re: "When i worked at the gold mine , our salaries were paid from silver"
And way back, when I used to be a GPXM shareholder and toured Golden Phoenix's facilities in Nevada, I saw and took pictures of the silver they were hauling out of the ground - a result of their gold mining.
I'd post the pics for you now, but I'm currently blocked from accessing the site where I have my photos archived. (My office IT department has determined it to be a 'social networking' site, and I'm not going to push the matter. Bummer.) Maybe this evening I'll post the photos...
Needless to say, the dollars they were getting from silver were practically as significant as what they were getting from gold. Neither was very good... and GPXM is currently 7 cents a share. (Back then, it was around 30 cents.)