by David Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics
Below is a highly engaging interview with James Turk in which he discusses the key indicators to watch in order to anticipate the next big leg of the precious metals bull market. “To me the real bull market in gold began in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve.”
By law the U.S. Mint is supposed to produce enough silver eagles to meet demand. Originally the law stated that the silver used in U.S. minted coins had come from U.S. mines. The U.S. produces roughly 40 million ounces of silver per year. About five years ago the demand for silver eagles began to outstrip the amount of silver sourced from U.S. mines that could be made available for silver eagle production. The law was amended to enable the mint to use silver imported from Mexico.
From time to time since the summer of 2008, the U.S. mint has had to halt its silver eagle sales because of a shortage of silver. This occurred once again in the middle of 2015 and the production halt lasted about 3-4 weeks. Since that time, the mint has limited the amount of silver eagles to one million coins per week. In 2015 the mint sold 47 million silver eagles, an amount which was stunted by the production halt. It is likely that the mint would be able to sell in excess of 60 million silver eagles in 2016 in the absence of production limits.