March, 2025 in Precious Metals, by Everett Millman

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and silver’s performance and examine the factors that affected the metal prices.

WHAT DID GOLD AND SILVER DO IN MARCH?

Silver enjoyed a great performance in March. Yet it was easy to miss when gold kept setting new record highs every time I looked up.

The metals got off to a solid start to the month, posting gains on each of the first three days of trading. Silver rallied 70 cents higher on Wednesday, March 5th to $32.63 per troy ounce—already more than $1.50 higher compared to where it ended February. Meanwhile, gold held above $2,900/oz until back-to-back losses on Friday, March 7th and Monday, March 10th drove the yellow metal back to $2,888/oz. The silver price likewise drifted back lower to $32.07/oz.

Amid a rough patch for the stock market, even more money flowed into the precious metals the following week. On Tuesday, March 11th, gold prices jumped more than 1% higher while silver surged 79 cents (+2.45%) on the day. Spot silver rose another 80 cents across the next two trading sessions, approaching the $34 level in intraday action. Gold climbed 1.55% higher on Thursday, March 13th to $2,980/oz.

March saw a repeated pattern of both silver and gold pulling back on Fridays (while the S&P 500 moved higher three straight Fridays). This has more to do with Wall Street trading dynamics than anything fundamental about the precious metals markets. Still, the metals recovered the following Monday, March 17th, with gold breaching the $3,000 mark for the first time ever. After another 1% rally on Tuesday, March 18th, the gold price stood at a new record high of $3,031/oz while silver closed the day at $33.95/oz.

The silver price then experienced a modest sell-off, falling each of the next four trading days to bottom at $32.99/oz on Monday, March 24th. Despite some increased volatility, the trend for both metals was firmly upward to close out the month. Thursday, March 27th saw gold gain 1.2% to $3,056/oz while silver rose 73 cents to $34.33/oz, securing its highest weekly closing price since 2012. Gold ended the month on a high note, hitting a fresh all-time high of $3,123/oz, but silver lost some momentum and ended March 31st at $34/oz on the nose.

As we turn the page to April, metals investors can look back on the first three months of 2025 as one of the strongest quarterly performances in recent memory. In March alone silver booked a 9.7% gain and gold was up 9.3%.

FACTORS AFFECTING GOLD AND SILVER THIS MONTH

March was characterized by a continuation of the economic uncertainty seen in January and February. This has undoubtedly provided the fuel for the gold and silver prices to keep churning higher, and similarly has driven the copper price to new record highs above $5 per pound.

Aside from the vacillations of the trade war, economic data in the U.S. has been underwhelming. Manufacturing activity contracted, overall job growth was down again, and private payrolls data from previous months was revised lower. Major delinquencies for credit cards,driven the copper price to new record highs mortgages, and auto loans are on the rise. Although the bottom hasn’t fallen out entirely for the economy, there are signals that it is increasingly on shaky ground. With regard to precious metals, investors are still trying to make sense of the massive cross-border flows of bullion we’ve seen to start the year—and so much gold has entered the country that it has further widened the trade deficit and subtracted heavily from GDP.

On the geopolitical front, there is no clear resolution forthcoming yet for the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and Syria in spite of temporary ceasefires. Public discourse surrounding a possible war with Iran has become decidedly more hawkish, especially in light of supposed war plans being leaked to a journalist at The Atlantic.

Silver has finally started to catch up with (even outperform) gold. The argent metal is actually at all-time high prices when measured in several foreign currencies, such as the Canadian dollar and Australian dollar. There are compelling reasons why silver is poised to shine this year; and when considering the impact of tariffs, keep in mind that 80% of America’s silver consumption comes from imports, half of which originate in Mexico. I still expect silver to remain the more volatile of the two metals going forward, but with greater potential upside.

CENTRAL BANK GOLD PURCHASES

Note to readers: Most data about international gold reserves are delayed by a month. They are not typically reported to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and are instead compiled by private organizations such as the World Gold Council (WGC).

