GOLD, PRICES, AND INVESTMENTS

GOLD RESERVES AND THE WORLD’S LARGEST STASH OF GOLD

The United States is the world’s biggest gold holder with 8,133 tons in reserves, more than twice as much as number two Germany. Most of it is stored at Fort Knox and at West Point.

The largest stash of gold in the world is inside a vault in the New York branch of the US Federal Reserve Bank, a short distance from the New York Stock Exchange. In the basement of this somber lower Manhattan building, five stories under New York’s streets, is 7,000 tons of gold. Cast in bricks, stacked ceiling-high in blue-painted, caged boxes, the heap is worth a staggering $350 billion. The stash belongs mostly to 36 foreign governments. The owners’ identities are kept secret. The vault, which not surprisingly has some of the world’s most advanced security measures, has never been robbed. [Source: AFP, August 1, 2011]

“AFP reported: “An AFP reporter had to show identity papers through a bulletproof, soundproof screen before even entering the bank’s ornate lobby. From there, visitors were escorted into the subterranean elevator. The vault is entered not through a door, but a tunnel secured by a gargantuan steel cylinder that rotates to block or open access. Once inside, among the towers of gold, it takes three separate employees selected from different departments to open each triple-locked strongbox.

“As if the fortress and swarms of armed guards were not enough, AFP’s reporter was ordered to put away his notebook in case he sketched the layout. Snap photographs? Forget about it. An inscription at the entrance to the vault — gold-colored, naturally — quotes the German writer Goethe: “Gold is irresistible.”

Gold Producers

South Africa has traditionally produced about half the world's gold. The U.S., Canada, the former Soviet Union, Indonesia and Brazil are also major producers.

World Mine Production, By Country (Kilograms, 2007): 1) South Africa 272,128; 2) United States 252,000 (80 percent of U.S. gold is produced in Nevada); 3) China 245,000; 4) Australia 244,000; 5) Peru 203,26; 6) Indonesia 164,400; 7) Russian Federation 159,340; 8) Canada 103,890; 9) Uzbekistan 85,000; 10) Ghana 66,205; 11) Mali 55,484; 12) Papua New Guinea 50,000; 13) Tanzania, United Republic Of 46,000; 14) Argentina 45,000; 15) Chile 42,100; 16) Brazil 41,154; 17) Colombia 40,000; 18) Mexico 40,000; 19) Philippines 37,500; 20) Mongolia 22,561; 21) Kazakhstan 18,000; 22) Guinea 15,230; 23) Bolivia 14,500; 24) Venezuela 12,000; 25) Zimbabwe 11,354 [Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS) Minerals Resources Program]

Major gold producers (1992): 1) South Africa (19,737,341 troy ounces); 2) the U.S. (10,581,581 troy ounces); 3) former U.S.S.R. (8,101,987); 4) Australia (7,716,178); 5) Canada (5,081,393); 6) China (4,501,104); 7) Columbia (1,189,578); 8) Ghana (997,670); 9) the Philippines (771,618); 10) Mexico (321,507); 11) Zaire (257,206).

Toronto-based Barrick Gold became the world’s top gold producer in December 2005 after it acquired Placer Dome, another Canadian company, for $10.4 billion. After the purchase Barrick’s annual output was 8.4 million ounces. About 65 percent of Barrick’s holdings before the deal were in North America. Placer had large operations in Australia and South Africa.

Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp of the United States is the world’s second largest gold producer. It was the world’s largest producer of gold in 2005. It and Franco-Nevada of Canada and Normany of Australia unveiled plans to create the world's largest gold mine for a three-way merger worth $8.3 billion.

Anglogold is the world’s third largest and South Africa’s largest gold miner. Gold Fields is South Africa's second largest gold miner.

Global gold sales in 2010: $150 billion.

Gold Prices

Gold prices are influenced by numerous variables that include fabricator demand, expected inflation, return on assets and central bank demand. Gold is strongly pegged to supply-and-demand patterns. In general, low prices result in low production, and high prices result in high production. Market forces determine price. A company's attempt to control costs is critical to maintaining financial health and production levels in the face of declining gold prices.

