Latest / SILVER / GOLD / $UFD Meme Coin Investing & Global Economics / 🚨 Crucial Factors Driving Silver Price - Silver CEO Insights
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- 0:00I think there's a lot of indicators telling you that the
- 0:03suppression of silver prices cannot last for much longer and
- 0:06there has to be a new equilibrium price of which the
- 0:10market continues to function run. $30 silver, $4050 silver
- 0:21When will we see true price discovery for silver?
- 0:25Today, we're fortunate to be joined by Mr. John Lee.
- 0:29He's the CEO of Silver Elephant Mining.
- 0:32They have over 100 million ounces of silver in the ground
- 0:37in Bolivia. So to say that he doesn't have
- 0:40an interest in the silver price, I think would be an
- 0:43understatement. John, welcome to Ron's Basement.
- 0:46Yeah, I mean Ron, I've been in the silver industry for.
- 0:49I've been in the meadows and mining industry for more than 20
- 0:52years and stumbled out to silver.
- 0:55Stumbled out to silver was I'm to Vancouver in 2000 after some
- 0:59being semi retired from the Silicon Valley and my girlfriend
- 1:03was from Vancouver at the time. And then subscribe to the likes
- 1:07of James Turk and Ted Butler and David Morgan of of whom I'm a
- 1:11very, very good friend of. And then the latter part, the
- 1:14latter part of 10 years from 2010 to 2020 I transitioned from
- 1:18being a full time investor in the junior mining space to
- 1:21running a silver elephant. And you know it's been a bit,
- 1:26it's been a wild ride, it's been 14 years.
- 1:29Elephant is I think one of the very few companies that has been
- 1:32been surviving and not been writing checks to to to keep the
- 1:37company afloat. It would be to throw a lot of
- 1:39thick and thin and Ron I I I'm a firm believer that the best is
- 1:43yet to come and I I don't think we're gonna wait very long maybe
- 1:46in the next couple of weeks we we can see some major we can see
- 1:51some major spot works. Yeah.
- 1:53And and on a, on a big picture level, there's just a huge
- 1:58dislocation in the silver price when you look at the supply
- 2:02factors which we have a decreasing supply of silver in
- 2:07demand which is projected to continue upward, but has already
- 2:12been continuing upward. What do you attribute this, this
- 2:16mispricing and silver to any any factors that you that you think
- 2:20are are are more important than others?
- 2:25Ron, I've I've, I've been asked this question probably 30-50
- 2:30hundred times and I on what the real reasoning is.
- 2:36I don't think it's so much to do with the real supply and demand
- 2:41of silver. And the reason I say that is
- 2:44we're measuring silver with U.S. dollars and U.S. dollars is
- 2:49being close to 100 U.S. dollars is an abstract concept.
- 2:54It is being valued by a collective conscience of people
- 2:59who believe what it is should be what it is.
- 3:03So it is not so therefore you say hey silver is under value
- 3:07relative to what and and we're in a we're in.
- 3:15I'm getting a little philosophical about hopefully
- 3:18it's sort of a different flavor to to your audience.
- 3:21We are in a market of which I watch very closely all the
- 3:24equity markets. I'm a charter financial analyst.
- 3:26I travel over 40 countries is the the count the, the process
- 3:32of price discovery has long been distorted and I'm not just
- 3:36talking in particular silver, there's the US dollars, there's
- 3:40interest rates for example and there's other commodities and
- 3:46and I mean just take interest rates for example, right.
- 3:49Interest rate was 1% not only two years ago and now we're at
- 3:525%. And if you talk about because of
- 3:55inflation, we'll help you measure inflation in terms of
- 3:59the oil price. Oil is $70.00 now, but back in
- 4:032010 to 2020 oil averaged at around $70.00.
