Latest news with #Ciampaglia
CNBC
17-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Gold trounced treasuries, dollar, but biggest precious metals bull market trade may be moving
Precious metals have been on a tear this year, with gold, silver and platinum all posting returns above 20%, as the alternative asset class that has long been an investor safe haven during times of market volatility. With gold recently hitting all-time highs, and silver reaching a price level on Tuesday that was its highest since 2011, and platinum up over 35% year-to-date, all have trounced the traditional U.S. financial system based safe-haven assets — treasuries and the U.S. dollar. What's taking place is a combination of the safe-haven trade occurring at the same time as concerns about the U.S. deficit and the de-dollarization wave among foreign central banks amid political shifts since President Trump's election and a global realignment of interests. Gold is up about 27% so far in 2025, "yet U.S. treasuries are kind of meandering around and it's not really providing the same safe haven experience that treasuries and the U.S. dollar traditionally played," said Sprott Asset Management CEO John Ciampaglia on a recent edition of CNBC's ETF Edge. In some respects, gold's movement has aspects of the non-traditional, acting a little more like "digital gold" — i.e. bitcoin — with the safe-haven metal moving up alongside the cryptocurrency. If that's the case, Jan Van Eck, CEO of ETF and mutual fund company VanEck, says that gold has some catching up to do with its new rival. "Thirty-seven million Americans own exposure to gold," he said on "ETF Edge" alongside Ciampaglia. "Guess how many own exposures to bitcoin? 50 million Americans," he said, citing the results from one recent survey. "That makes a lot of sense to me, because people look at those as a store value. And over the last couple of years a lot of the appreciation has gone into bitcoin," Van Eck said. The S&P 500 posted two consecutive years of 25 percent-plus returns in 2023 and 2024. While the S&P is fighting to hold onto gains this year amid the sharp swings in the stock market, this is the second consecutive year gold is up 25 percent-plus. "Last year was a real unusual year where gold went up over 25%. We're already at that mark year-to-date," Ciampaglia said. One reason for continued momentum in the metal he cited is the fact that most of the buying in gold has been among foreign central banks diversifying away from U.S. government-linked assets that have long been safe havens. Now, Ciampaglia says, "people are starting to reallocate to gold, but it is still a very small number of the population." Year-to-date, the two biggest gold ETFs, SPDR Gold Shares and iShares Gold Trust, have taken in over $11 billion, according to data from among the top 25 ETFs for flows, with the SPDR Gold Shares' near $7 billion in assets No. 13 overall in the ETF industry. But he says investors should be looking as much, if not more, at silver and platinum, where thinks some of the next bigger moves may be centered among the precious metals boom. Even though platinum has posted stellar numbers this year, he called it and silver a "catch-up" trade that still has room to run, a view that was reflected in silver's trading chart on Tuesday, when it hit a level it has not seen since 2012. "For both those metals, they are just getting out of the starting block," Ciampaglia said on the ETF Edge podcast segment. "Think about the price of silver ... it was at $50 an ounce at its all-time high in 2011, so it is a long way off the all-time high." Silver was trading above $37 on Tuesday. The recent divergence between the price of gold and price of silver is another reason for investors to consider the relative opportunity, according to Ciampaglia. One common metric investors use to compare the trading opportunity is the price of an ounce of gold compared to the price of an ounce of silver, which has recently been as high as 100 to 1. It's come down in recent trading but not near its long-term average of 60 to 1, he said. That divergence will always exist, Ciampaglia said, because silver is not held by central banks to the extent of gold, and its "hybrid" use, which includes industrial applications, recently has been weighed down by the trade war and tariffs. But silver is an important metal due to its high conductivity across many different applications in electronics, renewable energy such as solar panels, and in health care equipment, he said. Even as the U.S. solar market goes over a cliff due to changes being contemplated in tax credits in the GOP tax bill, Ciampaglia said supply and demand in the global silver market has been in a deficit over the last few years and investors are "starting to wake up" to this imbalance. The single biggest driver of silver demand in the last few years has been the deployment of solar capacity, but even if the U.S. market pulls back, Ciampaglia said it has been China leading the way and leading to demand for silver given its conductivity benefits as a paste inside photovoltaic panels and ability to excite electrons. "We think somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of global supply has been repurposed to fit that and China is really focused on all forms of energy," he said. He added that in a bull market for precious