Willem Middelkoop Likes Gold, but Prefers Silver

Mineweb reported that while Willem Middelkoop, whose credentials include being a precious metals fund manager and analyst, is bullish on gold, he’s even more optimistic about silver. Middelkoop recently outlined his views in a presentation at the London-based Global Mining Finance conference.

As quoted in the market news:

But although he feels that gold has to be an excellent investment at current price levels and has to move sharply higher in the medium to long term, Middelkoop sees silver as probably being an even better investment in terms of growth potential in US dollar terms.  New mined silver production, he avers, is substantially below demand, while over the years above ground stocks have been run down, and unlike gold there are no huge central bank holdings which can be drawn on to hold the price down.

The only real surface silver stocks nowadays are held in the silver ETFs and although these can be a little volatile, much of these remains in strong hands and he feels these overlying volumes will not counter what he sees, perhaps controversially, as the overall supply deficit now prevailing.  With its comparatively strong industrial demand – a demand which is seen as growing along with the electronics and solar power sectors – supply/demand fundamentals are probably more relevant to silver than to gold where so much more depends on investment sentiment and perception. Middelkoop feels that these silver fundamentals will lead to a supply crunch sooner rather than later as, like gold, silver too is flowing East in massive quantities – and he said as an aside that he has taken bets that silver will be over $100 an ounce by 2020. Silver investors will be hoping he is correct.

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