Have we reached peak precious metals? Many analysts think so. Just to be clear, however, the idea of peak gold and peak silver doesn’t refer to a peak prices. The precious metals put in a cyclical price high in 2011 and are likely to rise much higher in the...
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Have we reached peak precious metals? Many analysts think so. Just to be clear, however, the idea of peak gold and peak silver doesn’t refer to a peak prices. The precious metals put in a cyclical price high in 2011 and are likely to rise much higher in the future. But annual mining production levels may have peaked for all time in 2014-2015. This is what is meant by “peak precious metals.” There is good reason to believe that newly mined supplies of gold and silver will decline in 2016 and beyond. The main culprit is low prices. In 2015, gold and silver prices spent most of the year trading below miners’ all-in production costs (which average $17/oz for silver and $1,150/oz for gold). Primary silver production is already on the decline in the major producing countries. Last year, silver output fell in Chile by 4.6%, in the United States by 6.5%, and in Canada by more than 20%! What Scalebacks in Base Metals Mining Mean for Silver It’s important to keep in mind that the majority of sil
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