Gold and Silver Collectors - Where did all the Silver GO

Rogers, founder of the Quantum Fund, suggested that the U.S. dollar will continue its decline and that hard assets like gold, silver and agricultural products represented good value in the upcoming inflationary environment.”

”A deteriorating U.S. dollar suggests that while gold’s meteoric rise still has room to run, silver’s run is yet to get started.”

So… Where Did All The Silver Go?

The vast amount of available silver ­ 95% to be exact ­ is not used for coinage. Rather it flows into the arms of industry. There is a massive appetite for the white metal, which has more uses than WD-40.

Silver…

Coats energy efficient windows, compact discs and DVDs…

Fires up Plasma TV screens, washing machines and vacuum cleaners…

Plays a key role in silver-oxide batteries (which are replacing lithium in many applications)…

And its anti-bacterial powers make it a popular agent in hospital needles, stethoscopes, furniture, door handles and paper files.

Unlike other precious metals, when silver is used up, it can’t be easily reclaimed or recycled. It’s been said that 90% of the silver ever mined has been used up… gone forever.

That fact is backed up by the commodities research firm, CPM Group. Recently, they issued a report that claimed there were 12 billion ounces of silver in the world in 1900. By 1990 that amount collapsed to approximately 2.2 billion ounces. And this year, that figure has declined to less than 1 billion ounces in aboveground-refined silver.

Could new supplies be discovered? Of course. Just as the Brazilian giant, PetroBras tapped a wealth of oil miles below sea level, we could see new supplies of silver come onto the market.

But I wouldn’t bet on a major discovery any time soon.

According to James Blanchard, III, winner of the von Mises award from the Ludwig von Mises Institute, The richest silver deposits are nearest the surface of the earth. The deeper mines go, the less silver they tend to produce.

In other words, it’s likely that all the primary silver mines in the world have been discovered.

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