I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and here today with me is Ivon Blik, president and CEO of BMG Group. Happy New Year. Thank you so much for being here. Great to have you back as always. >> Uh happy new year. It's wonderful to be back. >> Yes. Yes. And certainly we have so many different topics to get into as we're heading into the new year. I wanted to start with gold. Of course, we're catching up on our conversation from all the way back in October when gold was


just getting to the 4,000 level for you. I think it was no surprise to see it get to that price. And now, as we're looking forward to 2026, I want to ask you about the gold price in the next 12 months. How high do you think it can go? >> It is going to probably go to about 5,000 in the first quarter. I spoke to you and to other people about 4,000 about a year ago and the 3,000 two years ago. Uh now it's it's even more realistic to look at the 5,000 gold and maybe even more. Uh there are so many


factors right now uh influencing the price of gold and of course you know uh uh what has happened just recently this weekend it's it has a huge impact on on on gold and and precious metals more on than on anything else. So um I wanted to speak about Venezuela but not as a crisis but as an opportunity opportunity that has to be taken in a broader context of historical Venezuela South American uh historical context and geopolitical framework uh including the the economic policies and impact of international pressures


and imploding. Venezuela has been imploding from inside for a very very long time. Um, and of course, you know, that immediately affected a sharp impact on gold. It rallied by almost 2% to $4,400 per ounce as investor reacted to the sudden escalation of risk not only in Venezuela but in Latin America. Uh also the US military dramatic capture of the Venezuelan president Maduro over the weekend has a huge impact on of course the pressure that that that everyone was already feeling for quite some time. This unexpected or rather


from my perspective expected intervention prompted a new rush towards gold as a safe heaven asset. Silver also is impacted and platinum as well. I do believe and platinum is going to become in 2026 a huge strategic military asset because of its applications in producing explosives and jet fuel. But gold is money. Gold is stability and and any kind of a broader geopolitical fragmentation will impact positively gold. So gold is far from reaching this ultimate high. So we are on a upward trend. Um now the Venezuela I just


wanted to mention couple of things about Venezuela because as everyone is is watching and and and looking at a what is occurring uh um many many uh people actually predicted and were expecting that something is going to happen in in Venezuela. uh uh the controversy uh around the president was not only out of Venezuela Maduro was not only from outside but also from inside and I know this kind of a amazing rise of power from the bus driver to the pre to the ped of chavez then to the president of Venezuela but you know many


times behind the uh powerful men are brilliant women her his wife is a lawyer and she was a lawyer for Chavez. So I would suspect that she had a huge impact on actually managing the internal affairs. Um the controversy inside was even uh simple as questioning Maduro's nationality. He was born into a Colombian family from a border town in Colombia and only in 2016 the Supreme Tribunal of course under his control uh that affirmed that he was born in Karacas. So there was a lot of issues but Venezuela is a not


only a rich country in in oil the largest reserves in the world but also gold and other precious metals. the whole area of Orinoco uh river is is is unexplored yet. So it's there are a lot of opportunities but country has been suffering a horrible a um crisis for such a long long time. I remember going to Venezuela prior to before Chavez Venezuela was a extremely dangerous place with many armed gangs. There are millions of people living in a ranchos on the mountain of Karakas places that that that are uh very scary


in terms of a um lawless places. So now what is happening there's a huge possibility of having a uh some a civil riots and domestic war. At the same time I think the entire Latin America is very closely knitted that we may not understand. They may have differences among themselves but the end of the day they will all b together. So this is a very very complex situation but there's a huge opportunity I think was a huge opportunity a strategic movement on on part of us to actually a uh execute this operation on


many many levels but the impact is really financial I'm looking at the what will happen to petro dollar in the future will US be able to maintain the US currency as a um as a reserve currency what is the reaction of Bris countries and this is actually very very interesting because a u um um Venezuelan having largest oil surprise of course is a gigantic potential um uh but not right away uh they actually produce only 1% of global production because of the inefficiency because of the collapse of