A troy ounce is the standard measurement for gold. Closer to one fifteenth of a pound than one sixteenth, it is 31 grams, slightly more than 28 grams for a regular ounce. It is estimated that the amount of gold mined by mankind in the last 6,000 years is around 80,000 metric tons (a metric ton is about 2,204.6 pounds).

Gold prices rose 20 percent in early 1815 when Napoleon escaped from Elbe and returned to France and war seemed imminent and then back to where it was when he was defeated at Waterloo.

Gold prices were under $50 through the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and topped $100, $200 and then $300 in the early 1970s. Gold reached its peak of $875 an ounce at the Commodities Exchange in New York on January 21, 1980. If inflation is taken into account gold peaked in the early 1980s when it reached an adjusted value of $1,982 an ounce in 2010 dollars.

The price of gold was around $400 an ounce during much of the 1990s but dropped to $256 an ounce in June 1999. Low prices in the late 1990s were brought on by selling of gold reserves by Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, Canada, Britain and other countries and the disappearance of jewelry market in Asia after the economic crisis there. Around the world, governments began wondering whether it as a good it was a good idea that keep large amounts of gold in reserve.

High demand and high prices are typical of tumultuous times. In 1979, when the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution began, the price of gold rose a record 135 percent. Pushed up with oil prices gold peaked to a record $850 in January 1980. Prices then plummeted. Sinking a record 31 percent in 1981. They dropped back into the low hundreds of dollars and traded down at $543 as late as June 2006. Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland, told AFP, “People think it’s the only safe haven but the reality is cash is probably the only one. Historically, gold can go down almost as much as it goes up.”

Gold Prices in the 2000s

The price of gold rose around 450 percent between 2002 and 2009. The high prices were the result of a number of factors: rising demand in China and India; people seeking a hedge against inflation; and tough economic times. Global mining supply has peaked. Producers suffered from declining ore grades and political obstacles that it made it harder to open new mines.

Gold prices rose from around $250 in early 2001 to around $400 in 2003 as demand grew and people traded dollars, which were falling in value to the Euro and yen. Gold broke the $500 an ounce barrier in December 2005 and reached a 25 year high of $705 an ounce in May 2006. Prices hikes were spurred by trouble in the Middle East, high oil prices and a weak U.S. dollar and demand in China and India. The last time prices were this high was in September 1980.

Gold reached $1,000 an ounce in March 2008. At that point the value of the gold in Fort Knox was worth $167 billion and half million bars at the New York Fed climbed to $242 billion. The price of gold crown in the U.S. topped $2,000.

Gold It reached a record $1,218.30 a troy ounce in December 2009 and climbed to $1,245.60 a troy ounce in April 2010. Gold futures rose to a record $1,276.50 an ounce in September 2010 on worries about global financial markets.

Gold Hits Record High Prices in 2011

Gold hit a record nominal high of $1,891.90 an ounce in August, 2011. Prices of gold more than doubled between the end of 2008 and the summer of 2011. AP reported: “Gold traded at about $900 per ounce in the summer of 2008, before the financial crisis unfolded that year. It passed $1,600 in late May and briefly rose above $1,800 for the first time, in early August. “Central banks, many in developing economies, boosted gold sales as they sought to diversify their growing piles of foreign currency reserves. They bought 439.7 metric tons of gold in 2011, up from 77 metric tons the year before and the highest amount since 1964, the report said. [Source: Kelvin Chan, AP Business Writer, Associated Press, February 16, 2012]

Explaining why gold rose so high, AFP reported: “Now it’s the wobbly euro, lackluster dollar and the specter of US debt default driving investors — both private and at state level — into gold’s reassuring, expensive arms. Spooked by the dollar’s weakness, central banks are joining the surge. Mexico purchased 93 tons at the start of this year, up from previous holdings of less than seven tons. Russia, Thailand and China are among other countries with the gold-buying bug. [Source: AFP, August 1, 2011]

“$1550 an ounce in July 2012.

