General Characteristics

• Silver's unique properties make it a very useful 'Industrial Commodity', despite it being classed as a precious metal.
• Demand for silver is built on three main pillars; industrial uses, photography and Jewellery & silverware accounting for 342, 205 and 259 million ounces respectively in 2002.
• Just over half of mined silver comes from Mexico, Peru and United States, respectively, the first, second and fourth largest producing countries. The third largest is Australia.
• Primary mines produce about 27 percent of world silver,  while around 73 percent comes as a by-product of gold, copper, lead, and zinc mining.
• The price of silver is not only a function of its primary output but more a function of the price of other metals also, as world mine production is more a function of the prices of other metals.
• The tie between silver and economic activity is strong, given that around two-thirds of total silver fabrication is in the industrial and photographic sectors.
• Often a faster growth in demand against supply leads to drop in stocks with government and investors.
• Economically viable primary silver mine is a function of the world silver price level.

World Silver Supply from Above-ground Stocks

Between February 4 - 6, 1998, daily prices rocketed by 22.3%, as on a noted US financier had accumulated nearly 130 ounces of physical silver.
Note: Post September 1999 daily silver prices have not shown more than 5% movement once and weekly silver prices only once.