The other major anomaly in precious metals has been silver’s underper- formance relative to gold. The gold-silver ratio is a metric that tracks the two metals’ relative prices. The ratio has gravitated around 60:1 in the past decades. Currently it stands at 85:1. But industry leaders are sure that this is a temporary phenomenon. “Silver has better fundamentals than gold due to its significant industrial demand,” shares Randy Smallwood, the CEO of one of the biggest precious metals streaming companies in the world, Wheaton Precious Metals. Due to its wide applications, the demand for silver is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, driving up prices. “Currently, about 65 percent of global silver production is consumed in industrial applications,” Smallwood adds.

In addition, the silver supply is limited. In fact, there are only a few purely silver mines in the world, as the metal is most often a byproduct of copper, gold, lead or zinc. “Silver has been in deficit for three years and we expect that to continue. The demand for silver in technology and industrial appli- cations, most notably solar, is growing, and new technologies are looking to use more and more silver. This growing demand, coupled with supply not keeping pace, will likely cause silver prices to rise in the future,” emphasizes the interim CEO of Hecla Mining, Catherine Boggs.