Silver is a very interesting precious metal, although it is anything but scarce. Compared to gold, there is a lot more silver ore – and more silver deposits – to be found all over the world. Despite this aspect, it remains a solid investment, all things considered.
Silver is Somewhat Common
When people think about mining cryptocurrencies, scarcity is often a factor to take into account. Gold, for example, is not found in every single country around the world. Its biggest concentrations are usually found in mountainous regions, or in the case of Alaska, on the bottom of the Bering Sea.
Silver is a very different creature altogether. It is, according to statistics, the 68th most abundant element on our planet. Smaller quantities of silver can be found nearly anywhere in the world, although it may take some time to effectively come across it.
Larger amounts of silver, on the other hand, are found primarily in North and South America. These two regions are home to a lot of mining companies, both for silver and gold. It is also possible to find one of these precious metals as by product of the other, increasing one’s potential for profit accordingly.
To this date, North and South America combined produce half of the world’s silver supply. There is no end in sight either, as new deposits have been discovered on a rather regular basis. This often occurs when one is looking for copper, sulfur, or zinc.
Mining Remains Profitable
Prior to the most recent silver price surge, mining operators were already in profit, for the most part. Even at half of the current silver value, they are not losing money. This further confirms how economically viable it is to mine silver, and how little money has to be spent to extract bigger quantities.
As such, it is safe to say that scarcity is not much of an applicable trait for silver. While it can’t be found in the atmosphere, or on the ocean floor, it is abundant in many other locations.
More importantly, the mining of silver keeps ramping up. Breakthroughs in technology have allowed for far more efficient and streamlined mining operations. This further reduces the cost of extracting the ore.
0 Comments