the entire infrastructure in Venezuela under Chavez and nationalizing all the oil productions. So there is a lot of a moral judgments going on on Venezuel um um I think I think pseudo legal interpretations. Uh but the focus should be on uh really on economy and and the the the shocks that that will uh uh on the impact that that will have on the international markets and the risks that are going to to to impose on on on everyone. Amazingly enough, the BRICS countries are quite silent. Nobody really spoke aggressively


against US actions and I don't think anyone will. Uh this is a amazing test to see how far one can go in ter of securing your your own country, your own currency, your own strategic position. Uh now in terms of a precious metals is going to be a huge huge upswing and and interest in in gold and other precious metals because of what's happening in Venezuela. The oil prices may be affected and and lowered in a long in some time. It will take a very long time to rebuild the oil infrastructure


in Venezuela. But it may not be such a long time to actually try exploring gold and and mining gold in Venezuela which would be very interesting. Um since the global financial crisis in 2008 especially over the last 5 years central banks as you know and we spoke about that many times are have been buying and and and and huge amount of gold. Uh they are u still continuing doing that. There are growing concerns still about dominance of the US dollar in the international monetary system. The geopolitical fragmentation


is not only global. Europe has a huge geopolitical fragmentation now and a lot of concern with energy and European countries they have a very idealistic approach to everything and they are speaking about the law about all the but they are not effective they are ineffective. The other thing that has emerged is absolutely ineffective uh role of United Nations. United Nations is a very expensive proposition for United States in particular. It's totally ineffective. Is a lovely trip to New York from many


parts of of of the world when the dignitaries come but they do not have an impact on on anything that is going to come in the future and they will have very limited impact uh going forward. So we have to question what will happen to United Nations. Will US support it. Will US support NATO? That's another um uh question. So but all those things are you have to follow the money. Go to the financial systems. Um there are many many many um countries uh on a kind of opposite political spectrum like China, Russia, but Turkey


and India. There are there are not not that uh on the opposite side but they've been amassing huge amount of reserves in gold very aggressively uh and typically conducted through the discrete transactions. Many transactions are not on the public markets. So we don't really have a exact fix uh what is happening but gold is the only reserve asset that provides the stability and security both militarily and and and um and of course uh um financially in terms of the the the the s sustainability of


any country. Uh for example I'm just going to go back to the to the gold in Venezuela. Um there is a company Orinoco mining something and that company under the Maduro uh administration they they had about they um explored or or they about seven 7,000 metric tons of gold. And that's a very uh kind of very conservative number because they don't have the infrastructure to actually do that. So given the American reserves that only eight tons of gold approximately, US is already the largest


holders of strategic gold. Having an access to Venezuelan gold would create a uh huge opportunity for United States but at the same time would strategically uh um put us on the war path with China. China is a big issue. I think China is very quiet as you know with this whole situation in Venezuela and they are building alliances with other South American countries, Latin American countries. Uh a lot of them they were not exactly in in a bad best of relationships with Maduro's government. So, so there is another market or


another system is being created from this particular incident and that was expected that was ab expected not in the way it was it was done it was a like from a movie it was the action movie however it it it was a uh time uh for for the system to implode and and I'm sure a lot of internal fractures in in Venezuela in Karakas were very uh um instrumental and very happy in in in facilitating this whole situation. Now Europe uh Europe is very interesting. Uh the gold matters beyond the America, beyond


the United States, beyond China, European businessmen, European um um uh investors, European governments, uh they are bit distant from the Venezuelan, from North America. They are very conscious about supporting us and not being seen as oppositional because many time their governments and their own infrastructure is so dependent on the whims and support from United States. However, a all commodity markets are interconnected and any geopolitical uh instability in in anywhere affects asset prices particularly in Europe. Europe


that is a um not well positioned from the energy perspective and also not well positioned in terms of the uh their own uh European Union and their relationship with the individual members. Uh now uh uh yes the this Venezuelan crisis opportunity sorry it's not crisis for Venezuela is crisis for us as an opportunity is reshaping or may reshape the international um order uh financial order uh yes the reassertion of United States military as a power and sphere of influence and the fragility of all the oil producing


