A Geological and Mathematical Analysis of Silver

Key notes:

1. Silver is in massive demand (vs supply) for industrial uses and as an investment/store of value.
2. The silver market has to be the most convoluted, mind boggling, criminally manipulated market in the history of mankind.

Silver geological background:

1. Silver is found in native form, alloyed with gold or combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony or chlorine in ores.
2. Silver's ambient background occurrence is 0.075 PPM or 0.075 grams per metric ton (1 metric ton = 2,204.6 pounds)!
3. At 0.075 grams per metric ton, it would take 13.3 metric tons (1/0.075) to mine 1 gram of silver!
4. 31.1 grams = 1 troy ounce
5. 31.1 x 13.3 metric tons = 413.63 metric tons (911,898 pounds) to mine 1 ounce of silver (to demonstrate silver’s rarity).
6. Silver veins (silver accumulated through geologic events) must be discovered for silver to be mined “profitably”.
7. Approximately 75 percent of the world’s total silver production comes from the byproduct of base metal mining?????
8. There is one problem with this argument; silver is a very rare element!

Base metal mining is NOT targeting silver veins.

If we assume silver is being mined at its ambient background occurrence of 0.075 grams per metric ton as a byproduct then:

1. If 800,000,000 ounces of silver are mined each year and 75 percent comes from the byproduct of base metal mining, then…
2. 600 million ounces of silver are produced from the byproduct of base metal mining.
3. 600 million ounces x 413.63 metric tons (amount to mine 1 troy ounce Ag) = 248,178,000,000 metric tons of earth mined to produce 600 million ounces of byproduct silver (clearly, this is impossible)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. The silver grades actually being mined as byproducts are any one’s guess, but U get the big picture!

Important points:

1. Silver is a very rare metal.
2. Silver veins are not as common as we are lead to believe.
3. Silver has been mined for over 6000 years, therefore surface silver veins have been heavily mined.
4. Silver ore grades are down over 95 percent (according to USGS).
5. To everyone's disbelief, it probably costs $300 to $400 to mine an ounce of silver today, therefore the silver industry would have to be massively subsidized to survive!
6. Believe the math and geology, and not the silver mining “statistics”!
7. In my opinion, all silver statistics are blatant lies (ore grades, mining costs, production numbers and especially the price)!