Silver mining in the United States

Silver mining in the United States began on a major scale with the discovery of the in Nevada in 1858. The industry suffered greatly from the demonetization of silver in 1873 by the Coinage Act of 1873, known pejoratively as the "Crime of 73," but silver mining continues today.

United States mines produced 1,170 tons of silver in 2014, 17% of the silver it used. 63% of consumption was imported, from Mexico, Canada, Peru and Chile, and the remainder was derived from recycling. Three US mines had silver as their primary product, and 39 mines reported silver as a byproduct of gold and base metals production. Alaska was the country’s leading silver-producing State, followed by Nevada and Idaho.

Interest in silver mining increased in recent years because of an increased price for the metal: the average silver price increased from $4.39 per troy ounce for the year 2001, to $13.45 per troy ounce for 2007. In 2011, silver prices rose to almost $49 per troy ounce in April before dropping to around $34 per troy ounce in late June. In March 2016, the silver price was around $15 per troy ounce.

In 2015, Alaska was the nation's leading silver-producing state. Two Alaska mines were significant silver producers. The Greens Creek mine, owned by Hecla Mining, produced 8,452,153 troy ounces of silver. Teck Resources' Red Dog mine, the world’s largest source of zinc, in 2014 produced 7.56 million troy ounces of silver as a byproduct of lead and zinc production.

More than 80% of the state's silver was a byproduct of copper mining; other silver came as a byproduct of lead, zinc, and gold mining. The most productive silver district in Arizona that was mined primarily for silver was Tombstone in Cochise County, discovered in 1877. In 2006, all the silver mined in Arizona came as a byproduct of copper mining.

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