Top Silver Producers: Who Mined the Most Silver in 2025 and What It Means for 2026

The top silver producers of 2025 make an odd group. The list is led by a Mexican primary silver miner and a Polish copper company, and some of the biggest names are gold or copper miners that produce silver as a by-product. Below are the leading producing companies from the World Silver Survey 2026, published in April 2026 by the Silver Institute and Metals Focus, and what the numbers mean for investors watching the sector, particularly in the United States.

The 2025 leaderboard

All figures come from the Survey's "Top 20 Silver Mining Companies" table, which is based on company reports and Metals Focus estimates (World Silver Survey 2026). Fresnillo's figure excludes its Silverstream contract, and KGHM's includes its international operations as well as Poland (same source).

Silver is mostly a by-product

Only about 26% of 2025 mine supply came from primary silver mines. Lead/zinc mines supplied about 29%, copper mines 28% and gold mines 16% (World Silver Survey 2026). That's why KGHM, Newmont, Southern Copper and Glencore rank so high. For investors, this matters: a large share of supply responds to copper, zinc and gold economics, not to the silver price. A silver rally doesn't automatically produce much new silver.

Total world mine output rose 3% in 2025 to 846.6 Moz. Most of the growth came from copper operations in Peru and the ramp-up of Polymetal's Prognoz mine in Russia. Primary silver supply fell for a third straight year (same source).

What moved the rankings

• Fresnillo stayed No. 1 despite a 12% drop, much of it from the San Julián mine after its disseminated ore body was exhausted (World Silver Survey 2026).
• Newmont fell 15% because silver grades dropped at Peñasquito in Mexico. Peñasquito was still the world's second-largest silver mine at 28.0 Moz (same source).
• Pan American Silver grew 8%, helped by higher output from La Colorada in Mexico after a ramp expansion (same source).
• Coeur Mining rose 57%, the second-biggest gain in the top 10 after Polymetal (+62%). The Survey credits a 40% rise at its Rochester mine in Nevada, and Coeur's $7.0 billion all-stock acquisition of New Gold, completed in the first quarter of 2026, adds Canadian operations (World Silver Survey 2026).

The US angle

US mine production rose 5% to 35.7 Moz in 2025 (World Silver Survey 2026). According to the Survey, the gains came from expansions at existing mines and more by-product silver from gold mines, including Coeur's Rochester and higher grades at Hecla's Greens Creek and Lucky Friday (same source). Greens Creek produced 8.7 Moz, which ranks it 14th among the world's mines (same source). Silver was also added to the final 2025 US List of Critical Minerals, released on Nov. 14, 2025 (USGS). The Survey cites that addition as one factor behind the price rally (World Silver Survey 2026). For more on Hecla's Idaho operation, see our Lucky Friday profile.

Margins and the 2026 outlook

High prices have been good for primary producers. The Survey says the annual average silver price rose 42% to just over $40 an ounce in 2025, and the price peaked at $84 in December. Average all-in sustaining costs for primary silver mines fell 1% to $12.21 per ounce, and average AISC margins widened 75% to $27.81 per ounce (World Silver Survey 2026). Across seven primary producers it studied, including Fresnillo, Hecla, Coeur and Pan American, combined free cash flow rose 226% to $4.3 billion (same source). The market recorded a fifth straight deficit in 2025, of 40.3 Moz (Silver Institute, April 15, 2026).

For 2026, Metals Focus expected global mine supply to slip 0.3% to 844.1 Moz, with a recovery in Mexico offset by declines elsewhere, and a sixth annual deficit of 46.3 Moz (World Silver Survey 2026). Those were April 2026 forecasts. The Survey also noted that silver hit an all-time high above $121 on Jan. 29, 2026, then fell back sharply into the high $60s by late March. That shows how volatile the metal can be, and why producer earnings can swing widely from one quarter to the next (same source).

Reading the list as an investor

Size alone isn't a thesis. Several of the largest producers on this list mainly mine copper or gold, so owning KGHM, Newmont or Glencore is mostly a bet on those metals, not on silver. Investors looking for silver exposure tend to look at primary producers such as Fresnillo, Pan American, Hecla, Coeur and First Majestic. Even then, jurisdiction, grades and cost control matter as much as ounces. Mexico, the largest producing country, has seen output fall for three straight years, a risk for Mexico-heavy portfolios (World Silver Survey 2026). Nothing here is a recommendation to buy any security.

Related: silver hub, US mining news and company profiles.

How we checked this: AI-drafted from the sources linked above and checked against them by our AI editor.