Surging silver demand for industrial uses as well its position as a safe-haven for many investors is creating some serious supply deficiency issues...what will this mean for the future of the silver industry? Many financial analysts, investing experts, and even geologists have one big thing in common: a silver shortage is upon us. Peak silver is no joke. Here are a few factors contributing to many investors' wildly bullish views on silver: There's no denying it; the world is running out of silver. And the cheap silver has already run out. If you don't believe that, research any major silver mining company. If you could talk to the CEOs of those companies, you would learn how many silver mining projects never really pan out successfully. More times than not, there's simply not enough silver in any given ore. At least not enough to supply all of these growing industrial uses: *Images coutesy of The Market Oracle. According to metal expert Luke Burgess, "Despite the lack of global stockpiles, new technology will continue to discover more industrial applications for silver, putting a further strain on world supplies." Right in line with this assertion, the Silver Institute predicts that silver demand for industrial purposes will increase by 36% by 2015. Industrial silver demand creates a greater sense of urgency than gold demand because it is needed rather than simply desired. Silver has been needed for decades, so it has been mined for decades in order to fulfill those needs. Silver is required in the production of products like CDs, cell phone batteries, calculators, printed circuit boards, hearing aids, electronic switches, TV screens, catalytic converters, inks, computer monitors, RFID chips, and thousands more. Nonetheless, silver is still very-much desired for its aesthetic value too. Burgess reported that 28% of jewelry suppliers saw silver sales increase by 25% from 2009 to 1010. For these reasons, silver has solidified its position as a major necessity, and a highly desirable one as well, in the industrial realm. But something has changed dramtically in the silver supply-demand curve in the past few years. Silver is fast-becoming a top-asset choice for cautious investors. This is happening because nations across the globe are currently digging themselves in some pretty deep holes full of unbacked fiat currencies and suffocating layers of debt. Traditional currencies are no longer safe. Take the United States for example. Every time we run into a financial blunder, the Fed retaliates by printing bucket loads of paper money. Essentially, this overprinting trend further contributes to our region's long-term financial woes. As citizens lose faith in the spending value of these devaluing dollars, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0 investors begin to look elsewhere; specifically, the precious metals sector. In times of recession, depression, and overwhelming uncertainty (sound familiar?) investors have few viable options. Thus, they inevitably sooner or later flock to the precious metals market as a safety net. Otherwise, their hard-earned wealth is at stake and many other investment options are too risky during such fragile times. Simple statistics prove this type of investor mentality. In the past two decades alone, gold has returned investors 6.9% on their investments. In 1993, gold returned 9.6%. But the yellow metal isn't the only big gainer. Silver has exploded in the precious metals market, especially after the financial meltdown in 2008. In 2009, silver investment increased by 184% in just one year! By 2010, the U.S. Mint announced that they had run out of silver bullion blanks. At the time, they also suspended production of American Eagle Silver Proof coins. Why? The answer is a simple. The didn't have the supply to meet the demand. Economics-101: If supply decreases and demand remains unchanged, prices go up. If supply runs out, you can no longer sell the product, making it even MORE valuable in the eyes of the beholder and the product-less consumer. Bottom line: prices appreciate. Fast forward to November of 2011 and that trend is on track. In fact, silver prices are increasing exponentially. At the beginning of this week, both silver and gold got going on a positive note. As the situation in Europe is slowly working itself out less dramatically than originally anticipated, silver is set to advance even higher. Those benefits will seep over into the new year as well. Heading into the New Year, silver could be poised to see an uptick. "Conditions in 2012 are likely to remain highly supportive of further growth in investment demand, underpinning additional price gains," Philip Klapwijk, Global Head of Metal Analytics for the group, told an annual meeting of The Silver Institute. This is especially good news for two silver-related companies. Silver Wheaton Corp, a silver streamer, and Hecla Mining have profited quite substantially due to silver's recent price-gains. And profit they will continue to do...until supply runs dry. But, experts warn that may be sooner than you realize. And you don't want to be kicking yourself ten years from now for the investment opportunity still available to you right now. Posted by Brittany Stepniak
The worlds oceans contain enough Gold and Silver to last eternity. And before anyone says go get some. Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction will the job just fine. Its primary use is heavy metal removal. Its also the reason why nasa's man'ed mars missions will use magnesium in their landing gear, so they can extract it with CO2. ( marz has a CO2 atmosphere) . and burn the metal to return to deep space. its also used to remove heavy metal from effluent and because of its none destructive nature. every beer you have has had the hops extracted with it as well. We will have more things to "Replace" silver in 9 years than any production fears
