Last week as silver headed toward the $29/oz level, I received...

Last 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.