It does seem to the author that there is a distinct lack of media attention covering the precious metal rise. As always, there seems to be an equal number of bears calling the rise in prices a bubble and signalling danger versus an equal number of bulls calling for a further rise to $50 USD and beyond, based upon currency debasement. For myself, I see further gains based upon supply and demand factors of the emerging markets growth, and I will watch with interest.

As for a prediction for the silver price, based upon a quick look at the charts and the application of some Elliott Wave's principles, I call for silver to rise to

We find ourselves in the midst of uncommon times, and currency games keep most of us off balance, with the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve playing ping-pong with each other, while the rest of the World simply observes and acquires uncomfortable neck pain. Portugal’s expected bailout didn’t affect

"I bought it very early, I sold it very early. Other than that, it was perfect."

That was Warren Buffett in 2006, admitting to a gaffe on his part. In 1997, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)(BRK.B) purchased 129,710,000 ounces of silver for delivery in early 1998 at roughly $680 million.

Silver was cheap. But the price rose quickly – from $4.00 to $7.81 – before falling back down just as quickly.

The "Oracle of Omaha" made a costly mistake though. He liquidated his position shortly after buying in. If Buffett had held on to that massive silver position, it’d be worth close to $5 billion today. (Ouch.)

Well, at least Buffett can still say he was right. He correctly predicted that silver was going higher. And those silver prices of the late 1990s have since been blown away. Silver screamed past $10 and $20 per ounce in the

Years ago, when I was a young pup on the trading floor, a battle-scarred old-school trader told me, "Spreads are for ...." Well, I can't tell you exactly what he said. Let's just say he thought spread trading was wimpish.

We've often illustrated spread trades as a way to achieve nuance in the binary world of trading. Buying or selling futures outright casts you as either a bull or bear, concerned only about a rise or fall in the absolute price of a commodity. Trading spreads means you care more about the relationship between the position's contracts. (Gee, put that way, it's surprising "Dear Abby" doesn't opine on spreads.)

Take gold and silver as an example. You could have bought December gold or silver futures at the beginning of February and watched the metals' prices rise 10 percent and 42 percent, respectively. With present margin rates —

The Gold Report: What are some development stories in the vanadium space that you're covering?

Jonathan Lee: Largo Resources Ltd. (LGORF.PK) is one of the most advanced of all the juniors. At a 1.34% grade, Largo has the highest grade deposit of vanadium that is known right now. We currently have a Strong Buy on Largo Resources.

TGR: And that's the Maracas project in Brazil?

JL: It is in Brazil. That deposit is one of the highest grade deposits in the world at about

The U.S. dollar was steeply lower on Friday. The U.S. dollar index was down 0.72, or 0.96%, to close at 74.86. The U.S. dollar index hit an intraday low of 74.84 and a high of 75.61. The U.S. dollar index is still

In fact, according to Metal-Pages, from October 2009 through December 2010, prices for rare earths have risen by approximately 780% on average. Meanwhile, in the same period, prices for some of the most common rare earths (cerium oxide, lanthanum oxide, neodymium oxide, and rare earth carbonate) have risen by more than 1,000% on average.

Thanks to this surge, interest in this much talked about but little understood corner of the market has gained

• Gold and silver are both "safe haven" assets, but silver has greatly outperformed gold recently.

Silver prices have doubled since August, while gold is up 20% in the same span. Over just the past three months, silver has shot up 50% compared with 11% for gold.

• Raff doesn't trust the investment demand driving silver prices.

Unlike institutional investors, the little guy is less likely to hold silver over the long run. Analysts say individuals may well trade out of precious metals and into higher-yielding assets once interest rates start to rise, as the tightening of monetary policy gains traction around the world.

• Silver is much more sensitive to economic demand.

We expect a minimum return of 10,486% on this Secret Stock we are willing to divulge to you alone!!

(And, of course, anyone else who ponies up $395 to discover the name of the stock that is already well-known to those who’ve actually done their due diligence. PS – I understand the hype of 10,000%. But I wonder how they come up with such certitude that it will be 10,486%?)

So herewith, a quick primer and my answer to the question “Is it too late?”

First, rare earths are anything but rare. What is rare, however, is finding them in commercially viable quantities. Even

Some silver bears point to the fact that silver is at a 31 year high as “evidence” that it’s getting pricey. Are we overbought at these levels? Could be. Are we in for a repeat of the boom and bust of 1980? The chart from back then looks awfully scary. Let’s take a look at a few stats from then and now to see if that’s a fair comparison.

Money Supply: In 1980 the monetary base was $200 billion. Today, it’s around $2400 billion, or twelve times

The annual payout will increase at a rate of $0.20 per share for each $100 per ounce rise in the average realized gold price. At the current gold price of approximately $1,450 per ounce (i.e. between $1,400 - $1,499 per ounce), Newmont's annual dividend would be $1.00 per share. Subject to Board approval, the first quarterly dividend under this policy is expected to be payable on June 29, 2011 to shareholders of record on June 16, 2011.

The company believes that by 2017, it can produce 7 million ounces of attributable annual gold production, and that based on today's prices of precious metals, it can achieve internal rates

Gold made a clean sweep against the world's reserve currencies this week, particularly the yen, which posted a record-setting 4.8 percent loss. Bullion notched a new record against the greenback as well, while it rose 2.1 percent vs. the Swiss franc and 1 percent in euro. Sterling yielded 0.5 percent to gold.

In dollar-denominated assets:

• London gold was fixed at $1,457 Thursday morning, 1.8 percent higher on the week, after averaging $1,443; COMEX spot last settled at $1,459 for a 1.4 percent gain; spot metal averaged $1,446 this week in New York; average daily COMEX volume toppled 47 percent to 140,399 contracts, but open interest surged by 31,919 contracts to 519,059.

• COMEX gold inventories fell 22,176 ounces (0.7 tonnes) to 11.011 million; 21.2 percent of open interest is now covered by warehouse stocks; 2.349 million ounces are deliverable, while immediate demand for COMEX bullion amounts to no

On April 4, just two weeks after the worst of the Japanese earthquake and ensuing tsunami, gold priced in Japanese yen sells for 9% more, and it’s in a sustained uptrend. Meanwhile, gold priced in dollars only sells for about 1.5% more over the same period.

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