February 2014

• Corning Adds Silver to Gorilla Glass

• An Interview with David Madge of A-Mark
Precious Metals
• LaCie Produces Silver-Plated Hard Drive Sphere
• Silver Spark Plugs Enhance Performance
• Royal Canadian Mint 1,000-Ounce Silver Bar
Added to COMEX Good Delivery List
• Antimicrobial Coatings Market Expected to Grow
• New Mongolian Vodka Distilled Through Silver
Filters
• Upcoming Events

Corning Adds Silver to Gorilla Glass Corning Inc. has added silver ions to its line of
durable Gorilla Glass for use in smartphone and tablet
touchscreens. The company announced the first U.S.
First EPA-Registered Antimicrobial Environmental Protection Agency-registered antimicrobial
glass cover at the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 (CES
Cover Glass  2014) in January.
“Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass inhibits the
growth of algae, mold, mildew, fungi, and bacteria
because of its built-in antimicrobial property, which is
intrinsic to the glass and effective for the lifetime of a
device,” said James R. Steiner, Senior Vice President
and General Manager of Corning Specialty Materials,
in a prepared statement for CES 2014. He added:
“This innovation combines best-in-class antimicrobial
function without compromising Gorilla Glass properties.
Our specialty glass provides an excellent substrate for
engineering antimicrobial and other functional attributes
to help expand the capabilities of our Corning Gorilla
Glass and address the needs of new markets.”
Gorilla Glass is used because of its high-scratch resistance
and hardness, which allows thin glass without fragility.
More than 2 billion devices from 33 major brands use
Corning’s Gorilla Glass with silver ions is the first EPA-registered antimicrobial cover
glass. (Click image to see animation)
Gorilla Glass, according to Corning, and the glass can
also be recycled.
Corning’s marketing claims for the silver ion glass
-- which are listed in the EPA-product registration and
“Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass inhibits can appear on product labels -- include: “The world’s
first antimicrobial cover glass;” “Tough enough to stop
the growth of algae, mold, mildew, fungi, and the growth of odor and stain-causing microorganisms
on touch surfaces” and “Glass contains an antimicrobial
bacteria because of its built-in antimicrobial agent to protect the surface,” among others.
Company officials noted that the first showcase device for
property, which is intrinsic to the glass and the technology is not a smartphone but a room-scheduling
system displayed on a large touchscreen that would
effective for the lifetime of a device.”  —  be used by multiple people. They also said the anti-
microbial glass could find a market in hospitals as well as
James R. Steiner of Corning Specialty Metals transportation and hospitality industries.
An Interview with David Madge of A-Mark Precious Metals
David Madge has been president of A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc., since 2011. Previously, he held several positions with the Royal Canadian
Mint including Sales Manager, Director of Bullion & Refinery Services and, in 2003, when the Mint restructured into four business lines, he
was promoted to Executive Director where he assumed P&L responsibility for the Bullion & Refinery Business line, including the refinery
plant operations. A-Mark, established in 1965, is a full-service precious metals trading company with customers on six continents. Madge’s
priority is business development, and in 2012 he launched Transcontinental Depository Services, LLC, which offers global storage solutions
for precious metals. He has also negotiated exclusive distribution agreements for new gold and silver bullion products that have proved popular
with investors.
Following is an edited interview with Madge.

