OT kind of

You may remember that I am collecting World Silver Crowns. It has occurred to me recently
that Silver as a rare metal is or can't be rare. I currently have about 50 ounces in that
group alone. I started looking thru the SCWC and the amount used is in the millions and
millions of ounces. I did not look much further as nobody knows how much has been melted
and reused thru the years.

If I include my other coins and bullion items I must have over 200 ounces.

Silver ware, serving pieces, jewelry and other things also use up a bunch, not in my house
but in many homes.

Does anyone in the group know how much mined silver there is in the world today.


--
George D
Phoenix, AZ
AAA, AARP, ANA, NRA, RCC ?+1, PIA, PIAAZ, GATF 85006-3032-18-4


Please use this address to mail me. Or remove the arizona in the link.
Remember there is no Arizona.


ALL emails incoming and outgoing are run thru Norton and AVG anti virus.

"George D" wrote in message
...
You may remember that I am collecting World Silver Crowns. It has occurred to me
recently
that Silver as a rare metal is or can't be rare.


http://www.science.co.il/PTelements.asp?s=Earth

for comparative abundance figures.


Does anyone in the group know how much mined silver there is in the world today.



http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pu...ver/880494.pdf

Page three of this pdf file shows a table which reports, amongst other things,

-----------------------------------
World Mine production metric tons:

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
16,600 15,600 14,600 14,300 13,900
-----------------------------------

I suspect lower figure nowadays, since the crash in the film photography industry.

HTH
--
Jeff R.

"phil" wrote in message ...
-----------------------------------
World Mine production metric tons:

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
16,600 15,600 14,600 14,300 13,900
-----------------------------------

I suspect lower figure nowadays, since the crash in the film photography
industry.

HTH
--
Jeff R.


Once an industry uses silver,(such as for photograhic films and papers) its
gone forever.


Not necessarily... some is recoverable.
Used fixer ("hypo") can yield high concentrations of recoverable silver - Hell, my
old fixing trays became silver-plated over time.

Besides, these are yearly figures for the tonage mined, not how much is left.

--
Jeff R,

"A.Gent" wrote in message
u...

"George D" wrote in message
...
You may remember that I am collecting World Silver Crowns. It has
occurred to me
recently
that Silver as a rare metal is or can't be rare.


http://www.science.co.il/PTelements.asp?s=Earth

for comparative abundance figures.


Does anyone in the group know how much mined silver there is in the
world today.



http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pu...ver/880494.pdf

Page three of this pdf file shows a table which reports, amongst other
things,

-----------------------------------
World Mine production metric tons:

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
16,600 15,600 14,600 14,300 13,900
-----------------------------------

I suspect lower figure nowadays, since the crash in the film photography
industry.

HTH
--
Jeff R.


Once an industry uses silver,(such as for photograhic films and papers) its
gone forever.

I agree.I raised the point to illustrate that silver can be used
in ways that it may not be recovered-It can be re-newed,as you say,but the
cost of recovery makes it cost-prohibitive.
phil
(running downstairs to look at his old hypo trays in the garage)
"A.Gent" wrote in message
u...

"phil" wrote in message
...
-----------------------------------
World Mine production metric tons:

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
16,600 15,600 14,600 14,300 13,900
-----------------------------------

I suspect lower figure nowadays, since the crash in the film
photography
industry.

HTH
--
Jeff R.


Once an industry uses silver,(such as for photograhic films and papers)
its
gone forever.


Not necessarily... some is recoverable.
Used fixer ("hypo") can yield high concentrations of recoverable silver -
Hell, my
old fixing trays became silver-plated over time.

Besides, these are yearly figures for the tonage mined, not how much is
left.

--
Jeff R,

A.Gent spoke thusly...

Not necessarily... some is recoverable.
Used fixer ("hypo") can yield high concentrations of recoverable silver - Hell, my
old fixing trays became silver-plated over time.

I don't know whether it is an EPA thing, a Hospital thing or what but we
are required to have silver recovery units hooked to all of our Xray
film processors.

Not as big a hassle as it used to be because most of our radiology these
days is digital (and printed on laser imagers as needed) but we still do
have a couple of processors in the hospital.

--
Stujoe

"phil" wrote in message ...
I agree.I raised the point to illustrate that silver can be used
in ways that it may not be recovered-It can be re-newed,as you say,but the
cost of recovery makes it cost-prohibitive.
phil
(running downstairs to look at his old hypo trays in the garage)

Don't get your hopes up! ;-)
If like mine, it'll be black and yukky, with a metallic glint.

I recall testing the coating with a multimeter once, and it was a direct short (on a
plastic tray).

Have you ever left a try of hypo to dry out (yes, yes, I'm a read dag)? Flakes of
silvery yuk floating on the dross on top. Must be recoverable!

--
Jeff R.

"According to the 1998 World Silver Survey, approximately 152.2 million
ounces of Silver were made available by recycling. This represents roughly
one- third of the Silver estimated to be produced in 1998."
http://www.commodityseasonals.com/silver_futures_2.htm

World Silver Supply and Demand (million ounces) (2003 and 2003)
http://www.silverinstitute.org/news/pr13may04.html

Kyle.
(with the help of Mr.Google)

"George D" wrote in message
...
You may remember that I am collecting World Silver Crowns. It has occurred
to me recently
that Silver as a rare metal is or can't be rare. I currently have about 50
ounces in that
group alone. I started looking thru the SCWC and the amount used is in the
millions and
millions of ounces. I did not look much further as nobody knows how much
has been melted
and reused thru the years.

If I include my other coins and bullion items I must have over 200 ounces.

Silver ware, serving pieces, jewelry and other things also use up a bunch,
not in my house
but in many homes.

Does anyone in the group know how much mined silver there is in the world
today.


--
George D
Phoenix, AZ
AAA, AARP, ANA, NRA, RCC ?+1, PIA, PIAAZ, GATF 85006-3032-18-4


Please use this address to mail me. Or remove the arizona in the link.
Remember there is no Arizona.


ALL emails incoming and outgoing are run thru Norton and AVG anti virus.

"Kyle Mutcher" wrote in message
...
"According to the 1998 World Silver Survey, approximately 152.2 million
ounces of Silver were made available by recycling. This represents roughly
one- third of the Silver estimated to be produced in 1998."
http://www.commodityseasonals.com/silver_futures_2.htm

World Silver Supply and Demand (million ounces) (2003 and 2003)
http://www.silverinstitute.org/news/pr13may04.html

Kyle.
(with the help of Mr.Google)

One *third* !

152.2 mil troy oz = 5,218 tons x 3 = around 15,000 tons which sounds about right.

Wowsers!

I wouldn't have suspected that much, but that is encouraging.

Thanks for the links, Kyle.

--
Jeff R.

"phil" wrote in message ...
That IS a lot of silver!I didn't know that much was being recycled-its good
to know that it can be recovered.

When I was in high school,one of my majors was photography.I still remember
the smell of the chemicals and the slimy feel of print developing.
All of my old darkroom equiptment is stored away right now-as you say,the
trays are all stained from never being completely cleaned right.Someday I'll
set up another darkroom if I ever find the time and the space.I used to love
to work in black and white-I still use my old Rollicord 2-1/4 tlr every once
in a while-you should see the looks I get when I show up with a 50 year old
camera at family events!

Hehehe
Me too, but a 50 y.o. 35mm (I can't afford 2-1/4 sq.)
I didn't do it at school - I did it *for* school. Dad taught me.

Actually, I'm sure its more than 50 - more than 60. Must look it up some time.

Here it is:
(Kodak Retina)
http://mendosus.com/jpg/retina.jpg

--
Jeff R.