Santacruz Silver Mining reports fatality at Tres Amigos mine in Bolivia
Tres Amigos mine, a part of the Caballo Blanco Group of mines, has resumed operations after it was shut down following the incident.
Would Palladium replace Gold as Engagement Rings Metal of Choice?
Gold has concentrated lots of interest in the past 6-7 years due to the economic crisis.
The 21st century’s version for Gold Rush began due to the lack of trust in banks and in the stability of coins.
But immediately after and as a direct result when the price of gold began climbing it simply became a favorite form of investment to experienced commodity traders and those who wanted to join the party.
However, with the new price tag a growing interest in gold has evolved from a new direction – the jewelry industry – which is constantly looking for a replacement.
Palladium – The Rising Star
After decades that gold controlled the engagement ring market and platinum was a far second that due to its price was mainly used in prestigues rings, a new contender to the crown arrived – Palladium. And why not? It is stronger, it does not wear off (unlike white gold) and it is by far cheaper – it is cheaper per gram and it weighs less (which means less grams are needed per ring).
In fact, in few industry related magazines it was already announced – Palladium is the new Gold!
But is it really?
Since it is practically impossible to check the actual amount of demand for palladium vs gold we decided to go to the one that knows it all: Google.
Analyzing data we scraped from Google’s tools we saw something quite interesting: There was direct correlation between the increase in the price of gold with the increase in demand for palladium engagement rings. And since gold prices also went down, we could see that it worked the other way as well: as prices went down demand for palladium decreased.
Interestingly, there really is no reason for the market to act this way…
According to a recent study by The Knot, the average price of an engagement ring is $5,200.
The average gold ring weighs 4-5 grams which means that the price of the metal within the ring is approximately $200.
The price of the metal if one chooses to use Palladium should be around half – meaning less than 2% of the price of the ring…
Should that be really a reason?
What can be expected in the future?
Just last month Cecilia Jamasmie published an article about the expectancy that Gold Prices would sour with the increase in demand from Asia.
Does that mean that Palladium still has a chance?
