Looking to invest in silver? The six best ASX miners to consider
From small explorers to billion-dollar miners, these ASX-listed companies are providing investors rare access to the booming silver market, writes expert Craig Dickson.
Silver, silver, silver.
Everyone’s talking about it, even the bloke doing my bathroom renovation was keen to talk about silver.
People are lining up for hours to get into bullion stores to grab the physical product.
So let’s talk about silver exposure opportunities via ASX listed companies.
Most silver is obtained as a by-product from mining other metals such as gold, zinc and lead. Even companies with a deposit where silver is the main metal, the silver is usually mixed in with others. This is why you often see companies report their silver resource as silver equivalent (AgEq) because it is the outcome of all the metals.
Australian based silver projects on the ASX exist but are typically lower grade and rely on other metals as well to boost their value.
Higher grade silver projects listed on the ASX are mostly overseas with many located in proven silver producing districts.
Pure play silver exposure on the ASX isn’t easy, but it does mean we have a few different ways we can be involved in the silver party.
Lets go through six options ranging from the small end of the market valuation up to a big player.
THE SMALLER SILVER PLAYERS
At the smaller end of the market we have explorers such as Advance Metals (AVM) and Rapid Critical Metals (RCM).
AVM have 100Moz of silver equivalent spread over three projects in Mexico, the largest silver producing country in the world.
Their resource classification is a foreign estimate (used by overseas listed miners like Barrick Gold), which AVM need to convert to the Australian classification.
Their latest project acquisition added some good gold ounces as well.
AVM are now ramping up their exploration at all three projects so expect plenty of activity coming in to 2026.
RCM hit the headlines a couple of months ago when they added another silver deposit to their portfolio in NSW.
These two deposits give them around 60Moz of silver equivalent, but they stand out because their grade is much higher than what we see in almost every other Australian based silver project.
Now that the acquisition is complete, RCM will be moving the drill rigs to site to try expand the resource.
Both companies hold the same valuation at about $45M. RCM has less ounces, a higher silver equivalent grade and exposure to zinc, lead and copper in the deposits while AVM has more ounces with a decent chunk of gold, though their silver equivalent grade is lower.
There’s value to be found yet in both.
THE MID-RANGE SILVER PLAYERS
A bit further up the valuation ladder we have advanced explorer favourite Andean Silver (ASL) and late-stage developer Boab Metals (BML).
ASL gives us a nice comparison to AVM value wise.
ASL (project in Chile) has similar ounces at 111Moz silver equivalent at a similar overall grade to AVM.
Their resource is more advanced, classified under the ASX code and their management are a team that attract a significant price premium due to their excellent past performance in value creation at companies such as Firefly Metals, Bellevue Gold and Cygnus Metals.
ASL are valued at around $350M.
This is a significant potential value gap for AVM currently at $45M.
BML are a primary lead deposit project that has exposure to silver as the secondary metal.
They’ve worked hard to increase the amount of silver in the potential production profile and are currently stating it will make up 46 per cent of their revenue.
With a solid project ready to progress towards the end game of production and currently valued at $110M, BML are anticipating they’ll have funding secured to start mine construction end of 2025.
Polymetals (POL) have restarted the Endeavour zinc silver mine in the Cobar Basin in NSW.
To date they have been very successful in negotiating the challenging start up period called ‘ramp up’.
POL have done so well that the last six months have seen them meet all their operating costs and start paying down debt.
Positive results like this during ‘ramp up’ are quite rare and is reflected in the market valuation of around $350M.
Right now POL are accessing a high grade silver lens in their underground mine.
THE BIG GUY
S32 with a valuation of $14.6bn, also a suite of some of the most important future facing commodities: copper, zinc, aluminium and manganese.
S32 has spent recent times decluttering their business from less critical minerals and simplifying their operations.
This coming year should see S32 have increased copper and aluminium production, slightly higher silver and lead production, lower zinc production and a large increase in manganese production as their Australian operations come back online after the significant cyclone damage in March 2024.
Add to this their large zinc-silver-lead mine build in the US is progressing well with production possibly starting end of 2027, S32 look to be in its best position in years and its mix of commodities gives great exposure to both the silver environment and the energy transition thematic.
Honourable mentions to Iltani Resources (ILT) who are proving up Australia’s largest known silver-indium deposit, West Coast Silver (WCE) who are exploring one of Australia’s highest grade silver projects, and Investigator Resources (IVR) who have their deposit currently undergoing advanced studies to show a pathway to production in coming years.
Originally published as Looking to invest in silver? The six best ASX miners to consider
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