Where Silver Occurs in Ore Deposits

What this topic covers

Native silver, silver minerals and silver associated with sulfide ores at a high level.

Core mine-to-refinery ideas

Silver can occur as native metal, in silver-bearing minerals, or dispersed within minerals carrying other metals.

Deposit geology controls which minerals must be separated or treated.

Mineralogy matters because the same silver grade can behave very differently in processing.

Important tradeoffs

Mineralogy and associated metals determine which treatment route is appropriate.

Measurement and accounting

Contained metal, recovered metal and refined product are different accounting quantities.

Lifecycle perspective

This site ends at refined silver; downstream industrial applications are covered by the companion silver-use site.