Rapid growth in the mining industry, increased investor interest in primary silver mines, and the strong rise in silver prices since 2005 have significantly boosted primary silver production over the past few years. Primary silver mine production increased from 19.0% of total mine production in 2008 to 23.2% in 2011. Primary silver producers’ cash costs also have risen over the past few years as well, with 2011 showing the strongest year-on-year change in the past decade. The production-weighted annual average silver cash cost was $8.28 in 2011, a 40.6% increase over the previous year. Much of this increase was due to lower ore grades being mined as producers opted to take advantage of high silver prices, high mining input materials inflation due to the rapid expansion of the mining industry and consequent strong growth in demand for mining equipment and materials, and the commissioning of four new primary silver mines.

Silver fabrication demand rose to 861.9 million ounces in 2011, a 2.2% increase over the previous year, according to the Silver Yearbook 2012. This was the second consecutive annual increase after having trended lower since 2005. Most of the 18.4 million ounce increase between 2010 and 2011 came from higher silver demand from the photovoltaics industry. Demand from this industry rose by 11.2 million ounces last year. The rapid increases in solar panel installations, government incentive programs, and high non-renewable energy prices all contributed to an increase in solar panel production, which was positive for silver demand. Demand from this industry is set to decline in 2012 due to a significant slowdown in end-product demand from Europe, the largest installer of solar panels.

Electronics demand also rose substantially, by 4.3%, to 221.8 million ounces in 2011. Jewelry demand continued to rise, benefiting from higher gold prices which have helped redirect a portion of jewelry purchases to silver. Photography demand continued to fall, dropping 7.5% in 2011 to total 102.6 million ounces. Demand from this source is expected to fall below 100 million ounces in 2012.

The CPM Silver Yearbook 2012 also contains information about silver inventories, a major component of the silver market, as well as a detailed analysis of silver futures, options, and over the counter trading activity. The volume of silver traded during 2011, which includes trading volumes of futures and options at the major exchanges, clearing volumes in the London over the counter market, and newly refined silver supply, reached 182.4 billion ounces last year, up 56.7% from the previous year. This the highest level of trading activity on record.

Last year was a pivotal one for the silver market, perhaps a turning point. CPM Group posits that silver prices will not break above their 2011 peak in 2012, but rather will decline further throughout the remainder of the year. The Silver Yearbook 2012 provides extensive data and information about all aspects of the silver market as well as an in-depth analysis of these market components and how they factor into CPM Group’s projections for lower prices in the medium term.

These are just some of the findings in CPM Group’s Silver Yearbook 2012. The 211-page hard-bound report provides detailed statistics on trends in each sector of the silver market in 2011, with insights into developments this year.

CPM Group has been producing annual Yearbooks on gold, silver, and platinum group metals, in a series of reports that began in 1971. This year’s reports are being published by Euromoney Books and Metal  Bulletin. This year’s reviews have been priced at $150.00 plus shipping and handling to make them readily available to individual investors as well as institutions, corporations, and governments.

CPM Group is an independent commodities research, consulting and corporate advisory company headquartered in New York.

Where did the “&” go?

What’s the ampersand-less name LeachGarner doing on the Swank building?

And what the heck is globalization anyway?

Those are questions we suspect our Attleboro forebears would be asking if they had been thrust into a time machine in 1952 or so and came out to read Monday’s lead headline, “A gem of a name.”

We’ll start with the last question first, but you won’t get a textbook definition of “globalization” here. For our purposes it means the process of sending the jobs that once made the Attleboros “The Hub of Jewelry Universe” to other shores, where labor is cheaper, and to the purchase of local manufacturing firms by global conglomerates. As an example of the latter, Leach & Garner and General Findings were among firms purchased by the England-based Cookson Group, which also bought and rehaibilitated the old Swank building with assistance from the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority. What put “A gem…” at the top of the front page was a reversal of this process. Cookson hit high gold prices and other difficulties and sold its Attleboro holdings to the Richline Group, part of the U.S.-based Berkshire Hathaway Co.

In renaming the company, its new president, Joe White, said the choice was obvious. Leach & Garner’s origins stretch back to 1899. It’s a name that’s symbolic of permanence and heritage. The ampersand was dropped as a matter of streamlining the name.

As names go, this is sweet. Sure, our visitors from 1952, would probably also be asking “where’s Balfour? Where’s Metals & Controls? Where’s… ” They’re gone, mostly due to the globalization thing. And even if you daydream of the days when there were a lot of jobs to pick from at the former Leach & Garner, Swank and General Findings, the reality is that one consolidated operation made up of their vestiges is far, far better than none at all.

