President Trump has announced plans to conduct an audit of the U.S. gold reserves held at the legendary Fort Knox in Kentucky. The President made the statement on Air Force One, sparking intrigue and curiosity on a national level.

The movement towards an audit of Fort Knox has been gaining momentum, with notable figures such as Elon Musk weighing in on the subject recently. Concerns over the actual amount of gold kept at the high-security facility have been a topic of conspiracy theories for decades.

The Treasury Department, in an effort to maintain transparency, lists the exact quantities of U.S. gold reserves on its website. According to them, there is a staggering 147,341,858.382 troy ounces of gold in Fort Knox.

John McCluskey, the CEO of Alamos Gold, has voiced his support for the audit on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”. He believes that the Trump administration’s push for an audit would be beneficial for all involved parties.

The audit plans have coincided with recent comments from Treasury Secretary Bessent, who suggested monetizing the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet to benefit the American people. This has intensified speculations among investors about the need for the U.S. government to not only audit its gold reserves but also reevaluate them. The Treasury Department currently values its gold holdings at $42 per ounce, a price set by law that hasn’t been altered since 1973.

Meanwhile, the spot gold market saw a surge on Thursday, reaching a new record high of $2,954.69 earlier in the day. This has marked the tenth time this year that bullion prices have hit record highs.