Silver didn’t just break recent resistance — spot prices are trading above $93 per ounce and pushing toward $94.
Driving the trend is combination of macro forces, physical supply stress, and regional pricing dislocations that make the paper market look like a relic of the past.
The New Silver Reality: $93 and Climbing
Silver’s price has surged past $90/oz on global exchanges, driven by real demand pressure and structural supply tightness.
In the U.S. dollar market alone, silver was reported near $93.50 on January 14, with analysts calling the psychological $100 mark a feasible near-term target if momentum continues.
But price alone doesn’t tell the full story.
There’s now a wide split between markets, notably between U.S. quoted prices and physical silver traded in China.
At the same time that China is enacting export restrictions on silver, Shanghai markets are rumored to be trading silver at a massive premium … significantly higher than Western prices.
These premiums signal that physical metal is in acute demand and scarce supply in major consuming regions.
In some cases, traders and buyers in Asia have been willing to pay beyond quoted spot prices to secure physical delivery — up to $103/oz[1] , or $8-10 over spot.
Why Physical Silver Is Getting Harder to Obtain
The disconnect in price between Shanghai and Western markets is not a minor technical aberration.
It reflects an underlying reality: physical silver inventories are being drawn down rapidly, and in key refining hubs, buyers are willing to pay a premium to get metal now.
This isn’t speculation alone — backlog in physical delivery requests and shrinking stocks at major vaults suggests real supply is tightening.
In markets where silver is needed for industrial use and investor demand, premiums over paper quotes are expanding.
That matters because silver isn’t just a speculative asset.
It’s also a strategically essential industrial metal used in electronics, solar panels, and high-tech manufacturing.
When buyers can’t get metal at quoted prices, they simply bid up physical premiums until supply meets demand — and right now, they’re telling you supply is thin.
So What Happens Next If Silver Keeps Running?
If $93 isn’t the peak, if physical premiums stay elevated, and if tangible metal continues to be preferentially bid:
- Physical shortages deepen
Markets where physical delivery matters will continue to bid for metal at a premium. Prices rise because the metal itself is what market participants want. - Western futures prices catch up
Futures and quoted prices often lag behind real demand. Persistent physical premiums will eventually drag global spot prices higher. - Supply constraints tighten
Refined metal stocks are not infinite, and new supply takes time to bring online. The current deficit — reported to have been significant even before this year — plays out in real time as buyers secure available inventories. - Investors and industrial users compete for the same metal
When investors and end users are bidding in the same market, price pressure intensifies faster.
Under those conditions, a move to $100 in a matter of days or weeks isn’t out of the question
The Best Way to Play It? Silver Miners, Not Paper Silver
Physical silver buyers are one thing. Miners are another.
Physical metal holders benefit when prices rise. But miners leverage that price move, often by multiples.
Miners don’t just own ounces — they convert them into profits. If the metal they produce fetches a higher price, especially in a market with tight supply, the valuation logic for miners expands quickly.
That’s why many seasoned commodity investors turn to mining equities during strong metal rallies. When prices run and physical shortages deepen, miners get price leverage, earnings expansion, and — if they have assets in stable jurisdictions — premium valuations.
This is where properly capitalized miners with real production or near-term production profiles become the biggest beneficiaries. They are not just correlated to silver — they are leveraged to silver pricing power.
Why U.S.-Based Silver Miners Matter More Than Ever
When silver gets tight, where the silver comes from suddenly matters a lot more.
Right now, physical supply is stressed, premiums are popping up in overseas markets, and governments are waking up to the fact that silver isn’t just an investment metal anymore — it’s an industrial and strategic input.
In that environment, miners with real assets on U.S. soil have a structural edge that most investors still underestimate.
Here’s why.
First, U.S.-based projects are far less exposed to export controls, surprise taxes, nationalization risk, or shifting foreign policy. When countries start prioritizing domestic supply — and they already are — ounces in the ground inside the U.S. simply carry a higher strategic value.
Second, proximity matters. U.S. silver doesn’t need to cross oceans, navigate trade disputes, or rely on fragile supply chains. When manufacturers, defense contractors, or energy companies need silver, domestic supply is faster, cleaner, and politically safer.
Third, when markets get tight, investors pay up for certainty. Historically, ounces located in stable jurisdictions trade at a premium versus identical ounces in riskier regions. That premium tends to expand during periods of scarcity — exactly the kind of market we’re moving into now.
This is the backdrop that makes certain U.S.-focused silver miners especially compelling.
But that doesn’t mean any junior will do.
So How Could You Play This Trend?
This is where junior minder Apollo Silver Corp. (OTC: APGOF; TSXV: APGO) separates itself from the pack.
Apollo is already up 435% in the last year … but it has the potential to keep growing.
The company controls one of the largest undeveloped primary silver resources in the continental United States, located at its Calico Project in San Bernardino County, California.
Calico hosts roughly 55 million tonnes, at a grade 71 g/t Ag for a total combined 125 million ounces of silver in the Measured & Indicated category, plus another 18 million tonnes, at a grade of 71 g/t Ag for ~58 million ounces Inferred.[1]
That alone puts it in rare company among U.S.-based silver projects. There simply aren’t many primary silver deposits of this scale left in the country.
Even more important: this is primary silver, not silver as a byproduct of copper or zinc mining.
In a market where silver supply is already tight, primary producers are the ones with the most direct leverage to rising prices.
The project sits near roads, rail, power, and an experienced mining workforce — not in some remote jurisdiction that requires billions just to get started.
That lowers execution risk, which is exactly what investors start caring about when prices rise and projects move from theory to reality.
Why This Setup Is Different From One Year Ago
When silver prices grind higher slowly, juniors drift.
When silver prices spike, physical premiums emerge, and supply chains tighten, large, credible silver resources have the potential to grow quickly — especially those in safe jurisdictions with real development paths.
That’s the environment forming now.
[1] See the Apollo Silver Corp news release, September 4, 2025.