is there any silver in silver valley (idaho/usa) ???

folks, i'm such a stupid idiot! why did i bought the bankrupt sterling mining clunker stocks 2day? and why not just once but twice? am i completely brain dead? let's hope i'm only a little bit confused and let's try 2 sort my thoughts! if u promise u will not laugh too loud abt me, i will tell u abt my 'stellar' move ... ok, here we go:

do u still know i've bought stocks of 3 silver companies sterling + sns + minco few months ago? well, they still fight in various legal issues on the idaho's sunshine silver mine (opened 1884, fire in 1972 with 91 dead miners, ...) and there are some other (financial) groups trying 2 take over that historic mine also ...

yesterday i got the investor's newsletter from minco telling that minco is the winner and that they will get 100% of sterling's stock for approx $12m. i just checked the sterling's current market capitalization and saw that they are going 2 pay approx 3 to 4 times the current bankruptcy-adjusted stock price ... hmmmmm, u now me already, don't u? yep, i just saw the $$ signs instead any danger and placed a limit order at €0.07 even if the last u.s. price was $0.08 (and €1 = $1.49) just 2 make sure i will get some stocks. well, there was no other buying in germany so i've ordered the next tranche @ €0.06 and seconds later it was in my portfolio as well ... i didn't get suspect at that time as i know the homo sapiens financialis is soooo damned stupid so i just relaxed and dreamt on even more $$ when the u.s. + canadian market opened. i couldn't believe my eyes! sterling fell intraday -18% there and -25% in germany after my initial purchase. later on the u.s. exchange sterling closed fraudulently at break even thx 2 a micro order moving the closing quote from -18% level directly 2 yesterday's closing price. minco? don't ask either ... they are -5.85% today. hell, does nobody understand that they've got the sunshine mine approx for free? well, the time will show if i'm right this time or mr. market instead ... prolly is the sunshine legal case far from the final firm decision now and the folks out there do know that and just me didn't :-(

what is so special abt the silver valley? silver, silver, silver! you know? if u want to, so skip to wikipedia (and come back :), i liked the short information on hecla mining's website much better:

...The Coeur d’Alene Mining District, where Hecla was born 117 years ago, is located in North Idaho’s Silver Valley along US-90, providing very convenient access and infrastructure. This district has produced 1.2 billion ounces of silver in its history - one of the most prolific silver districts in the world. Hecla has a tremendous land position here… about 25 square miles, which is an area roughly the size of Manhattan. On this land position are many historic mines, which in the aggregate have produced about 300 million ounces of silver, or about 25% of the entire historic production of the Silver Valley....

what is my part of silver valley? well, i've accumulated few stocks of:

• hecla mining - established 1891, announced 2 pay dividends again next year :o), nice website with ticker-like commodity news [current: Every day 400 acres of asphalt roofing are nailed down. (silica, borate, limestone, trona, feldspar, talc, silica sand)]
• coeur d’alene mines - all silver production outside the silver valley (bolivia, mexico, australia, argentina, ...)
• u.s. silver - operates the galena + coeur mines, cash costs per 1oz silver in Q3 were $13. folks, they've lost money on balance even at silver price at record highs. oh my dear! my mexican and peruvian producers have cash costs of approx $3 - $6, my base metals producers with silver as by-product abt $1 (e.g. @ scorpio mining ~ my single biggest stock position at the moment) and there was also a company which has reported cash costs for silver of MINUS $5. silver for -5 usd? folks, got it? that's much, much, much better than silver for free! if they sold all their zinc, led, copper, they've made a profit above $5 and still have all that shiny silver on top! ... well, i didn't remember the name of that company, i think it was prolly one from the trio endeavor silver, 1st majestic silver, fortuna silver ... but i could be wrong on that ... you know, i have more than 30 silver companies in my portfolio as i can't store all of them in a single watch list @ tsx website. hell, let's hope the metal prices in Q4 will support u.s. silver a lot + their stock price will skyrocket soon + i will reach the winning zone again (btw, even if the last purchase shows a profit of abt 13% i'm still abt 15% down on u.s. silver)
• sterling mining - est. 1903, chapter 11 in 2008, bankrupt in 2009
• sns silver - explorer company, trying 2 bring the historical crescent mine into production
• minco silver - cayman island based; huuuge fuwan project in china, next sunshine mine owner?
• formation metals - explorer/junior producer of cobalt in the valley + the Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery owner

• mines management (amex: MGN) - silver explorer, added on january 4th, 2010 => good luck my lovely portfolio newbie :-). ps: their mines are not directly in silver valley, but (as far as i could recognize @ wikipedia) just a minor step over the hills to northwest montana (montanore silver copper project). btw, their headquarters is in spokane, washington ...
• united mining group (bought in december 2010)
• shoshone silver/gold mining company (bought in february 2011)

• ??? + many others ???

my conclusions:

1. the silver valley has still a long way 2 go to reach some extraordinary production + profitability again!
2. mexico + peru + bolivia seem 2 be a much better silver bet than usa
3. there will be some significant consolidation of properties / companies / resources in silver valley in the near future
4. let's visit that historical piece of earth sometime :)

ps: i will update the final status abt the sunshine mine / sterling mining later
pps: do not forget what u have promised above :)
addendum, 1 day later ;o(
oh, my dear! sterling mining is -37.50 % right now ... and has closed at -18.75% with 4 times the usual volume! a huge loss on the 2nd day of my so_sure-$$-investment, isn't it? well, this time was mr. market right and i was wrong :-(

FAQ#1: how does the silver valley looks like? hmmmmm, i will show u how it was 100 years ago, so please use your imagination (or e.g. the google search engine) to find out how it could looks like 2day, ok?

source/copyright: clayton/deer park historical society. btw, the oginal picture was/is here.