Explain the Silver Shortage

Congressman Demands Answers from US Mint and Treasury Secretary!

The market for physical silver investors has been challenging for at least a couple of years now, with widespread shortages and the failure of the US mint to meet market demand as the law requires.

Fortunately for our clients, Republic Monetary Exchange has been able to meet its customers demand for silver, even as many of our competitors have cited long delays and even asked clients to pay in advance for silver to be delivered at some indeterminate time in the future.

Now a US Congressman has written Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and US Mint direct0r Ventris Gibson demanding answers.

In his letter, Congressman Alex Mooney (R. -WV) notes that “the U.S. Mint has only made 11.6 million ounces of the silver bullion coin available to the public through July 2022 – barely half of what has been supplied through the first seven months of prior years when demand has been similarly strong.”

“This shortage in U.S. Mint production has apparently led to extremely high market-based premiums on Silver Eagles (as high as 70% over the silver melt value) – even as comparable items produced by other sovereign mints and private mints were not beset by such shortages or historically high premiums.”

“The high costs resulting from the U.S. Mint production shortage directly harm U.S. citizens wishing to avail themselves of a U.S. legal tender means of protecting their financial security from the effects of inflation.”

Rep. Mooney is demanding answers from Yellen and Gibson to these specific questions:

• Does the Secretary believe the Silver American Eagle coin is being produced in “qualities and quantities that… are sufficient to meet public demand”?

• Why is only a single supplier currently allowed to (or willing to) provide the U.S. Mint with silver blanks for its Silver Eagle program?

• Given its statutory mandate to amply supply these coins to the public, why doesn’t the U.S. Mint have a policy to build a reserve of silver blanks during periods of slower demand in order to create a buffer for periods of higher demand?

• Has the U.S. Mint examined the practices of other sovereign mints – such as Britain’s Royal Mint, Australia’s Perth Mint, the Austrian Mint, or the Royal Canadian Mint – to learn from their relative success in meeting high public demand for their own silver coins? If so, what were the resulting findings or recommendations?

• What actions are currently being undertaken to address the Mint’s production problems (which reportedly extend beyond the Silver American Eagle coin program) and when will the U.S. Mint once again be able to fulfill its mandate to meet public demand?

Republic Monetary Exchange subscribes to best practices for the protection of its clients.  Due to superior market experience and capitalization, we have been able to make delivery to our clients of all the popular silver and gold investment products when others could not, even during the difficult years of the pandemic lockdowns and supply chain challenges.  We strongly advise against sending money to boiler room operators or undercapitalized dealers and waiting for future delivery.  Republic Monetary Exchange delivers both gold and silver “on the spot” at the time of purchase and provides immediate payment for liquidations.

We eagerly await and will report the Treasury and US Mint’s responses to Rep. Mooney’s inquiries.

featured image credit: Gage Skidmore