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 The Silver Lining: Exploring the World’s Top 10 Largest Silver Mines of 2022

 Silver is mostly found in the Americas, particularly in southern Mexico and the southwestern portion of the United States. In fact, after conquering the Americas, Europe experienced an inflammation in its economy because of the sudden and vast amounts of silver being found. The countries producing the most silver include Mexico, the United States, Canada, Peru, Poland, Bolivia, and Australia.

Kitco, a leading precious metals and mining news website, recently ranked the world’s top 10 largest silver mining operations based on reported production for the 2022 calendar year. This ranking excludes Vedanta’s Sindesar Khurd mine, located in India. It is interesting to note that only about 30% of the annual silver production comes from primary silver mines, while more than a third is produced at lead/zinc operations and a further 20% at copper mines. Polymetallic ore deposits also contribute to the silver production.
Let’s take a closer look at the top 10 largest silver mines of 2022:

1.KGHM Mining Hub, Poland. 42.3 Moz. KGHM Polska Miedz’ Mining Hub consists of Rudna, Polkowice-Sieroszowice and Lubin primary copper mines located in Poland. In addition to copper, it is also an important source of silver, gold and other metals. With 42.3 Moz of silver produced in 2022, KGHM Polska Miedz is the largest silver mining operation worldwide.
For many years, KGHM has held a high position among the largest silver producers in the world. 16% of the copper giant’s revenue comes from the sale of silver.
KGHM sells silver in the form of bars and granules. The metal is supplied in the form of granules to factories producing materials for jewelry and metal plants producing alloys with Ag content. Silver in the form of bars goes mainly to financial institutions.
Silver production at KGHM
Silver production in KGHM takes place at the Głogów Copper Smelter, where the Precious Metals Department has been operating since 1993. It was created specifically to recover precious metals present in copper ore – silver and gold. They are located in the so-called “black mud”, i.e. anode slime, formed during the electrorefining of copper. From cathode silver with an Ag content above 99.99 percent, metallic silver is produced in the form of granules packed in 25 kg bags and ingots weighing about 1,000 troy ounces, which is about 31.1 kg.

2.Penasquito, Mexico. 29.7 Moz. Newmont’s Penasquito polymetallic mine consists of two open pits – Peñasco and Chile Colorado – containing gold, silver, lead and zinc. Penasquito employs flotation-and-grinding processing. Penasquito’s silver output declined by 5% y-o-y to 29.7 Moz in 2022.
Pehasquito, owned by the US company Newmont, is the largest gold and silver mine in Mexico.
Pehasquito (100% owned by Newmont) is an open-pit operation located in the northeast corner of the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, approximately 200 kilometers northeast of the city of Zacatecas and is accessible by paved roadswith a private airport near the site.
The property began production in 2009, and commercial production was achieved in 2010.Pehasquito is made up of 24 mining concessions covering 119,891 acres (48,518 hectares).
Goldcorp acquired its property in the mine in 2006 when it acquired Glamis and Newmont acquired Penasquito in2019 in the Newmont Goldcorp transaction.Perasquito consists of the Penasco and Chile Colorado open pit mines. lnaddition,Penasquito has a processing plant.

3. Dukat, Russia. 18.3 Moz. Dukat is in Dukat, Russia and owned by Polymetal. As one of Polymetal’s first operations, this mine is also one of the largest gold mines in Russia, becoming the company’s flagship mine.Dukat produced over twenty-two million ounces of silver in 2015 but only close to twenty million ounces the following year, dropping twelve percent. The gold is estimated to be a reserve of nearly eight million ounces.Silver output at Dukat decreased by 3% y-o-y, from 18.8 million ounces in 2021 to 18.3 million in 2022.

4. Antamina, Peru. 14.7 Moz. Antamina mine is a large copper-zinc-molybdenum-silver-lead operation located in the Andes, 270 kilometres north of Lima, Peru. The deposit is located at an average elevation of 4,200 metres. The owners are BHP Billiton plc (33.75%), Glencore plc (33.75%), Teck (22.5%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%). The mine is an open pit, truck/shovel operation. A 302-kilometre slurry concentrate pipeline transports copper and zinc concentrates to the port for shipment to smelters and refineries world-wide.The reserve is one hundred mega-tonnes with nearly nine grams per ton of silver, over one percent copper, and less the one percent of zinc and molybdenum.

