A recent GFMS/Thomson Reuters Silver Institute World Silver Survey shows that while the price of silver dropped 23.6% in the last year, there was actually an increase in demand, particularly from China and India.

Keith Phillips, a managing director and head of Cowen & Company's Mining Investment Banking Group, says strong companies with solid balance sheets are on the hunt for precious metals development projects or small producers trading at steep discounts.

Björn Paffrath, Switzerland-based fund adviser and newsletter writer, says there is certainly an elevated risk of a correction in the broad market but the upside in the mining sector is worth looking at as the market turns.

As much as we'd all like significantly higher silver and gold prices, Chris Thompson of Raymond James doesn't expect them. The good news, he argues, is that the relative stability now characterizing the market permits investors to make informed decisions about which companies can build value.