India leads gold rush • Aussie mining enjoys bumper year • USGS wants to mine on the moon • The silver skincare trend

Chris Howard2

Chris Howard, director of precious metals at the Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint’s Chris Howard looks back at what the week has held for precious metals.

Gold buying increased this week as a result of continued pressure on the dollar, with analysts speculating that demand for physical gold – particularly in India, as the country enters its wedding and festival season – was a supporting factor.

When it comes to gold there are always ups and downs, as we know, but it’s great to see some positive movements for the precious metal.

Aussie mining enjoys annus mirabilis

Continuing on with some more uplifting news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced a bumper year for the country’s mining sector. Gold production in particular reached its highest level in two decades, falling short of the all-time record achieved back in 1997/1998 by just eight tonnes.

Things appear to be looking up down under. Last month we revealed that the mining and energy sector continues to lead the country’s year-on-year jobs rise, with July being the 14th consecutive month of job growth – great news for Australia’s gold mining industry as well as the wider economy.

precious metals
The US Geological Survey (USGS) wants to search for natural resources including gold and platinum on the moon and asteroids. Image: Shutterstock

Precious metals: watch this space

The US Geological Survey (USGS) announced an out of this world technological development this week; namely, its intention to explore the possibility of mining valuable resources from space.

Both the moon and asteroids are believed to be home to an abundance of natural resources including gold and platinum.

We are very excited by this development and look forward to seeing it progress.

Is silver the new skincare saviour?

A bit out of my comfort zone now, but apparently a number of skincare brands are heralding silver as the newest ‘skin saviour’ ingredient.

While I appreciate this isn’t your typical precious metals news item, it is certainly an interesting example of how silver can be used, and further evidence of just how versatile the precious metal is.

For more information, visit https://www.royalmint.com/invest/.