Public Gets Chance To Buy Royal Mint Gold

The Royal Mint is offering members of the public their chance to own a piece of gold, with tiny fractions of gold bars being sold for £20 a time.

Customers will have full legal title over every ounce of gold they buy and can sell it back to the Mint through its trading website which provides latest buying and selling prices.

The Mint says its aim is to open up the world of gold trading, with people able to buy in "quantities to suit all budgets".

The bullion will be stored in "the vault" - the on-site storage facility protected around the clock by the Ministry of Defence - and customers will have to pay a yearly management fee for storage, insurance and admin costs.

Martin McDade, the Royal Mint's director of bullion, said: "The launch of our online bullion platform last September opened up gold trading to an audience that may previously have been put off by the perceived complexities of the market.

"With the introduction of signature gold, we hope to expand this audience even further."

Former Chancellor Gordon Brown sold off more than half the country's gold reserves between July 1999 and March 2002.

Mr Brown, who went on to become Prime Minister, divested of 395 tonnes of Britain's gold on the grounds that it was a good idea to diversify the country's assets. Soon after, the price of gold rocketed.