Impact of Record High Gold Prices in 2011

Robin Pagnamenta wrote in The Australian: “As the gold price rose above $1500 an ounce last week, the impoverished villagers of Shizi in China's Hunan province could bear it no more. For years there were rumours that the mountains were full of gold-bearing ore -- a source of resentment as the communist authorities never exploited this or allowed the villagers to mine it. With gold fever burning more fiercely than ever, three men and a woman crept into the mountains to find the village its rightful fortune. All four were found dead hours later, overwhelmed by the fumes of toxic chemicals that they took to liquefy the ore. They are thought to be the first deaths related to the $US1500 gold price. [Source: Robin Pagnamenta, The Australian, April 26, 2011]

“The mania to cash in on the gold price... has gone global, fuelling the biggest gold rush since prospectors raced to America's Pacific coast 160 years ago. In India, which has the biggest reserves, it is expected that people will take out loans worth almost $US12 billion ($11.2bn) this year by pawning the rings, necklaces and bracelets squirrelled away in cupboards across the country. If HDFC Bank is right, the total value of the loans would represent an almost fivefold rise since 2007, when $US2.5bn was pawned against gold.Demand for cash loans using gold as collateral -- a regular banking service in India -- is booming at 37 per cent a year, according to the bank.

“In Australia and Greenland, companies are developing new mines on sites where removing gold was once too expensive to dig. In Sudan and Brazil, there are hundreds of thousands of small-scale panhandlers. In Australia, the Tupperware party is being replaced by gold parties. Women take their unwanted jewellery to friends' homes where a gold expert values their goods and buys them. In the Brazilian Amazo so-called garimpeiros work alone or in small groups in isolated jungle regions. "It's a high-risk activity," said Marcio Paim, a geologist at Coffey Mining. Commercial operations are also opening in Western Australia, Colombia, Ecuador and Greenland. Rob McEwen, chairman of two Canadian miners, said the surge in price might have just started. He said the price could reach $US5000.

“AP reported: “For gold sellers on eBay, the recent stock market turmoil has been a boon for business. Gold and silver sales on eBay had already been rising steadily over the past several years — so much so that eBay Inc. created a special area in May to make it easier for buyers to find sellers. Now, activity on that part of the site, the Bullion Center, is intensifying as consumers unnerved by the economic uncertainty flock to gold in hopes it will be a stable investment. "With all the turmoil in the markets, this is seen as a way to diversify," said Anthony Delvecchio, eBay's vice president of business management and strategy for eBay's North America business. [Source: Rachel Metz, August 15, 2011]

“In Japan, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: “People around the country are cashing in on rising gold prices, forming long lines at gold stores to sell unwanted rings and other accessories made from the increasingly precious metal. Since the beginning of this month, more than 100 customers have lined up every day before the start of business at the Ginza Tanaka main store in Ginza, Tokyo, operated by Tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry K.K. "We've never seen such long lines before," an official of the store said. So many people are lining up in the early mornings in front of Gold Plaza Ginza store, a gold and platinum purchasing shop also in central Tokyo, store clerks are distributing reservation tickets. [Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, August 21, 2011]

High Gold Prices and Crime

Thomas Watkins wrote in AP: “The gold fever that has driven prices to an all-time high is also fuelling a crime spree in the precious metal...The FBI doesn't keep numbers for gold thefts but local police departments have plenty of anecdotal evidence of a spike. Dozens of women have had their necklaces snatched in daylight attacks, burglars are targeting gold in homes and robbers in New Jersey even cleared out a mining museum's irreplaceable collection of nuggets. [Source: Thomas Watkins. AP, September 7, 2011]

“It's really bad," said the owner of Abel's Jewellery, one of scores of gold stores lining Broadway, a grubby street through the heart of downtown Los Angeles. "You work all your life trying to have something for the family and they want to take it all in one day." The beauty of gold, from a criminal stand point, is that it's easy to fence. Rings and necklaces can be melted down - destroying the evidence - and sold. Precious items such as diamonds are harder to alter and easier to trace. Abel, the jewellery store owner, said his store has already been robbed twice this year, most recently when three men smashed his glass displays with hammers and made off with about $10,000 of gold. They escaped in a getaway car.

