16% of US Annual Silver Supply Just Vaporized

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by SilverForLife, Apr 18, 2013.

  1. SilverForLife

    SilverForLife Member

    *UPDATED
    5 million ounces of annual silver supply and 500,000 ounces of annual gold supply have just been vaporized landslided.
    Rio Tinto’s Kennecott mine in Utah- the US’ 2nd largest silver mine and world’s largest copper mine has just suffered a massive landslide which will likely shut down production at the mine for years as upwards of 1 billion tons of dirt and ore have collapsed into the basin. 16% of US annual silver production just vanished. Good thing there aren’t any physical supply issues in silver currently or anything…..........http://silverdoctors.com/10-of-us-annual-silver-supply-just-vaporized/
     
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  3. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    Note that this happened April 10, and silver has gone down several dollars since then.
     
  4. cmilladoo

    cmilladoo Keepin it Real

    Its covered in dirt oh whatever will we do....im guessing that sooner or later they will still dig that silver out of the good ole ground my friend....not really vaporized but oh well, who am I to be a stickler for facts.
     
  5. Collector1966

    Collector1966 Senior Member

    Interesting that Kitco apparently didn't post any news story about this event.
     
  6. jloring

    jloring Senior Citizen

    Probably because it's a non-issue. However, Huff Post (the National Enquirer of the internet) carried a small article about it.
     
  7. Collector1966

    Collector1966 Senior Member

    It appears that the mine (otherwise known as the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine) accounts for around 16% of US domestic *copper* production, while its silver production accounts for less than 10% of domestic silver (3.2 million troy ounces versus 36 million ounces total domestic production).
     
  8. PolarCoug

    PolarCoug New Member

    I live very close to the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine. For now, silver production is continuing unabated (but not for long.) The reason for this is that Kennecott has approximately a month's supply of already mined ore that they are now using to feed the processing plant infrastructure. The real impact will be felt in coming weeks once Kennecott has exhausted their supply of this stockpiled ore.
     
  9. Revi

    Revi Mildly numismatic

    That might perk up the market a bit. As long as nobody was hurt in the incident I think it's a good thing for the price eventually.
     
  10. PolarCoug

    PolarCoug New Member

    Nobody was injured or killed in the landslide but a lot of valuable mining equipment was buried, and more importantly a lot of miners will soon be facing the unemployment lines. Kennecott is already asking employees to take voluntary unpaid furloughs. Contractors are already being let go, and it won't be long before fulltime employees get the axe.
     
  11. pmbug

    pmbug Taking steps on my thousand mile journey

    http://www.heraldextra.com/news/sta...cle_dfed4629-c725-55a6-934c-b168106b9e07.html

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ificant-landslide-at-Bingham-Canyon-Mine.html
     
  12. Tater

    Tater Coin Collector

    Its been all over the news here in Utah as they are laying off some of the contractors. I think it will hurt the copper industry more than anything especially if new construction takes off.
     
  13. Tater

    Tater Coin Collector

    Its cool to look at the photos of the slide, if you have ever been there it started at the visitor's center and went to the west and took out a lot of the main haul road.
     
  14. shanhartzell

    shanhartzell Member

    I lived in Clinton and N. Ogden for a couple of years when my brother was stationed at Hill. As I remember they produced a substantial amount of Gold as well. That picture of the pit and mine walls is a trip. Thanks for posting this, I never cuaght anything on the news.
     
  15. WOW thats just crazy! Thanks for the post!
     
  16. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Interesting, but since we are no longer the world's major supplier of either of these, IMO demand from China up or down has a lot more affect on prices than this incident will. Such incidents happen in mines regularly and never get reported. They are somewhat normal occurences.

    I guess my view is I would not change any investment strategies because of it, but appreciate the post.

    Regarding copper, I read recently how there are two warehouse companies trying to perform an old fashioned physical squeeze. They have been loading up far flung warehouses with copper, paying premiums for it, and are demanding far larger premiums to take delivery from them. Even though copper has gone down a lot, manufacturers aren't paying any less because of these warehouses. Something to remember when buying physical commodities, there are a lot of underhanded things holders of physical commodities can do to prevent you from physically buying at market prices.
     
  17. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    Chris, If that is underhanded, aren't stackers and 'buy and hold' PM collectors doing the same 'underhanded' thing ( although perhaps in much smaller quantities ) with gold and silver :)

    Jim
     
  18. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    True somewhat. But, I would say the consumer of coins, (and I would label a stacker to be the consumer of them in a way), is different than a warehouse. A warehouse by definition is simply a temporary holder of a good from the manufacturer to the final consumer.

    Its an old, old game. Its been done for centuries, and is similar to a market corner. In fact, the markets have been putting tremendous pressure on these two warehouse firms to release the copper sheets at more normal premiums, going so far as dictating daily shipment scheduling, etc.

    Physical commodities, as I said, just have a whole other layer of "market manipulation" etc that can be pursued. I would love to hear the outcry of silver investors if they had to deal with this new level of complexity. Maybe instead of JPM they would find a whole new group of "market manipulators" to get mad at. Bottom line, though, its not much different than what coin dealers do, try to sell high in low markets, and buy low in high markets. Cornering physical supply is just a way to heighten such returns. Physical corners used to be MUCH more common, in fact they are the reason paper markets were created. I have said before, people who wish there were no paper markets would not be very happy with the results.
     
  19. Tater

    Tater Coin Collector


    North Ogden, wow small world I'm currently living on the bench of Ben Lomand Peak in Pleasant View, great place to live.
     
  20. kaosleeroy108

    kaosleeroy108 The Mahayana Tea Shop & hobby center

    they knew about this crappp months ago they could have moved all the stuff seriously... they need to have a better system to get rare earth metals and stuff
     
  21. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    Increase the volatility 10X what it is now, but it is easier to believe that the paper market lost 5 million physical ounces of silver due to the manipulation of others.

    Jim
     
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