Until the crisis in the international monetary system is resolved, the monetary aspect of silver will dominate its industrial aspect, and gold will keep its leadership role. As the silver price goes up, the more the industrial demand will decline, while the monetary demand will rise. The question is, in what proportions will this happen. Central banks and sovereign funds will dominate the gold market, whereas private investors will mainly dominate the silver market. There is no central bank that I know of that is buying silver today for its monetary reserves. Gold remains mainly a monetary metal, whereas silver has, above all, become an industrial metal that, in a monetary crisis like today's, can play a monetary role, as "poor man’s gold".

Today China came out with their Central Bank Gold Holdings reporting 1054 tonnes but this is impossible. Here is why.

The $650 decline in the price of gold since it hit $1900 in September 2011 is the result of a manipulative effort designed both to protect the dollar from Quantitative Easing and to free up enough gold to satisfy Asian demands for delivery of gold purchases.

[It has been] suggested recently that there must be collusion between America and China over the transfer of gold from Western capital markets. They assume that governments know what they are doing, so there is a bigger game afoot of which we are unaware. The truth of the matter, though, is simply that China and Western capital markets view gold very differently. Let me explain.

The price ratio of gold to silver has fallen precipitously in raging bull markets for the metals, so the silver price could have an upwards move at four times the rate of any gold price increase. I think that the fundamentals look better than ever, and...[that] there is an explosive move coming in 2014. [Indeed,] I think that within a reasonable timeframe silver will probably trade over $100.

Gold is technically set up for a massive rally to $7,000 to $9,000 per ounce in three to five years based on a collapse of confidence in the dollar and other forms of paper money.

I'm not going to predict a speedy recovery for gold prices. That said, I continue to believe that gold offers investors safety in an uncertain world and, while I remain optimistic about the recovery of the U.S. economy and stellar financial performance of some companies, there is reason for concern on a global level. That's why I think every investor...must own gold.

We can find nothing – nothing – that has happened over the past two years that invalidates the principal reasons we've laid out for owning precious metals. [This article] looks at the key reasons why we originally recommended gold and silver plus, sadly, several new drivers that have developed recently all of which confirm that the bruised precious metal investors out there should still sleep well at night, secure that the foundational rationale for holding gold and silver remains intact.

Stop lamenting the current price of gold and silver and questioning the validity of owning PMs because without gold and/or silver it will be almost impossible to survive what is to come. No one knows when, but when it does, and it is a historical certainty, are you really going to care what you paid for your gold and silver?

What will the future top prices for physical gold and silver be? Naturally, no one knows for sure but many analysts have developed interesting models and scenarios as to what the future holds and this article reviews 3 such analyses for your consideration.