Silver Mines Limited
Silver Mines' 100%-owned Bowdens project is Australia's largest undeveloped silver deposit. The completed DFS outlines 93.5 million ounces of silver reserves, a 26-year mine life, initial capex of A$455M, and a pre-tax NPV of A$1.04 billion. Development consent was overturned by the NSW Court of Appeal in Aug 2024; as of July 2026 the company has submitted an updated Biodiversity Development Assessment Report; NSW DPHI has since completed its review of that material (finding it did not fundamentally change the department's prior assessment) and referred it to the Independent Planning Commission, which has scheduled fresh public hearings for 14-15 Oct 2026 with a redetermination decision expected by 9 Dec 2026.
Notable vs. Peers
- Trading within 0% of its 52-week low — weak recent price momentum.
Lifecycle Milestones
Construction Milestones
0 of 5 reached- Not yet reached
- Not yet reached
- Not yet reached
- Not yet reached
- Not yet reached
Milestones are recorded only from a company's own dated disclosure. A milestone with no date shown is one we can confirm was reached but for which no date was disclosed — we don't estimate one. "Not yet reached" means exactly that, not that a date is missing. An "Expected" line likewise only ever reflects the company's own guidance (e.g. a study or permit decision targeted for a stated quarter) — most not-yet-reached milestones have none, and that absence means no such guidance has been disclosed, not that one is overdue.
Not in place: mill, tailings facility, grid power. Not yet determined: road access.
Jurisdiction (40%)8/10
New South Wales: Fraser PPI 2025 is 73.26 of 100 (rank 37 of 68), which maps to 9 on this site's scale; this company scores 8 for the project-specific reason below. Australia is generally top-tier, but Bowdens specifically carries elevated, multi-year permitting/legal risk after the NSW Court of Appeal set aside its development consent in Aug 2024, now in redetermination.
Infrastructure (40%)1.4/10
No confirmed mill, no confirmed grid power, and no confirmed tailings facility at Bowdens Silver Project, Mudgee, NSW; road access not yet researched, counted at a neutral 5/10 until established.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No producing mine within 50 km in our reference list (nearest listed: Hill End (Reward) (Vertex Minerals Limited), 62 km). That list doesn't cover every mining district yet, so a longer distance isn't scored as remote.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score: Not scored
No producer holds a disclosed stake on file (holder register researched) See holders
Not scored: most juniors that do get bought had no prior toehold, so a missing stake says little either way.
Weight 25% - Distance to a producing mineSub-score:4.6/10
Nearest producing mine: Hill End (Reward) (Vertex Minerals Limited), 62 km
10 next to a producing mine, 8 at 20 km, 5 at 50 km, 0 beyond 200 km.
Weight 22.5% · 46% here - Lifecycle stageSub-score:10/10
Stage: Permitting
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 31% here - JurisdictionSub-score:8/10
Australia: jurisdiction score 8/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 14% here - CommoditySub-score:5/10
Primary commodity: Silver
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Management Team
Managing Director of Silver Mines Limited; the company's Board of Directors page prints his preferred name "Jonathan (Jo) Battershill". Bachelor of Engineering (Geology) with honours, Camborne School of Mines, UK (1995). Over 20 years' career in mining, business development and finance in Australia and internationally, including senior roles at WMC Resources Limited and as a stockbroker at Hartleys, Citigroup and UBS (Sydney and London). Between 2009 and 2015 was voted by institutional investors among Australia's leading mining analysts.
Company Secretary of Silver Mines Limited; the company's Corporate Directory page additionally titles him "Company Secretary/CFO" (a discrepancy between the company's own two pages -- Board of Directors page prints "Company Secretary" only). Qualifications in Finance, Financial Planning and Insurance Broking; Bachelor of Science (Geology/Geophysics), University of Sydney; Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD). Manages Enrizen Financial Group; chairs Gateway Mining Limited; previously a director of the Australian Olympic Committee Inc and Australian Water Polo Inc; Fellow, Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
Silver Mines' shareholder register is dominated by the company itself (98%+ insider/founder held). The only outside fund of note is Swiss resource specialist Konwave AG, holding a small stake.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
Silver Mines owns 100% of the Bowdens silver project near Mudgee in New South Wales, planned as an open-pit mine. Its July 2026 resource estimate has 168,000,000 oz of silver in measured and indicated resources (139,000,000 oz measured and 29,000,000 oz indicated) plus 16,000,000 oz inferred, and the July 2026 definitive feasibility study declared an ore reserve of 93.5 Moz of silver (47.9 Mt at 60.8 g/t Ag). The July 2026 study's Stage 1 base case shows an after-tax NPV5% of US$438.0M (AUD 625.7M) and a 26.2% IRR at US$45/oz silver, with initial capital of US$318.2M (AUD 454.5M), a 15.25-year Stage 1 operating life within a 26-year two-stage plan, and an all-in sustaining cost of US$20.53/oz (AUD 29.32/oz). The NSW Court of Appeal set aside the project's development consent in August 2024, and the Independent Planning Commission has scheduled public hearings for 14-15 October 2026 ahead of a redetermination decision expected by 9 December 2026.