According to Metals Focus, a leading independent precious metals research consultancy, gold production from 16 biggest gold miners has become more energy, carbon, water and land intensive since 2014, Kitco News

Still, silver’s other role as a key commodity in solar panels and electronics is likely to buoy prices over the longer term. Industrial use probably reached a record this year, according to London-based research firm Metals Focus, which forecasts even stronger demand to come and expects prices to hold around this year’s average of about $25 in 2022. Bloomberg.

After declining to a more than two decade-low of 446.4 tons in 2020, sales could rise by as much as 50% for all of 2021, according to Chirag Sheth, a consultant with Metals Focus Ltd. Bloomberg Wealth.

Most of these would have contained a combustion engine. Each million such vehicles uses around 100,000-150,000 ounces of palladium, 40,000-50,000 ounces of platinum and 8,000-10,000 ounces of rhodium, said Wilma Swarts at consultants Metals Focus. ET Auto.com

“Overall, (the) monetary policy background will remain accommodative and there are uncertainties around (the) COVID-19 Delta variant, Chinese slowdown concerns, geopolitical tensions,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. By Brijesh Patel for Reuters.

While the market faces a turning point, the reality is that real interest rates will remain in negative territory for the foreseeable future. Analysts at Metals Focus recently said in a report that they still see a path for the precious metal to rise back to $1,900 an ounce. Writes Neils Christensen for Kitco News.

The gold market has made some impressive gains since last week’s flash crash, which pushed the price briefly below $1,700 an ounce; however, the precious metal’s performance in the near term could be limited, according to analysts at Metals Focus. Writes Neils Christensen at Kitco.

“The sharp price move on Friday also triggered some minor profit-taking on Monday,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. Writes Atsuko Whitehouse at BullionVault.

Now, the expectation is that the Fed may not aggressively taper its bond-buying programme, or alter the timeline for the first lift-off, given the persistent rise in coronavirus cases, said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. Writes Eileen Soreng for Reuters.

That works out to be about $800 in gold and silver in those medals, Philip Newman, a founding partner and managing director of Metals Focus, a London-based research firm, said on Sunday. Writes Neil Vigdor for The New York Times.

“The backdrop for gold is still positive… There is a lot of uncertainty in terms of whether the economic recovery will continue as strong and what happens in the U.S. labor market,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. Writes Eileen Soreng for Reuters.

While the price of gold continues to remain positive, costs in the gold mining industry increased for the second consecutive quarter in Q1 2021. Adam Webb for Mining Review Africa.

“The dollar strength is limiting gold’s upside and sort of remains one of the key headwinds,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. Reuters.

Chirag Sheth, a consultant at London-based Metals Focus Ltd said that the second wave has likely caused much more financial distress which could lead to more outright sales of gold, unlike in 2020 when consumers chose to take loans against their stash of gold. BusinessToday.In

While there has been some concerns over the highly contagious the Delta variant of the coronavirus, the more optimistic side of the market sees this as temporary and think economic growth and inflationary pressures might return sooner, preventing any sort of convincing recovery in gold prices in the near-term, said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus.

The likelihood of financial distress caused by the second wave is much higher and it could lead to more outright sales of gold, unlike in 2020, when consumers chose to take out loans against their stash of the metal, according to Chirag Sheth, a consultant at London-based Metals Focus Ltd. Bloomberg News.