Silver also due for action. Has been slumbering quietly for a while. I stole the info below from a post ozestock.
SILVER ... snipped from CBS Marketwatch . com
At the just-finished Denver gold show, Pan American Silver ( PAAS ) CEO Ross J. Beaty took a half-hour to tell me about the new, growing uses for the precious metal group's little brother. See: Gold crowd is growth crowd.These uses include silver as a possible replacement for the bacteria-battling agent chlorine. Medical uses as disinfectants and anti-bacterials are also growing, says Beaty, who serves as president of the Silver Institute this year.Berry also points to anti-microbial silver compounds that combat pathogens, such as Legionnaires Disease, salmonella and e-coli bacteria. Silver solutions that could prolong the life of lettuce and other produce are also in the works, he says."Warren Buffett purchased 129.7 million ounces of silver in 1998. He must believe in its worth because there is a significant cost of carry to the metal," says Berry. "George Soros and his Quantum Fund own 32 percent of Apex Silver Mines ( SIL ) , which has a 500-million ounce proven deposit in Bolivia. Bill Gates owns at least 10 percent of Pan American Silver."Even with demand for silver increasing about 4 percent a year, ordinary investors are ignoring the metal, Berry explains. And then, there is the short angle. Large gold producers that mine silver as a by-product, chief among them Barrick Gold ( ABX ) , have short-sale, deferred-price and other hedged and leasing positions that effectively cap the metal's price by adding to the paper-trading of silver. The annual production of silver ( less than 1 billion ounces a year ) amounts to 2 percent of this short position, Berry says. "While I am not predicting a short squeeze, consider the outcome should there be a short squeeze," the former professor says.Spot silver Monday was selling for about $4.50 an ounce, or about the same level as it was a year ago.
MMN Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
