Strengths
- The best performing precious metal for the week was silver, up 13.58%. Silver stood out as a confluence of safe haven demand, escalating tariff tensions, and geopolitical risk tied to a potential U.S. strike on Iran drove investors toward the metal. Supply concerns added support, with Mexico, the world’s largest silver producer, facing instability that could further tighten an already constrained market, underpinning analyst targets of 30 to 32 dollars per ounce in the medium term.
- Gold is set to close February with its seventh consecutive monthly gain, the longest streak since 1973, reclaiming ground above 5,000 dollars per ounce after January’s pullback and sitting near its all-time high. The bullish backdrop remains intact, supported by ongoing central bank reserve diversification, bullion backed ETF holdings at their highest level since 2022, and expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts, although the U.S. Iran risk premium could ease as both sides return to talks next week.
- Northam Platinum’s stock price jumped 13% this week after the South African precious metals miner announced a dividend for the first half of 2026 that exceeded analyst forecasts. Morgan Stanley analysts Christopher Nicholson and Brian Morgan noted, “Northam has declared an interim dividend of 7 rand per share, which is significantly higher than our estimate of 2.99 rand per share,” and they rate the shares Overweight.
Weaknesses
- The worst-performing precious metal for the week was palladium, though it was still up 1.06%. Palladium was the week’s notable laggard among precious metals, with ETFs trimming holdings by 642 ounces in the latest session as the metal continues to face structural headwinds from the ongoing shift toward battery electric vehicles, which do not require catalytic converters. At 1,783.83 dollars per ounce, palladium remains well below its historic highs and is finding little support from the safe-haven and industrial demand tailwinds lifting gold and silver, Bloomberg writes.
- Russian official reserves have declined slightly in recent periods. Russia has a vehicle that has been holding gold, and at its peak in May 2022 it managed 555 tons; however, the National Wealth Fund has been actively selling the precious metal, according to Bank of America.
- CME Group experienced its second major technical glitch in a month, briefly halting trading across gold, silver, and natural gas futures and options, disrupting some of the most heavily traded commodity contracts globally. The recurring outages highlight growing infrastructure strain on exchange systems amid elevated precious metals volatility, with gold at 5,221 dollars per ounce and silver up 4.1% at 91.67 dollars per ounce at the time of the halt.
Opportunities
- India’s SEBI has authorized the country’s $385 billion actively managed equity fund industry to allocate up to 35% of portfolio assets to gold and silver instruments, creating a potentially significant new source of structural demand at a time when Indian investors allocated more to gold ETFs than to stock funds in January. The regulator also introduced life cycle and target date funds with maturities of five to 30 years, allowing up to six per asset manager, and shifted gold and silver valuation from the LBMA AM fixing to domestic pooled spot prices, further deepening India’s onshore precious metals ecosystem and reducing reliance on London based pricing.
- Lundin Gold announced that it has signed a binding term sheet with LunR Royalties Corp. for a $670 million silver stream on the company’s 100% owned Fruta del Norte gold mine in Ecuador. LunR will issue 50.5 million shares to Lundin Gold at closing in exchange for 100% of payable silver production until 12.2 million ounces have been delivered, 50% of payable silver until an additional 7.8 million ounces have been delivered, and 7.5% of payable silver thereafter, according to Scotia.
- Franco Nevada announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 170 million Australian dollar gross royalty from Minerals 260 Limited to support development of the Bullabulling Gold Project in Australia. The company will make an upfront payment of 75 million Australian dollars at closing, with a further 95 million Australian dollars payable upon approval of security interests over the project tenements, according to Raymond James.
Threats
- West African Resources announced that the Burkina Faso government is considering purchasing an additional 25% stake in Kiaka, in addition to its existing 15% stake, which would bring total ownership to 35%. West African Resources’ share price fell nearly 2% this week on the news, while the average gold stock rose 8.5%. In August 2025, the Burkina Faso government increased its free carried interest in Orezone’s Bombore Mine to 15%, according to Raymond James.
- B2Gold announced that Clive Johnson has decided to retire from his role as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director, effective June 4, 2026, and will be named Chair Emeritus at the company’s upcoming annual general meeting. The board of directors has appointed Mike Cinnamond, Senior Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer, to succeed Mr. Johnson as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director, according to Scotia. The share price rose 14% following the announcement.
- Mexico is the world’s largest silver producer, and any potential disruptions to the silver supply chain could lead to higher prices following the recent surge in violence after the killing of the longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, reportedly in coordination with U.S. intelligence. In 2024, just three mines, Mina Proaño, Juanicipio, and San Dimas, produced 75 million ounces of silver, nearly 10% of total global mine supply, according to Bloomberg. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel already controls a significant share of the global avocado trade, as cartels compete to dominate this lucrative market.
