Expert Says Secondary Metals Will Star in New Bull Market

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Major periods of rising gold prices since 1971 have included the 1970s and the 2000s. Many experts believe we've started a new period of such expansion now.

Spot prices touched a new record of US$2,769.02 per ounce on Tuesday "as the run-up to the 2024 presidential election and uncertainty prior to upcoming economic data kept safe haven demand in play," Investing.com reported.

Bob Moriarty of 321gold sat down with Francis Hunt of The Market Sniper recently to discuss the state of the commodities markets and the recent meeting of the BRICS nations in Russia.

He told Hunt that the most important mechanism in determining their prices is not the textbook answer you've always been given.

"Ignore demand, ignore supply, ignore the value of the dollar, ignore the geopolitical, none of those make any difference whatsoever," Moriarty said in the interview, posted on YouTube. "The only thing that moves the price of anything is sentiment."

Sentiment Changing Soon

The Investing.com article reported by Scott Kanowsky said the rise is coming from safe haven demand and a string of expected economic readings expected soon, "which are likely to factor into in the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates."

However, Moriarty said the overall price of gold miners has devalued vs. the price of gold and is "at the bottom now."

"From a relative position of sentiment, everybody hates the miners," he said of environmental and ESG concerns that have affected the industry. "You can go to Canada, and there's probably 1,500 stocks, and the number of stocks under 10 cents is absolutely staggering. I own probably 50 different stocks, and I would guess 40 of them are under 10 centers per share . . . You don't have to know anything about investing if you understand the sentiment."

And Moriarty expects that sentiment to change soon.

"We're going to be in a bull market probably for the next 10 or 20 years," he said. "It has just started the real bull face. You're going to see it in the other metals, and you're absolutely going to see it in the miners. And I believe there are a lot of stocks that are going to go up 100-fold."

But Moriarty said it won't be just gold; other metals like silver, rhodium, palladium, and platinum will benefit, sometimes even more.

"Gold is going to continue to go up, but just like with dancing, sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow," he said. "And I think it's the secondary metals that are going to lead now."

Most Valuable Precious Metal on the Planet?

Like gold, silver has had a good year so far and is up 42.17%, according to USA Today. It was trading at US$34.02 per ounce on Tuesday, an increase of 1.26% in the previous 24 hours.  Platinum, which was US$1,025.65 per ounce on Monday, is up 3.84% on the year.

But in addition to gold, silver and platinum, the platinum group contains lesser-known metals like osmium, ruthenium, iridium, palladium, and rhodium.

The metals are all very rare and have high corrosion resistance, catalytic properties, and high melting points, according to How Stuff Works.

But Mack Hayden wrote for the site that rhodium, a silver-white metal, is "the most valuable precious metal on the planet." The automotive industry uses nearly 80% of the world's supply to make catalytic converters that help reduce toxic gas emissions. South Africa is the leading producer, contributing about 80% of the global supply. It is often found mixed with other platinum group metals and requires extensive processing to extract.

Trading Economics said rhodium has increased US$250 per ounce or 5.65% since the beginning of 2024. While it was US$4,675 per ounce on Monday, it reached an all-time high of US$29,800 per ounce in 2021 — nearly 10 times gold's current record price.

Hunt pointed out that two of the major producers of platinum, palladium, and rhodium are Russia and South Africa, two members of the BRICS group of nations that met earlier this month in Russia.

"They control price; that's a big deal," Moriarty agreed. "We're going to see some real financial shocks with silver, with rhodium, with palladium, and with platinum."

BRICS Group Expanding

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. At its October meeting, it expanded to add 13 new "partner nations."

At the meeting, China President Xi Jinping referred to BRICS as "a vanguard for advancing global governance reform" and "reform of the international financial architecture."

Bolivian President Luis Arce said, "the shield of BRICS and multipolarity" can protect formerly colonized nations, helping them resist "Western unipolarity and the tyranny of the dollar."

With gold hitting record highs and silver rising, the other platinum group metals are nowhere near their eventual highs, Moriarty said.

"The Russians understand this, and they're going to start buying palladium, they're going to start buying rhodium, and they're going to start buying silver because those metals are going to move faster and higher than gold," he said, predicting record highs for all three.