Peak oil is a reality, it's just one that the "sheeple" in the West choose to ignore. TPTB aren't ignoring it, hence the oil wars in the middle east (Iraq, Libya, Iran etc)
:lol: dude duck for cover ... "im here in the bunker, my NWO, mad max, SHTF scenario protection bunker" .... QUICKKKKKK ..... got food, gold, silver and amo :lol: On a serious note, a good point is made, it almost seems people dont think in the time that we start to run out of this stuff, we cant work our way around it or come up with more ingenous ways of doing things. The majority of humans may be sheeple, dumb or whatever you want to call them, but there are those few gifted who will work it out. Our dirac's, einstens, newtons , susskinds, etc, we can rely on them, they'll work it out And once the stock market goes to sh*t and those really smart guys who are trained as physicsts & engineers leave the clutches of the financial world (due to no more crazy bonuses and realising that they aren't doing the world any good) we will have more of them to work out a solution on our short supply of silver and oil
i mine and sell silver so have a keen edge and deep understanding of the mineral thanks. we dont need silver as much as say last month as we do today. This years stand out silver replacements Graphene Nobel Prize* CD-Rom (replaced x rays) huge industrial use Sn Cu Bi cut silver consumption in industrial solder by 1000% 10 times less. Higher strength and cheaper Silver just lost its conductivity crown in the process. Second tier to Graphene Will we run out in 9 years? We wont, Remember Olympic dam will be up and away in 9 years and into the richest VMS deposit the world has ever seen. Silver will always have an important role to play and is intrinsically valuable. I guess If you "Really" want to know we are forecast to run out of "easy to get Silver" in 60 years. Coal in 400yrs Gas in 600yrs or their abouts
Someone help me out here. Peak oil states that oil is a finite resource and we're almost out. Oil is a hydrocarbon. Carbon is one of the most abundant elements on earth, the fourth most abundant in the entire universe and hydrogen is THE most abundant element in the entire universe. And we're about to run out of this stuff? After about 100 years of using it? Silver is much higher up the periodic chart. ie. much more rare. And there's plenty of that? Well, I don't believe everything I hear. Incidently, the periodic chart was developed by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. He proposed that oil is a natural by-prodcut of geological processes (ie. you dont have to hope that a sh*t load of dinosaurs died in the same spot). He founded Russia's first oil refinery. The Russians still think oil is not a "fossil fuel" and look for oil where Western science says they won't find any. Guess what? Russia is the world's largest oil producer. I think silver will expire sooner than oil. (Still, I'm long oil too).
I guess what makes it rare is the process that turns carbon and hydrogen into oil, just as coal is carbon yet its much more abundant then diamonds simply because of the processes that carbon is subject to before becoming diamonds.... Maybe some day someone will work out an artifical way to generate the same conditions and make oil out of thin air :lol: ... literally ....
Helium is one of the most abundant elements in the universe as well. Doesn't mean it's not damned scarce on earth. Basically, your argument is specious.
I remember that 18 years ago they stated that the world would run out of silver in 17 years. 17 years later they stated that the world would run out of silver in 17 years. WTH? There is still a significant supply of silver. With most silver mined as a byproduct of other metals, economic health and cost to mine are going to determine how much silver is available. But we are not anywhere near to running out.
Good analogy with the diamonds. Carbon has 4 outer shell electrons which makes it extremely likely to find other electron shells to bond with, so that the resultant form is more stable. Given that hydrogen is the most abundant element then it's more likely than not that a carbon atom will bond with hydrogen atoms to form a hydrocarbon such as oil. Carbon remaining in its elemental form is less likely. It's why diamonds aren't as abundant as oil. However, diamonds are also 'rare' because one powerful company sits on excess supply and creates artificial scarcity to manipulate demand and drive up prices. With diamonds, it is a successful marketing strategy that drives up price and makes people want the product more than they would if it was priced in true relation to its availability. With oil, the ubiquity of the product really requires a war here or there to generate maximum profit, plus it lets rich countries control poor ones. Another side-effect of the peak oil scam is that it makes people feel guilty about doing evil stuff like driving to the shops. Now oil supply coming to market may very well drop and price may sky-rocket. I'm betting on it in fact. Just be aware that when that happens, there will still be lots and lots of oil underground. Anyway pmstacker I;m with you on this: humankind's ingenuity is pretty good. There are more people who want to improve things than there are people who want to wreck them (even though they have the upper hand often) No prizes for guessing which group promote peak oil.
