The price of silver closed at over $30 per troy ounce on Friday up from $16.822 at the beginning of 2010. From a recent Journal story on silver:

Among the four major precious metals—the others being gold, platinum and palladium—silver is up 74% this year, on track to be the second-best performing commodity after palladium, which is up 86%. Gold, by contrast, is up 26% and copper just under 28%.

Prices are rising despite oversupply and a lackluster recovery in industrial demand. Many analysts expected those factors would keep a lid on prices in 2010. What they didn’t expect was an overwhelming flow of money into the market from investors eager to ride a commodities rally.

Silver closed at an all-time high in January 1980 at $48.70 an ounce, or $129.32 adjusted for inflation.

The Top Silver Producers in 2009:

Source: The Wall Street Journal

The Top 20 Silver Producing companies in 2009 are listed below:

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Source: The Silver Institute

ETF: iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

Disclosure: No Positions