BK - Very good points! I also think that is a good insight as to why China wants the IMF to sell off their gold!
When the Germans were printing money like crazy prior to WWII, the value of their fiat paper currency dropped so low that it took a wheelbarrow full of German Marks to buy a loaf of bread. At that time people were buying any tangible objects they could with that fiat paper money. Even though they did not want what they bought, they knew that the money was being cheapened so quickly, that they could trade whatever objects they bought for something they might need. Germans were actually fueling their stoves with German Marks instead of wood, because it was cheaper!
The Chinese are buying things that are a lot more valuable than wood (copper, iron, nickel, etc.) before the American dollar becomes rapidly cheapened from the current rapid printing of fiat dollars to pay for the trillion dollar bailouts. Better to have a wheelbarrow full of copper and nickel than full of almost worthless American dollars.
The U.S. has been printing out more and more fiat currency for a number of decades now, not backed with gold, silver, nickel or copper, but only by the imaginary "full faith and credit of the United States". That is why, when I was young, you could buy a loaf of bread for 10 cents, but today it costs $2.00. Next year at this time, the cost of these metals that the Chinese are buying up will have prices at least twice what they currently are.
It is very smart business on the part of the Chinese! And I believe Noront will, within the next year, be a direct beneficiary, or possibly an indirect beneficiary due to the Chinese starting a bidding war for Noront.
