Renewables and electric vehicles (EVs) rely heavily on silver due to its unmatched electrical and thermal conductivity, with no viable short-term substitutes in many applications.

• Solar panels use about 20 grams of silver per panel (primarily in conductive paste for photovoltaic cells).
• EVs typically require 25–50 grams (or up to 1–2 ounces) per vehicle in wiring, sensors, batteries, and power electronics—roughly double that of internal combustion engines.

Global industrial demand now accounts for 50–60% of silver consumption, driven by solar (projected to consume massive volumes as capacity grows), EVs, electronics, 5G, and AI data centers. The market has faced structural deficits for five consecutive years (e.g., ~230-million-ounce shortfall in 2025), eroding inventories.

China, which dominates 60–70% of global refined silver supply (and is the second-largest miner), implemented new export restrictions effective January 1, 2026.

This is not a full ban, but a stringent licensing system requiring government approval. Exporters must meet strict criteria (e.g., minimum 80 tonnes annual production, ~$30 million credit lines, and prior export history), favoring large state-approved firms and effectively sidelining smaller exporters.

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From CFACT

By Joanne Nova

Remember how biodegradable plastic was going to make the world a healthier place? It would save us all from the horrible plastic landfill that lasts 1000 years, and it would protect the dolphins. Well, let’s just hope the dolphins don’t eat the bags.

Despite the rush to put biodegradable bags in every shopping center, no one had bothered to study whether it had an effect on our health, and we still don’t know, but we can say that the mice on that compost heap with these biodegradable bags will be more likely to have diabetes, smaller ovaries, and liver damage. Degradable plastic affected their gut flora.  The authors say: “Prolonged exposure to environmentally relevant doses of Starch-based microplastics can have widespread health effects.”

How many native mice will die that could have been saved, and do the Greens care?

This study came out in April:

Mouse study suggests that starch-based microplastics may harm health

Victoria Atkinson, c&en

While many studies have examined the health implications of ingesting petroleum-derived microplastics, none have looked at the long-term health effects on a living organism ingesting starch-based microplastics. To help elucidate the safety of these ecoplastics, Deng and his team used a mouse model to simulate long-term exposure to varying doses of starch-based microplastics. (J. Agric. Food Chem. 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c10855) They incorporated various concentrations of starch-based microplastics into the animals’ food, scaled to reflect typical human exposure; after 3 months, they euthanized the mice to probe the impacts of no, low, and high consumption of microplastics

Notably, the exposed mice consistently had elevated blood glucose levels and disrupted insulin regulation — both heavily implicated in conditions such as diabetes.

Organ-sample analysis revealed system-wide physiological changes, including reduced ovary size, liver damage
and inflammation, and impaired colon function. “Starch-based microplastics [SMPs] exhibit widespread harm, potentially affecting multiple tissues and functions,” Deng says. “Given that humans also face real-life scenarios of chronic exposure to starch based microplastics, these findings serve as an important warning regarding their potential health impacts.”

In lab tests, normal plastic bags didn’t harm the cells.

Biodegradable bags are TOXIC – and may be linked to liver and ovary damage, scientists warn

By Xantha Leatham, Daily Mail, 

‘Biodegradable starch-based plastics may not be as safe and health-promoting as originally assumed,’ said Professor Yongfeng Deng, one of the study’s authors.

In a previous study, the researchers compared the compostable bags to normal plastic bags after they had been left out in the sun and composted. But when they put them next to fish cells, “A ‘high level of toxicity’ was produced by the biodegradable bags, harming the fish cells,”

Cinta Porte, lead author of the study, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, said: ‘We were surprised that cells exposed to conventional plastic bags showed no trace of toxicity.

I don’t put these bags into my own compost. The Council can have them.

REFERENCE

Liu et al (2025) Long-Term Exposure to Environmentally Realistic Doses of Starch-Based Microplastics Suggests Widespread Health Effects. J Agric Food Chem,  2025 Apr 23;73(16):9867-9878.  doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c10855. Epub 2025 Apr 9.

History books will be written about this week. “This is not good” says Elon Musk.

This week the world woke up to realize that silver is a critical mineral for the high tech, AI, solar panels, and renewables. In four days’ time, China, which supplies more than half of the processed silver on Earth, effectively blocks their exports of silver.

