Silver Production Falls by 70%?
Arizona Coin Collector
The part I like about the story below, is the other
sources for Silver Production.
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FROM:
http://www.kitco.com/ind/morgan/oct312008.html
Silver Production Falls by 70%?
By David Morgan
Oct 31 2008 10:05AM
This headline should grab anyone's attention, especially
those interested in the silver market. Before going
forward, let me explain that fully 70% of silver is
produced as a result of mining other metals, mostly
base metals. Copper mining, for example, is
responsible for 28% of the silver mined in 2007.
Lead/Zinc mining yielded 32% of the silver mined in
2007. Finally, gold mining brought about 10% of the
silver mined, again in 2007. All data is from GFMS
World Silver Survey 2008, page 31.
The point is, with the current low prices for all of
the base metals, many companies that produce them are
slowing, closing, or stopping projects. The result is
obvious: the overall production of silver from base
metal and even gold mining is going to be reduced
because of current economic conditions. Will this
bring down silver production by the 70% mentioned in
my "yellow journalism" headline? Of course not, but
my headline builds awareness that a slowdown in
global mining activity is not necessarily going to
flood the market with silver; quite the contrary,
slowing mining activity slows the amount of silver
produced.
As far as primary silver producers are concerned,
some will be unprofitable at these levels, and all
will be looking to find as much high-grade ore as
possible, to stay as close to profitable as can be
expected. Some marginal projects will be shelved
and some projects may be forced to close if prices
remain in the doldrums.
The overall mining equities have been completely
devastated, as all of us in this sector know, and
the prices of these stocks have dropped to levels
that few can believe. The earnings of these
companies will of course be falling as well, due
to the fall in their respective products.
As of the week ending October 24, 2008, the
year-to-date results are as follows:
Copper -44%
Zinc -54%
Lead -55%
Silver -37%
Gold -12%
XAU -59%
HUI -59%
Across the board, both the metals and mining
shares have been blasted. The base metals fare
worse than both silver and gold, and the basket
of precious metals stocks
(as per the XAU and HUI) are doing worse than
any metal cited. Again, we find silver at this
point in time being not as precious as gold,
but more precious than its base metal cousins.
There is some encouragement, as the past few
days in the metals markets have shown some
strength as interest rates were cut on the U.S.
dollar. The gold/silver ratio has backed off
from being over 85 recently to 77. Perhaps the
worst is over, perhaps not.
I could not help looking further into the GFMS
Survey since pulling it off the shelf for this
week's article, and found the following.
For those who are historically inclined, the
GFMS World Silver Survey 2008, page 58,
discusses the main uses of silver. Under the
classification of coins we find,
"Historically, silver was more widely used in
coinage than gold, being in greater supply and
of less value, thus being practical for everyday
payments. Most nations were on a silver standard
until the late 19th century with silver coin
forming the main circulating currency. But
after the gold rushes, the silver standard
increasingly gave way to gold. Silver was
gradually phased out of regular coinage . . . ."
Yes, silver coinage stopped in 1965, the U.S.
closed the gold window in 1971, and here we are
today looking at a financial system that has
certainly lost its way.
Note: This weekly missive will not be available
for the next two weeks, as this writer will be
in Europe speaking about precious metals under
the current economic conditions.
It is an honor to be,
David Morgan
October 31, 2008
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