European Gold Forum 2012

Magnus Ericsson is a cofounder and partner of the Raw Materials Group (RMG) and professor of mineral economics at the Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. RMG is one of Europe’s leading, independent group of mineral economists and mineral strategy/policy analysts. RMG specialises in global analysis of the mining industry starting with the proprietary ownership and production database Raw Materials Data covering coal, iron ore and all other metals. The Raw Materials Group advices mining companies, equipment manufacturers and providers of services to the mining industry, governments and international organisations world wide. Since January 2012 RMG is part of the IntierraRMG group based in Perth, Australia. Magnus Ericsson has been engaged all around the world in his consultancy work.

Philip Klapwijk has close to 25 years experience analysing the gold, silver and PGMs markets, most of this time working for GFMS (since August 2011 part of Thomson Reuters), which is the leading specialist research consultancy on the global precious metals markets. (Thomson Reuters GFMS, for example, is the prime source of statistics on gold and silver markets worldwide.) Philip is responsible for all precious and base metals markets analysis and research at Thomson Reuters GFMS. He is a frequent speaker at conferences on precious metals and commodities and the print and electronic media regularly quote his views on the gold, silver and PGMs markets. He holds degrees in economics from the London School of Economics and the College d’Europe, Bruges.

David Hale is a Chicago-based macroeconomist and chairman of David Hale Global Economics, Inc. The firm’s clients include asset management companies worldwide. He was formerly chief economist for Kemper Financial Services, which he joined in 1977, and was named global chief economist for Zurich Financial Services when Zurich purchased Kemper in 1995. He advised the group’s fund management and insurance operations on both the economic outlook and a wide range of public policy issues until 2002, when he founded his own consultancy. Mr. Hale has testified before Congressional committees on domestic and international economic policy issues, and has participated in briefings and meetings with senior officials in the executive branch, including former President George W. Bush, current White House policymakers, the Federal Reserve, US Treasury, US Department of Defense, as well as foreign governments and international non-governmental organizations. He is known for his ability to distill complex economic issues and relate them to both current geopolitical conditions and economic history. His encyclopedic knowledge of global economics, and his long-term relationships with policymakers and market participants throughout the world have given him a unique vantage point that has contributed to his excellent forecasting record.

Martin Murenbeeld is the Chief Economist of DundeeWealth Inc. and head of DundeeWealth Economics, a division of DundeeWealth Inc. that provides independent analysis and advice on economic and fi nancial developments to both retail and institutional interests across North America and abroad.

Sharps Pixley Ltd is owned by Ross Norman. Ross started his business career with entrepreneur and maverick Sir Clive Sinclair of Sinclair Research in Cambridge, before joining Johnson Matthey as Gold Refining Manager (then the worlds largest gold refiners), then as a gold trader at NM Rothschild & Sons (then the Chairman of the London Gold Fixing) and later Credit Suisse, where he was a Senior Dealer in physical bullion trading. Ross went on to co-found the leading precious metals website TheBullionDesk.com about 10 years ago until recently turning his energies to selling physical precious metals at Sharps Pixley, London. Ross has an enviable record within the London Bullion Market in forecasting the gold price over the last decade and is frequently sought by the media for commentary on the bullion markets. Ross has made frequent appearances on TV (BBC, CNBC, CBC), in newspapers (FT, Wall Street Journal) as well as in the newswires (Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones).

Who is the Silverboy? The Silverboy is the well-known financial expert Thorsten Schulte from Germany. He has been working in the financial sector for many years. Today he is the leading expert for silver in the German-speaking region. As a frequent interview partner with major broadcasting stations and the leading newspapers in Germany he is promoting silver as the best inflation hedge. His first book “Silver – the better gold”, which was published in October 2010, has already been sold more than 21,000 times. Recently his new book, with the title “Protecting wealth: Investing in Silver”, was published. For many years he is recommending investments in gold and silver. He knows from his own experience, that more and more senior bankers are questioning the current financial system and are protecting with precious metals against the problems of the US centric financial system. Thorsten is investing in silver since 2002 and is rigorously using every weakening of the price for the addition of new positions. He will start to sell silver only when taxi drivers, his friends in the sports clubs or this neighbors are recommending to invest in silver. However, he thinks that we still have a long way to go…

James Turk is the founder and chairman of GoldMoney, a Jersey, Channel Islands company that since its launch in 2001 has become a leading provider of physical gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion to buyers worldwide. He is also a director of the GoldMoney Foundation, a not-for-profit educational organisation dedicated to providing information on the role of gold and silver as money and currency and their importance to society. James Turk has specialized in international banking, finance and investments since graduating in 1969 from George Washington University with a B.A. degree in International Economics. He began his business career with Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase). He moved to the United Arab Emirates in December 1983 to be appointed Manager of the Commodity Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a position he held until resigning in 1987. The author of two books and many articles on money and banking, he is the co-author of “The Collapse of the Dollar”.

Miss Shlaes is director of the economic growth project at the Bush Institute, as well as a senior columnist for Bloomberg. In addition to writing on political economy, she writes on taxes. She is a contributor to Marketplace, the public radio show. She has appeared on numerous radio and television shows over the years. Miss Shlaes was formerly a columnist for the Financial Times and, before that a member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, specializing in economics. In the early 1990s she served as the Journal’s features, or “op ed” editor. Prior to that she followed the collapse of communism for the Wall Street Journal/Europe. Over the years she has published in the National Review, the New Republic, Foreign Affairs (on the German economy), the American Spectator, the Suddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit. In 2002 she contributed an article on the US tax code to the thirtieth anniversary anthology of Tax Notes, the scholarly journal. Miss Shlaes has twice been a finalist for the Loeb Prize in commentary, her field’s best known prize. In 2002 she was co-winner of the Frederic Bastiat Prize, an international prize for writing on political economy.