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Retail stampede fuels silver's wild rally
By Leslie Hook
Financial Times, London
Friday, January 16, 2026
At Dillon Gage, a refinery in Texas, workers are toiling round the clock to melt down jewelry, dining sets, and even old dental fillings, but it is still struggling to keep pace with customers' rush to sell the family silver.
"We are running three shifts, seven days a week," says president Terry Hanlon. "We can’t keep up."
Hanlon is not alone. Last year's blistering rally for silver has gone into overdrive, with prices breaching $90 an ounce this week and, despite a pullback on Friday, still up by around one-quarter this year. The metal has now tripled in value over the past 12 months amid wild price swings. Dealers say stocks of silver coins are selling out in record time, while precious metal traders warn of a global shortage.
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The eye-popping gains -- eclipsing even gold's historic rally -- have come as a surge of speculation by retail investors has collided with a five-year shortfall in silver supply. At the same time unusually high silver stockpiles in the U.S. and China have drained supplies of bullion from vaults in London, where global prices are set.
"It is the perfect storm," says Philip Diehl, former director of the U.S. Mint. "We have been in a long-term supply deficit, and it is just getting worse." ...
... For the remainder of the report:
https://www.ft.com/content/46999508-88ee-470b-902b-177bacb374da
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