Silver Miners in Canada: Mines, Owners and Output

Canada mined about 356 tonnes of silver in 2025, according to the preliminary Statistics Canada figures published by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). That is about 1.4% of the 26,000 tonnes the USGS estimates the world mined in 2025. Most of it is a by-product of other metals. Among the mines whose owners publish a silver figure, the largest is Keno Hill in the Yukon, owned by Hecla Mining, which produced 3,018,490 troy ounces in 2025. Most of the rest is a by-product of gold, copper and zinc mines in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba.

This page lists the Canadian mines that report their own silver output, who owns each one, and how the numbers compare with the national total. It is written for mining consultants, investors and licence holders who need the names, the owners and the ounces, not a stock tip.

Units used below: a troy ounce (oz) is 31.1035 grams; koz is thousand ounces and Moz is million ounces; one tonne of silver is about 32,150 troy ounces. A by-product is a metal recovered alongside the main one, such as silver from a gold or zinc ore. Dollar amounts are US dollars unless marked C$.

How much silver Canada mines, and where

The NRCan table for 2025 is preliminary and splits output by province and territory. Ontario leads with 106.3 tonnes, then British Columbia with 96.8, the Yukon with 78.7, Quebec with 39.1 and Manitoba with 26.3. Those five add to about 347 tonnes of the 356 tonnes national total. The remaining 9 tonnes sit in places where the statistics agency suppresses single values or does not report them, so we do not assign them to a province.

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Silver mined by province and territory, 2025

Tonnes of silver, preliminary; only the five areas with published values

The USGS gives a different, estimated series: 366 tonnes for 2024 and 400 tonnes for 2025, with Canadian silver reserves of 4,900 tonnes. At the 2025 estimate, those reserves equal about 12 years of output (our arithmetic). The USGS also notes that silver worldwide comes mainly as a by-product of lead-zinc, copper and gold mines. The two Canadian series differ because one is a government survey of producers and the other a geological survey estimate, so we use the NRCan table for provinces and the USGS for world comparisons.

For scale, the USGS table puts Mexico at an estimated 6,300 tonnes and Peru at 3,600 tonnes for 2025. Canada is a small silver miner by volume. Its weight in the silver market comes from a few large companies headquartered in Vancouver and Toronto, covered further down.

Silver mines in Canada that publish their output

The table lists every Canadian mine we found with a 2025 silver figure in its owner’s results, using filings and reports we opened. It is not a ranking of every producer: some mines recover silver without reporting it separately. Figures come from different owners, so the measures differ: Glencore and Hudbay report silver in concentrate, Copper Mountain is stated at 100%, and Hecla and Agnico Eagle report silver production as defined in their own results.

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Silver reported by Canadian mines, 2025

Million troy ounces; each owner’s own definition, so bars are not strictly additive

Agnico Eagle also reports 26 koz at Meliadine and 3 koz at Goldex, which we leave out of the table. We also found no separate 2025 silver line for Coeur’s Silvertip, Rainy River and New Afton, Newmont’s Brucejack, Equinox’s Greenstone or Teck’s Highland Valley, so they are not in the table. Adding the named mines (Keno Hill, Kidd Creek, Hudbay in Manitoba and British Columbia, and Agnico Eagle’s seven Canadian mines) gives about 7.1 Moz, roughly 62% of NRCan’s 11.4 Moz national total. The balance comes from by-product mines whose owners do not break silver out in the documents we opened. Because the bases differ, treat that share as a rough guide, not a reconciliation. The Yukon shows the same gap: NRCan reports 78.7 tonnes (about 2.5 Moz) for the territory, while Hecla reports 3.02 Moz for Keno Hill alone.

Keno Hill in the Yukon, the silver-led mine

Keno Hill is the clearest example of a mine run for silver in Canada. Hecla owns 100% of the Keno Hill Silver District, which lies 350 kilometres north of Whitehorse and covers 242 square kilometres with more than 35 historic mine sites. Hecla bought the previous owner, Alexco Resource, in 2022. The mine is underground, feeds a 400-tonne-per-day mill, and sells silver, lead and zinc concentrates. Its five deposits are Bellekeno, Lucky Queen, Flame and Moth, Onek and Bermingham.

