Total
Gold in Trust: Tonnes: 346.38 Ounces: 11,136,457 Value US$
7,788,425,393.14
Letter
from the World Gold Council
10 February 2003
The Directors
Gold Bullion Limited
Level 3, 15 Queen Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
Dear Sirs
The World Gold Council was established in 1987 and has recently undergone
a significant restructuring, with the objective of increasing its focus
as the commercially driven international marketing organisation for the
gold industry. The key objective of the WGC is to stimulate the demand for
and retention of gold in all its forms.
The World Gold Council has lent its full support to, and also acknowledges
the significant input from Gold Bullion Limited, led by Graham Tuckwell,
in developing the proposed listing on the Australian Stock Exchange of Gold
Bullion Securities.
The merits of holding gold as a strategic asset allocation tool, owing to
gold's non-correlated attributes relative to conventional investment assets,
have been clearly demonstrated in recent times. The current environment,
where uncertainty prevails in financial markets and returns from conventional
assets continue to disappoint, bodes well for the relative performance of
gold. We would strongly argue the case that it is prudent for the investor
to include gold as a part of a balanced portfolio.
In the past, many investors have found investing in gold to be a cumbersome
and costly process. Retail and institutional investors have encountered
barriers to entry in the form of difficulties with purchase, storage and
insurance. In our view, the securitisation of gold through Gold Bullion
Securities addresses these issues; it allows investors to buy, hold and
sell gold in a simple and cost effective manner, dealing through established
broking channels.
We believe this initiative is the beginning of a new journey in the repositioning
and acceptance of gold as a unique asset class.
