Cinderella Story: Silver waits for lead role as WA explorers revive golden age mines

https://**promotion blocked**/resources/cinderella-story-silver-waits-for-lead-role-as-wa-explorers-revive-golden-age-mines/

Silver, historically known as the ‘Cinderella’ metal given it always misses the ball, is finally stepping out of gold’s shadow and carving its own path as the spot price continues to gain momentum, running at a premium to this time last year.

Strong industrial demand in the face of persistent supply deficits and increased investment interest amongst economic uncertainty are among some of the factors influencing the precious metal’s spot price surge.

Last week, silver prices rose above US$34 per ounce, hitting their highest level since October 2024 and extending weekly gains to nearly 4% as escalating global trade tensions fuelled demand for safe-haven assets.

Investment firm Triple Eight Capital reckons the silver price is strengthening towards US$50 per ounce over the next couple of years for several reasons, one being that supply simply isn’t keeping up with demand.

The relatively small silver market has been in deficit since 2019, with this year’s shortfall expected to drop by 19% to 149Moz.

Meanwhile, demand growth is expected to rise due to silver’s use in photovoltaic solar panels which accounts for about 20% of total demand and is growing at 20-25% per annum.

With demand growing and exceeding supply, Triple Eight Capital’s Roscoe Widdup told * prices could go even higher this year.

“Silver is typically a by-product, which means mine supply is less elastic to price than other metals,” he said.

“Unless mine supply changes materially, you ultimately need scrap to balance the market out.

“We saw prices hit $48/ounce in 2011 and there is no reason why this level isn’t possible – if you assume 3% pa inflation, that’s >US$70/ounce in today’s terms.”

What does the silver price hike mean for ASX companies?

A sleeping silver giant

Another example is Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ), owners of the Nimbus silver-zinc project, 10km from Kalgoorlie’s Super pit which was placed on care and maintenance in 2007 after producing 3.6Moz of silver from 318,000t of ore processed at a grade of 353g/t.

As prices peaked at nearly $49 per ounce in 2011, the former MacPhersons Resources was hoping to bring the mine back to life, but a sharp correction quickly swallowed those plans when prices fell below $20 by mid 2014.

Now, with silver prices rebounding to ten-year highs, HRZ non-executive chairman Ashok Parekh told * Horizon is looking at putting a few holes into the VMS deposit this year to test the potential for repeat high-grade lenses at Nimbus along strike.

He believes the mine is a sleeping giant, holding 20Moz of silver at an average grade of 775 grams per tonne plus 110,000oz of zinc.

“Now that we’ve acquired Poseidon Nickel and their two plants, we’re in a better position to put the silver-zinc through a concentrator ourselves – we never had that option before,” he said.

“The mine is very, very high-grade but it’s been a non-core asset given we’re producing gold, so we’re looking to potentially maximise the resource.

“We spent about 20 million dollars on the mine previously and the deposit has been limited because of a lack of drilling but now it could all come to fruition.”