Palisades Gold Radio

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Bob Moriarty to the show. Bob Moriarty is an author, Founder of 321 Gold, and a former Marine Fighter Pilot. Moriarty outlines a deeply concerning global landscape, arguing that recent escalations—including Ukraine’s attack on Iranian vessels and Saudi Arabia’s strike on the Houthis—have rapidly transformed regional conflicts into what could become World War III. He contends that Israel is the primary driver of the war against Iran, with the United States under Donald Trump co-opting the conflict, potentially under duress from compromising information.

Despite the severe supply disruptions, including the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Saudi refineries, oil prices have paradoxically fallen. Moriarty attributes this to widespread manipulation by governments draining strategic petroleum reserves and intervening in paper markets to suppress costs, a tactic he warns is unsustainable and risks permanently damaging storage infrastructure. He believes all the headwinds that previously kept prices low have become tailwinds, setting the stage for a sudden, explosive price spike that could devastate the global economy.

On precious metals, Moriarty notes gold’s resilience, referencing a forecast that it could trade between $4,000 and $6,000 this year due to currency debasement, though he emphasizes that manipulation exists across all markets. He advocates holding physical metals as insurance against chaos and sees extraordinary value in junior mining stocks, which he believes are historically undervalued relative to commodity prices. While acknowledging the high-risk nature of junior investments, he stresses that outsized gains from a few winners can offset losses.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:01:29 – War Escalation and WW3 Risks

00:04:40 – Oil Price Manipulation Explained

00:10:00 – Peace Talks and Hidden Agendas

00:14:32 – Infrastructure Strikes Analysis

00:19:22 – Oil Market Headwinds to Tailwinds

00:24:00 – SPR Depletion and Risks

00:27:00 – Crack Spreads and True Prices

00:32:08 – Perfect Storm in Energy Markets

00:35:36 – Imminent Petroleum Shortages

00:38:21 – Opportunities for Oil Producers

00:42:13 – Gold Prices and Investing

00:47:53 – Precious Metals Miners Outlook

00:54:32 – Wrap Up

Guest Links:

Website: http://www.321gold.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Moriarty/e/B01A9I4TJU?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&qid=1599932580&sr=8-3

Bob Moriarty founded 321gold.com with his late wife, Barbara Moriarty, more than 16 years ago. They later added 321energy.com to cover oil, natural gas, gasoline, coal, solar, wind, and nuclear energy. Both sites feature articles, editorial opinions, pricing figures, and updates on both sectors’ current events. Previously, Moriarty was a Marine F-4B and O-1 pilot, with more than 832 missions in Vietnam. He holds fourteen international aviation records.

Recorded on: July 21, 2026

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Lobo Tiggre to the show. Lobo Tiggre is the Author and Founder of the Independent Speculator. The discussion centers on the current state of precious metals and commodities, with Tiggre offering a fundamentally driven, contrarian perspective. He asserts that while gold’s long-term value proposition remains spectacular, driven by de-dollarization and central bank buying, the market is at a critical juncture following a significant correction. He does not believe the bottom is confirmed, suggesting a potential cyclical low could be sub-$3,000 gold, and he is holding cash for such an opportunity rather than chasing current prices.

This patience extends to gold miners, where he acknowledges compelling value but warns that stocks will not be immune to further drawdowns in the metal, advocating for a “buy low” strategy to maximize returns. Tiggre expresses increasing fondness for silver, noting its dual monetary and industrial drivers, though he cautions about political risk in key jurisdictions like Mexico.

On energy, he remains very bullish on oil long-term due to understated supply disruptions but is not chasing the recent price rebound, preferring to sell puts to acquire positions at lower levels. He sees a potential inverse opportunity in copper, where escalating war fears could create an oversold condition in a market with strong structural supply constraints. The conversation highlights uranium as a particularly compelling setup, with the spot price lagging the consistently rising long-term contract price, suggesting an upward snap is likely. Tiggre advises that in a major market drawdown, the safest and best companies become obvious bargains, eliminating the need for high-risk speculation. His overarching strategy is a barbell approach, balancing blue-chip producers with higher-risk, high-reward exploration stocks, all while waiting for truly low-risk entry points.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:37 – Gold Value Proposition
00:03:37 – Market Bottom Analysis
00:04:44 – Bull Market Debate
00:08:19 – Price Levels and Drawdowns
00:11:10 – Central Bank Buying Durability
00:14:57 – Gold Miners Value Proposition
00:19:10 – Portfolio Allocation Strategy
00:23:59 – Mining Developers Analysis
00:26:40 – Silver and Silver Miners
00:29:46 – Oil and Gas Sector
00:34:10 – Copper Market Dynamics
00:35:14 – Oil/Copper Shopping List?
00:40:03 – Uranium Investment Setup
00:45:19 – Concluding Thoughts

Guest Links:
Website: https://independentspeculator.com
X: https://x.com/duediligenceguy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louis.james.965580/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lobotiggre/

Lobo Tiggre, aka Louis James, is the founder and CEO of Louis James LLC, and the principal analyst and editor of IndependentSpeculator.com. He researched and recommended speculative opportunities in Casey Research publications from 2004 to 2018, writing under the name “Louis James.” While with Casey Research, he learned the ins and outs of resource speculation from the legendary speculator Doug Casey.

