ASX Silver Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies in 2024

Market cap: AU$1.36 billion
Share price: AU$4.10

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 its Q3 update released on October 28, the company indicated that the ramp-up at Vareš continued, with commercial production on track for Q4. Adriatic noted that it had started producing five days per week and would increase operations to a 24/7 schedule beginning in November.

Additionally, the company said silver production increased to 95,535 ounces in Q3, up from 21,591 ounces in Q2.

Market cap: AU$158.34 million
Share price: AU$0.99

Andean Silver is a precious metals exploration and development company focused on advancing the Cerro Bayo silver and gold project in Southern Chile. The company took ownership of Cerro Bayo in early 2024.

The land package consists of 70 exploration concessions covering a total of 285 square kilometres and hosts a past-producing mine that was in operation for more than 15 years and produced 45 million ounces of silver and 650,000 ounces of gold before being placed on care and maintenance in 2022.

In its most recent mineral resource estimate for the project released on September 19, the company reported an 80 percent upgrade on silver equivalent ounces to 91 million at a grade of 342 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent. The resource includes indicated and inferred quantities of 39 million ounces of silver and 628,000 ounces of gold from 8.2 million tonnes of ore with average grades of 146 g/t silver and 2.4 g/t of gold.

The company said it was engaged in a 12 month exploration strategy and has deployed two drilling rigs to the site. Its aggressive drilling program is focused on growing the Cerro Bayo resource and near-mine drilling targets as well as making new discoveries.

Its most recent exploration update came on October 31, when Andean announced it had extended mineralization outside the known resource. Highlighted assays from the drill program included 584 g/t silver equivalent over 4.5 metres at the Cristal target, as well as 864 g/t silver equivalent over 3.2 metres, including 1,871 g/t silver equivalent over 1.4 metres, at Pegaso.

Market cap: AU$143.26 million
Share price: AU$0.093

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 centred on the potential impact of transmission lines to provide electricity for the project.

Silver Mines followed up on August 20, saying 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.

The most recent update came on October 15, when Silver Mines reported receiving advice suggesting that its development application was "alive and on foot" and had not received a final determination by the Independent Planning Commission. The company said it would now work through the steps required to reinstate the consent to address concerns over the proposed transmission lines to the site.

Market cap: AU$96.35 million
Share price: AU$0.20

Unico Metals is focused on the development of assets in Southern Argentina. 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, 344,200 ounces of gold, 332 million pounds of zinc and 129 million pounds 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 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. Unico announced the completion of the deal on October 20.

On November 6, Unico reported closing on a significant funding package, raising AU$22.5 million through the sale of 83.33 million ordinary shares at AU$0.27 per share. The company said it will use the funding to conduct a 50,000 metre exploration program at the Cerro Leon and Joaquin projects and update the mineral resource estimate in late 2025.