Looking for factual based opinions on whether silver will benefit from the Green Revolution as an industrial metal. TIA
Not unless it gets significantly cheaper or copper gets drastically more expensive. Silver is known as "supercopper" because of its thermo/electrical conductive properties. Which everyone will tell you is amazing. But that still leaves a significantly cheaper and almost as useful element which is a viable alternative.
From my little knowledge Graphene will blow everything else out of the water. Though I have no idea how long until it's going to be commercialy available and cheap enough to do so.
Industrial and technical metals are where metals diversification makes sense. Silver is a mainstay, buy diversification is never a bad thing and with the internet creating markets for all metals, it's a "no brainer"
If pharmaceutical products are included in "industry" then it might be worthwhile considering to what extent silver is used in the industry. I'm not advocating for "drinking liquid silver" products. However, silver was used apparently prior to antibiotics (including in shell dressings), and it is a considered alternative to the super-bugs of today which are becoming increasingly "antibiotic" resistant. Might only be a super niche use though.
Until theres something to replace it, yep. We will need 10x or 30x more metals or something crazy i read. We arent anywhere close to being green yet, maybe in 50 years.
@lucky luke thanks mate, but I was curious whether the move toward greener energy has any upside for silver I don’t see it mentioned alongside commodities such as nickel, copper, lithium, cobalt etc
Looking at the volumes (55m ounces p.a. for the auto industry currently - based on 20 seconds google search) looks like it will have a place in EV (supportive but not transformative - for demand?). If 55m ounces turns into 550m ounces then that would be tremendously significant. How long will the EV auto market take to 10x?
Well that's frighteningly bullish. Silver is abundant right now and there is no pressure to mine more for the EV market like there is for other battery metals and EV tech. At 550m ounces they would be consuming more than half average annual mining volume.
Ev technology is good but still far because energy isn’t clean and cheap. demand increasing for solar and that make sense to count on.
Solar is BS for silver, new solar tech requires single digit grams if not zero silver. An example for those who get poopy about it- https://interestingengineering.com/... company has,previous record of 25.26 percent.
Silver is used in the newer, lead-free solders used in printed circuit boards but the world has made this transition. Switch contacts and other minor uses so an increase in electronics production will mean an increase in silver usage. I cant see a massive increase in volume, just an incremental increase...unlike the other metals mentioned (Nickel, Lithium, Cobalt) which will ramp up for totally new products. I can also see their price (rare earths in particular) getting pushed up because of mining them (due to politics etc.) in countries with tighter environmental requirements outside of China. I wouldn't call myself a Metals/Manufacturing expert, only what I see coming in the electronic industry in which I work.
There is no Green Revolution for the most part, just a lot of grifting. If it's CO2 that people are concerned about solar, wind farms, ethanol and electric cars all create more emissions in their production that the things that they are purporting to replace.
I hear what you're saying but it doesn't matter from an investing perspective and to this thread. For better or worse this thing is happening...position yourself accordingly.
Solar panels,'m guessing your all over this usage anyways. https://werecyclesolar.com/how-much-silver-is-used-in-solar-panels/ Solar Panel Demand Causing Increase in Silver Prices If you’re wondering why silver is so important in making solar panels, it’s because silver is a metal with incredibly low electrical resistance. Other closely related metals cannot sufficiently match its conductivity for these panels. Silver is so crucial that it can equate up to 6 percent of the total cost of building each unit of the panel. The average panel of approximately 2 square meters can use up to 20 grams of silver. There’s a silver paste in the solar photovoltaic (PV) cells that collects the electrons generated when the sunlight hits the panel. Because of silver’s high conductivity, it maximally converts sunlight into electricity.
@ Shiney This topic gives me the chance to ask the question as to why silver is not priced higher than Gold, given its consumable, rarity etc factor's Is it perception, manipulation, historical granite pegging.
A billion ounces a year is a lot to pull out of the ground and supply industrial demand and the fractional paper lending keeps a lid on the monetary demand. This is why I think EV is the eventual disrupter if they can increase 10x demand it will overwhelm
