Where is the World's Silver?

With the price of gold hovering near 67 times the pricethe holdings of gold and silver as well. Approximately
of silver, a logical deduction must be that silver is muchhalf of the above ground gold bullion is held by
more abundant, and easy to acquire than silver. To thegovernments. There are no known silver reserves held
contrary, evidence proves otherwise. In fact there isby governments. While governments have historically
very little silver to be found anywhere.sold their gold to finance their budgets and keep the
Known Above Ground Silver Holdings in Ouncesgold price contained there is no similar readily available
Silver ETF SLV 295,313,780entity that could sell silver bullion. Precious metals
US Eagles Minted 240,418,077investors often hold onto their precious metals for time
COMEX Warehouses 114,102,049periods measured in years, decades, and lifetimes.
Estimated Private Bullion (non eagles or maples)Most private investors will not sell their bullion for a 10
120,000,000percent or possibly even a 100 percent gain.
Central Fund of Canada 75,209,103Therefore, even if there are nearly 1 billion ounces of
LBMA Estimated stocks 75,000,000silver in existence, the question remains on how much
Canadian Maples Minted 21,303,000of that is actually for sale at anywhere near today's
Silver ETF ZKB - SWISS 7,397,885prices.
BMG Bullion Fund 5,033,609The implied dollar value of all the silver bullion is tiny
Total 953,777,503compared to gold, or other assets. In fact, measured in
There is nearly twice as much gold as there is silver indollar value, silver is 1/127th of gold. Many investment
the form of investment grade above ground bullion andfunds have more than the silver market of $16.88 billion
coins, and that ignores that fact that 52 percent of thehowever gold is more readily available to purchase in
worlds gold is kept in jewelry. While there is an 953larger dollar amounts. Silver may be one of the most
million ounces of above ground silver, there is anneglected and unloved assets of this century. Perhaps,
estimated 1,803 million ounces of above ground gold inthe reason why silver is so cheap is ironically because
bullion form.it is too rare to be invested in by asset managers. Or
It is important to note a few structural differences inis it?