Column: In search of the elusive green nickel premium
Just about every Western producer will tell you metal produced to higher environmental and social standards should command a premium.
Ten years ago about 80 central banks lent 15% of their official gold reserves that pushed down spot gold prices, according to an IMF report that was uncovered by Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee.
Some of the banks doing the lending were the German Bundesbank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Gold lending didn’t help spot prices. The authors of the IMF report write that “. . . the increased mobilization of central bank reserves through gold lending operations has had a depressing influence on the spot price for gold since on-lent gold is usually associated with sales of gold in the spot market.”
The IMF report is on GATA’s website.
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