Is Now the Time to Go All-In on Silver—or Stick with Gold?

[Hummin]

On 5/14/2025 at 3:37 PM, hotsun said:

Buy bitcoin when its 100k or buy it when its a million. Holding precious metals is like watching grass grow

How much BTC did you say you had ? 😉

[swissie]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I am sitting on cash, waiting for the next stupidity from the Oval Office to send sharemarkets into a tailspin again.

 

Nothing better than buying a good stock cheap, which is paying a good dividend.

 

I have done quite well out of silver, but it pays no dividend. As you say, riding a tiger.

Good on you. Same as you, Warren Buffet is also sitting on a lot of cash. IMO  the time when everyone is crying "fire" rushing for the fire exit is not too far off.

[Stocky]

46 minutes ago, swissie said:

Silver is mostly a by-product of copper mining.

No it's not.

 

Silver is associated with lead, zinc and gold. Whilst most certainly it's a by-product in gold mining, it's more often the case the primary economic metal in silver-lead-zinc deposits.  Yes it is associated with copper, but it's not the most common occurrence. 

[StayinThailand2much]

On 5/14/2025 at 1:13 PM, pacovl46 said:

Gold is a long term investment and in my opinion much safer than anything else, apart from real estate maybe. 

 

Yes. I used to invest into gold for short-term gain, but usually made a loss. Now investing more and more in gold, as opposed to equities. Planning to hold for 5-10 years.

[jas007]

On 5/14/2025 at 10:28 AM, Conan The Barbarian said:

Looking for a Long-Term Investment: Silver or Gold?

Both, but right now, silver is undervalued.

 

Still, I wouldn't go all in on precious metals.  Get some advice about a proper portfolio allocation.

 

I can remember buying and selling 1 oz gold coins in the $300 range, most recently in the early 2000s.  So it can be a good inflation hedge. And I can remember buying bags of junk silver for not much.  Maybe 3X face?  Again, a good inflation hedge for anyone with a long term time horizon.

 

And don't forget, silver has industrial applications, so that gives it added value. They need that stuff. 

[swissie]

24 minutes ago, Stocky said:

No it's not.

 

Silver is associated with lead, zinc and gold. Whilst most certainly it's a by-product in gold mining, it's more often the case the primary economic metal in silver-lead-zinc deposits.  Yes it is associated with copper, but it's not the most common occurrence. 

According to big mining companies (Glencore for example) most Silver content is connected to copper mining as far as quantity is concerned. Surely other mining procedures yield a certain amount of Silver. But as far as quantity is concerned, copper is the main supplier of Silver.

[swissie]

In the case of Silver, I would like to add that for the 3rd year in a row Silver demand has outpaced Silver production. Of course, something like that doesn't make the headlines.
 
But this is exactly the constellation for another typical Silver outburst on the upside. This time not needing any "market cornering" as before, just the fundamentals sinking in.

 

According to the current pricing of Silver, those fundamentals have not yet "sunk-in".

 

[Lacessit]

10 hours ago, jas007 said:

 

And don't forget, silver has industrial applications, so that gives it added value. They need that stuff. 

Just about every smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop made contains silver.

 

It has the highest electrical conductivity of any metal.

[bravo19]

On 5/14/2025 at 5:28 AM, Conan The Barbarian said:

Looking for a Long-Term Investment: Silver or Gold?

BTC!

[pacovl46]

22 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

Yes. I used to invest into gold for short-term gain, but usually made a loss. Now investing more and more in gold, as opposed to equities. Planning to hold for 5-10 years.

From 2008 to 2012 you could've made a lot of money with gold because the banks flooded the market with gold shares every Friday evening right before the exchange closed down in order to combat the rising gold price. Of course it went right back up the following Monday. The good old days. But even the people who bought it at the highest price right before the end of the financial crisis, after which the price dropped, are well in the black numbers now, if they held on to it. 

[Stocky]

On 5/16/2025 at 10:10 PM, swissie said:

According to big mining companies (Glencore for example) most Silver content is connected to copper mining as far as quantity is concerned. Surely other mining procedures yield a certain amount of Silver. But as far as quantity is concerned, copper is the main supplier of Silver.

Newmont's Peñasquito Mine in Mexico is the worlds biggest silver mine, it's a gold, silver, lead zinc deposit and produced 30 million oz of silver annually. Industrias Peñoles is the world's biggest silver producer, it's mines in Mexico produce a combined total of 80 million oz of silver annually along with 750,000oz of gold, 62,000 tonnes of lead, 200,000 tonnes of zinc, and 17,000 tons of copper. Fresnillo Plc in Mexico produce 56 million oz silver and 630,000oz gold annually. Overall Mexico is the world's largest silver producer with a total of approximately 6,300 tonnes per annum equivalent to about 200 million oz.

 

Glencore is indeed a significant mining company and a major producer of copper and cobalt, and it produces about 20 million oz of silver annually as a by-product of it's global copper production of 1 million tonnes annually. 

 

Copper mining is a significant supplier of silver, but most silver is a product of gold, lead and zinc mining.