Resource World Magazine

8 www.resourceworld.com O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9 I t has long been dubbed the poor man's gold. But after notching a gain of 37% between the end of May, 2019 and the first week of September 2019, silver has not only regained some lost luster, [hitting US $19.69/oz on Sept. 4], it has recently outperformed the yellow metal. In the same period, gold was up 19%, reaching a high of US $1,560.40/oz. The silver market is about 1/10th the size of the gold market. Not surprisingly, shares of companies like MAG Silver Corp. [MAG-TSX; MAG- NYSE American] and SilverCrest Metals Inc. [SIL-TSX; SILV-NYSE American] have gained in value amid hopes that the silver rally will continue. Those hopes are based on a number of factors including global political and economic uncertainty, fall- ing production and the fact that when historical trading ratios are taken into consideration, silver is still cheap in com- parison to gold. "Everything is going in silver's favour at the moment," said George Paspalas, President and CEO of MAG Silver dur- ing an interview with Resource World Magazine. "You have the precious metal component riding on the back of gold. You have an increase in the industrial use of silver. This is occurring in what is a declin- ing production market," he said. The silver rally, while welcome, is not something that many in the industry were counting on. Americas Silver Corp. recently embarked on a rebranding exer- cise, involving a change in its name to Americas Gold and Silver Corp. [USA- TSX; USAS-NYSE American] to emphasize the fact that it is producing gold as well as silver. For similar reasons, Silver Standard changed its name to SSR Mining Inc. [SSRM-TSX, NASDAQ] in 2017. Like gold, silver is considered a safe haven investment. It is also an industrial metal that is used to manufacture every- thing from jewellery and cutlery to cell phone batteries. It is worth noting that silver is the best thermal and electrical conductor of all metals. But more than half of the silver produced in the world is mined as a by-product of base metals. by Peter Kennedy A LONG TIME IN THE DOLDRUMS, SILVER'S RECENT RISE IN PRICE HAS ENTHUSED SILVER BUGS. IS THIS JUST THE BEGINNING? SILVER — set to soar?

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