countries which includes Iran, Russia uh is becoming more and more salient uh and and the the energy um concerns are are are magnified beyond what we can really understands. That's why uh you had such a lame reaction response from Europe. They were citing various interpretation of legal possible you know transgression without teeth but no immediate consequences ineffectiveness of UN in resolving conflicts. So all those things came to a surface. So it's going to be very very interesting. Um uh and um uh


that's that's that's I think is a a golden opportunity is is amazing for gold for platinum and for silver and gold in 2025 actually performed uh 63 over 63%. So that's amazing when when US dollar was 4% Bitcoin minus 5% or something like that. So, so it is a best performing asset, the most secure asset and gold is money. >> I think that's a a great overview of, as you said, a very complex situation. And I want to talk a little bit more about this this lack of global reaction to


what's going on with the US and Venezuela that you've been outlining. I'm wondering I think so you saw you saw this coming. You mentioned others saw this coming. A question that people have right now is is what happens next? So the US has has done this action. they have had not such a global reaction as you've been outlining. So what does that tell the US that it can do next? I know there's lots of questions on will it take similar actions in different countries. So what do you see coming?


>> Well, I think what it a lot of the geopolitical system are based on the historical treaties and agreements. A lot of them did not really contemplate the situation that we have right now. So what it gives to us is a test test on the international reaction and it has been very lame. That means what because also they focus on the lowhanging fruit. So there is kind of a mixed reaction. People are happy that this regime is gone. Uh some countries are not happy because they think that the sphere of


influence of US is increased tremendously. But at the same time uh the reality of of having a control over Venezuela oil is is a uh rather remote goal because of its complexities. In reality will not be that easy. However, politically what is happening next I think item on the on the agenda on everyone's mind is Greenland. And this is uh very very interesting. a uh Greenland I think I think uh what really uh uh I think um uh happened to Greenland is it it has been coming really so let's start with President


Trump uh cited that Greenland is required for national security and of course you know having a Arctic island is is a huge strategic advantage but one has to go back what are legalities of it and will the world react the same way probably but also something is more complex uh Greenland probably that many people know was a really a inuit people's place uh that was actually colonialized by Denmark only in 18th century and in 1916 United States bought a Danish west Indians today known as a US Virgin Islands for 25 million million in


gold. $25 million of this bought US Virgin Islands. So, and at the same time uh when they were making an agreement, the political and economic interest of the whole Greenland was a formally recognized as a Danish territory, sovereign territory. Now, I have not read or seen the actual agreement, but I'm sure that the language is is not as tight. The United States could actually take over Greenland legally. Uh, and as a president would be the sale of a US Virgin Island and that entire a um guarantee that that will become a


Danish sovereign territory. Also, Denmark has a um strain relationship with Greenland. So, I think that would be probably even less reaction than than uh uh than what has happened in Karakas in Venezuela. At the same time, some people that that really believe in in in a um uh they are in a different thinking zone think that oh my goodness, Greenland is a part of a uh NATO. What will happen? You know what will happen to United Nation will fall apart. It will not fall apart because of Greenland. It will fall apart because


outlived its uh um um purpose. United Nation was created after World War II for certain purpose and has failed and has a very lame or no impact on resolving international crisis. as as I said is a very nice uh uh trip to New York from people from different third world countries that have really no impact. The the major players is United States, China and Russia and they always were that's why they have a veto power. So Greenland uh that that's a you know a probably the next step and I don't think


there'll be too much of a reaction based what is happening right now. uh Cuba, Cuba has been vulnerable for a very long time. The embargo still stands in Cuba. So, so that will be the same kind of a uh um u situation. Now, in terms of the alliance that Cuba has with Russia or with China, just like Venezuela, um how strong that is, we don't know. What would that be really a worthwhile for those countries to risk a other relationships and economic a uh political um um confrontations for that particular geographic place?


