Where is silver found?

The metal is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form (" native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining . Silver has long been valued as a precious metal.

Is silver a good investment?

Silver is a multi-purpose investment that can be useful for several investment strategies. Throughout most of the 1990s, one troy ounce of silver traded around $5.00. In the early 2000s, the price of a troy ounce of silver began to increase. It has undergone periods of volatility with great movements up and down.

Is silver ductile or malleable?

Silver is a relatively soft and extremely ductile and malleable transition metal, though it is slightly less malleable than gold. Silver crystallizes in a face-centered cubic lattice with bulk coordination number 12, where only the single 5s electron is delocalized, similarly to copper and gold.