Resource World Magazine

o c t o b e r / n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 4 www.resourceworld.com 23 www.precisiongeosurveys.com 604.484.9402 Magnetics - Radiometrics - Time Domain EM Specialists in high resolution airborne geophysics in mountainous terrain silver components. Bradford Cooke says silver has some investment qualities in common with gold. "Wherever gold goes, silver seems to fol- low," Cooke said. "Typically when the price of gold rises, small investors prefer silver, because they can own more of it. And when gold falls, they prefer gold because it is on sale." Although gold and silver are both stores of value, silver is different from gold because it is also an industrial metal. "More than 70% of the annual supply of silver is consumed for industrial uses, whereas gold has only minor applications in industry," Cooke said. "Therefore, gold typically does not get consumed, and it accumulates above ground every year as physical bullion or coins for investment. Silver, on the other hand, does get con- sumed and only secondarily accumulates above ground." Cooke says silver has many old, new and emerging industrial uses. "Silver was the backbone of the photo film industry for many decades and continues to be used in X-ray and other films today," he said. "It is the best natural conductor of elec- tricity, which explains why you can find it in almost every electronic device on the planet." Because silver is also the best natural reflector of light, it continues to be used for mirrors and coatings. "And silver is one of the best known natural anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents, so it is used more and more for water purification, food and clothing and wood preservation, and as an antiseptic in hospitals and clinics," Cooke said. "Silver is the key to photovoltaic cells, which convert light into electricity." Silver is also used in RFD (radio frequency distribution) devices and in Band-Aids. The price of silver has been up and down recently. "Silver peaked in 2011 at US $49 per ounce and bottomed at US $18.60 per ounce in 2013," Cooke said. "While it has bounced only 10% off its bottom, both the fundamental and technical indications are for 2014 to be a turn-around year for the precious metals." In the long term, some analysts say how high silver could go in this next cycle will be determined by the historic gold/silver ratio. "Over 150 years ago, both gold and silver were used mainly as money," Cooke said. "The British pound sterling, which dominated global trade and finance, was tied to gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. [16 ounces of silver would buy 1 oz of gold] During the hyperinflation of the 1970s, which was the next time gold and silver were used as money, the gold to silver ratio bottomed at around 16 to 1; it then soared to 100 to 1. Today, it's about 64 to 1, roughly the average for the past 15 years. So there seems to be some historical basis for gold and silver to return to the 16 to 1 ratio if they are again commonly used as money. If we inflate the 1980 highs of both metals, we would get about US $2,400/oz gold and US $150/oz silver today [reflecting a 16 to 1 ratio]." Some traders like to play the extremes of the ratio; that is, when the ratio is high, selling gold to buy silver and when the ratio is low, selling silver to buy gold. iS noW a good tiMe to inveSt in SiLveR? "For any investment, you want to buy low and sell high, and given how cyclic gold and silver are, you typically want to buy near the start of a cycle," Cooke said. Because both metals are seasonal, the summer months are a good time for short- term investors to buy, because it's just before the October to March wedding and holiday season in India, China and Dubai, when gold and silver are bought to make jewelry. "For longer term investors, you need only to look at the three-, five- and ten- year charts to see that both metals have recently risen to their 200-day moving averages," Cooke said. "So a break-out up or down seems likely very soon, and the fundamentals strongly favour a break-out to the upside into a new bull cycle." n Silver is a safe haven asset, because it lies outside the volatile and unpredictable financial system. Investing in the physical asset is the best way to invest in silver. You can invest in such tangibles as coins, bars and bullion. They're available from coin dealers and from dealers on the Internet – David Morgan

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