Spectacular discovery: this silver reserve could transform the American market – Futura, le média qui explore le monde

The discovery is emerging as the same mining system continues to grow in both size and richness, changing expectations about how much metal it may eventually produce.
Deep within the Coeur shaft system in northern Idaho, drilling outlined a continuous mineralized vein stretching roughly 500 feet in both length and height.
Based on those core samples, Rick Streiff, head of geology at Americas Gold and Silver Corporation, documented silver grades above 18 ounces per ton, along with copper and antimony in the same structure.
Early results suggest the vein remains open in several directions, meaning the mineralization likely continues beyond the area drilled so far.
That unresolved extent leaves the system only partly defined and makes it essential to determine how far the high-grade zone truly continues.
In the same mine, measured and indicated resources – the better-defined estimate of contained metal – increased by 19 percent to 87.9 million ounces.
Drilling nearby likely helped move lower-confidence material into a stronger category while also identifying richer silver zones.
The average grade climbed to about 14.6 ounces per ton, meaning that every ton sent to the mill carried more value.
Still, a resource is not the same thing as mineable ore, and costs can wipe out the promise long before extraction ever begins.
Silver is not the only metal attracting attention. The Galena mining complex in northern Idaho is also feeding a broader effort to develop domestic antimony processing.
In 2025, U.S. import dependence for antimony reached 91%, while the average price rose to $25 per pound.
That helps explain the 51/49 venture with U.S. Antimony to build a processing plant in the northern part of Idaho’s Silver Valley.
Even so, strategic importance alone will not make the project work, because production, recovery, and the construction schedule will still decide whether the metal becomes profitable.
Another part of the Idaho story sits nine miles away at Crescent, a former producer now folded into the Galena mining complex in northern Idaho.
Because its ore contains a similar blend of silver, copper, and antimony, shared shafts, mills, and crews could lower the cost of bringing new feed into the system.
Company filings referred to a historical resource of 3.8 million ounces in stronger categories and 19.1 million ounces in lower-confidence categories.
That inventory still needs modern confirmation, so for now it remains a target for drilling rather than a current addition.
In southern Sinaloa, on Mexico’s Pacific side, El Alacran has reached less than 2,000 feet north of San Rafael.
One hole intersected about 91 feet averaging two ounces of silver per ton, along with small amounts of gold and copper.
Proximity matters here because any future growth could draw on roads, electricity, and mining services already built for the district.
Cosala’s measured and indicated silver resources still declined by 13 percent, a reminder that fresh discoveries must outpace depletion.
Mining companies classify underground metal into confidence levels before they talk about expansion, and those labels can sound more solid than they really are.
An inferred resource – a rough estimate built from limited evidence – may point to promise, but it cannot support a mine plan.
A mineral reserve, the portion considered mineable under current assumptions, rests on stronger ground because engineers have already tested the economics and mining methods.
That is why a small reserve increase can matter more than a larger discovery that still sits in a rougher category.
Higher grades change the daily economics of a mine before they ever change investor presentations or news coverage.
When each ton carries more silver, trucks move less waste rock and mills can recover more saleable metal with each pass.
At Galena, remote loaders moved about 220 short tons per shift, compared with about 55 a year earlier.
Operational gains like that help explain why richer veins matter most when mines also have shaft capacity and reachable working areas for crews.
On paper, discoveries can seem decisive long before a company proves it can sustain stable production.
Narrower true widths, lower metal recovery, additional waste rock, permits, and ground conditions can all shrink what ultimately reaches a processing plant.
Canada’s NI 43-101 rule, the mining disclosure standard used there, makes clear that resources are not reserves.
That warning matters most at Crescent, where the older figures still require modern drilling before they can carry greater weight.
The next real test will come from the drilling program now planned in Idaho and Mexico.
Americas has scheduled about 40 miles of drilling for 2026, with four underground rigs at Galena and two rigs at Cosala.
“The future is bright,” said Paul Andre Huet, president and chief executive officer of Americas Gold and Silver Corporation.
That confidence now depends on whether new holes can turn sharp intercepts into broader, continuous zones that engineers can actually plan around.
Across Idaho and Mexico, this story is less about one flashy intercept than about a broader effort to build a longer operating life.
If the 2026 drilling confirms continuity and the antimony plan moves ahead, the company could end up with both large-scale silver production and a domestic antimony supply.

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