Key Takeaways:
Silver prices reached their highest level in months, with spot silver trading at $80.13 an ounce, as a bullish forecast from a major bank coincided with high-grade exploration results from a key U.S. project.
"We expect silver's rally to return and predict both gold and silver will reach new all-time highs in the not too distant future, potentially this year," Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP Paribas Fortis, told CNBC last week, citing a confluence of international tensions, expected interest rate cuts, and rising industrial demand.
The move in silver comes as gold prices saw a decline, with spot gold falling 1.2% to $4,657.89 per ounce on concerns that higher oil prices could keep inflation and interest rates elevated. Investors are closely watching for April's US Consumer Price Index data, due later this week, for further signals on the Federal Reserve's policy direction.
While macroeconomic factors drive investor demand, the physical market is responding to exploration news. On May 11, Apollo Silver Corp. (TSX.V:APGO, OTCQB:APGOF) announced significant findings from its Calico Silver Project in San Bernardino County, California, which hosts one of the largest undeveloped primary silver resources in the United States.
The company's surface sampling program identified multiple mineralized occurrences. Highlights from historical workings in the Mule Property returned silver assays as high as 1,280 g/t and 221 g/t. At the Burcham Mine area, infill sampling returned gold values up to 4.85 g/t and zinc concentrations as high as 30.00%.
"Encouraging gold and silver results, including high-grade silver at the Mule Property, along with elevated barite values at Langtry, reinforce our confidence in the upside prospectivity for additional discoveries at Calico," said Ross McElroy, President and CEO of Apollo Silver.
Apollo Silver is advancing the Calico Project toward a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) expected in the third quarter of 2026. A 4,500-meter drill program, rescheduled for Q3 2026 due to permitting delays and seasonal temperature constraints, is planned to collect data for a future Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS). The project's 2025 mineral resource estimate includes 125 million ounces of silver in the Measured and Indicated category.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
