Silver is no longer the „gold of the poor“. The year 2025 revealed a supply deficit, hidden reserves and irreplaceable industrial uses that few investors understand. Before the next price spike, learn seven facts about silver's declining supply, strategic importance and indispensability to the military that are rarely reported by the mainstream media.
For most retail investors, silver still evokes coins, jewellery and inflation hedges. But if you look deeper, you'll find that it is a metal whose above-ground holdings are worth less than mid-cap tech stocks, even though silver is a key element of energy transformation, data connectivity and modern warfare. Here are seven essential facts that rarely make headlines but could redefine silver's value over the course of this decade.
1. Above-ground investment stocks are insignificant
All identifiable silver in the vaults LBMA, COMEX, Zurich a Shanghai is worth less than $40 billion at today's price, less than Apple's latest share buyback program. This modest stock must satisfy solar panel makers, electric car giants, defense contractors and all ETF holders around the world.
2. A total of 70% of newly mined silver is a by-product of
Approximately two-thirds of the silver mined come as a by-product of mining lead, zinc, copper or golden. Even if the silver price doubled tomorrow, most miners could not quickly increase supply because their mining plans are determined by their base metals.
3. Massive, permanent losses to landfill
Industrial silver is usually used in minute quantities, the recovery of which is uneconomical. Scientists estimate that more than half of the silver mined since 1950 is already irretrievably lost to landfills and incinerators, quietly reducing the actual stockpile each year.
4. The critical status of the mineral makes the metal a weapon
USA have added silver to their list critical minerals; Beijing followed with individual export licences for every outbound shipment from 2026. These two steps give governments legal cover to hoard - or hold - silver in the same way they treat rare earths or uranium.
5. ETFs concentrate physical bullion into two groups of vaults
iShares SLV and several smaller funds holds more than a quarter of all recorded silver. JP Morgan and Brinks are acting as trustees. The prospectuses allow the trustees to suspend payouts „in extreme cases“, meaning governments could use these stocks long before they come knocking on households' doors.
6. The army has no suitable replacement
Silver is part of the flight computers F-35, hypersonic missile guidance systems a secure satellite links, because no other material conducts electricity and dissipates heat better. Copper substitutes increase weight and reduce power, which is unacceptable to the Pentagon.
7. USGS warns of possible depletion of stocks
US Geological Survey scenario analysis U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that economically recoverable silver reserves are depleting faster than any other major metal, leading to warnings that silver could be the „first element removed from the periodic table“ if current trends continue.
The story of silver is moving from monetary nostalgia to strategic necessities. Disappearing reserves, by-product bottlenecks, secret government reserves and irreplaceable industrial roles create an optimistic cocktail that ordinary spenders and professional capital allocators cannot ignore. When industry, investors and governments fight over the same few ounces, prices rarely remain stable for long.
gnews.cz - GH
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