mine operated by Canadian firm Barrick Gold, according to a security source and an internal company memo seen by AFP Monday.Authorities charged and detained four Malian employees of Barrick Gold in late November…
Malian authorities sent a helicopter to Loulo-Gounkoto on Saturday to make the seizure, a security official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In December, they issued national arrest warrants for the company’s South African CEO and the Malian managing director of Loulo-Gounkoto for “money laundering.”
The west African state is embroiled in a political, security and economic crisis and since 2012 has been battling jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist insurgency in the north.
Gold stocks are no substitute for real gold that you own and have in your possession. They are subject to wars, governmental and environmental risks, mismanagement and fraud, natural disasters, and even the risk of terrorism, a component of the situation in Mali.
Gold’s primary virtue is that it is not subject to counter-party risks. All paper assets are ultimately dependent on someone else’s performance, competence, liquidity, integrity, and so on.
But the gold you own and take in your possession, the gold that you buy from Republic Monetary Exchange, is gold you can put your hands on when you need it, and is free of those counterparty risks and seizure by Third World officials or in the experience of many Americans, even from first world governments.