metals, gold will always be the first mover when financial fears become foremost for investors, but silver can "slingshot right by it," he said, and that is scenario he thinks could play out over the rest of the year. "Silver is the one starting to show much better strength technically, and we're starting to see shortages in market, and that can have a knock-on effect and investors finally allocate capital to the sector," he said. "We're seeing inflows to most silver ETFs and until recently that has been absent," he added. In fact, over the past three months, the iShares Silver Trust has taken in more than $1 billion from investors, according to ETF Action data. Platinum, Ciampaglia said, has been in a similar price dynamic to silver even with its big gains this year, "very depressed for a long time, but in the last few months it has broken out," he said. A persistent supply deficit, similar to silver, is part of the reason for platinum to get a new look from investors, especially when the price of gold runs up so much over a multi-year period, Ciampgalia said. When the price of gold becomes very lofty, and when the market sees signs of the gold buying frenzy in markets such as China where consumers are big buyers of gold jewelry, some substitution activity begins and people start buying platinum jewelry. The structural market deficit combined with the increase in demand has been responsible for the big move up in a short period of time for platinum, Ciampaglia said. Another trend in the global economy that supports platinum, he said, is the slowdown in EV adoption. Platinum is important for catalytic converters (so is palladium) and as the auto market dials down its pace of EV production, and the combustion engine and diesel are poised to be in the market for longer than many had forecast, there will be more demand for platinum and palladium as part of the equipment used to improve the quality of exhaust, Ciampaglia said. Disclaimer
CNBC
14-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Power play: Two money managers bet big on uranium, predict long shelf life for gains
The uranium trade's shelf life may last years. According to Sprott Asset Management CEO John Ciampaglia, a "real shift" upward is underway due to increasing global energy demand — particularly as major tech companies look to power artificial intelligence data centers. "We've been talking about uranium and nuclear energy non-stop for four years at Sprott, and we've been incredibly bullish on the segment," he told CNBC's "ETF Edge" this week. Ciampaglia's firm runs the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (SRUUF), which Morningstar ranks as the world's largest physical uranium fund. It's up 22% over the past two months. The firm is also behind the Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (URNM), which is up almost 38% over the past two months. The Sprott website lists Cameco and NAC Kazatomprom JSC as the top two holdings in the fund as of June 12. "It's [uranium] a reliable form of energy. It has zero greenhouse gases. It has a very good long-term track record," Ciampaglia said. "It provides a lot of electricity on a large scale, and that's right now what the grid is calling for." Ciampaglia finds attitudes are changing toward nuclear energy because it offers energy security with a low carbon footprint. Uranium is "incredibly energy-dense" compared to most fossil fuels, he said, which makes it a promising option to ensure energy security. He cited the 2022 energy crisis in Europe after Russia cut its oil supply to the region and April's grid failure in Spain and Portugal as cases for more secure energy sources. "We think this trend is long term and secular and durable," Ciampaglia said. "With the exception of Germany, I think every country around the world has flipped back to nuclear power, which is a very powerful signal." VanEck CEO Jan van Eck is also heavily involved in the uranium space. "You need reliable power," he said. "These data centers can't go down for a fraction of a second. They need to be running all the time." His firm is behind the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear ETF (NLR), which is up about 42% over the past two months. According to VanEck's website as of June 12, its top three holdings are Oklo, Nuscale Power and Constellation Energy. But he contends there's a potential downside to the uranium trade: Building new nuclear power plants can take years. "What's going to happen in the meantime?" Van Eck said. "Investors are not patient, as we know." Van Eck also thinks it's possible the Trump administration's positive attitude toward nuclear power could fast track development. He highlighted nuclear technology company Oklo during the interview. Its shares soared on Wednesday after the company announced it was anticipating a deal with the Air Force to supply nuclear power to a base in Alaska. The agreement came not long after President Donald Trump in May signed a series of executive orders to rework the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, expedite new reactor construction and expand the domestic uranium industry. "Trump controls federal land, so that's not a NIMBY [not in my backyard] kind of potential risk," said Van Eck. "They're going to leverage that hard to start to show the safety of these newer, smaller technologies."
