A Strong Silver Portfolio Will Put You Far Ahead
With all the talk about the rise in gold prices over the past 30 years, many investors are not aware of the global growth in the demand for “silver”.
Silver, a precious metal, has been used asa currency for over 2,000years.
The global sources where silver can be found, however, are fewer … as compared to gold.
When you take into consdieration that silver is used abundantly in commercial applications like consumer electronics, jewelry, photography, medicine, and dentistry ..it’s no wonder why the demand is increasing … and prices will begin to soar.
As a matter of fact … precious metal industry analysts predict that because of commercial demands, the price point of silver will someday overshadow the price of gold.
it is that “upward run” in silver prices that has investors and speculators drooling to get their hands on more of this precious metal.
Commercial Uses of Silver Bring Amazing Value
To Those Who Invest Now
Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal.
It also has naturally occuring anstiseptic, antibiotic and anti-viral properties that are still not fully understood by modern science.
The number of commmercial uses of Silver is almost mind-bloggling.
Medicine and Dentistry
Silver has many uses in the medical industry. Silver ions and silver compounds have a toxic effect on bacteria, viruses, algae and fungi, without toxicity to humans. Hippocrates, the “father of medicine”, wrote that silver has beneficial healing and anti-disease properties. Ancient peoples used silver flasks to store water, wine and vinegar to prevent spoilage. The Romans would drop silver coins into water storage tanks to sterilize the water.
Silver is used to make amalgams that are widely used for dental fillings. To make dental amalgam, a mixture of powdered silver and other metals is mixed with mercury to make a stiff paste that can be adapted to the shape of a cavity. The dental amalgam achieves initial hardness within minutes, and sets hard in a few hours.
Silver compounds were used to prevent infection before the advent of antibiotics. Proponents of alternative medicine still use it for this purpose, in a form called colloidal silver – a suspension of microscopic silver particles in distilled water. Silver is used in topical gels and bandages because of its wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Silver nitrate solution drops are used to disinfect the eyes of newborn babies.
Silver is widely used in topical gels and impregnated into bandages because of its wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial properties of silver stem from the chemical properties of its ionized form, Ag+. This ion forms strong molecular bonds with other substances used by bacteria to respire, such as molecules containing sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen. When the Ag+ ion forms a complex with these molecules, they are rendered unusable by the bacteria, depriving them of necessary compounds and eventually leading to their deaths.
Silver compounds were used to prevent infection in World War I before the advent of antibiotics. Silver nitrate solution use continued, then was largely replaced by silver sulfadiazine (SSD) cream, which generally became the “standard of care” for the antibacterial and antibiotic treatment of serious burns until the late 1990s. Now, other options, such as silver-coated dressings (activated silver dressings), are used in addition to SSD cream
Silver is commonly used in catheters. Silver alloy catheters are more effective than standard catheters for reducing bacteriuria in adults having short-term catheterization in hospitals. This meta-analysis clarifies discrepant results among trials of silver-coated urinary catheters by revealing silver alloy catheters are significantly more effective in preventing urinary tract infections than are silver oxide catheters. Though silver alloy urinary catheters cost about $6 more than standard urinary catheters, they may be worth the extra cost, since catheter-related infection is a common cause of nosocomial infection and bacteremia.
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Increasing Demand For Use In Business and Industry …Causing Value to Increase Globally
Jewelry Manufacture
One of the main commercial buyers of silver is the jewelry industry. Jewelry and fine silverware are traditionally made from sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper). Inexpensive jewelry is often electroplated with a thin layer of .999 fine silver to give it a shiny look. Silver is also a component of almost all colored gold alloys and gold solders. Historically, goldsmith apprentices would hone their jewelry craft on silver before making pieces in more expensive gold.
Photography
The photography industry consumed over 30% of annual silver production since 1998, in the form of silver nitrate and silver halides contained in photographic film. This amount has decreased with the advent of digital photography. Some pundits worried that the advent of digital photography would mean a drop in the price of silver. However, 87% of photographic silver was already recycled. So even if photography completely went away it would only be 13% of the photographic silver market. We do still make photographs with regular silver-containing film: in movies, amateur photography and dental and medical X-rays. Also, all those digital cameras which replaced silver photographic film contain electronic circuits and switches which themselves contain silver.
Musical Instruments
Silver and silver alloys are used in the construction of high-quality musical wind instruments of many types.
Flutes, in particular, are commonly constructed of silver alloy or silver plated, both for appearance and for the frictional surface properties of silver.
Silver – from Consumer Electronics to Aerospace
Silver will not corrode, and is the best electrical conductor.
Silver is highly ductile – meaning it can be stretched into fine wires and printed onto circuit boards.
Therefore it is the perfect and only choice of metal in critical electrical components and circuits in spacecraft, aircraft, and nuclear reactors.
Steel bearings that are silver plated have more strength and load capacity, and are essential for heavy duty applications such as military vehicles and jet engines.
Mirrors which require superior reflectivity are produced of silver-coated glass. Silver is also the metal of choice for coating solar reflectors in spacecraft and satellites.
Polyester and Plastics Production
Approximately 700 tons of silver is used annually as a catalyst in the plastics industry for the production of ethylene oxide and formaldehyde, essential compounds needed to manufacture polyester fabrics and solid plastics.
Battery Power
Silver-zinc batteries are manufactured by the billions every year. These batteries power everything from your watch and car key remote to many embedded applications requiring high voltage long lasting batteries. Applications which require battery power in high temperatures depend on silver oxide/zinc batteries. For example, it is the only battery that can reliably power the sensors and instruments in use at the bottom of oil wells.
Electrical Switches
Electricity drives the world’s industries. The distribution of all this electricity could never happen without silver. Virtually every modern household electrical appliance has silver in numerous places – switches, electrical conductors,and fuses for example. Silver is even alloyed with other metals to alter their properties. Every time you use your microwave, vacuum cleaner, light switches in your home, or even type on your computer keyboard, silver is completing these electrical contacts. Switches and circuit breakers both massive and small use silver contacts. Silver contacts are also used in membrane switch control panels in machinery, railway control, elevator buttons, and computer keyboards just to name a few.
Millions of first time car buyers are now in China and India, and billions more will follow. Here are just some of the ways every one of these billions of cars will use silver:
– starter switch
– braking system
– power steering
– electronic door locks, windows, mirrors, seat controls
– satellite navigation
– window defrost
– stereo system
World governments are scrambling to enact “green” policies and attempts to reverse “man-made climate change”. Whether you believe this is right or not, the price of silver will benefit.
Silver carbonate is used to remove carbon dioxide from the air.
Silver iodide is used by agriculture in “cloud seeding” to produce rain.
Every solar panel contains a high amount of silver due to its conductive properties.
China is increasing its solar energy base by nearly 100% every year.
By 2014, the solar industry will need 130 million ounces of silver to satisfy one year of solar panel demand.
So … as you can see .. the commercial demands for silver will contribute greatly to the future meteoric climb in silver prices.
Silver In Your Portfolio
Precious Metals, particularly gold and silver, are extremely stable investments, that always appreciate in value against consumer goods .. over time.
That means that owning precious metals will ALWAYS be a means to “safeguard” your family’s future “purchase power” against a declining paper dollar, in a changing world.
Make 2013 the year where you enhance your silver investment portfolio.