as i have mentioned before, the price of silver will be determined largely by investor (or monetary) demand, not by changes in industrial demand. any decline in industrial demand will be more than compensated by a fall in supply due to mine closures. this chart shows the huge increase in sales of silver (and gold) eagles in 2008.

the full article deals with backwardation in the silver market, which it attributes to both strong physical demand for the metal, as well as a loss of confidence in the dollar.

http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSee...