World Silver Research Articles

The Financial Crises of the 1890s and the High Tide of Populism (a)

Set in November 1896, the case describes the views of the two leading candidates for US president, William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley, along with those of three other figures: J. P. Morgan, Mary Elizabeth Lease, and Eugene Debs. The task for the student is to assess the role of money and financial crises in the evolving political landscape—these five people reflect policy positions across the political spectrum. The main controversy in the case is whether only gold, or both gold and silver, should back the dollar, an issue that has been simmering for about a quarter-century and that is resolved in the election of 1896. Excerpt UVA-F-1831 Rev. Jul. 15, 2020 The Financial Crises of the 1890s and the High Tide of Populism (A) Gold is money. Everything else is credit. —J. P. Morgan We cannot gamble with anything so sacred as money, which is the standard and measure of all values. I can imagine nothing which would be more disturbing to our credit and more deranging in our commercial and financial affairs than to make [the United States] the dumping-ground of the world's silver. . . .

Comparison of Long-Term Ageing Duration of Binary Ag-Cu Alloys

Silver alloys, due to its specific properties are widely used in different branches of industry, with approximately 95% of the world silver production is used in the photographic industry and for jeweller production. Moreover Poland is a significant producer of silver in the world, and takes the 6th place on the list of the world's silver producers with the KGHM Polish Copper Company production on the first place among global companies providing silver on the market, with an annual production at 1281 tones. Because of this impotent role of silver, this work presents microstructure and mechanical properties investigations results of the long aged Ag-Cu alloys used mainly for mint monetary production. The purpose of this work was to determine the microstructural changes after 32 and 40 year of natural ageing time, with appliance of transmission electron microscopy as well as light microscopy. A very important issue - one of the investigations directions is also the possibility of study of spinodal decomposition process, which occurred in this alloy. After the long-time ageing of the material, there are detected morphological different areas of the Ag-α and Cu-β phase. As an implication for appliance in real conditions - as coin metal, or in electronic and chemical industry branches, there is the possibility of application of long term ageing for mechanical properties improvement by natural ageing method. Some other investigations should be performed in the future, but the knowledge found in this research shows an interesting investigation direction, where a low cost but long term treatment operations can be applied.

The End of a Silver Era: The Consequences of the Breakdown of the Spanish Peso Standard in China and the United States, 1780s–1850s

The breakdown of the monopoly of coinage in Spanish America by the 1820s meant the cessation of the silver standard that had fueled the expansion of global trade in the early modern period. This article analyzes the resulting economic effects in China and the United States. The analysis connects monetary developments in Spanish America with demand-side explanations within China and the increasingly dominant role of North Americans as intermediaries of the world's silver trade after the 1780s. The article challenges established notions that silver outfl ow from opium imports or silver shortages from falling South American output were the main causes of economic troubles in nineteenth-century China. Through a comparison with the workings of North American institutions in managing domestic monetary effects, the article highlights the puzzling lack of any monopolistic monetary authority in imperial China.

Dressing Technology for the Silver Ore in “Iwami” Silver Mine Site, Japan

ABSTRACTIn the early modern age Japan was a kingdom rich in metal resources. A lot of gold, silver and copper were produced and exported to foreign countries, nevertheless Japan maintained a national isolation policy. The Iwami silver mine located in Shimane prefecture was the representative silver mine that prospered most. It produced about 10 % of the world's silver output. It is now mostly abandoned and reduced to ruins. Only a famous picture scroll remains to indicate its real activities. Through archaeological excavation started in 1983, it is becoming clear that extensive remains of mining and smelting are preserved. From 1996 scientific investigation of the excavated remains has been conducted. During excavation, and confirmed by scientific research, we recognized that the artifacts deposited during both the mining of the silver ore and the smelting process could be classified into two artifactual types; objects and fragments produced in the dressing process that were not influenced by a heating process and objects influenced by a heating process and produced by smelting and refining. The low grade ore, waste and tailings (remains after gravity concentration) that were scrapped in the dressing process are included in the former type, and the furnace fragments for smelting and refining, tuyeres (blast pipes) and slag and other smelter remains are of the latter type. The waste and tailings scrapped in the dressing process have not previously been studied. This study aimed at systematically investigating the dressing technology and estimating the ore grade through the evaluation of the range of variation in the waste and tailings left as scrap in the dressing process. The analytical results revealed the actual activities practiced at the Iwami silver mine in the dressing process.

