" An article I received recently and thought worth sharing, Silver Coin Investing E-Course", Issue #7, from Dr. Jeff Lewis Hi, Folks, I used to practice drawing the yin and yang symbol when I was a kid. I think at the time it was a surf logo we all thought was "pretty cool, dude." Anyway, since then I've thought about the philosophy at one time or another. But it wasn't until I started hearing people talking about the dual role of silver that I gave it any more serious thought. Now I think it's pretty cool again. Consider this: We have all noticed the back-and-forth between survival and prosperity--the yin and the yang--in many aspects of our lives. The same can be applied to money. We want to survive, and we also want to prosper. Simple enough. It used to think it was kind of corny to say that without silver, modern life would seize to exist. But... I'll bet a lot of you carry cell phones, drive cars, refrigerate food, use washing machines, type on a keyboard, watch television (only for the movies, right?), wear eyeglasses, fly in airplanes, use electricity, wear clothes, were born in a hospital, and carry coins around in your pockets from time to time. Notice that I didn't say you carry silver coins... But at some point, nearly everyone did. In fact, the word "silver" literally means "money" in a host of languages. Silver has essentially always been a store of value, and yet, it has evolved into a key industrial component, required for the creation of so many of those modern conveniences we've come to depend on. So, in a way, silver is both a basis for financial survival and also potentially a basis for prosperity. I'm not sure which one of those is more important. I suppose if times were better, and most people were not being affected by the current financial crisis, silver would be viewed more from a prosperity point of view rather than as an inflationary hedge. But what's tricky when it comes to understanding silver is balancing the industrial application demand versus the monetary one. It's very hard to find the point at which one ends and the other begins, or vice versa. Silver still plays a monetary role. Some might argue on that point, but stay with me, for those people live in the world of paper. After all, silver coins have been money throughout most of human civilization. Yet, over the last 200 years or so, like a lot other substances of the earth, silver has become critical for industrialization. What does this mean for investors? Basically, it's this: There is NOT a whole lot of silver left. We covered that when we talked about supply. Most of it is being used up (sequestered) by industry, and that amount will continue to grow. (If emerging markets have anything to say about it. And by evidence of central banks' gold buying, foreign investors (carefully, but surely) diversifying out of the dollar, say that they most certainly will). But you also have this long history of silver as money, which investors are becoming aware of in ever-increasing numbers. As the value of the dollar and the rest of fiat currencies continue to decline, more and more people are recognizing the value of silver coins as a hedge against inflation. So where are we going with this... The yin and the yang--they represent a balance. And not simply a balance between industrial use and monetary value. They also represent a balance between supply and demand. We are using silver faster than we can mine it. And more and more people are running to silver for investment. Eventually supply won't be able to keep it up. Big money will enter this tiny market. All the while, monetary policy isn't changing. The printing press has been on for a while now and it cannot stop. It is all just a matter of intensifying the dis-information machine to keep the masses unsuspecting. And panic will lead to explosion. At some point, balance will return, but with silver at much higher prices, reflecting it's true scarcity and demand. That's why now is the right time to load up and accumulate whenever you can. *** A quick note about getting caught u on premiums: Think of premiums and their fluctuation in the context of dollar cost averaging. Some months you'll end up paying more, others less. Invariably, it evens out. And besides, whatever the price is today will almost surely look cheap compared with tomorrow. *** Consider silver demand alongside the falling dollar and we're back to the idea of survival vs. prosperity. Personally, I've come to accept the idea that it's likely to occur--that is, a hyperinflationary event--in my lifetime. No matter what happens, most of us who have made it this far on this journey will probably survive, because we at least have a base. We own something valuable that could conceivably be bartered if times really get tough - if we eventually see the end of the dollar. And that's certainly a possibility. Look, you don't need a Ph.D. in Economics to understand this stuff, no more than you need a degree in medicine to understand human health. The information is available if you look for it. If you invest the time. The dollar is just like every fiat currency before it. None have been immune to collapse. Through all the years of recorded history, where so many brilliant minds have gone before you--thinking that it would be different this time because of some new force, leader, government, technology or information--and trusting that those with money and power got there because they know more. Perhaps... But we too easily have faith that they have our best interests in mind. And then, at some point when the opposite becomes clear, the people say, "Enough." A cultural trend is occurring--simple is becoming cool. What will happen when the masses catch on? Silver is so cheap compared to its close relatives, yet suffers more significant supply pressures--because of people like you. Silver offers protection for people like us. Most people should be holding onto something of intrinsic value as a portion of their savings. It's not hard to store a little, and the potential long-term benefits far outweigh a little bit of short-term hassle. You don't need much. Just ask yourself what you can afford. And go tell a friend! Next time, a word about markets and manipulation... Best regards, Dr. Jeff Lewis