- 4:06The interest rate was very low. Going back to your questions is
- 4:12why is this location of of of of the fundamentals of silver price
- 4:17measuring U.S. dollars? It is my firm belief that the
- 4:21the, the market particular silver is very, very heavily
- 4:24managed. And the reason for that is
- 4:29because all the different agendas 2030, the WEF, the
- 4:34runaway and the the sort of, you know, the US having to keep its
- 4:41image as as being a superpower. There's a lot that means that
- 4:47the price of real money has to be banished in gold and in
- 4:50silver and that's why you're seeing a tremendous amount of
- 4:54volume and trading on the in the in the futures contract of which
- 4:58the tail is wagging the dog. What I mean by that is the
- 5:02current silver price is not dictated by the true physical
- 5:06demand but rather you have a lot of physical buyers and sellers
- 5:12they don't have, they are mean. We're we're part of attributing
- 5:18to this because if you look at the screen of what the price of
- 5:23silver is and they take it as as the price for the transaction.
- 5:27So but eventually Ron, the the pendulum of the coil is going to
- 5:31be sprung for low enough that there's just not going to be a
- 5:34lot of physical silver available to be had at these current
- 5:37prices and that all the silver mining companies are mining
- 5:41silver at a loss. If you look at all the mining
- 5:43companies are trading at a decade, 2 decade low.
- 5:46So I think there's a lot of indicators telling you that the
- 5:50suppression of silver prices cannot last for much longer and
- 5:53there has to be a new equilibrium price of which the
- 5:57market continues to function run.
- 6:00I don't it's it's not a very direct answer, but I'm just
- 6:03bringing up some of the trends of thought that I have because I
- 6:06don't have any any notes prepared for this for this call.
- 6:09No and and but you bring up a great point #1.
- 6:13The quote UN quote price of silver that we've all been
- 6:17trained to look at is measured in U.S. dollars.
- 6:20And those U.S. dollars. I'm AUS citizen, I'm a patriotic
- 6:24person. But the reality is the dollar is
- 6:27is really based on nothing. It's a competence game like you
- 6:30said and you know or a con game some people may say as well.
- 6:36And at some point the, you know, I I have twin 11 year old
- 6:42daughters. We go to water parks and there's
- 6:44these giant buckets that fill with water and eventually they
- 6:47tip over and all the water comes spilling out.
- 6:50At some point we reach this tipping point where, if I heard
- 6:54you correctly, the physical demand for the metal overwhelms
- 6:59the electronic paper market's ability to continue to
- 7:04manipulate the price and. And good example of that Ron is
- 7:10about 2018, 2017 ish of the Palladium runoff where Palladium
- 7:15went from $500 to $2500 in the spend of months.
- 7:20You know the price levels I have to sort of try to recollect, but
- 7:23it's that level of magnitude when people are going after
- 7:27physical silver, you're going to see some clear signs.
- 7:31You know people will be rating the ETFs clearing the bolts to
- 7:34get the to get the metal and you're also going to see very
- 7:37steady price increases that leading up to the run up.
- 7:42And irrespective of the action of the US dollar index which is
- 7:46used as a way to manage the metals prices and and and and
- 7:53and Ron, I think that we've seen the last few days as a very
- 7:55clear signs. I'm I'm very cautiously and
- 8:00optimistic and quite excited. Couldn't really withhold my
- 8:03enthusiasm because the dollar has been going quite, quite
- 8:06strong and been sideways to up. But the silver price is creeping
- 8:10up in the last few days even on the days where the dollar index
- 8:13was up you know up to 0.5%. So that's telling me maybe
- 8:18there's always somebody in the gnome that some that some guys
- 8:21are front running what is to happen which I believe is going
- 8:25to be a a potential significant correction in the US dollars and
- 8:30and also a very strong physical demand from silver and gold
- 8:35because of this geopolitics and the and the broken down of the
- 8:38hegemony of of the US-led. I would use anymore and and they
- 8:43are they are big players that the billionaires and center
- 8:47billionaires are are in the central banks are really moving
- 8:51away from from your sell into the physical metals.
- 8:54You know the store's been talked about wrong for a number of
- 8:56years. It's sometimes it's it's almost
- 8:59like when it really starts to happen you kind of question your
- 9:01own beliefs and and and and you have your own doubts.
- 9:06I am, I I am all over in in December and the cocktails been
- 9:10working overtime every day to try to get the put the lift back
- 9:14below 2000. They weren't able to do that and
- 9:17on Tuesday you had a rollover of the of the gold price and that's
- 9:20why gold jumped on 2030 to 2050 and looks like it's going to run
- 9:24away. There's just a lot of things
- 9:26happening. A a confluence of events, both
- 9:29physically physical demand, the timing with the Chinese New Year
- 9:32coming and then and then in the next I would say before before
- 9:37May, certainly before summertime.
