ASX Silver Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies in 2024

Market cap: AU$1.14 billion
Share price: AU$3.50

Adriatic Metals is a precious and base metals miner in South-Central Europe that is now producing silver from the Rupice mine at its Vareš project, located near Vareš, a historic mining town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In late February, Adriatic produced its first silver-lead concentrate and zinc concentrate at the Vareš processing plant.

Adriatic’s mining efforts at Vareš are focused on the Rupice deposit, for which it released an ore reserve estimate in December 2023. The estimate indicates an 18 year mine life and probable reserves of 83 million ounces of silver, 640,000 ounces of gold, 723,000 tonnes of zinc, 457,000 tonnes of lead, 64,000 tonnes of copper and 24,000 tonnes of antimony.

In an update on September 23, Adriatic said it had achieved a milestone at the Rupice mine with the first stope entering production, bringing production to 25,514 tonnes of ore in August compared to 5,595 tonnes in July.

The company indicated that the mine is on track to ramp up to commercial production levels by the end of 2024.

Market cap: AU$137.23 million
Share price: AU$0.091

Silver Mines is an advanced-stage silver exploration and development company focused on its Bowdens silver project, which is located in Central New South Wales, 26 kilometres east of Mudgee.

Bowdens is made up of 2,115 square kilometres of titles, covers 80 kilometres of strike and represents the largest-known undeveloped silver resource in Australia. In its latest resource estimate, released in March 2023, the company reported 169 million ounces of silver and 96,000 ounces of gold in the measured and indicated categories, with an additional inferred resource of 20 million ounces of silver and 96,000 ounces of gold.

The project was approved to proceed to the development and production stage in April 2023. However, the company faced a setback following an appeals court decision on August 18 that reversed earlier court proceedings and the development of the project was halted. In the release, the company said the appeal was primarily centered on the potential impact of transmission lines to provide electricity for the project.

In a subsequent announcement on August 20, Silver Mines said it was committed to the progression of the project and obtaining all relevant permits and development consents. Additionally, it reported that the optimization study for Bowdens was on track for completion by the end of the year and said it had the potential for operating with less environmental impact than the original 2018 feasibility study indicated.

Market cap: AU$75.49 million
Share price: AU$0.220

Formerly known as E2 Metals, Unico Metals changed its name in March 2023. The company is focused on the development of assets in Southern Argentina, and its flagship project is Cerro Leon, which consists of two vein fields — the greenfield Conserrat project, in which Unico has an 80 percent stake, and the more advanced Pingüino project.

A May 2023 resource estimate for Cerro Leon outlines indicated and inferred resources of 40.9 million ounces of silver and 344,200 ounces of gold, as well as over 150,500 tonnes of zinc and 58,500 tonnes of lead.

On July 24, Unico completed a share purchase agreement to acquire a 100 percent interest in the Sierra Blanca silver-gold project from Austral Gold (ASX:AGD,OTCQB:AGLDF) and Capella Metals (TSXV:CMIL,OTCQB:CMILF). The acquisition will allow Unico to expand Cerro Leon and consolidate the Pingüino vein into a single entity.

Unico followed this acquisition with news on August 20 that it had entered into an agreement with Pan American Silver (TSX:PAAS,NYSE:PAAS) to purchase a 100 percent interest in the Joaquin and Cerro Puntundo projects. The projects are located 60 kilometres away from the company's Cerro Leon project, enhancing the overall scale and economics of the regional portfolio.

Under the terms of the deal, Unico will provide a US$2 million upfront acquisition cost with an additional payment of US$2 million on the publication of a feasibility study and US$8 million on first production from the site.

Market cap: AU$58.79 million
Share price: AU$0.038

Investigator Resources is a polymetallic exploration and development company with assets throughout Australia and Tasmania. Its flagship property is the Paris silver project, located on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The company has referred to Paris as Australia’s highest-grade undeveloped silver project.

In a July 2023 update, Investigator increased Paris' indicated and inferred resources to 57 million ounces of silver and 99,000 tonnes of lead with average grades of 73 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 0.41 percent lead from 24 million tonnes.

A November 2021 prefeasibility study for the project shows it could operate as a high-grade, near-surface, open-pit mine with a life of five to seven years. Investigator is working to produce a definitive feasibility study for the project. That work includes a regional exploration program with 5,000 metres of drilling for which it released the first results in May of this year.

Paris also hosts the Apollo silver deposit, which is 5 kilometres from the main zone. The company's drilling at Apollo has revealed high grades, including an interval grading 1,262 g/t silver over 8 metres in August 2022.

On July 29, Investigator released its June quarterly activities report, in which it said it is working to advance a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Paris. Investigator indicated that packages for the study are either substantially complete or nearing completion. In its 2024 annual report, the company reported that the DFS would be completed before December 2024.