The problem with this analyse is that silver is recycled, unless we vapourish it, silver used by industry will become available again. Maybe not today but in the future. In the future, the landfills will become mines. Just like everything technology will come around when we can economically get it back again. Chances are many landfills have higher PM content than mines in operation today. Also there is a lot more silver in the ground, even today main source of silver is a byproduct of copper or other metal mining. Similarly to oil to a lesser extent, when prices go up, fracking site in the US that drove the price down to low $35 will start up again and start pumping when oil prices go back up. Even if because of industrialisation silver became $100 or $500 an ounce, after a short while technology will come with alternatives. Do you think we won't have mobile phones because there is no silver?
Interesting article in spite of the grammar errors and the misconception that silver has a monetary role. "Monetary" specifically implies "of or relating to money or currency" neither of which silver is today. No country's currency in the world that I'm aware of uses silver to back it and silver is not in the "basket of goods" of any major country that I'm aware of. Silver is NOT money because it doesn't function like money in the real world today....only in fantasyland and in the somewhat distant past. Is it possible that silver might someday again be money / back a major currency? Yes, it's possible....only time will tell. That said, silver is an industrial metal, a commodity, and an asset. So it definitely has an investment role as well as, of course, an industrial role. For the foreseeable future, there will be demand for silver and a good amount of positive sentiment toward it, especially at certain times. Silver is not money. I like proof silver....it's shiny! .
Ipv6ready. Hi I often find the Bob Dylan song line, " it doesn't take a weatherman to see which way the winds blowing." We all have our theories, prophecies graphs and tea leaves etc. I find a point of agreement where you said it may go to 100 or 500 an ounce and yes we have to " know when to hold them, when to fold them........" No guarantees, you could die tomorrow.. http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2013/02/28/a-forgotten-skill-weather-prediction/ I ain't endorsing nor criticizing this quotes site. Matt 16 2 4 Jesus re weather and future, Its the fall of a system, love casts out fear,
If all the silver in 'landfill' today turned by magic into gold, and gold was $5000 an oz, i make the confident guess that it could not be recovered economically.
There are people tapping landfills now, in third world countries by hand, in modern cities many landfills have been tapping methane gas (with lower gas prices, not sure how economical it is now but you see the point). Plus methane gas is much cheaper than gold or silver, and it might take more money to do it, but at $5000 an ounce, I would not bet against it, of course not if labour was $4000 an hour. I would also guess older landfills that didn't care what ewaste went in would be at a premium. If platinum hit $5,000 an ounce, I wouldn't be surprised if dust collectors ran up and down the cities road hoovering up duct that contain platinum group metal dust from all the catalytic converters spewing up platinum dust.
I agree with this statement. Gold must be of the order of 1 gram/tonne or higher to be feasible (at current prices). But silver or gold in landfill would be milligrams/tonne. (probably micrograms) Especially for silver, it would be a total waste of time
Plus remember there are lot of other raw material that could be recycled at the same time. Even today significant percentage of PM are byproduct of mining for other material. As for dust, its tiny but it is already being done.... http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-environment-dust-idUSL6N0TM38A20141202
^^^ Added to which we're comparing landfill with a somewhat predictable and workable orebody. How are you going to sort out fridges and phones from non electrical stuff? Dig everything up? Then you'd need a plant for stripping out the silver- one that would have to deal with every item differently to locate the silver contacts. #preposterousproposals
Option for recycling http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sc...-mobile-phones-into-gold-20160729-gqgr83.html
At a given price, anything can be done. At $20 silver not worth it, even have 1000s of mines that are not even worked but.... at higher prices why not, and before anyone starts mining landfills, so many "uneconomical mines" that are .1 gram per ton will become economical that mining landfills for silver might not seem worth it. Just like fracking and deep water wells oil at $100 US barrel lead to a boom in oil industry and uneconomical or technology impaired resource became viable re fracking and deep water. Think of this if oil was $200 a barrel, most of the the coal in Australia will be economical for liquefaction coal to oil.
