via Financial Post - Old Article - 'Backed By Canada's Gold'

The only problem with the claim that the Mint's exchange traded receipt offering was backed by Canada's gold, is that Mark Carney sold the last $89m. gold before departing for the UK.

Even more hilarious is the claim that they simply go out and wave cash in people's faces and walk away with tonnes upon tonnes of rare metal, when the COMEX is perennially in default as far as specie is concerned, and they more than likely settle in cash.

"The only issue with such a huge offering is that the insiders had to quickly go about buying and storing $600-million of gold in a short time period."

It's preposterously absurd to suggest it was merely a matter of rushing out to COSTCO and loading up your shopping cart with tonnes upon tonnes of rare London good delivery gold bars.

The bars aren't listed as they are with Sprott, who would have taken several years to complete swapping gold for cash in an off balance sheet arrangement.

Why is it all in an off-balance sheet arrangement? READ:

"It was determined that no prospectus was needed because an exemption exists for government debt offerings, and the IPO was viewed as analogous to those."

Without first securing supply, the ETR's would have been a failure. The counterparties are almost certainly NOT the banks. It's certain that the available supply of gold would have to come straight out of the mines, for guaranteed supply. Plus you'll need to get around the rules.

In fact, the counterparty is a mining company. And, here is your reason for secrecy and why balance sheets are so ludicrous.

No prospectus, no earnings, no bar list, and all the gold is refined in house. Liabilities in the millions, yet there's no question of bankruptcy. Who could possibly be the counterparty to the balance sheet of the mint.

No technical reports, no valid PEA, no reserves, presumably no production, yet all the gold emerges in house and the balance sheet is similarily opaque. Isn't GBN.V the counterparty in ETF - ETR offerings?

Both Sprott's offerings and the Mint's followed one upon the other, and would have taken years to fill out $1.66 billion in gold. 2012 was an especially auspicious year for misleading reports of no substance. (Waterton,Marketable Securities, and previously, gold notes)

http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/mints-new-ipo-turned-out-to-be-a-gold-mine

-F6