I was reading a post on Kitco News titled, 'Perth Mint sees record bullion sales; U.S. Mint sees 22% drop in gold demand and 43% drop in silver'. The article goes on to state that the U.S. Mint was plagued with production and supply issues. They always shut down for a while near December to change their die presses so that's no surprise but the part about supply issues is what's caught my eye.

If there really were supply issues, then why or how did the Perth Mint manage to hit record sales of 1.14 million gold ounces, up 8.45% from the year before and 23 million ounces of silver, 4 million more than in 2021 and a year over year increase of over 21%.

Of course, my curiosity led me to look closer to home at the Royal Canadian Mint. Unfortunately, their full 2022 numbers aren't out just yet but an article in November states that in Q3, gold bullion sales were up 14% for a total of 354,000 ounces. Silver sales decreased by just 2% but still a healthy 9.6 million ounces.

I didn't find much info from the British Royal Mint but an article Kitco published on July 14 indicated gold bullion sales were up 8% in Q2 and a whopping 47% for silver bullion.

An article put out by Reuters on December 14th titled, 'Inflation, uncertainty fuel new gold rush at Ancient Austrian Mint' had comments from the Austrian Mint's Chief Executive Gerhard Starsich stating 'Demand for gold has never been as high as this year'. There aren't any exact totals for sales which you'd think they'd have included in their article but it does suggest strong bullion sales at the mint. Their 'Philharmonic' gold coin is one of the most popular in the world.

Sales are robust at mints around the world yet the U.S. mint is 'plagued' by production and supply issues? Bix Weir of RoadtoRoota.com who has more than 110,000 subscribers on Youtube is always pointing out inconsistencies at the U.S. Mint. He states the U.S. Mint lost $112 Million betting on derivatives last year.

What the heck is going on over there?

Anyways, the point I'm trying to get across here is don't be fooled by the drop in sales at the U.S. Mint. It's an anomaly compared to the other mints. It may be made to appear there's lackluster interest in precious metals when in reality, bullion sales have maintained a steady pace or increased for both gold and silver.

Something is definitely going on. Why did China's central bank purchase another 32 tons of gold in December? This, right after surprising markets the month before by adding 30 tons of gold to their reserves. That's 62 tons in 2 months. Another thing, they rarely make public any bullion purchases. The last time they did so was in September, 2019.

Collectively, central banks around the world have purchased around 400 tons of gold bullion by the end of the third quarter. This is the highest amount since 1967. We can safely add China's additional 62 tons. Once we have the numbers for all of 2022, it may very well be close to a record. We'll have to wait a little while longer.

But, would you believe that total demand for gold bullion for the first 3 quarters of 2022 was 1,188 tons, a 28% increase from the same period a year earlier. Most of the rest of the gold goes into private hands, ETFs, holding companies while a tiny amount goes to industrial use. Most of the gold ever mined throughout history still exists. Silver, on the other hand is being gobbled up by industries for manufacturing solar panels, cell phones and other high tech gadgets and is, in actuality becoming scarcer and scarcer. That's another story for another day.

I can't explain what's going on at the U.S. Mint but it smells of rotten eggs. Are they purposely creating a shortage? If so, why? Regardless, don't let that discourage you from investing / diversifying into precious metals. Gold and silver have a 5,000 year track record. That alone is assurance that simply can't be beat.

Inflation hates precious metals. Precious metals eat inflation like candy. Look at my previous article, 'When gold went to 87 Trillion marks' and you'll understand how and why gold and silver can inflate in price to infinity when currencies inflate themselves into oblivion. It's happening again with the high inflation, high interest environment we're currently in. Factor in a recession expected for 2023 and we may see some colorful fireworks.

As for the U.S. Mint, I hope things work out better in 2023. Their 'Silver Eagle' coin is awesome!

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