The inferred resource for Maverick Springs now stands at 218.5 million tonnes at 68.29 grams per tonne silver equivalent for 479.8 million ounces AgEq, a 57Moz increase.

Broken down, the resource is 296.5Moz of silver at 42.20g/t silver and 2.16Moz of gold at 0.31g/t gold.

The resource was calculated at a cut-off grade of 30g/t AgEq. At a higher cut-off grade of 65g/t AgEq, the resource is 294.4Moz of AgEq.

“No matter which way you want to cut the cut-off grade, it’s still a monster asset,” Sun managing director Andrew Dornan said.

“What’s important is we have flexibility within the cut-off grade.

“We selected this cut-off grade given how Nevada is – the low grade, large scale, bulk tonnage nature allows for cost effective open pit mining at these grades, whereas if you did it in Australia, in hard rock, it just wouldn’t be viable.”

The resource upgrade was based on 7500m of drilling in 2024 for a total cost of A$3.3 million, equating to a discovery cost of A5.8c per silver equivalent ounce.

Further upside

The resource remains open in all directions and drilling is set to resume in early April.

“Because it’s kind of this homogenous-style deposit in carbonate host rocks, everywhere you drill, it’s increasing still,” Dornan said.

“Where we finished drilling, we were having drill intercepts of 110m at 110 grams per tonne silver equivalent, so we can still continue to push it out to the north.

“Initially, we’re going to be doing some more extensional holes to the north, as well as obtaining some samples, so we can run some met tests, and then we’ve got three separate phases to get the project up to indicated.”

Sun has also been encouraged by at-surface and near-surface mineralisation identified in historical drilling above the southern portion of the resource.

“We’ve got mineralisation that starts at near on surface, so it’s a bit of a game changer for us,” Dornan said.

“It’s not in the resource, because we need to do some more drilling to validate some of it, but we’re thinking now that we could potentially have this mineral resource starting from surface, which will alleviate any pre-strip concerns.”

Sun plans to come out with a plan next month for metallurgical test work at Maverick Springs.

“We’ve run a pretty comprehensive review of all the historical testing with IMO, so there’s some gaps that we can look to improve what was done previously,” Dornan said.

US policy improving

While Dornan describes Nevada as the best state in the US to operate and get mining projects permitted, there have been recent tailwinds for US mining.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to boost American mineral production, which involves fast-tracking and streamlining permitting and providing funding support to project developers.  

While silver isn’t on the US critical minerals list, silver demand from solar panels increased 380% in a decade, from 48Moz in 2014 to 232Moz in 2024.

However, over 90% of solar photovoltaic cells are manufactured in China, leading to the US slapping a 50% tariff Chinese solar imports.

Last year, Sun applied for a US$60 million government credit to support the establishment of a domestic silver paste facility.

Antimony mineralisation has been discovered in historical drilling at Maverick Springs and Sun is working to define further mineralisation, given the US Department of Defence has been allocating funding under the Defence Production Act to support projects that will enhance domestic supply security.

Silver on the rise

After being the best performing commodity last year, spot silver is up by around 17% so far this year to around US$34 an ounce.

However, unlike gold, it’s still well off its all-time high of around US$50/oz.

“Over the next 6-12 months we expect silver prices to rise to US$35/oz as investors hedge US growth downside risks with precious metals,” Citi analysts said last week.

“We do think silver remains subdued relative to gold in 2025, though silver should outperform in 2026 as industrial demand recovers.”

Citi didn’t rule out silver rallying to US$40/oz this year, giving it a probability of around 30%.

“I think due to the fundamentals of silver and where it’s heading, we’re in for a very exciting couple of years,” Dornan said.

Given European investors’ deep understanding of silver, Sun will head to Zurich next week for the Mining Forum Europe, a sister event to September’s Mining Forum Americas (also known as the Denver Gold Forum).