And to the ever-shortening list of products still manufactured in the U.S.A., you can underline “jewelry” as still on it, and remaining there for many years to come.

You’ve seen Man Ray’s absurdist images. Like the photo of a woman’s eye surrounded by glass beads, or a painting of floating red lips. His art is everywhere: on the walls of dorm rooms, on mass-produced T-shirts and even on hotel headboards.

Man Ray was one of the best-known Surrealists by the time he died in Paris in 1976. He hobnobbed with the likes of Hemingway and Picasso, and what’s left of his art studio is now being housed in a car-repair shop on Long Island. Not exactly the first place a famous artist’s has his work stored at.

After his death, Man Ray left his works with his wife, Juliet. She died in 1991, and her extended family inherited the 4,500 art pieces she left behind. According to Wall Street Journal’s art reporter Kelly Crow, those works are now housed in 16 fire-proof vaults at the car-restoration shop.

“They have a showroom with car upholstery samples, and once you go beyond that, past the cashier’s desk, sort of back into the office area, you just start seeing these sub-zero-sized freezers … only they have these amazing combination locks and deadbolts,” she described.
Man Ray’s relatives have already stirred up some controversy in the art world. They’re getting up to their 70s and 80s, and want to cash out.

“[Man Ray's brother-in-law], Eric Browner, had told me that his sister had always wanted the works to go to an institution, somewhere where the public could see them and where scholars could have ready access to them,” Crow explained. “Now that the last sibling of hers is getting up in years, I think he’s feeling some pressure from the family and on himself to kind of just settle everything before she goes.”

Camilla Grondahl asked genetics researcher Gholson Lyon a simple, heartbreaking question: Was she carrying a lethal gene that might kill her unborn baby?

Grondahl, 29, didn’t want to terminate her pregnancy, which began in 2010. She just wanted to know what the scientist knew.

“It was just more stress and worry while I was waiting for my baby to be born,” Grondahl recalled. “What do you plan for? Do you plan for him going to college or for a funeral?”

Lyon said he couldn’t tell her. A few months earlier, Grondahl had given blood for a DNA study Lyon was conducting on her family. She signed a form that said she would be notified of findings that had “direct medical significance,” without defining what that meant.

Grondahl is one of thousands of people in the U.S. who have undergone DNA testing for research purposes and aren’t receiving the results, even when the information has life-or-death consequences. That’s prompting a burgeoning ethical debate that has led to soul-searching among scientists and doctors.

While DNA sequencing is becoming more widely available, most of the testing is done for research purposes at universities and large medical centers. Even when an individual wants to map his or her DNA, the cost can exceed $10,000 and is rarely covered by insurance. Physicians and researchers are using the technology to better understand and, in some cases, diagnose and treat cancer and other diseases.

I have decided that this summer, it’s all about beads.

My garden is probably in a lot of trouble this year, because for once it’s mid-May and I haven’t bought a single pack of flowers. I figured I’d wait until I’m ready to do my planting, whenever that is. I’ve had other things on my mind.

I’ve always loved stringing beads, ever since I was a tiny girl playing with clunky pop-blocks or plastic chain links. It’s all about color and pattern, after all. I love that stuff.

I’ve always had a collection of beads, and every once in a while I’d sit down with a needle and thread and string together a necklace or two.

I loved wearing them, but most of them broke. It turns out that sewing thread is not really ideal for making jewelry.

Eventually, I moved on to using fishing line. That lasted longer, but the knot made the back of my neck itch something fierce. It had to be a pretty big knot, after all, because otherwise it kept coming untied.

I figured there had to be a better way, but I never got around to figuring out what it was.

When my daughter was little, I packed away all of my lovely glass beads and spent many happy hours playing with her plastic pony beads and Perler beads.

Jon Renau invites all women to “revamp” their look with the new 2012 Spring Wig Collection. In order to appeal to the fashion-conscious woman, the brand strategically chose the hairstyles of iconic Hollywood celebrities as inspiration for the collection. The six new wig styles range from pixie cuts to shags to bobs to long layered looks.

Stylish cuts and comfortable features were fundamental components in achieving flexible styling options for the busy modern woman. All six wigs feature breathable cap constructions and natural finishing touches such as a lace front, monofilament top and remy human hair. At the core of this collection you will find the comfort and stylability women desire.

