An American Silver Play With Growth Potential

Silver prices have tripled in the past year, from around $30 in late January 2025 to over $100 today. Silver offers a relatively safe haven to traditional stocks, and it's seen as a hedge against inflation, which has remained elevated in the past year.

There's also a shortage of physical silver amid soaring demand for use in a variety of technologies, such as solar panels and electric vehicles. One estimate put the shortage at 95 million ounces in 2025.

In other words, investors shouldn't count out silver yet, even after a massive move higher in the past few months. However, the safer way to play the metal may be by investing in silver mining companies, not the metal itself.

Mining companies have a hidden advantage right now: As the price of silver soars higher than costs, profit margins expand.

Image source: Getty Images.

Geopolitical surprises add a twist to the silver story

2026 has started off with a repeat of many of the geopolitical storms of 2025 including tariff announcements and a push for the United States to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

These events are creating rising uncertainty in global markets, and investors may find relatively safer returns in the resource space, with companies largely doing business in the United States.

Among silver players in the U.S., Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) may be best positioned. Founded in 1891, Hecla is the largest producer of silver in the U.S. and Canada, a friendly jurisdiction for resource companies. Currently, Hecla accounts for 37% of all silver produced in the U.S. and 29% in Canada.

As a commodity producer, Hecla's profitability is susceptible to swings in silver's price. For instance, following silver's last parabolic spike higher in 2011 to the lows in 2014, margins collapsed from over 20% to negative 20%. Ditto for the 2022-2023 period, when silver prices came down from a higher spike in 2020.

Over the past five years, the trend has been clear, and as long as silver continues to soar, so should Hecla's profit margin, and likely its share price:

Data source: Macrotrends.

Today, margins are growing but haven't fully caught up to silver's soaring price. For example, Hecla's Greens Creek mine in Alaska has all-in sustaining costs of $11.01 per ounce. It even boasts negative cash costs after by-product credits, which positions Hecla as one of the lowest-cost producers in North America. In turn, low costs provide a significant buffer during periods of lower silver prices -- but a profit machine as silver prices soar.

Globally, with strong demand for physical silver and limited new supplies from miners, Hecla is likely to continue selling silver at higher prices in the quarters ahead, benefiting from being a low-cost producer.

For now, this is a perfect storm, which is why shares of silver producers such as Hecla saw larger percentage gains than silver in 2025, with Hecla soaring 291% compared to a 144% gain for silver.

Investors also could get some income out of silver's volatility. Hecla pays a dividend, in part based on silver prices. Currently, that works out to a modest 0.05% yield. But with silver prices on the rise, shareholders are set to see increased payouts.

Hecla has a low payout ratio of under 5%, which leaves significant room for further dividend expansion. But investors won't want to buy shares for the income, but rather a better way to capture further upside in silver.

A domestic play on silver demand

Hecla Mining's large position in the North American market leaves it well positioned away from any geopolitical jitters that have been popping up recently. Its low-cost mines offer investors some of the best positioning after silver's massive 2025 rally.

Andrew Packer has positions in Hecla Mining. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.