BIG MONEY IN SILVER COINS AHEAD?

SILVER MAY BE ABOUT TO STEP OUT OF GOLD’S SHADOW

- STEVE VOYNICK

An observer of the precious-metal markets once commented that silver has its bright, white luster so that it can find its way in the shadow of gold—alluding, of course, to the fact that gold is a tough act for any metal to follow.

While silver lacks the nobility of gold, it nevertheless has always had a well-defined place in the hierarchy of monetary and coinage metals. Initially, silver filled the critical niche between gold coins, once affordable only to governments and the wealthy, and copper and bronze coins, which had limited acceptance.

Today, silver still fills that gap in places like coin shows, where relative affordability makes silver coins enormously popular. Coin collectors, traders, and dealers working on budgets can set up far more substantial and more impressive displays of silver coins than gold coins. And with security always an issue, silver coins carry far less financial risk than gold.

It now seems that silver may be about to step out of gold’s daunting shadow. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the supply of newly mined silver—and that has huge implications for future prices.

In late March 2020, in response to the worsening pandemic, the government of Mexico halted all nonessential commercial activities, including mining. As the world’s leading source of silver, Mexico produced 200 million troy ounces in 2019—nearly one-quarter of the world’s production. Within the following week, other major silver-producing nations— including Bolivia, Peru, Poland, and Chile—closed their mines. These combined shutdowns have slashed global silver production by 66 percent.