It's still unclear if Provident Metals is actually no longer part of the Elemetal group. They are still linked together on the internet through Elemetal Online and Provident Metals is still selling some items produced by Elemetal Mint. While they no longer have a long list of items to sell from Elemetal, they are still posting some other items as out of stock and taking information notifications as to when these items will be back in stock as well as listing a buy back price. Many new items they are selling list the mint as "PRIVATE", which could be my next door neighbor or Elemetal mint. With all the bad press regarding Elemetal mint, one sure way around that is to simply list the mint name as "PRIVATE".
We all saw how long Tulving, Bullion Direct and Northwest Territorial Mint were able to drag out their operations long after they were a failed operation. Provident Metals is too close to a major meltdown with The Elemetal group. Even though the CEO of Provident Metals posted a noticed stating they were parting ways with Elemetal, unless they only had a handshake deal, it might not be that easy. I haven't seen any information regarding this "new" partner that Provident Metals is suppose to be tying the knot with, so to me it just seems like a stall tactic at best. Since Provident is no longer selling anything special in the way of high quality rounds or bars at low premium prices, it seems like a prudent idea to make your purchases somewhere else. And even if they were, I still wouldn't make a purchase from them until Elemetal is either completely gone from the precious metal business or they have filed for bankruptcy and the records show Provident is free and clear of them. As you can tell from the above posts, they are having problems paying people for the metal they sent in months ago and not being able to keep their promised payment schedule or so it seems. Which may very well just be another way for them to clear all their assets before any bankruptcy is actually filed. At least with Elemetal we are getting some inside information as to the trouble they have going on versus what we didn't know about the others.
The Fall of Elemetal?
June 29, 2017 2:30PM EST from about.ag
It appears that Elemetal has been silently dismantling its empire over the past 6 months or so (well before the news of the $3.5B of illegal gold purchased by the 3 Elemetal/NTR employees came to light).
The first clue should have been that was that John Loftus, founder of NTR Metals (which basically morphed into Elemetal) became the CEO of DGSE (which Elemetal has been the majority shareholder of since 2012 or earlier) in December, 2016. Within 2 months, Loftus announced that DGSE was in negotiations to buy Elemetal Recycling, for about $20M.
The 8 Elemetal companies are:
Company |
Status |
Details |
Elemetal Online |
GONE |
"In late 2016, [Elemetal Online/Provident] found a new partner." The Provident website does not seem to mention Elemetal. |
Elemetal Recycling |
GOING |
17 Feb 2017 announcement that it is being acquired by DGSE. A non-binding Letter of Intent was signed in April. |
Elemetal Refining |
GOING |
Gold/silver shut down early April, 2017, insolvent, just handling base metals. |
Elemetal Capital |
GONE |
Acquired by Dorado Trade Group, LLC
(founded/run by Elemetal employees) about June, 2017. |
Elemetal Diamond |
UNKNOWN |
Still appears to be running. However, one of the heads of the company left by March, 2017. And, sometime after May 17, 2017, Elemetal Diamond let the hosting for their app website lapse. |
Elemetal Mint |
GONE? |
Reports are that no new bars have been produced over the past few months. It is unclear what was produced by Elemetal Mint (Dallas) versus Elemetal Refining (Ohio). It may have shut down as part of Elemetal Refining shutting down gold/silver operations. |
Elemetal Vault |
GOING? |
Apparently has only 1 part-time employee who is leaving. |
Elemetal Direct |
UNKNOWN |
Appears to be running. |
Last edited by valerb; 30th June 2017 at 09:21.
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