Buy BEFORE the government does!
A new key issues paper is taking government stockpiling of critical metals seriously. In it, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) is following a demand from the German Association of Metal Traders and Recyclers (VDM).
Government stockpiles of raw materials planned for the healthcare sector and the military
In view of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Maarten Gassmann, Head of the VDM Committee for Special Metals and Ferroalloys, called for the following last year:
“As part of its raw materials strategy and in light of increasingly looming dependencies, the German federal government should consider establishing government raw material reserves for strategic special metals.”
(Source)
The government is considering state stockpiling for “narrowly defined areas such as healthcare and the military” (BMWK: Key issues paper: Pathways to a sustainable and resilient raw material supply (January 2023), p. 8). It explicitly intends to keep an eye on market distortions. In our view, these could be significant. How will China respond to stockpiling attempts? In the past, the People’s Republic has responded with supply stoppages and tariffs when countries tried to stockpile critical commodities.
What is the alternative?
According to the key issues paper, domestic extraction, investment in mining projects in other countries, and recycling also make a significant contribution to the security of supply for our industry. In our view, these are all good approaches. However, they come too late. Because it can sometimes take 15 years or more for a metal deposit to be developed, mined, and processed so that it can ultimately be used. Both domestically and in other countries, the extraction of technology metals and rare earths therefore requires more time than we have left to meet the EU’s climate targets.
We explicitly support recycling, and it will become increasingly important in the future. In the early phase, however, it entails high costs and therefore still plays only a very minor role in supply. In our view, the solution for the transition period is private-sector stockpiling via specialised storage companies such as Noble BC.
Get ahead of the government!
Invest in strategically important metals, including tax-free purchasing and tax-exempt profits after a holding period of one year. Because in our view, prices will explode.
Healthcare metals:
- Germanium
- Rhenium
- Hafnium
- Gallium
- Neodymium Oxide
- Cerium oxide
- Gadolinium oxide
- Silver
- Gold
Defence metals:
- Germanium
- Rhenium
- Hafnium
- Neodymium Oxide