Silver is a most overlooked “strategic” mineral! How so? See below:

Solar Panels – It is 6% of the construction and 19% of the market

Solid state batteries – inconsequential, but tremendous growth potential.

Lithium ion batteries – inconsequential but necessary

Micro chips – small percentage but a large portion of global demand!

Water Purification – nominal percentage, but necessary

Antibiotic applications – no specific percentage, but necessary

Automotive industry – 9 – 14% – significant usage!

Brazing and soldering – 2% – 5% – necessary

Catalysis – Necessary

Mirrors and Coatings – Necessary

Photography – in decline but still necessary.

Antimicrobial agent – 1.2% necessary!

Currency and investment – 2 – 10% necessary!

As you can see, silver has a number of applications. In each field, it is a small part of the whole, but overall, the demand is great.

Annual silver produaction – is in the range of 24,000 to 26,000 metric tonnes (a 42% deficit)

Annual silver consumption – is in the range of 35,000 to 37,000 metric tonnes.

Current deficit status of silver

Annual silver demand forecast for 2032 – the forecast is for $400 per oz. silver prices.

How much silver do miners have above ground? Slightly less that 200,000 metric tonnes.

Top 20 silver producing countries in the world HERE! America is alienating #’s 1, 2,7,12,16,17 & 20!

Based upon the above statistics (if correct), there is an above ground supply (surplus) of silver that will last for roughly 20 years in conjunction with current consumption. Now, bear in mind that there are 1.5 million metric tonnes of a non pure form of junk silver, silver ware, jewelry, and other forms, and to be sufficiently pure for industry, it will have to be refined by already overburdened refiners. Also note, the deficit between production and consumption is over 10,000 metric tonnes per year. Also note that it takes roughly 10 years to get a new silver mine up and running and producing. So, you have a 5 year surplus from miners that could easily be consumed in 20 years or less due to the consumption verses production deficit.

Therefore, to increase production to match demand will take the equivalent of 370,000 metric tonnes at least. That amount will be consumed (witohut any increase in consumption – not likely) and thereby reduce the above ground supply to a negative supply of <170,000> tonnes against the current supply miners have above ground. Current production will over 10 years exceed the 170,000 tonnes by a nominal 70,000 tonnes. That’s cutting it very close if there is any decline in production due to prime veins being depleted..

Now this writer thinks that the forecast for demand is low, and who knows about the accuracy of the above ground supply? Not only that, but the non pure silver is selling for below spot price which means there will be resistance by the seller to sell any of their 1.5 million tonnes. Keep in mind, some of that may be family heirlooms they don’t want to sell at any price.

Consider this; most mines are publicly held and traded through the stock market. It is advantageous to the miners to “puff” (exaggerate) the above ground holdings in order to support the stock price – particularly when mining efforts were abated because of low prices which made it unprofitable to mine. In those circumstances, mines were and have been shut down. To reopen a shut down mine takes about 7 years to get back to up and running status with regular production. Due to major banks shorting silver (betting the price would go down), they retarded the market’s abiliity to discover the true price of silver. The banks have now lost control of that, and the true price is now being discovered. This will hopefully stimulate production.

Currently, the cost to mine silver is about $22.00 per ounce. The price of silver crossed that threshhold only in 2008 and then dropped below that price over several subsequent years; all the way down to $11.77 in 2020. So, you can see that silver is very volatile, especially when the bankers are allowed to maniplate the price through the futures market. Therefore, if you were a silver miner, and the price of silver went to $22.00 an ounce, you likely would not be in a hurrry to start production. You would likely want to go easy and wait until silver hit at least $44.00 an ounce before finding it attractive to go for it, and that price only ocurred starting in 2025 when the bankers started to lose control of the price.

So, taking that information into account, to get production ahead of demand will not take place until 2035. That will bring the above ground supply down to next to nothing in metric tonnes – IF, and it’s a big IF, the current estimates are accurate. At this writing, silver is well over $67! You can see the institutional investors are really the only players of any consequence in the market place. Therefore, you see some highly pronounced ups and downs – profit taking and manipulation. When the retail buying public (you and me) get into the market, the choppy ups and downs will be smoothed out and replaced by steady trending upward or downward as the case may be. See the link below on the price history of gold and silver in the Wiemar Republic of Germany from 1919 – 1923.

Now, what is scary, and is very real is this; with an annual production of silver internationally at 1.6 billion ounces roughly, you can multiply that by the current price of $67, and you get roughly $107 billion! Elon Musk’s net wealth is currently rated at roughly $650 billion. For 15% of that, he could corner the silver market worldwide! If so, what would he charge per ounce? Would he have the incentive and desire to do that? As a recent confirmation of this, Tesla is pursuing silver HERE! Additonally, Samsung has contracted for 100% of the next two years production of a Mexican silver mine for their solid state batteries!

Well, let’s see, he’s in the battery business, he’s in the automotive business, he’s into rocket ships and satelites, he’s needing micro chips in abundance, he’s allied with the solar industry. This writer believes he has a vested interest in silver. If he cornered the market, he could easily raise the price of silver to $100 per ounce, and many industries would be forced to pay the price. Musk has expressed his concerns HERE! The consumer might only feel a 10% – 20% bump in the end price of the products they are buying; meanwhile Musk would be raking in hundreds of billions. And, a year or two down the road, he could bump the price again! Samsung just contracted with a Mexican silver mine for their next two years of production HERE!

Another scary thought is if governments declared silver a strategic mineral, and took control themselves. If so, private holdings might lose much, if not all, of their value. They could wipe out all private holdings of individuals and institutions. This has the potential for sovereign protections, and the possiblity of starting major warfare! Why, because no government is going to let Musk or any other billionaire corner the silver market, and they especially are not going to let any other government corner it. We live in very challenging times.

Gold’s Spot Price In Wiemar Germany From 1919 to 1923!

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