RE: Silver starting to trade - magnumMagnum,
You strike me as one of the smarter, more experienced posters in this space. That is why, after seven years of such repetitive behavior, I find it hard to believe that you think silver (and gold) are not heavily, heavily rigged.
Aside from the prices being smashed day in and out at the same times of day, including 3 am EST (open of LME), 8:20 am EST (open of COMEX), and 10 am EST (Afternoon fix), there are a myriad other blatant facts. Heck, did you realize that for the past seven years, as the prices of gold and silver have been in a massive bull market, pricing on the COMEX has DECLINED for 93% of all sessions? Yep, you read that right.
Also, gold AND silver are the only commodities to ALWAYS have a net negative short position among the commercials, particularly maddening for silver given that it has been in a net supply/demand deficit for 18 years and a bull market for seven. And that negative net short position is ALWAYS by a multiple of 3x or more. Even at oil's peak at $145 and copper's at $4+, the short/long ratios were roughly at a normal 1:1 rate.
Moreover, per Ted Butler, the concentration ratio among the "four or fewer" major shorts regularly is above 80%, and this summer alone "two or fewer" banks shorted an incredible 120 million paper ounces, bringing the concentration ratio above 90%. I believe "two or fewer" banks simultaneiously shorted 800,000 ounces of gold, quite a chunk of risk for such a risky market.
More importantly, each day the gap between real and paper markets is widening. Physical demand around the world is reaching new records daily, and shortages are popping up everywhere. Go on eBay right now and try to buy gold or silver. On average you'll pay $1,100/oz for gold and $20/oz for silver, roughly in line with the all-time highs (except for the 1980 silver spike) set this spring. If silver were truly "acting like an industrial metal", the price in the real world would't be $20/oz, but closer to the COMEX price of roughly $9.
Anyhow, it's difficult enough educating those that know nothing of gold/silver, much less the rigging that has been ongoing on the COMEX for the past decade, let alone those that are wily industry veterans like yourself. Heck, every aspect of the financial world is now being rigged, from stocks to bonds to commodities to currencies, and more each day as we move deeper into this crisis. Now the PPT/Working Group, discussed by GATA and pooh-poohed for years, is regularly discussed by the government themselves.
As for the stocks, yeah there will be a lot of BK's, and it's hard to tell how long things will take to improve. Of course, in the case of gold and silver stocks it could be quite quick if the physcial demand overpowers the paper shenanigns, a potential that increases each day as the fundamentals improve.
And as for SST, they are in great shape. Neves Corvo and Cozamin are copper, not zinc mines with average costs of roughly $0.90-$1.10/lb. of copper, and both are expecting significant production growth. Neves Corvo just had its biggest discovery yet, so that should see rising production for years to come. Additionally, Sherwood is another copper (not zinc) producer with a production cost below $1/lb., and you know they will do a deal with them. Aquiline, if built, will be a primary silver mine, and even if not built SST can sell the convertible bond they bought. Plus, with the capital markets for mining so weak (as you noted) and Silver Wheaton completely levered up, SST will be the only game in town for capital starved miners.
Since the company has not bought back stock in the past week or so, I'm guessing they are back in a quiet period. Let's see what happens, and GLTA.
yoyo