Gold and silver prices have enjoyed a strong rally in the first quarter, and the fun is just beginning, says market strategist Charles Nenner, founder of CharlesNenner.com.

Gold is headed to $2,500 an ounce in the next 12-18 months, which represents a surge of 50 percent from the current price of $1,664, he tells Yahoo.

And silver will break $50, a jump of 55 percent from the current price of $32.28.

Gold touched its record high of about $1,920 in September, while silver reached its peak of about $50 last April.

Nenner’s market model, which is based on cycle analysis, shows that gold’s downward cycle began last September after it hit the record high and will end in mid-April. “Now we’re getting close to a cycle low, and we have a buy signal a couple works early.”

He has a similar view of silver. "It's almost time to get bullish again," Nenner says.

And $50 should just be a stopping off point for the precious metal, he says. “If it goes to $50, it goes much higher because this level is broken.”

Nenner’s original forecast of mid-April for gold’s bottom may prove to be prescient. The metal has slipped in recent days amid concern about a buying strike by jewelers in India.

“A pullback in demand in India is going to assist lower [gold] prices in the near term,” Alexandra Knight, an economist at National Australia Bank, tells Bloomberg.