"According to Assistant Central Bank Governor Manuel Torres, who heads the bank’s refinery operations, as much as 95% of all the gold mined in the Philippines is now being sold to smugglers and moved out of the country illegally.
And the trend has been accelerating. In 2011, central bank gold purchases dropped at an annualized rate of 4%, then 76%, then 88% during the second, third, and fourth quarters. In the first quarter of 2012, gold purchases were down 92%. It’s staggering.
Most of this smuggled gold finds its way here to Hong Kong, and then onward to China, where there is a voracious demand for gold despite rising prices.
Of course, it’s perfectly legal to bring gold, tax-free, into Hong Kong. This is why when Hong Kong reports its official trade statistics, ‘gold imports’ from the Philippines are 30 times higher than what the Philippines government reports as ‘gold exports’ to Hong Kong!
It’s an enormous discrepancy, and it gives a huge indication of how much gold smuggling is really going on.
And it’s not just the Philippines either; small-scale mining activity is being pushed to the black market in many countries around the world..."
at http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/the-thriving-black-market-for-gold-10021/#ixzz2D57Ov2VG
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