Probably not. Um so um no Canada is off the hook. I think there is so much going on that that that we do not have to worry. However, a um it is very interesting um situation. I think in Europe in particularly uh there will be a serious crisis and most probably European Union uh will lose some members or or or or or become as some other organization or cease to exist which will affect a prices of of everything in Europe except gold. So again you know the gold is is is is where um one should be probably for you


know for gold like this you know you can buy a palace in Europe in few years from now presidential palace uh but it's a very very interesting situation because gold has been on rise as you know for for quite for number of years now because of the political instability because of BRICS countries kind of a rise to to prominence. Now this is very interesting because I was thinking what's happening to BRICS countries they are very silent nobody's criticizing real US uh we know that each


of them has they have issues there's a huge competition and what is a China's role in propelling uh right now keeping it down and then propelling the the uh creation of the different reserve currency in competition with US dollar that's that's a huge question. The other question is as you know South Africa is part of bricks and they are major producer of platinum. So is Russia platinum in order to to to make sure that you are a military um dominant and then you have a unique platinum for military purposes.


Um so how that's going to play out is going to be very interesting. >> It will be really interesting. Yeah. Maybe can you tell me a little bit more about platinum in the military because that's not an application that I have heard much about for that metal. >> The platinum is is required to to production of explosives and the jet fuel. Platinum has application in the chemical productions uh in in all sorts of a um applications that that secure required for national security for many


countries and platinum has lost his relationship to gold as you know. Um um some years ago and it's coming up. So I think in the future Pratin will be again on par with gold and and maybe exceed the value of gold. Um, so that's a an asset that that uh was overlooked because gold is money, platinum is I I do believe platinum is a military superiority and silver is is of course also of other applications and and uh um and it's silver is inexpensive is a poor man's gold. So, so it's it's very attractive


for investors to invest and and as a humongous gains, huge gains uh in the last while. Silver right now silver is what $78 an ounce and it used to be like $18. Uh so it's it's it's amazing. But also platinum is over $2,000 from $800. So all those uh precious metals play a huge role in our financial systems and political systems. A not only the why countries want to have a superiority or sphere of influence to sustain themselves with having international influence and influence over other


countries over other economies actually creates a peace within the c organiz country. Uh any kind of a all countries in the world right now are fractured. There are domestic issues in US everywhere. There are divisions. Uh there are divided and and having a um um control larger control of this field beyond your own country can help to to to repair some of the fractured issues within. The only problem is I was just looking actually the US debt is right now 38 trillion has grown. So the impact of of a um the


the revenue from uh uh international trade and all other savings have a very minute a uh impact on actually uh the deficit. So the deficit is growing and that's a huge danger. So uh one has to look into kind of a larger picture and have a larger sphere of influence and a certain dominance in order to even attempt to um reduce or amend that kind of level of debt. >> Right. And on that note, so we know that we need gold, silver, and as you mentioned, platinum in these circumstances, but really it seems like


this is this is about resources as a whole. You mentioned the the oil opportunity attached to Venezuela for the US. Greenland we know is rich in resources as well. They've got rare earth. So I wonder if you have any comments there that you can share about the the general need for resources for countries in the world today. >> Well, one country that really needs resources in a in a um almost critical level is China. China has a huge population but no resources. Uh for China, this current situation with


Russia is very good because they can basically a uh twist their arms and exploit whole Siberia and all that area. They're very rich in resources, but that's not enough. Uh China needs to move further in order to sustain themselves. So there's this quest for resources. this rare earth minerals. You can actually list them to what they are and you can geographically plot them on the map and then you will see which country are which countries are going to be uh in focus for a um um some sort of


a not takeover but but a target to to to to either for cooperation or to help them um um extract those resources. Most of the countries that have fantastic resources are underdeveloped. They are not in a position to actually uh uh extract those those rare minerals and and other things from from from their own uh you know uh soil. So they need they need assistance because of politics they are not open to it because of a uh other complexities there are problems. So for example uh when you think in in in Latin America, Brazil,


Argentina, Brazil in particularly is gold mine for everything around Amazon uh Amazonia is it's a uh and the same thing is Orinoco Venezuela then you have of course in Russia you have a an Africa um so what will happen eventually um we have to do something maybe the world will focus on let's build some cooperation in order to to to have a mutual exploration of those resources. We provide technology, we provide the knowhow and and you will provide us with the leases to to to share those resources. Uh this is not only political


and and military sustainability. I think is sustainability for your humanity. um to explore uh and and extract uh minerals in a way that does not destroy our planet. I think that's very important. Um so uh but in terms of financial systems, gold uh is money and will remain as money and whoever will actually back their currency with gold will actually be able to sustain their own um their own existence. And that's why central banks are are are uh building a huge reserves of of of gold. Now in terms of oil is not that simple.


Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil but very low production. Plus their oil the crude oil is very specific for a certain refineries. Uh so so that's not just like suddenly Exxon was going to move in and everybody's going to make billion dollars and every citizen of Venezuela will have a villa on you know on the ocean. It will not occur. It will not happen like that. It's going to be a very dangerous territory. I don't know how many employees of Exxon would like to right now work in Venezuela for any


amount of money. what it will take to to rebuild the infrastructure uh that has been in ruin for 30 years, 20 years, maybe even longer. Uh there were also as you know um legal battles when when Chavez when Venezuela nationalized the oil industry so they had to pay some sort of penalties in billions to the oil companies. However, the oil still belongs to the country of the origin. There are leases, there are legal things. So it's it's not such a simple matter. However, having an influence


over Venezuela is very important. Venezuela is a golden gate to natural resources and to uh Latin America. Um so that's that's what's happening. There was a mention I think President Trump mentioned the Monroe doctrine. Uh people are history buffs are are thinking about there different times. Uh when all those doctrines were conceived uh the world was very different. Uh technology the the growth of population everything else has changed. So the sphere of influence and domination depends on a lot of things. But I think


it build depends on how much gold one has and how much water uh particularly water you cannot drink oil you cannot you know uh uh oil is not the currency is so and there are perhaps you know and and you know there are many different alternatives to to to to fossil fluids that fuels that were you know contemplated but the end of the stay. Fossil fuels will stay, gold will be money on on on a for in a in a in a years to come, probably forever. Uh in terms of the geopolitical uh um configuration of the world, uh we


are witnessing history right now and and all we know that everybody is so interdependent. That's why you have such a u um um very muted uh reaction from the world. What happened in Venezuela? Some people love it. Some people are concerned about their own sovereign states. But most of the countries, the rulers are concerned about themselves. They don't want to be plugged out of the bed in the middle of the night if they do something wrong. and and and and there's a many places in the world where a lot of a uh um a lot


of systems are are are are not only corrupt but they are um um inhumane and and and uh there is a lot of fear going on. Those that have actually a very appropriate legal systems they still are fraught with a uh with a lot of problems. So there's a lot of personal concern most than humanitarian concern for Venezuela or their people and the the biggest concern is right now is that uh um I think that there'll be no interruptions in oil production, no interruptions in in in in energy supply.


Uh now we're coming out of winter so that won't won't be such a big concern. But um when you when you look at the at the what will how this world will will uh uh evolve in next few months will be very very important. I think that that that uh US will take over Greenland quite legally without without no with no opposition. I think members of United Nation will be more concerned about preserving their jobs there than than sticking their neck out for anybody. Uh and and and really Greenland um uh the


the the colonies are really outdated as a as a Danish colony and and the sovereignty uh guaranteed by United States in 1916 by buying US Virgin Islands from them is not exactly the solid uh ground to to to to to uh to to actually to oppose what is happening. We cannot oppose, you know, we cannot oppose the storm. Sailors know that. But we can adjust the sails. And I think that's what we have to do. So if you have a boat with the sails, you know, and you're coming a across a heavy geopolitical winds and


the boat is full of gold, just adjust your sails and there you will succeed. Reach your destination. >> Well, I I think that is a great place for us to wrap up. you've given such a good overview of the situation right now and we we know that we need to have our precious metals. So, thank you so much. We'll make sure to have you back as this situation develops and again, happy new year. >> Thank you very much. Happy New Year, >> of course. And once again, I'm Charlotte


Mloud with investingnews.com and this is Ivon Blick with BMG Group. Thank you for watching. If you like this video, make sure you hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. We'd also love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment below.