The US has the largest reserves by a long shot, assuming Fort Knox actually has the $US137 billion in gold bricks it purports to have.

It would be hard to get in and take a look, as one would have to get past helicopter gunships, a row of tanks, and a 22-tonne steel door set in granite walls to reach the world's most impregnable vault. And just as hard to get a look at the books.

The renegade Republican senator Ron Paul has been trying to drum up support for a congressional bill to find out what is really there. No independent auditor has had access to Fort Knox in 50 years.

''It has been several decades since the gold in Fort Knox was properly accounted for,'' said Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and former Republican presidential candidate. ''The American people deserve to know the truth.''

[link to www.smh.com.au]