5. San Julian, Mexico. 14.3 Moz. The San Julián silver-gold mine in Mexico is Fresnillo’s cornerstone project. The geological potential identified in the region thus far may be sufficient to establish a new mining district in the future. The San Julián mine includes two plants: i) a dynamic leaching plant to treat ore from the veins and ii) a flotation plant with 6,000 tpd capacity to process ore from the disseminated body.

6.Fresnillo, Mexico. 13.6 Moz. Fresnillo mine is located in Fresnillo, Mexico and owned by Fresnillo, the company of the same name. Mine records date as far back to 1554 at Fresnillo mine, making it one of the oldest continuously operated mines in the world. This mine also uses flotation methods. Fresnillo mine employes over one thousand people and over 1,600 contractors.
The mine produces over sixteen million ounces of silver, over thirty-eight thousand ounces of gold, over twenty tonnes of lead, and over thirty tonnes of zinc. Estimates of the reserve includes 179.7 million ounces of silver and 590 ounces of gold.Full year 2022 silver production increased compared to 2021 primarily due to a higher volume of ore processed as operating restrictions that affected ore throughput in 2021 were addressed.

7. Saucito, Mexico. 12 Moz. Located in Zacatecas, Mexico, 8km SW of the Fresnillo mine, Saucito is one of Fresnillo’s most important assets. Being in operation since 2011, Saucito employees over 750 workers and over 1,800 contractors.
The reserves on average hold 261 grams per ton of silver and a little over one gram per ton of gold. The mine has produced over twenty-one million ounces of silver, nearly seventy thousand ounces of gold, over seventeen thousand tonnes of lead, and over twenty thousand tonnes of zinc.Full year 2022 silver production of 12 Moz decreased by 3.7% vs. FY21 driven by a lower volume of ore processed mainly due to changes to the short planning process.

8.Cannington, Australia. 11.7 Moz. South32’s Cannington silver-lead-zinc mine, located in north-west Queensland, was a long-time undisputed leader in silver production, with a record 44 million ounces of silver achieved in 2005. In eighteen mega-tonnes of sulphide ore, over ten percent is lead and nearly four percent is zinc. Silver production in 2016 was eighteen and a quarter million ounces.
Coming into operation in 1999, Cannington was the largest producer of silver in the world until 2010. South32 was once part of the company BHP Billiton’s before a split with this mine being part of the deal.Since then, silver output dropped significantly due to reduced silver grades, and Cannington has finally lost its number one position in recent years. In calendar 2022, silver production at the mine decreased by 19% to 11.7 Moz.

9. Cerro Los Gatos, Mexico. 10.3 Moz. Silver production at Cerro Los Gatos was a record of 10.3 million ounces in 2022, up 36% from 7.6 million ounces in 2021, and above the high end of the most recent 2022 guidance range of 9.35 million to 9.65 million ounces. The higher silver production was primarily due to higher silver ore grades and higher mill throughput rates.

10. Greens Creek, USA. 9.7 Moz. Hecla’s 100%-owned and operated Greens Creek mine located in southeast Alaska. The Greens Creek orebody contains silver, zinc, gold and lead. Greens Creek is an underground mine. The primary mining methods are cut and fill and longhole stoping. Greens Creek produced 9.7 million ounces of silver in 2022, an increase of 5% over the prior year, achieving record mill throughput.

Silver, due to its unique physical properties, is used in jewelry, electronics, electrical engineering, medicine, optics, energy and many others. It is also used in the latest technological solutions, including infrastructure, automotive and photovoltaics. In total, industry consumes about 40 percent. It is also a valued investment metal.

In nature, silver is rarely found as a pure metal – it occurs most often in the form of compounds with copper, lead, zinc and gold ores
it has unique physical properties – it is ductile and malleable, with a shiny sheen
has the greatest electrical and thermal conductivity
already in antiquity it was valued as a precious metal for making jewelry and as a currency
currently silver is used e.g. for the production of electrical and electronic equipment, film tapes and panels, mirrors, musical instruments
thanks to its bactericidal properties, it has even been used in medicine – for the production of surgical instruments and medicines

Silver is often pulled out of an open pit or underground mine as ore. In the flotation method, the ore is crushed and put through a floating process to extract the silver and other valuable minerals. Silver is also extracted by smelting or chemical leaching. Mercury was used for silver extraction in the 1800s but not so much today.

It is important to note that silver mining is a capital-intensive industry with high costs and risks. However, silver remains a valuable and sought-after precious metal with various industrial and investment uses. As such, the world’s top silver mines play a crucial role in meeting the demand for this precious metal.

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