Even though Silver is 17.5 times more abundant in the Earth's crust than gold, the amount of above-ground gold available, far exceeds that of silver.

In 1950, there were 10 billion ounces of available silver above ground. By 1980, that number shrank to 3.5 billion. And today, no significant government stockpiles of silver exist anywhere in the world to help with the shortage of silver on the market.

Silver is like modern oil, and most will be consumed by industries as soon as it is mined. Good on the other hand is stored and the above ground supply is steadily increasing.