With only 20% of the silver bullion cargo recovered so far, the wreck of a British merchant ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in World War II may set precious metal recovery records.
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Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Thursday , 19 Jul 2012
RENO (MINEWEB) -
A Tampa, Florida-based shipwreck exploration specialist said it has achieved the "heaviest and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck" for 1.4 million troy ounces of silver bullion so far.
The 1,203 silver bars recovered thus far by Odyssey Marine Exploration from the SS Gairsoppa, a British merchant ship torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War II, is believed to be only 20% of the total silver cargo which may be on board.
The Gairsoppa has sat 15,420 feet deep in the North Atlantic, 300 miles off the coast of Ireland since February 1941. "With the shipwreck lying approximately three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic, this was a complex operation," said Odyssey CEO Greg Stemm.
Some sources, including "Lloyd's War Losses" indicated a total silver cargo worth £600,000 (1941) lost aboard the Gairsoppa. "...There may have been additional government-owned silver cargo aboard that would have been self-insured," Odyssey suggested in a news release Wednesday.
Odyssey is conducting the Gairsoppa project under contract with the UK Department of Transport. Odyssey bears the risk of search and recovery and retains 80% of the net salved value of the Gairsoppa silver cargo after recovering its expenses. The company commenced recovery operations in late May.
After making an insurance payment of £325,000 (1941 value) to the owners of the silver cargo lost aboard the Gairsoppa, the UK Government became the owner of the insured cargo of silver bars, or 43% of what has been recovered so far by Odyssey.
Bloomberg estimates the value of the silver recovered thus far at US$38 million.
After unloading its cargo in a secured facility in the UK, taking on fuel and changing personnel, recovery operations will continue and are expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
The public will be able to see the recovery operations when television specials produced by JWM Productions will be shown on the Discovery Channel in the United States and Channel 5 in the United Kingdom.
Source: Shipwreck yields $38m in silver bullion so far as recovery continues - SILVER NEWS - Mineweb.com Mineweb
