40 Bucks a ounce for silver-spot price is kind of the benchmark high I believe is the story.............will research,bought some and really kinda letting The Eagles sit around.
As the Govt. prints more Monopoly money and pandemic hand outs I have heard physical metals will go up in value---We'll see

Thx phil-lee I am in a position to hold-doing well currently-OT at work almost weekly -fortunate at this time-

HODL. Right now JP Morgan has a lot of paper silver that they can't cover in physical. If everybody buys up all the physical and JPM can't cover...

Roger that,it is not a big sum,but a solid amount I have to hold-TY for explanation too !!

You do realize that they are still mining silver and pulling it up out of the ground don’t you?
Some futures contracts are based on future production from the mining industry.
It’s not a just what’s out there is out there sort of scenario. Not to mention the higher the price of silver gets, the more cost effective it is to mine it.

Anyhow, there’s few issues with the idea of “buying up all the physical silver” to rapidly inflate the price.
Even with all this talk of people buying up all the silver a week ago to jack up the price it only spiked about $3 per ounce for a brief moment in time and a day later it was right back where it stated. Yeah, maybe it’s up a buck at the moment but that’s it thus far.
The only people that made a bunch of money in that $3 spike were the people that were holding silver futures and dumped them when a bunch of people decided to jump in. Say they had locked in 100,000 ounces at the then current price of $26 an Oz for future delivery (roughly $2,600,000 in silver at the time).
If they put up $4 an ounce up front on the contract, so they put up $200,000 (maybe more, maybe less depending on the contract). Say they dumped those contracts and sold them all off when silver hit $28 an ounce thinking this is just a blip (which it was), they made $2 an ounce or $100,000.

Also, keep in mind there is a premium associated with buying physical. It varies depending on what your buying. Larger bars and things like that have a smaller premium per ounce than something like eagles or other minted silver items.
Thing like Eagles are silver from a contract that has already been filled. They are not buying up minted items at premiums to fill silver contracts at melt.
What I mean by that is that when a mint is planning a new issue, they lock in the price of the metal before they start making coins.
Situations like this are another situation where contracts come into play. The mint buys a bunch of silver based on a contract at a certain price, for delivery on a certain date. The person on the other end of that contract isn’t running around trying to buy up all the physical they can to fill the order. They in turn make a contract with a mine to produce said silver in said time period for said price. The mine knows what sort of production they are running and guarantees to deliver said number of ounces at said price. Even if the price of silver runs to $50 an oz, the mine is contractually bound to deliver at the price stated in the contract.

And gold.

I never thought about how much of it is still coming out of the ground until I started watching the tv show Gold Rush many years ago. (I have never missed a episode).

I like a lot of things, no way would I get near a diamond though, not a good investment at all. (I have never bought any, but I have heard a lot about that).

Diamonds at retail were never a good investment. That is a Sales line.
They were Possible to be an investment, if one is very active in the market, and these days, Id call it simply a PITA today.
With Lab grown diamonds now at $800/carat, its even harder.

Another way to invest in gold is wearable scrap in the form of jewelry.
Plenty of that +/- points on Market.

Harder to sell as jewelry if one doesnt know market demand, but enjoyable in many forms.

After that is getting your local licenses, and buying from the local market which has huge discounts from melt price.
Its a business that has huge returns, once people start going out more.

Let’s do some basic math here.

In 2019 there was an estimated 27,000 metric tons of silver mined.

There are 35,273.962 ounces in a metric ton.

So in 2019 they mined roughly 682,396,974 ounces of silver globally.

Not sure how much they mined in 2020, but silver production has steadily increased a little each year for decades so I imagine 2021 will yield similar production figures to past years, if not slightly higher.

Back when I was young I loved collecting coins.

I liked the odd stuff like 20 cent pieces.

My favorite of all time was a 1854-O $3 gold piece.

When I sold all of it 20 years ago, the 1893-S brought the most money with a vintage of 100k

Amazing how Morgan Dollars were always so popular.

The rarest coin I ever had was the 1854-O with a 24k mintage.

I used to love having rare coins.

Yeah, at one time I had 2 3-legged Buffalo nickels.

Never had that 1955-s double die penny (not even sure that is correct, all I know is I never had one).(and was never interested in one).

Coins and stuff you just put away in a safe.

A pain in the ass at times but Real Estate will pay a lot better return on your investment.

At least that is what my friend tells me.

2 cent pieces, 3 cent pieces, 20 cent, old coins are very cool!

I can’t count how many people over the years have asked if buying coins is a good investment.
It’s like asking if buying stocks is a good investment.
Sure, it can be. But you can also break even or completely lose your ass.
I pretty much tell people they should collect coins if they like coins and enjoy collecting. If your looking for investment, buy Realestate.

Like anything else though, really astute collectors that really study coins generally tend to do pretty well. Think of it like this. A guy that is totally into coins and studies them, reads books about them, follows market trends/auction prices, learns grading etc., generally tends to do pretty well.
Pretty much every field of collectibles is like this. The more educated you are about what you are buying, the more likely you are to make good purchases.

