Category Archives: Silver Rounds

Gold eases early Monday as the dollar firms, after rallying last week on concerns about the global economic outlook. The … Continue reading →

By Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap (Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday as worries persisted that tit-for-tat … Continue reading →

With around-the-clock tariff headlines pounding stocks, recession calls or predictions for a sharp economic slowdown are coming into the light. … Continue reading →

Summary The US economy added 151,000 jobs in February, slightly below expectations, with private sector gains offsetting federal job losses. … Continue reading →

Often ignored, silver plays a crucial role in modern nuclear energy, but practically unknown is silver’s new critical role emerging from the power plants of the future, fusion.

The importance of silver’s thermal and electrical conductivity, as well as its reflectivity, can not be understated. Silver’s best qualities are being exploited to make the new generation of energy possible.

Fusion power is the long-awaited upgrade to fission and may be coming just in time as Artificial Intelligence is increasing electricity demands on the grid, and this trend is unlikely to be abated.

Announced late December 2024, Commonwealth Fusion Systems unveiled plans for the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant that will be built in Chesterfield County, Virginia, and expected to come online by 2030.

The new fusion power plant, named ARC, will generate about 400 megawatts of clean, carbon-free electricity for about 150,000 homes. ARC is positioning the U.S. to lead the world in harnessing a new form of safe and reliable energy that could prove critical for economic growth and national security.

Around the world, fusion power is being adopted as the next leap for mankind.

ITER is the international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject where the EU, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia ,and the US have come together to complete the world’s largest fusion reactor.

[embedded content]More than 130 experimental nuclear fusion reactors, both public and private, are in operation, being built, or planned in 50 countries across the globe, according to a December 2022 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

About 90 are in operation.

Most of them are based on the ITER core designs, which, for various components, rely on silver’s exceptional properties to get the job done.

Belo,w we explore some of the ways we found that silver is being used for the construction of these monumental human undertakings of science. There are several components of the fusion design that rely on silver, which is putting a strain on the overall supply.

18 grammes of pure silver, with hollows as neutrons and gold-plated beads as protons. Latvia’s central bank has dedicated a new collector 5-euro fusion coin to “scientists’ persistence in seeking answers to questions about the future of humanity.”

High Temperature Superconducting (HST) Tape

ITER’s magnets—toroidal field (TF), poloidal field (PF), central solenoid (CS), and correction coils (CC)—require current leads to deliver up to 68 kA from room-temperature power supplies to the 4.5 K superconducting environment. HTS current leads reduce heat load to the cryogenic system compared to traditional copper leads, cutting refrigeration power by about two-thirds. Silver is integral to the HTS tapes within these leads.

According to the UK fusion startup Tokamak Energy, magnetic fields are used in the tokamak to confine and control the electrically charged plasma that constitutes the fusion reactor’s “fuel”.

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape is generally used in strong electromagnets that are used to confine plasma in magnetic-confinement fusion reactors.

The magnetic fields are generated by passing large electrical currents around arrays of electromagnet coils that circle the plasma, and those magnets are wound from what Tokamak Energy calls “groundbreaking” HTS tapes.

Faraday Factory has been producing HTS tapes since 2012, and Coherent says that demand for the tape is expected to increase by a factor of ten between now and 2027.

Several manufacturing steps are needed to make the tape, with the Japanese firm using ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), silver magnetron sputtering, and copper electrochemical plating.

Silver magnetron sputtering is a physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique used to deposit thin films of silver onto a substrate. It’s a process commonly employed in industries like electronics, optics, and materials science to create coatings with specific properties, such as reflectivity, conductivity, or corrosion resistance.

Here’s how it works in simple terms:

In a vacuum chamber, a silver target (the source material) is bombarded with high-energy ions, typically from a plasma of an inert gas like argon. A magnetic field, generated by a magnetron, confines the plasma near the target, enhancing the efficiency of the process. This bombardment knocks silver atoms loose from the target, and they travel through the vacuum until they land on the substrate, forming a thin, uniform layer.

The “magnetron” part refers to the use of magnets to trap electrons, which increases the ionization of the gas and makes the sputtering more effective, even at lower pressures.

Silver is often chosen for its excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as its reflective properties, making it useful for things like mirrors, solar cells, or conductive coatings.

The Silver Shields

Another major and critical component of the fusion design is the thermal shields.

Thermal shields are installed to limit the heating of the superconducting magnets, in particular due to radiation from the cryostat and the vacuum vessel. 