Although frequently mistaken for one, Mr. Tiggre is not a professional geologist. However, his long tutelage under world-class geologists, writers, and investors resulted in an exceptional track record.

A fully transparent, documented, and verifiable track record is a central feature of the IndependentSpeculator. Mr. Tiggre will put his own money into the speculations he writes about, so his readers will always know he has “skin in the game” with them.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Steve Hanke back to the show. Steve Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University. Hanke highlights the two major wars—the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran and the Ukraine war—as critical disruptors of global commodity flows. He notes that the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, with Iran controlling it, and the Houthis threaten the Red Sea chokepoint, severely constricting crude and refined product supplies. Russia’s cutoff of diesel exports and domestic fuel shortages compound the strain. Oil markets are in backwardation, with spot prices above futures, signaling dangerously low inventories that have cushioned prices so far but are nearing depletion. Hanke warns that once physical inventories run out, oil prices could spike dramatically, potentially later this summer. He advises going long on oil, especially major producers, as a straightforward trade for most investors.

On gold, Hanke maintains a bullish outlook, projecting a peak around $6,000 per ounce based on historical ratios to real disposable income. He attributes recent pullbacks to dollar strength and rising interest rates but sees central bank buying as a fundamental driver. He also discusses the pressure on the Fed to monetize debt, which could fuel inflation and support gold. The conversation shifts to the broader commodity supercycle, fueled by deglobalization, underinvestment, and the need for larger precautionary inventories. Copper and tungsten are identified as clear bullish plays due to supply deficits. Hanke notes that high diesel prices are squeezing mining and agriculture, potentially raising output prices. He also touches on dollarization, recommending developing countries adopt the U.S. dollar to expand its use rather than de-dollarize.

The interview concludes with Hanke emphasizing the importance of money supply growth as the key determinant of nominal GDP and inflation.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:01:05 – Key Developments on Radar

00:04:58 – Oil Predictions vs Reality

00:10:53 – Inventory and Flow Analysis

00:14:40 – Crack Spreads and Refining

00:16:27 – Demand Destruction Dynamics

00:20:51 – Anticipated Oil Price Spike

00:22:32 – Long Oil Opportunity

00:27:37 – Gold Bull Market Outlook

00:29:38 – Central Bank Buying Drivers

00:45:54 – Concluding Thoughts

Guest Links:

X: https://x.com/steve_hanke

Website: https://thegoldsentimentreport.com

Amazon Book: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Money-Work-Rewrite-Financial/dp/1394257260

Amazon Book: https://www.amazon.com/Capital-Interest-Waiting-Controversies-Additions/dp/3031633970

E-Mail: mailto:hanke@jhu.edu

Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics and Founder & Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

He is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., a Senior Advisor at the Renmin University of China’s International Monetary Research Institute in Beijing, a Special Counselor to the Center for Financial Stability in New York, a contributing editor at Central Banking in London, and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion pages. Prof. Hanke is also a member of the Charter Council of the Society of Economic Measurement and of Euromoney Country Risk’s Experts Panel.

In the past, Prof. Hanke taught economics at the Colorado School of Mines and at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as a Member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors in Maryland in 1976-77, as a Senior Economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors in 1981-82, and as a Senior Advisor to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress in 1984-88. Prof. Hanke served as a State Counselor to both the Republic of Lithuania in 1994-96 and the Republic of Montenegro in 1999-2003. He was also an Advisor to the Presidents of Bulgaria in 1997- 2002, Venezuela in 1995-96, and Indonesia in 1998.

He played an important role in establishing new currency regimes in Argentina, Estonia, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador, Lithuania, and Montenegro.

Prof. Hanke has also held senior appointments in the governments of many other countries, including Albania, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yugoslavia.

Prof. Hanke has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Universität Liechtenstein, the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, the Free University of Tbilisi, Istanbul Kültür University, Varna Free University, and the D.A. Tsenov Academy of Economics in recognition of his scholarship on exchange-rate regimes.

Prof. Hanke and his wife, Liliane, reside in Baltimore and Paris.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes Rory Johnston to the show. Rory Johnston is a Commodity Market Research Specializing in Oil and Gas. Johnston describes an unprecedented period of volatility in oil markets, where the supply-demand balance swung radically within a single month. Following a ceasefire in the Strait of Hormuz, a surge of previously stranded tankers created a temporary mini-glut, flipping market structures from severe backwardation into contango. However, this glut proved fleeting as inbound empty tankers, initially driven by the most risk-tolerant owners, have dried up, leaving Gulf loadings constrained by available shipping capacity. Consequently, supply is tightening aggressively again.

The most significant factor absorbing the supply shock is China, which swung its crude imports down by five million barrels per day without clear economic damage domestically. Johnston explores speculative explanations, including massive refined product stock releases, a coal-to-petrochemical feedstock switch, or a geopolitical understanding with the US. He also suggests China may be using the crisis as a successful dry run for weathering a potential blockade in a Taiwan conflict scenario. This swing, totaling roughly half a billion barrels, dwarfs the collective releases from IEA member states. Beyond crude, the refined products market, particularly diesel, is critically tight. Diesel crack spreads have soared to staggering levels, driven by drone attacks damaging Russian refineries, prior damage in the Middle East, and China slashing product exports. Johnston clarifies that strategic petroleum reserves function as a supply boost, not passive inventory, and that operational tank minimums at hubs like Cushing primarily affect regional price differentials to discourage exports, not trigger infinite crude spikes.

He concludes that the overriding vulnerability is refining capacity, which is easy to target and hard to defend, making North American facilities a potentially valuable geopolitical safe haven in the current drone warfare era.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 – Introduction

00:00:29 – Guest Rory Johnson Introduction

00:01:06 – Energy Supply Demand Dynamics

00:04:30 – Mini-Glut and Market Flip

00:07:45 – Hormuz Traffic and Tankers

00:10:44 – China Import Swing Explained

00:15:00 – China Inventory Releases Analyzed

00:20:45 – Western SPR and Inventories

00:25:30 – Commercial vs Strategic Stocks

00:29:00 – Global Oil Deficit Calculation

00:34:00 – Refining Capacity Tightness

00:42:00 – Product Shortages and Prices

00:48:00 – Refinery Investment Outlook

00:52:50 – Concluding Thoughts

Guest Links:

Substack: https://www.commoditycontext.com/

X: https://x.com/Rory_Johnston

Rory Johnston is a Toronto-based oil market researcher, the founder of Commodity Context, a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, host of the Oil Ground Up podcast, as well as a Fellow with both the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.

He is a leading voice on oil market analysis, advising institutional investors, global policy makers, and corporate decision makers. His views are regularly quoted in major international media including the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Reuters, BNN Bloomberg, CBC, and Financial Post, and he frequently appears on numerous market and industry podcasts (e.g., Bloomberg’s Odd Lots, Hidden Forces, etc.).

Prior to founding Commodity Context, Rory led commodity economics research at Scotiabank where he set the bank’s energy and metals price forecasts, advised the bank’s executives and clients, and sat on the bank’s senior credit committee for commodity-exposed sectors.

In this special multi-guest episode filmed on the floor of the 2026 Rule Symposium, industry veterans share contrarian views amid a healthy pullback in precious metals. Gold and silver sit 30-50% off highs, creating “fire sale” prices for quality names while central banks quietly stack physical gold and currencies face ongoing debasement.

13 Featured experts: Adrian Day, Rick Rule, Brien Lundin, Dr. Nomi Prins, Tavi Costa, Jeff Phillips, Matthew Piepenberg, Robert Quartermain, Brent Cook, Rob McEwen, Sean Roosen, Shawn Khunkhun, and Willem Middelkoop

Key takeaways:
Best setup in years: ultra-low valuations, extreme negative sentiment, cashed-up juniors & developers in safe jurisdictions.
Focus areas: pure-play silver miners, copper (supply deficit + electrification), uranium, permitted gold developers, royalty/prospect generators.
Rick Rule: invest in yourself first—knowledge + relationships beat hot tips.
Long-term secular bull remains intact; producers generate massive free cash flow at current prices; expect M&A.
Volatility is normal—buy quality while fear is high. Perfect primer for resource investors seeking high-conviction ideas from the conference.

Find Out More About Palisades Goldcorp, Canada’s Leading Junior Resource Investment Company:
► Website: https://palisades.ca

Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Introduction
00:00:35 – Rick Rule – Invest in Yourself
00:04:55 – Brent Cook – Quality Projects
00:07:20 – Jeff Phillips – Healthy Pullback
00:09:44 – Dr. Nomi Prins – Silver & Confidence
00:12:14 – Matt Pipenburg – Buying Opportunities
00:16:54 – Robert Quartermain – Dakota Gold
00:20:03 – Rob McEwen – Macro Commodities Outlook
00:24:45 – Sean Roosen – Liquidity & Energy – Hard Assets
00:30:09 – Shawn Khunkhun – Good Valuations
00:31:52 – Willem Middelkoop – The Big Picture
00:35:00 – Tavi Costa – Rate Hikes & Geopolitical Drivers
00:39:00 – Adrian Day – Sentiment & Opportunity
00:42:09 – Brien Lundin – Debt, Deficits, Metals & Mining
00:43:05 – Rick Rule Wrap Up