Silver is one of the most popular precious metals with a long history in the human world. In early civilizations, silver has been used as a store of monetary value especially in the form of silver coins. It has also been used in decorative arts such as in the making of jewelries, ornaments and silverwares. Silver is also widely used to prevent infection and poison in early civilizations. The far reaching Roman Empire depended primarily on silver bullion to support its monetary system. The value of silver is also important in Judaic law.

Silver is highly malleable and ductile, which means it can be easily stretched into wires or be hammered and rolled into sheets. Silver also has the highest heat and electrical conductivity of all metal elements. These useful properties have enabled silver to be employed in a variety of industrial applications such as coating for solar reflectors, catalyst in nuclear reactors, connectors in cables and electronic equipments, silver nitrates and silver halides in photography, silver cadmium in batteries, dentistry material and in the making of soldering alloys.

Today, a large proportion of silver is mined in South America countries. Major silver producing countries in the world are Mexico, Peru, China, Australia, Chile, Bolivia, United States, Poland, Russia and Argentina. In particular, the country of Mexico which apart from being the largest silver producer in the world today, is still using silver in its coinage circulation.  Similar to gold, a significant proportion of silver in circulation today can be easily recycled.