Silver has the highest thermal conductivity of all known metals (429 W/m•K). For this reason, silver has been chosen as the element best suited to ensure the safety of the operation.

Components of the Tokamak are coated in a thin layer of silver that covers the entire surface.

Silver is critical to its design because it raises an obstacle against the thermal radiation in the form of electromagnetic waves.

The plating of the vacuum vessel thermal shield was done in electrolysis baths that required 5 tons of pure silver. Approximately 800 kilos went into the coating of the 2,000 square meters of vacuum vessel thermal shield.

A real-size mockup for a large section of vacuum vessel thermal shield is undergoing the step-by-step process of silver coating.

This work, part of Korea’s contribution to ITER, has been conducted by companies like SFA Engineering Corp in Changwon, South Korea.

The vacuum vessel thermal shield comprises nine 40° sectors. Sector #6 is pictured here, ready to be packed and shipped to ITER.

As a secondary, while being constructed, silver is also integrated into shielding for sensitive electronics to mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radiation effects.

Superconducting Magnets

Silver is used as a matrix material in niobium-tin (Nb₃Sn) and niobium-titanium (Nb-Ti) superconducting cables. The silver matrix provides stability by conducting current during transient events (e.g., quenches) and enhances mechanical strength.

Electrical Systems

The issue with the busbars in the ITER project involved the need for effective electrical insulation capable of withstanding the high voltage and harsh operational conditions within the superconducting environment.

The challenge was to ensure that the insulation provided uniform coverage, minimized the risk of electrical faults, and could maintain long-term reliability under extreme conditions.

This led to the use of James Cropper’s silver-coated nylon and copper-nickel carbon nonwoven veils to enhance the insulation’s performance and durability.

Silver-coated nylon and copper-nickel carbon were chosen for the ITER busbars due to their excellent electrical conductivity, corrosion resistance, and ability to provide effective electromagnetic shielding.

The silver coating on nylon enhances the material’s conductivity and resistance to oxidation, while the copper-nickel carbon veil offers durability and high thermal and electrical conductivity. These properties were essential to ensure reliable and uniform insulation capable of withstanding the extreme operational conditions within the superconducting environment of ITER.

Neutral Beam Power Supply

Silver contacts and connectors are being used in ITER’s high-power systems for efficient energy transfer.

Hosted across two buildings and an outdoor technical area (centre and right), the ITER neutral beam power supply installation comprises an array of transformers, generators, rectifiers, inverters, and other exotic electrical devices designed to feed at 1 MV ultra high voltage to the injectors.

Optical Diagnostic Systems

One of the first optical diagnostic systems in the ITER tokamak chamber, where the plasma cleaning system has to be implemented, is the Visible Spectroscopy Reference System (55.E6.VSRS), which will be used for line averaged measurements of the visible continuum emission of the core plasma. 

This system utilizes large-scale collecting mirrors for the in-vessel collection system. These mirrors are located out of line with the vision of fusion plasma. They rely on a high-reflective silver-based coating.

Transmission lines use coaxial type cables in all cases that are made with copper and partially coated with silver.

High-Temperature Brazing Alloys

Silver-based alloys (e.g., Ag-Cu) are used to join components in the vacuum vessel, cooling systems, and magnets, ensuring strong, leak-tight, and thermally conductive joints.

Thermal Management

Silver-filled thermal pastes or pads may be used to enhance heat transfer in high-heat-flux areas, such as between plasma-facing components and auxiliary cooling systems

Vacuum Systems

Silver’s low outgassing properties make it suitable for ultra-high vacuum seals in the vacuum vessel and diagnostic ports.

[embedded content]

There are no alternatives to being the best, and as demonstrated, being the best means silver is called on for making possible humanity’s most incredible feats of advanced engineering.

Silver will continue to enhance humanity’s future prosperity as long as it’s available, but this energy-dependent future for some countries may not be realized should the silver supply crisis continue unabated.

To ensure the United States has its necessary supply, designating silver as a critical material is more important than ever!