“There were at least six Los Angeles gold store robberies in June and July. On August 22, four men with hammers were arrested outside a jewellery store, Los Angeles police Lieutenant Paul Vernon said. These thefts were suspected to have been carried out by gang members who covered their faces with hoods and hats, then rushed into stores and swiped what they could in a matter of seconds. One surveillance video shows a shopkeeper being blasted by pepper spray while robbers destroy display cabinets and grab what they can.

“Certainly the surging gold prices motivated these people to want to do these smash-and-grabs," Vernon said. "They are not trading what they steal at the market value of gold. Even if they get it half that, they are making a pretty penny." In Oakland, police say dozens of women have had gold necklaces yanked from their necks on the street. More than 100 similar thefts have been reported in Los Angeles, a rash of robberies is taking place in St Paul, Minn., and police in Phoenix say muggers chatted up high school girls then ripped their gold necklaces from them. "We've never seen this," said Oakland police Sergeant Holly Joshi. Most of the victims were robbed while distractedly looking at their phones. In July, thieves smashed open a glass display in the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in New Jersey and made off with about $400,000 in gold samples collected from mines across the globe.

Gold as an Investment

According to The Economist: “Gold is not like other commodities. The demand for iron ore depends on down-to-earth things, such as how many steel girders Chinese builders are using. The demand for gold depends on airier considerations, such as whether you think Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. Striking gold is generally considered a slice of good luck. Owning it, however, is a sign that you fear the worst. Some people buy the yellow stuff because they think it looks pretty, to be sure. But the quintessential gold bug is an investor who expects every form of paper wealth to collapse, along with civilisation itself. [Source:The Economist, June 2 2011]

Gold is seen as a hedge against currency fluctuations. Its prices generally move in the opposite direction of the dollar and in the same direction as other commodities such as oil. When the the dollar started weakening in 2008 and the price of oil climbed to record levels, the price of gold also soared.

Prices reached record highs in 2008 to 2011 in part because of demand in China and India, riding the tide of rapid economic growth, and later about worries during the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009. When gold was reaching record high prices a lot of people began bringing gold jewelry and coins to jewelry and pawn shops.

One of main values of gold as an investment is that although its price can rise and fall with come volatility it will always be worth something unlike stocks that can lose their value completely if a company goes bankrupt. One of the nice things about gold is that its value often goes up during periods of political uncertainty and economic instability when the dollar, stock prices everything else except for commodities is going down.

Gold has traditionally been purchased as bullion in the form or bars or coins. The problem with this is that the gold has to be stored in a safe place and the investment has to be insured. Gold also tends to be heavily taxed and went it is sold it requires the assistance of an appraiser.

The introduction of gold-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have made it easier to invest in gold and consequently increased the number of individuals and enterprises investing in gold. ETFs are regarded as the same thing as owning gold except that one doesn’t possess the hard asset. Each share of streetTracks Gold trust shares represents one tenth of an ounce of gold and can be traded as easily as stock. In exchange for storing and insuring the gold, the trust takes a management fee of 0.4 percent . ETFs are often taxed the same as bullion. One can also buy shares in holding companies of mutual funds that invest primarily with companies involved with gold.

In gold savings accounts users have a set amount deducted from their savings accounts — usually a minimum of around $30 — each month. Account holders earn no interest. The value of their account depends totally on the price of gold. Withdrawals can be made in the form of gold coins, bullion bars, cash or jewelry.

Small time gold sellers generally get about half the spot value for their gold. If you are selling less than an once expect to get 50 percent to 70 percent of its value. If you are selling more than an ounce you might get as much as 80 percent. Brokers advise getting at least two prices to make sure you are getting a fair price.

Gold as a Safe Haven and Inflation Hedge

Explaining why she though gold was a good investment Janet Briaud wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “In the short run, gold can be a safe haven in a time of crisis. We don't know what the next crisis will be, but we have seen plenty of "black swan" events over the past two years alone; our markets and our world seem increasingly hard-wired to experience periods of crisis and calm. In this sense, gold can be seen as a short-term hedge, or a short-term speculative play on volatility. [Source:Janet Briaud,Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2011; Ms. Briaud is a certified financial planner and a partner at Briaud Financial Advisors in Bryan, Texas.]

