Silver Prices in the Doldrums, Suppliers Hold Back and Wait; Spot Premiums Remain High [SMM Daily Review]

On April 30th, South32 raised the development cost estimate for the Taylor deposit at its Hermosa zinc-silver project in Arizona, US, and delayed the timeline. First-stage capital expenditure has increased by more than 50%, from $2.2 billion in the 2024 FS to $3.3 billion. First production has been delayed by one year to H2 FY2028, full production has also been pushed back to FY2031. Cost increase was mainly due to contractor underperformance, slower-than-expected construction productivity, scope changes, inflation, US tariffs and higher input costs. Progress on a key ventilation shaft is the main bottleneck now. But the company also noted that ore reserves at Taylor increased by 52%, mineral resources rose by 10%, extending the expected mine life from 28 years to around 33 years.

[SMM Precious Metals Market News] The silver point premiums in silver nitrate prices remained stable. Although the price spread in silver ingot premiums widened, "invoiced transactions" remained the mainstream trading model in the market. Influenced by factors such as raw material quality and brand requirements, the silver point premiums of some silver nitrate enterprises stayed within the range of -10 yuan/kg to 0 yuan/kg, with no signs of widening discounts.

[SMM Silver Market News] A silver nitrate enterprise revealed that its orders in April declined significantly compared to February and March, with processing trade with supplied materials being the main order type. Notably, compared to direct sales of finished silver nitrate products, the processing fee charged for silver nitrate under processing trade with supplied materials was slightly raised.