The History of Silver

  Written by Jude Sutton on Oct 1, 2008 9:29 am

Read More: Technology

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Silver has been known since creation. It is biblical and mentioned

in the Book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor, and on

the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated

from lead as early as 4000 BC. The silver mines at Laurium

were very plenteous and helped support Ancient Athens. It involved

the mining of the ore in underground galleries, washing the ore and

smelting it to produce the metal. Elaborate washing tables are still in

existance at the site using rain water held in cisterns and collected

during the winter months.

Extraction of silver from lead ore was widespread in Britain with the

Romans being in control of the isle's, as a result one of the most

prosperous processes of Britain Mining was to provide wealth to the

Roman Empire, soon after the conquest of the first century AD.

The European settlers found a huge amount of silver in the America's

in the Mexican State of Zacatecas it was founded two years after the

nearby discovery of silver in 1546. And, in Potosí a city in Bolivia,

sometimes referred to as Cerro de Petosi, a rich mountain, because the

mountain which dominated the city was rich in silver. This triggered a

period of inflation in Europe. The conquistador Francisco Pizarro was

said to have his horses shod with silver horseshoes due to the metal's

abundance, in contrast to the relative lack of iron in Peru. Silver, was

also extremely valuable in China, became a global commodity, and

contributed to the rise of the Spanish Empire. The rise and fall of its

value affected the world market.

Silver mining was a driving force in the settlement of the Western North

America (U.S.) territories, with major booms for silver and associated

minerals ,lead, mostly, in the galena ore (a soft blue-gray mineral) or

lead sulfide which silver is most commonly found in. Some of the notable

silver rushes were in Colorado, Nevada, Cobalt, Ontario, California and

the Kootenay region of British Columbia, notably in the Boundary (an

area known as southern British Columbia) and "Silvery" Slocan which is

a river in West Kootenay. The first major silver ore deposits in the

United States were discovered at the Comstock Lode in Virginia City,

Nevada, in 1859 on the eastern slope of Mt. Davidson.

Silver is found in it's native form very rarely as nuggets, but more usually

combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony, or chlorine and in various ores

such as argentite, a mineral belonging to the galena group, and chlorargyrite

 a mineral form of silver chloride also known as "horn silver". The principal

sources of silver are copper, copper-nickel, gold, lead and lead-zinc ores

obtained from Canada, such as in Cobalt, Ontario, and in South America in

Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, and in Australia, and the United States.

Mexico is the world's second largest silver producer, listed after Peru in

2005. According to the Secretary of Economics of Mexico, it produced

80,120,000 troy ounces, or 2,492 metric tons in 2000, which equates to

about 15 percent of the annual production of the world.

According to an Endeavour Silver Corp. report Silver Fundamentals,

global mine production of silver in 2007 was 671 million ounces. Silver

is commonly extracted from ore by smelting or chemical leaching.

Ore treatment by mercury amalgamation, such as in the patio process

or pan amalgamation was widely used through the 1800s, but is seldom

used today.

Silver is also produced during the electrolytic refining of copper, and by

application of the Parkes process on lead metal obtained from lead ores

that contain small amounts of silver. Commercial grade fine silver is at

least 99.9 percent pure silver, and purities greater than 99.999 percent

are also available.

For more information on Silver today, visit The Silver Investor at

http://silver-investor.com . David Morgan who is the site owner has

put his life long study of free-market economics to work researching

the economy, stock market behavior, precious metals, especially silver.

You can also sign up for The Morgan Report and his newsletter which

will provide you with the most comprehensive collection of information

on the silver market.

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