June 22, 2011 - 2:32PM Silver futures ... the Australian market clawed back early losses. Silver-coin sales from the Perth Mint, which was founded in 1899 and processes all of the country's bullion, have surged to a record as buyers seek to protect their wealth with the metal known as poor man's gold. The mint sold 10.7 million one ounce silver coins since July 1 last year, according to Sales and Marketing Director Ron Currie. That's 66 per cent higher than the previous full fiscal year and about 10-fold more than five years earlier. Sales of one ounce gold coins will be close to a record, he said. The soaring demand adds to signs investors are stepping up precious-metal purchases as Europe's governments tackle a sovereign-debt crisis and central banks led by the US Federal Reserve print cash to stimulate their economies, potentially devaluing paper currencies. Cash silver, the second-best performing commodity over the past year, hit a record in April. Advertisement: Story continues below "Silver's still booming and it's been going strongly for a year," Currie said. "A lot of the buying is by people new to the market," with European and US investors the most active international purchasers of the mint's products, he said. Immediate-delivery silver, which rallied to $US49.79 an ounce on April 25, was at $US36.3850, 42.5 times cheaper than gold. Over the past year, silver has beaten all the commodities on the Standard & Poor's GSCI index apart from top-ranked corn. Spot gold, rallying for an 11th straight year, has gained 25 per cent. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/m...-seek-haven-20110622-1gdzo.html#ixzz1PzHTcZyC
