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Eastern Metals Ltd (ASX:EMS) (“Eastern Metals” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce that recent fieldwork programs across the 100%-owned EL6321, part of its Browns Reef Project (Figure 1), located in the southern Cobar Basin of NSW, have identified new zones of anomalous base metal mineralisation in the northern portion of the project area.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Assay results from recent fieldwork programs to the north of known high-grade mineralisation at the Browns Reef Project in NSW’s southern Cobar Basin have returned highly anomalous grades from surface rock chip samples.
- Mapping and pXRF traverses along the Woorara Fault, a regional-scale structure related to known mineralisation at the high-grade Pineview and Evergreen zones, have identified new anomalous zones north and south of Evergreen, which have been named ‘Kelpie Hill’ and ‘Windmill Dam’ respectively.
- Planning is underway to update and extend the existing drilling approvals for Evergreen to include these prospects, along with an Induced Polarisation (IP) survey.
- Three land access agreements have now been secured for EL9136 (Bothrooney), with reconnaissance fieldwork on this tenement scheduled for mid-June 2024.
The fieldwork programs were completed in April 2024 and May 2024 and focused on the Woorara Fault, to the north of the known high-grade Pineview and Evergreen zones at Browns Reef1. A JORC Table 1 is provided at Appendix A.
Commenting on the results, Eastern Metals’ Chief Executive Officer Ley Kingdom said: “These are highly encouraging initial results from our fieldwork programs, which have confirmed the ability of mapping and soil pXRF analysis to identify geochemical trends within EL6321.
“What’s even more encouraging is that these programs have highlighted new anomalous areas along the prospective Woorara Fault. These new areas include Kelpie Hill and Windmill Dam, located to the north and south of the known high-grade mineralisation zone at Evergreen.
“Kelpie Hill and Windmill Dam will be high-priority target areas for upcoming exploration programs, with IP surveys and drilling planned to test whether these represent a continuous zone of mineralisation between Pineview and Evergreen, and potentially, a northern extension of Evergreen.”
Figure 1: Location of EL6321, Browns Reef and the Pineview, Evergreen, Kelpie Hill & Windmill Dam prospects.
EL6321 Browns Reef Overview
Browns Reef (EL6321) is an ‘advanced exploration project’ located 5km west of Lake Cargelligo in the southern Cobar Basin, NSW. It is a structurally controlled, polymetallic system extending along the inferred Woorara Fault and the Preston Formation and Clements Formation contact.
Fieldwork within EL6321 was undertaken in April 2024 and focused on the area between the Lachlan Valley Way Road and the North Uabba Road. The program was aimed at ground truthing and, where possible, adding to the auger and rotary air blast (RAB) hole data and geological mapping originally acquired by the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia Ltd (EZ) in the 1970s.
Most paddocks in the area have been cropped or cultivated at some stage and outcrop is rare; however, gossanous material is commonly evident in stone raked piles throughout the entire strike length of the inferred Woorara Fault and Preston-Clements contact, defining a north-northwest trending zone.
In addition, ground reconnaissance revealed that gossanous float material was often present scattered along the approximate trend of the inferred mineralised zone; it is believed that significant displacement of this float due to farm activities has not taken place. In total, 28 samples of gossanous rock material were collected for assaying, comprising an average of 1-2kg per sample from multiple pieces of surface float.
A second field trip was conducted in mid-May 2024 utilising a SciAps X555 portable X-ray fluorescence analyser (pXRF) to conduct soil readings every 10 metres along east-west traverses. Line spacing was informed based on real-time results and the previous day’s visual assessment of geochemical dispersion of lead. The program was used to test the pXRF capabilities for detecting lead in soils and identifying geochemical trends across the different lithologies at Browns Reef.
The Tertiary basalt coverage within EL6321 is a considerable masking lithology that potentially covers portions of the northern extension of the Browns Reef mineralisation. The pXRF demonstrated that soil anomalism of lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) were readily traceable within the soil profiles and decreasing Pb results could effectively map out the basalt and Clements Formation contact zones. Rock chip samples paired with the pXRF readings were able to distinguish further prospective zones to the south and north of the Evergreen deposit.
