Silver

Mining executives met this week in a MINExpo convention in Las Vegas and the talk was mostly bullish. They heard Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) CEO Richard O’Brien say that gold is presently trading more like a currency than a commodity. But analyst Przemyslaw Radomski differes.

Somewhere deep in the bowels of the world’s Western central banks lie vaults holding gargantuan piles of physical gold bars… or at least that’s what they all claim.

The rival groups of Bolivian miners fighting over control of the Andean silver, tin and zinc Colquiri mine, reached an agreement over the weekend that was qualified as “historic” by Government Minister Carlos Romero.

The Spanish may not have found El Dorado, the city of gold, but they certainly hit the jackpot when they landed in what is today the Bolivian city of Potosi, home to “Cerro Rico” or Rich Mountain, one of the largest silver deposit ever known in history. But experts are warning the place, which still hosts silver mining, is about to collapse.

Renowned investor and Bloomberg regular Michael Pento says the US Federal reserve has "doubled down on QE3 this morning and unofficially announced QE4."

Hedge funds have placed major bets on silver due to expectations that the precious metal will outpace gold in the wake of expansionary measures by the world's central banks.

Australia's Dragon Mining announced the discovery of a promising new area of gold deposits in Kuusamo, Finland, only hours after the country was announced as the top destination for mining and oil investment by a trade magazine.

Gold, copper and silver producer Anglo Asian Mining posted Thursday pre-tax profits of $10.5 million for the six months to the end of June - down from $14.2 million a year ago.

BHP Billiton, the world's number one miner, has put its $30 billion Olympic Dam copper-uranium expansion back in the spotlight by asking South Australia state for a 46-month extension for the project.