Silver News: What has been the effect of the recent American Eagle DM: Since joining A-Mark a little over two years ago one of
silver coin shortages on your business? my focuses has been developing new products for consumers
and bridging the gap between the mints and the dealers or the
Mr. Madge: Allocations limit what you can sell, but it also opens
consumers. I understand the mint side and the customer side. We’re
the door for many new products from smaller mints or fabricators to
seeing increased demand for all products, but silver in particular is
get into the market. If customers want Silver Eagles, for example,
expanding and growing. Consumers want to own silver. They like
but they’re not readily available, they will turn to alternative
the value proposition of silver and they also like the variety of coins.
products which means some of the other mints or fabricators that
They just don’t buy one coin. They buy multiple coins and they like
aren’t quite as popular have an opportunity.
the collecting side of it as well as the bullion investment side of the
SN: Can you give some examples? business. They want variety and novelty.
DM: Obviously, the two big mints are the Royal Canadian Mint For example, we worked with the British Royal Mint to launch a
and the U.S. Mint, particularly in North America. When you move Chinese Lunar Coin Program where they took a silver Britannia
beyond them we have the British Royal Mint and the Austrian Mint. and put a series of little snakes around the rim of the coin. We’ve
Those are the other big ones. just launched a similar product with little horses going around the
rim. The silver coins were so well received that we’ve done a gold
SN: What about bars?
version. With the Royal Canadian Mint we’ve introduced a series
DM: The same scenario holds. If coins are in shorter supply, people of coins over the last two years that included the one-and-a-half
move to alternative products, which is good for small bar businesses ounce Polar Bear coin. It did phenomenally well both in Europe
as well. and in North America. Based on that success, we’ve just launched
SN: How have new bullion security features (see April, 2013 the Arctic Fox. It is being produced and sold now, the second in
Silver News) affected your business? that series. We’ve done three-quarter ounce coins for the War of
1812, commemorating the 200th anniversary. We’ve just launched
DM: Companies around the world will continue to add security a Special Forces coin in half-ounce silver in North America. These
features to protect consumers and make it harder to counterfeit have all been incredibly successful and it has expanded the market
their products. I think that’s a growing trend. Producers are going as a whole as opposed to just cannibalizing other sales. The goal
to introduce more and more security features as we move forward. here is to grow the overall market.
However, people want the security features and they like the
security features, but they’re not necessarily willing to pay a price We worked with Sunshine Mint (a member of the Silver Institute)
for the security features. It’s like .999 silver versus .9999 silver. to produce products from silver salvaged from the SS Gairsoppa,
Everybody says four nine silver is better than three nine silver but a ship in the second World War that was in a convoy going to
at the end of the day, are they willing to pay a premium for it? The Great Britain. It was sunk and became one of the largest recoveries
answer is no. in recent years of shipwrecked silver. We also worked with the
British Royal Mint to produce Silver Britannia coins also from
SN: In 2009 you opened up a facility in Vienna, Austria to handle the Gairsoppa silver. We also produced ten-ounce bars from the
some European trading. Why did you do that and how is it going? salvaged silver as well, and sold the original 1000-ounce bars that
DM: We’re one of the few global trading companies. There are were salvaged.
lots of regional or niche players but not too many that play in the SN: Has the recent retreat in price affected your business?
international or the global market. We opened up the Vienna office
in an effort to service our customers in Europe, and it’s been going DM: Even though there has been a pullback in the price of silver
very well. It also extends our trading desk hours. Our trading desk there hasn’t been a wholesale redemption of product. This means
is open 18 hours a day. We could go to 22 hours if we wanted, but that there isn’t a lot of product coming back into the secondary
we find with the two desks, we’re able to service Europe, North market. Consumers of these products tend to be long-term investors.
America and cover Asia as well. They’re not saying, ‘Oh, it’s gone down. I’m going to sell it.’
Silver tends to stay in the hands of investors. They have a long time
SN: What can customers expect in terms of new products? horizon, and that’s a pretty good story for silver.
LaCie Produces Silver-Plated Silver Spark Plugs Enhance
Hard Drive Sphere Performance
For the computer user with style and a bit of cash, French What’s the difference between spark plugs in your car and those
manufacturer of fine silverware and home accessories Christofle used in race cars?
has handcrafted LaCie’s Sphère, a silver-plated storage ball that
Silver.
holds a terabyte of data.
The electrical spark created by spark plugs can be tough on the
At US$499 each, LaCie promises that the beautifully ensconced
center electrode. Because of this, most spark plugs use iridium, a
hard drive “never fails to turn heads and spark conversation.”
super dense material that is resistant to heat, corrosion and wear.
It was introduced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show.
However, iridium doesn’t deliver the best performance. Silver does,
Esthetics aside, the Sphère features high-speed USB 3.0, which
according to officials of Nology, Bosch, Brisk Racing and Accel,
makes file transfers and backups nearly three times faster than
which offer silver spark plugs.
with USB 2.0. The Sphère gets power through the USB cable, so
no power cord is needed. Officials note that because silver is the best electrical and thermal
conductor of any metal, it produces a cleaner and more powerful
Christofle was founded in 1830, and produces silver pieces
spark. Unlike iridium, though, silver spark plugs don’t last as long
in its Haute Orfevrerie workshop in Normandy, France. The
and therefore are mainly suited for race cars or for use by drivers
company has been commissioned to do work for heads of state
who don’t mind changing their spark plugs more often in exchange
including Napoleon III and King Louis-Philippe, and Christofle
for greater performance, better gas mileage and easier starting,
pieces appear in museum collections throughout the world. It
albeit at a higher price.
was the first company in France to use electrolysis to silver plate
metal. French company LaCie specializes in external hard drives According to an Accel spokesman: “Silver is the best electrical
including those for mobile use. U.S. storage company Seagate conductor which allows for a wider heat range and is extremely
Technology is expected this year to close on a deal to acquire resistant to fouling. The silver center electrode has low ignition
LaCie. voltage requirements and allows easier starting.”
LACIE