Overall I ended up with around 8% yearly average investment return when I sold. I was happy with that.

I knew a guy through business that would pack his wife and kids up and travel to Venezuela every Summer - there was a place their they could camp on some small river, and for a month they would work to find gold. He said they always found enough to pay for the vacation--sounded fun to me.

I would love to try that here, but I don't think there's much gold in the rivers in Texas. I have thought about going to Arkansas for a week to look for diamonds at the State Park there.

Good topic -

At $35 for a period of time there is a lot of silver production that will come online. We all have a lot of projects that been sitting on for years. I am a miner. Last year fuel was cheap and prices up. This year fuel much more expensive.

Most the old timers got the old placer gold. I have been finding new flood gold that has been deposited since the 1930’s. There is still a lot of gold out there. I am always looking for new prospects. South America is another animal. Look for we’re old timers were and where there was not easy access to large amounts of water.

Usgs is best place to start.

Bought a dozen each of the 1 oz silver eagles and buffalo indian head coins to pass out as gifts this up coming christmas. Got them from JM Bullion before the reddit boys hype for $31.5 each . They look pretty nice so hope the kids like them. I see someone is going to make a redditboys and 2 oz bigfoot coin .Im a first timer but looks like a fun hobby .

For years I've purchased from Lincoln Coin and Bullion which is a brick and mortar store not too far from you. They have been great to work with.

To late to buy for me. I bought $100 in quarters (90 percent silver) some one ounce eagles 10 oz bars and a 100 oz one when the price was $6.00-$9.00 and ounce. Sold it and helped me buy one of my rental properties.

As President Trump said "Buy when the market is down, not when it is doing good. You will pay top dollar then."

Gold prices show a pronounced seasonal pattern. This chart has been very helpful in timing my PM investments (including gold stocks) over the past 30 years. A similar chart can be found by looking up "Gold(CMX) 40 Year Seasonal (1976 - 2015)". There is also a chart for silver.

Basically, buy during the summer lows and if so inclined, sell during the fall / early new year highs. This yearly pattern is very similar at times to the weekly and daily gold price action, that is, an early price appreciation and exuberance (eg: early January or Monday mornings) followed by a general price fade (late January and into the summer or later Monday). I think this is done to crush hope and sentiment as 'they' try to keep the gold (and silver) price lids from blowing off. A good example of this was last weeks Monday silver price fade action.

(JMHO, DYODD).

Seasonal gold (resized).png

While we’re on the subject of mining and prospecting, thought I would share a picture of two nuggets/specimens that came through the office.

The one on the left is California, while the other is Alaska.

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Every time I get an Alaskan nugget it I think of this song.

Those sure are perddy!

I'll guess somewhere in the 4 ounce range each??
(Btw, what's the premium over spot on nuggets like that these days?)

It almost hurts to see those nuggets, as I'm used to scouring drill core with a magnifying glass or microscope. However, even finding the tiniest confirmed microscopic speck of gold has huge implications (not to mention the big sigh of relief after spending millions). Here is a 'huge' speck of vg (visible gold) in drill core that ran 3 oz/ton. It was from the discovery hole that kicked off a 'tiny' $37,000,000 gold ore body that was later mined out.

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That’s really quite interesting.

To answer your question the one on the left is a little over 3oz, the one on the right is just over 11oz. The one on the right is a little more deceptive and pretty hefty in the hand. Both are roughly .900 fine give or take with other trace elements in the mix.
I have a hand held XRF here in the office and tested them both when they came in.
Been thinking about using it to test the alloys on pinballs and pinball parts lol. It would be pretty interesting to see what the different alloys on pinballs and things like coil stops.
Values really depend. It’s like anything else where the more attractive it is the higher premium over melt. Size does matter, but when you get something like a really big nugget from the Australian gold fields the premium drops. I had a really big one from there a few years ago, but it was pretty ugly (like a big gold cow pie and rather lifeless). At the same time I had that, I had one that was really beautiful in native form (not tumbled in a river) with a really nice quartz matrix. I got a small premium on the Australian one and about 2.5 time melt on the really pretty one. Another factor is where it’s from. If you get a nice looking nugget from a scarcer geographical location or perhaps a famous mine it can be pretty desirable.
Pretty normal looking nuggets with some heft to them (an ounce or more) generally something like 1.25-2 times melt (actual melt net gold, not gross weight) unless they are really neat or special.

The one to the right from Alaska is close to the source.

Looking forward to the 2021 mining season. Was at one mine all day today. Still too much snow. Went through 6ft deep of snow and got stuck on Can am. Had to go get loader to pull out and clear a path. Trend lately is gold goes down around month end and up the first week of the month. Some pictures over the years.

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Cool photos!

They really put into perspective the gigantic machinery, labour, expenses and challenges that go into such a tiny but valuable product. Reminds me of all the above (and below) ground mine sites I've ever worked at...damn hard work!