- 9:39If you're looking to buy gold, silver, or platinum, do yourself
- 9:42a favor and check out Pinbex, the online precious metals
- 9:46bullion dealer and sponsor of Ron's Basement.
- 9:50I was a happy customer before they offered to support the
- 9:53channel. You'll find they have the best
- 9:56prices, quality, and service. I think Pinbex is best, and you
- 10:00will too. And be sure to tell him that
- 10:03you're from Ron's basement. It's crazy.
- 10:05I I, I have my notes here John and I'll read through these
- 10:08quickly and get your and you've touched on some of these points
- 10:11already. One thing that I think a lot of
- 10:14us in the silver community tend to forget about is that if Gold
- 10:18takes off and gold has closed above $2000 on a weekly basis
- 10:22for the last 10 weeks straight, if gold goes to $2500, silver
- 10:28will react in a much more dramatic fashion.
- 10:32And and when we look at the silver to gold ratio which
- 10:35recently has been as high as 90 to one, that indicates to us
- 10:39that we are primed within the silver market for some potential
- 10:44upswing. I heard recently someone say
- 10:49that 400 million ounces of silver in the last three years
- 10:54have left the vaults at the Comex and basically the LBMA.
- 10:59You know that there is this structural deficit within the
- 11:02silver industry and it seems like everywhere we every, every
- 11:06time I hear of anything that has to do with new technology,
- 11:10there's some type of relationship to silver.
- 11:14I know that even now with these hydrogen fuel cells, which are
- 11:17starting to get a big amount of attention, there's this idea
- 11:20that that Stamford and Toyota came up with a way to substitute
- 11:25silver for the platinum that's typically used.
- 11:29It just feels like everywhere you look there's a great setup.
- 11:33And I love you used one of my favorite words, John.
- 11:36Confluence, right? Like a confluence of factors are
- 11:39coming together of supportive factors.
- 11:43Whether you look at the fundamental supply demand,
- 11:46whether you look at like you said the the geopolitical
- 11:49situation in the world with the bricks like it's a confluence of
- 11:53factors that gosh, it's hard to imagine silver, sure, it could
- 11:58go down, we both know that. But it seems like the runway for
- 12:02price increases far outweighs any risk of potential downward
- 12:07price movement. We are.
- 12:09I I really. I don't think that a lot, Ron.
- 12:12I've appeared to Hunt as the interviews.
- 12:16If you think silver is low based on the go to silver ratio then
- 12:19the mining equity is the lowest point relative to silver.
- 12:23That just shows to you there's a very, very small, there's non
- 12:28existent the demand for silver and it's always one of the
- 12:32speculative demand that drives the the metal prices or drive
- 12:36any market for that matter. If you look at oil for example,
- 12:40you know really the negative, right?
- 12:42Like do people stop driving and and consuming the oil just
- 12:45because of the pandemic? No.
- 12:47And so I don't read too much about the industrial demand for
- 12:50silver and dictating the trend. It's always they are they are
- 12:54they're price takers. They're not the price setters
- 12:57it's the IT is the speculative demand that's going to drive
- 13:00because Ron, the higher the price go the more you buy
- 13:04whereas the industrial side the higher the price go they start
- 13:07looking for alternatives. Secondly Ron, I don't read a lot
- 13:11on the comics and the on the LBMA trays.
- 13:17You know I've been purely purely speculative with somebody with
- 13:19over 20 years of experience and and study these these trays,
- 13:25these balls are the volumes are negligent are not significant
- 13:29relative to the overall metals production.
- 13:33But secondly, I think it's it's 99% window dressing, Ron that
- 13:38means the the Ruckkefellas is taking some silver out of this
- 13:42bowl and give it to the Rochelles.
- 13:45And and if you are really a buyer true buyer like Eric
- 13:49Sprout or even say Warren Buffett or or or another
- 13:55billionaire say even say Elon Musk.
