Use of Titanium as anode basket/cathode?

You have to consider what your reasons are for using titanium.

Electroplaters use titanium (sometimes) because:
1. it lasts longer than most of the alternatives in their systems. That reduces their downtime from having to replace "furnishings." Over the long run titanium can be less expensive for them.

2. titanium in most commercial electroplating baths doesn't corrode significantly so it doesn't poison their bath. Poisoned bath = off spec products = rework or loss.

Some commercial electrowinning/refining processes use titanium anodes (and occasionally cathodes) simply because it is the only commercial product that can survive their operating conditions. So, they HAVE to, or they don't make product and don't make money. If you want to know more, you can google "dimensionally stable anodes", which are titanium plates coated with various precious metals, rare earths etc. so it doesn't corrode away so quickly and to change the activation energy of surface reactions.

However, a typical silver cell (like a Thums-Balbach cell) isn't actually there to "refine silver." That is just a byproduct of its main purpose - TO MAKE MONEY. So, we try to use the cheapest technically feasible materials we can. That reduces capital and operating cost = more profit. A silver cell actually operates in pretty mild conditions, so typically stainless steel (actually, carbon is used industrially) is sufficient for a long time. Stainless costs 1/10 or less what titanium costs, and is much more readily available. You can use titanium - it just isn't optimum from a "make money" standpoint.

I recall that Electrometals was using dimensionally stable anodes (titanium-based) in their flow through cells for silver recovery in Merrill-Crowe plants (that is primary silver recovery, not refining, from cyanide solutions - the electrolytic cells replace the zinc dust that is conventionally used in that process). That allowed their system to survive a lot longer than conventional anodes and cathodes, but that is a very different environment than the standard silver REFINING cell. Also, I don't know if any operating plant has actually adopted the Electrometals process, likely due to cost issues.

As for conductivity, titanium is plenty conductive. The thin oxide layer doesn't cause issues with electrochemical reactions. It is actually more conductive than stainless, so resistance losses are lower.

Best Regards, Gerald