The Metalist

Gus

The Metalist is a show about all things metal — and how the stuff the world is built from gets made, moved, recycled, and priced. Host Gus Gardner breaks down manufacturing, recycling, and the light metals (aluminum, mostly — with steel and copper along for the ride) in plain language you don't need a metallurgy degree to follow. From scrap and tariffs to supply shocks and the people who turn yesterday's cans into tomorrow's cars, it's the industry nobody covers — finally getting its own show. New episodes regularly.

Episodes

  1. Jul 11

    The Physical Premium

    The price of aluminum you see quoted isn't the price almost anyone actually pays. The gap is called the physical premium — and in the U.S. in 2026 it's grown to more than 40% of the all-in cost of metal, a record. In this short, single-idea episode of The Metalist, host Gus Gardner breaks down what the premium is, what's inside it (freight, financing, regional supply and demand, and duties), and why a 50% Section 232 tariff has pushed the U.S. Midwest Premium to all-time highs and decoupled the American market from the rest of the world. By the end you'll know why the premium — not the headline price — is the truest read on whether metal is physically tight. FURTHER READING / SOURCES (public) ---------------------------------- - CME Group — Hedging regional aluminum premiums: https://www.cmegroup.com/articles/2025/aluminum-premiums-2025.html - S&P Global Platts — US Aluminum Transaction price explained: https://www.spglobal.com/energy/en/pricing-benchmarks/assessments/metals/us-aluminum-transaction-price-explained - White & Case — US modifies Section 232 aluminum/steel/copper tariffs (2026): https://www.whitecase.com/insight-alert/united-states-modifies-steel-aluminum-and-copper-section-232-tariffs - Fastmarkets — Aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs duty-paid Rotterdam: https://www.fastmarkets.com/commodity-prices/aluminium-p1020a-premium-in-whs-dp-rotterdam-dollar-tonne-mb-al-0004/ - LME — Aluminium premiums: https://www.lme.com/metals/non-ferrous/lme-aluminium-premiums

  2. Jun 16

    Inside the LME Warehouse System — How to Read Metal Trade Flows for Free

    Every business day, a free report comes out that smart-money metal traders watch closely — and almost nobody else knows exists. In Episode 2 of The Metalist, host Gus Gardner takes you inside the LME warehouse system: the global network of approved warehouses, what a "warrant" actually is, and why "cancelled warrants" are the signal everyone watches. You'll learn to read the daily stock report to understand where the world's metal is really moving — plus the wild story of the Detroit aluminum queue, and why a big inventory number doesn't always mean metal you can get.

  3. Jun 10

    The Big Macro Update

    In the very first episode of The Metalist, host Gus Gardner unpacks the biggest takeaways from a major aluminum industry summit — and makes the case that metal is in the middle of its most interesting stretch in forty years. A bull market that snuck up on almost everyone. A supply shock traced back to a single stretch of water most people never think about. And a quiet revolution where scrap — the stuff we used to call garbage — became the real "green" play and a raw material countries now fight over. No metallurgy degree required. Just a curiosity about how the world actually gets built. "In this episode" list: Why metal deserves a show — and what The Metalist will coverThe bull market that caught the industry off guardThe Strait of Hormuz: how one chokepoint rippled across global supplyScrap is the new green: why recycling beat the moonshot smeltersHow tariffs redrew the North American mapWhat aluminum actually becomes — billet, castings, and the gridEurope's "leaking bucket" problemThe outlook, and a teaser for episode two

  • 3 Episodes

About

The Metalist is a show about all things metal — and how the stuff the world is built from gets made, moved, recycled, and priced. Host Gus Gardner breaks down manufacturing, recycling, and the light metals (aluminum, mostly — with steel and copper along for the ride) in plain language you don't need a metallurgy degree to follow. From scrap and tariffs to supply shocks and the people who turn yesterday's cans into tomorrow's cars, it's the industry nobody covers — finally getting its own show. New episodes regularly.

Information

  • Creator
    Gus
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Gus