If QE3, $50 Silver “Before We Even Know It”

“A lot of that QE1 and QE2 are giving a tailwind to gold and silver. If you want to tell me there’s going to be a QE3, I’m going to tell you silver will hit $50 before we even know it.”

Those are the words of hedge fund magnate and long-time precious metals bull Eric Sprott, in an interview with Silver Investing News.

“I’ve always publicly stated that it (silver) will trade at a range based on the gold price of 1/16 of the gold price,” Sprott continued, “that’s what I think it historically was always at and I think it will go back there. The charts tell you that.”

When asked to elaborate on his predictions for gold and silver, Sprott stated that “It’s hard to make a call on where for sure all these things are going to go because we don’t know what the next ridiculous policy on the part of central banks and governments are going to be. Silver and gold are competitors to fiat currency. They’re competitors and for the capitalist system to function, people have to trust currencies.”

On Wednesday, the silver price held up particularly well despite broad-based liquidation in financial markets following disappointing U.S. economic data and heightened uncertainty in Europe over the Greek sovereign debt crisis.

In afternoon trading, the price of silver was lower by just $0.05 at $35.33 per ounce.