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International analytic company GlobalData has crunched the numbers and predicts a rosy future for silver producers. Worldwide production has been declining since 2016, but the trend is about to reverse. GlobalData says by 2023 production will top a billion ounces – 1,029 million oz. to be precise.

The company counts nearly 50 projects that will be producing silver as either the primary or secondary commodity. The larger projects that will come online in the next three years include the El Cajon mine (Americas Silver Corp.) in Mexico, the Fruta del Norte mine (Lundin Gold) and Mirador mine in Ecuador, as well as the Oernoe and Udokan mines in Russia. A little farther down the line is the Candelaria mine (Silver One Resources) in Nevada; it could restart production in 2030.

Increases in silver production for 2018 in China (2%) and Russia (3.4%) partially offset declines in the United States (12.6%), Peru (5.8%) and Mexico (5.6%). Worldwide silver mine output last year was 920 million oz., a modest decline of 2.4%.

GlobalData predicts silver output in 2019 will continue to decline to 913.5 million oz.

(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)