Wallace, Idaho – Silver Summit 2007. It's right on the horizon, and officially opens its doors Sept. 20 and closes on the 21^st, but if you're paying attention, there's a one-day pre-function on Wednesday, the 19^th and a weekend of Wallace-style revelry on the 22^nd and 23^rd.

The pre-function day will include workshops by such luminaries as David Morgan, as well as underground tours of the world's deepest silver mines. The weekend post-function in the Silver Valley will include music, meals, libations, lobbying and (depending upon the silver price) largesses from the Wallace's astute mercantile community.

Survivors of previous Silver Summits – it's now in its 5^th year – unanimously describe the event as “enlightening,” “weird” “cosmic” and “life-affirming.” We have trouble ourselves describing the Summit, because we're way too busy wiping runny noses and tying loose shoe-laces during this 5 days of mayhem to grasp the larger picture.

But here's what to look forward to: GATA's Bill Murphy; investment strategist John Embry; Richard “We Are All Freakin' Doomed” Daughty of the Mogambo Guru Report; GoldMoney's James Turk; silver analysts Jason Hommel, Peter Spina of GoldSeek, and Bernard von NotHaus; award-winning author of Polar Perspectives David Bensimon; Dean Emeritus Earl Bennett of the Idaho School of Mines; Jeff Christian of the CPM Group; and the aforementioned David Morgan to name but a handful of the 50-or-so presenters at this year's Silver Summit.

Also present, to both speak and to listen, will be CEOs from the world's top silver mining and exploration companies. These include Phillips S. Baker, Jr., of Hecla; Ross Beaty of Pan American Silver; Silvercorp Metals's Rui Feng, and Silver Standard's Robert Quartermain. The list goes on, and the best place to get a full reading of this year's participation is on The Silver Summit's website at: thesilversummit.com.

We are dogged by a single question: Why can't you grow The Silver Summit any bigger? We've been turning away exhibitors since February, for the simple reason that we don't have, here in northern Idaho, convention capacity for anything larger than what we're doing this year.  The Coeur d'Alene Inn, and across the street the Shiloh Inn, will be full. The only larger venue in this part of the world, the Coeur d'Alene Resort, isn't available to us until 2009 at the earliest.

Our determination to keep The Silver Summit in Idaho rests on the simple reality that this is where silver is mined. In its last century, northern Idaho's Silver Valley has served up in excess of 1 billion ounces of silver, and geologists tell us there's at least that much still in the ground to be mined at economic rates. If you want to look at silver mines you don't go to Paris or New York. Those are nice places to visit, but they ain't where the elephants are.

Come join us for that week of Indian Summer in Coeur d'Alene and Wallace. It may get crowded, but there's always room for another silver bug. After all, we're talking about another 1 billion ounces here.

Personal arrangements, and information about the scheduling of underground mine tours, may be obtained from Bree or Mike at the Silver Valley Mining Association's office at 208.556.1621. We're still nailing all the details down. But for now, please register, get on the list, and anticipate a great time with the best people you'll ever meet.