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Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) is a base and precious metals explorer with a high-quality asset portfolio in some of Australia’s resource-rich mineral provinces. The company holds two projects: the Arunta Project in the Northern Territory (NT), and the Cobar Project in the Cobar Basin of New South Wales (NSW), a world-class mineral jurisdiction.
Eastern Metals is exploring the advanced Home of Bullion deposit in the NT, which hosts a resource of 3.1 million metric tons @ 2.9 percent copper-equivalent – and the Browns Reef zinc-lead-copper-silver deposit in the Cobar Basin of NSW, a world-class mineral jurisdiction.
The Arunta Project is located in the Northern Territory encompassing a land package of 539 sq km, and is strategically located between the Stuart Highway, the Adelaide-Darwin rail corridor, and the Amadeus gas pipeline, east of Barrow Creek in the NT. The northern project area comprises one deposit and two prospects – Home of Bullion, Mulbangas and Prospect D.
Company Highlights
- Eastern Metals is an ASX-listed exploration company focused on discovering and developing strategically located base and precious metals projects in New South Wales (Cobar Project) and the Northern Territory (Arunta Project).
- Eastern Metals’ flagship assets are the Home of Bullion deposit in the Northern Territory (NT), which hosts a total Identified Mineral Resource of 3.1 million metric tons @ 2.9% copper equivalent – and the Browns Reef zinc-silver-lead-copper-gold deposit in the world-class Cobar Basin, New South Wales (NSW).
- Both Home of Bullion and Browns Reef are strategically located, with ready access to road, rail and energy infrastructure.
- The world-class Cobar Basin in NSW is enjoying a resurgence courtesy of some new discoveries and Metal Acquisition’s (NYSE:MTAL,ASX:MAC) purchase of the CSA Mine in June 2023.
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Eastern Metals
Investor Insight
Eastern Metals is a base and precious metals explorer with a high-quality asset portfolio located in some of Australia’s best known mineral provinces.
Eastern Metals’ core focus is on the advanced Home of Bullion deposit in the NT, which hosts a Resource of 3.1 million metric tons @ 2.9 percent copper-equivalent – and the Browns Reef zinc-lead-copper-silver deposit in the Cobar Basin of NSW, a world-class mineral jurisdiction.
With favorable supply and demand dynamics for copper and an advanced asset portfolio – Eastern Metals provides de-risked exposure to strategic metals and a compelling proposition for investors evaluating the strategic metals space.Overview
Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) is an ASX-listed base and precious metals explorer with a portfolio of high-quality assets in some of Australia’s most resource-rich regions, with established production, transport and energy infrastructure.
With many centuries of intensive use, base and precious metals are well understood at every stage of the project lifecycle – from exploration to development, mining, processing and offtake – offering de-risked exposure to the energy thematic.
The company holds two projects: the Arunta Project in the Northern Territory (NT), and the Cobar Project in the Cobar Basin of New South Wales (NSW), a world-class mineral jurisdiction. The company’s main focus is on two advanced assets: the Home of Bullion deposit in the NT and the Browns Reef deposit in the Cobar Basin, both strategically located, with ready access to road, rail and energy infrastructure.
Eastern Metals is led by a board and management team with significant breadth and depth of experience in exploration, discovery, development and governance, and a strong track record in delivering value for shareholders.
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Exploring for strategic metals vital to energy security in Australian, resource-rich provinces
Silver Price Surges Above US$44 Following Fed Rate Decision
Silver price chart, December 31, 2024, to September 22, 2025.
Chart via the Investing News Network.
The gold price also reached a fresh all-time high on Monday, climbing to US$3,748.80 per ounce. The gains for both metals follow an interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve at its meeting last week.
Although inflation has been moving further from the Fed’s 2 percent target, there has been greater uncertainty in the labor force. August’s nonfarm payroll report indicates greater slowing in the jobs market, with just 22,000 jobs added during the month; it also came with a downward revision showing the economy lost 13,000 jobs in June.
In its post-meeting statement, the Fed focuses on the worsening jobs market, noting that a 25 basis point cut allows it greater flexibility should the effects of tariffs on inflation be more sustained.
However, 90 percent of analysts are predicting that the central bank will make another cut when it next meets on October 28 and 29. That would provide additional tailwinds for precious metals markets.
The silver market is also benefiting from a high gold price as some investors turn to alternative safe-haven assets with lower entry prices. Additionally, silver has been in a structural deficit for the past several years as demand increases from industrial segments, providing significant upward momentum.
So far this year, the silver price has increased 52 percent, outpacing gold, which has gained 42 percent.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
What Was the Highest Price for Silver?
