“Can I find a precious metals refinery that’s still operating during the coronavirus period?” a man from Ohio asked recently.

The answer is, you can. In fact, Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners is still ready to test and recycle precious metals for our customers. How can we be doing that? Weren’t we required by law to close down because we are a nonessential business? No, we can continue working, and working safely, for several reasons.

Have you been completely satisfied with the investments you have made in precious metals? Do you think you have invested your money in the right metals? Do you feel like you could benefit from some new ideas and new strategies to realize more income from the bullion, gold scrap, platinum scrap, silver and other investments you have made?

While we were listening to talk radio last week, we heard someone call in and ask a timely question.

“Businesses all around me are closed and some will never reopen,” the caller said, “and I am wondering whether that will create an opportunity to buy their assets and inventory at low prices?”

Okay, everybody is worried right now about the state of our economy. And one thing you have to say about the current situation, bad as it is, is that those fears are based in reality. Small businesses are hurting. Some are closing, possibly for good. Individual investors have seen the value of their assets plummet – at least on paper. Kids who are graduating from college right now are having a terribly difficult time finding jobs. Plus, many of our institutions, ranging from universities to museums to theater companies, are wondering if they will ever bounce back.

We are about to enter one of the most uncertain economic periods in modern history – one that many analysts fear could rival the Great Depression.

We don’t like to write about the negatives, we really don’t. But if we want to formulate a strategy for retaining our investments’ value, we need to consider some of the bad things that could just happen in the wake of the current virus crisis:

People who invest in precious metals like to keep moving forward. They don’t sit around. They get out to the places where they like to look for precious metals and scrap, whether that means grabbing a metal detector and heading outdoors or driving to an estate sale to see if any treasures are waiting to be discovered.

Are you a little down in the dumps right about now? Well, we don’t blame you, but we would like to offer you a little bit of advice that applies to investing in precious metals . . .

Snap out of it and keep moving forward!

We all just got a three-month extension for filing our Federal taxes. That’s right, instead of filing on April 15th, we now have until July 15th.

Now, you might say, “What’s the difference, I’m going to have to file and/or pay my taxes anyway, right?” But you have another option. You can take the extra time you’ve been given to take a deep breath and consider some ways to get more value and income from the precious metals and precious metal scrap you own. Whether you center your holdings in platinum scrap, gold scrap, or silver scrap, here are some issues worth considering now.

Okay, you’re stuck at home during the current Coronavirus shelter-in-place period. Maybe you can’t take part in all your usual activities as someone who invests in silver scrap, gold scrap, platinum scrap and your other favorite investments. Go to an estate sale to look for jewelry, tableware and other items? Forget it, nobody is holding estate sales right now. Go to an antique mall to poke around? Forget it, the doors are locked.

As we write today’s post, we are in the midst of a near-epidemic of fear about the Coronavirus.

And this epidemic of fear is more troubling than earlier ones we remember, like the one that preceded the start of the year 2000. Why? Because unlike that false crisis, when conspiracy theorists were predicting that world currencies would crash, that airplanes would fall from the sky and that all the world’s computers would freeze, today’s crisis is based on bad things that are actually happening in the world.

Are you an expert about metals?

Good, but let’s start today’s post with a simple-sounding question that is harder to answer than it seems . . .

What do all metals have in common?

We don’t write often about base metals on this blog. After all, we are a precious metal refining company.

But have we been failing to tell you how you can make a lot of money by investing in base metals like aluminum, copper, and brass? Today, we’ll find out.

“How do I make a profit by investing in precious metals?” seems like a pretty simple question. But even though it’s a simple question to ask, it is a difficult one to answer.

Why? Because there are a number of ways to make a profit when investing in precious metals. In today’s post, we will look at three of them.

If you invest in precious metals, chances are you would answer that question by saying, “It’s a precious metal that is used as a thin plating on jewelry.” You probably know that rhodium, if plated onto brass, creates the impression of platinum or even white gold.

As year 2020 begins, a lot of people have been asking whether platinum, gold, silver or some other metal will turn out to be the best precious metal investment in the months ahead.

The most common answer to that question is almost always something like this . . .

Let’s say you walk into a pawnshop to check out whether there are any gold, silver or platinum items there for sale – items that you can buy for low prices. Or you walk into a coin dealer to see what’s on display.

Let’s also say that you find what seems to be a good deal. It’s a South African Kruggerand that contains 1 Troy Ounce of gold. When you ask the dealer the price, he replies, “$1,505.00, because we sell at current trading prices.” So you go online, check trading prices, and decide that you will be getting a fair deal if you buy that Kruggerand for the asking price. So you go back to the pawnshop or coin dealer, pay asking price, and assume that everything has gone well.

Nobody likes a recession. But the fact remains that if another recession starts soon, precious metals are a good place to have your assets invested.  

During the last big historical recession of 2007-2009, the trading price of gold rose about 24%. In the same period, the Dow fell by about 35%. And something similar, though not as extreme, happened in preceding recessions. In the less-severe recession of 2001, gold prices rose more than 4%, while the Dow fell about 15%.

If you go to your local bookstore and say, “I am looking for a book that will tell me everything I need to know about investing in platinum scrap,” the salesperson will probably respond with a shrug or a blank stare.

You see, there aren’t any books that can tell you what you need to know about making money recycling platinum scrap. But that’s okay, because we have covered everything you need to know right here on the Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners Blog.

Another school year is about to begin. And because we are thinking about education, we would like to ask this question . . .

What is the best way to educate young people about investing in precious metals?

We are big fans of investing in precious metals. But we have sometimes seen people lose money, most often because they have misunderstood some of the basic principles and facts about precious metals.

We don’t want to throw a wet blanket over your enthusiasm for investing in silver, gold, platinum, rhodium and other precious metals. But because we know that the most informed investors are likely to make the highest profits, we would like to provide you with some reality checks in today’s post.