The supply side numbers in this seeking Alpha article are mostly correct but the demand side are not so accurate or shall I say there were no numbers. The common complaint for years about the Silver Institute work is they add up what they can track closely and then make investment demand whatever balances the supply side to zero, this tells not too much, a very flawed approach. Check out the Silver Institure data to see what I mean, http://www.silverinstitute.org/site/supply-demand/

The rest of the article is basics 101 for silver supply side information, nothing new in the zoo type stuff which is what I would expect from a Seeking Alpha article. Keep in mind that there is very little if any government inventory of silver existing anymore, maybe some in India and China whereas the US long ago sold it's billion plus ounces. I also note that all the easy silver production from the big zinc mines etc, is declining along with those great mines themselves. The best and easiest silver to mine has long ago passed and all new mines are much more expensive production.

I also note that Silver Wheaton pays about $4.50 per ounce when mined but they paid huge amounts of money up front for this right. Many use the argument that SLW has little to no mining risk but this is very false, what they do is spread the risk because of many partners doing the actual mining. BTW, I really like the SLW model but it's not risk free anymore than Apple making cell phones to sell or banks selling toxic waste assets to their clients (or holding assets on the books that are not marked to market making balance sheets phony)except they get bailed out by taxpayers.

Investment demand for silver is the wild card and always has been as is the case for copper, gold, etc., this incremental demand is what will drive the price and has driven the price. Although I wouldn't underestimate the newer industrial drivers for silver such as solar power, electronics and health care uses. As gold gets more epxensive, which it will, this will drive incremental demand for silver, this is the essence of the silver thesis and why it has historically performed better in a rising gold market and worse in a declining gold market.

Primary silver producers are not that common and even those that are have declining grades or have mined the easy silver. As with gold, grade decline, deeper mines, increased cap ex, increased government windfall taxes & regulation means fewer ounces will be mined in the future at higher costs meaning higher silver prices or companies shut down mines due to costs and there is less silver or a greatly reduced amount of silver for world economic development making silver prices go higher.

What could impact silver besides the constant cartel gamemanship is when viable substitutes are found for silver or some technology change occurs like digital cameras that impact silver consumption but on the whole silver is rather unique in it's properties, has been money for thousands of years. The bottom line is that silver producers have been highly profitable enterprises with down periods occuring every so often which weaken profitability, these have always been transitory with reversion to the mean coming after important bottoms, like right about now!!