The People’s Bank of China purchased 5 tons of gold in February. Interestingly, the PBoC bought the exact same amount of gold in November, January, and February.

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan sold 12 tons of gold in February, bringing its total reserves down to 379 tons.

The Czech National Bank added 1.7 tons of gold in February. It has purchased gold for 24 consecutive months.

The National Bank of Poland bought almost 29 tons of gold in February.

The Central Bank of Turkey is estimated to have bought 3 tons of gold February for a total of 623 tons held between the central bank and Treasury.

The Qatar Central Bank increased its gold reserves by 1.6 tons in February. It now holds 114 tons of gold.
Bolivia’s new state gold trader plans to purchase $1 billion of gold in 2025.

The Lebanese central bank rebuffed suggestions that it might invest or sell its gold reserves.

Ghana’s new central bank chief suspended its gold-for-oil program.

ON THE RETAIL FRONT

The updated February sales figures from the United States Mint show 928,000 American Silver Eagles sold last month. So far in March, an additional 509,500 ASEs have been sold.

The February totals for gold coins included 12,000 ounces of American Gold Eagles and 11,000 ounces of Gold Buffaloes sold. This was followed by 10,000 oz of Gold Eagles and 8,000 oz of Buffaloes thus far for March.

Year-to-date, the U.S. Mint has sold an impressive 136,500 oz of gold and more than 5 million oz of silver.

Gold production at Perth Mint (Australia) reached 25,103 oz in February, 35% higher compared to January. However, Perth’s output is still running about 40% lower compared to the same period in 2024.

MARKET BUZZ

The Chinese government liberalized its laws governing gold investment, including allowing insurance companies to invest up to 1% of their assets into gold.

The U.S. federal government plans to build metal refining facilities at the Pentagon. This coincides with an executive order that classifies gold and silver as critical minerals.

Gold Maple Leaf and Silver Maple Leaf coins made by the Royal Canadian Mint will likely be subject to a 25% tariff if they enter the United States.

The Indian government rescinded its unpopular gold monetization scheme.

Officials in both the Netherlands and Germany are worried about their sovereign gold reserves being held in New York, possibly rekindling efforts to repatriate the gold bullion.

Representative Thomas Massie re-introduced a bill to Congress to “End the Fed.”

Below is a rundown of recent legislative and regulatory changes regarding the status of gold and silver. You can also check out this handy map showing the progression of sound money laws around the country.

Idaho’s legislature ended capital gains tax on precious metals, becoming the 14th U.S. state to do so. The legislature also passed a law reaffirming gold and silver as legal tender.

A legislative committee in Maine approved a bill to end sales tax on precious metals.

Legislators in Iowa are again considering a bill to remove capital gains tax from precious metals. The measure previously died in the Senate.

Lawmakers in both Utah and Wyoming have passed bills establishing a state gold reserve. Utah has already spent $60 million on stockpiling gold so far and also passed a law that allows vendors to be paid in silver and/or gold.

A committee in the North Dakota Senate is hearing a bill that would require the state treasurer to buy as much as $40 million of gold and silver.

Tennessee may be the next state to pursue its own gold reserve.

The Kentucky legislature passed a bill eliminating sales tax on gold and silver by overriding the governor’s veto.

The legislature in Alabama unanimously passed a bill recognizing precious metals as legal tender. Similar laws also exist in Utah, Texas, and Louisiana.

LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT MONTH

International trade will still be the key area of interest to watch for the metals. Although the tariff strategy being employed by the White House is rather straightforward to comprehend, its ultimate effects—and the responses of other governments and industries—are unpredictable. Even longtime American allies such as South Korea and Japan are strengthening trade ties with China in order to blunt the negative impact of U.S. tariffs.

Any shift to the interest-rate environment will also be important to track. The Federal Reserve doesn’t meet in April, but it most recently left rates unchanged even as the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to cut rates by 25 basis points in March. There’s a useful adage about interest rates that comes to mind: they usually take the stairs on the way up and take the elevator on the way down. – Everett Millman of Gainesville Coins.