Silver Price Watch
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The West Point Bullion Depository was once referred to as the "Fort Knox or Silver" because it housed most of the US silver stockpiles. Between fort Knox and West Point Bullion Depository, this is the most likely place silver would be stored by the US. It's just amazing that you can't find any data.
I wonder if the stockpiles are held by private entities; such as those behind the federal reserve. In this case, the US wouldn't need to declare their silver holdings, whilst the stockpiles could remain secret and be put to work.
Who has the most to lose from Silver going mainstream? Why does the price need to be suppressed? The most obvious take on this is to preserve faith in the fiat system. The powers behind the Federal Reserve would be my best guess. There has to be a way of discovering what, where, who and how much.
I wonder if the stockpiles are held by private entities; such as those behind the federal reserve. In this case, the US wouldn't need to declare their silver holdings, whilst the stockpiles could remain secret and be put to work.
Who has the most to lose from Silver going mainstream? Why does the price need to be suppressed? The most obvious take on this is to preserve faith in the fiat system. The powers behind the Federal Reserve would be my best guess. There has to be a way of discovering what, where, who and how much.
@pmbug if you find ANY information on current stockpiles held by the US, I would be extremely grateful for your input. Even if it's simply bread crumbs. Everything I've read about Fort Knox claims they don't store silver. The West Point Depository only claims they store enough silver to meet the coinage demands of the mint. The lack of information and transparency is suspicious...
I would really like to get to the bottom of this. Apparently West Point Bullion Depository was designed to hold 2 Billion Oz's of Silver.
And the department responsible for once holding the US strategic reserves was the Defence Logistics Agency (DLA). It is claimed the stockpile was once stored at West Point and San Francisco.
Although the US doesn't freely offer inventory data, one would think it could be made available via and FOI request. @pmbug I'd like your input on this. If I were to make an FOI request, (besides the Treasury) which department would you direct one to?
And the department responsible for once holding the US strategic reserves was the Defence Logistics Agency (DLA). It is claimed the stockpile was once stored at West Point and San Francisco.
Although the US doesn't freely offer inventory data, one would think it could be made available via and FOI request. @pmbug I'd like your input on this. If I were to make an FOI request, (besides the Treasury) which department would you direct one to?
I would think the US Treasury would be the best option for an FOIA request. You can try the Defense Department, but I suspect they won't be responsive ("national security"). You might also try sending an inquiry letter to various Congressmen/Senators as well as advocacy groups (that have contacts/resources for investigating) like GATA.org, Sound Money Defense league, et. al.
great suggestions - thank you!- Research suggests the US government no longer holds significant silver stockpiles, likely depleted by 2002.
- It seems likely that historical interventions using silver reserves occurred in the 1960s, but current market influence appears driven by supply and demand.
- The evidence leans toward no active government intervention in the silver market today using physical stockpiles, though other entities may influence prices.
In the 1960s, the US government held around 10 billion ounces of silver, as noted by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Coinage Act of 1965 signing. Johnson mentioned using these reserves to stabilize silver prices and deter hoarding, indicating active market intervention at the time.
Current Situation
Today, the US Geological Survey (USGS) lists the government’s silver stockpile as “None,” suggesting no significant reserves remain. Historical records show the strategic stockpile, established in 1968 with 165 million ounces, was depleted by 2002 for minting Silver Eagles.
Market Dynamics
The silver market now seems driven by supply, demand, and trading on exchanges like COMEX and LBMA, with no evidence of government using physical stockpiles to influence prices. Industrial demand and investor sentiment play key roles.
If you look at the silver surveys, government sales had it's own category up until 2015, so the notion that there's no government stockpiles and no government intervention into the silver market since 2002 is factually inaccurate.
And the numbers don't add up when you look at COMEX and LBMA inventories, and the deficits we've seen over the last few years. Silver has to be coming from somewhere and I have a hunch the US government is still involved.
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Update: I checked out the process of FOIA requests and I'd need to do a blanket spamming of requests to multiple departments. I did an extensive search on the FOIA website for information relating to silver depositories, silver stockpiles, silver inventories and silver storage facilities to no avail.
