i'm new to bullion investing and I saw something on twitter about how gold is being used to launder latin american drug money into the us through south florida metal processors. Does this mean that, if the us mint is buying from these florida companies, the gold bullion made by the us mint is not 100% american? I thought all gold used by the us mint had to be american gold?
Not to be harsh, but just because it's on Twitter doesn't mean it's true. I don't know. I'm just sayin'...
Generally speaking, with a VERY few exceptions, all U.S. bullion coinage comes from one of two sources - 1) Domestically sourced contemporary mining resources, or 2) an infinitesimally slow draw-down of the U.S. Treasury Department held and owned [NOT the Federal Reserve - who OWNS NO GOLD] gold withdrawn only VERY occasionally from the Fort Knox holdings. That gold gets stored at the West Point mint where it is refined to the correct fineness for the issue. AS A PRACTICAL MATTER, for .999 or finer gold, it's cheaper to buy it than to re-refine it from Ft. Knox gold. So in general, gold Buffaloes? Bought. American Gold Eagles and $5 gold commems? Ft. Knox through West Point. These days, all silver bullion is bought as ready-to-strike blanks. The strategic silver reserve was fully exhausted by the early years of the American Silver Eagle program.