Analysis of gold and silver often focuses on demand-side factors, such as the impact of U.S. short-term interest rates and the U.S. dollar. While these are important short-term drivers, mining supply can also be an important driver of longer-term price trends. In recent years, mining supply for gold and silver has been on a downtrend. Gold mining supply fell 7% between 2016 and 2021. Meanwhile, silver mining supply has fallen even more sharply, declining 8.5% during that period. A reduction in new supplies may be part of the reason why precious metals prices rose over the last five years. There appears to be a strong ...