In this article
How is silver traded?
Before discovering what the highest silver price was, it’s worth looking at how the precious metal is traded. Knowing the mechanics can be useful in understanding why and how its price changes on a day-to-day basis and beyond.
Put simply, silver bullion is traded in dollars and cents per ounce, with market activity taking place worldwide at all hours, resulting in a live silver price. Key commodities markets like New York, London and Hong Kong are just a few locations where investors trade the metal. London is seen as the center of physical silver trade, while the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, called the NYMEX, is where most paper trading is done.
There are two popular ways to invest in silver. The first is through purchasing silver bullion products such as bullion bars, bullion coins and silver rounds. Physical silver is sold on the spot market, meaning that in order to invest in silver this way, buyers pay a specific price for the metal — the silver price per ounce — and then have it delivered immediately.
The second is accomplished through paper trading, which is done via the silver futures market, with participants entering into futures contracts for the delivery of silver at an agreed-upon price and time. In such contracts, two positions can be taken: a long position to accept delivery of the metal or a short position to provide delivery.
Paper trading might sound like a strange way to get silver exposure, but it can provide investors with flexibility that they wouldn’t get from buying and selling bullion. The most obvious advantage is perhaps the fact that trading in the paper market means silver investors can benefit long term from holding silver without needing to store it. Furthermore, futures trading can offer more financial leverage in that it requires less capital than trading in the physical market.
Market participants can also invest in silver through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Investing in a silver ETF is similar to trading a stock on an exchange, and there are several silver ETFs to choose from. Some ETFs focus on physical silver bullion, while others focus on silver futures contracts. Still others focus on silver stocks or follow the live silver price.
What is silver's all-time high price?
The silver all-time high was US$49.95 per ounce, a level it reached on January 17, 1980.
However, the price didn’t exactly reach that level by honest means. As Britannica explains, two wealthy traders called the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market by buying not only physical silver, but also silver futures — they took delivery of those silver futures contracts instead of taking legal tender in the form cash settlements.
Their exploits ultimately ended in disaster: On March 27, 1980, they missed a margin call and the silver market price plunged to US$10.80. This day is infamously known as Silver Thursday.
That record silver price wouldn’t be tested again until April 2011, when it reached US$47.94. This was more than triple the 2009 average silver price of US$14.67, with the price uptick coming on the back of very strong investment demand.
Silver's price history since 2011
Silver price chart, September 22, 2005, to September 22, 2025.
Chart via SilverPrice.org.
After its 2011 peak, silver's price pulled back over the following years before settling between US$15 and US$20 for much of the second half of last decade. An upward trend in the silver price started in mid-2020, when it was spurred on by the economic uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The price of silver breached the key US$26 level in early August 2020, and soon after tested US$30. However, it failed to make substantial progress past that.
In the spring of 2023, the silver price surged by 30 percent, briefly rising above US$26 in early May; however, the precious metal cratered back down to US$20.90 in early October. Later that month, silver advanced toward the US$23 level on the back of safe-haven demand due to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Following remarks from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speculation about interest rate reductions sent the price of silver to US$25.48 on November 30, its highest point for the fourth quarter.
After starting 2024 on a low note, the white metal saw gains in March on rising Fed rate cut expectations. The resulting upward momentum led silver to reach a Q1 high of US$25.62 on March 20 before breaking through the US$30 mark on May 17. The silver price reached a then 12 year high of US$32.33 on May 20. In Q3, the metal's price slid down below the US$27 mark to as low as US$26.64 by August 7 alongside its industrial cousin copper.
Heading into Q4 2024, silver reversed course to the upside, tracking the record breaking moves in the gold price. Silver once again breached the US$30 level on September 13 and continued higher. On October 21, the silver price moved as high as US$34.20 during the trading day, up more than 48 percent since the start of the year and its highest level in 12 years. However, silver spent the rest of the year in decline, bottoming out at US$28.94 on December 30.
Silver price performance in 2025
Silver price chart, December 31, 2024, to September 22, 2025.
Chart via the Investing News Network.
The silver price experienced a momentum shift at the start of 2025, breaking through the US$30 barrier as early as January 5, and reached US$31.31 by January 29. The metal continued to post gains through much of February and March, climbing to US$32.94 on February 20 and then peaking at its quarterly high of US$34.21 on March 28.
Following US President Donald Trump's tariff announcements on April 2, silver slumped to below US$30. While the Trump administration’s tariff policies have been largely beneficial for safe-haven assets like precious metals, there were concerns that the threat of tariffs could weaken industrial demand, which could cool price gains in the silver market.
