TGR: For individuals just starting investing in metals, do you recommend focusing on gold or is silver a better opportunity now given the gold/silver ratio?

GM: In general, most investors will want to start with purchases of gold, but should not ignore the potential in silver. From the lessons of history, whenever we have a secular bull market in the precious metals, silver usually outperforms gold, dollar for dollar invested. While gold typically runs first and gets most of the attention at the earlier stages of the bull market, it is silver that typically sling shots past gold towards the latter stages.

Personally, I own both silver and gold. The problem I see with silver is that it is not as portable as gold. You can hold $50,000 worth of gold with your two hands cupped in front of you. You could put that gold into your coat pockets and walk down the street without anybody knowing what you are carrying. $50,000 dollars worth of silver, on the other hand, would take a handtruck to move.

Overall, I believe investors should hold both gold and silver in a well-diversified precious metals portfolio. They should hold gold as the ultimate store of wealth that protects their hard work and savings. They should also hold some silver for the potential use to buy day-to-day items such as bread, prescriptions drugs, etc., for when the government declares a "bank holiday" as the crisis in the banking sector exacerbates.

During a bank holiday, checks and credit cards will no longer be accepted as payment for goods and services. This is another reason why I recommend keeping some cash on hand at all times. I am not recommending stuffing the mattresses; I am just saying it is probably smart to keep a few thousand dollars in 1s, 5s, 10s and 20s around the house. Silver Eagles would also be very useful in such an event as they are considered legal tender in the United States and could be used to purchase groceries.

TGR: You predict 2010 is going to be a great year for the metals and the juniors! So let's go to your list of top juniors and discuss some of those.

GM: I don't mind sharing a pick or two in interviews such as this, but I need to protect my subscribers who pay for my services, so I will talk about two.

First, let's talk about Explor Resources (TSX.V:EXS). When investing in junior mining stocks, you want to put some money on the best cross-section of companies you can find. In other words don't put all your money on any one company. I have found that by spreading the risk over 10 qualities junior mining companies you can do rather well over time as these companies go through the process of discovery, development and then production. Out of 10 junior mining stocks you will typically lose on a few, gain on a few, and break even on a few. But, you will also tend to see one or two of these stocks that do phenomenally well delivering at 10 times or more.

When you invest in a junior mining stock you want to make sure it has big potential. EXS is a company that is looking for big, high- grade discoveries and can deliver such returns if successful. This company is unique in that they have not one, but multiple projects that could deliver such returns if drilling activity were to make a major discovery.

Thus far EXS seems to be on the right track, but is still in the early stages of discovery on three major projects that they are currently working on. Because of what they have, I feel the stock is worth buying up to $1.00 per share in hopes of making a major discovery that could deliver a $10, $20 or $30 stock if we have drilling success. This is what makes the junior mining stocks so exciting— the big leverage that can come with a discovery of merit.

EXS is hunting for an elephant gold discovery and they are hunting in elephant country. Exploration drilling represents plenty of risk, but if you balance the risks with the potential rewards, I think it is a wise speculation particularly in a time of rising gold prices.

U.S. Silver Corp. (TSX.V:USA) is another company I will talk about. I think they are well positioned to take advantage of higher silver prices that I see in our near future. The company expects to produce upwards of 2.7 million ounces of silver in 2010 at an average cash cost of roughly $14.00 an ounce. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see how quickly the profits will add up as silver prices go to higher levels, especially the kinds of levels I predict in the next few years.

U.S. Silver does have more shares outstanding then I would like to see, but this is one silver junior that I think will do well as the precious metals bull market continues to unfold.

By arrangement with: www.theaureport.com

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