Silver miners plunge on Fed hike fears

** Shares of silver miners down, tracking prices of bullion GOL/

** Spot silver falls 5.3% to $49.63/ounce

** Prices plunge as rising crude oil prices and persistent inflation worries reinforced expectations of US interest rate hikes

** Hecla Mining HL.N and Coeur Mining CDE.N down 5.8% and ~6%, respectively

** Canadian miners: Endeavour Silver EDR.TO slides 6.2% and Silvercorp Metals SVM.TO, slips 5.7%

** Physical Silver Shares ETF SIVR.P and iShares Silver Trust SLV.P each plunge 5.2%