How much silver is left in the ground?

To answer the cosmic question of PM revitalization. The planets make gold and silver by taking the atomic particals needed to make each and melt it by way of lava at the planets core they settle and recrystalize but takes a long time to form the way we see/know it. That's why asteroids have PM's in them as stars and even planets explode gold and silver are trapped inside the pieces of planet and the roids fly through space with the nuggets still inside.

 

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I hear above ground stockpiles of silver are rapidly being consumed as silver is increasingly used in cell phones, computers, health products etc Robert Kiyosaki was quoted as saying that silver at today's prices was the greatest opportunity he had ever seen. Granted he said that when silver was $15 an ounce

Robert Kiyosaki on Silver

 

[TABLE="class: wikitable, width: 1"]
Top 6 Production Stage Silver Mines[SUP][6][/SUP]
MineCountry2010 Production
Cannington Silver/Lead/Zinc Mine
Australia
38.6 Moz

Fresnillo Silver Mine
Mexico
38.6 Moz

San Cristobal Polymetallic Mine
Bolivia
19.4 Moz

Antamina Copper/Zinc Mine
Peru
14.9 Moz

Rudna Copper Mine
Poland
14.9 Moz

Penasquito Gold/Silver Mine
Mexico
13.9 Moz
[/TABLE]

 

Well this isn't true. All the gold and silver in the universe was formed by the terminal explosions of stars large enough to go super nova. The physics of this are beyond this topic. Otherwise, even the nuclear fusion process that takes place in stars, even our sun, isn't enough to create anything beyond iron. Once a star stars fusing iron, it's out of fuel and it enters it's dying phase. There is no nuclear fusion taking place on planets.

This is why gold and silver are so rare in the universe.

 

Well, with the exception of hydrogen, I am hard pressed to think of any element not created by stars. Yes, anything above iron are only created in supernovas, but all other elements up to that are created by nuclear fusion inside stars. I think that is where the confusion lies, some are confusing what is being made in supernovas versus what is made by simple fusion. Iron is the last step in fusion, it absorbs energy versus releases it, so iron is what kills stars.

Edit: Didn't mean to repeat information from Fatima's post, I didn't see it when I posted. It is a rare occasion where we completely agree however.

 

As to how much is still in the earth, I can very comfortably say its way more than has ever been mined in the history of mankind.

Now, how much is economically recoverable TODAY? That is a different question that you would have to go to the silver institute or somewhere for. However, this is a moving target, and the higher silver goes, the larger, (maybe much larger) this number also goes. It takes time to start a mine. I know it feels like forever to us since silver first hit $30, but I seriously doubt a silver mine could be located, permits granted, ovelay removed, and one ounce produced in the timeframe that silver has first been $30 an ounce. I do not believe we have yet to see any increased production from $30 silver yet, let alone what could be mined at higher prices.

Btw inflexion, I think your 7-1 ratio could be right, but don't forget to factor in golds much higher price as to why the ratio is 7-1 versus 17-1. I believe the majority of silver still is not even mined for, but simply a waste product of mining for copper.

 

Technically the vast majority of silver and gold on this planet is located in the mantle and is still untouched by mankind. Humans don't yet have the technology to do any extraction from the mantel since our currently technology is limited to about 7-8 miles into the relatively thin crust above it.

 

This has been a very interesting read. Appreciate all the comments.

 

There is more silver and gold left than we could ever use. Remember only 29% of the world can be mined with today's technology. The other 71%, along with the majority of it's resources, lies at the bottom of the oceans.
Guy

 

Production cost of silver is typically around $7/oz since there is more than enough silver produced as a by product of mining base metals. As for how much silver is in the ground there is about 30 times as much Silver left as there is Gold or Platinum.

 

Silver is produced as a byproduct because it isn't the primary profit making metal at a mine. If the price of silver skyrocketed overnight then many mines would suddenly find themselves categorized as primary silver producers. This categorization does not impact the amount of silver coming out of the ground, because they are already pulling out as much paydirt as they can. Now if silver were more expensive then sure, they might try harder to get it out of the ground, but they can't do anything to change what's in the dirt they're already digging.

