NATIVE SILVER

Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.

Silver is a naturally occurring element. It is found in the environment combined with other elements such as sulphide, chloride, and nitrate. Pure silver is “silver” coloured, but silver nitrate and silver chloride are powdery white and silver sulphide and silver oxide are dark-grey to black. Silver is often found as a by-product during the retrieval of copper, lead, zinc, and gold ores. Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine".

As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. The abundance of silver in the Earth's crust is 0.08 parts per million, almost exactly the same as that of mercury. It mostly occurs in sulphide ores, especially acanthite and argentite, Ag2S.

Argentite deposits sometimes also contain native silver when they occur in reducing environments, and when in contact with salt water they are converted to chlorargyrite (including horn silver), AgCl, which is prevalent in Chile and New South Wales.

Most other silver minerals are silver pnictides or chalcogenides; they are generally lustrous semiconductors. Most true silver deposits, as opposed to argentiferous deposits of other metals, came from Tertiary period vulcanism.

The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, Poland and Serbia.

Peru, Bolivia and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546, and are still major world producers. Top silver-producing mines are Cannington (Australia), Fresnillo (Mexico), San Cristóbal (Bolivia), Antamina (Peru), Rudna (Poland), and Penasquito (Mexico).

Top near-term mine development projects through 2015 are Pascua Lama (Chile), Navidad (Argentina), Jaunicipio (Mexico), Malku Khota (Bolivia),and Hackett River (Canada). In Central Asia, Tajikistan is known to have some of the largest silver deposits in the world.

Silver is usually found in nature combined with other metals, or in minerals that contain silver compounds, generally in the form of sulfides such as galena (lead sulphide) or cerussite (lead carbonate). So the primary production of silver requires the smelting and then cupellation of argentiferous lead ores, a historically important process. Lead melts at 327 °C, lead oxide at 888 °C and silver melts at 960 °C. To separate the silver, the alloy is melted again at the high temperature of 960 °C to 1000 °C in an oxidising environment.

The lead oxidises to lead monoxide, then known as litharge, which captures the oxygen from the other metals present. The liquid lead oxide is removed or absorbed by capillary action into the hearth linings.

Ref: Wikipedia

PYRITE is another highly protective stone, blocking or shielding one from negative energies.

They say that, on the physical level, Pyrite can be used in the treatment and healing of all bone and cell diseases. 

Pyrite is said to stimulate the intellect, recalling information when one needs it the most. Good for those of us who can be forgetful. A good protection against flu and the common cold. 

Zodiac: Leo