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Keno Hill silver production by quarter

Thousand troy ounces, fourth quarter 2024 to fourth quarter 2025

The grade is the story. Hecla’s proven and probable reserves at the end of 2025 were 2,113 thousand short tons at 25.28 ounces of silver per ton, which is about 867 grams per tonne and holds about 53 Moz of silver. For comparison, Hudbay reported an average silver grade of 30.4 grams per tonne in the ore mined at Lalor in 2025. The two numbers measure different things, reserves against ore mined, but the gap of roughly 28 times shows why a by-product mine and a silver mine behave differently when the silver price moves.

Output has risen. Keno Hill produced 2,773,873 oz in 2024 and 3,018,490 oz in 2025, and Hecla’s 2025 results call it a record, with the first full year of profit under Hecla’s ownership. Hecla also says Keno Hill does not yet meet its own definition of commercial production, with one of five criteria achieved, and it guides 2026 silver output at 2.9 to 3.2 Moz. The company says on its Keno Hill page that the property has the potential to become the largest Canadian silver producer.

Gold and copper mines that also make silver

Most Canadian silver ounces come from mines that were built for another metal. Two owners account for most of the rows in the table above.

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Silver output, 2024 versus 2025

Thousand troy ounces

Agnico Eagle reported 2,501 koz of silver across all its mines in 2025, of which about 1,450 koz came from its seven Canadian operations, according to its 2025 management’s discussion and analysis. The LaRonde complex in Quebec made 671 koz, up from 589 koz in 2024, alongside 344,555 oz of gold, 8,446 tonnes of zinc and 2,431 tonnes of copper. The same filing says the LaRonde mine and the adjacent LZ5 mine are expected to produce through 2034 and 2036. LaRonde extends below three kilometres, where rock stress and seismic activity raise ground-control risk.

Hudbay Minerals reported 800,198 oz of silver from its Manitoba operations in 2025, down from 995,090 oz in 2024. The release links the lower year to more than two months of production deferrals during wildfire evacuations. Its 2026 Manitoba silver guidance is 800,000 to 1,000,000 oz. Hudbay’s Copper Mountain mine in British Columbia added 252,811 oz of contained silver in 2025, against 280,499 oz in 2024; Hudbay completed the purchase of the remaining 25% of that mine on 30 April 2025.

How little silver can matter to a gold miner shows in the same filing. Silver brought in $105.3 million of Agnico Eagle’s $11,907.9 million of revenue from mining operations in 2025, under 1%, even though its realised silver price climbed from $33.07 per ounce in the first quarter to $60.65 in the fourth and averaged $43.80 for the year. Those totals cover all Agnico mines, including those in Mexico. At a mine built around silver, such as Keno Hill, the same price move reaches most of the revenue line, which is the main reason to separate the two types of mine when you model them.

The lesson for anyone valuing a property is that silver ounces at these mines follow the gold, copper or zinc plan. A mine that sequences toward gold zones, as Lalor did in late 2025, can lower silver output without any change in the silver price. If you need a view of the gold and copper side of the same Canadian belts, see our guides to gold deposits in Ontario and the Quebec gold mines around Malartic, and the broader page on Canadian gold and copper companies.

Kidd Creek in Ontario: a new owner and a short horizon

Kidd Creek in Timmins, Ontario, is a large copper, zinc and silver mine that has produced since 1966. Discovery Silver completed the purchase of Glencore’s Kidd operations on 1 June 2026. The package covers the Kidd Creek copper, zinc and silver mine, the Kidd Metallurgical Site and an exploration land package. Discovery paid $10 million in shares and took on the environmental and rehabilitation obligations, with concentrate offtake arrangements and a 1.0% net smelter return royalty on future production from the exploration land. (An NSR royalty is a share of mine revenue after smelting costs, paid to the royalty holder.)

