The price of silver is soaring, Wall Street is clamoring and the U.S. Mint has sold out of Silver Eagles.

All of that could spell good fortune for the Coeur d'Alene mining district.

Many big-name investors are taking note as silver prices approach $50 an ounce, the highest levels since a brief boom-and-bust in the 1980s.

"Gold is historically the most sought-after precious metal," acknowledged Luke Burgess in an article for wealthwire.com. "But there's a reason why men like George Soros, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates are heavily invested in its less glamorous cousin, silver."

In spite of a 5.4 percent drop to $44.61 an ounce, prices recovered to $46 an ounce Tuesday.

Silver is projected to perform as much as 400 percent better than gold, mostly driven by industrial demand.

Currently 40 percent of silver production is funneled into the technology industry, due to the application of silver as a conductor in electronics like cell phones, circuit boards, solar batteries, water purifiers and plasma TVs.

Demand from large industrializing nations like India and China will also have major long-term impacts on silver prices. Global demand is expected to jump up to 36 percent by 2015, according to moneymorning.com and the Wall Street Journal.

"Everything seems to be much more calm and deliberate compared to the boom in the '80s," said Fred Brackebusch, president of New Jersey Mining Company. "This seems like a more stable long-term increase, not just a boom and bust."

Current silver prices are not a record high when inflation is accounted for, but nobody seems to be complaining. Only a decade ago, the closing price for silver in April averaged $4.44 an ounce.

This should benefit both jobs and production in the Coeur d'Alene mining district, Brackebusch said.

Miners receive a Silver Bonus regardless of profit. In addition, mining companies usually provide a profit-sharing plan to employees that varies with profit margins.

"That will be very, very lucrative for our miners, especially at $46 an ounce," said Jerome Bunde of Pennaluna & Company stockbrokers.

Bunde foresees an upswing in hiring throughout the Coeur d'Alene mining district, he said, as higher prices fuel possible production increases.

"I don't expect it to go downhill," he said. "Silver has been undervalued since 1982. Everything is in place to really have a bull market."

Bunde expects the usual market ups and downs, but says that metals are a good bet in the long run.

After all, he explained, "God only planted one crop."