Stocking Stuffers: These ASX silver stocks could look good under your Xmas tree
The ASX silver sector is blossoming after prices shot up almost 30% this year. Stockhead finds the pick of the bunch for your Xmas stocking.
The silver spot price has gained some 28% this year on the back of investment and industrial demand
Chinese producers are now shifting to technologies with increased silver consumption, particularly in solar panels
Here are some ASX silver stocks with re-rating events heading into the new year
Another year is about to wrap up and as a little gift, Stockhead has stuffed into a stocking a collection of ASX silver companies with discovery potential and re-rating events heading into the new year.
Silver has stepped out of gold’s shadow and is one of the best performing commodities in 2024, gaining some 28% since the beginning of the year.
The biggest driver of demand in the silver market is photovoltaic solar panels with Chinese producers now shifting to technologies with increased silver consumption, though its also trades as a safe haven investment, offering a cheaper entry point than its more fancied cousin gold.
For those who love copper, Triple Eight Capital’s Roscoe Widdup recently told Stockhead he encourages them to look at silver as it has many of the same characteristics such as a very dry project development pipeline.
READ: Silver Surfer: Energy boffin Roscoe Widdup says silver is the metal that makes the grade
Here’s a collection of eight ASX silver stocks with plenty of room to move in 2025.
Sun Silver (ASX:SS1)
Shares in Sun Silver are up 50% year-to-date, touching a high of $1.12 in October. It’s been one of the most successful mining IPOs of 2024, with a current market cap of $61.70m.
The pickings for quality silver exposure on the ASX are fairly slim, but SS1 brought some shine when it closed its IPO early in May after raising the maximum $13m in mere days before surging +170% in its first month on the bourse.
Sun’s advanced Maverick Springs asset in Nevada has a resource of 423Moz at 67.25g/t silver equivalent or 253Moz at 40.25g/t silver, making it the largest pre-production primary silver project on the ASX.
The deposit itself remains open along strike and at depth, with multiple mineralised intercepts located outside of the current resource constrained model.
With inaugural drilling complete, the company is awaiting the results for remaining drill holes which are expected over the next 4-6 weeks.
Mithril Silver and Gold (ASX:MTH)
Mithril remains the only ASX-lister focused on silver in Mexico, an oft-forgotten jurisdiction which continues to rank as the world’s gold standard of silver production.
The company has kicked off the second stage of drilling at its Copalquin project as it works towards a resource upgrade in the new year.
Mithril’s mission is to double its current 529,000oz gold equivalent resource, and managing director and CEO John Skeet said drilling was progressing well at the first of several targets at the high-grade, district scale project.
With ~1500 metres completed since the recent restart, the company has now completed 6300 metres of the expanded 9000m Target 1 resource update drill program.
Preparations are on track for major exploration expansion, including the beginning of drilling two more resource targets areas and development and testing of a district model for this large epithermal system.
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD)
Argent’s Kempfield asset is the second largest undeveloped silver deposit in Australia, containing 65.8Moz silver, 125,192oz gold, 207,402t lead and 420,373t zinc.
Recent reverse circulation drilling intersected 56m of thick, near surface volcanogenic massive sulphide style mineralisation at the Sugarloaf Hill prospect, confirming a new VMS lode proximal to Lode 200 Mineralised Block, which contains almost half of the project's silver metal.
Drilling has also confirmed further mineralisation over extensive intervals at the Golden Wattle prospect for the very first time.
These newly identified mineralised zones are located 2.6km east of Kempfield, signifying confidence in the scale and overall potential of this newly discovered mineralised zone.
Maronan Metals (ASX:MMA)
Several pivotal moments await Maronan Metals during the first six months of 2025 with the company about to wrap up its 2024 drilling program.
That program has comprised about 10,000m of drilling with the aim to increase the indicated component of its Starter Zone resource, which currently stands at 2.1Mt at 5.3% lead and 155g/t silver.
A major near-term catalyst includes the resource update in March, which will place Maronan in a good position to promote the economics of the project.
The updated Maronan resource will pave the way for a scoping study due in the June 2025 quarter, focusing on the 500m long by 600m deep ‘Starter Zone’, which sits less than 90m from surface.
Andean Silver (ASX:ASL)
Shares in Andean Silver gained a chunky 285% year-to-date following several key milestones including the increase of resources at the company’s Chilean Cerro Bayo silver-gold project by more than 80%.
Since taking ownership of the asset in early 2024, Andean has nearly quadrupled the size of the deposit by adding a further 66Moz at an average grade 460g/t silver equivalent.
The company is nowhere near the finish yet with a further resource update planned for early Q1 2025 which will include results from recent drilling at the Pegaso 7 area, which sits entirely outside the current resource.
Polymetals Resources (ASX:POL)
Polymetals acquired the Endeavour mine in 2023 after resetting a prohibitive 100% silver streaming royalty to a 4% NSR over silver, lead and zinc.
Restructuring this royalty breathes new life to the mine, with Polymetals now executing on its initial 10-year mine plan.
The transfer of 100% ownership from CBH Resources Limited to Polymetals paves the way for production at the mine to resume in the first half of 2025.
It also paves the way for surface and underground refurbishment works at the operation in preparation for first concentrate production and sales revenue during H1 2025.
Unico Silver (ASX:USL)
Unico Silver, a stock pick of both Eric Sprott and John Forwood, owns the 92Moz Cerro Leon project in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province, up the road from AngloGold Ashanti’s Cerro Vanguardia mine.
The project is host to the second largest vein field in the province (the Pinguino vein field) with mapped veins totalling 115km of cumulative strike.
A $22.5m placement was carried out in November to accelerate exploration and resource growth through an extensive 50,000m drilling campaign at Cerro Leon and the newly acquired Joaquin projects.
The company acquired Joaquin in October, strategically located 60km west of USL’s 91Moz silver equivalent Cerro Leon resource and portfolio, enhancing future development options with added scale and economics.
Boab Metals (ASX:BML)
Boab Metals has been a strong performer this year as it progresses its Sorby Hills lead-silver project in WA towards production.
Situated 50km northeast of Kununurra, the project currently has a resource of 47.3Mt grading 4.3% lead equivalent (or 123g/t silver equivalent) including 53Moz of contained silver.
Sorby Hills has an initial production target of 18.3Mt underpinned by 83% reserves and is envisioned as a conventional open pit that will produce a high-grade lead-silver concentrate through a regular flotation process plant.
Front-end engineering and design studies have outlined strong economics with estimated net present value of $411m and internal rate of return of 37%. BML has already secured concentrate offtake and a binding US$30m pre-payment term sheet from global commodities trader Trafigura.
Engagement with additional debt financiers is ongoing with the company targeting a final investment decision in H2 2025.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Sun Silver, Mithril, Argent Minerals and Maronan Metals are Stockhead advertisers they did not sponsor this article.
Originally published as Stocking Stuffers: These ASX silver stocks could look good under your Xmas tree