Fresnillo Silver Mine: Output, Reserves and Shares

The Fresnillo silver mine is an underground mine in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, owned 100% by Fresnillo plc. In 2025 it milled 2,099 thousand tonnes of ore and produced 10.3 million troy ounces (moz) of silver, and its silver reserves stood at 131.9 moz, the largest of any Fresnillo plc mine, according to the company’s 2025 annual report. It is not the group’s biggest silver producer by output: Saucito, also in Zacatecas, made more.

This page is written for investors who want the facts about the mine. It ranks all of Fresnillo plc’s silver mines by 2025 output, shows how the Zacatecas operation did in the first half of 2026, lays out how the shares are held, and explains what is known about any sale. A calculator at the end of the cost section lets you test a silver ore body of your own. Not investment advice.

Fresnillo silver mine at a glance

Terms first. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, and “moz” means million troy ounces. Grade is the amount of metal in the rock, here grams of silver per tonne of ore (g/t). Primary silver means a mine whose main product is silver, as opposed to silver recovered as a by-product of copper, lead-zinc or gold mining.

• Place: Fresnillo district, Zacatecas state, central-northern Mexico. Underground mine; lead, zinc and gold come out alongside the silver.
• Owner and operator: Fresnillo plc, 100% (annual report 2025).
• Start of commercial production: the annual report gives 1554 as the year, which the company lists in its table of operating mines.
• 2025 output: 10,273 thousand ounces (koz) of silver, up 0.3% on 2024, and 40,753 ounces of gold, down 20.8%.
• 2025 ore grade: 168 g/t silver, up from 152 g/t in 2024.
• Reserves: 131.9 moz of silver and 353 koz of gold, estimated as of 30 April 2025. Silver reserves rose 26.2% on 2024, which the company attributes to a higher silver price, infill drilling and a lower cut-off grade, partly offset by mining.
• Mine life: 9.8 years on those reserves, the longest of the group’s silver mines (Herradura, a gold mine, has 11.4).
• Cost: US$131.75 per tonne milled and a cash cost of US$17.97 per equivalent ounce in 2025, up 17.4% and 16.5% on 2024.

Reserves and resources are different things. Reserves are the part of a deposit that a company has shown can be mined at a profit under stated prices and costs. Resources are mineralised rock with prospects of eventual extraction but a weaker economic case. The Zacatecas operation’s silver resources fell from 690.7 moz to 502.6 moz in the same report, because the company applied the “reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction” test and because of depletion. A smaller resource figure does not mean silver vanished; it means less of it passes the test.

Which Fresnillo mines produce the most silver

How we chose: the metric is silver produced in 2025, as reported mine by mine in the Fresnillo plc annual report. Every mine the company reports with silver output is included. Juanicipio is shown at Fresnillo plc’s 56% share. The six rows do not add up to the group total of 48.7 moz, because the total also counts silver sold under the Silverstream contract, which has ended. Noche Buena (gold, mining finished in 2023) and Soledad-Dipolos (suspended) are left out because they make no silver to rank.

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Silver produced by Fresnillo plc mine, 2025

Million troy ounces (moz); Juanicipio at Fresnillo plc’s 56% share

Reserve and mine-life figures come from the annual report’s table of operating mines (reserves as of 30 April 2025). Juanicipio’s reserves and output are Fresnillo plc’s attributable share.

1. Saucito, 13.8 moz. Best for: the group’s largest single source of silver, 28.3% of the 2025 total. Pro: 119.5 moz of reserves and a 198 g/t silver grade in the first half of 2026. Watch: 2025 output fell 4.7%, and the Jarillas shaft stopped temporarily in March 2026 while its two sections were joined.
2. Fresnillo, 10.3 moz. Best for: the biggest silver reserve and the longest mine life of the group’s silver mines. Pro: the earliest start year in the company’s table (1554). Watch: narrow veins, dilution and a rising cost per tonne.
3. Juanicipio, 9.6 moz (attributable). Best for: grade. The first-half 2026 silver grade was 390 g/t, more than any other group mine. Pro: commercial production began in 2022. Watch: the 2026 grade guidance is 320 to 370 g/t, below the first-half result, and Pan American Silver owns 44% of the mine.
4. San Julián Veins, 8.3 moz. Best for: high output from a smaller reserve base. Pro: 215 g/t silver in the first half of 2026. Watch: only 3.3 years of reserve life, so replacing reserves through drilling matters.
5. Ciénega, 2.8 moz. Best for: gold more than silver; the company reports it as a gold/silver mine. Watch: silver output fell 42.6% in 2025, and a further 26.3% in the first half of 2026, which the company links to more oxide ore and a lower grade.
6. Herradura, 0.5 moz. Best for: gold. It is an open-pit gold mine, and its silver is a small by-product.

