Targeting Investments in Commodities with John Ciampaglia
With the ongoing volatility of tariffs and trade wars, many institutional investors are looking towards the safe havens of precious metals and critical materials. These include gold, silver, palladium, uranium, and more. However, in many cases, these metals are not designed for rapid price increases. In 2025, we’re already seeing gold having a huge run, but will it continue?
In this latest entry for the Thematic Investors podcast, hosted by Kieran Cavanna, we welcome the CEO of Sprott Asset Management, John Ciampaglia. John has been a part of the asset management industry for thirty years, having spent the last 15 years at Sprott.
In this podcast, John highlights:
- what is happening with the bull market moves in gold, and why gold can act as an insurance policy for institutional investors.
- the important nuances of Sprott’s gold trust being domiciled in Canada rather than the United States, and what that means for tax implications.
- the importance of rare earths and how much of these materials does China control.
- what happens when a region of the world no longer wants to outsource the smelting operation of these rare materials? Is it difficult to reverse course and create investment opportunities?
- Uranium and how tariffs may be leveraged as a catalyst to jumpstart the discussion again and get more of the utilities and complex infrastructure back on course.
- And more.
Connect with Kieran Cavanna:
Kieran Cavanna is the Co-Founder and CIO of Old Farm Partners. Old Farm is a hedge fund allocation firm focusing on small and mid-sized hedge funds, as well as co-investment opportunities with $600m under management. Prior to Old Farm, Mr. Cavanna worked at Soros Fund Management where he served as the Head of the External Manager Selection team. Mr. Cavanna and his team performed due diligence on and allocated to a select group of hedge funds that deployed a wide variety of hedge fund strategies. Prior to Soros, Kieran was a Partner and the Head of Research at Titan Advisors, a $5b fund-of-hedge funds. In total Mr. Cavanna has been allocating to hedge funds for 18 years. Mr. Cavanna started his financial career at KPMG Consulting as Senior Analyst. Mr. Cavanna graduated from the University of Richmond with a BA and received an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
Connect with John Ciampaglia:
John Ciampaglia has over 30 years of investment industry experience and since 2017 has served as Chief Executive Officer of Sprott Asset Management and as Senior Managing Partner of Sprott Inc. He is responsible for overseeing Sprott’s public market investment strategies and is also the Portfolio Manager for the company’s physical commodity funds. John plays an active role in the development of new investment strategies, acquisitions, marketing, and strategic partnerships. Before joining Sprott in 2010, he was a Senior Executive at Invesco Canada and held the position of Senior Vice President, Product Development. Prior to joining Invesco Canada, he spent more than four years at TD Asset Management. Mr. Ciampaglia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from York University, is a CFA® charterholder, and a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute.
Sprott Physical Gold Trust (the “Trust”) is a closed-end fund established under the laws of the Province of Ontario in Canada. The Trust is available to U.S. investors by way of a listing on the NYSE Arca pursuant to the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Trust is not registered as an investment company under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940.
The Trust is generally exposed to the multiple risks that have been identified and described in the prospectus, which should be referred to and read carefully.
Relative to other sectors, precious metals and natural resources investments have higher headline risk and are more sensitive to changes in economic data, political or regulatory events, and underlying commodity price fluctuations. Risks related to extraction, storage and liquidity should also be considered.
Gold and precious metals are referred to with terms of art like “store of value”, “safe haven”, “portfolio insurance”, and “safe asset”. These terms should not be construed to guarantee any form of investment safety or insurance. While “safe” assets like gold, Treasuries, money market funds and cash generally do not carry a high risk of loss relative to other asset classes, any asset may lose value, which may involve the complete loss of invested principal.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. You cannot invest directly in an index. Investments, commentary and opinions are unique and may not be reflective of any other Sprott entity or affiliate. Forward-looking language should not be construed as predictive. While third-party sources are believed to be reliable, Sprott makes no guarantee as to their accuracy or timeliness. This information does not constitute an offer or solicitation and may not be relied upon or considered to be the rendering of tax, legal, accounting or professional advice.
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