It's Not a Bet on Calamity

Did you know that the silver precious metal is the best electrical and thermal conductor of all the metals? 

In other words, the industrial uses for silver are far more substantial than many would care to acknowledge or even admit, as it throws a wrench into the whole stereotype that precious metal bugs are only interested in touting their "pet rocks" for some kind of Armageddon scenario where we are bartering in precious metals in a post-American barbaric world. 

While I understand that many gold bugs are, ahem, rather idiosyncratic types of individuals, the straw man argument misses the mark when it comes to a potential new cycle, barely underway, of commodities beginning to wake up after a long slumber for the better part of last decade on the prospects of higher rates after, again, an extended period of time of low rates and the market having pretty much fully mastered all things related to a ZIRP world. 

As a result, in this scenario silver should absolutely thrive as it sit at the intersection of inflation expectations rising alongside a global commodity growth boom. Given its industrial uses, it perhaps may be even more favorable than gold, at least at various intervals. 

With this in mind, the domestic precious miner, Coeur Mining, Inc., with a little over $2 billion market, merits watching as it has been soundly outperforming its peers for a while now.

On the CDE weekly chart, below, note the multi-month tight base with a head-fake back in early-November (arrows). That head-fake, however, did not lead to a breakdown from the base, which leads me to believe the world's ninth largest silver producer is merely marking time before the eventual upside resolution comes to fruition.