In this Geopolitical Trends video, Dr. David Oualaalou explains how the United States' dollar dominance is being challenged by de‑dollarisation and how that shift is driving a surge in gold demand. He cites World Gold Council data showing central banks buying a record 125 tons of gold in early 2023, with China’s People’s Bank leading the February purchases (25 tons). Oualaalou highlights a major new discovery by state‑run Shandong Gold Mining – an additional 200 tons at the Xilin mine, bringing the deposit to about 580 tons and valuing it at roughly $28.5 billion. He then reviews the historical pattern of central‑bank gold holdings, noting the transition from net sellers in the 1990s to net buyers after the Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global crisis. The second half of the video pivots to a promotional update on US Gold Mining Incorporated (ticker USGO), noting a 60 % share price jump, a pending Russell 2000 inclusion, insider ownership at 81 %, and the economics of its Whistler project (9.4 M oz‑eq resources at an implied $15/oz). Oualaalou urges investors to consider USGO while warning of investment risk.
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Hello everyone and welcome to Geopolitical Trends. I'm your host, Dr. David Oualaalou. So good to be with you as always. The United States dollar's dominance is being challenged on several fronts simultaneously, from countries choosing to either conduct their trade in local currencies to BRICS developing its own currency. And gold is paying attention. So why is that, and where this is headed, is of great importance for you to understand. Everett Millman, Gainesville Coin precious metals expert, said, and I quote, this de-dollarization trend can directly impact the gold market, especially regarding sentiments He added, there is definitely a lot of discourse about the dollar losing its reserve currency status. Where that conversation goes is going to be very important for gold. End of quote. If there is a swing in the public perception of what's happening with the US dollar and the US economy, that would shift the sentiment very quickly, and gold is usually the first asset to react to that. This is why we are noticing not only people and investors for that matter, but also central banks around the world acquiring gold. The gold market continued to trade solidly close to $2,000 an ounce at the time of this recording. After buying a record amount of gold in 2022, central banks are not letting up with 2023 seeing the strongest start to the year in more than a decade, according to the World Gold Council. World gold reserves increased by about 52 tons in February, raising for the 11th month in a row. In January 2023, central banks bought about 74 tons of gold. Year to year, central banks' net purchases stand at 125 tons. This is the strongest start to a year back to at least 2010, when central banks became net buyers on an annual basis, said the senior analyst Kristin Karpel. The biggest purchaser in February was the People's Bank of China with 25 tons bought. This was the fourth month increase for China, during which the bank added about 25 tons of gold. Given the recent developments in the gold market, especially with Chinese state-run gold producer Shandong Gold Mining, which announced on Friday last week, May 18th, that its controlling shareholders has this— have discovered an additional 200 tons of gold resource at the Xilin Gold Mine in Lanzhou, in Shandong Province in eastern China. The discovery brings the total cumulative gold reserves of the mine to about 580 tons, making it the country's largest deposit of the precious metal, with an estimated economic value of about 200 billion yuan, or $28.5 billion US dollars. So why is this important for you to understand, you may ask? Well, you must look at it, you must look at it from the perspective of an investor as the market is switching from selling to buying. That said, looking at the historical data, you will notice the following. One, in the 1990s and early 2000s, Central banks were not sellers of gold. There were several reasons behind the selling, including good macroeconomic conditions at the time and a downward trend in gold prices due to strong economic growth. Gold's safest haven properties were less valuable, and low return made it unattractive as an investment. Number 2: Central bank attitude towards gold started changing following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and later on in between 2007-2008, the global financial crisis. Since 2010, central banks have been net buyers of gold on an annual basis. Number 3: We can't ignore Russia and China, arguably the US's top geopolitical rivals. They have been the largest gold buyers over the last two decades. Let me put a disclaimer here. This is an updated, uh, video about my recent promotional video that I did about US Gold Mining Incorporated, the stock ticker USGO. Let me share with you some key update information about what's going on with this company. A, in the past 3 weeks, yes, 3 weeks, shares of the USGO are up close to 60%, and it's been one of the best-performing NASDAQ-listed companies. B, a testament to this is the candidacy of USGO to be included in the Russell 2000 Index, to be announced in a matter of a week. And by the way, the Russell 2000 index is a stock market index that tracks the performance of approximately 2,000 small capitalization companies in the US. It is a subset of the broader Russell 3000 index, which represents around 97% of the investable US equity market. And see, US GLDG, which is the parent company, has recently purchased $1.6 million on the open market, raising its ownership stake to 81%. So this potential Russell 2000 inclusion could be a game changer as the ETF fund will be forced to buy shares, and 8 out of 10 are not even for sale. By the way, ETF stands for the exchange-traded funds and are one of the most important and valuable products created for individual investors in recent years. ETFs offer many benefits and, if used wisely, are an excellent vehicle to achieve an investor's investment goals. This is before we even start talking about analysts covering USGO, which there are currently none of since it just did its IPO. And here is the key information I want to share with you. USGO is offering a one-time 50% of normal rate given the immense potential regarding its projects. And which projects are we talking about? The Whistler project, which contains 9.4 million ounce equivalent resources of gold at today's enterprise value. That makes their resources quoted at only $15 an ounce, whereas 3 recent buyouts in the region occurred at over $100 an ounce. And CEO Tim Smith was involved as selling a company in 2016 for $130 an ounce when gold spotted was at $1,200. 2, the company is loaded with $19 million in cash and ready to deploy it in drilling. So what are you waiting for? You can either invest in US Gold Mining Incorporated, stock ticker is USGO, today, or just let this opportunity slip away as demand for gold is only going to move forward. Once again, US Gold Mining Incorporated, stock ticker USGO. Check it out. And remember, there is always risk in investments and there are no guarantees. Thank you.