Silver Supply Chain Disruption Led By Governments? | Mario Innecco
Liberty and Finance Jan 18, 2026
Summary
Silver mine supply has fallen short of demand for five to six years, and stockpiled above-ground metal is hard to recycle.
Silver miners are heavily undervalued versus the metal — historically a setup that rewards rotating physical into equities.
The gold-silver ratio has compressed from ~100:1 to ~50:1; bull-market lows near 1980 reached 2:1, leaving significant room.
Governments and central banks get priority access to physical silver over retail, widening the supply wedge for smaller buyers.
CME margin requirements have shifted to percentage-based formulas, raising costs evenly but punishing heavily short bullion banks more.
Rick Rule's takeaways
- Top takeaway He is rotating out of physical silver into silver miners on the view that miners are heavily undervalued versus the metal.
Elijah K. Johnson's takeaways
- Top takeaway He frames the discussion around supply disruption by governments, central banks, and sovereign wealth funds crowding out retail buyers of physical silver.
- He flags the risk of hyperinflation and argues that sitting in cash while waiting for a correction is a losing strategy.