.... Well ... maybe according to Bloomberg. And the destination? How does Russia sound, as it is being reported that an empty Boeing 777 landed in Caracas on Monday.

Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Guerra dropped a bombshell on Twitter Tuesday: The Russian Boeing 777 that had landed in Caracas the day before was there to spirit away 20 tons of gold from the vaults of the country’s central bank. Guerra is a former central bank economist who remains in touch with old colleagues there. For another, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Tuesday that 20 tons of gold have been set aside in the central bank for loading.

The Ruskies know how to get what is owed to them.

See:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...f-gold-ready-to-ship-destination-unknown

Two possibilities: Either it is Venezuela paying its huge debts to Russia, OR it's Maduro trying to rob the country blind. But now that the feline has escaped the burlap, you can bet that Russia will make sure it gets the lot. One way or another.

The people are being robbed.

They did the same thing in Spain during their Civil War.

Dictators never go into exile broke.

Same as here.

Since when is it robbery to collect on a debt? They owe Russia BILLIONS.

If we had any gold.

If that's what it is, then maybe it's a good sign. However, when you consider what Venezuela owes to both Russia and China I don't think the Chicoms or the Ruskies would allow the Venezuelan bus driver to get too far with that much loot.

Let's look at the math:

20 tons = 40,000 lb. = 640,000 oz. At a spot price of $1,306/oz., 20 tons is worth about $834,840,000!

This is a far cry for the billions owed by Venezuela to Russia, but it's a start.

Maduro robbing the people would be my guess. I don't think he's all that interested in making the Russians whole.

Kinda dumb to put that much gold into one plane to go down over water. You would think Maduro wouldn't want to put all his plunder in one basket.

Roughly the value of 14 supertanker loads of crude.

Betting that's not the mother lode of what he's taking.

Oh, and btw, phugk Venezuela, anyway.

What, the socialist leaders lied and robbed the country? Is that what they mean by equality for all?

I'm sure you'd rather Mother Russia get the loot; but we should have come first


https://tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/external-debt

Just another socialist utopia that hasn't run out of other people's money yet. But they're getting there fast. Just wait until ALL the money, gold, and other assets are gone.

Close enough possibly, but gold is weighed in Troy. It also looks like you dropped a place somewhere.

6,430,200 Troy ounces in 200 metric tons
6,533,333 Troy ounces in 200 long tons
5,833,335 Troy ounces in 200 short tons (US)
Or:
$8,397,841,200
$8,532,532,898
$7,618,335,510

Sorry, Sitka, your numbers are even more messed up.

Sorry, Sitka, your numbers are even more messed up.

Well, I guess we now know how much Russian support costs.

Nope, according to the math shown-we really don't

Could it be in Metric tons? 2240 lbs.That would put it over a Billion.

what's a ton here or there among friends

And I would be betting Vlad will be one of those friends receiving a spare ton.

1 metric ton equals 32,150.7 troy ounces. Doesn't that eqate to 643,014 troy ounces or roughly 836 million $?

It was the people who voted these commies in in the first place.

yup, I threw an extra zero in there... was reading/thinking 200 tons...

Screwed up the first translation with an extra zero...

20 tons is 643,015 Troy ounces= $839,777,590

or long tons 653,333 Troy ounces= $853,252,898

or short tons 583,333 Troy ounces= $761,832,898

I need about a thousand pounds

Can a 777 take off carrying 20 tons (40,000 pounds)?

40,000 pounds divided by 200 pounds = 200 people at 200 pounds each

No sweat.

Typical 777 payload is generally over 200,000 pounds.

Here’s the plane:



The gold would fit quite easily + the Venezuelan bus driver, his wife, his “putas,” extended family, and a lot of his minions.

40,000 pounds divided by 200 pounds = 200 people at 200 pounds each = Rosie O'Donnell

Except that gold is measured in Troy ounces. There are approximately 14.583 Troy ounces in an avoirdupois pound.

40000 pounds = $770,250,727.20

Based on Spot Gold price of: $1,320.46

40,000 pounds is a very light load. As Longbob said, 200,000 lbs. is easily doable for it. Once you get up there in cargo you start having to trade cargo capacity for fuel if you're flying a long way so say you're doing Hong Kong to New York you might only be able to carry 150,000 lbs because of the fuel weight.

A 40,000 lb load and fuel to fly from Caracas to Moscow is no sweat.

That 777 in the picture looks to be the 777-300ER variant which doesn't have quiet the range as a -200LR or a 777 freighter, but it's still got plenty of range to carry that to Moscow.

deep six 20 tons of gold = all around fail

That gold will be as gone as those Iraqi jets that flew to Iran.

Yes. It is an airlifting beast.

A Boeing 777 weighs 304,000 pounds empty (152 tons), with a max takeoff weight of 775,000 pounds (387.5 tons), which yields a useful load (fuel+cargo+passengers) of 471,000 pounds (235.5 tons). Even with a maximum fuel load of 31,000 gallons of jet fuel (at 6.8 pounds per gal or 210, 800 pounds/105.4 tons), the aircraft can lift 130 tons of payload and carry it 7500 nautical miles at Mach 0.8.

I read this morning that between Russia and China, Venezuela owes them 120 billion. This is a pittance.

with two engines, it is a remarkable aircraft

As soon as I saw that 20 ton thing, the first question I had was if it could lift it. That's pretty impressive. The fact that it carries 31000 gals of fuel is impressive too.

Doctor/lawyer/entrepreneur wants to work to put away a few milion $$??
“You greedy bastard!”

Do-nothing/know-nothing socialist wants $1million in free healthcare, free $250k college education, free housing, free food paid for by hard-working taxpayers, simply because they were born and breathe air??
“Healthcare/education/food/housing is a right!!”

Which one threatens to use the weight of the government and the barrel of a gun to satisfy their “greed” or “rights”??