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Message:: [QUOTE="Collector1966, post: 561517, member: 17919"]Speaking as someone who researches the mining industry in his line of work, I will say that there is a good reason why silver is lagging behind gold so much. As you noted, silver is an industrial metal (gold could be too, but it's just too expensive for many applications), and if the economy picks up, industrial demand for silver could, theoretically, also pick up. However, silver is usually mined as a by-product of other metals-- most notably lead, zinc, copper, and gold. There are very few "strictly silver" silver mines that will shut down if the silver price goes below a certain level. So there is always a lot of new silver that is reaching the market, regardless of the market price, because it is merely a by-product that brings in extra money for lots of copper/lead/zinc producers. Some of those base metal mining outfits have been cutting back on production, but if base metal mining increases because of an economic upturn , then the production of silver as a by-product will also increase. What's more, silver's main industrial use had been in photography, but that is going into decline due to the advent of digital cameras that don't require film that contains silver compounds. So. I would not expect silver to do a repeat of January 1980 unless there is really bad inflation or this generation's version of the Hunt Brothers appear on the scene.[/QUOTE]