Did anyone here attend the World Money Fair in Berlin? Apparently, there was a proof coin released there in very limited numbers that was made from recycled silver: http://mycoins.co/recycled-silver-coin-introduced-at-world-money-fair-in-berlin I'm looking for a better picture of the coin (especially a scan of the reverse) and I wonder about the energy calculations in that article. Full disclosure - I wrote it, and I'm absolutely terrible at math sometimes.
Very interesting article i guess we get so focused on our hobby we never weigh the enviromental impact.
What makes you think that current silver coins are not struck from recycled silver? Chances are, a fair bit as there aren't that many mines producing silver at the moment. The last time I remember looking at it, you are talking about more than 30% of the silver supply comes from recycled supply. Don't quote me on the figure as that was a figure I looked at more than 3 years ago.
There's certainly a lot of silver recycling going on - I didn't mean to imply that all silver is currently sourced from virgin ore. If anything, I thought more silver would come from recycled sources than I was finding as I read about the topic. What's new here is that the silver used in these coins comes only from recycled sources (and there's a certification process for tracking that).
Recycling more metals wouldn't help to solve the equation unless the prices are high enough which some crooks will unfortunately find it more economical to rob and steal and of course at the same time, melting down historical items. On the other hand, it's the demand that keeps on outstripping supplies - while recycling only plays a fraction of it, it cannot possibly increase to over 50% of supply overnight. If we did care, we should on the other hand reduce demand on metals, not pushing for more recycling. http://www.silverinstitute.org/supply_demand.php#supply I personally find this whole process pointless and it's just marketing a hype. Perhaps it would be more meaningful if it was sourced from a mine where there's no fatalities recorded but no, it doesn't happen that way. I don't know what the fatality rate of silver is, but it's not small.
.40 cent per coin for silver ore! - that part in the article caught my attention. Lucky holders of those 200 coins. Thanks for posting.
Interesting story, but I would not call those pieces "coins". They are medals. Remember when two years ago Mr. Sassoli gave a similar piece (not from recycled material only though) to various participants of the L'Aquila summit, and Mr. Medvedev said something about a "world currency"? http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aeFVNYQpByU4 Wow, that was welcome fodder for conspiracy theory lovers ... Anyway, Sassoli already participated in last year's World Money Fair. Since it is a major event (biggest coin show on earth AFAIK), he sure gets quite a bit of attention this way. But are these coins? Nah. Christian
The line between a commemorative coin and a medal is a pretty narrow one. I think these qualify as pattern pieces or fantasy pieces. There are similar "world coin" medals in the So-Called Dollar Series. For example, HK-471, the UN Monetary Pattern: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=280621661119
That's the cost for miners to smelt Silver ore (40 cents per ounce). I'm not entirely sure on it either; obviously lower grade ore would be costlier to smelt than high grade ore, and that number is from just one source. Anyone have a mining or geology background who can help me firm up that number? 5 tons of waste soil per ounce was stated on numerous articles, but I couldn't find info on energy consumption. What's the energy use and how much air pollution is produced per ounce of refined silver?
Apparently, there will be "1 unit" coins available for sale on the http://www.futureworldcurrency.com/ website. After contacting their PR director, I got a very prompt reply and added some additional photos to the article: http://mycoins.co/recycled-silver-coin-introduced-at-world-money-fair-in-berlin
By the way, the "LL" is definitely Luc Luycx. You can find his initials, in that "combined" style, on each and every euro circulation coin. Christian
You aren't going to find a lot of mines that mine silver alone - most of the silver coming out of mines are usually byproducts of gold, copper, zinc, uranium mine. You aren't just removing soil; hard rocks will have to be blasted. Usually blasted with TNT & ANFO - ammonium nitrate fuel oil and that uses a lot of fuel. Blasted rocks will then have to be removed by dump trucks that consume a lot of fuel too. I am not in a position to release figures of how much fuel our site use but you are talking about millions of liters fuel used monthly. Clearly, it's a lot cheaper and environmentally friendly to recycle metals but it is best to reduce demand where possible.
Very interesting. That's an aspect of fuel use I hadn't considered. Without delving into sensitive data, do you happen to know what an average silver concentration in silver ore is? I found 44 ppm listed as a 'high' concentration. Ballpark, what does a typical silver mine look like?
Like I mentioned, most silver mines around the world do not consider silver as the primary product unless there is a significant amount of it. Most mines will not mine just for silver alone and I cannot name one off my head. There's usually other minerals that come with silver . What's important is how viable it is to access the ore, how easy it is to extract the minerals, how profitable it is to mine and of course there's the environmental factor. There's no point talking about a mine that has an awful amount of minerals only to find extraction difficult due to let's say high amount of silica, sulfur etc which can be environmental damaging. I don't know any mines that use ppm to calculate their reserves - they are often calculated in terms of grams per ton. I don't look into silver mines but some gold mines if they have the right equipment and know where they are digging and blasting can go as low as 0.6 grams / tonnes with other minerals. Wouldn't be too surprised if you get up to just 5 grams / ton. Of course, an insane amount of energy is required to extract that amount of minerals. One mine in New South Wales is reputed to use 1% of the electricity and water of the ENTIRE state! All mines have different geological pattern, labour costs range from one country to another, legistations are written all kinds, different mining methods and so forth - its' never easy to calculate any figures from any mines as a lot of the figures are confidential other than what's shown to the investors. Even so, you aren't going to see the ugly side unless a lawsuit appears. Simply put - if you want to help the environment, think twice before you use / buy something, reduce, and recycle where possible.