I have reached out to GATA.org and Sound Money Defense league to see if they have any information/data on the subject, so before I submit a FOIA request, I will await for their response. Standard FOIA requests take around 116 days to fulfil and it would be best to understand all possible departments that may hold such information to submit a request with each one simultaneously, rather than wait 4 months to learn one department doesn't handle such things.
It would be so easy for the department of defence to manage stockpiles and not have a responsibility to declare it. It's also possible the Federal Reserve or private entities have silver holdings and don't need to declare it to the public.
Another possibility is the LBMA, SLV and COMEX are the only ones feeding the market in times of deficit, and the vault data is inaccurate or includes more 'double counting' than expected.
We may never get any insight until aboveground stockpiles deplete and we see a real physical shortage in the market. It would just be nice to have a better idea of how long 150-200 million Oz deficits could be sustained.
I have reached out to GATA.org and Sound Money Defense league to see if they have any information/data on the subject, so before I submit a FOIA request, I will await for their response. Standard FOIA requests take around 116 days to fulfil and it would be best to understand all possible departments that may hold such information to submit a request with each one simultaneously, rather than wait 4 months to learn one department doesn't handle such things.
It would be so easy for the department of defence to manage stockpiles and not have a responsibility to declare it. It's also possible the Federal Reserve or private entities have silver holdings and don't need to declare it to the public.
Another possibility is the LBMA, SLV and COMEX are the only ones feeding the market in times of deficit, and the vault data is inaccurate or includes more 'double counting' than expected.
We may never get any insight until aboveground stockpiles deplete and we see a real physical shortage in the market. It would just be nice to have a better idea of how long 150-200 million Oz deficits could be sustained.
I was checking out supply and demand for investment grade bullion per country. I must say, on a per capita basis Australia absolutely rocks! We're doing our job to secure silver in the hands of the people. In the last 5 years we've averaged 14 million Oz's a year, with 2022 being the highest at 20.7 Million Oz's. That's almost an ounce for every man, woman and child in this country, and approximately 10% of global demand for investment grade bullion. Per capita, we lead the way with investment demand, followed by Germany and the US. I think that's something we should be proud of. If the whole world followed Australia, we'd see a whopping 3-6 Billion Oz's in investment demand each year. Of course, the mints and other producers wouldn't be able to keep up, but it just shows us there's more stackers in Australia than one may think.
And here's something of historical interest... The report that led to the creation of the Silver Eagle using their National defence strategic stockpile.
www.gao.gov
National Defense Requirements for a Silver Stockpile
The United States stockpiles 93 commodities having strategic and critical importance to national defense. To determine stockpile policy and goals for...
I've just stumbled across what appears to be a group of analysts who are challenging the Silver Institute's yearly surveys and plan to release their own surveys to fill in the missing gaps. They call themselves 'The Silver Academy'. I can't find any website for them but they do have a substack profile:
thesilverindustry.substack.com
They seem very serious about exposing the true supply and demand fundamentals of silver.
The Silver Academy to Report on All the Metal Missing in Silver Institute's so-called "World Silver Survey."
The Silver Academy will merge its Global Silver Report with Silver Institute's World Silver Survey.
thesilverindustry.substack.com
They seem very serious about exposing the true supply and demand fundamentals of silver.
Another cool resource I've stumbled across is silverwars.org
I'm starting to think that maybe whatever the LBMA, SLV and COMEX has in their vaults is the only silver available. I still intend to spend the next couple of weeks investigating this though. I've also sent Silverwars.org an email asking if they have any information on US stockpiles.
I'm starting to think that maybe whatever the LBMA, SLV and COMEX has in their vaults is the only silver available. I still intend to spend the next couple of weeks investigating this though. I've also sent Silverwars.org an email asking if they have any information on US stockpiles.
FYI FWIW:
The Silver Academy - WTF?
Jon Forest Little runs a Substack channel called The Silver Academy. He has also been a contributing author for articles posted on silverseek, goldseek et al and been a guest on podcasts such as Bix Weir's youtube channel. That's about the extent of what I know about the guy...
