“There’s a shortage of real gold to cover the paper gold position that’s out there. Definitely, no doubt in my mind about that… and I think we’re going to run out of new gold. And the refineries are starting to get more and more reluctant about recycling gold,” he added.

What could make that shortfall more acute are production constraints faced by some gold mining companies, particularly those operating in dollar jurisdictions, and not having the benefit of operating in countries with weak currencies.