what's in landfill, especially after years underground? toxic/carcinogenic sludge. non biodegradable rubbish. explosive gasses. no matter how rich the deposit might be in gold/silver terms, the health and safety aspect alone would make it impossible to recover. then consider the processing required - rock and dirt is much different to process than gooey, non/semi degraded "stuff". it would take thousands of years for it to break down enough to enable possible and viable extraction.
how so? crude oil is drilling a well and sticking a pipe in the ground, the pressure pushes up oil. uranium is digging virgin ground (or previously processed, but clean) and processing it. same for other metals including gold and silver. mining through garbage is entirely different for the reasons above. you can't stick a dozer load of semi degraded garbage and wash it to extract minerals, or treat it chemically and leach out what you want. hit a metal object with your dozer and go KABOOM with the explosive gases. entirely different ball game. what's put down into landfill is probably stuck there for generations if not millennia.
There are many tips sites now with stations or whatever on them that use the gases inside to generate electricity.
Silver, Mine Production 1990 521.8 1991 510.9 1992 485.3 1993 469.5 1994 451.0 1995 479.0 1996 492.9 1997 520.4 1998 542.7 1999 557.5 2000 591.5 2001 606.8 2002 594.5 2003 597.2 2004 613.6 2005 639.9 2006 643.4 2007 667.7 2008 684.7 2009 717.3 2010 753.0 2011 757.6 2012 790.8 2013 823.7 2014 868.3 2015 886.7 16267.7 Moz mined Silver, Recycling 1990 124.5 $4 1991 131.7 $4 1992 138.5 $4 1993 148.7 $5 1994 152.0 $5 1995 162.9 $5 1996 158.4 $5 1997 169.3 $6 1998 193.9 $6 1999 181.6 $5 2000 185.6 $5 2001 189.0 $4 2002 197.3 $5 2003 196.0 $5 2004 198.6 $7 2005 203.4 $7 2006 207.1 $11 2007 204.2 $13 2008 202.0 $15 2009 201.2 $15 2010 227.5 $20 2011 261.5 $35 2012 255.5 $31 2013 192.1 $23 2014 168.3 $19 2015 146.1 4796.9 Moz recycled So 29.48% of the silver production over 1990-2015 got recycled. Gold, Mine Production 1997 2527 $330.98 1998 2574 $294.24 1999 2602 $278.88 2000 2618 $279.11 2001 2645 $271.04 2002 2618 $309.73 2003 2621 $363.38 2004 2493 $409.72 2005 2548 $444.74 2006 2486 $603.46 2007 2476 $695.39 2008 2409 $871.96 2009 2584 $972.35 2010 2659 $1224.53 2011 2839 $1571.52 2012 2864.1 $1668.98 2013 3060.3 $1411.23 2014 3135.0 $1266.40 42465.4 tonnes mined. Gold, Recycling 1997 631 1998 1108 1999 620 2000 619 2001 749 2002 872 2003 985 2004 878. 2005 897 2006 1126 2007 956 2008 1217 2009 1672 2010 1653 2011 1611.9 2012 1590.8 2013 1254.6 2014 1175.9 19616.2 tonnes recycled. So 46.2% of the gold production over 1997-2015 got recycled. Of course this doesn't mean that no "older" gold was recycled. But the period is long enough to give an idea. The difference production and recycling is, in a degree, indicative for what was not recoverable.
The tons not reported as recycled just means more are stored as jewellery, bars and coins. For example we have silver and gold I presume. As for me much more now since I started collecting. Just becuase it wasn't recycled it isnt gone Gold there is so much of it stored in one form or another since time dot above ground, makes what we mine a tiny fraction of total gold. Silver we do use a lot of it but they are all stored/buried in concentrated areas and plus still plenty in the ground.
