Back in 2019, CNBC commentator Jim Leventhal said he had no interest in gold because it has no uses as a metal. This comment was a real head-scratcher because, besides its extensive use in jewelry, gold is an increasingly important industrial input, particularly in the technology sector.
Total global silver demand reached its highest level since 2015 last year, surging 19% to 1.05 billion ounces (Boz). There were increases in every key silver demand category. It was the first time since 1997 that all key sectors rose together.
This is one of several silver-related stories in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
Gold demand in the technology sector rebounded rapidly in 2021 after falling the prior year due to economic lockdowns and the pandemic.
In 2021, tech sector gold demand grew by 9% to 330 tons with year-on-year growth in all four quarters, according to data from the World Gold Council. Tech demand in 2021 was about equal to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Global silver demand is expected to reach a record high of 1.112 billion ounces in 2022. This is one of several silver-related stories in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
Gold may be the key to finding space aliens!
After years of development, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched into space on Christmas day.
The use of silver in electronics and electrical applications is expected to rise by 10% over the next five years. And this doesn’t include the expected demand increase for silver in the solar energy sector.
This is one of several silver-related stories covered in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.
Gold demand in the technology sector was up 11% year-on-year, coming in at 81.2 tons in the first quarter of 2021.
According to the World Gold Council, the strong growth was partially due to comparison with relatively weak tech demand in the first quarter of 2020, as governments began shutting down economies in response to the coronavirus. But comparisons with Q1 2019 and Q1 2018 suggest that demand has recovered quite quickly and is now at more typical Q1 levels.
Silver investment demand surged in 2020 in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the feature story in the most recent edition of the Silver Institute’s Silver News.
Holdings in silver-backed ETFs tripled last year, surpassing 1 billion ounces for the first time. Meanwhile, investment in physical silver also saw a healthy increase. Silver coin and silver bar purchases grew 8% to 200.5 million ounces in 2020.
Investment in physical silver is expected to surge by 27% to 236.8 million ounces in 2020, a 5-year high. This was one of the highlights of the annual Interim Silver Market Review highlighted in the December issue of the Silver Institute’s Silver News.
If you have ever handled gold leaf, you know it’s pretty thin. Paper-thin, in fact. But did you know we can go thinner?
In fact, scientists can take gold and silver into two dimensions. Sounds crazy, eh? Like flat earth or something. But the research team of Ulrich Starke and his former doctoral student Stiven Forti have successfully created a gold layer only a single atom thick. It’s two-dimensional gold, so to speak.
