Silver price nears $90/oz: supply deficits and project signals for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Silver surged more than 4% on Tuesday to a record $89.05/oz, extending its 2026 gain to 12% after a 140% rise in 2025 driven by persistent structural deficits, heavy inflows into precious metals and its inclusion on the US critical minerals list. Last year’s tariff concerns triggered substantial metal outflows into the US and a historic squeeze in London, tightening available liquidity for industrial users and refiners. Analysts at HSBC had projected a $58–$88/oz range with a later correction, but CME Group and Metals Focus now see a three‑digit peak as increasingly likely.
Technical Brief
- London market experienced a “historic squeeze” as physical units were redirected to the US on tariff fears.
- ANZ strategist Soni Kumari flagged near‑term volatility risk even as prices edge towards $90/oz.
- CME Group reports rising retail participation using silver to diversify metal exposure under geopolitical uncertainty.
Our Take
HSBC’s silver trading range of $58–88/oz in this piece sits alongside its separate call for gold potentially reaching $5,050/oz in early 2026, signalling that the bank’s house view is for an extended period of elevated precious metal prices rather than a short-lived spike.
The move towards $90/oz follows the sharp pullback to $73.91/oz noted in our 8 January silver coverage, underlining that price volatility is now extreme on a weekly basis and will complicate hedging decisions for primary silver and polymetallic miners planning 2026 budgets.
Across the 205 keyword-matched pieces on silver and gold in our database, only a handful have referenced silver levels above $80/oz, so projects in the USA and elsewhere that were marginal at historical prices may now reassess cut-off grades and mine lives based on a structurally higher price deck.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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