Yet those concerns were pushed to the back burner as recent economic and geopolitical events have raised analysts’ expectations of a September rate cut by the Fed. The benchmark rate has not changed since November 2024.
On June 5, the silver price rose to a 13 year high of US$36.05 in early morning trading, before retreating toward the US$35.50 mark. By June 16, the white metal had broken through the US$37 mark for the first time since May 2011.
In July, increasing geopolitical strife in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine coupled with a positive outlook for China’s solar power industry proved price positive for both silver’s precious metals and industrial angles.
The silver price overtook the US$39 level to reach US$39.24 on July 22.
These same forces, coupled with the nearly unanimous rate cut expectations, launched the price of silver to over US$40 on August 31 for the first time since 2011, and by September 3 it had climbed as high as US$41.45.
The price of silver continued climbing rapidly through September, breaking through US$42, US$43 and US$44 per ounce. Silver set its latest 14 year high of US$44.11 per ounce during trading on September 22.
While it has yet to surpass its all time high in US dollars set in 1980, the silver price has now beat its all-time highs in most currencies, including Canadian dollars and Australian dollars.
Silver supply and demand dynamics
Market watchers are curious as to whether the silver price will continue its upward trajectory in 2025. Only time will tell, and it will depend on the white metal's ability to remain above the critical US$30 level.
Like other metals, the silver spot price is most heavily influenced by supply and demand dynamics. However, as the information above illustrates, the silver price can be highly volatile. That's partially due to the fact that the metal is subject to both investment and industrial metal demand within global markets.
In other words, it’s bought by investors who want it as a store of wealth, as well as by manufacturers looking to use it for different applications that are incredibly varied. For example, silver has diverse technological applications and is used in devices like batteries and catalysts, but it’s also used in medicine and in the automotive industry.
In terms of supply, the world’s three top producers of the metal are Mexico, China and Peru. Even in those countries silver is usually a by-product — for instance, a mine producing primarily gold or lead might also have silver output.
The Silver Institute's latest World Silver Survey, put together by Metals Focus, outlines a 0.9 percent increase in global mine production to 819.7 million ounces in 2024. This was in partly the result of a return to operations at Newmont's (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM) Peñasquito mine in Mexico following a suspension of activity brought about by strike action among workers and improved recoveries out of Fresnillo (LSE:FRES,OTC Pink:FNLPF) and MAG Silver's (TSX:MAG,NYSEAMERICAN:MAG) Juanicipio. Silver output also increased in Australia, Bolivia and the US.
The firm is forecasting a 1.9 percent rise in global silver mine production to 823 million ounces in 2025. Much of that growth is expected to come out of Mexico, and it is also projecting output will rise in Chile and Russia.
Lower production from Australia and Peru will offset some of these gains.
Looking at demand, Metals Focus sees growth in 2025 flatlining as industrial fabrication takes a hit from the global tariff war. This could be tempered by an anticipated rebound in demand from physical investment in silver bars and coins.
The silver market is expected to experience a substantial deficit of 117.6 million ounces in 2025, amounting to the sixth straight year of supply shortage for the metal.
Is the silver price manipulated?
As a final note on silver, it’s important for investors to be aware that manipulation of prices is a major issue in the space.
For instance, in 2015, 10 banks were hit in a US probe on precious metals manipulation. Evidence provided by Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) showed “smoking gun” proof that UBS Group (NYSE:UBS), HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC), the The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) and other firms were involved in rigging silver rates from 2007 to 2013. In May 2023, a silver manipulation lawsuit filed in 2014 against HSBC and the Bank of Nova Scotia was dismissed by a US court.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) has been long at the center of silver manipulation claims as well. For years the firm has been in and out of court for the accusations. In 2020, JPMorgan agreed to pay US$920 million to resolve federal agency probes regarding the manipulation of multiple markets, including precious metals.
In 2014, the London Silver Market Fixing stopped administering the London silver fix, which had been used for over a century to fix the price of silver. It was replaced by the LBMA Silver Price, which is run by ICE Benchmark Administration, in a bid to increase market transparency.
Market watchers like Ed Steer have said that the days of silver manipulation are numbered, and that the market will see a significant shift when the time finally comes.
Investor takeaway
Silver has neared US$50 multiple times, including its all-time high, and as momentum continues for the silver price in 2025 investors are wondering if it could reach those heights once again.
While it's impossible to know for sure what's next for silver, keeping an eye on the factors driving its performance, including gold's performance, geopolitics, the economy and industrial demand, will help investors make decisions on when to buy and sell.
Additionally, keeping up-to-date on what precious metals experts are predicting for gold and silver in INN's expert interviews can help investors stay on top of the market.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2015.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.