Silver Processing

silver processing, preparation of the ore for use in various products.

Silver has long been valued for its white metallic lustre, its ability to be readily worked, and its resistance to the corrosive effects of moisture and oxygen. The lustre of the pure metal is due to its electron configuration, which results in its reflecting all electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths longer than 3000 angstroms (3000 angstroms is in the ultraviolet range). Thus, all visible light (that is, light with wavelengths between 4000 and 7000 angstroms) is effectively reflected, conferring the white colour.

Silver (Ag), like gold, crystallizes in the face-centred cubic system. It melts when heated to 962 °C (1,764 °F). With a density of 10.49 grams per cubic centimetre, it is the lightest of the precious metals. It is also the least noble of the precious metals, reacting readily with many common reagents such as nitric acid and sulfuric acid. Metallic silver can be dissolved from gold alloys of less than 30 percent gold by boiling with 30-percent-strength nitric acid in a process referred to as parting. Boiling with concentrated sulfuric acid to separate silver and gold is called affination. Both these processes are used on a commercial scale for separating silver and gold.