What is Silver?
Silver is a soft, white, and lustrous metal. It exhibits the highest reflectivity, electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal. It is extremely versatile, durable, malleable, and ductile. Most silver is produced as a by-product of copper, gold, lead and zinc refining. 

Silver stirs thoughts of bright cutlery and lustrous trophies. But it’s really an inherently industrial metal. And that’s because of its versatility. It is durable. It is malleable. It is ductile. And it conducts. Silver has always been there alongside gold in jewelry, coins, and ingots. But it has found a new home in the burgeoning solar panel industry. Its ability to be plated on other materials has long been useful for switches, contacts, and fuses – particularly in cars. And its addition to solders helps produce smooth, leak-proof, and corrosion-resistant joints. Silver is even used in wound dressings because of its antimicrobial properties.   ​

​How is it used?
The relative softness of silver allows it to be formed into delicate, intricate, and flexible shapes including jewellery, photography, currency, water filtrations, tableware and utensils.

It is used in electrical contacts and conductors and its compounds are used as disinfectants and added to bandages, wound dressings, and catheters. Silver nanoparticles can be used in antibiotic and antivirals and silver salts are even used in transition lenses, darkening when bright and transparent when dull. Silver is also a key component of solar panels, with the average panel containing 20g of silver! 

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Dr Duy Phu Tran of the UniSA Future Industries Institute

​Silver's properties are crucial for the next generation of flexible, wearable, printable electronics and sensors. Silver is the most conductive non-superconductor there is. It is flexible and can handle being attached to a flexible platform - such as a human body.

Researchers at UniSA Future Industries Institute are trialling technological applications of incorporating silver ions into modern nanosensors to diagnose diseases. Read more here

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Did you know?
The silver dore for the Australian Open trophies is produced by Nyrstar at Port Pirie,  the world’s third-largest single producer of silver.

Where is Silver mined in South Australia?
Silver is extracted at BHP’s Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines. Investigator Resources is working on a ‘Definitive Feasibility Study’ for its Paris Silver Project on the Eyre Peninsula.

Silver coins

Silver refined at Nyrstar is used to produce the Australian Open trophies

Silver is used in transition lenses, darkening when bright and transparent when dull

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