Q&A with Michael DiRienzo, President and CEO, The Silver Institute
In this interview, The Silver Institute President and CEO Michael DiRienzo breaks down the structural shifts transforming the global silver market as it decouples from traditional gold-correlated trading patterns.
A cumulative 762 million-ounce (Moz) market deficit over the last five years — equivalent to a full year of global mine output — has left silver facing a severe supply squeeze, compounded by its status as a critical mineral.
While mining companies scale exploration, byproduct limitations continue to constrain supply growth. At the same time, expanding industrial demand across solar energy, electric vehicles (EVs), AI data centres, and nuclear power is setting higher price floors for the metal. This is reinforcing silver’s dual role as both an indispensable technology input and a strategic portfolio hedge.
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Can you start with an introduction to The Silver Institute and your role there?
I’m the president and CEO of The Silver Institute. We’re based in Washington, DC, US, and are truly a global industry association with over 30 members, including mining companies, refiners, end users, banks, and more.
Our chief mission is to promote everything silver, whether that’s silver on the investment side, in usage, or in demand. This includes the industrial side, which now makes up about 60% of the whole demand equation.
We put out various reports on the market throughout the year, and we also publish our World Silver Survey each April, which is considered by many to be the authoritative source on silver data.
Silver’s definitely been coming into its own, detached from the gold story. Can you talk about that gold-silver ratio, its history, and silver’s breakout?
The ratio actually goes back about 3,000 years, roughly speaking, and is the oldest standard of economic measurement known to man. Our report really focuses on the period from the 1970s to the present and talks about the historical gold-silver ratio of about 67:1. It also gets into the squeeze areas where this has gone down to about 30–35:1, as well as the expansion areas where it’s been above 120:1.
A lot of people look at that metric to decide which metal to invest in or whether they’re going to invest in silver. I think it’s a useful tool, but there are a whole host of other reasons why one should invest in silver.
What are those investment drivers?
Silver is one of four or five metals that are considered precious metals. It’s scarce. There’s been a five-year deficit in the market. We’re using more silver than we’re producing.
The fact is it is a geopolitical and inflation hedge. Obviously, we have some turmoil throughout the world today, and inflation, at least in the US, has not been tamed by the measurement standards set by the US Federal Reserve.
So, silver is a great way to diversify a portfolio and that’s what many people have done in the last three years. It had a tremendous year in 2025, rising to almost US$79 ($113) on 31 December. Then, of course, in January 2026 we saw it hit a peak of US$121, and now it’s been comfortably settled in the US$60s. Many people, including a lot of the banks, are projecting a year-end close of around US$80 an ounce.
So there’s a lot more room for silver to run, with new floors being set in the market.
A lot of that interest is coming from the industrial demand side, which is leading to the supply crunch. Can you give more details on this?
When you talk about the supply crunch, it’s because there are just no significant new silver deposits on the horizon.
We do have some mines restarting and new projects underway, including in Nevada, US, and Morocco. But quite frankly, it’s not going to be enough supply. That’s even if you include recycled or scrap supply in the market to help meet that demand.
From 2021–2026, we’re seeing a 762Moz shortfall in the global market. That’s equal to roughly one year of mine supply, at around 800Moz. So we have that deficit happening.
At the same time, you have silver being incorporated into so many clean energy projects. Last year, the US identified silver as a critical mineral. We like to call it a critical and a strategic mineral. It’s used in solar panels, in EVs, actually in all automobiles. It’s also used in wind power and in nuclear power.
Nuclear power is having a renaissance of sorts. I recently got back from National Clean Energy Week in DC, and the key takeaway there was that governments and localities around the globe are taking a closer look at nuclear energy. It’s clean and it’s inexpensive.
There are some risks to communities and that’s going to be the big battle. But I think those can be overcome with the safety standards being where they are today and with the developments we’ve seen in reactors.
We talk about the looming supply crunch. Why is this happening?
We’re using more silver than we’re mining, but actually, that number is coming down.
The shortfall was over 200Moz two years ago, while it was 40.3Moz last year, and we’re calling for 46Moz this year. The reason those numbers are dropping is that less silver is being used in one particular application: solar.
While installations are increasing across the globe, at this price point, silver is the highest input cost per solar panel, making up almost 10% of each panel. So manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are looking to alternatives to silver.
But what they’re finding is that if you’re going to do a project with a 25-year lifespan, you’re not going to get insurance on it. It’s not going to work as you would have hoped. The reliability, the stability, and the longevity all rely on silver.
So, there will be silver used in most of these panels, but you can’t ignore the fact that these manufacturers are questioning it at this price. Interestingly, they were questioning it when silver was US$13 an ounce — they were already looking to thrift out silver.
With silver prices around the US$60 mark, is this spurring more exploration?
Absolutely. The interesting thing is that these mining companies have done very well, not only from the silver price, but also through their share prices. More people are investing in the companies now than they have been in the past.
This investment allows them more room for growth in their exploration budgets. But what they’re doing this time versus in other boom cycles is they’re being much more judicious in their exploration. They’re looking at current mine sites and new veins where they can extract more silver.
So, that’s the case today. Companies are expanding their exploration budgets, but they’re being smart about it and we think that’s a good thing for the overall market.
How does grade factor into that? With some of these sites already in production, does that mean what’s left is of lower grade? How does that impact use?
We all know that there are various grades of silver and different levels of purity. Very high-purity silver and gold are used in extremely high-tech, defence, and space applications, whereas regular silver is for jewellery or for investment-grade silver bars.
The thing that silver has going against it is that only 30% of silver mining comes from a primary silver mine. The rest of it comes from other mining activities for lead, gold, zinc, and copper.
So 70% of silver is a byproduct metal, and it’s sent to the refinery. Those mining companies get credits based on the silver content in that doré bar.
What is your outlook for the remainder of the year? What should investors or mining companies know about the silver market?
The numbers have remained consistent since we put out our 2026 World Silver Survey. We’re looking at 1.1 billion ounces of total silver demand, and of that, about 640Moz will go to industrial applications.
The new applications that are already here include data centres and AI. The energy and electrical requirements all rely on silver in the wiring, in the chips, etc.
Those two phenomena have been prominent in driving growth over the last five years and will help to drive further consumption down the road.
If solar comes down a bit, we’re still seeing new developments in usage.
It reminds me of what we saw in the early 2000s, where silver’s use in photography reached a peak. Then we saw the digital and phone cameras come out, and silver’s use in that application went from over 200Moz a year to about 30Moz today.
But silver is still being used. This clean energy revolution is not going away anytime soon. Europe and the rest of the world is really focused on these energy alternatives and silver will play a huge role in that.
So, 640Moz, while not a record year for industrial applications, is still top three. Jewellery demand is about 159Moz, with India leading the way. Investment is about 258Moz, which is physical investment in coins and bars. That’s going to be a bit higher than what we saw last year. And mine production, we think, is going to be around 844–850Moz.
The market is running well and people are excited about silver. More people are investing in it than they have in past years, and new floors have been set in the market. It’s not a US$20 metal anymore. If you look at what the banks are saying, they have some pretty high forecasts for the remainder of the year, and even higher for 2027.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Main image: Mining.com.au
