IMF Selling 400 metric tons (12.9 million ounces) of Gold?

[Cloud9]

Any thoughts on the impact this action will have on the price of gold?

[GoldNugget]

Here is an interesting article about the IMF gold sales:

About Those Proposed IMF Gold Sales
by Doug Casey

...with countries such as China, Russia and the nations of the Middle East itching to add to their reserves, even a large dump of physical metal onto the market is certain to be absorbed in short order.

Nor will countries be the only buyers. Beverly Hills investments manager Kenneth Gerbino wrote in 2005 about a similar IMF sales speculation, saying that any additional supply "would surely be snapped up by the bullion banks and mining companies that are 'short' somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes, according to some very savvy analysts." There's no reason to think that's changed much in the interim.


Gerbino could have been writing about the IMF when he concluded, "Central bankers will most likely continue, as usual, to scare the price of gold down from time to time by statements of gold sales. But they are all too keenly aware of the growing number of people who realize that the gold, not paper and ink, is the real stable monetary element."


Finally, it is important to keep the relatively miniscule amount of gold sales we are talking about in perspective. In an era where over $1 trillion in derivatives trade globally each day, $6.6 billion in sales is just not that much money when compared to potential investor demand once the U.S. dollar goes into the free fall that Doug Casey, among others, now believe is imminent.

In other words, if IMF sales do happen, and if they depress gold's price, that's a buying opportunity... for bullion

[Cloud9]

So do you think that given the outcome of the jobs report (below) resulting in the strengthening of the dollar, and recent news like the one below will result in a temporary dip providing a good buying opportunity?

I'm thinking it'll hit $600-$635 range in the short term. What percent of your investment portfolio / net worth do you think would be good to keep in gold?

Gold Slips on Strong Labor Data
http://www.thestreet.com/_dm/markets.../10343506.html

Minera Andes Aims to Produce 120,000 Ounces of Gold by 2009

By Rob Delaney

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Minera Andes Inc., a Canadian mining company, said it aims to produce 120,000 ounces of gold annually by 2009 from a deposit in Argentina.

Minera, 30 percent owned by entrepreneur Robert McEwan, will begin by June to process 750 tons a day of ore from its San Jose deposit, which will yield 60,000 ounces of gold and 3.1 million ounces of silver a year, the company's President Allan Ambrose said in an interview in Toronto. Processing capacity will double within 18 months of the start of production.

In the deposit's first phase, the company is mining 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) of mineral veins, which hold an average of 7.7 grams of gold per ton, Ambrose said. Minera aims to eventually mine about 40 kilometers, which have shown similar concentrations.