# Silver in automotive batteries?



## Chumbawamba (Feb 21, 2010)

I was talking to a friend the other day and he passed on an interesting nugget. He says he heard from someone else that there are trace amounts of silver in automotive batteries, enough to be worth going after apparently. The claim is that lead in car batteries, when it was mined, contained impurities such as silver and perhaps other metals. Sounds dubious to me but was wondering if anyone else had heard such.

A source for the claim could be some brands of batteries that include silver in their batteries to improve performance. One such:

http://www.autospares-group.co.uk/car-batteries.php

"The silver technology enables thinner plates to be used , therefore giving improved starting performance and a greater length of life to the batteries."

In any event, it might be worth looking for these "silver" car batteries to see if there's an appreciable amount of silver in them.


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 21, 2010)

Although it seems they use some silver in certain car batteries, I think he's talking about something else. Most silver comes as a by-product from other metals that are mined - lead being one of the main ones (if not the main one). Therefore, most all lead has some silver in it. They only remove the silver to a point where it is uneconomical to go further, unless the particular application requires a more complete removal. In fire assaying, for example, I use a special silver-free lead foil and litharge (lead oxide). Otherwise, my silver answers would be too high. They both are expensive due to the cost of almost complete silver removal.

No metal on the planet is totally pure. Most all refined copper has traces of gold and silver in it, since these metals are associated with copper in the ore. Their levels are too low, however, to warrant further recovery.


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## butcher (Feb 21, 2010)

there were silver batteries, maybe he was refering to them, but I dont think there would be much silver at all in a lead acid battery trace impurity.


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