One of the first acts of the US Congress after the new US Constitution was the Coinage Act of 1792 allowed for the minting of both gold and silver coins at a face value ratio of 15:1.

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We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1.

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This is important as, looking ahead, we expect macroeconomic developments to feed through to a marked rally in the gold price and, with plenty of room for the gold:silver ratio to contract, particularly if memories of uncomfortable investor losses in silver during 2011 continue to fade, it is easy to see decent scope for sizable gains in the silver price this year.

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