HardAssetsInvestor

Mike Norman, anchor, HardAssetsInvestor.com (Norman): Hello everybody, and welcome back to HardAssetsInvestor.com. I’m Mike Norman, your host. We’re here for the second part of my interview with Miguel Perez-Santalla, vice president of marketing for Heraeus Precious Metals Management. Now, aside from gold, what other markets are you looking at? What looks interesting to you?

Miguel Perez-Santalla, VP marketing, Heraeus Precious Metals Management (Perez-Santalla): Well, what’s really exciting lately has been the rhodium market, which made a tremendous comeback percentagewise. It had dropped from … was it ’06 … a $10,000 high, all the way down to $1,000 …

Norman: Wow.

Perez-Santalla: … and was trading below that. And recently it’s been trading up. And there’s been a tremendous demand, and it’s gotten as high as $2,400. So, we moved from $1,000 to $2,400 in a rather short period of time.

Norman: Now, you probably don’t have the same element of speculative activity in rhodium as you do in gold. Obviously gold has many different ways you could play it, as an individual investor. Is there a speculative element in rhodium?

Perez-Santalla: There is a speculative element, but it is difficult to own. And mostly, it’s owned through firms that are involved in the precious metals industry like ourselves. Because the actual physical metal is in almost like a powder form. So moving it and transporting it is very difficult and dangerous, in terms of potential losses. So the investment community buys through a major corporation such as Heraeus Precious Metals to invest in that metal.

Norman: And what are the main industrial uses for it?

Perez-Santalla: Well, rhodium is used primarily in auto catalysts. And it’s used in other catalysts, like medical catalysts, to create changes in chemicals, and also in plating of jewelry.

Norman: Now, let’s talk a little bit about silver, if we could. Silver did not have the price gains that gold did, although many people were expecting silver to move up appreciably. What’s your outlook there?

Perez-Santalla: I think it’s a very simple thing. Silver is not gold. And if people want gold, they don’t want silver. As much as the silver marketing people do their best to convince people to buy silver, silver is a very large commodity to own. You know, if you invest $10,000 in gold, you could put it in your pocket. If you invest $10,000 in silver, you're going to be needing a wheelbarrow. And that’s a major difference. And people want gold, and they want to be able to move it.

Norman: What about some of the other industrial metals; copper, for example?

Perez-Santalla: I don’t really know that much about copper. But, I can mention, on the other industrial-type precious metals, palladium. Palladium has had some activity. It’s holding strong, and that has been following platinum. The biggest consumption for both of those metals is auto catalysts.

Norman: Right.

Perez-Santalla: The outlook is that they're believing that it hit bottom and that the demand will grow as the economy improves. But at the same time of course, the price is high in relation to where the dollar is valued at the moment. So there is a cautious play as well.

Norman: Same thing, cautious play. And, of course, a lot depends on the evolution of the economy …

Perez-Santalla: That’s correct.

Norman: … from this point forward. We’ve seen some semblance of a recovery. The outlook, I guess, is still a little bit cloudy for this year, although a lot more optimism, I would say.

Perez-Santalla: I agree with you on that point.

Norman: All right. That’s it for my interview with Miguel Perez-Santalla. Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. Always nice to have you here. I’ll be back next time. This is Mike Norman, for now signing off. Take care.