Additional Sources:

MIT spinout, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, unveils plans for the world’s first fusion power plant

MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems has announced plans to build the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyZach Winn | MIT News

Low-Temperature Properties of Silver – PMC

Pure silver is used extensively in the preparation of high-temperature superconductor wires, tapes, films, and other configurations in which the silver not only shields the superconducting material from the surrounding materials but also provides a…

NCBI home page

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920379621004300

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283137704_Investigation_on_silver_electroplating_process_for_ITER_thermal_shield

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920379620300946

There are about 90 nuclear fusion reactors operating worldwide

More than 130 experimental nuclear fusion reactors, both public and private, are in operation, being built, or planned in 50 countries across the globe, according to a December 2022 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). About 90 are in operation, most of them tokamaks or stellarators, which use forms of magnetic confinement to heat and compress plasma in an effort to achieve nuclear fusion. In addition to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, only five other facilities, all of which are smaller than the American lab, currently use laser beams to study this type of reaction: one…

Marcos Pivetta

DEMO Thermal Shield Concept Design Requirements and Expected Thermal Loads – JET

DEMO Thermal Shield Concept Design Requirements and Expected Thermal Loads – JET.pdf

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https://nucleus.iaea.org/sites/fusionportal/Shared%20Documents/FEC%202020/fec2020-preprints/preprint1157.pdf

MIT-designed project achieves major advance toward fusion energy

For the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created. The demonstration helps resolve the greatest uncertainty in the quest to build the first fusion power plant that can produce more energy than it consumes, according to project leaders at MIT and startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS).

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDavid Chandler | MIT News Office Continue reading →

Gold steadies after bobbling a bit on this morning’s U.S. jobs report as it heads for a weekly rally amid … Continue reading →

Gold has been soaring all year, while silver has spent the past nine months languishing, leaving long-suffering investors wondering: Will silver always play second fiddle to gold, or is it finally ready to shine? Like many, I’ve been frustrated by silver’s lackluster performance, but in this report, I’ll highlight a growing number of reasons to believe its rough patch may soon be over. Silver may finally step out of gold’s shadow and embark on a sustained bull market of its own.

The first key sign that silver is ready to surge is its decisive move above the $32 to $33 resistance zone, which has acted as a stubborn ceiling for much of the past year. This breakout is an encouraging signal, but the next crucial confirmation will be a strong, high-volume close above the $34 to $35 resistance zone—the same level that halted the late-October rally in its tracks. Once silver clears both barriers, the path should be wide open for the powerful bull market I’ve anticipated since April 2024. However, for this breakout to remain valid, silver must close and hold above both resistance zones; otherwise, all bets are off.I closely monitor silver priced in euros because it provides valuable insights by stripping away the influence of U.S. dollar fluctuations, offering a clearer view of silver’s intrinsic strength. In euro terms, silver tends to respect key levels such as €30, €31, and €32, forming well-defined areas of support and resistance.

Recently, silver broke above the €30 level—a bullish signal—establishing it as a new support. Next, a decisive close above €32 (the late October high) is necessary to signal that the next phase of the bull market has begun. That said, for the breakout to remain valid, silver must close and hold above both resistance zones; otherwise, I would consider it invalidated.Although silver has traded in a choppy, erratic manner for much of the past year, it is in a confirmed uptrend, despite grinding higher in a frustrating “two steps forward, one step back” manner. This is evident in the 200-day simple moving average, a helpful tool for identifying an asset’s primary trend by filtering out short-term price fluctuations.

More importantly, the 200-day moving average suggests that the odds favor further gains, as a trend in motion tends to stay in motion—much like Newton’s first law of motion, also known as the law of inertia. The even better news is that once silver fully breaks out, as discussed earlier, I expect it to rise in a much more orderly fashion rather than continuing its erratic price swings.One of the key reasons I believe silver is on the verge of a powerful new phase in its bull market is gold’s impressive rally over the past year. Historically, gold is a major driver of silver’s price, though silver often lags before catching up. With economic uncertainty rising and the risk of a recession increasing, I believe gold still has plenty of upside potential, as I discussed in this article.

Based on historical patterns, gold could climb to roughly $3,380 in this leg of the rally alone, which would provide a strong catalyst for silver. As I’ll explain shortly, the higher gold climbs, the more undervalued silver will become relative to gold, making it increasingly difficult for silver to remain at these relatively low levels while gold continues to soar.

Also, take a look at the chart below and notice how gold struggled from 2020 to early 2024 to break above the $2,000–$2,100 resistance zone, which acted as a price ceiling for much of that period. Despite multiple attempts, gold was repeatedly pushed back down. However, in March 2024, it finally broke out, igniting the powerful bull market we see today. I see striking parallels with silver’s $32–$33 resistance zone over the past year and believe that once silver manages to close above this level, it will soar just as gold did.In addition to gold, copper is another key metal that strongly influences silver’s price, as I explained here. This understanding led me to develop the Synthetic Silver Price Index (SSPI)—an indicator designed to validate silver’s price movements and filter out potential fakeouts. The SSPI is calculated as the average price of gold and copper, with copper adjusted by a factor of 540 to ensure that gold doesn’t disproportionately impact the index. Remarkably, despite silver not being an input, the SSPI closely mirrors silver’s price movements.

