Tom welcomes back Petroleum Engineer and Analyst Michael Lynch to discuss the big movers in the silver market. He provides diagrams of how metals flow from the market to the retail level, and mentions how the United States Mint is legally required to meet the public’s demand for gold and silver Eagles, though not other mint products.

Michael covers the costs for producing Silver Eagles, as well as how the premiums have changed lately. He believes the Mint’s production issue is due, in part, to a lack of available blanks from supplier mints such as Sunshine Mint, which have experienced labor shortages and production challenges. He believes that Blackrock’s Ishares SLV Trust is being used to heavily influence the market, keeping everyone happy but the retail buyers.

Michael suggests the Mint could solve its problems by bringing blank production in-house; this would give them more flexibility with production. He also suggests silver stackers consider selling ASE’s and buying larger bars in order to minimize premiums and get more ounces.

Time Stamp References:
0:00 – Introduction
1:15 – U.S. Mint Operations
5:00 – Silver Eagle Sales
6:44 – ASE Costs & Premiums
10:38 – Current Situation
13:46 – Supply Dysfunction
19:30 – Premium Overview
24:33 – Blackrock & IShares SLV
28:54 – A-Mark Share Prices
33:39 – ASE Premium Dynamics
38:15 – Conclusions
48:22 – Wrap Up

Talking Points From This Week’s Episode

• The Mint has been unable to meet demand due to alleged production issues with blanks, but some suggest Blackrock is manipulating the market through Ishares SLV Trust.
  
• Silver stackers can avoid premiums by buying larger bars instead of Silver Eagles.
  
• A solution to the Mint’s shortage would be to bring production in-house, giving them more production flexibility.
  

Guest Links:
Website: https://www.reddit.com/user/Ditch_the_DeepState/submitted/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DtDS_WSS
Substack: https://econanalytics.substack.com

Michael Lynch has a background as a Petroleum Engineer and developed a keen interest in the history of money as a result of witnessing the collapse of the Indonesian currency. This interest has brought him to study the behavior of the Comex, JP Morgan, and SLV paper contracts.