Gold and silver miners have risen into the upper echelon of IBD’s industry ranks in recent weeks amid a pickup in profit growth. The Mining-Gold/Silver/Gems industry stood at No. 7 out of 197 as of Friday’s IBD. That’s up from No. 26 six weeks ago. Also, the broader mining sector was ranked fifth out of 33. As a whole, the 50-stock group is up 29% this year, easily outpacing the S&P 500’s 4% gain.