- 13:58If they were to place an order for 50 million ounces of silver
- 14:01in the futures market and demand delivery from from Comex instead
- 14:04of getting those silver out of the vaults commax vote you're
- 14:07going to get a call from the Fed and and and it's just not it is
- 14:13a window dressing exercise and and and that's that's like all
- 14:17that's why I'll be amazed members only and these goal it's
- 14:21my belief again all the goal from Switzerland refineries go
- 14:24directly to the to the to the to the to the boasting Switzerland
- 14:29owned by the Elise that's been running the world in the last
- 14:32203 hundred years. And the trays that you see the
- 14:34physical metal is just to demonstrate the existence of
- 14:37volume and metals changing hands to create that illusion that the
- 14:42that the change are functioning as they should.
- 14:44Now I want to go back to one one more point about the the the the
- 14:49gold and silver ratio. Again that just shows the very
- 14:51capped speculative interest in the silver market right now.
- 14:56And there's a couple of reasons for it.
- 14:57I I think 1 we can attribute to the lack of industrial demand
- 15:02right now because the because the China is going through a
- 15:05very, very tough time. And so you see the base metals
- 15:08and oils are low. But the the other interesting
- 15:12observation is that we can trace back to early 2000 and one 2002
- 15:16which is very reminiscing some way to today.
- 15:18You have a very strong dollar. Your equities are in the verge
- 15:21of breaking out and and you have gold that's leading the charge.
- 15:25Remember like gold broke out $250 when Gordon Brown dropped
- 15:29the last Bank of England's gold in 2001.
- 15:31But silver took about two more years to catch up to break out.
- 15:35The fiber is a retail market by and large.
- 15:38The real billionaires, you know they they're they're not
- 15:40interested in in silver as much as gold because they're just
- 15:44they just got too much liquidity.
- 15:45So they have to go for somebody some something of which they
- 15:48could accommodate their their their, their, their their
- 15:51sizable investment and and however there's going to be some
- 15:56rotation of of gold into silver if gold especially stays above
- 15:592002 thousand and you see this gold to silver ratio of 90 which
- 16:03is really being touched upon a few times in history.
- 16:06So therefore you know that that ratio doesn't necessarily
- 16:10guarantee it's going to revert back to the normal 70 or even
- 16:12back to 50 or even 30 by the time it's said and done on the
- 16:16peak of the market. But we, I do believe that the
- 16:22ratio is going to revert you know back to at least average of
- 16:2570. I wouldn't read the read the
- 16:28ratio too much wrong because we've also involved in
- 16:30exploration for platinum, which I think the the analogy with
- 16:36platinum is a little different because silver does have a lot
- 16:38of industrial uses as well. But I want to be cautious though
- 16:42through technological advances, the amount of silver that goes
- 16:45into electronics or going into solar panels would decrease over
- 16:48time and there will be, there will be substitutes.
- 16:51So I think for now you know in the next three to six months
- 16:54we're just going to be purely looking at the goal, the goal,
- 16:58the, the action of goal, the movement of the dollar and and
- 17:02in the and and and that ratio coming down in, I would say in,
- 17:05in, in the next two to four weeks, we're not talking months.
- 17:10I want to get your commentary on this as well.
- 17:12You mentioned that the investment community, they are
- 17:15the price makers within the silver market and all the all
- 17:21the indications that I get are that you know sentiment is
- 17:24pretty low right now within the investor community when it comes
- 17:28to silver in particular. But I want to paint a positive
- 17:34stroke onto that, which is that gives so much room for
- 17:39improvement. I've heard a few people say that
- 17:42for silver to do well, we don't need it to be loved necessarily.
- 17:48We just need it to not be hated so much like it is right now.
- 17:53To me that's positive because you know $23 silver, yeah I
- 17:57believe that's that's a not a not a good price.
- 17:59But if it if we've been able to hold that level in an
- 18:02environment where the metal has not been looked upon very
- 18:08favorably with all this room for improvement and sentiment that
- 18:12gives us you know some hope for a a big runway in terms of price
- 18:17increases. And and and you know you we talk
- 18:21about investor demand, retail investor demand.
- 18:24We do know what's happened during some recent circumstances
- 18:27like the banking crisis that we had eleven months ago, you
- 18:31couldn't find physical silver, people were paying outrageous
- 18:34premiums to get their hands on silver and even during the the
- 18:38C19 crisis the same situation unfolded.
