Geopolitical conditions played a central role for all four precious metals. Conflicts and tensions in various regions of the world, particularly between major economic powers, led to uncertainty in the financial markets and increased the appeal of precious metals as hedging instruments. At the same time, geopolitical developments also influenced the supply side, for example through sanctions, trade restrictions, or production outages in key producing countries. Russia and South Africa, for example, are major producers of platinum and palladium, meaning that political developments in these countries can have a direct impact on global markets. Energy prices and supply chain issues also had an indirect effect on production costs and, consequently, on supply.

Overall, it is evident that precious metal markets are increasingly shaped by structural changes. While gold continues to serve as a stable anchor in the global financial system, silver, platinum, and palladium are gaining relevance due to their industrial significance in the context of the energy transition and technological transformation. The combination of investment and industrial demand, coupled with geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic influences, creates a complex market environment that is likely to remain highly dynamic in the coming years.

For investors, this presents an excellent opportunity to enter the world of precious metals, as we will explain in this report.       

The rapidly rising demand for lithium-ion batteries inevitably leads to a massive need for strategic battery metals. The most important raw materials include lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and tin. These metals are indispensable components of modern batteries and electric drive systems. Lithium is the central element of electrochemical storage technology.

As the global economy becomes increasingly electrified, pressure on global commodity markets is also growing. Numerous industry analyses are already warning of potential shortages of several battery metals. Lithium, in particular, has become one of the most sought-after raw materials of the energy transition in recent years. Demand for lithium could increase many-fold by 2030, as virtually every lithium-ion battery requires this raw material. Similar trends are emerging for nickel and cobalt.

For investors, this presents an excellent opportunity to enter the world of battery metals right now, as we will explain in this report.   

This unassuming raw material forms the basis for the operation of all nuclear power plants. Yet the uranium market faces a structural problem. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, numerous uranium mines worldwide were shut down or projects were put on hold. At the same time, the price of uranium fell over many years to a level that made investments in new mining projects unattractive. The result: global mining production stagnated, while the demand for uranium continued to grow in the long term.

Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that current uranium mine production is insufficient to fully meet the demand of existing nuclear power plants. The shortfall has so far been offset by stockpiles and so-called secondary sources, but these reserves are dwindling. At the same time, new reactors and the extension of operating lifetimes for existing plants are further increasing future demand. 

Since the development of new uranium mines often takes ten to fifteen years, an emerging supply deficit can hardly be closed in the short term.

Historically, such structural imbalances can lead to sharp price fluctuations. During the last uranium boom in the early 2000s, the price of uranium multiplied within just a few years. Uranium producers benefited most from this, with some of their stock prices rising many-fold. The reason lies in these companies’ strong operational leverage: when the price of uranium rises, the profitability of many mines improves disproportionately.

Should this trend continue, the uranium sector could once again be on the verge of a new commodity cycle. For investors, this brings into focus an industry that has long been underestimated but could now once again play a central role in global energy supply. For one thing is becoming increasingly clear in the age of AI, digitalization, and electrification: without sufficient available energy, the technological progress of the coming decades can hardly be sustained.

The glaring shortage of uranium opens up excellent opportunities for interested investors to participate in the uranium market, as we will explain in this report.       

The gold price is currently in a sideways phase, but for how long? Many large banks and investment houses have recently raised their gold price forecasts. JP Morgan, for example, now expects the price of gold to reach US$6,000 per ounce by 2029. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently went a step further, saying that in the current environment, the price of gold could rise to US$5,000 or even US$10,000.

In principle, the same applies to silver as to gold: an all-time high was reached in October 2025, but there is still plenty of room for growth. However, compared to gold, this is mainly due to fundamental reasons, which for the seventh year in a row are based on a much higher demand for silver that supply cannot even come close to meeting. According to the latest calculations by the Silver Institute, there was a cumulative supply deficit of around 1,197 million ounces of silver on the silver market between 2019 and 2025. By way of comparison, 1,015 million ounces of silver were mined or recycled in 2024. There is currently no end in sight to this supply deficit, which means that the supply/demand gap can only be closed by a higher price.

