Just as China mysteriously doubled its gold reserves last year, now the other rising power in the world (as long as the internal combustion engine lasts) has said oops sorry, didn’t we tell you etc etc.

What the Saudis won’t be telling us – any more than the Chinese did – is (a) where they bought the gold and (b) why they kept quiet about it until now.

The Slog’s predecessor nby ran this story first in 2006,and has continued to argue on purely market movement bases since that time that huge ‘black’ sales have been occurring to cap the price of the precious metal.

The irony now, however, is that a stronger Yuan means its easier for Beijing to buy more.

The price will be $2000 an ounce by the Autumn at the latest. You read it here first.