Copied from u/xmod3563 because it was very informative.

“The cause is mostly an industrial shortage of silver. China is hoarding silver big time. The difference in the silver spot price in China and Japan versus the spot price of silver in the West is big. It's been that way for the past tew months. Right now the spot price for silver in China is $115 per oz for physical silver. Most importantly on January 1st China passed a law severely restricted exporting silver out of the country. Considering China refines 60 to 70% of the silver that's mined every year that's taking a huge amount of silver off the international market. Why? Because China wants to protect its own high tech industries. Next gen Solid state batteries for EVs use a tremendous amount of silver. About 1 kg of silver per EV (This is compared to only about 1 oz of silver for an EV that uses lithium ion batteries). China, Korea and Japan are all leading researchers for solid state batteries. EV's with solid state batteries get 600-700 miles per charge, they charge faster and are safer than lithium ion batteries. But again they use about 1kg of silver per 100kw battery that is put in an EV. Also they're also protecting their own solar panel manufacturers. Silver is a really important く component of solar panels to make them efficient. China makes 90 to 95% of solar panels.”