For several months, I’ve been closely watching the SSPI as it struggled to break above the critical 2,600 to 2,640 resistance zone, repeatedly emphasizing that a breakout above this level would be a strong bullish confirmation for silver. Thanks to recent impressive rallies in both copper and gold, that long-anticipated breakout has finally occurred, signaling that a significant move in silver is likely imminent. However, for this breakout to remain valid, the SSPI must stay above the 2,600 to 2,640 zone, which has now turned into a key support level. If it holds, it will further strengthen the case for a powerful silver rally ahead.Another strong indication that silver is on the verge of a powerful bull market is its breakout in April 2024 from a two-decade-long triangle pattern—a development I highlighted in my bullish thesis published in a widely read ZeroHedge article at the time:Even more exciting is the fact that silver’s logarithmic chart, dating back to the 1960s, reveals a cup-and-handle pattern, indicating the potential for silver to reach several hundred dollars per ounce during this bull market. In order to confirm this particular scenario, silver needs to close decisively above the $50 resistance level.The long-term gold-to-silver ratio chart clearly shows that silver is significantly undervalued relative to gold, suggesting that silver has substantial upside potential. As silver rises to close this gap, the ratio will decline. The current gold-to-silver ratio stands at 89, but if it were to revert to its historical average of 53 since 1915—without any increase in gold’s price—silver would be valued at a solid $55 per ounce (as compared to the current price of $32.65).Adjusting silver’s price for inflation further highlights how undervalued it is by historical standards. During the Hunt brothers-induced spike in 1980, silver reached an inflation-adjusted price of $196. In the 2011 bull market, driven by quantitative easing, it hit $71. Currently trading at just $32.69, silver has significant room to rise if it’s to catch up with these previous inflation-adjusted peaks.Another way to assess whether silver is undervalued or overvalued is by comparing it to various money supply measures. The chart below shows the ratio of silver’s price to the U.S. M2 money supply, providing insight into whether silver is keeping pace with, outpacing, or lagging behind money supply growth. If silver’s price significantly outpaces money supply growth, the likelihood of a strong correction increases. Conversely, if silver lags behind money supply growth, it suggests a potential period of strength ahead. Since the mid-2010s, silver has slightly lagged behind M2 growth, which, combined with other factors discussed in this piece, positions it for a strong rally.One of the key factors keeping silver’s price suppressed over the past year, even as gold surged, has been the heavy short-selling of COMEX silver futures by swap dealers—primarily the trading desks of bullion banks such as JPMorgan and UBS. This was a deliberate effort to cap silver’s price (check out an egregious recent example of this kind of manipulation). In the process, they amassed a massive net short position of 30,233 futures contracts, equivalent to 151 million ounces of silver—nearly one-fifth of the annual global silver production. This staggering figure highlights the immense downward pressure exerted on the silver market.

What’s even more astonishing is how much of this massive short position in silver futures is naked, meaning it isn’t backed by physical silver. It’s merely “paper” silver being dumped onto the market to suppress prices. However, once silver finally breaks out, it could trigger a wave of short-covering—when traders who bet against an asset through short-selling are forced to buy it back as prices rise to limit their losses. As the price climbs, these traders become increasingly desperate to close their positions, further fueling the rally.

If the buying pressure is intense enough, it could even lead to a short squeeze, dramatically amplifying silver’s upward momentum. Given the sheer size of their short position, bullion banks stand to lose approximately $151 million for every $1 increase in the price of silver—a setup for a major price surge. Now, just imagine what will happen as silver climbs by $5, $10, $20, and beyond from this point.The risk of an explosive silver short squeeze is further amplified by the astonishing ratio of 378 ounces of “paper” silver—ETFs, futures, and other derivatives—for every single ounce of physical silver. In a violent short squeeze, holders of “paper” silver could be forced to scramble for the extremely scarce physical silver to fulfill their contractual obligations. This would cause the price of “paper” silver products to collapse, while physical silver prices would skyrocket to jaw-dropping levels, potentially reaching several hundred dollars per ounce (this event is what may fulfill the price target implied by the cup and handle pattern I showed earlier).One key reason I believe silver will soon break free comes down to basic Economics 101: supply and demand. Over the past five years, silver demand has consistently exceeded supply, resulting in a persistent deficit—as shown in the chart below. In 2024 alone, the shortfall reached 182 million ounces, with an estimated additional 149 million ounces this year—and deficits are expected to continue for the foreseeable future. As a result, above-ground silver stocks are dwindling rapidly. While bullion banks can create unlimited amounts of paper silver to suppress prices, they can’t manufacture the real physical silver that is crucial for a wide range of industries, alongside growing investment demand.The persistent silver deficit stems from both dwindling supply and surging demand—a combination that, in an unmanipulated market, would naturally drive prices higher. That’s why I see silver as a beach ball being held underwater—pressure is building, and it won’t stay suppressed for much longer.

