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HOW MUCH GOLD WAS STORED IN THE BASEMENT OF THE WTC?
There are various rumors that $160 billion in gold bullion was stored under the World Trade Centers. Now some articles about this all mention only around $200 millions.
On 1 Nov., 2001, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced that "more than $230 million" worth of gold and silver bars that had been stored in a bomb-proof vault had been recovered....
This old article from the New York Daily news is interesting:
Cache of Gold Found at WTC Two truckloads retrieved through a tunnel in rubble
By GREG GITTRICH, THOMAS ZAMBITO and LEO STANDORA
Daily News Staff Writers
Workers at Ground Zero unearthed last night [Ed.Com: Oct, 2001] a buried treasure of gold, hidden for weeks under the ruins of the World Trade Center.
As a small army of federal agents with shotguns and automatic rifles stood guard, city cops and firefighters packed two Brink's armored trucks with the lode, sources said.
This is not a shocker, as it was rumored that as much as $160 Billion in bullion was stored under the Trade Center. Let's read on.
The sources said the gold was found in a delivery tunnel under 5 World Trade Center.
(snip)
Officials finally got to the gold through that tunnel yesterday, after workers hauled out a 10-wheel truck, several crushed cars and mounds of debris.
No bodies were recovered during the operation.
(snip)
As workers inched closer to the gold yesterday, authorities began restricting access to the north side of Ground Zero and FBI and Secret Service agents joined cops and firefighters at the site.
(snip)
The Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia has said its vault under 4 World Trade Center alone held more than $200 million in gold and silver. Bank spokeswoman Pam Agnew didn't immediately know if any of that gold was found last night.
Other companies are believed to have lost untold gold and valuables in the disaster.
So a "ten-wheel lorry" was found in the tunnel - loaded with gold - and nobody there...!? Whoever was removing the gold was warned of the imminent collapse of the South Tower anyway.
"...One of the world's largest gold depositories was stored underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bomb detonated close to the vault, but it withstood the explosion, as did the towers. One source estimates the 1993 value of the gold at one billion dollars, believed to be owned by Kuwaiti interests. That same source claims that when the World Trade Center was destroyed, the amount of gold "far exceed[ed] the 1993 levels." The gold was finally recovered in its entirety in late 2001...
"...The Comex metals trading division of the New York Mercantile Exchange kept 3,800 gold bars — weighing 12 tonnes and worth more than $100 million (£70 million) — in vaults in the building’s basement. Comex also held almost 800,000 ounces of gold there on behalf of others with a value of about $220 million. It also held more than 102 million ounces of silver, worth $430 million.
The Bank of Nova Scotia, which kept gold in the Comex vault, reported $200 million of gold lost in the wreckage. Comex also held precious metals for Chase Manhattan Bank, the Bank of New York and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking..." (Source: Times Online, 1 Nov. 2001)
Buried WTC gold returns to futures trade
A fortune in gold trapped for seven weeks in the ruins of the World Trade Center officially returned to the global bullion trade Friday, but dealers had already closed the book on the tale of tragedy and buried treasure.
"You could in theory say that if things had gone much worse since September 11 and there had been rampant demand or something like that, that it might have been a story that affected the price. But at this point, I don't think it really was," said a metals specialist at a large commodity brokerage.
The $230 million in precious metals has been moved from the basement vaults of ScotiaMocatta Depository at 4 WTC, where it was stored on behalf of the New York Mercantile Exchange when the September 11 attacks brought down the twin towers. All warehouse staff got out safely.
In a joint statement Friday, NYBOT and ScotiaMocatta, the metals trading division of Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia, said the metals had been relocated and were again available to guaranty delivery of futures contracts exchange traded at the COMEX metals division of the NYMEX.
"All of the silver, gold, platinum, and palladium stored in its vaults at 4 World Trade Center have been successfully relocated by an Exchange-approved carrier to a newly Exchange-licensed Brink's Inc depository in Brooklyn," they said.
Spurred by authorities who wanted to demolish the building, by the potential for crime, and by whatever has always driven men to hunt for gold, emergency crews dug through the rubble and got a first glimpse of the gleaming booty on Oct 30.
Guarded by a small army of heavily armed federal agents, city policemen and firefighters began the massive task of moving about 12 tonnes of gold and 30 million ounces of silver. The hoard was estimated to be worth at least $230 million.
There were about 3,800 100-Troy-ounce registered gold bars in the underground COMEX warehouse. While gold is very dense, the task of loading the indestructible yellow metal onto armoured Brinks trucks was not nearly as cumbersome as moving the silver.
Experts said it would take some 50 tractor trailers to transport 30,000 1,000-ounce silver bars.
On top of that, it is believed that other treasures were kept in the vaults, including additional precious metals, jewels and securities. But there has been
no information on whether these valuables were there or recovered.
ScotiaMocatta has applied to establish a new exchange-licensed depository in New York for silver, gold, platinum and palladium. Upon approval, the metal being held in ScotiaMocatta's custodial account at Brinks will be relocated to this facility, they said.
The NYMEX has another warehouse in Manhattan, operated by HSBC Bank USA.
Despite initial concern among precious metals dealers, the temporary lack of access to the metal hardly caused a ripple in the markets. The buried gold amounted to about 2 per cent of the 600-tonne-a-day global bullion market.
The metal was insured and supply was available from facilities at refiners elsewhere in the United States, though some may have been remelted into the 100-ounce bars of 99.5 per cent pure gold to meet COMEX delivery specifications.
The exchange said it plans to rescind its emergency rules which allowed an individual or firm taking delivery of metal under the terms of a futures contract to reject a warrant -- a document giving title -- for metal on deposit at the buried ScotiaMocatta vault.
So - how many GOLD was there, how much could be "retrieved" and WHERE did it land? Had this anything to do with the tragedy itself? It is said that an FBI investigation housed in the WTC - linked to the GATA lawsuit - threatened to expose international gold laundering activities.
Barrick Gold was one company said to be allegedly involved as middlemen in laundering gold from the Marcos family and former communist states through certain German banks.
Are those frequent gold sales - "significant, inexplicable amounts" turning up on the market since the 90ies - connected to this "amount of floating gold"?