 

If you are talking about the copper mines, I doubt it. One, they produce just way too much copper versus any other metal for anything but copper to be the main product. Second, if silver skyrocketed, why do you think copper would not follow suit? I have said it many times, copper is the best replacement of silver for most applications. Silver is great, its the best conductor, yet my home is wired in copper, with the thickest wire being aluminum. Even copper is replacable at a price, that is the point. There already is wholesale substitution that has been done replacing copper for silver, and I simply believe there is a price at which every other industrial application save maybe catalysts that copper would replace silver if need be.

If prices spiked, what you would see is not a reorganization of copper mines, but pursuit of silver mines. Like I said, I do not believe we have even seen an ounce of extra production that $30 an ounce will generate, as lead times for mines are about forever nowadays with regulators. There are LOTS of unmined deposits we know about, and many more we can discover, that have not opened simply because silver has been below $10 an ounce for a couple of decades. I don't know a lot of things, but am pretty sure I know long term higher prices drive higher production in a capitalistic society.

 

Well, any substitution made for silver would result in a loss of quality. Doesn't mean it can't or won't happen given the right pricing structure, but IMO people with the money to do so will continue to pay extra for a better quality product. Also, as far as I know, all prospective mines pretty much already have projects underway. It's not like they have untapped silver mines waiting to be developed that aren't profitable enough to get the ball rolling on. Most anywhere there is known to be metal, someone is either mining it or has a project underway to build a mine there already. Higher prices aren't going to suddenly bring more supply to market without new discoveries, at least not from mining, but from investors sure.

 

Well, I would just say sir how many people know this "loss of quality"? Seriously. Right now, without going to your circuit panel, can you tell me the metal of the service wires coming into your electrical panel? I know mine since I used to be an electrician and pay attention to such things. Chances are they are aluminum, and the drop in efficiency between copper and aluminum is much greater than from silver to copper. Yet, nearly every home in the US has had aluminum service wire installed in the last 30 years, even multi million dollar ones I ran the electric for. People don't care, they want the light to come on when they turn the switch, and for the house to not burn down. What application do you believe the end consumer is willing to pay that high a premium to have silver versus copper for?

Btw IDK specifically about silver, but a friend is in the iron industry and they always have under contract new mine locations. There are tons of sites that have been analyzed and ore concentrations just aren't economical today to open the pit up. However, that can always change. Please don't try to get me to believe there are not silver ore sites that are known but not high enough grade to mine at $10 an ounce. That is simply not very conceivable. Heck, with a high enough price the Comstock could be drained and mined more, as well as most abandoned silver mines in the US and around the world.

 

How much silver is left in the ground?

easy:

1,234,009.456 ounces.


Or there about.


The last time that I counted.

 

That should read: 1,234,009.437 ounces now, Frank. I found a rock with what I'm sure is silver in it. Kindly adjust your figures.
Guy

 

Yea my point is production shortage will not drive up prices of Silver or Gold any time soon since there is more than enough below ground and plenty of mines operational around the world. You can make that argument however for Platinum or Palladium or rare earth metals since few suppliers mine or process them...

 

Well I never said that sir. I very well could see production limitations driving up prices to very high levels, but it would be more temporary. Could it spike tomorrow to $100 an ounce? Heck yeah it could. Could that be sustainable for 4 years? Yeah. Could it be sustainable for a decade? That is getting a little more doubtful to me unless we find some huge, unsubstituable new demand for silver, like a new ultra efficient, ultra light battery that powers all of our new cars.

Unfortunately the mining industry, by its huge capital upfront outlays, is a very slow moving industry. It could be caught short very easily versus a price spike, but if the prices stay up there, could very well overbuild capacity which could overhang prices for a long time. We are probably right now subject more to a shortage than an excess in the industry, but that could change in the future. For today's market actions, I don't see this as a concern. Its more of a long term trend to watch.

 

You can forget about shale oil for the forseeable future. After enormous amounts of money spent on R&D, nobody has figured out a way to extract a barrel of oil from shale without expending more than a barrel of oil in energy. And be careful about what you read about shale oil. Many writers confuse shale oil with tight oil and thereby overstate the reserves.

 

Oops, sorry, I have corrected the data base.