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Silver
is a very ductile and malleable metal used for thousands of
years for ornaments and utensils, for trade, and as the basis
for many monetary systems. Its value as a precious metal was
long considered second only to gold. In Ancient Egypt and Medieval
Europe, it was often more valuable than gold. Silver
mining was a driving force in the settlement of western North
America, with major booms for silver and associated minerals
(primarily lead) in the galena ore silver is most commonly
found in. Notable "silver rushes" were in Colorado,
Nevada, Cobalt, Ontario , California and the Kootenay region
of British Columbia, notably in the Boundary and "Silvery
Slocan". The largest silver ore deposits in the United
States were discovered at the Comstock Lode in Virginia City,
Nevada, in 1859.
Silver is found in native form, combined with sulfur, arsenic,
antimony, or chlorine and in various ores such as argentite
(Ag2S) and horn silver (AgCl). The principal sources of silver
are copper, copper-nickel, gold, lead and lead-zinc ores obtained
from Canada, Cobalt, Ontario, Mexico (historically Batopilas),
Peru, Australia and the United States.
This metal is also produced during the electrolytic refining
of copper. Commercial grade fine silver is at least 99.9%
pure silver and purities greater than 99.999% are available.
Mexico is the world's largest silver producer. According to
the Secretary of Economics of Mexico, it produced 80,120,000
troy ounces (2492 metric tons) in 2000, about 15% of the annual
production of the world.
Silver is currently about 1/50th the price of gold by mass,
and approximately 70 times more valuable than copper. Silver
did once trade at 1/6th to 1/12th the price of gold, prior
to the Age of Discovery and the discovery of great silver
deposits in the Americas, most notably the vast Comstock Lode
in Virginia City, Nevada, USA. The resulting debate debate
over cheap Free Silver to benefit the agricultural sector
was among the most prolongued and difficult in that country's
history and dominated public discourse during the latter decades
of the nineteenth century.
Over the last 100 years the price of silver and the gold/silver
price ratio has fluctuated greatly due to competing industrial
and store of value demands. In 1980 the silver price rose
to an all-time high of US$49.45 per troy ounce. By December
2001 the price had fallen to US$4.15 per ounce, and in May
2006 it had risen back as high as US$15.21 per ounce. As of
2006, current silver prices (and most other metal prices)
have been rather volatile, for example quickly dropping from
the May high of US$15.21 per ounce to a June low of US$9.60
per ounce before rising back above US$12 per ounce by August.
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Gold
