Landslide at big US mine... This can't be good for the supply chain... wonder why this is not being mentioned on US news outlets?? http://silverdoctors.com/10-of-us-annual-silver-supply-just-vaporized/ http://www.perthnow.com.au/huge-lan...gham-canyon-mine/story-fnhocq8b-1226619124124 Edit: Sorry didn't catch the dead/wounded was from Tibet~
The Utah mine says they were expecting a possible slide and all workers are accounted for and safe. The 66/21 story was about a cave-in in Tibet Chinese mine. The Utah slide will affect copper more, and maybe after a few years will actually be beneficial, in that the material is loose enough to scoop and doesn't have to be blasted to dig it out , as is for most open pit mines. Also the silver is still there and may be processed in a future time where silver has a higher price. IMO.
ether last year or 2011 i read that the recorded mintages of ase of that year was higher then the reported amount of ounces silver the us goverment had in its inventory so it had to come from else where
As to why its not being reported in US news outlet, when was the last time you read about a bauxite mine, or lead, or gypsum being shut down? Not really riveting news. Might be somewhat interesting to us, but we are not a very large demographic. This really is something you need to keep in mind. We discuss pm here with like minded souls, but have to remember we are a teeny tiny little minority. Most humans on earth could care less about pm. They like the money its worth, the value, but the metal itself? Nah.
Almost no bauxite is mined for aluminum in the United States anymore, and only a handful of bauxite operations in the US employ more than a dozen people, so it's not like bauxite is an important mining mineral in the US. Lead is becoming less of an industrial metal because of its toxicity, and gypsum mines are so common that a mine closure is not going to have a significant impact outside of the local area. Furthermore, none of these minerals has really been considered to be "investment materials".
I was just throwing out some examples. Most industrial shutdowns are not "riveting news" you know? That was my only point. Saying "10% of US silver supplies" may sound HUGE, but what is that, maybe 1% of world production. Not really a game changer is it? Can you list the last 5 gold mine shutdowns or silver mine shutdowns around the world? Me either, but I am sure they happened, but I am not sure what affect they ever had on either supply or price. How about the opposite? Can you name the last five either major increases or opening of new mines around the world of gold or silver? Again, me either, but again, I am sure they happened.
Just off the top of my head... In Azarbaijan, there is a new mine (Gosha) that is scheduled to go into production this year http://www.asiaminer.com/magazine/c...aijan-second-gold-mine-on-track-for-2013.html . Russia has started at least 2 new gold mines within the past 5 years (Asacha, Kupol), as has the US (Rock Creek, Buckhorn). On the other hand, the Sepon mine in Laos is one of those mines that is expected to deplete its gold reserves sometime this year. http://www.mmg.com/en/Our-Operations/Mining-operations/Sepon.aspx The Boroo mine in Mongolia is also rapidly depleting its gold reserves. Silver mines are a different story. As I have mentioned before, there are relatively few stand-alone silver mines anymore, as most silver is now produced as a by-product of lead, zinc, copper and gold mining.
