A good read VHF.

I'd like to add one more critical point that is the single most important contributing factor to the rocketing Price Of Silver besides increased investment demand, namely stagnant mine supply.

You might be shocked to know that mines produced only 525 Million ounces of Silver in 2007 compared to 500 Million ounces in 2000, this despite a huge increase in by-product Silver output generated by base metal producers. Think about the implications for Silver miners going forward for years to come when industry output has increased less than 1 per cent per year for 7-8 years running while investor demand is skyrocketing. Small wonder the Crimex Silver shorts are finally heading for the hills.

In a nutshell, supply from Primary Silver Producers is contracting due to the same factors that impact their counterparts in the Gold mining industry. These PSPs are eventually going to need lots of ounces to replace dwindling reserves and it's these bullish conditions that guarantees a very high share price for top-notch Silver development stories like ECU when the majors finally go shopping to secure much needed ounces.

Here is a link to an interesting PowerPoint presentation on Silver, prepared by the CPM Group late last year, chalk full of the latest stats: