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Global Gold Rush: Josh Phair Reveals the Warning Investors Are Missing | Sprott Money

Sprott Money Sep 11, 2026 28:26

Summary

The guest argues precious metals have shifted from a trade to a core holding, as governments buy gold and silver with newly printed fiat currency.

China's central bank resumed official gold buying, taking 25 tonnes in 2025 and 80 tonnes year-to-date after adding 20 tonnes in August.

The guest reads the US critical-mineral designation for silver and a planned price-floor project as signs government is buying the dip.

Wyoming Reserve's vault holds about 90% of its balance sheet in gold and silver, having raised roughly $50 million and now pursuing $110 million.

Morgan Stanley's reported 20% precious-metals target is framed as a warning signal, well above the 5% allocation most advisers suggest.

Craig Hemke's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Hemke frames the episode around whether metals are still a trade or should be a core holding, asking Phair to summarize what the industry has seen so far in 2026 and where it goes for the rest of the year and beyond.
  • He asks whether ordinary investors actually track central bank gold demand, notes that China went a long stretch without buying officially before resuming, and calls it a signpost worth watching.
  • He presses on preparing rather than reacting, asking how an investor granted advance knowledge of what is likely coming would take steps now instead of waiting for it to land.
  • He promotes the Scottsdale Maple Leaf Stacker, a 1-ounce silver round sold exclusively through Sprott Money, describing the frosted maple leaf side against the high-polish reverse.

Josh Phair's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Phair argues dollar confidence is slowly eroding and will collapse, with financial, geopolitical and military flashpoints firing at once, and expects a major financial crisis ahead that would make 2008 look like a pimple.
  • He says precious metals are no longer a trade but a core long-term position, because central banks and governments are buying by printing fiat and converting it into a hard asset, so he expects them to perform well over the long term even if they dip in a crisis.
  • He says gold acted like insurance when the Iran war left Gulf states with liquidity problems and forced them to liquidate metal, and argues gold was hit too hard and is now normalizing; he also blames part of the drop on the trade getting crowded late in 2025 as a newly wealthy Chinese middle class entered the market.
  • He points to official buying as evidence, citing roughly 25 metric tons purchased by China in 2025 and about 80 metric tons year to date, a SocGen article saying China is buying again, and the U.S. designating silver a critical mineral around September 2025 while setting up Project Vault with price floors that he reads as active buying.
  • On his own positioning, he moved Scottsdale Mint to Casper, Wyoming into roughly 60,000 square feet with more under construction, and launched the Wyoming Reserve, a foreign-trade-zone vault plus opportunity-zone fund that he says won Wyoming's physical gold purchase over JPMorgan, has raised about $50 million and is in the middle of a $110 million raise, and offers a five-year capital-gain deferral with a 10% basis step-up he targets at 30%.