Silver price soars after Comex outage: hedging implications for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Silver prices jumped 4% to a record spot level of US$55.66/oz after a technical outage halted trading on the CME Group’s Comex platform. The spike follows weeks of tightness in physical supply reported by major bullion banks and refiners, with elevated lease rates and backwardation already signalling stress in near-term delivery. Price volatility at these levels may complicate hedging strategies for primary silver producers and polymetallic miners, particularly those with high by-product exposure in Mexico and Peru.
Technical Brief
- For project finance models, short-lived spikes of this type rarely justify revising long-term silver price decks.
Our Take
A spot price of US$55.66/oz materially improves project economics for high‑capex silver developments such as Minaurum’s Alamos district in Mexico, potentially pulling marginal or lower‑grade veins into mineable reserve categories in upcoming studies.
For brownfield underground assets like Excellon’s Mallay gold‑silver mine in Peru, a sustained silver price near current levels tends to justify deeper exploration and higher development spend per metre, which can change sequencing towards higher‑risk, high‑grade targets.
With several silver‑tagged pieces in our recent mining coverage, this record price environment is likely to sharpen competition for quality silver projects and concentrate financing towards assets that can move into production or expansion decisions within a relatively short timeframe.
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.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
Tunnelling
Specialised solutions for tunnelling projects including grout mix design, hydrogeological analysis, and quality control.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.


