It's hard to pick which emerging silver miners are going to be...

It's hard to pick which emerging silver miners are going to be the winners - as there's mid cap silver producers that have been unprofitable for years that are probably just now going to be marginally profitable.

I reckon success depends on the quality of the projects and grades.

For pure gold or silver plays the criteria I use is ..

With gold alluvial open pit deposits - I'd like to see grades of 1g/T or higher... which translates/equates to about 60g/T or higher in Silver.
So I'd stay clear of pure silver plays with grades of 30g/T Ag .. I'd consider that too low at current prices.

Don't forget as precious metal prices rise - so do consumables, reagents, explosives,wages, diesel etc.. so I'd apply the above criteria at all times.

For underground deposits -
You need thick veins or shoots .. 5 metre veins are better than 1 metre veins as you're going through less barren rock and extracting more ore /ton.
So an underground mine at say 8g/TAu(500g/T Ag) with 5 metre wide veins(or shoots) is probably as profitable as a 30g/TAu(1800g/T Ag)mine with 1 metre wide veins.

Also comparing underground with alluvial (open pit),,
The 1g/T Au(60g/T Ag) open pit alluvial mine would probably be as profitable as the 8g/T Au(500g/TAg) underground mine with 5 metre veins/shoots.

So for pure silver and gold plays - grade and also vein thickness(if underground mine) is king.