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The Silver Institute, Silver Production for 2009 is an excellent reference for country and company silver production data. The Silver Institute is the reference source for the production numbers quoted in this section.
Peru, was the top silver producing country in 2009 (2008) with 123.9 (118.3) million ounces of silver production. Mexico was #2 with 104.7 (104.2) million ounces, USA was #8 at 39.8 (36) million ounces and Canada was #11 at 19.6 (21.5) million ounces.
BHP Billiton was the top silver producing company with 42.0 (42.3) million ounces of output in 2009 (2008). Fresnillo Plc was #3 at 37.9 (34.8 in 2008) million ounces, Pan American Silver was #4 at 23.0 (18.7 in 2008) million ounces, Kinross Gold was #12 at 14.0 (10.1 in 2008) million ounces, Goldcorp was #15 at 12.8 (9.6 in 2008) million ounces, Hecla Mining was #19 at 11.0 (8.7 in 2008) million ounces and Yamana Gold was #20 at 10.5 (9.8 in 2008) million ounces.
Also see the Canadian Silver Mining Company Valuation web page for current market capitalization per ounce of silver equivalent metrics.
The Silver Institue also published a list of the World's Leading Primary Silver Mines in 2008. As of July 2009, GoldMinerPulse is tracking 4 of the top 15 silver mines with detailed company Metal Valuation Reports, including per mine break down of the silver grade, ore quantity, Proven/Probable reserves, Measured/Indicated, Inferred resources, with links to Google map views showing the mines.
Alamo Dorado, Pan American Silver mine in Mexico, #11 with 5.32 (6.12) million ounces of zilver produced in 2009 (2008)
Ying/HPG, Silvercorp Metals mine in China, #13 with 4.26 (3.41) million onunces of silver produced in 2009 (2008)
Martha, Coeur d'Alene Mines mine in Argentina, #14 with 3.71 million ounces of silver produced in 2009
Huaron, Pan American Silver mine in Peru, #15 with 3.56 (3.63) million ounces of silver produced in 2009 (2008)
A May 2009 Orko Silver Corp presentation, Top World Undeveloped Silver Deposits, on p. 18 of 31 lists (edited to reflect current ownership and show trading symbol):
Navidad, Argentina (sic Bolivia) - Pan American Silver Corp. (PAA.TO)
Waterloo, California - Pan American Silver Corp. (PAA.TO) -- Note: this mine isn't included in GoldMinerPulse counts since the resource is NOT 43-101 compliant.
Bowdens, NSW, Australia - Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSO.TO)
Candelaria, Nevada - Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSO.TO)
There are many gaps in the above list. For example, the MAG Silver and Fresnillo Joint Venture, Juanicipio which has close to 190M ounces of silver with an average grade of 580 g/t and is to be developed jointly with Fresnillo. MAG Silver's Juanicipio deposit is second only to the High River Prognoz deposit in terms of ore grade and has more in-situ ounces than Pan American's Maverick Springs deposit. Likewise, Orko Silver's La Preciosa has 135M ounces of silver with an average grade of 185 g/t which makes La Preciosa the 3rd highest undeveloped ore deposit in terms of silver ore grade and roughly on a par with Pan American's Maverick Springs in terms of size. Also see Malku Khota a South American Silver Corp. deposit in Bolivia and Escobal a Tahoe Resources Inc. deposit in Guatemala.
China encourages Silver Bullion for investment, video clip, August 2009.
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