How the Fresnillo mine performed in the first half

The mine milled 1,038,608 tonnes of ore in the six months to 30 June 2026, almost level with the prior-year period, and produced 4,854 koz of silver, down 5.8% (Fresnillo plc interim results, 4 August 2026). The silver grade was 162 g/t against 170 g/t a year earlier. The company points to dilution in narrower veins, poor ground stability in long-hole stopes and a structural fault at San Alberto that delayed access to an area. By-product gold rose 47.6% to 29,274 ounces on a higher gold grade.

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Silver produced, first half 2025 vs first half 2026

Million troy ounces (moz), mines that report silver as a main product

Two plain-language notes. Dilution means barren rock mixed into the ore during mining, which lowers the grade of what reaches the mill. A stope is the underground void left when ore is mined out. For 2026 the company expects the mine’s silver grade to fall in the range of 160 to 180 g/t, so a first-half grade of 162 g/t sits at the low end.

Across the group, first-half silver production was 22.0 moz, down 11.4%, and revenue rose 74.7% to US$3.38 billion because the average realised silver price jumped from US$33.7 to US$78.9 per ounce. The company kept its 2026 attributable silver guidance at 42.0 to 46.5 moz. Lower volume with higher prices is the pattern to watch: revenue can rise while ounces fall.

Silver reserves and mine life, mine by mine

Silver in Fresnillo plc’s consolidated reserves rose 9.4% to 362.6 moz, the annual report says. Of that, the Fresnillo mine holds the most (131.9 moz), followed by Saucito (119.5 moz) and Juanicipio (74.1 moz attributable). Those three Zacatecas mines hold about 90% of the group’s silver reserves, which explains why the state matters so much to the company.

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Silver reserves by mine

Million troy ounces, as of 30 April 2025; Juanicipio at Fresnillo plc’s share

A reserve is only as firm as the price and cut-off grade behind it. The cut-off grade is the lowest grade that still pays for mining and milling. When the silver price rises, the cut-off falls and tonnes that were waste become ore. The company says the higher silver price and a lower cut-off were part of the reason the Fresnillo mine’s reserves grew 26.2%. If prices fall, the same arithmetic works in reverse.

For a look at how a grade-tonnage curve and a pit shell turn a deposit into a conceptual mine plan, the video below walks through the idea (an open-pit example, so the method differs from underground mining).

▶ How a pit shell and a grade-tonnage curve turn a deposit into a conceptual mine plan (an open-pit example). · 18:56

What a tonne of ore at Fresnillo has to earn

The cost per tonne milled at the Fresnillo mine was US$84.7 in 2021 and US$131.8 in 2025, as the company’s mine-by-mine cost chart shows. Rising development contractor spend, mechanical and electrical maintenance, explosives and milling balls, and lower volume all pushed it up. A weaker average Mexican peso against the US dollar softened the increase.

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Cost per tonne milled at the Fresnillo mine

US dollars per tonne milled, 2021 to 2025

Two cost measures matter. Cash cost, as the company defines it, is cost of sales plus treatment and refining charges, less depreciation, divided by silver-equivalent ounces sold, with gold, lead and zinc converted into silver terms. All-in sustaining cost adds the spending needed to keep the mine running, such as sustaining capital and exploration. At the Fresnillo mine they were US$17.97 and US$27.02 per equivalent ounce in 2025, compared with US$15.42 and US$21.97 in 2024, according to the annual report. The company defines margin as its average realised price less cash cost; for 2025 it reports US$25.63 per ounce at this mine, against a group average realised silver price of US$43.6.

Silver itself has been volatile. The Silver Institute reported that the metal rose above US$100 for the first time in January 2026 and then fell below US$80. Kitco showed a bid of US$56.98 per troy ounce at 2:50 pm New York time on 15 October 2026. For settlement, the LBMA Silver Price is set in a daily auction run by ICE Benchmark Administration at noon London time. Check the day’s price before using the calculator below.

