Mining industry executive Barry Kevin O’Rourke oversees the mining of more than two dozen 1,200-acre blocks of land in the jungles of Guyana. As managing director of SAB Mining, Barry Kevin O’Rourke and his team predominantly mine for precious metals, such as silver.
Similar to gold, the purity of silver is measured using millesimal fineness. This measurement is based on parts per thousand. The purest measurement is .999. Since no metal is 100 percent pure, this measurement indicates that the metal is as pure as possible, thus translating to higher value.
With silver, there are several names that sometimes throw people off. Most notable are “Britannia” and “sterling.” These indicate purity. Britannia silver is slightly purer than sterling and has a millesimal fineness measurement of .958. Sterling silver’s measurement is .925.
The measurement of silver’s purity requires either completely destroying the metal and separating it into different components or using X-ray fluorescence to determine metal content. X-ray fluorescence isn’t the most accurate method of measuring silver purity since thick plating can fool the technology, but it doesn’t result in the object being destroyed.
