One of the highlights of Pierre’s presentation was his forecast for the price of gold in the next 30 years. After analyzing gold’s historical compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past 50 years, ever since President Nixon formally took the U.S. off the gold standard, Pierre says he sees an average price target of $12,500 an ounce by 2049. And under the “right” conditions, it could go as high as $25,000!

◆ JPMorgan’s head of precious metals trading and senior traders have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with rigging precious metal prices in a “massive, multiyear scheme”

China Gold International Resources Corp., the overseas arm of state-owned China National Gold Group, is on the hunt for acquisitions to replenish its pipeline as deal-making in the sector heats up thanks to a jump in the metals price.

The miner, listed both in Canada and Hong Kong, is targeting companies with assets in operational stages that have ramp-up plans. The company is comfortable making purchases with a price at roughly $1 billion to $2 billion, Xie said.

U.S. prosecutors took an unusually aggressive turn in their investigation of price fixing at JPMorgan Chase & Co., describing its precious metals trading desk as a criminal enterprise operating inside the bank for nearly a decade.

Andy Schectman, President, Miles Franklin Precious Metals, warns that market deception leads to a flawed perception of reality.

COTs this week

Two JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) employees, including a top metals trading executive, have been placed on leave in response to a U.S. criminal investigation into the bank’s metals trading practices, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Michael Nowak and Gregg Smith are on leave, the source said on Thursday, making them the third and fourth JPMorgan employees to be connected to the criminal investigation that has resulted in guilty pleas from two former JPMorgan metals traders.

Question: What do Jeffrey Gundlach, Ray Dalio, Mark Mobius, Stanley Druckenmiller, Paul Tudor-Jones, David Einhorn, Naguib Sawiris, Paul Singer, and Thomas Kaplan – some of the greatest financial minds of a generation – all have in common?

Answer: An attachment to gold and its presence in their personal financial holdings as a safe-haven hedge.

China adds 5.91 tonnes to it's reserves in August