"TGR: Silver did not outperform when gold jumped at the beginning of this month. What does that mean for silver mining companies?

EC: It means times are a little bit easier but not a lot easier just yet for silver mining companies. It's gone up some, but at the prices prevailing a month ago, I think you'd be hard pressed to find many companies that were making money.

Silver is not viewed as a currency. Silver does have a big industrial component, so when commodities in general are getting sold, it's going to have more of a problem fighting that pro-cyclicality. If gold prices get positive enough, at some point during that move I would expect to see a larger percentage move in silver simply because some people who are looking for precious metals will jump on that. And it's a much smaller market. It's a market that can get moved a lot farther percentage-wise. At some point the silver people are going to get some joy out of it, but I just don't think it's a natural asset class that gets bought when markets are uncertain.

TGR: Are there some specific silver companies that could do better than others?

EC: One company I added was First Majestic Silver Corp. (FR:TSX; AG:NYSE; FMV:FSE). Currently, all of its operations are in Mexico. Because the peso is one of the currencies that struggled against the U.S. dollar, that has benefitted First Majestic. Virtually all of its operational and management personnel are based in Mexico and are Mexican nationals. Those people know what they're doing. First Majestic has a very good balance sheet without a lot of debt. It has a couple of revolving lines that it can use for takeovers later if it wants. It took over SilverCrest Mines late last year. That's when I added it to the list. That gave it a little bit more gold weighting, which I think is going to help it even more. It has been a good growth story...."

http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/eric-coffin-can-see-the-end-of-the-gold-bear-market-and-this-is-what-he-is-doing-about-it