2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 18:37
Silver is the most unique metal. Its excellent properties - thermal conductivity, chemical resistance, electrical conductivity, high ductility, significant reflectivity and others have brought the metal to be widely used in jewelry, electrical engineering and many other branches of economic activity. For example, mirrors in the old days were made using this precious metal. At the same time, 4/5 of the total amount of the extracted volume is used in various industries and only 1/5 goes to various jewelry, so loved by the fair sex. Where and how is this precious material mined?
Silver ores
Despite the fact that silver, however, in very small quantities, is found literally everywhere - in water, soil, plants and animals, even in ourselves, suitable ores for the extraction of silver and gold, including with largemetal content is quite low. However, there is one pleasant exception - native silver, which is almost entirely composed of this metal. The largest nugget in history was found in the US state of Colorado (more than a ton of light silver metal was found).
The following minerals containing silver exist on our planet: electrum, argentite, pyrargerite, kustelite, native silver, proustite, stephanite, bromargerite, freibergite, dyscrasite, polybasite, argentojarosite, agvilarite.
Mining methods
The first information about mined silver dates back to the seventh millennium BC (in the Syrian region).
For a long time, only the search for silver nuggets was available to people, so it was valued very highly, often more than gold. Now metallurgical production has perfectly mastered the extraction of precious metal from both pure silver and polymetallic ores.
Depending on the depth of occurrence of silver-bearing ores, choose the method of their extraction. An open-pit silver mining method is suitable if the ore is close to the surface of the earth. The closed method is used for deep burial.
Silver mining technology
First, geological exploration is carried out, the results of which can be used to judge how much metal is contained in this deposit, how the silver vein lies, what is the percentage of metal in it, and so on. To do this, several wells are drilled, and the extracted material is sent to the laboratory for examination.
After geological exploration, a mining plan is outlined. According to this plan, either open pit silver mining (quarry) or construction of a mine (closed method) is carried out.
In mines, ore is extracted either by an automated tunneling complex or by blasting. Explosive mining is also used in open pit mining, or silver is mined using excavators.
Enrichment methods
To separate silver from the host rock, the silver-bearing rock mass selected from the mine or quarry is crushed in a crusher (this is an industrial unit for grinding solid materials). The crushed rock is further subjected to either amalgation or cyanidation. In the first case, silver dissolves in mercury, in the second case, it is mixed with a hydrocyanic acid (cyanide) compound, followed by the isolation of "pure metal". Both methods are extremely hazardous to human he alth due to the toxic properties of mercury and cyanide, so workers are forced to protect their respiratory organs.
Where to mine?
At the world level, there are several leading countries in silver mining. About half of the world's reserves of silver-bearing ores are found in just five countries of the planet. Peru has the largest reserves of the precious metal. Here, the explored silver deposits, according to some estimates, amount to about 120 thousand tons.
Onthe second place, oddly enough, is small Poland (85 thousand tons), known for its polymetallic deposits in the city of Lublin, including silver as one of the components. In third place is the Latin American country - Chile (77 thousand tons). On the fourth - the mainland Australia (69 thousand tons). And the honorable fifth place among the leading countries in the production of silver in the world is occupied by our state - Russia. There are 60 thousand tons of silver in its bowels.
History of Russian silver
Historians claim that the systematic industrial production of silver in Russia began under Emperor Peter the Great. This was greatly facilitated by the approval of the Order of Mining Affairs and the Decree on "Mountain Freedom", according to which any free citizen had the right to extract precious metals, minerals and other minerals. Under him, 2 large silver-mining enterprises were put into operation - one in the Urals, the second in Altai. Since then, the extraction of precious metal from the bowels has only grown. The maximum growth rate of silver mining occurs in the middle of the 20th century.
Currently, enterprises in our country that mine silver metal fully meet the demand for it in both industry and jewelry workshops. A significant amount of the precious metal is exported.
