from Silver Vigilante:
It hasn’t been merely the gold and silver price brutalized over the past two years in terms of precious metals. The ecosystem around the precious metals – retailers, in particular – has also been transformed in a play of consolidation and mergers.
There has certainly been a consolidation among distributor and retailers in the precious metals markets in recent months, and I believe only a fraction of the story has been laid out for the public.
First things first, SilverVigilante reported a merger between NTR Metals and Ohio Precious Metals in 2012. As we wrote at the time:
SV has heard through the grapevine that NTR Metals & Ohio Precious Metals have strategically merged as of last week.
According to NTR’s website, NTR is a global company refining over 30 million pounds of metal each year. They are involved in commercial refining, industrial recycling and refining, precious metals market making, and bullion minting.