Silver Plunges Below Marginal Cost: Commentary from a Retired Geologist
Posted on May 15, 2012 From Krieger's BlogLast week as silver headed toward the $29/oz level, I received an excellent piece of commentary from a retired Canadian geologist that goes by the handle “Rhody.” In it he states that at sub $30/oz silver is below cost, which I take to mean marginal cost. For those not familiar with the commodity markets, marginal cost is the price that must be maintained to support new projects in order to keep supply growing to meet demand. This cost includes capital investment in addition to all other costs as well as an implied return on investment. I am not sure if Rhody included a return on capital in his $29/oz figure so it could be even higher. In any event, he goes on to make some extraordinarily poignant statements on the overall macro backdrop in general. So much so that I asked him if I could post it and he agreed. Without any further ado…
Hi Guys:
Silver has now dropped below its total cost of production, which averages about $29. Back in 2007, producers could produce silver at about $22 (which was above the spot price of the time as well) but at a 10% inflation rate, cost per ounce now, about 4 years later is going to be around $30. Ignore mining companies that say they can produce silver at 5 or $6. That’s just mining costs and ignores exploration, smelting, refining and shipping. Back in 2007, if you looked at the top three miners, looked at their production and profits, you could calculate their total cost at $20-$24 back while the spot price was $18. Essentially, silver has been produced below total costs since the 1930′s, which is why only 22% of silver mines subsist on silver alone and the other 78% survive on their other metal production with silver as a mere by-product. No straight silver mine makes money, unless it is very, very high grade.
So as of this morning, we are below cost in the spot market. This is back to normal for silver. Silver has re-joined the ranks of food, and forestry as industries which operate below total costs. 100,000 third world farmers committed suicide last year because of their horrible economic circumstances. Meanwhile there were food riots in middle eastern cities of North Africa, and Syria because of the “high” food prices. Does anyone else perceive the logical disconnect here? The problem of course is fiat money, and pricing commodities with derivatives that steal from everyone.
To get back to the thread below, gold and the dollar have risen together until 6 months ago when gold was crushed in the derivative markets but the Dollar held up. The firm Dollar is because Europe is under attack and with it it’s banks and currency. So Europeans pull their money out of their banks and buy either Dollars or gold as a flight to quality. The Establishment doesn’t like the gold buying so a very effective campaign of disinformation, derivative based suppression, and selling by Western central banks has sent the gold market down by 15% over the past 6 months. This cheapened metal has gone east, never to return.
Meanwhile the miners have been devastated and the Dollar has firmed. This is the intent. The World monetary system can be viewed as a huge tent, with a central pole (the U.S. Dollar), surrounded by secondary poles and tie downs. The central pole has become unstable, and as it does, it is the secondary poles and the tie downs that rip out of the ground and fail first, eventually leading to the collapse of the central pole. As the surrounding poles and tie downs (other fiat currencies) fail, their citizens flee to the remaining currencies that still survive, particularly the dollar, and its value rises because of the increased demand. Some, but not a lot of this liquidity flows to gold and other tangibles causing price inflation. So, in the end, gold and the Dollar will appear to rise together. Well, gold has stopped rising, so we are not at the ‘end’ yet. When we do reach the end, I expect a hyperinflationary event, which will drive gold in Dollars to levels which don’t bare mentioning, because in the end, no amount of dollars will buy an ounce of gold. The precious metals have been purposely knocked down here. People forget that although the metals are being slammed in the derivative markets, the decline has only been 15%, which is a moderate correction as these things go….. This could be your last chance to buy politically cheapened ounces. Don’t get upset, buy some more….
The dollar is terminal, for reasons that would take too long to describe. Let us just say that a credit-based fiat currency is eventually destroyed by the build up of debt that it produces. The Dollar’s debt burden has now become so huge that the entire world cannot support the interest payments to keep it viable, even at interest rates barely above zero. So, you have two choices: hold dollars as a storehouse of value for your savings, or gold/silver. There are other things you could convert your savings into, but they are far more cumbersome than Dollars and precious metals, so pick one or the other. One is about to disappear, so choose wisely.
Rhody
P.S. Yesterday, the 30 year U.S. Treasury dropped to 2.83% and even the CAD went below 3%. Would you lend a government money for 10 years at interest rates only one third the real inflation rate???! What is going on here is a manufactured perception that we are in a deflation. This will be the excuse that the central banks use to impose another round of Quantitative Easing, probably this summer. QE bails out the banks at the expense of stealing your savings via inflation.
This is a response posted on his site:
First Majestic, the largest pure silver miner in the world, just reported their results today. In them was a complete confirmation of what Rhody referred to for marginal cost of production. From First Magistic today:” Total Production Cost per Tonne was $29.24, a decrease of 3% from Q1
2011.” So taking the largest silver miner in the world total production costs of $29.24 does indeed confirm this. No wonder silver supply has been consistently shrinking for decades and decades.
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American Serfdom in One Chart
Posted on May 14, 2012 From Krieger's Blog
This is what you get when a society allows financial oligarchs to take over the economy and rape and pillage at will with zero repercussions.
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I had this nice little paragraph written about Seabridge, my favorite gold stock. Unfortunately, the internet at the Swan in Disney is awful and I lost it. Here is the meat of it. The stock is trading at about $350 million market cap. They have over $100 million in cash! Their latest feasibilty report was great. They will have permits for their biggest project in the 4th quarter. So a deal with a major miner should be done around that time. They have proven reserves of 38.2 million ounces of gold. Using the $1,244 an oz price they quoted, that's $48,000,000,000 just in gold. That isn't even figuring the silver, copper, and other metals in the ground. The mine has an expect life of 55 years and at $1,244 an oz gold, it will pay for itself in 6 years. All the mining stocks are being traded like they are going out of business. This isn't going to happen. It's just another attempt by the Central Planners to scare people out of their metal positions so they can print more money. The Fed is buying 62% of all US Treasuries. If they don't continue that pace, who do you think will pick up the slack?
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I usually try to stay away from religion on the blog. It's too inflammatory a topic for most people. However, I thought this was a good add by the Catholic church.
You know you here how we've added all these new jobs lately. Here is the real issue. The class of 2012 college graduates is 1.8 million new people into the workforce. So we have to grow 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with graduates. Good thing they have CHANGE and HOPIUM to live off of.
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