Unlike industrially mined silver, Fairmined Silver is a precious and scarce by-product of responsible gold mining. A kilogram of doré gold (approximately 800 grams of pure gold) yields only a small amount of silver – roughly 100 to 150 grams. This low yield means that gold sales must significantly outpace silver sales (by a factor of 5 to 8). Furthermore, small-scale gold mining inherently has higher operational costs than large-scale silver mining, and the required segregated refining process adds to the overall expense.