The company landed on the local bourse on Wednesday to a lively reception, closing its first day of trade up 112 per cent at 42.5¢ after drumming up big support for a $13 million initial public offer last month, when shares were snapped up early at 20¢.
Sun Silver’s arrival coincides with a strong run in the silver price and a general lull in new ASX listings.
Executive director Gerard O’Donovan told The West Australian he was “really encouraged” by the company’s opening performance and “excited for what’s to come”.
As well as running Sun Silver, he chairs James Bay Minerals, another listed explorer trying to build credentials of lithium deposits in Quebec. Before that he helped get Pilbara Minerals’ money-making machine Pilgangoora up and running.
Silver is typically used in jewellery and silverware, but Mr O’Donovan is pushing the case for the its role in the energy transition. He says silver is a key ingredient in the manufacture of solar panels, specifically in the PV cells that turn sunlight into electricity.
“It’s (silver) used in every PV cell and it makes up to 23 per cent of the material cost of the PV cell. Its conductive, it’s a noble metal and extremely efficient,” he said.
“Silver has been in a deficit for the last three years and that’s predominantly due to the increasing demand for silver in solar.”
Sun Silver’s primary asset is the Maverick Springs silver-gold project in the US State of Nevada, a region that has beaten even WA as one of the best places to set up a mine in the world, according to a fresh survey from the Fraser Institute.
Mr O’Donovan is betting on a strong uptick in demand for solar panels in the US as the country builds out its renewable capabilities.
“Silver poses this critical risk in the build out in solar and I think people are identifying that now.”
This week President Joe Biden doubled the tariffs on solar cell imports into the US from China, which dominates manufacturing.