The same release gives a long record: since opening in 1966 the Kidd operations have produced over 772 million pounds of copper, 2.1 billion pounds of zinc and 400 million ounces of silver. Glencore had announced plans in 2025 to close the mine and the metallurgical site at the end of 2026. Discovery says it will keep operating the mine and study whether it can run longer. For the rest of 2026 it estimates 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of zinc, 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes of copper and about 0.4 Moz of silver. Glencore’s full-year 2025 production report (29 January 2026) shows 1,577 koz of silver in concentrates at Kidd, up from 1,343 koz in 2024, with 41.5 kt of zinc and 17.7 kt of copper in concentrates. Discovery’s 0.4 Moz estimate covers only the seven months after the sale, so it is not a like-for-like comparison.

Where Canadian silver is refined: Trail in British Columbia

Mined silver and refined silver are different numbers. Teck’s Trail Operations in southern British Columbia is a smelter and refinery, and Teck reports silver production of 11.4 Moz at Trail in 2025, up from 8.6 Moz in 2024. Trail also processes stockpiled residues and recycled material, 23,500 tonnes of recycling feed in 2025, so its silver does not all come from Canadian mines. Its output happens to be close to Canada’s mined total, but the two figures are unrelated.

Infographic

From ore to refined silver in 4 steps

1. 1MineUnderground or open-pit ore holds silver minerals, often with lead, zinc, copper or gold.
2. 2MillCrushing, grinding and flotation make silver, lead, zinc or copper concentrates.
3. 3Smelter and refineryConcentrates and recycled material are smelted and refined; Trail, British Columbia, is one site.
4. 4MarketRefined bars and by-products go to buyers; each stage reports its own ounces.

The flow below shows the usual path of a tonne of silver-bearing ore, and why a mine’s silver ounces, a concentrate sale and a refinery’s output are three separate counts.

Canadian-headquartered silver miners mostly dig abroad

People who search for Canadian silver miners often mean companies, not mines. The two largest names are based in Vancouver, and nearly all of their silver mines are elsewhere. Pan American’s results also list Canada among its operating countries, but its silver comes mainly from Latin America. Pan American Silver reported 22.8 Moz of attributable silver production in 2025 from operations in the Americas, and First Majestic Silver reported 15.4 Moz from four underground mines in Mexico (Santa Elena, San Dimas, Los Gatos and La Encantada). Each company’s output is larger than the 11.4 Moz Canada mined in total.

This is why a page about silver miners and a page about silver stocks are different. If you want the listed companies, their tickers and how to screen them, read our pages on Canadian silver mining stocks and the best silver stocks in Canada. Our earlier overview of the biggest Canadian silver miners covers the company side as well. This page stays with the mines inside Canada.

New supply: Eskay Creek in British Columbia

One new Canadian project with a silver by-product is Eskay Creek in northwest British Columbia. In a 31 March 2026 update, Skeena Gold and Silver said the project was 49% complete as of 28 February 2026, with initial production targeted for the second quarter of 2027 and commercial production in the third quarter. The company puts the updated cost at $659 million against $560 million in the 2023 feasibility study, and says permitting is complete. It describes silver as a by-product that exceeds the output of many primary silver mines. We give no annual silver figure here because the update does not state one; check the company’s technical report.

Dates move on projects like this, so read the latest quarterly report before relying on any start-up date.

Land, power and closure at Canadian silver mines

Owner filings give a narrower but more useful picture of land, power and closure. Keno Hill sits in the traditional territory of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, and Hecla lists business agreements with the nation’s development corporation. The site has all-season highway access and a connection to the Yukon Energy hydropower grid. At Kidd, the buyer took on the rehabilitation obligations and financial assurances for the metallurgical site and the mine, which is how closure costs move with ownership. Deep mines also bring safety needs; our page on mine rescue lessons covers rescue and ground-control basics.

For a consultant, the practical point is that land access, power and closure liability are written into ownership documents and permits. Check them in the owner’s technical report and in the provincial or territorial records before you value a project.

