Like ore mining, silver mining is an important and lucrative skill that is widely understood in Europe.
The best place to find silver is in the mountains, especially where there are deposits.
Since silver will be depleted after a while, it may be more effective to build a 1 population colony with just a Silver Miner to exploit the resource instead of a fully functioning colony. Once the resource is depleted, the lone miner can disband the colony to build a new silver mining colony, or join a larger settlement.