Record Prices Have Wyoming Silver Owners On Alert As Global Demand Surges

A silver bracelet from an ex that had always felt too large to wear was still quite beautiful to someone, thanks in part to the fact the Native American piece is made of silver.

The bracelet, which found its way to Bohemian Metals in Cheyenne right before Christmas, ultimately fetched $1,200 on eBay from a buyer who was interested in both the artifact and its silver content.

“Vintage Native American jewelry is a hot market right now,” shop owner Brian Snyder told Cowboy State Daily. “I buy Native American jewelry based on where silver is, along with coins and such.”

Right now, Snyder is in a buying mood. That’s because silver prices are higher than they’ve ever been.  

Monday morning, silver hit an all-time high of $82.67 a troy ounce in early morning trading, triple what the precious metal was worth a year ago.

It’s come back down to earth a bit, slipping some in afternoon trades to $71.53.

“Silver is worth more in the form of bars and coins than scrap,” Snyder said. “The refiners have gotten spoiled since the rise in gold prices and will now only accept silver if it is in coin or bar from.”

But sometimes they’ll trade Snyder’s scrap silver for clean refined gold, which he can use to make jewelry. 

For that to work out, though, silver prices have to be on a tear, like they are right now.

Too Soon To Sell?

Selling out the closet silver isn’t necessarily what those who watch precious metals are recommending right now.

Josh Phair, owner of Casper-based Scottsdale Mint, doesn’t tell people what to do when it comes to buying and selling precious metals, but he acknowledges he isn’t thinking of selling any of his silver anytime soon. 

There are several factors that play into his thinking, not least of which is seeing what other countries around the world are doing with silver.

“There’s a military, central bank and government-level race for raw materials,” he said. “Which is also why (with) Venezuela, it’s not just about oil this time. 

"It has more to do with rare earth, minerals, gold, silver, copper, etc. all throughout Latin America. You have a lot of these countries stockpiling.”

The United States did add silver to its critical mineral list earlier this year, along with copper and uranium, broadening the scope of commodities it deems vital to America’s economy and national security.

China, meanwhile, is not only stockpiling silver, Phair said, but the country has just announced export restrictions on silver come Jan. 1. 

The move prompted a telling post from Elon Musk on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“This is not good,” he said. "Silver is needed in many industrial processes.”

All of these moves point to what Phair described as a resource “war.”

“We’re in a metal war, absolutely,” he said. “I spend a lot of time in the Caribbean with the governments I work with down there. 

"The United States is locking down all of the Western Hemisphere, from North to South America, and anything in between.”

More Than Just Pretty

Musk’s warning about Chinese restrictions on silver exports caught Chris Smith’s eye in Gillette. 

The city councilman considers himself more of a silver and gold watcher than buyer, but believes what the prices are doing can be telling when it comes to the economy.

“There are several things that tie into it,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The strength of your dollar. When your dollar is weak, the price of silver seems to go up. Silver and gold goes up. And when it’s strong, the price comes down.”

Smith believes part of what’s driving the spike in silver prices is just that the metal has become increasingly useful. It’s not just a pretty metal for making jewelry.

“Both silver and gold are industrial metals,” he said. “But silver more than gold. Silver is used in a lot of applications, like solar panels. Green energy, just in general, uses a lot of silver.”

Silver is also common in lots of electrical devices outside of green energy, ranging from light switches and mobile phones to super computers used for artificial intelligence. 

Silver inks are particularly useful and versatile across a wide range of applications. The ink is simply painted onto a non-metal surface, providing an electrical pathway.

That’s allowed development of things like multipurpose radio frequency identification devices (RFID), which are replacing many supermarket barcodes. 

Those were useful once upon a time to track inventory and price. But an RFID chip can do that as well as help with theft prevention. 

Silver also has broad applications in the medical field thanks to its antimicrobial properties. 

Long ago, silver coins were dropped into water and wine casks to keep the liquids fresh. These days, silver coats medical devices like breathing tubes, prosthetics, and catheters to help fight infections. 

The military also has plenty of uses for corrosion resistant silver, in everything from missile and jet electronics to night vision, radar and satellites with special wiring.

Global Demand Outpacing Production 5 Years Running

Silver has become a difficult metal to acquire. 

“It’s usually mined with other metals,” Smith said. “So, people mining for copper or even gold, and then silver is part of that. But it comes out of the ground at about a one to nine ratio.”

Global demand for silver has outstripped supply for the last five years, according to industry analysts. 

The problem there has been two-fold. Ore grades are in decline around the globe. Meanwhile, the world’s top three producers — Mexico, Peru, and China — have all faced setbacks when it comes to developing new projects. 

It’s another factor that points to continued higher prices. 

But silver, characteristically, is much more volatile than gold, Campbell County's Scott Clem, another gold and silver watcher in Gillette, has noticed. Clem is a Campbell County Commissioner.

“That’s always the trick,” he said. “When is the best time to buy, when is the best time to sell? It’s really hard to figure out the timing of when it’s peaking. It’s more luck than anything.”

One reason silver is more volatile that gold is that the commodity hasn’t traditionally been supported, like gold is, by central banks. That has analysts like Goldman Sachs warning investors to expect more volatility for silver than gold.

“In the near term, we see significantly more volatility and downside price risk for silver than for gold, which is the only commodity supported by a structural central-bank bid,” Goldman’s analysts wrote in a recent report. “Silver lacks the institutional, and economic profile that supports gold … Without a central-bank bid to anchor silver prices, even a temporary pullback in investment flows could trigger a disproportionate correction.”

New Demand Wave Incoming?

Consumers could add a new edge to silver prices, Phair believes. That’s because until now, many consumers had been in a sell mode. 

“When silver went above $30, they thought that was high,” he said. “There’s $40, and that was high.”

But now people are starting to think silver’s high could be a new normal.

“People are going, ‘Wait a minute, could this thing really go into the triple digits in price?'” he said. “'Maybe I should be owning this.' So, they’re starting to step in.”

With more consumers looking to buy a silver position added to the mix, Phair expects more volatility ahead. 

“When you have governments and banks and now retail all clamoring for the same asset at the same time, prices can be explosive, right?” Phair said. “So, it will be volatile, and we saw that today. 

"It went up so much, really, right after Christmas, and now it took what looks like at least a one-day breather.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.