Silver Stock Calculator
Risk-adjusted per-share NAV for silver deposits. Same 5-category confidence weighting and PEA/PFS/FS stage haircuts used for the gold tool. Grade in g/t, price in $/oz, and up to four silver-price benchmarks side-by-side.
How It Works
- Enter resource/reserve tonnage by category from the 43-101.
- Silver grade in g/t, recovery in %, opex/capex/mine life.
- Choose the study stage and enter 1-4 silver-price benchmarks.
- Read the stage-adjusted NAV row for your position sizing.
Silver-Specific Notes
- Silver recoveries are typically 75-90% — lower than gold due to more complex metallurgy on sulphide silver ores.
- Most silver production is byproduct of lead-zinc or copper mining — pure silver deposits are rare. Use the polymetallic calculator for lead-zinc-silver.
- Average grade for economic silver deposits: 50-500 g/t. Above 500 g/t is high grade.
Known Limitations (V1)
This calculator is a directional tool, not a replacement for a full engineering model. What it does not include:
- Corporate tax (add ~25-30% to opex for a rough proxy)
- Sustaining capex during operations — material in declining-grade operations
- Inflation adjustment — all numbers in nominal USD
- Royalty streams and NSR payments
- Debt servicing — the calculator assumes 100% equity financing
- Silver-price hedges — a hedged producer earns less upside than the spot price suggests
- Silver-primary only — use the polymetallic calculator for silver-lead-zinc or gold-silver deposits with byproduct credits
Do your own due diligence.
Read the company's 43-101 technical report, their most recent annual information form, and their insider-transaction filings before acting on any NAV estimate — including this one. Informational only; not investment advice. Full disclaimer →
Understanding Silver Stock Valuations
Silver NAV is Harder Than Gold NAV — Here's Why
Silver sits at a messy intersection of monetary and industrial commodity behaviour, which makes NAV modelling more finicky than gold. Silver prices respond to the same monetary drivers as gold (real interest rates, dollar strength, safe-haven flows) but also to industrial demand cycles — photovoltaic panel production is now the largest single silver demand category, and changes in solar-panel thrifting or grid-buildout pace move silver prices in ways gold does not experience. When you pick a silver price deck for this calculator, consider whether you want spot, a trailing average, or a longer-term deck that reflects normalised industrial demand.
How This Calculator Builds the Number
The math converts silver grade (grams per tonne) to recoverable troy ounces per tonne, multiplies by your silver price to get revenue per tonne processed, and runs a three-step DCF: revenue spread across mine life, operating costs deducted, capex subtracted, result discounted back to present value at your chosen discount rate. Resource-category confidence weights apply to tonnage (inferred 20%, indicated 50%, measured 75%, probable 85%, proven 100%) and a study-stage haircut (PEA 30% cut, PFS 15%, FS 0%) applies to the final NAV. The result is a per-share risk-adjusted NAV at each silver price you specify.
The Byproduct Silver Problem
Most silver production globally comes as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper, or gold mining — only about 30% of annual silver output comes from primary silver mines. If you are valuing a silver-primary producer (First Majestic, Endeavour Silver, Fortuna Mining, Pan American Silver), this calculator is the right tool. If you are valuing a polymetallic miner where silver is a secondary revenue stream (Pan American's Huaron, for example), the Polymetallic Stock Calculator handles gold-silver and copper-silver combinations more accurately. A silver-only NAV on a polymetallic asset will systematically underestimate the deposit's real value.
Silver Recovery is Trickier Than Gold Recovery
Silver metallurgy varies more than gold metallurgy. Simple sulphide silver ores run high recoveries (90%+) through conventional CIL processing. Refractory silver ores can require oxidation pre-treatment or specialised leach chemistry, with recoveries as low as 65-75%. Carbonaceous host rocks create "preg-robbing" problems that further degrade recovery. The default recovery of 82% in this calculator is a reasonable average, but if the 43-101 reports a different figure for the specific deposit you are valuing, use that number — a 10-point recovery change produces a roughly 10% NAV change at constant grade and price.
The Gold-Silver Ratio as a Sanity Check
After you generate a silver NAV, check it against the prevailing gold-silver ratio (gold price divided by silver price). Historical range is 50-100; long-run average is roughly 65. If your silver-price assumption puts the ratio at an extreme (below 50 or above 100), your NAV output reflects that extreme — not an average-cycle valuation. Contrarian investors sometimes use extreme ratios as allocation signals; for NAV modelling, it is usually safer to use a price that puts the ratio in the 55-80 range unless you have a specific thesis on the direction.