OTTAWA -- To halt a possible "run" on the gold it safeguards for private businesses, the Royal Canadian Mint is reassuring customers their deposits are fully accounted for and in secure vaults as the investigation continues into as much as $20 million in lost precious metals.

Since the scandal broke last week, some precious metals market advisers have been trying to instigate "some kind of a run" on the custodial accounts of the Ottawa mint and other mints around the world, said Jon Nadler, senior metals market analyst with with Montreal-based Kitco, one of the world's leading precious metals bullion dealers.

"I cannot name names, but I've seen a number of forums and blogs and newsletter alerts from people who claim to be market analysts and saying, 'You should take delivery of everything that's in storage, no matter who you keep it with because of things like this,'" Nadler said in an interview Friday, calling the tactic "pathetic."

This was copied from an article on GATA.org regarding the situation in Canada.

Now I personally can't say whether the Canadian Mint has real problems or not, but what I can and will say is that the resistance thrown up against these requests indicates that there is a problem. And that the problem is known to exist with certain gold market dealers.

"Nadler calls the tactic pathetic." What tactic? If you own gold that is stored at a mint what should the mint care if you ask for delivery. It might amount to a small amount of work for them but that's part of the job and part of what your storage fee pays for. If all the gold is there who cares? If I take delivery of what is mine, you take delivery of what is yours, what is lost? NOTHING!

The problem is that in many cases the gold is not there!!! Now I am not saying the Royal Canadian Mint does not have the gold, nor am I saying that if they don't and come up short it is an indication that they are criminally responsible in some way. What I am saying is that with all the "paper" sold as gold out there, there will be instances where the same gold is allocated to more than one person or for some other similar reason delivery will not be possible and these "screamers" like Nadler know very well that is the case.

What harm is there in a person taking delivery. They pay the transportation, they pay the insurance, and they have to pay an assay fee if there is no problem and wish to have the gold stored again. None of this, nor the process of returning it, if "all is well" costs the warehouses, banks, exchanges, etc. any real money.

It seems to me they do protest way too much......

P.