Like its counterpart gold, silver has seen rocky price action throughout 2018.

However, despite those struggles, some silver companies are still managing to make progress and expand the resource potential of their assets. Now that Q3 is over, the Investing News Network has rounded up the best silver stocks on the TSX by share price performance so far this year.

All year-to-date and share price information was obtained at close of day on October 10 from TradingView. All companies listed had market caps above C$50 million at that time.

1. Maya Gold & Silver (TSX:MYA)

Year-to-date gain: 51.22 percent; current share price: C$2.48

Maya Gold & Silver maintains a goal of generating growth and revenue through acquisition and exploration programs, with a specific focus on precious metals assets in Morocco. The company has opted to work within the North African country for several reasons, including Morocco’s strategic location to global markets and its vast amount of underexplored land with significant mineral potential.

During the company’s third quarter, it made milestones such as receiving approval to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in late July. A short time later, Maya announced the receipt of metallurgical test results from its Boumadine property, where it saw silver recoveries of 50.44 percent, including silver recovered from zinc concentrate.

2. Silver Bear Resources (TSX:SBR)

Year-to-date gain: 11.11 percent; current share price: C$0.20

Canada-based Silver Bear Resources has a business focus around the acquisition, exploration and development of silver properties in Russia. Its sole and primary asset is its Mangazeisky exploration license, which spans 570 square kilometers and hosts the Vertikalny silver mine development.

While the company’s third quarter was generally quiet, Silver Bear announced positive drill results from Vertikalny and a Q2 project update in late August. Initial results for the first 210 meters of diamond drilling show 23.5 meters of “significant silver intersects.” The company’s share price grew over 4 percent following the announcement.

3. Sierra Metals (TSX:SMT)

Year-to-date gain: 11.11 percent; current share price: C$3.30

Formerly known as Dia Bras Exploration, Sierra Metals began exploration and development work in Mexico in 2003. Since then, the company has expanded and now owns the Bolivar copper-zinc-silver mine and the Cusi silver-lead mine in Mexico, along with an 82-percent share of the Yauricocha silver-lead-zinc-copper-gold mine in Peru. The company also has ongoing exploration activity in both countries.

A major highlight for Sierra’s third quarter came when the company announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) at its Bolivar mine. The PEA indicates potential for a 67-percent output expansion to 5,000 tonnes per day, which would yield a return on investment of 550 percent.

4. SSR Mining (TSX:SSRM)

Year-to-date gain: 5.51 percent; current share price: C$11.68

SSR Mining, formerly known as Silver Standard Resources, has been in operation for over 70 years and is based out of Vancouver. The company’s focus is on the operation, development, exploration and acquisition of precious metals projects. SSR has three production operations, two development operations and four exploration assets, all throughout North, South and Latin America.

Q3 was a quiet period for SSR, though the company did file a technical report for its Marigold mine in Nevada; it followed on the heels of an updated life-of-mine plan announced in June. The updated plan outlines an annual gold production rate of over 265,000 ounces, a 30-percent increase from 2017, along with a new reserve that would support mining for over 10 years and gold production for 15 years.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.