On the supply side, global silver mine production has peaked and declined over the past decade as economically viable deposits become depleted—something the bullion banks have absolutely no control over. And as time goes on, this supply crunch is only likely to worsen.At the same time, demand for physical silver has skyrocketed across multiple sectors, with the biggest driver being the surge in solar panel manufacturing. As the world shifts away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy, this trend is only in its early stages. Silver demand for photovoltaic (solar panel) applications alone has nearly tripled over the past four years, increasing by an astonishing 143.1 million ounces. With global efforts to expand clean energy accelerating, this demand is set to grow even further.Another key factor likely to drive precious metals prices higher is the growing risk of a U.S. recession and the Federal Reserve’s expected response to it, as I recently explained:A recession would be extremely bullish for both silver and gold, as the U.S. Federal Reserve and government would respond with aggressive measures to support the economy. This would include slashing interest rates back to zero—and even into negative territory—while abruptly ending the current quantitative tightening (QT) policy and reviving quantitative easing (QE). In doing so, they will digitally create hundreds of billions—eventually trillions—of new dollars in a desperate attempt to stabilize financial markets and the broader economy.In summary, while most investors continue to overlook silver, it is well-positioned to thrive and catch up to gold’s soaring price. As we’ve seen, silver remains incredibly undervalued by multiple measures—including the gold-to-silver ratio, its inflation-adjusted price, its price relative to the M2 money supply, and the persistent supply-demand imbalance, with physical silver demand outpacing supply for over half a decade. For these reasons and more, I don’t expect silver to stay this cheap for much longer. The final missing piece is a decisive technical breakout—one that propels silver into escape velocity. And as we speak, it may already be in the early stages of doing just that. Continue reading →

Silver climbed to a one-week high as concerns about a global trade war fanned haven demand and the dollar weakened. Gold also advanced. Continue reading →

(Bloomberg) — Stock futures signaled a sharply weaker open for Wall Street, with tech stocks in particular hit by a … Continue reading →

http://www.usfunds.com/

Frank Holmes is the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining “TopGun” by Brendan Wood International. In 2016, Mr. Holmes and portfolio manager Ralph Aldis received the award for Best Americas Based Fund Manager from the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries.

Under his guidance, the company’s mutual funds have received recognition from Lipper and Morningstar, two trusted independent financial authorities. In 2015, Mr. Holmes led the company into the exchange-traded fund (ETF) business with the launch of the U.S. Global Jets ETF, which invests in the global airline sector. In 2017, U.S. Global Investors made a strategic investment in HIVE Blockchain Technologies, listed in Toronto, and Mr. Holmes was appointed non-executive Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Holmes was awarded the Huron Medal of Distinction from Huron University College in 2013, his alma mater for the class of 1978. This award recognizes individuals whose life achievements set an example of excellence and reflect Huron’s arts and social sciences missions.

Mr. Holmes is a native of Toronto and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is a former president and chairman of the Toronto Society of the Investment Dealers Association.

Mr. Holmes is a much-sought-after keynote speaker at national and international investment conferences. He has spoken at the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference, the Denver Gold Group’s European Gold Forum and numerous Money Show events, sat on panels with prominent industry leaders including the editor of Barron’s and continues to be invited as a keynote speaker at conferences throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas.

Mr. Holmes is a regular commentator on the financial television networks CNBC, Bloomberg, BNN and Fox Business, and has been profiled by Fortune as well as The Financial Times. His thoughts on gold are captured each week on a program called Gold Game Film in collaboration with Kitco News and TheStreet.com. Mr. Holmes was also the feature spread in Barron’s during the commodity rally at the start of 2004. He is a regular contributor to Forbes, Business Insider, Seeking Alpha and Wall Street Journal’s Experts Corner.

Frank Holmes has been appointed non-executive chairman of the Board of Directors of HIVE Blockchain Technologies. Both Mr. Holmes and U.S. Global Investors own shares of HIVE, directly and indirectly. This interview should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment product. Continue reading →