A bit more on my specious argument for dwayne and any others who worry about the day we run out of petrol: Hydrogen is about 75% of the universes elemental mass. Yet, like helium as you mention, it is very rare on Earth... as an element. Why? Because it mostly bonds with other elements to form compounds... like hydrocarbons. Yes, that's right, oil.
Thank you! I much prefer reading things from people in the know and involved in the industry than just some random blog post with no substance and a youtube video to back it up.
Advances in Materials Science, mining technology and renewable energy will likely create substitutes for, and increase supplies of, silver. As countries/corporations begin to mine the vast ocean floors, Arctic and Antarctic regions, it will become clear to all that nearing a critical point of silver depletion is something that won't happen for a long, long time.... "In July[2011], China received approval by the United Nations' Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA), which regulates mineral exploration in international waters, to explore for polymetallic sulphide deposits in the Southwest Indian Ridge, between Africa and Antarctica. China will be allowed to explore the area for 15 years, covering about 10,000-square-kilometres. In early August, Russia received approval by the ISA to begin prospecting in the mid-Atlantic. Under a 15-year agreement to be signed later this year, Russia will have rights to explore a 10,000-square-kilometre area midway between Africa and South America, according to The Moscow Times. The area of interest is estimated to contain 50 to 70 million tonnes of gold and copper ore." Of course, significant quantities of silver are often found in gold/copper ores. http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/mining-in-the-arctic-on-thin-ice "World silver mine production increased to 22,200 tons as a result of increased production at new and existing polymetallic mines. Global silver output increased owing to a full year's production from the San Cristobal Mine in Bolivia, the Dolores and Parmarejo Mines in Mexico, and the Kupol property in Russia. Production from several mines in Argentina also increased. Silver production increased at lead-zinc mines, such as the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho, where production was at its highest level in 10 years. Production at the Greens Creek Mine in Alaska also increased owing to improved mining techniques, and production from the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah increased because of increased mill throughput. In July, the Rochester Mine in Nevada was preparing to mine new ore zones that would extend mine life by several years. Substitutes: Digital imaging, film with reduced silver content, silverless black-and-white film, and xerography substitute for silver that has traditionally been used in black-and-white as well as color printing applications. Surgical pins and plates may be made with tantalum and titanium in place of silver. Stainless steel may be substituted for silver flatware, and germanium added to silver flatware will make it tarnish resistant. Nonsilver batteries may replace silver batteries in some applications. Aluminum and rhodium may be used to replace silver that was traditionally used in mirrors and other reflecting surfaces. Silver may be used to replace more costly metals in catalytic converters for off-road vehicles." This is quoted from the same USGS data featured in BrotherJohnF's video several days ago. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/silver/mcs-2011-silve.pdf If you believe silver will soon be depleted, please provide links to the supporting data. There are "bottlenecks" in the production of bullion, and other, silver products as well as an unwillingness, by some dealers, to sell at low spot prices, giving some the impression silver is running out. If only that were true...
the point about replacements for silver is at what price point will it kick in. I read a report which indicated that something like graphene could be used as a replacement for silver in rfid tags but it would take a sustained price of over 50 dollars for it to start to become a viable alternative.
Not for $30 and ounce they won't. I also doubt whether this will ever become feasible. It gets into the whole EROI of mining. This does not just apply to fossil fuels. For this to proceed, silver has to be worth more than it costs to dig out. I cannot see 'seawater mining' ever becoming realistic. Underwater mining however, I will concede could happen if the minerals are worth it.
There must be bulk loads of gold in the seabeds... all those years of rivers wearing away rock and dirt and depositing out into the ocean, plus all other minerals locked in the hard rock itself under the oceans. Processing the 'silt' will be easy enough, but obtaining from the actual ground itself will be more costly
we can mine silver on the main street (road), as it has been described. just impose a shoot to kill order for whoever is hoarding silver in any form what so ever that is .999 there will be silver drop by night, no body will dare to speak of or even take it off the main street. shoot first, and then oops, 0.925 pure, sorry.... take the silver away will we ever get there and how soon?