Now when I watch those gold shows I'm reminded of the chill in my bones, the itchin from billions of blackfly bites, the good, the bad and the ugly camp food (and same goes for the cooks), the copious amounts of swearing and the amazing chopper rides! Then there is the never ending equipment and labour problems. It's a wonder gold isn't at least a million dollars an ounce!

Here's a few from the old 'scrap'book.

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Here's half of my take from a honey hole me and a buddy found about ten years ago. I was really enjoying the outdoors just hanging out drinking beers moving big rocks to find little rocks. After CA banned recreational dredging back it 09 it sorta ruined the fun for me.
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Thanks for the information!

Sounds like bigger and more crystalline nuggets get the primo pricing. I've only ever found crystalline flake and tiny nuggets when panning as a prospecting tool to find the hard rock source.

I ran the cash vault for a bank back in the early 2000s and would pick out any unusual currency and coins that came through me. I was mostly fascinated with the currency after finding Silver and Gold certificates, U.S. Notes, WWII Notes, error notes and large denominations and other things I had never seen before, but I also managed to put together about 7 lbs of silver coins (Morgan and Peace Dollars and pre-'65 Quarters and Dimes) by the time I left. I even managed to snag a fistful of Gold Eagles along the way! It's amazing what people and businesses would deposit without giving it a second glance. I paid face value for everything. I haven't given it much thought over the last decade, but I still find these pieces and their history very interesting.

Beautiful spot, looks worth it just for the beers!

Here is the bigger stuff! The dozer is a Cat D11 and required to remove cab as too tall and go on a 13 axel heavy haul rig. (249,000 lbs) The blade goes on its own truck. Ripper and Cab on their own truck. Blade is 22 ft wide. It will push 96 cubic yards of material in one push using 930hp. One push is as much as 3 D9’s dozers combined.

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I’m impressed as hell and quite frankly a bit envious of some of these posts.
As someone who buys and sells things from a desk and largely at trade shows (in non Covid times), i often fantasize about some of these scenarios (mining or metal detecting).
It’s really cool to see some of these pics.

Awesome photos! Best of luck!

Gold fever...has a real edge to it, no cure and no regrets...lots of adventures and occasional treasures, it's the memories that can't be weighed or measured.

Need to see more of this happening!
(Feb.12, 2021, Kitco News)

"Idaho State House approves bill to hold gold as inflation, risk hedge."

Gosh, your entire post was awesome and those photos were incredible. Thank you for sharing those and being in this thread. Marked as a key post.

Idaho has a long history of and is blessed with gold, both placer and hard rock. It is also a significant silver producer. If the bill supports and buys from the 'physical' local industry and is not co-opted by the paper preponderants version of PMs, great!

That would be huge.

Such a capitol intense business to keep all that equipment up and running is in itself a major challenge let alone all the other aspects you must have to deal with must be quite stressful . i can see we're a few games of pinball would be good stress relief. Do you mine on shares with the landowners who has the mineral rights or how does that all work on private or public grounds . Thanks for posting all those great pics

I mine on all three. I have BLM leases, own private, and state/municipal ground. You pay a royalty from 5-20 percent. Of course lower the better. 20 percent it has to be really special. On equipment yes it does break. I have extra equipment so we can always do maintenance. I carry 1/3 extra equipment. Have my own heavy haul rig incase I get into a big bind which does happen. If more than 50 percent of your equipment is down, I can do a short term rental if needed. Private land is easier to permit and less time. I would not let public or private be a factor but where is the best gold. Pinball is fun and relaxing. Found a gold rush pinball and had to buy for a friend. Brought it back to life.

Regarding the brick in your final picture, did you smelt and cast that yourself as well?

I just can’t get over the sheer amount of equipment you have in those photos. How many employees do you utilize? How long does a mine generally last? Has all of your mining been in the US? Do you accumulate other ancillary metals while mining such as silver and copper?

Thanks. Happy to post more but don’t want to be hog. Love to see the nuggets and stories. I think all precious metal do really well after COVID-19. That is when people realize printing money has long term costs. Here is a dredge that I followed. It was the most successful in North America. In its first month it did 3200 OZT of gold. Bought picture off eBay ironically.

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Yes so most of what we get is gold dust. Nuggets are rare in total gold weight volume. We then smelt it. Did that my self. We also have seconds that come off the gold MSI shaker table. The seconds have gold with black sand. At the end of year you will have a few buckets. You use acid and the gold comes out of it. That is where that bar came from. It is usually 2-3 percent of your total production but a nice end of season winter gift. Gold usually has small impurities and mainly silver with it. When you smelt you get the silver and gold to separate. I have found silver nuggets but they are extremely rare. Usually the acid from the rain breaks them down.

This is super interesting to me. I'm curious how difficult is it to get proper permits and permissions needed such as water usage and what if anything do you have to do once a spot is mined out? Do you have to replant, grade in holes etc?

Any one have knowledge of United States Antimony Corp symbol UAMY out of Montana employs 103 workers . Mines gold, silver, zeolite and Antimony used for battery's . Rumor has it Bill Gates is getting behind it ,trades at $1.57 but had a loss in 2019 but might be a way to play the metals and potential EV car craze.