The Sienna wig was constructed with the best wig characteristics available on the market. This long layered style is one of two made from top-quality remy human hair. Sienna is a Wigs favorite because the style is versatile and realistic enough to suit a number of women. “Having a remy human hair wig that has a lace front and monofilament cap construction is the closest thing to having your own healthy shiny hair,” said Sales Manager, Christina Jones.

DOG hair spinning and woven-wool coffins were among the more unusual attractions at this year’s Wonderwool Wales event.

More than 175 exhibitors were at the Royal Welsh showground to showcase yarns and equipment for fibre crafts such as knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving and felting.

New products included the Burial Cloud, a natural woven-wool coffin designed and patented by end-of-life carer Linda Robinson.

An experienced weaver, Linda sources wool from local rare-breed farmers in Herefordshire, and has trained local women to weave coffins at the eco-friendly Humber Memorial woodland burial site.
Click here to find out more!

Demonstrations by the Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers included displays of felt-making and even spinning with dog hair.

Organiser Chrissie Menzies, from Welshpool, said: “Originally set up to showcase Welsh wool, the festival has more than quadrupled in size since it was first held seven years ago.

“It now includes a whole range of other natural fibre items, including alpaca, mohair, angora, hemp, flax and silk.”

Plan to Go Red for Women when the American Heart Association holds its annual event beginning at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Tulsa Convention Center.

Men, this one is for you as well and joins in raising money for the fight against heart disease.

A health panel will kick off the day with Dr. Frank Gaffney of the Oklahoma Heart Institute, exercise physiologist Ramon Rivera and dietician Cassandra Wrich, who will present the best ways of preventing heart disease.

Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a welcome by Gov. Mary Fallin.

Miss Jackson’s will present a fashion show featuring red dresses, modeled by local women who have suffered heart disease, stroke or have made lifestyle changes to curtail a family history of heart disease.

A live auction will feature such items as a week’s stay in Nairobi, Kenya; jewelry; and a stay at a vacation home at Calusa Lakes Golf Club in Nokomis, Fla.

Dr. Wayne Leimbach of the Oklahoma Heart Institute will speak on the latest findings about heart disease.

Ashley Patty of the musical duo November Lily will discuss her story of survival, and the duo will perform.

The profit growth at high-end jeweler Graff will be nearly double the 15.8 percent expected for rival U.S. jeweler Tiffany (TIF.N) and below the 47 percent forecast for Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group (1929.HK), Goldman analysts estimated in the report dated May 5.

The research note from Goldman, one of the joint global coordinators of Graff’s up to $1 billion Hong Kong initial public offering, gives a first peek into the finances of a company that has remained private since Laurence Graff founded it in 1960.

London-based Graff started meeting with investors on Monday to gauge demand for its IPO, with a roadshow set to kick off on May 21, sources told Reuters on Sunday.

In the coming two weeks, the company, its bankers and advisers will meet with fund managers and institutional investors around the world, before deciding on a price range for the deal ahead of the roadshow.

Investors will have a better view on Graff’s valuation versus its peers after the price range is set.

Graff’s profit should reach $264 million in 2014 from $117 million in 2011, but the growth rate is forecast to slow in the coming years. Profit was expected to rise 42 percent in 2012 from 2011, 29 percent in 2013 and 23 percent in 2014, the research note showed.

The saccharine din wafted through the air, straining to be a soothing accoutrement to the palm trees, white sand and beach, but as far as I was concerned the familiar resonance was about as tranquilizing as the buzz of a thousand vuvuzelas.

Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” reinterpreted as a lounge classic?

Just as I tried to adjust my ears to the offensive rendition of the soundtrack of my youth, I nearly tripped in my flip-flops walking past Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Resort & Spa’s activity board, horrified to learn that Beer Pong boasted a coveted time slot between yoga and water aerobics. And then, on cue, as if to reinforce my biased notions of Cabo San Lucas’ reputation as a playground for grating, overgrown frat boys, I caught sight of a slightly overserved man in wet swim trunks greet a woman with the most unfortunate, ahem, Gringo accent: “Mamacita!”

I had been in Cabo for only a few hours and already the Mexican city, despite its warmth and postcard picture landscape, rolled out benign but irksome examples of why I may have previously avoided the sunny resort that lies along the southern tip of Baja California Sur. Fortunately, there was a scolding voice inside my head that commanded I stop judging and start easing up on the quirks that surround Cabo and the thousands of tourists — mostly Americans — who come there to play and de-stress from their hectic lives.