Mr Trump’s recent announcement of 25% tariffs on imported aluminium and steel has caused panic within the metal industries which has had significant repercussions on metal prices and borrowing costs.

The fear of tariffs been applied to the import of precious metal to the world’s most important market has meant the immediate removal of physical gold, silver and other metals from the UK and Europe to the USA. Consequently, UK reserves are now much reduced.

Gold reserves are a vital factor within the precious metals industry for underwriting the borrowing of money to fund the processing time between the receipt of scrap metals and the production of a saleable product post-refining – known as leasing.

The low reserves mean that the current lease rate for silver has more than doubled to its current rate of 6.5%.