Happy Tuesday, GoldBuzzers!

The Silver price is still seeking a firm footing, but today's feature isn't about the spot price. It's about what's happening inside the companies that pull the metal out of the ground.

The big silver majors have spent years earning their reputation as leaky buckets - high costs, thin margins, and share counts that only moved in one direction. That picture has significantly changed, and it’s clear the market still hasn’t caught up to it.

This week, I'm going to examine three of the top silver majors whose fundamentals now look genuinely excellent - margins, balance sheets, and free cash flow included.

O️k. Let’s get into it. ⬇️

Gold started Monday on the back foot, slipping to $4,140 an ounce as the dollar firmed, then recovered to trade near $4,165 by the close - within reach of its two-week high. Silver traced the same path, dipping below $62 early and climbing back above it by the afternoon.

The dip-buying tells you where the market's head is at. Last week's jobs report showed the US added just 57,000 jobs in June, the weakest print in four months and well short of the 110,000 forecast, with the prior two months revised lower. Odds of a September Fed rate hike fell from 66 percent to 50 percent, and every step back from tighter policy lowers the cost of holding metal that pays no yield.

The next test lands tomorrow, when the Fed releases minutes from its last meeting. Traders will be reading them for any daylight between Chair Warsh's cooling-inflation comments and the committee's appetite for a rate hike.

For years, the knock on big silver majors was simple: great leverage to the metal, terrible businesses. High costs, thin margins, endless dilution.

That story is now out of date. This week, I'm examining three of the top silver majors whose fundamentals have quietly moved into a different class - and have the numbers to back it up.

First, here’s how all seven precious metals sectors compare today. Each percentage shows what share of names in that sector are currently beating their benchmark ETF - GDX for gold-focused miners, SIL for silver-focused miners. Silver Majors, this week's featured sector, sits at exactly 50% of names outperforming SIL. Gold Majors lead at 52%, up 8.0pp. Royalty Companies made the largest upward move, jumping 12.5pp to 38%. Silver Juniors fell 5.7pp to 9%, and Silver Producers held flat at 36%.

Pan American Silver (PAAS) is this category's cash machine. The company runs silver and gold mines across Latin America and Canada, and Q1 2026 came in decisively: attributable free cash flow of $488 million, pushing cash and short-term investments to a record $1.8 billion.

The silver-segment AISC (all-in sustaining cost, basically what it costs them per ounce of silver produced) came in at just $6.63 per ounce - extremely low, driven by high-margin production from its Juanicipio joint venture in Mexico. The board responded by targeting up to $1 billion in shareholder returns through 2026. They slipped one spot to #2 in the INSIDER rankings, but the fundamentals are intact.

Coeur Mining (CDE) is our #1 name in Silver Majors right now, and it's earned that with a year of genuine transformation. Coeur closed its acquisition of New Gold in March 2026, adding the New Afton copper-gold mine and the Rainy River gold mine in Canada - making it the only all-North America senior precious metals producer.

Q1 2026 free cash flow hit $267 million despite one-time acquisition costs totaling over $200 million that hit in the same quarter - meaning the underlying cash engine ran considerably stronger than the headline suggests. Management's full-year guidance of more than $2 billion in free cash flow has the credibility of a Q1 that already absorbed a major transaction.

Hecla Mining (HL) at #3 in the rankings, has done something none of its peers managed this quarter: it went debt-free. Yes, zero debt - finally! The company sold its Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec, used the proceeds plus strong operating cash flow to build a $588 million cash position, then redeemed its remaining $263 million in senior notes on April 9, 2026 - leaving it with zero long-term debt and an undrawn $225 million credit line.

Q1 free cash flow was a record $144 million. Hecla now runs three focused silver operations in the U.S. and Canada: Greens Creek in Alaska, Lucky Friday in Idaho, and Keno Hill in Yukon and their debt free status is a potential game changer.

Wrapping Up

This week's Silver Majors picture comes down to a divergence. The operators at the top of the rankings are posting even better numbers than they were a quarter ago, while the sector's relative price performance has slid for two months.

When cash flow strengthens and the benchmark-beat rate falls at the same time, one of two things is happening. Either the market has started discounting the category against other options, or silver's price is the swing factor - if it holds, margins stay healthy and the stocks catch up.

If Silver can find its footing above $60 and start to rally, the Silver Majors sit first in line to benefit.

That’s all for this Tuesday, folks. I’ll see you on Thursday.

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Rick Adams
Founder, GoldBuzz
rick@goldbuzz.com