What is the average AISC for silver mining?

For primary silver producers, AISC typically runs from about $16 to $23 per ounce as of 2025. First-quartile producers report below $16/oz, while the highest-cost operations sit above $23/oz. These figures only apply to companies where silver is the primary revenue source. Most of the world's silver comes as a by-product of gold, copper, or lead-zinc mining, where silver costs are embedded in the host metal's cost structure.

Why is silver AISC harder to compare than gold AISC?

Silver is overwhelmingly a by-product metal: roughly 70-75% of global supply comes from mines where copper, gold, lead, or zinc is the primary product. Only a handful of companies are primary silver miners. This means most silver ounces do not have a standalone AISC because the mine's cost reporting is structured around the primary metal. Comparing a primary silver miner's $18/oz AISC to a gold miner's silver by-product cost is not meaningful.

How do silver streaming companies relate to AISC?

Streaming companies like Wheaton Precious Metals pay a fixed or formula-based cost per ounce under long-term agreements. Legacy silver streams typically pay $4-6/oz, while newer ones may pay 18-22% of spot, so those payments rise as silver does. This is not an AISC in the traditional sense because the streamer bears no operating risk or capital cost at the mine. The blended payment plus corporate G&A gives an effective cost of roughly $8-10/oz, below any mine's AISC, so a streamer earns a wider margin per ounce than the miner supplying it. That is a wider margin, not a guaranteed one: a low enough silver price squeezes the streamer too, just later than it squeezes the mine.

AISC for Silver Mines: Costs & By-Product Economics

Educational analysis for professional use. This guide is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and it is not personalised.

Silver Is Mostly a By-Product

Roughly 70-75% of global silver production comes from mines where silver is not the primary product. Copper, gold, and lead-zinc operations all produce silver as a by-product. The host mine’s AISC is reported in terms of the primary metal ($/oz gold, $/lb copper), and silver revenue gets subtracted as a by-product credit.

That means most of the world’s silver ounces do not have a standalone AISC. The silver cost is embedded in some other metal’s cost structure. Only a small number of primary silver miners report silver-specific AISC figures that are useful for comparison.

Primary Silver Producers: Where AISC Applies

Primary silver miners generate the majority of their revenue from silver, and they report AISC in US dollars per ounce of silver sold. The major public primary silver producers include First Majestic Silver, Pan American Silver, Hecla Mining, and Coeur Mining (which acquired SilverCrest Metals in early 2025, adding the Las Chispas mine to its portfolio).

As of 2025, cost ranges for primary silver producers look roughly like this:

Quartile	AISC Range ($/oz Ag)	Profile
Q1	Below $16	Newer, high-grade operations. Often narrow-vein underground mines in Mexico with low labour costs.
Q2	$16-19	Established mid-tier producers. Mix of underground and open-pit. Decent grades, stable jurisdictions.
Q3	$19-23	Older operations or those with complex metallurgy. Some polymetallic mines where silver is the largest revenue contributor but not by a wide margin.
Q4	Above $23	Marginal. Needs silver above $28-30/oz to cover all costs and generate free cash flow.

Worked examples here run at $48/oz, the long-term planning price used throughout, and at that price even a Q4 producer earns a comfortable margin. Silver is volatile, though: at $30/oz, where it traded as recently as 2023-2024, a Q1 producer keeps $14/oz while a Q4 producer is down to $7/oz or less.

The By-Product Maths

For the 70-75% of silver that comes from non-silver mines, the economics work differently. Consider a copper mine producing 300 million pounds of copper and 5 million ounces of silver annually:

Item	Amount
Copper revenue (at $5.00/lb)	$1,500M
Silver revenue (at $48/oz)	$240M
Total mine operating cost	$1,000M

The mine reports a copper C1 cash cost, the cost of getting a pound of copper out of the ground and to market. Spread over 300 million pounds, that $1,000M of operating cost is $3.33/lb before any credit. The $240M of silver revenue is then subtracted, taking C1 to $2.53/lb. From the mine’s perspective, silver is not a product with its own cost; it is a credit that makes copper cheaper to produce.

You cannot meaningfully extract a per-ounce silver cost from this mine. The ounces come out with the copper whether the operator prioritises them or not, and incremental cost is close to zero once the pit and mill exist for copper. That is why a primary silver miner’s $18/oz AISC belongs in a different bucket from by-product silver: the primary miner funded infrastructure to extract silver, not to subsidise another metal.

What Drives Silver AISC for Primary Producers

Grade is the biggest single driver. Underground narrow-vein deposits in Mexico’s Sierra Madre belt often run 200-800 g/t; open-pit silver tends to sit at 30-80 g/t and makes up the gap with throughput. Fewer tonnes per ounce means lower processing cost.

Underground mining is labour-intensive, so wage levels bite harder than at open pit. Several of the lowest-cost primary silver producers sit in Mexico partly because labour runs below Canadian or US equivalents.

Polymetallic mines can report deceptively low silver AISC when gold, lead, and zinc credits subsidise the cost, the same mechanism as by-product credits on copper C1. If by-product credits account for more than 25-30% of gross cost, the reported AISC will move with base metal prices, not just silver.

Energy is mostly a location and method story: ventilation and pumping at underground sites, diesel and grid power at remote Canadian or high-altitude Peruvian operations. Heap-leach in Nevada uses less power per ounce but carries larger land and water-management footprints.

Silver Streaming: A Different Cost Structure Entirely

Streaming companies like Wheaton Precious Metals buy silver (and gold) from operating mines at a fixed or formula-based price per ounce. Legacy agreements typically pay $4-6/oz for silver, while newer contracts may pay a percentage of spot (often 18-22%), which means the cost per ounce climbs when silver does. Legacy fixed-price streams still dominate the blend, so Wheaton’s average payment runs roughly $5-7/oz. This is not an operating cost in the mining sense. The streamer is not running a mine; it is collecting metal under a financial agreement.

Wheaton’s effective cost per silver ounce (purchase price plus corporate G&A) usually works out around $8-10/oz. That is far below any primary miner’s AISC, and the gap reflects different risk: the mine operator bears geological, operational, and capital risk; the streamer bears counterparty and production volume risk.

For investors choosing between silver miners and silver streamers, cost per ounce is the wrong comparison. The question is which risk profile fits the thesis: miners carry geological and operating risk but give more upside to a silver price spike; streamers trade that for portfolio diversification and steadier margins.

Using Silver Cost Data in Analysis

When screening primary silver miners, use the same framework as gold AISC analysis: where the asset sits on the quartile curve, whether AISC has drifted over three years, and if sustaining capex looks deferred. Stress-test margins at lower price decks before you trust cyclical highs.

For polymetallic mines where silver is one of several metals, do not try to isolate a silver AISC. Instead, model the mine’s total revenue and total cost, then test sensitivity to each metal price independently. This gives a clearer picture of how silver price movements affect the overall investment case.

The Mining Sector Primer covers how cost curve analysis, discount rate selection, and DCF modelling fit together for precious metals equities, including silver-producing operations.