2022 is just around the corner and with tax loss selling in Canada, investors and traders will be wondering what sectors will be in the money next year. One of the commodities that a lot of metal watchers and analysts these days are talking about is silver. One reason is that silver stocks is the most undervalued commodity and according to many it is also the most suppressed commodity. Looking forward there is going to be huge demand for silver for everything from solar panels to electric cars and almost everything in between. Just recently a couple of the big silver producers said they are now withholding silver going into the market. They are just plain sick and tired of seeing the Comex, bullion banks, traders, funds and Wall street manipulate the price of silver on paper day in and day. I don't blame these miners one bit.
Right now most silver miners and silver explorers across the board are seeing their stock prices pretty much at yearly lows and for a lot of these miners stocks there is potential to make a lot of money going forward when silver prices do take off. We're going to take a look at what we think is the top three silver miners to own shares in. These a miners with actual mines running and producing silver everyday.
First up on the top three list is First Majestic Silver TSX:FR Being one of the worlds largest silver miner First Majestic carries a lot of clout in the silver market. When the Wall Street Bets group decide to buy silver back in January 2021, they went in and bought First Majestic hand over fist. First Majestic saw it's stock price double litterly over night. Since that time the stock has pulled back to reasonable levels and at the time of this writing the stock price is sitting at $17 CAD.
FR Chart by TradingView
First Majestic is one of the biggest names in Mexico and has multiple mines there plus projects and streams in Nevada and Canada. Headed by CEO Keith Neumeyer this company will produce appoximately 13 million ounces of silver and 100,000 ounce of gold from it's mining operations. Their largest mine in Mexico is the San Dimas which is located in the state of Durango, Mexico consists of 71,867 hectares of mining claims. This mining and milling facility is estimated to produce 8 million ounces in 2021. This mine has a measured and indicated resource of 62 million ounces silver and 750 thousand ounce of gold. The company is able to mine and mill these resources for about 12 bucks an ounce.
First Majestic additional mines include the Santa Elana and the La Encantada located in Mexico and Jerrit Canyon which is locatred in Nevada. First Majestic also has 8 different exploration projects on the go throughout Mexico plus has a silver stream at the Spring Pole project in Canada. First Majestic trades on both the TSX and the NYSE.
Second silver miner up on the list is Endeavour Silver TSX:EDR. Endeavour operates two, underground, silver & gold mines in Mexico. The company is currently advancing the Terronera Mine Project towards development. The first mine is the Guanacevi which is a high grade silver mine and milling operation. It is located 250KM from Durango City and con=vers an area of 4200 hecatres. In 2020 this mine produced 3.1 million ounces of silver and 9,814 ounces of gold. Endeavour's second mine, the Bolanitos, is located just outside of Guanajuato City and covers an area of 2500 heactares. The mill is capable of milling 1600 tons per day. This mine in 2020 produced 353,318 ounces silver and 18,963 ounces gold. Mineral grades at this mine are silver at 40 gram per ton and gold at 2.02 grams per ton.
EDR Chart by TradingView
Endeavour also has a third operation, the Terronera, that will be going into production. This will also be a high grade silver mining operation consisting of 25 mineral concessions, totalling 20,128 hectares. This deposit has upwards of 40 veins in which many have not been drilled. Some of these veins are 1 to 8 meters thick and even up to 30 meteres in places with grades ranging anywhere from 100 to 1000 grams per ton silver and 1 to 10 grams per ton gold.
Endeavour has additional exploration projects on the go also. There are three projects in Mexico and three projects in Chile. At the time of this writing November 2021, Endeavour had $129 million in cash and no debt. Between all mines and projects Endeavour has a Measured and indicated resource of 21,466,000 ounces silver and 201,600 ounces gold. Endeavour stocks trades under both the TSX and the NYSE.
Number 3. Our third silver miner is Alexco Resources TSX:AXU. Alexco is a Yukon silver miner that has it's mines and mill in the Keno Hill Mining district of the Yukon. The Keno Hill District is well known as one of the world's highest-grade silver districts. According to the Yukon government's own mineral database, this district has produced in excess of 200 Million ounces of silver from over 5.3 Million tons of ore with average grades of 44 ounces per ton making it the second largest historical silver producer in Canada.
In May of 2021 Alexco filed a new updated technical report which increased it's mineral reserves by 22%. This new updated reserve mine plan is projected to allow the company to produce over 35.5 million ounces of silver over the next 8 years.
AXU Chart by TradingView
There are four mines in the area that the company has to extract ore from. These mine are the Bellakeno, Lucky Queen, Flame and Moth and the Bermingham. Total indicated ounces for all these mines including the Bellakeno surface stockpile is 73,352,000 ounces silver. Total inferred ounces is 24,413,000. The company has an ongoing drill program that is continuing to build on this resource. In fact recent drilling updated drilling at Bermingham has shown grades of 20.37 meteres of 1,681 grams per ton silver. 54 ounces per ton. This grade is on a 500 meter strike length & +100 meter vertical extention. The Bellekeno silver mine is one of the world's highest grade silver mines with a production grade of up to 1,000 grams per ton of silver. Alexco trades on both the TSX and the NYSE.
This write up isn't much more than a tweet but it will gives you a brief highlight of what we concider to be the top three silver miners that are poised to do well in 2022 and with an increase in silver prices.
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