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As far as silver is concerned, many of the driving factors behind silver are similar to those of gold; however, not only does silver play a much more important role in industry, sometimes its price moves in an opposite direction to that of gold. According to The Silver Institute, over 95% of silver demand is represented by industry, investment, jewelry and décor. The mining of silver is also different from gold as it is often recovered as a byproduct from lead-zinc mines, copper mines and gold mines. World production of silver for 2012 was about 24,000 tons with some 1,500 tons of silver recovered from new and old scrap, according to the US Geological Survey Between September 2012 and late June 2013, there was a relentless decline in silver prices due to a drop in industrial consumption because of a depressed global economic environment, said the USGS. With the advent of digital photography, as expected, industrial demand for silver 10 www.resourceworld.com in photography continues to decline. For example, in the US, while silver usage in photography was about 2,000 tons in the year 2000; however, by 2012, it had fallen to only about 550 tons. New uses for silver are also being found. The metal's antiseptic qualities have led to silver used in bandages. It is also used in clothing and shoes to regulate heat and odor as well as in water purification. According to The Silver Institute, global silver mine production grew in 2012 to 787.0 million ounces, mainly due to byproduct output from lead-zinc mines. Primary silver mine supply grew by 1% to account for 28% of global silver mine output. Mexico was the world's largest silver producing country in 2012, followed by China, Peru, Australia and Russia. Worldwide jewelry fabrication at 185.6 million ounces of silver remained effectively unchanged from 2011. In a recent Sprott's Thoughts article, author, David Franklin, pointed out that India is becoming a major silver buyer. India imported US $1.78 billion worth of silver during Q2 2013 – a 311% increase over the comparable quarter last year and is on track to import a quarter of the world's silver production. In an interview, Resource World asked Eric Fier, President and COO of SilverCrest Mines Inc. [SVL-TSXV; SVLC-NYSE MKT] if the volatility of the silver price affected its mining plans. SilverCrest owns and operates the Santa Elena silver-gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. "Right now we are producing silver at about US $8/oz, so if the silver price goes below US $20/oz, we start looking at our cut-off grades," explained Fier. We can increase our cut-off grades in order to increase our mining grades and decrease our cash costs. Therefore, the price of silver determines which zones we will be mining." Fier said that some silver producers like to hedge silver to lock in a guaranteed sell- november 2013