- 18:42So we we do know that these waves of demand definitely come
- 18:46back. Ron, I wouldn't say that there
- 18:50is no speculative interest or it's being hated or it's been.
- 18:57I would just say they're being ignored the the people, the
- 19:00money managers, the the, the power that be the people have
- 19:04money including Warren Buffett's or even Ellen Greenspan.
- 19:09The people know that silver is money.
- 19:12However, because the price is being so well managed, they
- 19:15don't see the upside of that. So they rather be channel into
- 19:19into into crypto currencies or into dollar, dollar index trades
- 19:24between the EUR and the pounds and etcetera.
- 19:28So they're being LED, it's almost like a sheep right.
- 19:30They're being shepherd to to to to sort of play within the
- 19:36bounds of what they are that what they that what they're
- 19:39being led to Ron. I think that the question then
- 19:44becomes and there's just been a lot of die hard people that
- 19:48disheartened lose their shirts and you know they never seen the
- 19:52light of the day something they kick the buckets.
- 19:54So I think these guys are always in there and and there's always
- 19:57a lot of people. I think, Ron, the the point is
- 19:59this the the players are waiting for the green light to be good
- 20:04to go into the market. And and now the question is, you
- 20:09know what, John, what, what's the reason, what's the point to
- 20:11study all those things, the fundamentals and what, you know,
- 20:14I have a lot of shareholders. I was just with one earlier
- 20:16today, John, you talk about all the fundamentals and in the end
- 20:20I'm losing money with you guys and all my silver is the worst
- 20:23performing guys. I bought silver at $20 fifteen
- 20:25years, 1015 years ago. Now it's still $20.00, right.
- 20:28If I bought anything else even Simpsons stamps, I would have
- 20:32made by 10 times more money. So I I think the the the point
- 20:37is the the players are waiting for the green light and that's
- 20:40why you know what I've been at it for 20 years.
- 20:42I'm not advocate of of of of of doing this a full time basis or
- 20:47trying to all of your investment in there.
- 20:50But it's always good to keep an eye and and in the market and
- 20:53just watch where sort of where things are moving and just put
- 20:55your sort of you know thumb in the air to see which way the
- 20:58wind blows because the the the markets can stay irrational then
- 21:02you can stay solvent or you can you know before so that you
- 21:05retire but once every 10 or 20 years the cartels would lose
- 21:11grip Iran and and because they have been suppressed of course
- 21:15because another knowledge if if the cartels and and can manage
- 21:18to whatever price level they can why don't they why don't we
- 21:21manage to sober back to $2.00 right Ron I think there are some
- 21:25equilibrium levels and there's some extreme of coil you can
- 21:29only wind it to so tight And we're at that point Ron because
- 21:34first of everything has doubled or tripled in the last 20 years
- 21:38and yet silver first touched $20 in in in early in in in in early
- 21:442010. So it's been, it's been over 14
- 21:47years where silver has to still just from a gut feeling of
- 21:51travelling around the world and looking at different price
- 21:53levels like a Big Macs or even real estates or earnings or
- 21:56salaries, Silver should be at around $50.00 in in today's
- 22:01relative purchasing power and and just not even take the
- 22:05dollars inside just on the exchange of goods.
- 22:09The way I look at it Ron, is there are some players, you
- 22:14know, we're almost looking at sort of the white night versus
- 22:16the black versus the white, right.
- 22:18Then the the battles of the Titans, the good versus the bad.
- 22:23There are my belief is the the silver is going to be given a
- 22:27run up and they will be green people they will be green
- 22:30lighted and the shorts going to cover and and the same players
- 22:35sort of you know neutrality players, they're going to go
- 22:38into the silver market because there's money to be made and the
- 22:41reason I think the cartel is going to be given the green
- 22:43light for silver bucks this time is the price has been suppressed
- 22:46for so long already and then the the a new equilibrium has to be
- 22:51re established just like the dam right.
- 22:53The water is exceeded that level the water has to be still So the
- 22:57dam needs to be erect higher and the level of water needs to go
- 23:00higher. I cannot think of a better
- 23:02analogy. So and the way I look at it is
- 23:06it's almost like a battle of chess eventually run there
- 23:11there's no way to prevent with bulletproof with fail proof that
- 23:15if you have money Fiat that you go and buy silver there's really
- 23:19not they can discourage it but they cannot really stop people
- 23:22from doing that and that's why they're they're being so heavily
- 23:25managed. But at at some point in time,
- 23:28there's going to be some players that's going to say you know
- 23:31what, I've had enough this, OK like the Putin's and the XI
- 23:33Jinping's and the Saudis. You know I'm done with this.
- 23:36Like you know, I've been playing this game because because it's a
- 23:40matter of convenience. I buy my, you buy my oil I I buy
- 23:44your weapons and that's it. On the dollars.
- 23:47I might own business. I might own my I might I might
- 23:49mind business you you mind yours.
- 23:51And it's a it's a temporary marriage of convenience.
- 23:55I think at some point I think we're at that point that people
- 23:57are saying you know what, screw this, right?
- 23:59They are going to they're going to band it together and they're
- 24:02just going to make a statement like Charles Segal in 1970s.
- 24:05You know they say hey here's my $1,000,000 owe my $35.00 an hour
- 24:09and they're I think that we're doing that right now.
- 24:11I think gold's a very strong towards the end of December
- 24:13right run running up and you know day on a daily basis gold
- 24:17is exhibiting that right now as well despite the dollar 103 gold
- 24:22is never really come below 50 day moving average, certainly
- 24:25above 200 moving average of 17/19/19 hundred $70.00.
- 24:30So that tells me that there are some big time players are making
- 24:34a very subtle yet strong statement to the cartels and
- 24:37say, you know what? I'm not like I, there's more for
- 24:40me to lose for than for me to gain.
- 24:42And they are. And these guys are going to,
- 24:45these guys are like a freight train, right?
- 24:47They're just going to be a diesel power just going to
- 24:49they're just going to March and they're just going to say, hey
- 24:52you know, I'm showing my cars, I'm doing this and these are the
- 24:55guys that cartels cannot, cannot really go to war with, right?
- 25:01This is like clash of Titans and for the little guys or the
- 25:05speculators they can call the fact and give a call and say hey
- 25:08unwant your positions. The Meadows market is not where
- 25:11you want to be and IRS can be knocked on the door, but these
- 25:15Titans, big time players, they're not going to be deterred
- 25:19from just a subtle warning. So the question is, is cartels
- 25:23are going to step up to their their sort of sort of you know
- 25:26last showdown remains to be seen because we, I believe that you
- 25:31know the the guys that that they own 7080% of the gold in the
- 25:34world. I believe all the central bank
- 25:36gold is being being emptied out already and nobody's at home.
- 25:42And so the question is, you know, are are we gonna see the
- 25:44clash of Titans? I think that we, we were likely
- 25:47gonna see that in the next four to six weeks.
- 25:49It goes stays above $2000. Yeah, I mean we're, we are
- 25:52certainly in a time of geopolitical change like none
- 25:58that I think most of us have seen during our lifetime.
- 26:01When you talk about this clash of Titans, it almost and I guess
- 26:05you're alluding to this when you say possibly four to six weeks,
- 26:08four to six months sometime this year that it's already
- 26:12happening. That we already know that that
- 26:15that China and Russia and the BRICS countries are banding
- 26:18together and have made it very clear, you know that they're
- 26:24that that that they're tired of the games that have been played
- 26:27in the West in in many ways. You know and I the other thing I
- 26:31like to think of that came to mind as you were talking is just
- 26:35how small the silver market is, right?
- 26:37I mean if you figure about a billion oz a year of silver are
- 26:41produced by the mining industry and recycling efforts that makes
- 26:45it a $23 billion market in terms of annual production.
- 26:49Compare that to the market cap of of Microsoft or Apple or
- 26:54something like that, like this is not a a huge market and has a
- 26:58lot of room for for growth as well.
- 27:01John, thank you for sharing your in depth knowledge and your
- 27:06insights into what's going on. I want to remind our viewers
- 27:09that John and I are going to do another video where we're more
- 27:12focused on the company that he runs, Silver Elephant Mining.
- 27:17They happen to have 100 million of Oz of silver in the ground
- 27:22which likely explains why John has such an in depth knowledge
- 27:26of the silver market. So be sure to watch that video
- 27:29as well. John, thank you for joining us
- 27:32and we'll talk to you soon.