▶ Explains seven environmental impacts of mining in plain words, with satellite maps. · 2:31

How to check any Canadian silver mine yourself

1. Start with the national and provincial totals. The NRCan minerals and metals production statistics give silver by province and territory, with suppressed values marked.
2. Read the owner’s results for the silver line. Look for silver produced, silver contained in concentrate and silver payable, and note which one the company uses. Our table mixes them for that reason.
3. Open the technical report. Hecla’s Keno Hill page links an S-K 1300 technical report summary; Canadian-listed companies file national instrument technical reports on SEDAR+. These give reserves, grade and mine life.
4. Check the ownership date. Kidd Creek changed hands on 1 June 2026, so any list that still names Glencore as owner is out of date.
5. Confirm the claims or licence. Provincial and territorial recorders hold the title. Our guides to Yukon claims and British Columbia cell claims show how those records work.

Silver output calculator for a Canadian mine plan

Use the calculator below to turn a mill rate, grade and recovery into ounces per year and a share of Canada’s 2025 preliminary mined silver. The inputs are examples, not any named mine’s figures.

Screening ground for silver with satellite data

Satellites cannot see silver ore. They map the surface minerals, alteration zones and structures that sit around many silver systems, so an explorer can rank ground before sending crews. Farmonaut‘s satellite mineral detection covers silver among its target minerals and works from a boundary file such as KML or KMZ; delivery takes 5 to 20 business days depending on size. The output is an exploration target, ahead of any resource estimate and not a substitute for drilling or a technical report. Owners with a claim in the Yukon, British Columbia or Ontario can learn more on the satellite mineral detection page or ask for a quote through the mining query form.

▶ Explains remote sensing for mining and why agreement between instruments matters. · 2:01

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest silver mine in Canada?

Among the mines that report a 2025 silver figure in filings we opened, Keno Hill in the Yukon is the highest, at 3,018,490 oz (Hecla). Kidd Creek in Ontario is second, with 1,577 koz of silver in concentrates in 2025 (Glencore), and has produced over 400 million ounces since 1966.

How much silver does Canada produce?

NRCan’s preliminary 2025 table shows 356 tonnes, about 11.4 million troy ounces. The USGS estimates 400 tonnes for 2025, and about 1.5% of world output.

Which province produces the most silver?

Ontario, with 106.3 tonnes in the preliminary 2025 NRCan table, followed by British Columbia and the Yukon.

Is there a primary silver mine in Canada?

Keno Hill in the Yukon is the main silver-led mine we found: it makes silver, lead and zinc concentrates and its reserves average 25.28 oz of silver per short ton. Most other Canadian silver is a by-product of gold, copper or zinc mining.

Who owns Kidd Creek mine now?

Discovery Silver, which completed the purchase from Glencore on 1 June 2026. Glencore had planned to close the mine at the end of 2026.

Which Canadian companies mine the most silver?

Pan American Silver (22.8 Moz attributable) and First Majestic Silver (15.4 Moz) are both based in Vancouver, but nearly all of their silver comes from mines in Latin America and Mexico, not Canada (Pan American also lists Canada among its operating countries).

Where is silver refined in Canada?

Teck’s Trail Operations in British Columbia reported 11.4 Moz of silver production in 2025. Trail also treats residues and recycled material, so that figure is refined output, not mine output.

Are any new silver mines being built in Canada?

Eskay Creek in British Columbia is one example. Skeena Gold and Silver reported it 49% complete as of 28 February 2026, with initial production targeted for the second quarter of 2027.

Why do silver figures for the same mine differ between sources?

Owners report silver produced, silver in concentrate or payable silver, and statistics agencies use their own survey definitions. For example, NRCan shows 78.7 tonnes for the Yukon while Hecla reports 3.02 Moz for Keno Hill, so always check the basis before adding figures.

How do I check a Canadian silver mine’s output?

Read the owner’s latest results for the silver line and its basis, then open the technical report on SEDAR+ or the company site, and compare with the NRCan provincial table.

How much of a gold miner’s revenue comes from silver?

Very little at Agnico Eagle: silver was $105.3 million of $11,907.9 million of mining revenue in 2025, under 1%, across all its mines including those in Mexico.

Can satellite data find silver deposits?

Not directly. Satellite data maps rock types, alteration and structures that can point to targets. Drilling and sampling are still needed to confirm any silver.