as a hedge to systemic risk justify the risk of losing a small part of 15% of my net wealth? The answer for me is yes.
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You've got 15% of your wealth in one asset, silver? Very brave considering the production of silver is going exponential.
World Silver Production: 3 Charts You Won't See Anywhere Else
Dec. 20, 2017 5:05 AM ET
The rate at which global silver production increased over the past century is quite astonishing. When Columbus arrived in America (1492), the world was only producing 7 million oz of silver a year. Today, the world's largest primary silver mine, Fresnillo's (
OTCPK:FNLPF) Sauicto Mine, produced three times that amount in just one year (22 million oz, 2016). Yes, we have come a long way in 500 years.
Just think about that for a minute. One silver mine last year produced three times the global amount in 1493. According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines 1930 Report on Summarized Data of Silver Production, the average annual silver production in the world from 1493 to 1600 was 6.9 million oz (Moz). If we look at the following chart, we can see how world silver production increased over the past 500+ years:
As we can see, average annual world silver production increased from 6.9 Moz during 1493-1600, to 13 Moz from 1600-1700, 18 Moz from 1700-1800, 51 Moz from 1800-1900, 274 Moz from 1900-2000 and a stunning 722 Moz from 2000-2017. Again, these figures represent the average annual silver production for each time period.
In the current period, 2000-2017, the world has produced 103 times more silver per year than from 1493-1600. However, the next chart shows the total silver production for each period. From 1493-1600, the world produced a total of 747 Moz of silver, compared to 13,000 Moz (13 billion oz) in just 18 years from 2000-2017:
