Silver prices expected to keep rising as new players list on the ASX

Interest in silver is hotting up, with several new players listing on the ASX in recent months.

The precious metal has multiple uses, from industrial to medical, power generation, and as a traditional storer of value, all of which make the commodity rather enticing.

The increased interest is making miners in Western Australia reassess their assets.

Horizon Minerals has a deposit sitting idle near Kalgoorlie, 600km east of Perth.

Non-executive chairman Ashok Parekh said the deposit would be dusted off for analysis later this year.

“Certainly there’s not many silver mines in Australia,” he said.

“We’re pretty excited. It’s a non-core asset, because we’ve got 1.8 million ounces of gold.

Mr Parekh believed the timing was also right for a long-awaited silver “Super Pit” in WA’s Goldfields.

“I certainly believe there will be [appetite for a silver Super Pit],” he said.

“I think that to have that sort of asset with the grades, such high grades, certainly we’re all looking as to what the best thing to do is.”

Kalgoorlie is currently home to the famous gold Super Pit, which has produced more than 21 million ounces of gold since open-pit mining began in 1989.

Australia has the largest share of the world’s economic silver resources, mostly in Queensland, the Northern Territory and South Australia.

However, silver is part of the overall commodity mix for many mines right across the country.

The price is right

Silver is currently sitting at just under $US30 an ounce, but there is an increasing belief that the price could reach $US100 in the next couple of years.

The projected price growth is good news for companies such as Andean Silver, which recently purchased a silver mine in Chile and is working towards bringing the project out of care and maintenance in the coming year.

Chief executive officer Tim Laneyrie hoped they could take advantage of the good conditions.

“‘Silver itself is one of those critical minerals that has been in a structural deficit over the last three years,” he said.

He said the high demand and lower supply could push other miners to consider transitioning to silver.

“I think it’s a natural transition for gold miners to go into silver, as opposed to a major step going into copper,” he said.

“So yeah, I think their investor blanket will think highly of transitioning to that silver commodity.”

Focus on silver mines abroad

Another ASX newcomer, Sun Silver, was listed in May and has focused on developing a mine in Nevada in the United States.

Silver is also an essential part of making solar panels, which executive director Gerard O’Donovan said created a bright future for the commodity.

“So we identified silver as a growth market a number of years ago, and it was more down to the industrial growth,” he said.

“If you look at PV cells, it’s grown exponentially since 2014 and … there’s not a lot of exposure for pure-play silver companies.

“We found this resource in a fantastic jurisdiction, Nevada, one of the best jurisdictions in the world, and we’re really excited to be there.”

Mr O’Donovan also believed the commodity price could hit triple figures in the not-too-distant future.

“There’s no reason why not,” he said.

“It’s not often you get major banks around the world coming together and forecasting prices like that.”

Silver has also increasingly caught the eye of analysts.

It is a common polymetallic, meaning there are common deposits of gold and copper that also contain silver, which is often processed as a by-product.

Canaccord’s senior mining analyst, Tim Hoff, said silver was a more obtainable precious metal for “mum and dad investors” than gold, especially in times of global and political uncertainty.

“The Chinese consumer loves silver as well [and] that’s been another impact,” he said.

“We might actually see some silver deposits start to come online and we’ll have a silver pure play.”