KZ Insight
Korea Zinc shares the brand values and future vision of the company
Versatile shiny metal, SILVER
2022-03-14Versatile shiny metal, SILVER
Brand
STORY
‘Silver’, with atomic number 47, has been treated as a precious metal since ancient times and
has become the standard of value along with gold.
Silver is mainly extracted from argentite, a sulfide, and is also produced as a by-product of
the smelting of copper, lead, and zinc. Due to its high conductivity of heat and electricity,
more than half of its production is widely used for industrial purposes, and it is essential for
precision electrical and electronic device contacts, solar cells, and high-end wires
Also, silver ions have a very strong sterilization effect and are used for medical supplies.
When it reacts directly with ozone, sulfur, and chlorine, the surface becomes black, making it
difficult to leave it in the air for a long time, but silver is a very attractive and shiny
metal.
Element name Ag, origin of silver
The element name of ‘silver’ is ‘Ag’. Ag came from the Latin word ‘argentum’, meaning silver, from the Greek word ‘argos’ meaning ‘shining’ or ‘white’.
Silver was much less abundant than gold, making it more difficult to find than copper or gold. From around 3000 BC, silver was first separated and produced in Turkey and Greece, and from then on, the extraction method was used and silver mining began in earnest. There is no exact record of who discovered silver, but it was formerly highly valued than gold and is still considered a precious metal.
Excellent sterilization and antibacterial effect
Silver has long been loved for its excellent sterilization effect.
The plague spread in Europe in the 17th century, killing more than 20 million people, and it is
said that the damage to the nobility was relatively small. The reason is that the nobility who
used silver tableware in their daily life naturally got the antibacterial effect of silver, and
the results of that study still exist. Even in Korea, before serving meals to the king, a silver
spoon was used to check whether poison was inhaled or not, and this can be easily seen in
historical dramas.
B.C., Hippocrates documented the healing and preventive properties of silver, and the Phoenicians already stored perishable foods such as wine, candles and water in silver containers. In the Middle Ages, silver began to be used to treat burns and wounds, and in 1920, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved silver solutions for use as antibacterial agents.
Nowadays, silver is not only used for the antibacterial treatment of textiles, wood, and products such as wound healing bandages, but also is widely used to manufacture antibiotic bandages by treating the bandages with a silver compound gel. Silver nanoparticles are effective in removing odors as well as antibacterial, so they are also used in processing to kill bacteria and mold when making consumer goods such as clothes and shoes.
Silver price rising, and Expected Value of Korea Zinc
Korea Zinc purchases ores containing mainly zinc or lead, smelts them, and separates gold and silver from the byproducts and processes them into gold and silver products. Annual silver production is about 2000 tons, and Korea Zinc’s sales are highest in the order of zinc, silver, lead, and gold which means Zinc and silver occupy the first and second places in sales. Annual silver production is about 2000 tons. The scale of the domestic silver market is 410 tons per year, so some of it is supplied to the domestic market, and most of it is exported abroad. Sales also account for 23% of total sales, and even the price of silver has nearly doubled in the past five years, reaching its peak of $28 per ounce last year.
In addition, along with the global eco-friendly policy trend, new and renewable energy industries
such as batteries and solar power are rapidly growing, and the price of silver which is mainly
used in these industries is also rising.
Silver has good electrical conductivity, so it has a high value for use in the battery and
photovoltaic industries. In addition, the battery market is expected to expand along with the
growth of the electric vehicle market, and the demand for silver is expected to increase.
Korea Zinc, which is active in the new and renewable energy business of the future industry and
contributes a lot to silver production, is evaluated as a promising future value company in line
with such global changes and trends.