In the longer term, gold is a good way to invest in expectation of higher inflation — a growing possibility. As governments battle debt problems and central banks intervene on their behalf, we could very well see deliberate weakening of currencies in many developed countries. Why use gold, rather than some other inflation hedge? Simplicity. Gold can be easily held in most portfolios, particularly with the advent of gold-bullion ETFs. Another consideration for the long term is that gold may partially regain its status as a reserve currency. Individual investors hedging against inflation with gold is one thing, but central banks doing the same is another matter entirely.

“The reasons for owning gold are not all pessimistic, however. Unprecedented numbers of people are entering the middle class across the globe. As these newly minted members of the middle class continue to save, they will continue to be a growing source of demand for gold — even if gold jewelry starts losing its luster in the U.S. This is actually the reason I started investing in gold for clients back in 2003. Some may not agree philosophically with the value we place on gold, a metal with few industrial applications that produces no income. But, like anything, its price is determined by supply and demand. Supply has always been limited, and demand has always been high.

“Naysayers raise questions about the ethics of owning gold, but debating the ethics of one type of economic activity over another will rarely yield satisfactory answers for everyone. Is mining exploitative to the people in the mines? To the environment? Does it bring prosperity to the producing countries? Or does it foster corruption and poorly diversified economies? These questions have been asked about nearly every product imported into the U.S. If we set our sights on gold for this scrutiny, we should do the same for other products.

“To be sure, gold comes with caveats, and investors should incorporate it into their portfolios only with an understanding of the risks. It can be volatile, for one thing, and prices certainly look more frothy than they did a decade ago” but in “the near term, it offers some protection from the next "Black Swan" event. More long term, it offers a hedge against the threat of inflation. In the meantime, it offers a unique way to invest in the prosperity spreading to the billions who inhabit South and East Asia. These reasons are every bit as applicable now as they were 10 years ago, when gold was worth a quarter of what it is today.

Gold a Bad Investment

Explaining why he though gold was a bad investment Lewis J. Altfest wrote in the Wall Street Journal: “It's hard to beat a solid gold piece of jewelry as a gift. And if you want to escape a country in turmoil with closed borders, a gift of a few ounces of gold will work wonders. However, I don't believe gold holds much appeal as an investment.Fundamentally, the problem of gold as a portfolio investment is that it isn't a real investment. Real investments are stocks, bonds, income-producing real estate and private businesses, all of which, except for bonds (which produce interest instead), produce profits. These are paid out as income in the form of dividends or are reinvested and grow. [Source: Lewis J. Altfest, Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2011. Dr. Altfest is chief investment officer of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York and an associate professor of finance at Pace University.

In contrast, bullion just sits there hoping to look attractive. Since the price of gold is not supported by anything other than the mood of investors, its value can plummet just as quickly as it soared. The fact that is has soared of late is another negative. To me, gold has more downside than upside potential. The metal has risen from $600 an ounce to more than $1,400 in less than five years. After the last great gold move in the 1970s, its price declined sharply and then essentially did nothing for more than 20 years.

“It's true that we have a ways to go before we reach the metal's inflation-adjusted all-time high of $2,000. But that figure is hardly representative; it was set under a period of very high inflation, when gold more than tripled in one year. This was followed by a dramatic drop over an extended period of time... Gold momentum can reverse as quickly as the core holding in oil and commodities that was "required" when oil was $100 to $140 per barrel. What's more, after a weak performance by gold, too many people forget the benefits of using it for diversification, sell it and like Don Quixote climb aboard the new "heroic investment."...Since it zigs when other investments zag, it is an insurance policy. But be aware that it will lower, not raise, your overall return in those years when you're holding it — because, as we've seen, it doesn't produce profits or dividends as other investments do.

“Some may argue that central banks will boost demand for gold, as they use it to support the value of currencies. But given the explosion in world financial transactions, there probably isn't enough of the metal to do so efficiently.Some countries may try to weaken their currencies to dilute their debt obligations and use gold to steady their balance sheets. However, I don't believe any major nations will seriously pursue a consistent decline of their currencies over an extended period of time. The arguments against gold don't end there. Even some methods of buying exposure to gold can present practical problems. True, you can buy a gold-bullion ETF and pay a relatively reasonable fee for the privilege. But what if you want to personally hold a really meaningful sum of pure gold in, say, gold bars? Such an investment can be a cumbersome process with a cost for safekeeping it with a third-party vendor.