Platinum is used almost exclusively in catalytic converters for diesel engines, but production of these has declined sharply in recent years, causing demand for platinum to fall and putting significant pressure on the price of platinum. This led some producers to drastically reduce their production or close entire mines. 

However, the biggest problem recently has been in South Africa, the world's largest platinum producer. South Africa has been struggling for months with weather-related operational disruptions, power outages, and water shortages, which have depressed production volumes. At the same time, platinum recycling is too low to offset the resulting supply deficit, which is mainly driven by rising demand from the investment sector. The World Platinum Investment Council therefore expects a significant physical deficit in 2025. The price has already reacted and shot up accordingly. 

Like platinum, palladium is also used primarily in catalytic converters for combustion engines, but in gasoline-powered vehicles. Here, too, production has been declining for years, especially in South Africa and Russia, where geopolitical tensions and structural challenges in mining are causing supply to become increasingly scarce.

In any case, a further slump in supply is to be expected for both platinum and palladium in the coming years, as South African mines in particular will not be able to maintain their production at the usual level – neither in terms of price nor technology, and quite independently of rising prices.

For investors, this presents an excellent opportunity to enter the world of precious metals.

However, the growth in demand for metals needed for batteries (not only for electric vehicles!), compounds, and switching elements is accelerating much faster than supply can be increased by expanding existing mines or establishing new ones. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the industry will need to bring 50 additional lithium mines, 60 additional nickel mines, and 17 additional cobalt mines into operation by 2030 in order to meet global net carbon emission targets. Leading car manufacturers have now recognized this and, in addition to purchase agreements, are increasingly securing direct stakes in mines. There is a real sense of panic in the boardrooms of major car manufacturers (not only because of the shortage of chips), but also among battery manufacturers, to secure sufficient quantities of the metals they need – and, if possible, from sources that are not only cheap but also have the lowest possible carbon footprint.

For investors, this presents an excellent opportunity to enter the world of battery metals, as we will explain in detail below.

According to heise.de, a text query on ChatGPT consumes about 0.3-to-2.9-watt hours, whereas a Google search consumes only up to 0.3-watt hours of energy. A text query can therefore consume up to ten times as much energy as a simple Google search. Generating images, on the other hand, requires multiple amounts of energy ranging from approximately 0.01 to 0.3 kilowatt hours. About five queries thus consume as much energy as making a cup of coffee or covering the energy consumption of an electric car for a distance of 20 meters.

During longer interactions and continuous conversations with an AI bot, the power consumption per query increases exponentially, as the chat history must be stored and the context of each query analyzed. Furthermore, training the AI application consumes a large amount of energy.

However, it is not only the AI boom, which is still in its infancy, that is causing the amount of stable energy required to rise continuously; the mass electrification of vehicles is already causing difficulties in maintaining the power supply. The main factor here is that energy must be available in sufficient quantities on a constant and stable basis (base load capacity), which is often not guaranteed by renewable energy generation using wind and solar power (keywords: dark doldrums and light breezes).   

This glaring undersupply of uranium opens up excellent opportunities for interested investors to participate in the uranium market. Some interesting investment opportunities can be found in this report.

The operation of data centers, as well as most other power guzzlers in daily life, requires stable, non-fluctuating or only slightly fluctuating energy, which is why solar and wind power plants are not very suitable for this. Nuclear power is stable and therefore base-load capable, which is why more and more tech companies will rely on base-load capable electricity from nuclear power plants.

Many (emerging) nuclear power nations such as China, India, Japan, the UK, France and the USA are working on the recommissioning, lifetime extension or new construction of nuclear reactors and many other nations have returned to nuclear energy or want to have their first reactor on their own soil. However, uranium is required as the basic "fuel" to operate such reactors, regardless of whether they are conventional large-scale power plants or SMRs. However, the uranium supply has been lagging behind demand for years and can only be significantly expanded slowly, as there are hardly any established mines and the commissioning of new mines can take many years. Many mines were closed at times of low uranium prices and cannot be restarted within days. New mines even need a lead time of over 10 years in some cases for approval and construction. 

