Precious Metals Trading?

Does anyone here know much about precious metals trading? I work in physical base metals and I am somewhat mystified as to what precious metal traders do.

There are a bunch of articles on how banks at the London gold and silver fixes are rigging the market but I'm not entirely sure why anyone should care.

Anyhow, I found this job posting (http://www.cnconsultancy.com/recruitment/examples…) which talks about recruiting bullion traders and merchanting ones who are essentially doing physical trading in precious metals.

Does anyone know who the major players in this field are and what it takes to get in? And could precious metals trading be a good entry into precious metals mining? I've been reading about Silver Wheaton and I'm pretty amazed at how quickly these guys built the world's largest silver company in a decade.

 

I remember when it was $1900/oz during the EU crisis. I've never understood the 'perfect hedge' mantra for precious metals. I don't see any sustained value beyond the producer breakeven + cost inflation, maybe wedding season in India (?). Growing dividends (and reinvesting) is probably the best hedge against inflation.

I can't imagine what it's like to live and breathe that for a career.

 

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