Precious metals - above all gold and silver - have held a high fascination since time immemorial. Already in the early Copper Age, when since about 7,000 BC people valued gold as a status symbol. Even today, people cannot escape the fascination of precious metals, although the industrial benefit has increasingly come to the fore.
The group of precious metals primarily includes gold and silver, as well as the so-called platinum metals platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium and iridium. Precious metals are metals which are corrosion-resistant, i.e. which are permanently chemically stable in a natural environment under the influence of air and water. This makes them popular in the jewellery industry, among others.
Especially gold and silver have been in a bear market for several years, from which there has been no escape so far. Corresponding share values are therefore strongly undervalued in comparison to the large (standard) indices. And even though 2017 represented another record year in gold production, the gold peak, i.e. the annual gold production, is expected to have reached its peak for the time being.
Platinum and palladium are so similar that they virtually substitute each other. Palladium is already suffering from a supply deficit that does not seem to be going away in the coming years. In the case of platinum and palladium, there is strong industrial demand, which could even increase in the future in the context of the emerging electrical revolution. Innovative hydrogen storage technologies are already being researched in South Africa. Power generation with platinum catalysts is the big issue here. Low-cost hydrogen storage systems for fuel cell vehicles and portable applications are still dreams of the future, but China alone plans to produce two million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2030.
This report provides insightful information about the precious metals sector and interviews with industry experts and executives. The presentation of a number of interesting companies that are suitable for speculation on rising precious metal prices completes the report.