Cumulatively, there will be an estimated shortfall of 500 million pounds of triuranium octoxide (U3O8) by 2030. For 2025, a supply of around 150 million pounds of U3O8 can be assumed, which will not even come close to meeting the demand for 190 million pounds of U3O8. 

This blatant undersupply of uranium opens up excellent opportunities for interested investors to participate in the uranium market. Some interesting investment opportunities can be found in this report.    

The development of demand for the metals required for rechargeable batteries and connections is far faster than supply can be expanded through mining activities. The demand for nickel for battery production has increased elevenfold over the past seven years and now accounts for around 17.5% of total global nickel demand! Lithium demand has increased six-fold and cobalt demand has quadrupled, even though cobalt is increasingly being displaced in favor of nickel in rechargeable batteries. Leading industry experts - including those from Benchmark Minerals - expect demand from the battery sector to double again by 2030 and even quadruple in the case of nickel.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) even assumes that the industry will have to bring 50 more lithium mines, 60 more nickel mines and 17 more cobalt mines into operation by 2030 in order to achieve the global net carbon emission targets.

For almost all of these materials, supply has been unable to keep up with demand for several years now, and in the case of copper, a huge supply deficit will emerge in several years' time, which will be difficult to cover even with new mines. 

Investors therefore have an excellent opportunity to enter the world of battery metals right now.   

The supply deficit for silver has once again widened massively! Demand is literally exploding, which is mainly due to the industrial use of silver. The photovoltaic sector is constantly setting new demand records - a situation that is set to continue in the coming years. At the same time, silver production continues to decline. As a result, the silver market has had a supply deficit for 6 years in a row, which has recently widened again. Higher prices above the USD 40 mark are necessary for a sustainable increase in production volumes. On March 14, 2025, the Comex not only delisted gold futures, but also an important silver future. The system is reaching its limits, and the silver price is likely to be let off the leash in the near future.

Platinum is used almost exclusively in catalytic converters for diesel burners, but their production has fallen sharply in recent years, which is why demand for platinum has declined and weighed heavily on the price of platinum. This led to some producers drastically reducing their production or closing entire mines. One future area of application is in the field of fuel cell drives, which several car manufacturers continue to have on their radar as a better alternative to purely electric vehicles.

Like platinum, palladium is also largely used in catalytic converters for combustion engines, but palladium is used in petrol vehicles. Here, too, production has been declining for years, particularly in South Africa. A balanced supply/demand situation is therefore to be expected in the coming years, which could quickly lead to a large-scale supply deficit, at least in Western countries, if conflicts with Russia continue.

Investors therefore have an excellent opportunity to enter the world of precious metals right now.   

Many (emerging) nuclear power nations such as China, India, Japan, the UK, France and the USA are working on restarting, extending the service life or building new nuclear reactors, and many other nations have returned to nuclear energy or want to have their first reactor on their own soil. In the future, a large number of smaller reactors - so-called "Small Modular Reactors", or SMRs for short, which can be manufactured modularly in factories and installed at almost any desired location - will play a major role and ensure an unprecedented increase in demand.

Uranium supply, on the other hand, has been lagging behind demand for years and is slow to expand significantly, as there are hardly any established mines, and the commissioning of new mines can take many years. Many mines were closed at times of low uranium prices and cannot be restarted within days. New mines even need a lead time of over 10 years in some cases for approval and construction.

All in all, the utilities' warehouses, which were still well stocked a few years ago, are almost empty and the uranium spot market has dried up. The two largest uranium producers in the world, Kazatomprom and Cameco, have reported that their entire expected production has already been "sold out" by the end of 2025. At the same time, these majors in particular are having problems ramping up their uranium production as desired and have had to make massive downward adjustments to their production figures.

Cumulatively, there will be an estimated shortfall of 500 million pounds of triuranium octoxide (U3O8) by 2030 alone. For 2024, a supply of around 155 million pounds of U3O8 is expected, which will not even come close to meeting the demand for 195 million pounds of U3O8. This blatant undersupply of uranium opens up excellent opportunities for interested investors to participate in the uranium market. Some interesting investment opportunities can be found in this report.