Yet silver mining has a rich history in Australia, and Australian mining and metals giant BHP (ASX: BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT) started out as a silver operation in the 1920s. When you think of mining in Australia, you may not think of silver, especially since the country is a top global producer of several other metals, including gold and iron ore.

A country whose silver mines continued to flourish even when most of the world was in a precious metal slump, Australia has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as a major player in the global silver market. Some shrewd investors are looking to Australia for their silver picks. This is all the more reason for investors to consider silver as an alternative investment. Since then through April 2022, silver had risen by over 30 percent as compared to only 8 percent for gold.Ĭertainly, most analysts expect commodity and precious metals prices in general to continue rising in 2022 in the wake of ongoing supply chain disruptions and further uncertainty due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More recently, silver prices soared more than 45 percent in 2020, fell about 10 percent in 2021 and were up roughly 7 percent as of April 2022 compared to only a 5 percent gain in gold prices for the current year.Īnother interesting point in favour of silver investing is how it has outperformed gold by a wide margin over the course of the precious metal rally that got underway in earnest in mid-July of last year.

In addition, silver has tended to outperform gold during bull markets. Interestingly, over the last five years, the price of silver has risen by approximately 25 percent, an almost identical increase to that of gold. While the price of silver tends to rise and fall alongside that of gold, silver's valuation is generally more volatile - slower to move in either direction, but more prone to abrupt spikes and plunges.

Buy silver coins in australia