The OTHER Precious Metals: Part I

I'd like to thank Loren Howe, guest author and founder of preciousmetalpurchase.com for providing this article for us.  Mr. Howe has been involved in precious metal investing for over a decade and here is providing us some information on those rare metals that are not "silver and gold."  Mr. Howe can be reached at info@preciousmetalpurchase.com.

The Other Precious Metals: Part I

When people think of investing in precious metals, what immediately comes to mind are gold and silver. A few will also remember platinum and palladium. However that's not the full story. There are quite a few rare metals which are largely ignored by the media and are therefore almost never considered by any investor. It's interesting to learn how we got to this point.

  Traditionally investors have only purchased 

well-known metals such as gold and silver

With the partial exception of silver, mining conglomerates and banking industry stockpiles exert strong control over the "precious metals" market. Consider that smart bankers know the main competitor to fiat currency is precious metal. What better way to neutralize the competition than to buy it out?

Yes, standard precious metals still provide an inflation hedge, but the Central Bankers can sell their stockpiles or short sell futures contracts when the market overheats in an attempt to suppress metal prices. Finally when each inflation cycle slows, the metal markets drop. The large banks, which are experienced in this process, can buy back their stockpiles on the cheap. If hyperinflation sets in, governments often confiscate precious metals - which somehow always seem to then find their way back into the hands of the Central Bankers.

 A rare palladium coin.  Most people will never touch a 

.999% pure form of this metal in their lifetime

 Precious metals are certainly still one of the best ways for small investors to protect their savings. That's especially apparent in recent years. However, the Banking Establishment responses described above do create significant difficulties for small investors.

This history was my starting point to research "other rare metals." The first fascinating thing you'll learn about other rare metals is that you are not allowed to buy them. Call up the very limited number of refining conglomerates which dominate the market. Ask, as an investor, to buy rhodium, iridium, indium, etc. It is simply not for sale to investors at any price in any quantity. Sure that's an apparent violation of anti-trust law, but regulations haven't been much of a hindrance in corporate America for decades.

Rhodium is very rare.  However, that $10 shiny necklace you 
have might coated in a microscopically thin layer of rhodium. 

A very few small businesses have tried to physically sell ultra rare metals to investors using metal purchased from independent sources such as recyclers. It appears that targeting by government regulators often discouraged these attempts and the businesses closed shop. As usual, in Great Britain the situation has gone even further, with regulations restricting the sale of rare industrial metals to investors under the guise of fighting terrorist financing.

Lastly, the Establishment attempts to control the conversation surrounding precious metals. We are told they are a bad choice, but if you are going to invest you only have four metals to choose from. The tiny minority of people who look past those four metals are then geared towards the rare metal rhodium. While rhodium certainly qualifies as a rare metal useful to investors, it is no more so than a dozen other unmentioned choices. The difference is that rhodium is largely monopolized by the same mining conglomerates which control the other platinum group metals. Thus, rhodium is available in a very limited number of investment options approved by the conglomerates which dominate production. There is a rhodium ETF (not available to Americans) run by Deutsche Bank and physical rhodium is available for purchase and resale through www.kitco.com. The remaining rare metals are ignored or occasionally ridiculed as investment vehicles in the Establishment media.

  A jar of iridium powder.  Very rare.  The metal is brittle and 

unable to be fabricated into .999% pure bar form

The most reliable way around Western monopolies is to purchase metals which are produced outside of the Western Establishment's control. Fortunately there are numerous rare and valuable metals which are not dominated by conglomerates and which give investors unique opportunities. For example, indium is about half the price of silver but 40 times more rare, while germanium costs 3% of the price of gold while being 20 times rarer. Iridium costs around half the price of gold while it is an astounding 500 times more rare than gold by mining production. The entire annual world production of iridium could fit in a small bathtub.

 

 Rare germanium in bar form available from preciousmetalpurchase.com

  

Check back next week for Part II of this article which will contain more information of how to invest in rare precious metals and where to buy them at a fair market price.

 

500 gram bar of indium