This handcrafted silver-plated sphere by LaCie contains a 1-terabyte hard

drive.
ACCEL

Silver spark plugs offer high performance for professional racers

and enthusiasts.
Royal Canadian Mint 1,000-Ounce Antimicrobial Coatings
Silver Bar Added to COMEX Good Market Expected to Grow
Delivery List The market size for antimicrobial coatings was about $1.5
billion in 2012 by value and is estimated to grow with a
New Anti-Counterfeiting Features for compound annual growth rate of about 11.8% from 2013
to 2018, according to a report from RnR Market Research.
$5 Silver Maple Leaf The major additives considered in this report are silver,
copper, zinc oxide, zirconium, titanium dioxide, and zinc
The Chicago-based CME Group added the Royal Canadian Mint’s
omadine.
1,000-ounce 99.9% silver bar product to the COMEX exchange’s Silver
Good Delivery List on December 5, 2013. The report, titled Antimicrobial Coatings, divides the
market on the basis of major applications such as Indoor
“As one of the world’s top producers of silver bullion, the Royal Canadian
air/HVAC, medical, mold remediation, building &
Mint prides itself on the industry-leading quality and reliability of its silver
construction, food & beverages, textiles and others in
refining and assaying capabilities,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO
which the indoor air/HVAC coatings dominate over all
of the RC Mint. “The addition of the Mint’s 1,000-ounce pure silver bars to
other coatings. The report also covers major geographies
the COMEX Silver Good Delivery List is a coveted seal of approval which
such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the rest
reinforces the world-class status of our silver refinery, our assay operations
of the world, spotlighting the countries that are driving the
and our silver bullion products.”
antimicrobial coatings market.
The COMEX Silver Good Delivery List officially names the only
“In order to tap the growing market and to gain a
Exchange-approved brands of silver bullion bars which can be delivered
competitive advantage in the antimicrobial coatings
against COMEX metal future contracts. The Mint is already on the COMEX
market, huge investments are made by the major
Gold Good Delivery List.
companies such as AkzoNobel, BASF, PPG, Sherwin-
The RC Mint also has announced that the 2014 Maple Leaf 1-ounce .9999 Williams and others in developing countries of Asia-
fine silver $5 bullion coins will include a new ‘radial line finish’ and a Pacific and Latin America. The new R&D facilities and
micro-engraved laser mark which will be permanent features to the silver new product developments by the companies are helping
bullion coin. to cater to the demand in these developing countries,
The particular width and pitch of the lines radiating from the coin’s which are in growing stage and have huge potential in the
central design motifs create a light-diffracting pattern that is unique to near future,” the report noted. “The companies dealing
the next generation of Silver Maple Leaf coins, and will serve as an anti- with antimicrobial coatings are consistently focusing to
counterfeiting measure, according to Mint officials. Another security feature develop new coatings with different formulations having
is the addition of a micro-engraving produced by laser of a textured maple antibacterial and anti-odor properties with them and
leaf incorporating the numeral ‘14’ to denote the coin’s year of issue -- a which follows the regulatory environmental standards
technology also found on the Mint’s Gold Maple Leaf bullion coin and defined by EPA, REACH, and other environment &
its  2012 $1 and $2 circulation coins. “After 25 years of producing the health care agencies.”
world’s purest and one of its most popular silver bullion coins, the Mint
is pleased to offer investors even more value by incorporating technology
which also makes our Silver Maple Leaf bullion coin a world leader in
security,” said Bennett.
RC MINT

The 2014 Maple Leaf 1-ounce .9999 fine silver $5 bullion

coins include a new ‘radial line finish’ and a micro-
engraved laser mark as anti-counterfeiting measures.
New Mongolian Vodka Distilled Through Silver Filters
A new vodka produced from Mongolian wheat and water from the Khuiten Peak is distilled at least six times through silver and platinum filters
to remove any impurities, according to the company’s founder.

The prime mover behind the new drink is David Solomon, who owns a 20-store Toys “R” Us franchise and founded Redbox, the DVD vending
machine. On a trip to Mongolia, a friend asked for his help in bringing brands such as Toys ‘R’ Us, Starbucks and Redbox to the country,
Solomon related in an online interview with The Drink Nation on The Daily Meal. “And I’m thinking, ‘OK, in Mongolia what you’ve got is 3
million people and 20 million goats, and the goats don’t buy a lot of toys, drink a lot of coffee, or rent a lot of movies, you know?’ At the time
we were drinking this vodka, so I said, ‘I’ve got a much better idea. This is the greatest vodka I’ve ever had, so let’s take this vodka to the rest
of the world.’ That’s kinda how it got started.”

Solomon added: “We distill each batch at least six times through silver and platinum filters. That removes any impurities. In fact, because of
that, if you’re on a gluten-free regimen, you can still drink our vodka without a problem.”

Golia Vodka is available in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but the company is looking to expand distribution throughout the U.S.

GOLIA

This Mongolian vodka is distilled at least six times through silver and
platinum filters.

Upcoming Events
The 2014 edition of the World Silver Survey will be released on May 14 at a New York City event, and the following day in Mexico City. The
annual World Silver Survey is the authoritative publication on the silver market. The 2014 edition will report on all aspects of the 2013 silver
market, providing comprehensive detail on demand, supply, investment, and price action. Thomson Reuters GFMS will produce the World
Silver Survey 2014 on behalf of the Silver Institute, which has been publishing the Survey since 1990.

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