The ARC (aka -The Ark)

A golden opportunity- literally worth its weight in gold!

The ARC absolutely should be part of everybody’s portfolio (“ARK”) has been established to offer a superior form of physical gold bullion investment. This product affords members all the benefits of gold bullion investment coupled with the potential to see additional gains above that possible from standard products offering investment in either the bullion market or gold bars, for example.

RIO's knowledge and understanding of this market has led to a far more profitable market, that of gold bullion coins. It can be seen that over the past twelve years, RIO have executed and closed literally hundreds of Gold trades, with most trades positioned for the RIO Professional Investors Fund.

The ARC offers potential to benefit from the fact that not all gold is equal!

This ARC holds 100% physical gold bullion; it is not exposed to any form of paper gold.

Paper gold (or arguably fool’s gold) is for example gold mining stocks or ETF’ s or any other papers form of holding and or trading/ investing in gold. RIO have always been against paper gold investment; this mode of entering the gold market is often fraught with additional risks. RIO have always favored bullion as a traditional form of investing in Gold.

Facts on Gold Bullion

Physical Gold bullion most commonly comes in two forms - Gold bars and Gold coins. However it may surprise members that each are priced per ounce very differently! Both forms also experience a dramatically different demand. Bars and coins are legally different too; this difference encompasses the first benefit of the ARC. Gold bars have a value based purely on the gold market price, where bullion coins almost always are sold at a premium of between 2%-10% above bullion price.

The ARC is in a privileged position being able to buy bullion coins at less than 1% above that of the bullion gold market price.This is mainly because we buy in bulk with a minimum order 250 ounces. These coins attain a collector’s value as time goes on, which adds to their common bullion value. The collector’s value and supply-demand ratio is the second very important benefit and cornerstone of the opportunity and this favors investment in the ARC over that of normal bullion investment in bar form.

Below is a comparison between a members personally holding gold coins and RIO storing, sourcing, acquiring and realizing coins on a member’s behalf, all under the protection of the clubs new investment, The ARC (“The ARK”). The main issues concern storage, theft , insurance, authenticity of coins and additional cost of both acquisition and realization should a member opt for the personal route.

1. Personally holding or buying Gold coins

An individual buying coins can expose himself to fraud, since the coin could be fake, depending on source of supply.It can also expose that person to theft when purchasing and/ or at storage location. Storage is a big issue as are the terms and conditions for it, which are vital, not to mention realizing the value of bullion coins. Usually storage facilities do not provide a buy and sell facility and, if they did, what would be the charge levied on both the buy and sale?

Downside: fraud and theft exposure

This is compounded by the time involved in realizing the value of a holding,should a holder wish to sell in a swift and cost effective manner. I highlight this concern as the speed at which the coin could be realized, a crucial factor in any form of investment, not only to secure gain but in order to avoid loss.

Cost of storage:
This would be at least double in the case of a small holding (below 100,000 USD) if held personally, not to mention increased insurance costs.

Downside:-
Both storage costs and insurance costs would be far higher if stored personally .

Personally almost all physical gold is sold at a premium; even gold bars carry a small premium. The premium paid on gold coins varies from 2%-10%, depending on the type of coin and location/demand at the time.

Downside:
The paying of premiums reduces any benefit of having a hedge against negative movements in gold.This also limitsthe upside potential.

The individual’s experience is also a factor, e g how many years involved in buying and selling gold.

Downside:
Again this is crucial to potential success.

Perhaps the only benefit of personal holdings is that the coins can be picked up and held directly.

1. RIO ARC (“ARK”)

With RIO,  all coins are obtained directly from the mint or bank, that has been supplied directly from the mint. All gold bullion coins are stored effectively in the bank or mint at a nominal cost due to the amount in storage at any one time. RIO have several agreements with providers meaning that the coin value can be realized almost immediately, which amplifies any investment gain yet minimizes loss. RIO never actually collects the coins to realize value, making it virtually impossible to be exposed to coin theft.

Advantage:
Coin authenticity is assured and covered between supplier and buyer insurance, and storage is at a fraction of the cost because of bulk holdings. A significant benefit is also that return can be realized instantly at coin or gold value, whichever is the higher at the time, with both buying and selling executed without the need for coin collection, thus almost completely eliminating the chance of theft.

The result is simply that RIO has a significant advantage over personal storage because of bulk coin holdings. Its track record as a recognized government-licensed financial entity means that coins can be insured at little cost.

The cost of storage personally can be 1% per annum, but RIO offers this facility at no additional charge as inclusive to the administration cost.

RIO acquires bullion coins in bulk and, accordingly,often buys at gold price by ounce.This is far lower than the public price for bullion coins, due to the volume of coins purchased being a minimum of 250 coins per transaction.

Advantage:
The savings on acquisition costs are very significant, this in turn producing a significant hedge against gold fluctuation (saving usually in excess of 5%) and negative movement.

RIO has been buying and selling gold bullion within investment structures for over 13 years.

Additional benefit:
RIO has made it possible for members to elect to collect physical coins, instead of cash, should they wish from the storage facility. This becomes an important if not crucial benefit should the overdue debasement of a major currency take place (Fiat money) or far worse the talk of a collapse or even replacement of the US Dollar trading standard system, a possibility, albeit in the long term, highlighted in a later report.


Coin Images and Descriptions

The ARC does not trade in any other coins other than those seen below. Should additional coins be selected at anytime they will feature in this section.

In all cases coins have been specially chosen for both their purity and collectability, all coins are all issued by national mints.

The American Buffalo, also known as a gold buffalo, is a 24-karat bullion coin first offered for sale by the United States Mint on June 22, 2006, and available for shipment beginning on July 13. The coin follows the greatly admired design of the Indian Head nickel and has the American Bison on the reverse.		The American Gold Eagle is an official gold bullion coin of the United States. Authorized under the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, it was first released by the United States Mint in 1986. Offered in 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, and 1 oz denominations, these coins are guaranteed by the U.S. government to contain the stated amount ofactual gold weight in troy ounces.
The Chinese Gold Panda is a series of gold bullion coins issued by the People's Republic of China. The official mint of the People's Republic of China introduced the Panda gold bullion coins in 1982. The panda design changes every year.		The Gold Angel is from the Isle of Man and is minted by the Isle of Man offical mint. The coin derives its name from its depiction of Archangel Saint Michael; vanquisher of Satan.
Britannia gold coins contain one troy ounce of gold and have a face value of £100. In 2013 two additional sizes were introduced including a five ounce coin of face value £500.		The Vienna Philharmonic coin is struck in pure gold, 999.9 fine (24 karats). It is issued every year. It is used as an investment product (bullion coin), although it inevitably ends up in private collections. The World Gold Council cited that was the best-selling gold coin worldwide in more than one occasion.

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