All that glitters is not just gold, with prices for silver also expected to strongly rise within the year due to a worsening economic landscape.

Silver, the second-most popular precious metal, has historically traded in tandem with gold prices, and in the past 12 months its price has more than doubled to roughly $40 an ounce.

“What we’re seeing in prices of silver now is a completely natural response to the economic malaise,” John Smith, chief executive of Silver Standard Resources, said on Tuesday at the Denver Gold Forum, one of the largest gatherings in the world of mining investors, analysts and executives.

“This is not a sector to rent. This is a sector to hold,” Smith said. “What we’re seeing in the world is not an issue that going to be solved quickly.”

Economic concerns in the United States and Europe, as well as political unrest in the Middle East, were all cited as contributors to silver’s rise.

Silver is cheaper than gold, has scores of uses that gold does not — it is the best metallic conductor of electricity — and there’s about 15 times more of it in the earth’s crust than gold.

“I’m very bullish on silver, and I think we’ll see it at $50 (an ounce) within the next six months,” said Silver Wheaton Corp CEO Randy Smallwood said.

“I’m very bearish on the U.S. dollar,” he added. “As long as we continue to value silver in terms of U.S. dollars, I see continued opportunity for silver to keep growing.”