Avino Silver & Gold Mines is a silver, gold and copper producer listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges, with an existing operating precious metal mine in Durango, Mexico. It is a junior miner with firm plans to become a mid-tier producer by growing its annual production from 2.5–2.8m silver equivalent ounces per year currently to 8–10m silver equivalent ounces in four years. Avino will do this by bringing on production from a new orebody, La Preciosa, which is nearby to its existing Avino mine and mill processing operations. It will also boost production through the planned oxide tailings reprocessing project. Avino has a market capitalisation of approximately $498m and has a strong operating record, healthy balance sheet, as well as a path to significant growth. Avino presents investors with exposure to an attractive and under-recognised growing precious metals producer.

Here are five key reasons why Avino is an exciting investment case.

• First, Avino offers silver and precious metals exposure. Precious metals have outperformed most assets classes lately, recovering their safe haven status in a world of inflation and broader uncertainty. Avino is projecting a commodity split of 49% silver, 19% gold and 31% copper in 2025. Silver benefits not only from its status as an investible precious metal, but also due to its growing demand in a wide range of consumer and industrial end uses. Its use in photovoltaic cells, used in solar power generation, accounted for 19% of demand in 2024 according to the silver institute, up from 7% five years earlier and helping to drive the physical silver market into deficit. Silver prices are up 11% year to date and are now less than 1% of the gold price – a record low.
• Secondly, Avino has a clear path to transformational growth. Avino has plans to grow its production by a factor of four in four years. Its plans include silver production growing from 2.6m equivalent silver ounces in 2024 to 8–10m equivalent ounces by the end of the decade. Most of this growth will come initially from the development of its nearby orebody, La Preciosa, which is just 19km from its existing Avino operations. La Preciosa’s development is fully permitted and is underway, with blasting of the decline already started. Avino has a new jumbo drill that is developing the San Fernando haulage ramp towards the Gloria and Abundancia veins.
• Thirdly, it is well funded. Avino reported a $27m net cash position at the end of 2024, and reported $18m in EBITDA in that year, up from $2.5m in 2023. Avino reported all-in-sustaining cost of production for the first quarter of 2025 of $20.1/oz, just 60% of current silver prices, and cash costs of $12.6/oz, just 38% of current prices. Avino aims to get to 8–10Moz for under $100m in investment, which looks achievable without highly dilutive rounds of fund-raising.
• Fourthly, this growth will be low cost and highly value accretive. The commencement of mining at the La Preciosa deposit does not require Avino to build a new mill or new tailing plant, and the orebody is accessible by a dedicated power line and paved road. Its oxide tailing treatment project has a 26% post tax IRR and 3.5-year payback period, according to its pre-feasibility study. These are at price assumptions of $23/oz for silver and $1,840/oz of gold – and any actual production is expected to outperform estimates contained in that pre-feasibility study, assuming consistency of current pricing.
• Finally, Avino is cheaper than its peers based on resources. Avino has 371m silver equivalent ounces (NI 43–101 Mineral Resources at 16 October 2023), enough for 142 years production at 2024 rates or over 40 years at its expanded rate. On an EV to measured and indicated silver resources, the market values Avino at approximately $1/oz, well below many of its peers. On a silver equivalent basis, Avino is trading under $1/oz, well below many of its operating peers and not dissimilar to silver producers not yet in production. For a company with a long operating history and firm path to accelerating production, this looks like an anomaly, and it appears that the market is yet to price in Avino’s transformational growth.

Avino is a high-growth, established silver producer heading towards mid-tier status with a pathway to quadrupling its production by the end of the decade.

Published 10 June 2025