Kitco News, Released on 7/18/25

Uranium prices are holding above $74/lb – but the equities still haven’t broken out. Platinum just surged past $1,370/oz, beating gold, silver, and Bitcoin in 2025. And copper? President Trump’s 50% tariff is triggering a global reroute that’s draining inventories across China, Chile, and the African Copperbelt. In this interview, Lobo Tiggre, founder of The Independent Speculator, breaks down why the second half of 2025 may look nothing like the first – and why most investors are missing the deeper signals behind today’s metals markets. From uranium supply pressure and central banks going local for gold, to platinum’s military importance and copper’s record arbitrage, this conversation separates the signal from the noise.

00:00 Introduction
00:50 Impact of Tariffs on Copper Prices
01:46 Global Copper Supply and Demand
04:35 Trump’s Economic Policies and Copper
09:20 Uranium Market Insights
16:57 Gold Market Trends
17:45 Central Banks’ Gold Buying Strategies
18:48 Implications of Local Market Purchases
19:51 Gold Market Dynamics and Predictions
22:56 Platinum’s Surprising Performance
23:25 Industrial Metals and Market Trends
26:42 Silver’s Role in the Market
29:22 Young Investors and the Future of Commodities
31:15 Top Commodity Picks for the Year

Lobo Tiggre, aka Louis James, is a legendary speculator and was Doug Casey’s protégé at Casey Research for almost 14 years, until early 2018. He joined the Casey team in 2004. By 2007, he was writing and making investment recommendations in Casey’s flagship newsletter, the International Speculator. Now he brings his experience, his connections and his deal flow directly to you, without the barrage of marketing hype used by larger publishers. He is now the editor of IndependentSpeculator.com.

  commodities, copper, gold, investing, Lobo Tiggre, platinum, silver, uranium