There has been a lot of talk in recent months about both the monetary role of precious metals and investment demand for silver.

For Hecla Mining President and CEO, Phil Baker, while the investment side of the market is important, it is the technological markets for the metal that are more exciting.

Speaking on Mineweb's Metals Weekly podcast, Baker said the silver market today can best be compared to where it was 100 years ago, when photographic demand was just beginning to grow.

"Hecla has been a silver mining company for 120 years - it was a great business to be in until the early 1980s and it was a terrible business to be in for the next 20 years. We're now back in a phase where it will be a great business to be in for the next 50 years at least."

According to Baker, the reasons for this prediction are two-fold. The first is that silver's unique properties mean that its uses in various forms of technology are growing significantly.