Things You'll Need
Instructions
Find an area that has produced silver ore in the past. The best place to begin looking is an established geologic region whose environment was favorable to ancient silver deposits.
Look for deposits of lead. Lead usually contains traces of silver and can be a guide to identifying more silver in the area. Lead can be a dark gray to black colored ore.
Watch for areas of quartz deposits. Quartz is considered the host rock for many silver deposits. Quartz is a crystalline structure that has a white to clear appearance. Bright white quartz with streaks of gray are a good indicator of the presence of silver ore.
Inspect each rock carefully since some silver deposits will be barely visible. Some silver runs through its host rock as "spider veins" that streak the interior of the rock and terminate just at the surface.
Visit old silver ore mines and reevaluate the mine's waste piles. Many abandoned mines left massive piles of waste behind that may still contain silver ore.