Effect of oxygen on the CuCu 2SeAg system

A large percentage of the world's silver supply is produced as a byproduct of the copper industry. The silver is found in the copper anodes which are upgraded by electrorefining. The anode composition and the phase distribution in the anode affect the electrorefining step and subsequently the separation processes for the various elements which are present in the anode. In particular, the distribution of silver and the other precious metals between the copper-rich phase and the copper selenide rich phase in the anodes has an effect on their recovery. In the present research the effect of oxygen on the CuSeAg (Pt, Pd, Au, or Ni) system was studied. Samples of copper-rich liquid and copper selenide-rich liquid were equilibrated at temperatures in the range of 1130°C to 1223°C. The silver content of both the phases reached a constant value after about two hours. Also, the oxygen content of the copper-rich phase reached an essentially constant value. However, the oxygen content of the copper selenide rich phase continuously increased due to the production of oxide phases in the melt. The oxygen content of both phases increased with the partial pressure of oxygen. At high oxygen potentials the silver distribution ratio between the copper and the copper selenide phases decreased because of the oxidation of some of the copper selenide to copper oxide. Silver as either oxide or metal has a much higher solubility in copper oxide than copper selenide and thus the silver distribution ratio decreased. Nickel additions resulted in a significant increase in the oxygen content of both phases.

Recovery of Silver from Waste X-Ray Film by Alkaline Protease from <i>Conidiobolus coronatus</i>

The waste X-ray/ photographic films contain 1.5 - 2 % (w/w) black metallic silver which isrecovered and reused. Around 18-20% of the world's silver needs are supplied by recyclingphotographic waste. Since silver is linked to gelatin in the emulsion layer, it is possible to break thesame and release the silver using proteolytic enzymes. Alkaline protease from Conidioboluscoronatus was investigated for enzymatic hydrolysis of gelatin from waste X-ray films. At the endof the treatment, gelatin layer was completely removed leaving the polyester film clean and silverwas recovered in the hydrolysate, both of which can be reused. Various parameters such as pH,temperature, enzyme concentration, time etc on silver removal from the film were studied. Gelatinhydrolysis was monitored by measuring increase in turbidity in the hydrolysate, which wasaccompanied by release of protein and hydroxyproline. Gelatin layer was stripped completelywithin 6 min with 1.35 U ml-1 of protease at 40°C, pH 10. Rate of gelatin hydrolysis increased withincreased in protease concentration. The enzyme could be effectively reused for four cycles ofgelatin hydrolysis. Silver in hydolysate was around 3.87% (w/w) based on total weight of sludge.Key words: Silver recovery; X-ray films; gelatin hydrolysis; alkaline protease; Conidiobolus coronatusDOI: 10.3126/kuset.v6i1.3311 Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Vol.6(1) 2010, pp60-69

China and the Flow of Silver

. -A Shanghai sycee (silver shoe. moreover, is a country where silver has long been the principal medium of exchange, a fact that has created some peculiar financial and commercial relationships between that country and the rest of the world. The Chinese monetary situation is closely related to conditions in the world silver market and to economic and political policies in other countries and hence is an important element in the present international .economic situation. For decades India was the center of interest in any discussion of silver. Until her mints were closed to free coinage in I893 she was economically the most important country on the silver standard; and until the middle of the I920'S she remained the world's greatest purchaser of silver, both for coinage and for hoarding. But China has become a factor of increasing significance in the world's silver market. She was for many years the only large country on the silver standard;' after 1927 she replaced India as the greatest purchaser of silver; and recently the stocks of silver in Shanghai have come to assume much importance in the silver market.2 China, despite the great use that she makes of silver, has few silver mines, and in recent decades her production has been but a fraction of one per cent of the world's total. Almost all of her hoards of silver have come in the last three centuries from the mines of the

The Distribution of the World's Silver

The Distribution of the World's Silver

Half World's Silver Output Obtained as By-product

Half World's Silver Output Obtained as By-product

Imperial Institute: Monographs on Mineral Resources with Special Reference to the British Empire: Silver Ores

This addition to the useful Imperial Institute Monographs gives details and statistics of the sources of silver throughout the world. In 1918 the British Empire produced nearly one-fifth of the world's supply, Canada being responsible for the larger part of this amount. The United States headed the list of producers during the war period, but has now been passed again by Mexico. About two-thirds of the world's silver comes from base metal ores, and much of the remainder is obtained from ores worked primarily for gold, so that silver is mainly a by-product of other metallurgical operations. The extraction and uses of silver are dealt with only very briefly in this monograph, and some information as to the metallurgical processes employed in the most important mining regions would have added to its value. This remark applies particularly to the account of the rich and metallurgically interesting Cobalt district of Ontario, which is responsible for the greater part of the Canadian production. These monographs provide much information in a handy form.