Russian silver deposits
Reserves of the precious metal in Russia are distributed very unevenly. The distribution of stocks by region can be seen in the table.
| n/n | Subject of the Russian Federation | Silver reserves |
| 1 | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | 1, 1 thousand tons |
| 2 | Kamchatsky Krai | 0, 6 thousand tons |
| 3 | Magadan Region | 19, 4 thousand tons |
| 4 | Khabarovsk Territory | 2, 6 thousand tons |
| 5 | Primorsky Krai | 4, 9 thousand tons |
| 6 | Amur Region | 0, 2 thousand tons |
| 7 | Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) | 10, 1 thousand tons |
| 8 | Chita Region | 16 kt |
| 9 | Republic of Buryatia | 9 kt |
| 10 | Irkutsk Region | 1.5 thousand tons |
| 11 | Krasnoyarsk Territory | 16, 2 thousand tons |
| 12 | Republic of Khakassia | 0, 6 thousand tons |
| 13 | Kemerovo Region | 1.5 thousand tons |
| 14 | Altai Territory | 3, 8 thousand tons |
| 15 | Tuva Republic | 0.8 thousand tons |
| 16 | Sverdlovsk Region | 2, 1 thousand tons |
| 17 | Chelyabinsk Region | 3, 8 thousand tons |
| 18 | Orenburg Region | 5, 3 thousand tons |
| 19 | Republic of Bashkortostan | 8, 4 thousand tons |
| 20 | Arkhangelsk Region | 0.7 thousand tons |
| 21 | Murmansk Region | 1 kt |
| 22 | Karachay-Cherkess Republic | 1, 3 thousand tons |
| 23 | Kabardino-Balkarian Republic | 0, 3 thousand tons |
| 24 | Republic of North Ossetia-Alania | 0.5 thousand tons |
| 25 | Republic of Dagestan | 0, 3 thousand tons |
Silver mining in the Russian Federation
Despite the fact that in many regions of the Russian Federation there are large reserves of the precious metal, it is not mined everywhere with the same intensity. And it's notsurprising, because the economic efficiency of such production depends on a number of factors - this is the percentage of minerals in the mined ore, the remoteness of the area from transport arteries, specific geological and geographical conditions, etc.
Currently, the undisputed leaders in silver mining are only three rich deposits in the Magadan region, which produce about half of the total volume of the precious metal in our country. Another quarter is brought by the Ural deposits, the remaining quarter falls on other regions of the state. The table below shows data on the amount of precious material mined in various regions of Russia.
| n/n | Subject of the Russian Federation | Largest deposits | Silver mined |
| 1 | Magadan Region | Lunnoe, Dukatskoe, Goltsovoe | 655, 9 tons |
| 2 | Chukotka Autonomous Okrug | - | 12, 5 tons |
| 3 | Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) | Forecast | 11, 1 tons |
| 4 | Khabarovsk Territory | Khakanja | 111 tons |
| 5 | Primorsky Krai | - | 42, 4 |
| 6 | Amur Region | - | 17 tons |
| 7 | Krasnoyarsk Territory | Talnakhskoye, Oktyabrskoye, Gorevskoye | 157, 4 |
| 8 | Kemerovo Region | - | 18, 4 tons |
| 9 | Altai Territory | - | 30, 9 tons |
| 10 | Sverdlovsk Region | - | 71, 7 tons |
| 11 | Republic of Bashkortostan | - | 84, 9 tons |
| 12 | Orenburg Region | Podolsk, Gayskoe | 103, 5 tons |
| 13 | Chelyabinsk Region | Uzolginskoe | 102 tons |
Silver will rise in price soon
Silver is becoming less and less, it will soon rise in price, so you need to urgently buy jewelry - these controversial statements can often be found on the World Wide Web. However, the facts say otherwise. Explored reserves are currently sufficient for the coming decades for the extraction of silver in the world. No price hikes are planned for the foreseeable future. In addition, one can expectreducing the use of silver in electrical engineering (alternative technologies are being developed, for example, such a material as graphene is being increasingly used, processors are being designed with optical properties, and so on).
So, most likely, the noise associated with the decrease in mined silver is just a publicity stunt of large jewelry companies interested in creating an unhe althy hype and increasing turnover. Also, these myths are supported by major players on the precious metals exchange. Silver mining will continue for a very long time, and there will be enough for everyone.
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