Meanwhile, it turns out JP Morgan, which has been aggressively shorting the silver market for 15 years — was accumulating it all along. The entire COMEX silver market in New York has 30 million ounces of silver that is ‘immediately deliverable’. But JP Morgan is widely reported to control or custody up to ~700–800 million ounces of silver across vaulting, ETFs and proprietary holdings. It is de facto, the US strategic reserve, but controlled by a private bank, not by the Treasury.

The phase change is in progress. I’m not trying to cover all the details, just to let people know that something very big is unfolding.

The largest single use of silver has become “industrial applications”:

Silver, it turns out, is the best electrical and thermal conductor of all the elements. It is essential to the solar panel industry, EVs, and data centers. And for the last five years, the demand from the tech giants and renewable industry has been so great the global silver miners have not been able to keep with demand. The cumulative deficit in silver production since 2020 is 1.1 billion ounces. That’s a lot of silver that has been pulled from physical stores and sent to industrial buyers.

When Elon Musk says, “It’s not good,” he is thinking of the silver his factories need. Without enough supply, production lines will grind to a halt. Current EVs use about twice as much silver as a petrol and diesel car (25-50 grams per car). But the demand is only going to rise. The new Samsung sold state battery is rumored to need hundreds of grams, or even 1 kilogram of silver in every battery. It’s only a prototype,but supposedly charges in nine minutes and has a range of 900km (600 miles). You know they will want silver…

And even if the price of silver rises substantially, it’s still a small part of the whole cost of an EV, therefore, the factories are going to pay the new higher prices. Anything is better than shutting down…

It is possible to substitute other metals for silver, but the losses are significant. Copper oxidizes badly and has higher resistance.

Meanwhile, inconveniently, China announced two months ago that export licenses will be required for silver in 2026 (this is the same treatment they have done with rare earths). So technically, the CCP can say they haven’t banned anything, but the new rules just happen to restrict supply leaving the country from January 1 (Friday). The export licenses are just “sanctions by paperwork.” Hence, many industrial players are just starting to realize their supply lines are suddenly at risk.

There is a big silver shortage, which may bring down some bankers, the ones left holding the short contracts on silver… At the very least, the money printers will have to work hard.

The most calculated trade in inside trading

The Asian Guy in the videos below, is telling (or selling) a story. Strangely, his YouTube channel only started three weeks ago, yet his reports on silver have been so detailed and prescient he has gathered 43,000 subscribers. He appears to be pure AI, and we should keep in mind that he may even be a product of the JP Morgan marketing team. Who knows? He almost seems to know too much.

JP Morgan Flips LONG + China Ban Starts In 4 Days

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The Asian Guy describes himself as a silver bug and talks the talk of the long-suffering silver nerd, and yet, in the end, we have to ask why he is suddenly making these videos and “who benefits” from them. Obviously, JP Morgan comes out looking very powerful, (albeit, also rather predatory. They told everyone not to buy silver while they bought it themselves).

The Asian Guy is effectively telling Elon Musk he has been out-gamed by JP Morgan, and he will need to knock at their door and wait for them to set the price. Presumably, they don’t want him to buy up Mexican silver mines…

In this video (below) made a few days ago, The Asian Guy claims last Friday, one banker must have gone to the U.S. Federal Reserve to beg for $17 billion in Repos (Repurchase agreements) to keep them alive in the disastrous silver shorts gamble. A repo is a loan of last resort. If it’s true, it suggests things are getting very close to the wire for some traders.

It also confirms that the U.S. central powers are willing to inflate their way out of trouble.

The Blob bureaucracy depends on fiat currencies

If the Blob can print money — they can keep giving away other people’s purchasing power in order to buy votes. The game is up though, if the voters realize what is going on and abandon the dollar in favor of something else, like gold or silver.

Because the Blob bankers can always print more money, they have created vast numbers of layers of derivatives, options, and hedge contracts.  Astonishingly, the ratio of “paper silver” to real silver is estimated to be over 100 to one, or much higher. What’s changing is that people are demanding the physical silver, not just another paper contract. They can’t make solar panels or EVs with paper silver. But once people realize there isn’t enough silver, everything falls apart just like a bank run, and panic sets in.

This post originally appeared at JoNova

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Joanne Nova

A prize-winning science graduate in molecular biology. She has given keynotes about the medical revolution, gene technology and aging at conferences. She hosted a children’s TV series on Channel Nine, and has done over 200 radio interviews, many on the Australian ABC. She was formerly an associate lecturer in Science Communication at the ANU. She’s author of The Skeptics Handbook which has been translated into 15 languages. Each day 5,000 people read joannenova.com.au