At present the Chinese are not buying gold but they are buying lots of
copper instead. There are wharehouses full of copper in China just
sitting there as a form of money.
Also they do run into currency regulations with copper.

Whoops should have said;
Also they do not run into currency regulations with copper.

Bazz

You are right in saying China has been buying a lot of copper, but I don't think you are right about Gold. The Chinese are still accumulating it as fast as they can. According to "The Street" in partnership with Casey Research....

"China's consumption reached a record 11.3 million ounces in the first quarter of this year
Purchases of gold bars surged 49 percent to 4.2 million ounces, and jewelry gained 16 percent to 6.2 million ounces
As recently as June 14, over 10,000 Chinese civilians lined up in the streets of Jinan to buy physical gold"

If you are interested in reading the article it can be found here

http://www.thestreetgoldevent.com/why-us-enemies-buying-all-the-gold/

Just one of many articles I read on a daily basis.

Remember China is also the largest producer in the world, followed by Australia and they have banned all export of Au for the last few years. South Africa comes in third as a producer now. I think I am right in saying that Australia exports about 5 billion dollars worth of gold annually which helps our balance of payments. We also produce a quantity of Ag as a bi product of refining lead and copper I believe.

Thanks Snake for the update.
I think my now old info was that they were diverting to copper.
The whole thing is looking very dodgy.
It would not take much to drop the whole house of cards.
Any move on Basra in Iraq could bring it all down as to take the 2nd
largest exporter of oil out of the market could even put us into
petrol & oil rationing.

I notice Shell sold out of Woodside which is a continuation of asset
sales that the oil majors are continuing with.

Shell sold off a lot of their tight oil holding in the US so as to pay dividends.

Bazz

I noticed that Shell had sold out of Woodside. and the shares fell in price. Maybe now is the time to buy !

Even more than the bullion market, oil prices are subject to volatility created by geo political disturbances, and I only follow such things in the main stream press. Whereas I study Bullion to a greater degree on-line, particularly the shenanigans the central banks get up to. It looks very much as though an alternative to the London Gold Fix is next in line for reform, particularly as it is/was being manipulated in their own and client's interests. As I said they're a load of crooks. What JPM get away with naked shorting silver on the CME is nothing short of criminal and the CFTC do absolutely nothing about it. Even though it's all documented !

What's happening in Syria and Iraq is not good news of course and will affect a lot of things, not only oil and gold.

OK Snake, I have not watched gold prices but as far as shares go I
bailed out of them just as 2007/2008 was looking very dodgy.
I kept Telstra and two energy shares which have done quite well.
Telstra, I figured would do well if air fares do what I expect.
Already Telstra had heaving booking on their video conference suite.
Not that itself would matter but it is a straw in the wind.
The only mistake I made was to sell CBA, at a profit.

What is the London Gold Fix ?

I have not invested in any Australian oil or gas except via Origin.
I am no oil field expert, I just read what the experts have to say and
it does not take long to see who are the soundest sources.
I must have a look to see if Woodside has peaked.
Australia as a whole is well down the decline slope and there cannot
be many with much future.