When asked about silver specifically Leeb stated, “Well I think silver obviously is a precious metal. I think it probably has a history as a precious metal almost as long or maybe even longer than gold. Its ratio to gold right now is about forty to one, I think that’s extraordinarily cheap, but what people have to realize about silver and I don’t think it has dawned on people, that not only is it a precious metal, but it’s a critical and I emphasize the word ‘critical’ industrial metal.
The majority of solar panels require silver and I don’t think there is enough of it if we really start building this stuff out. I think the Chinese realize this, they are probably already accumulating silver and will continue to accelerate those efforts.
Incidentally, speaking of the Chinese and gold, Thursday’s report from Goldcorp made interesting reading. The Chairman of Goldcorp said he expected Chinese purchases of gold to exceed those of India this year, which is just extraordinary.
I would expect their purchases of silver will commensurately be even larger because they need it. They are not just buying silver because they want an alternative to the dollar, they are buying silver because they know they are going to need it desperately to build out solar energy.
So silver, yeah, pick a number, but silver is a three digit commodity there’s no doubt about that.”
