According to the World Gold Council
– the overall level of global mine production is relatively stable.
Supply has averaged
approximately 2,497 tonnes per year over the last
several years. 2500
tonnes is equal to 80.4
million troy ozs.
World Silver Supply and
Demand
(in millions of ounces)
|
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
Supply
|
Mine Production
|
606.2
|
593.9
|
596.6
|
613.0
|
637.3
|
641.7
|
665.4
|
681.9
|
718.3
|
735.9
|
Net Government Sales
|
63.0
|
59.2
|
88.7
|
61.9
|
65.9
|
78.5
|
42.5
|
28.9
|
15.5
|
44.8
|
Old
Silver Scrap
|
189.0
|
196.3
|
194.0
|
195.2
|
198.6
|
203.3
|
199.0
|
193.7
|
188.4
|
215.0
|
Producer
Hedging
|
18.9
|
--
|
--
|
9.6
|
27.6
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
61.1
|
Implied
Net Disinvestment
|
--
|
18.9
|
1.6
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
Total
Supply
|
877.1
|
868.3
|
881.0
|
879.7
|
929.5
|
923.5
|
907.0
|
904.5
|
922.2
|
1,056.8
|
Source: Silver
Institute
The Silver Institute tells us there were 735 million
ozs. of Ag mined from the
earth’s crust in 2010. Simple math [735 / 80.4] tells us that
“nature” is implying that the gold / silver ratio should be 9.14:
1.
Historic Gold/Silver
Ratio – 650 Years
This is a 650 year graph
of silver prices and silver/gold ratio from 1344 to 2004.
Source: http://goldinfo.net/silver600.html
From 1300 to the mid
1800’s – the gold silver ratio never went above 20 and gravitated
to 15 – that’s 500+ years worth of
equilibrium. It’s really only been in the past 140 years [while the
private Rothschild controlled Bank of England centric debt based monetary
system has been in force] that we’ve seen such strange
“aberrations” in the gold/silver ratio.
Only a “CHERRY PICKING HACK” would show
140 yrs. worth of PERVERTED data and make the “insinuation” with
this data and by naming the piece, ‘140 Years of Silver Volatility’
- that 15: 1 is “LOW” for the gold / silver ratio.
What this 140 Years of Volatility better reflects is
the political nature of the monetary metals – and how free markets in
them stand between spend-thrift megalomaniacs who have increasingly occupied
political offices over that time frame. Take this account explaining the
“end of bi-metalism”
– which explains silver’s fall-from-grace. The fall created
artificial gluts of Ag [artificial because, unlike gold, silver is consumed]
– which have been sold-off or generally disgorged for more-or-less the
past 100 years. Well guess what folks? The very real glut which was
synthetically created in silver by ‘de-monetizing’ it – has
now been consumed:
II. The end of bi-metalism.
The 19th century is the period when
the very long-established ratio of 15 between the price of gold and silver is
displaced. Throughout the previous three centuries, this ratio of 15 - or
less - had prevailed globally. I shall examine this period in more detail in
the next article on the same subject.
The ratio of 15 seems to be a sort of natural
balance between the price of gold and silver. This balance was broken at the
end of the 20th (19th???) century,
with the depreciation of silver.
This depreciation resulted from several factors:
- The end of bi-metalism -
silver was no longer a specie metal. This factor seemed to lead all the
others
- The increase in production of silver in the United
States.
- The sales of silver by Germany, which had
furthermore a very strong psychological impact. Germany was in a different
situation from the other countries, because it went from a silver mono-metalism to a gold mono-metalism.
This was unique, because other countries went from bi metalism
to the gold standard. It thus had large inventories to be sold – and
the threat of the sales depressed prices more than the sales themselves.
- The sales of silver by the Scandinavian countries.
The volatility we’ve experienced in the past
140, or so, years “IS” the aberration. The profligate political
factors which created the aberration [glut] have now been removed from the
landscape.
With above ground stockpiles now gone, along with
the re-emergence of investment demand for silver – we WILL return to
the historic 15: 1 at a MINIMUM.
This is math and –
when it happens - represents nothing more than a reversion to a mean.
As for silver [or gold]
trading at a “premium” to the paper COMEX price – we should
all take a deep breath and remember that Eric Sprott
is trusted and believed by the public to posses the
REAL silver which backs the fund he markets in his name. Sprott
PSLV actually publishes their NAV and share price daily – so, like it
or not, there is transparency. Don’t forget, Sprott
PSLV shares are readily convertible / exchangeable into physical silver.
COMEX, on the other hand
– is widely – if not universally - understood to possess a
“tiny” fraction [perhaps as little as 1/100th] of
physical metal for each paper contract they sell. Getting physical delivery
from COMEX is extremely cumbersome and – according to reliable market
participants who have been through the process - reportedly inexplicable [if
they really have the metal] fraught with delays. Promoters / adherents of
this scheme get around the transparency aspect of the fractional fraud with
the semantics of “allocated” and “unallocated”
accounts – verbiage which has been developed / adopted to obfuscate the
difference between REAL and imaginary.
At the time of writing - Kitco is charging $ US 45.77 per oz. [9.11 % premium] for
a Cad. Maple and $ US 4,382.00 for a 100 oz bar
[4.46 % premium] of silver basis spot $ US 41.95 spot for silver. BMG Bullion
Bars [shamelessly and promotionally which are available through myself] are
still available at spot plus 3 %.
This brings us to another
unfortunate but logical conclusion: we are very likely fast approaching the
day when REAL gold and silver will not be obtainable with fiat money –
period.
In order to procure these
stores of wealth in the future one will likely be required to trade other
REAL ‘tangibles’. Hurt feelings, vendettas and foul language will
not prevent this from happening – and by the way, our “paper
markets” are much worse than a joke – they’re criminally
hallucinogenic and an insult to free markets and humanity.
Rob Kirby
KirbyAnalytics.com
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