Why the mine matters to Zacatecas and to Mexican silver supply

Mexico mined more silver than any other country in 2025. The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 estimates Mexican mine production at 6,300 tonnes that year, ahead of Peru (3,600), China (3,400) and Bolivia (1,500), out of about 26,000 tonnes worldwide.

Fresnillo plc’s 2025 attributable silver production of 48.7 moz equals roughly 1,515 tonnes. That is close to one quarter of Mexico’s output and under 6% of the world total, using the USGS estimates (company figure divided by USGS world and Mexico totals, which USGS rounds). The Fresnillo mine alone, at 10.3 moz or about 320 tonnes, is near 1.2% of world mine supply by the same arithmetic. Fresnillo plc calls itself the world’s largest primary silver producer in its 2026 interim report; that is the company’s own description, and the USGS data do not rank companies.

The Silver Institute expects primary silver mines to supply about 28% of world silver mine production in 2026, with the rest coming from by-product silver at gold, copper and lead-zinc mines. That is why a primary silver mine is a different kind of asset from a copper mine that happens to carry silver. The same Silver Institute outlook, published on 10 February 2026, forecasts the market to stay in deficit for a sixth straight year in 2026, at 67 moz.

The company reports a workforce of 18,273 across the group and about 1.3 million hectares of mining concessions in its annual report. These are group totals across Mexico, not figures for one mine.

For a broader look at what mining adds to an economy, see the video below, and for the top producers beyond Mexico see our ranking of the largest silver producing companies and our guide to silver mines in the US.

▶ What mining adds to an economy: exports, jobs, revenue and energy-transition minerals. · 5:03

Fresnillo plc shares: ownership, dividends and ETF weights

The mine has no shares of its own. Investors buy Fresnillo plc, whose ordinary shares trade on the London Stock Exchange and the Mexican Stock Exchange under the symbol FRES. There are 736,893,589 ordinary shares, and Industrias Peñoles holds 552,595,191 of them, or 74.99%, according to the annual report. That leaves about a quarter of the company in public hands, so supply of shares in the market is limited. The report also says Fresnillo plc was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index for most of 2025.

• Dividends: for 2025 the company declared an interim dividend of 20.8 US cents and a final dividend of 108.12 US cents, a total of 128.92 US cents per share. For the first half of 2026 it declared an interim dividend of 43.4 US cents, about US$319.8 million. The stated policy is to pay out 33% to 50% of profit after tax each year, with adjustments for non-cash effects.
• Balance sheet: cash and liquid funds of US$2,503.1 million at 30 June 2026.
• Partners: Pan American Silver owns 44% of Juanicipio, which is operated by Fresnillo plc.
• Exposure to Mexico: eight mines it lists as operating, all in Mexico (Soledad-Dipolos is suspended and mining at Noche Buena ended in May 2023), and the company also holds concessions and projects in Peru and Chile, and a Canadian gold project, Novador, acquired with Probe Gold.

Many investors reach silver miners through funds. The table below shows how much of two silver-miner ETFs sat in Fresnillo plc on the dates given, taken from the fund providers’ own pages. Weights change daily.

Neither fund holds Fresnillo plc alone. Both also list Industrias Peñoles, the parent. This is a description of holdings, not a recommendation to buy or sell any share or fund.

Is the Fresnillo silver mine for sale

No sale is announced. The mine is an operating segment of Fresnillo plc, listed in the annual report with 9.8 years of reserve life, and Fresnillo plc is 74.99% owned by Peñoles. Any change of control would run through a listed company with a majority holder, not through a classified advertisement. The same is true for the other large Zacatecas mines.

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Five checks before buying a silver mine

1. 1Confirm who holds the concessionsCheck the title holder, partners and royalties, such as the 44% Pan American Silver stake at Juanicipio.
2. 2Read the reserve statementNote its date, the prices used and the cut-off grade.
3. 3Test grade, recovery and costCompare tonnes, grade and cost per tonne with operating mines like those above.
4. 4Check permits, water and community termsLicences and local agreements can change the schedule.
5. 5Screen the groundCombine geology and drilling with early satellite mapping of the surface.