Of particular note are two new prospective areas now designated “Kelpie Hill” and “Windmill Dam”. Kelpie Hill is located approximately 700 metres to the northwest of Evergreen, and Windmill Dam is 500 metres to the southeast.
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This article includes content from Eastern Metals, licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
EMS:AU
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
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 the 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 recent price history
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.
Silver price chart, September 2, 2005, to September 2, 2025.
Chart via SilverPrice.org.
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 Rerserve 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 in 2025
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.
Silver price chart, September 2, 2024, to September 2, 2025.
Chart via Silverprice.org.
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.
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
While silver has neared US$50 multiple times, including its all-time high, it’s anyone’s guess whether it will reach those heights once again. Many commentators say prospects are bright for silver, and investors will no doubt be watching to see how the metal fares.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2015.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, currently hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Silver Price Surges Above US$40 for First Time Since 2011
Silver price chart, June 1 to September 2, 2025.
Chart via the Investing News Network.
Alongside silver's move, the gold price reached a fresh all-time high on Tuesday as expectations rose that the Fed will cut interest rates when it meets next from September 16 to 17.
Although inflation has been moving further from the Fed’s 2 percent target, there has been greater uncertainty in the labor force. July’s nonfarm payroll report indicated slowing growth in the jobs market and featured a downward revision of 258,000 fewer jobs in May and June combined. The next report, due on Friday (September 5), has analysts predicting further weakness in the US jobs market, with expectations of 73,000 jobs being added to the economy.
A weak jobs market has been fueled by uncertainty within the economy since the start of the year amid an ever-changing tariff policy under President Donald Trump. On August 29, a federal appeals court struck down the majority of Trump’s tariffs in a seven-to-four ruling, deeming the levies to be unconstitutional.
The tariffs will remain in place until October 14, giving the White House time to mount an appeal of the decision with the Supreme Court of the US. The order adds another level of uncertainty to an already chaotic market, pushing 10 and 30 year bond yields up and driving a selloff in equity markets. Investors are spooked that the ruling may require the government to repay tariffs that have already been collected, adding to the ballooning US federal debt.
The silver price is also benefiting from the high gold price, as some investors look for safe-haven assets at lower entry points. Additionally, silver has increasing industrial applications, which have driven a structural supply deficit in the market, providing underlying fundamental support for investors.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Cobre Limited: Unlocking Copper and Critical Minerals for a Low-carbon Future
Cobre (ASX:CBE) is advancing copper-silver exploration in Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt, one of the world’s most prospective yet underexplored sediment-hosted copper provinces. Holding a 5,348 sq km land position, its near-term focus is the Ngami Copper Project (NCP), where a maiden JORC resource at the Comet deposit establishes an initial copper-silver resource with strong in-situ copper recovery (ISCR) development potential.
Cobre’s growth strategy balances district-scale discovery with development-ready assets. Backed by up to AU$40 million (US$25 million) in BHP funding, the company is accelerating exploration at Kitlanya while directing its own capital toward advancing the Ngami Copper Project through technical, environmental and permitting milestones.
Cobre’s project location in the Kalahari Copper BeltIn parallel, Cobre maintains strategic exposure to high-purity quartz and volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) opportunities in Western Australia. This diversified, capital-light approach is designed to drive shareholder value through discovery, de-risking and development optionality.
Company Highlights
- Dominant land position – ~5,348 sq km across Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt (KCB), the second largest tenement package in the districtInvestor
- Maiden JORC Mineral Resource – Comet deposit (Ngami copper project): 11.5 Mt @ 0.52 percent copper and 11.6 grams per ton (g/t) silver (60.3 kt copper; 4.3 Moz silver), incl. 1.1 Mt indicated @ 0.59 percent copper and 12.8 g/t silver
- BHP partnership – Eight-year earn-in across Kitlanya East & West, allowing BHP to earn 75 percent by providing up to US$25 million for exploration expenditure, while Cobre retains exposure
- BHP Xplor cohort – Selected in 2024, securing US$500,000 non-dilutive funding and technical support
- Multi-jurisdiction exploration portfolio – Botswana (copper-silver), Western Australia (VMS, high-purity quartz)
This Cobre Limited profile is part of a paid investor education campaign.*
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