Mining veteran Ross Beaty says silver miner valuations have fallen even as prices hold near $65 an ounce and the market runs a 250-million-ounce deficit. He argues most silver is mined as a byproduct, so higher prices alone cannot fix the shortfall.
At a glance
- Ross Beaty, the retired chair of Pan American Silver and Equinox Gold, estimates the global silver market has a 250-million-ounce deficit drawn from inventories.
- Beaty said 60-80% of mined silver comes as a byproduct of copper, zinc, lead and gold, limiting how fast new supply can respond to price.
- He said silver miner valuations, measured by price-to-earnings, price-to-cash-flow and price-to-metal ratios, have fallen even as silver trades near $65 an ounce.
Background
Most of the world's silver is not mined on its own. It comes out of the ground alongside copper, zinc, lead or gold, recovered as a byproduct of mines built to chase those other metals. That matters for anyone betting on silver's price: if a mine's main product is copper, a rising silver price does little to change whether that mine gets built, which limits how quickly new silver supply can respond to demand.
What happened
Ross Beaty is the retired chair of Pan American Silver, the company he founded in 1994, and of Equinox Gold. In a Financial Sense interview, he said he sees the global silver market running a deficit of about 250 million ounces this year, drawn down from existing inventories. Beaty, who now chairs Lumina Metals, said Pan American mines its silver for between $17 and $18 an ounce. At a price near $65 an ounce, he said, the free cash flow and margins across the industry are "tremendous." Silver has still nearly doubled over the past year even after pulling back from a record above $121 an ounce in January.
Why silver supply can't just ramp up
Beaty said 60% to 80% of the world's mined silver comes out as a byproduct of copper, zinc, lead and gold mines, not from mines built to produce silver on its own. Because those mines are developed and operated based on the economics of their primary metal, a higher silver price by itself does little to bring new byproduct supply online quickly. That leaves dedicated primary silver mines, and the deficit Beaty describes, dependent on new standalone projects rather than existing byproduct output responding to price.
Why he still calls miners undervalued
Despite silver's climb and the deficit he describes, Beaty said silver miner valuations have actually fallen, not risen, when measured by price-to-earnings, price-to-cash-flow and price-to-metal ratios. He expects that gap to close over the next 12 months. Asked where he would deploy capital for the next 20 years, Beaty said he would "plant that flag in Canada" first. He cited its rule of law, regulations and reasonable taxes, followed by the United States.
Our read
Outlook: bullish. A veteran mining executive describing a large structural deficit and byproduct supply that can't respond quickly to price is a bullish argument for silver, though it reflects one investor's view rather than confirmed market data.
What to watch
- Whether silver miner valuations rise to match spot prices over the next 12 months, as Beaty expects.
- Whether new standalone silver projects reach construction to offset limited byproduct supply growth.
- Whether the silver market's inventory drawdown continues at a pace consistent with a 250-million-ounce deficit.
For information only, not investment advice.
Silver price in India
metalscost.com India reference price as of 2026-10-03.
Detailed analysis
Timeline
- 2026-09-25: Ross Beaty discusses the silver deficit and miner valuations in a Financial Sense interview.
Technical view
Price is trading below both its 20-period and 50-period moving averages, a bearish alignment.
Computed from metalscost.com's own stored price history.
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