silver wheaton is a bargain here, like so many others. when slw and other producers like agnico-eagle and yamana are down 75-80% from their highs, they present a combination of high potential return with relatively low risk. that's why i am risk averse when it comes to investing in juniors at this point.

when the shares of producers which have real cash flow from operations in safe countries are going begging, i don't need to take on the additional risk of explorers who can't raise capital, or companies in dicey political jurisdictions. some exploration company stocks have gone from $1 to 0.10, and they may look tempting, but something selling at 10 cents has a good chance to go to zero.

at these low levels, even the mid-tier producers can provide outstanding returns. especially for those of us who live in america, everything in canada just went on sale for 20% off, including the shares of the mining companies. the temporary strength of the us dollar has lowered share prices even more, such as the energy trusts, which now yield 25-30%.

silver standard now has a total market cap of maybe us$400 million, and will produce 10 million ounces of silver next year with no cash costs due to its base metal credits. that projects to a p/e ratio of 4 at a current silver price under $10, for a company that should triple its production within 3 years. these are the kind of returns we used to hope for with juniors, and now they're available with larger, safer companies.