What does change hands is stakes, companies and projects. Three recent examples, each with its own filing:

• Juanicipio stake: Pan American Silver completed its acquisition of MAG Silver on 4 September 2025. MAG shareholders received US$500 million in cash plus about 60.2 million Pan American shares, and Pan American gained MAG’s 44% interest in Juanicipio, per the Pan American news release. Mining Technology reports that the Mexican competition regulator, COFECE, approved the deal in late August.
• Company purchase: Fresnillo plc paid US$547.8 million for Probe Gold, a Canadian explorer, and closed the deal in January 2026. It adds the Novador gold project in Quebec.
• Minority stake: Fresnillo plc bought 7,939,544 shares of Sinda Ltd (NYSE: SIND) at US$12.00 each, about US$95.3 million, at that company’s initial public offering on 27 July 2026, and describes it as exposure to silver districts alongside its own portfolio.

If you look at any silver mine offered for sale, the checks below apply. The epithermal deposit guide on this site explains the vein style that many Mexican silver mines share, and the same questions apply to a gold mine.

What satellites can and cannot show over Zacatecas

Satellites see the surface. They can map iron-stained and clay-altered rock, faults and drainage that guide where geologists sample, which is useful for ground held under exploration concessions. They do not measure silver grade underground, and they do not replace drilling, assays or a formal resource estimate. A satellite result is an exploration target that sits ahead of drilling, not a reserve.

Farmonaut’s satellite analysis of an area is delivered in 5 to 20 business days and starts from a KML, KMZ or polygon file of your concession. It is one screening step, used before field work and alongside the geology that companies such as Fresnillo plc build up from drilling and underground sampling.

The video below explains where artificial intelligence helps in exploration and where it does not.

▶ Where artificial intelligence helps in mineral exploration and where it does not. · 4:37

If this topic matters to you, read Mining Stocks With China Exposure: Revenue Shares next.

Related reading on this site: AMC Hycroft Mining Investment: Cost, Sale and Stake.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Fresnillo silver mine?

It is in the Fresnillo district of Zacatecas state, central-northern Mexico, at the town of the same name. Saucito and Juanicipio, two other Fresnillo plc silver mines, are also in Zacatecas.

Who owns the Fresnillo silver mine?

Fresnillo plc owns 100% of the mine. Industrias Peñoles holds 74.99% of Fresnillo plc (annual report 2025).

How much silver does the mine produce?

It produced 10,273 koz (10.3 moz) of silver in 2025 and 4,854 koz in the first half of 2026. The whole company produced 48.7 moz in 2025.

What are the mine’s silver reserves?

The annual report lists 131.9 moz of silver reserves as of 30 April 2025, equal to a 9.8-year mine life at the company’s plan. Fresnillo plc’s total silver reserves are 362.6 moz.

Is Fresnillo the biggest silver mine in the world?

The company calls itself the world’s largest primary silver producer, which describes the whole company, not one mine. Within the group, Saucito made more silver than the Fresnillo mine in 2025 (13.8 moz against 10.3 moz).

How old is the Fresnillo mine?

The annual report gives 1554 as its start of commercial production. Fresnillo plc says Mexico has almost 500 years of mining history on its About us page.

Can I buy shares in the Fresnillo silver mine?

Not directly. You can buy shares of Fresnillo plc, which trade in London and Mexico under FRES, or funds that hold them. Check the price with your broker, and note that this page gives no investment advice.

Is the Fresnillo silver mine for sale?

No sale is announced. Fresnillo plc is 74.99% owned by Peñoles, and the mine is an operating segment of the group.

How do I check a silver mine for sale?

Confirm who holds the concessions, read the latest resource and reserve statement, compare grade, recovery and cost per tonne, check permits and community agreements, and screen the surrounding ground. The five steps are set out above.

Why did the company’s silver output fall in the first half?

Group silver production fell 11.4% to 22.0 moz because the Silverstream contract ended and because grades were lower at Saucito, Juanicipio, Fresnillo, San Julián and Ciénega. The company kept its full-year guidance of 42.0 to 46.5 moz.

What does a silver mine need to earn per tonne?

It depends on grade, recovery, price and cost. The mine spent US$131.75 per tonne milled in 2025. Use the calculator above with your own numbers to find a break-even grade.