Gold Investment Analysis

Serious gold investors follow the Gold Survey very closely, published by Gold Fields Mineral Services. Each year, it lists the worldwide mine production statistics. Increasing production rates means more supply, which ultimately means a lower price for gold - if demand remains stable. [Source: Investopedia, The Industry Handbook: Precious Metals]

Another statistic published in the Gold Survey, scrap recovery refers to the worldwide supply of gold from sources other than mine production. This includes recovered old jewelry, industrial byproducts, etc. Throughout the 1990s, more than 15 percent of the world's gold supply came from scrap recovery.

Gold producers are constantly monitoring the prices in the futures markets because it determines the price at which they can sell their gold. The Gold Survey lists statistics on producer sales. If producers are selling an increasing amount in the futures market, it could mean that prices will fall very soon. By purchasing futures contracts the producer "locks-in" a price. Therefore, if the price of gold falls in future months, it won't affect the producer's bottom line. Conversely, if prices continue to rise after the producer locks in, they won't be able to capitalize on the higher prices.

The price of gold fluctuates on a minute-by-minute basis, so taking a look at the historical price range is the first place you should look. Many factors determine the price of gold, but it really all comes down to supply and demand. Demand typically does not fluctuate too much, but supply shocks can send prices either soaring or into the doldrums.

The cost of production is probably the most widely followed measure for analyzing a gold producer. The lower the costs, the greater the operating leverage, which means that earnings are more stable and less volatile to changes in the price of gold. For example, a company that has a cash cost around $175/ounce is, for obvious reasons, in a much better position than one whose cost is $275/ounce. The low-cost producer has much more staying power than the marginal producer. In fact, if the price of gold declines below $275/ounce, the higher-cost producer would have to stop producing until the price goes back up. Producers usually publish their cost of production in their annual report; this cost includes everything from site preparation to milling and refining. It doesn't include exploration costs, financing, or any other administrative expenses the company might incur.

Aside from looking at costs, investors should carefully look over revenue growth. Revenue is output times the selling price for gold, so it may fluctuate from year to year. Well-run companies will attempt to hedge against fluctuating gold prices through the futures markets. Take a look at the revenue fluctuations over the past several years. Ideally, the revenue growth should be smooth. Companies with revenues that fluctuate widely from year to year are very hard to analyze and aren't where the smart money goes.

Porter's 5 Forces Analysis

  1. Threat of New Entrants. Financing is a principal barrier to entry in the precious-metals industry, which is heavily capital intensive. Constructing mines, production facilities, exploration and development and mining equipment all require large sums of capital. This capital is required before the mine is in production. Therefore, favorable financing terms are extremely important. In short, long-term survival in the precious-metal market requires significant capital. [Source: Investopedia, The Industry Handbook: The Oil Services Industry]

  2. Power of Suppliers. The only supply-side issues that miners face deal with government regulations and rules. The supply of land is plentiful, but gaining approval and permits to mine the land can be difficult, especially if environmental risks are high.

  3. Power of Buyers. Gold is a commodity-based business, so the gold from one company is not that much different from another's. This translates into buyers seeking lower prices and better contract terms.

  4. Availability of Substitutes. Substitutes for the precious metals industry include other precious metals such as diamonds, silver, platinum, etc. These are worthy substitutes for gold, but they are not as widely accepted as gold. Gold has the advantage of being standard for a world currency, so a gold bar in the U.S. is worth the same as it is in Ecuador. As other forms of precious metals such as diamonds gain popularity, they may also become more threatening as substitutes.

  5. Competitive Rivalry. Gold companies don't compete on price, mainly because the prices are determined by market forces. But gold companies do compete for land. The backbone of a precious metals company is its reserves, and the only way to beef up reserves is to explore for good mining areas. Companies go to great lengths to discover gold deposits, and the discovery is on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, The Guardian, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Global Viewpoint (Christian Science Monitor), Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, NBC News, Fox News and various books and other publications.

Last updated August 2012


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