Is the world about to run out of silver?

In the latest, May 2013 Silver Bullion Newsletter, Gregor Gregersen answers some questions regarding Bullion supplies:

Is the world about to run out of silver?

Ans: Not necessarily. The extreme silver tightness is for investment grade Silver Bullion as opposed to silver in general. Mints and refineries simply do not have enough manufacturing capacity to convert raw silver into coins and bars. Silver grains (used by industry) and rough 1,000 oz poured bars are still available.

Keep in mind however that futures exchanges normally hold less than 3% in physical reserves of their net long positions. So if a major investor or bank were allowed to take a large physical delivery we could easily see an all out scarcity or market cornering as occurred in the late 1970s when physical silver was bid up to almost 50 USD (250+ USD in today's currency after adjusting for inflation).