Where Is Silver Found

Where is Silver Found : Silver is found throughout the world. The largest silver reserves in the world are found in the Western United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and China. The state of Nevada produces over one-third of the U.S. Silver.

In what is now the modern country of Turkey, the first major source of silver was mined. Silver from this region was the main source of silver for all Western cultures in the world at the time.

Currently there is over 18,000 metric tons of silver mined annually. There has been over 1,740,000 metric tons of silver discovered in the world so far. There are just over 60 countries in the world that mine silver.

Top Silver Producing Countries

Where is silver found in the world? Silver is being mined in over sixty countries around the world. While a large number of countries mine silver, only a handful is responsible for mining over 85% of the total amount mined annually. Just over half of the total has been found in just four countries on earth.

Top 20 Silver Producing Countries in 2006 (millions of ounces)
1.	Peru	111.6
2.	Mexico	96.4
3.	China	75.4
4.	Australia	55.6
5.	Chile	51.5
6.	Poland	40.4
7.	Russia	39.6
8.	United States	36.7
9.	Canada	31.2
10.	Kazakhstan	26.1
11.	Bolivia	15.2
12.	Sweden	8.6
13.	Indonesia	7.7
14.	Morocco	7.6
15.	Argentina	6.1
16.	Turkey	6.0
17.	Iran	3.2
18.	South Africa	2.8
19.	India	2.7
20.	Uzbekistan	2.3

Peru mines the most silver followed by Mexico, China and Australia. Twelve of the states in the United States mine silver, most in the Midwest.

There are just about 65 currently active mines in the United States. Nevada leads the United States in silver mining. Nearly one-third of the $290 million worth of silver mined annually in the United States is mined in Nevada.

Across the globe, an astonishing 27,000 tons of silver is fabricated into different items and products on an annual basis. Of this amount, approximately 33 percent is fashioned into jewelry and silverware. 25 percent of the 27,000 tons of silver fabricated worldwide each year is used in photographic materials.

The percentages differ in the United States where a full 85 percent of silver that is fabricated is used in photography and other industrial applications.

Top Consumption Of Silver

While silver is mined in over sixty countries in the world, just 13 countries consume nearly 90 percent of all of the silver mined. The United States purchases the most silver and is closely followed by India, China, Japan and Italy.

Silver is used for a variety of applications, the following list shows (in order) which segments use the largest amounts of silver:

Industrial Applications
Photography
Jewelry
Silverware
Coins and Medals

Silver's chemical symbol is Ag. It also has the atomic number 47. When silver is found it has a vivid, metallic luster. When silver is untarnished it has a muted white color. Silver is found combined with different elements. Very small amounts of silver are found in gold, lead, zinc, and copper ores.

Where is silver found where it can be mined forever? Unfortunately, Silver is not renewable resource; therefore no mine will ever be able to be mined forever. Many experts predict that there is only enough silver available to last until 2010. Even with the fear of the world's silver mines running dry, most of the mines continue to pull silver out at a staggering pace. The advancement of mining tools has allowed the mining industry to mine massive amounts of silver at an alarming rate.

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