New research has confirmed that Silver Mines’ (ASX:SVL) Bowdens Silver Project continues to command support, with almost two-thirds of residents in the Mid-Western Regional Council (65%) feeling positive towards the project in New South Wales.
This finding compares with 24% of residents who feel negative about the project.
Support is even stronger in the communities closest to the project, with 79% of residents in Rylstone, Kandos, and Lue feeling positive, while only 15% feel negative.
The findings are based on statistically valid quantitative interviews with 400 residents across the Mid-Western region, conducted by trained interviewers between 30 July and 12 August 2026.
Privately held Bowdens Silver says the results demonstrate that activities opposing the project do not reflect the views of the broader community.
“When residents were asked to spontaneously identify the most important issues facing the local area, only five respondents, approximately 1% of those surveyed, nominated the Bowdens Project,” the company says.
Silver Mines Managing Director Jo Battershill says the research provided an important and representative measure of community sentiment after years of delay and public debate.
“For several years, a relatively small group of opponents has sought to create the impression that the wider community opposes the Bowdens Silver Project,” Battershill says.
“This independent research shows that is simply not the case.”
The research also found that community support is grounded in the project’s practical local benefits. The survey found 81% of residents agree Bowdens will provide jobs for local people, 72% believe it will have a ‘positive impact’ on the local economy, and 65% agree it will benefit the local community.
Among residents of Rylstone, Kandos, and Lue, agreement that the project will benefit the community rose to 82%.
Bowdens is expected to create more than 320 jobs during construction and more than 220 ongoing operational positions.
The project is considered ‘Australia’s largest undeveloped silver deposit and one of the most significant globally’, with a total resource of 128 million tonnes (Mt) @ 40 grams per tonne silver, 0.38% zinc, and 0.26% lead.
New South Wales silver pipeline
The development at Bowdens highlights the breadth of NSW’s silver pipeline, with projects ranging from established production and development to prospective exploration assets.
Rapid Critical Metals (ASX:RCM) is advancing its Webbs, Conrads, and Webbs Consol projects in the New England Fold Belt, building a ‘high-grade’ silver platform with resources across the three projects.
The Webbs and Conrads projects collectively host a resource of 34.9 million ounces of silver-equivalent. This makes the combined resource one of the ‘high-grade’ undeveloped silver inventories owned by an ASX-listed company.
Rapid Critical recently received environmental approvals for Webbs Consol, and booked a third rig to join an ongoing drilling program.
The company also plans to conduct follow-up drilling to test interpreted parallel lodes and the southern extension, resource growth drilling, and updates to geological and resource models.
Meanwhile, Legacy Minerals (ASX:LGM) is exploring the silver potential of its broader NSW portfolio, including the Mt Carrington Gold-Silver Project, which also sits in the New England Fold Belt.
The New England Fold Belt is one of numerous epithermal gold, silver, and base metals districts that formed along the east coast of Australia.
Legacy is assessing a larger processing operation at Mt Carrington, following a 39% increase in resource tonnes.
As previously reported, the company intends to complete an optimised Scoping Study during Q4 2026. The work will evaluate plant throughput above the 1Mt-per-annum scale considered previously.
CEO Christopher Byrne says the expanded resource provides an opportunity to investigate a larger development.
“We now have the opportunity to assess the scale economies of a larger plant and an expanded production target, with the aim of increasing annual metal production, extending cash flow, and improving project economics,” Byrne says.
Legacy Minerals also owns numerous generative projects that are considered prospective for silver in NSW, covering 2,450km2 across nine projects.
Together, these projects illustrate that Bowdens is not an isolated silver story. Instead, it forms part of a diverse NSW silver landscape spanning a large-scale development proposal and a pipeline of exploration assets.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Main image: Silver Mines