News.com.au
30-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
The stocks to watch in the ASX's emerging silver sector
Silver prices have failed to keep up with cousin gold in 2025 But massive deficits suggest higher prices will come eventually to boost a new class of emerging producers Kristie Batten breaks down the key contenders at various stages on the ASX Often dubbed gold's poor cousin, silver has underperformed this year, leaving market participants scratching their heads. After being one of the stronger commodity performers in 2024, silver has largely sat on the sidelines as gold has hit record after record. At its current price of ~US$32.50 an ounce, silver remains well below its 2011 high of US$50/oz. 'It's hard to find a commodity that is still so far off its last high and silver is one that, to us, feels like it needs a big catch-up trade here,' Sprott Asset Management CEO John Ciampaglia told the Bloor St Virtual Silver Conference on Friday. 'It is incredibly frustrating for us and our investors that silver is just not catching more of a bid.' The gold to silver ratio, which is the number of silver ounces relative to one ounce of gold, surged to as high as 105 this month and remains at around 100. 'That is about as extreme as I can ever remember seeing it. Even at 80, it's considered extreme, so 100 is really off the charts,' Ciampaglia said. 'It really does reflect one, gold's incredible run, and two, silver just not participating to the same degree.' The global market for silver exchange-traded funds is about one tenth the size of gold, though Ciampaglia said the difference in inflows so far this year had also shocked him. By Sprott's numbers, about US$25 billion has flowed into gold ETFs this year, compared to just US$500 million for silver. 'Right now, we need more investors participating in silver to give it a boost,' Ciampaglia said. More like copper Ciampaglia described silver as a chameleon or a hybrid metal – both a monetary metal and an industrial metal. 'When the economy is under stress, or there's uncertainty about the economy, you find that silver starts trading more like copper, which is obviously a key industrial metal,' Ciampaglia said. 'Right now, it seems to be more heavily influenced on the industrial side, as opposed to the investment side.' Sprott Asset Management chief investment officer Maria Smirnova said the industrial demand for silver was surging. 'But what silver doesn't have is the buying from central banks. As you know, gold has been gobbled up in the last three years by central banks, over 1000 tonnes per year,' she said. 'Silver is not being accumulated by central banks, so I think that kind of has hurt silver also. 'I think if people are expecting a slowdown in the economy, specifically because of all the tariffs that are being announced, the perception would be to hurt silver as well, because again, it is used in industry.' Silver posted its fourth consecutive deficit in 2024 of almost 150 million ounces and is expected to be in deficit again this year. 'This is a market where we only produce 1 billion ounces per year, so that's between 10% and 20% we're short every year now. That's a lot of ounces to find,' Smirnova said. 'Over the last 10 years, we have not increased silver production – in fact, if anything, we have lost about 50Moz per year of production. 'There's been a lack of exploration and development in the silver market, reserve grades and production grades have been declining, so we have to find bigger orebodies and invest more money to develop these deposits.' ASX silver exposure There are plenty of Toronto-listed silver producers, but Ciampaglia noted that it could still be difficult to get exposure. 'The challenge is that there aren't many left of the silver miners, even though they might have silver in their company name, they are actually gold miners in disguise, and it's increasingly hard to get pure play silver exposure,' he said. While producers are scarce, the number of primary silver companies on the ASX has increased in line with the rise in price last year. The only producer right now is Adriatic Metals (ASX:ADT), which should be declaring commercial production from its Vares operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina any day now after it produced 1.4Moz of silver equivalent in the March quarter and generated positive cashflow. Soon to join Adriatic is Broken Hill Mines, which has acquired the Rasp mine and Pinnacles project in Broken Hill and is raising up to $20 million via a reverse takeover of Coolabah Metals (ASX:CBH). While Broken Hill is known for zinc and lead mining, BHM expects more than 50% of its revenue to come from silver, making it the dominant contributor. Yesterday, Boab Metals (ASX:BML) potentially jumped to the front of the production queue with the $10 million acquisition of Sandfire Resources' (ASX:SFR) DeGrussa plant for use at the Sorby Hills lead-silver project in Western Australia. The latest capital cost for the project was $264 million, including $136 million for a new plant. The company is planning to make a final investment decision later this year. Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) boasts Australia's largest undeveloped silver project, Bowdens in New South Wales, which has reserves of 72Moz. The company is advancing permitting for the $331 million project, which is expected to produce an average of 4.2Moz of silver per annum at 83 grams per tonne at all-in sustaining costs of less than $23/oz in the first 10 years of a 16.5-year mine life. Maronan Metals (ASX:MMA) should have a resource update and scoping study out for its namesake lead-silver project in Queensland in the coming months. Maronan has a resource of 32.1 million tonnes at 6.1% lead and 107g/t silver for 1.96Mt of contained lead and 110.6Moz of silver. Growing resources Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) holds the largest silver resource on the ASX of 480Moz AgEq at 68.29g/t AgEq at its Maverick Springs project in Nevada. Earlier this week, Sun kicked off its 2025 drilling program with the aim of building on the existing resource, as well as providing samples for metallurgical testing. In Chile, Andean Silver (ASX:ASL) has a high-grade resource of 9.8Mt at 353g/t AgEq for 111Moz of AgEq, as well as US$150 million worth of infrastructure, at its Cerro Bayo project. The company currently has three drill rigs spinning. In nearby Argentina, Unico Silver (ASX:USL) has a resource of 16.47Mt at 172g/t AgEq for 91.3Moz AgEq at its Cerro Leon project, as well as a non-JORC historical resource of 16.7Mt at 136g/t AgEq for 73.4Moz AgEq at the Joaquin project. The first drilling program at Joaquin is underway. To the north in Mexico, Mithril Silver and Gold (ASX:MTH) has two rigs working at the Copalquin project in Mexico. The company has the aim of doubling the existing resource of 2.4Mt at 4.8g/t gold and 141g/t silver for 373,000oz of gold and 10.9Moz silver in an update to be released later this year. Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) completed a drilling program at its Kempfield project in NSW during the March quarter, extending mineralisation outside the resource. Kempfield has a resource of 63.7Mt at 69.75 g/t AgEq for 142.8Moz of AgEq. Earlier stage options Shares in Errawarra Resources (ASX:ERW) spiked in late March when it announced the acquisition of 70% of the Elizabeth Hill silver project and surrounding tenements in the Pilbara region of WA. While Elizabeth Hill doesn't have a resource, it produced 1.2Moz of silver at a head grade of 2194g/t silver in just one year, though it closed in 2000 due to a weak silver price. Errawarra, which is planning to change its name to West Coast Silver, raised $3 million and has already kicked off field work at Elizabeth Hill. The work underway will pave the way for the first drilling program, which is expected to begin later this quarter. In Queensland, Iltani Resources doesn't yet have a resource for its Orient silver-indium project, but it's currently working towards that goal. The company has announced an exploration target of 99-135Mt at 61-73g/t AgEq, including a high-grade core of 32-42Mt at 110-124g/t AgEq. Iltani recently resumed drilling at Orient following the end of the wet season.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sprott Physical Silver Trust Net Asset Value Reaches $6 Billion
TORONTO, March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sprott Inc. (NYSE/TSX: SII) ('Sprott') on behalf of the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE Arca/TSX: PSLV) ('PSLV' or the 'Trust') today announced that PSLV's net asset value ('NAV') has surpassed US$6 billion. 'We would like to thank our unitholders for their trust and support in helping the Sprott Physical Silver Trust reach this significant milestone,' said John Ciampaglia, Chief Executive Officer of Sprott Asset Management. 'PSLV provides investors with an alternative way to own fully allocated and segregated physical silver at a time when physical ownership has never been more important.' ''PSLV is fully backed by physical silver which is redeemable, subject to minimum investment size, and does not store its metal with bullion banks,' continued Mr. Ciampaglia. 'PSLV is a liquid exchange-listed vehicle, which is easy to buy and sell at price levels that closely correspond to the spot silver market.' Key statistics: PSLV is the second largest exchange listed physical silver fund in the world1 with 182.1 million ounces of silver held on behalf of its unitholders PSLV has purchased over 120 million ounces since the beginning of 2020 and 1.5 million ounces so far in 2025 PSLV received physical redemption requests for 866 thousand ounces of silver in 2024 and has received no physical redemption requests in 2025 About Sprott Sprott is a global asset manager focused on precious metals and critical materials investments. We are specialists. We believe our in-depth knowledge, experience and relationships separate us from the generalists. Our investment strategies include Exchange Listed Products, Managed Equities and Private Strategies. Sprott has offices in Toronto, New York, Connecticut and California and the company's common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol 'SII'. For more information, please visit About the Trust Important information about the Trust, including the investment objectives and strategies, applicable management fees, and expenses, is contained in the prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell units of the Trusts on the Toronto Stock Exchange ('TSX') or the New York Stock Exchange ('NYSE'). If the units are purchased or sold on the TSX or the NYSE, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units or shares of the Trusts and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. ______________________ 1 Based on Morningstar's universe of listed investment funds. Data as of 12/31/2024 Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable United States securities laws and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws (collectively, 'forward-looking statements'). Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, our statements about price levels of the Trust closely corresponding to the spot silver respect to the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Trust has made numerous assumptions regarding, among other things, the silver market and the trading of Trust units. While the Trust considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, market and social uncertainties and contingencies. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors that could cause the Trust's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. A discussion of risks and uncertainties facing the Trust appears in the Trust's continuous disclosure filings, which are available at and All forward-looking statements herein are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Trust disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking statements or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Investor Contact: Glen WilliamsManaging PartnerInvestor and Institutional Client RelationsDirect: 416-943-4394gwilliams@ Media contact: Dan Gagnier Gagnier Communications (646) 569-5897sprott@
