Silver is somewhat rare and expensive, although not as expensive as gold. Slag dumps in Asia Minor and on islands in the Aegean Sea indicate that man learned to separate silver from lead as early as 3000 B.C. Pure silver has a brilliant white metallic lustre.
It is a little harder than gold and is very ductile and malleable. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, and possesses the lowest contact resistance. Silver is leading a revolution in technology and medicine.
Total silver fabrication demand in 2012 dipped to 846.8 Moz, reflecting losses in key areas. Industrial silver fabrication slipped by 4 percent to 465.9 Moz, the result of the challenging economic environment seen in many industrialized countries.
However, India recorded a 4 percent gain while China experienced a small increase in industrial demand.
Worldwide jewelry fabrication at 185.6 Moz remained effectively unchanged from 2011, thereby proving far more resilient than gold with its 4% decline. Growing consumption in India and China for silver jewelry offset softer western markets.
Photographic demand for silver fell to 57.8 Moz, while the silverware sector slipped to 44.9 Moz due to ongoing structural factors and economic weakness.
Supply of silver from above-ground stocks fell by 7.5 percent to 261.3 Moz in 2012, driven by a continued decline in government stock sales, a drop in scrap supply, and the absence of net-producer hedging. Producer de-hedging added 41.5 Moz to the demand equation in 2012.
Government stock sales fell a staggering 39 percent to a 15-year low of 7.4 Moz. A continued decline in disposals from Russia and an absence of government stock sales from China and India were the primary factors. A drop in western supplies of recycled jewelry and silverware, combined with further falls from photographic sources, drove silver scrap supply down further by 1.6 percent to 253.9 Moz.
In 2012, the United States produced approximately 1,050 tons of silver with an estimated value of $1.01 billion. Silver was produced as a byproduct from 35 domestic base- and precious-metal mines.
Alaska continued as the country’s leading silver-producing State, followed by Nevada. There were 21 U.S. refiners of commercial-grade silver, with an estimated total output of 6,500 tons from domestic and foreign ores and concentrates, and from old and new scrap.