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After rising last week, silver was largely without direction this week, wavering between $22.34 and $22.87.
Last week, silver began to pick itself up after sinking to its lowest level in more than two years on May 20. However, after closing at $22.78 in New York last Thursday, the white metal ended Friday at $22.26, just slightly above its lowest price for the week.
Following that decline, silver has had an unsteady week, trading between $22.34 and $22.87.
Monday, the white metal began the day at $22.36 before rising to $22.87, its high for the week thus far, as weak data out of the United States hurt the dollar and sparked hopes that the Federal Reserve will continue its stimulus program, according to Reuters.
However, it was not long before silver began to sink, declining to $22.36 by Tuesday morning. The precious metal again attempted to rise, but after reaching $22.63 on Wednesday, it fell back down, hitting $22.34.
The story was the same on Thursday. Though silver had climbed back up to $22.66 late Wednesday, by Thursday morning it was down at $22.39.
Silver ultimately closed Thursday at $22.64 in New York.
Standard Bank and Natixis both see silver prices staying around their current level for the rest of the year, Mineweb reported this week.
Walter de Wet, head of commodities research at Standard Bank, said silver will average about $20.50 per ounce for the remainder of 2013, while Natixis said in a recent note that it will clock in at as much as $25.50 or as low as $20 per ounce, the Mineweb article states. Natixis believes the metal will “continue to be driven primarily by the trend in gold prices.”
US Mint silver coin sales may reach record
If demand for silver and gold coins from the US Mint remains at the current level, sales will rise to a record this year, Bloomberg reported Richard Peterson, the Mint’s acting director, as saying. Silver coin sales rose to an all-time high in January.
“The demand remains at an unprecedented level. People at the Mint had to work overtime and sometimes over the weekends to meet the increase in demand,” Peterson said in a Wednesday interview with the publication.
Company news
Silvercorp Metals (TSX:SVM,NYSE:SVM) released the results for both its 2012 underground tunneling exploration project and its diamond drilling program for the second half of 2012, both of which took place at the company’s China-based SGX mine. The company completed 11,473 meters of underground tunneling in addition to 51,195 meters of drilling across 208 holes.
Drilling highlights include hole ZK15S7-104, which intercepted “a 3.03m interval, 2.82m true width of vein S7-4 grading 451 g/t Ag, 0.20% Pb and 0.50% Zn at the 626m elevation.”
Avino Silver & Gold Mines (TSXV:ASM,NYSEMKT:ASM) announced May 2013 production results for its San Gonzalo mine as well as its historic Avino mine surface operations. San Gonzalo produced 60,999 silver equivalent ounces for the month, bringing the mine’s total for the year up to 309,341 ounces, while production from above-ground stockpiles at Avino came to 14,023 silver equivalent ounces for a 2013 total of 23,588 silver equivalent ounces.
Emerging gold and silver producer UC Resources (TSXV:UC) discovered two further silver vein structures within its Xora concession, which is adjacent to its La Yesca mill site. Gary Monaghan, CEO of the company, believes that it may be able to time its commercial production with “a positive price rebound for gold and silver.”
Junior company news
Kootenay Silver (TSXV:KTN) announced assay results from drill holes 141 to 188 at its Promontorio silver project in Sonora, Mexico, describing DH 186 and DH 185 as particularly promising. DH 186 intersected 301 g/t silver equivalent over 31.7 meters (200 g/t silver, 1.21 g/t gold and 1.79-percent lead and zinc), while DH 185 intersected 274 g/t silver equivalent over 18.4 meters (208 g/t silver, 0.92 g/t gold and 0.79-percent lead and zinc), according to the company’s press release.
CEO James McDonald commented, “[n]ot only do results from Holes such as 186 and 185 represent some of the highest grades drilled to date, they occur in an area between the North East and Pit zones where these grades were not expected. This underscores the potential to delineate additional high-grade silver zones within the diatreme system.”
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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