With an eye for detail and over a decade of experience covering the mining and metals sector, Charlotte is passionate about bringing investors accurate and insightful information that can help them make informed decisions.
She leads the Investing News Network's video and event coverage, and guides a team of writers reporting on niche investment markets.
"I think that there's been a bit of an awakening in the retail market in the US, and I think it was what was happening in silver that really got everybody's attention," said Stefan Gleason of Money Metals.
Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals, breaks down recent silver and gold dynamics, discussing trends in the US retail market, as well as backups at refineries.
While the situation has begun to normalize, he sees potential for further disruptions in the future.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Before the Trump administration revealed plans for Project Vault, Howard Klein, co-founder and partner at RK Equity, proposed the idea of a strategic lithium reserve.
“The goal of a strategic lithium reserve is to stabilize prices and allow the industry to develop,” he told the Investing News Network. “If prices fall too low, the reserve would step in as a buyer. If prices spike too high, it could sell into the market.”
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
With an eye for detail and over a decade of experience covering the mining and metals sector, Charlotte is passionate about bringing investors accurate and insightful information that can help them make informed decisions.
She leads the Investing News Network's video and event coverage, and guides a team of writers reporting on niche investment markets.
Gold and silver were having a fairly quiet week until Thursday (February 12), when both precious metals experienced steep drops early in the day.
The gold price, which had been steady above US$5,000 per ounce, and even briefly breached US$5,100, tumbled by over US$100, bottoming out around US$4,900.
Meanwhile, silver sank from above US$80 per ounce to below US$75.
Market watchers have presented various reasons for these declines, with a mainstream talking point being that the precious metals were moving in line with the broader stock market.
Thursday brought declines in major US indexes as investors reportedly reacted to concerns that various industries could be negatively impacted by artificial intelligence automation.
Of course, with gold and silver it's always possible that there's more going on beneath the surface. Many of our popular YouTube channel guests reacted to this week's price drop on X, with some, including Willem Middelkoop and Craig Hemke, suggesting manipulation was at play.
I've also read that a Russian memo seen by Bloomberg may have had a dampening effect on gold — the report details proposals sent by the Kremlin that could see the country return to the US dollar settlement system as part of an economic partnership with the Trump administration.
Whatever the reason for the decrease was, gold and silver had bounced back by Friday (February 13), with silver getting back above US$77 and gold closing at the US$5,043 level.
The rebound came despite slightly cooler-than-expected US consumer price index data, which eased inflation concerns and boosted interest rate cut expectations from the US Federal Reserve.
Looking forward, I want to emphasize again that the broad consensus among the experts I've been speaking to continues to be that the run in gold and silver prices isn't over.
However, that doesn't mean the path will be straight up. I heard this week from Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals, who spoke about the importance of weathering volatility:
"I mean, we're in a dollar bear market for reasons. And so people better be prepared for the volatility, because as things go off the rails, which is what's happening to the dollar, yeah, there's volatility. And there's days when people can't sell the dollar enough, and there's days when they're desperately, urgently trying to grab as many fistfuls of dollars as they can, and the dollar is extremely well bid — you'll see that as the price of gold falling. So you're going to get it both ways, but the trend is clear and the drivers are clear."
Keith is calling for US$6,000 gold in 2026 and a silver price of US$120 by the end of the year. The US$6,000 number is in line with recent projections from BNP Paribas and CIBC, whose forecasts indicate that major banks also still see strength in gold.
Merger talks between commodities giants Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) and Glencore (LSE:GLEN,OTCPL:GLCNF) have fallen through, nixing what would have been the mining industry's biggest-ever deal, but M&A activity in the space continues to heat up.
A new survey from TD Cowen identifies IAMGOLD (TSX:IMG,NYSE:IAG) as the year's top takeover candidate, with close to 20 percent of the 58 respondents pointing to the company.
Artemis Gold (TSXV:ARTG,OTCQX:ARGTF) was in second place at 11 percent, while Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (TSX:ASCU,OTCQX:ASCUF) was third at 7 percent.
Almost all of the respondents, who included institutional investors and mining executives, said they expect to see more gold, silver and copper M&A in 2026 compared to last year.
We'll have to wait and see how any potential deals play out, including Barrick Mining's (TSX:ABX,NYSE:B) planned initial public offering for its North American gold assets.
Newmont (NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM), Barrick's partner at the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, said it is concerned about the management of the operation, and wants to see improvements — a clash between the two miners could end up disrupting Barrick's plans.
Want more YouTube content? Check out our expert market commentary playlist, which features interviews with key figures in the resource space. If there's someone you'd like to see us interview, please send an email to cmcleod@investingnews.com.
And don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
With an eye for detail and over a decade of experience covering the mining and metals sector, Charlotte is passionate about bringing investors accurate and insightful information that can help them make informed decisions.
She leads the Investing News Network's video and event coverage, and guides a team of writers reporting on niche investment markets.
Keith Weiner, founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, shares his outlook for gold and silver in 2026, saying that while he expects higher prices there will be volatility.
He also outlines his thoughts on the role of precious metals in the monetary system.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
With an eye for detail and over a decade of experience covering the mining and metals sector, Charlotte is passionate about bringing investors accurate and insightful information that can help them make informed decisions.
She leads the Investing News Network's video and event coverage, and guides a team of writers reporting on niche investment markets.
Jaime Carrasco, senior portfolio manager and senior financial advisor at Harbourfront Wealth Management, explains what's driving gold and silver prices.
"The real question here is not how high silver is going — forget about that," he said.
"The right question is how high does gold have to go to do what gold has done for 4,000 years within the monetary system."
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
With an eye for detail and over a decade of experience covering the mining and metals sector, Charlotte is passionate about bringing investors accurate and insightful information that can help them make informed decisions.
She leads the Investing News Network's video and event coverage, and guides a team of writers reporting on niche investment markets.
Gary Savage, president of the Smart Money Tracker newsletter, breaks down gold and silver's recent price activity, saying that while the precious metals have reached the parabolic phase of the bull market, it's typical to see a correction midway through.
"The second phase I think will be several times bigger than what we just went through over the last two months," he told the Investing News Network.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
