GOLD or SILVER? Both? Barrick Mining, First Majestic Silver, and Silver North Resources in focus!

First Majestic Silver: Full speed ahead!

What a year for silver. In USD, the price of the precious metal shot up by over 130% this year. The second half of the year was particularly strong, with silver significantly outperforming its big brother, gold. It seems only a matter of time before the USD 70 per ounce mark is broken. Meanwhile, a price of USD 100 no longer seems unrealistic.

The basic investment in the sector is likely First Majestic Silver. The security has gained over 150% in the current year. In addition to the silver price, there has also been positive company news recently. The first scoping studies have begun at the Santa Elena silver/gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The two new discoveries, Navidad and Santo Niño, are being investigated. Fresh drilling results had already been announced previously: these significantly increased the gold and silver mineralization reported in 2024 in both targets. At the same time, Luna is running an infill program that is expected to transfer a substantial portion of the inferred resources to the higher indicated category. Against the backdrop of growing mineralization, First Majestic is also driving organic growth through a plant expansion: throughput is expected to increase from approximately 3,200 t/day to around 3,500 t/day by the end of 2026.

Silver North Resources: Starting the new year with full coffers!

In addition to basic investments such as First Majestic Silver, exploration companies can be a useful addition to the portfolio. One interesting stock in this area is Silver North Resources. The Company is active in Canada's famous Yukon region with its Veronica and Haldane projects. At Veronica in southern Yukon, rock samples this year yielded high-grade silver mineralization with peak values of up to 2,860 g/t silver and an exceptional 76.8% lead. Progress was also made at the flagship Haldane project in the Keno Hill district. The evaluation of the 2025 drilling program is still ongoing.

Silver North Resources has taken advantage of the positive environment and corporate news to raise CAD 2.25 million gross through a capital increase. This will allow Silver North to significantly bring forward the start of the 2026 drilling season. The focus is on the Haldane project, supplemented by a follow-up program on the Veronica Silver project. CEO Jason Weber emphasizes that the team will spend the winter processing and interpreting the data from 2025 and using it to derive specific drill targets for 2026. The stated goal is to start new drilling as early as possible in the spring and make the most of the season.

Barrick Mining: Eat or be eaten?

Although silver has outperformed gold in the current year, investors have also been happy with the yellow precious metal. Yesterday, the price of gold rose again above USD 4,400 per troy ounce. This brings its performance in 2025 to around 70%. Investor favorite Barrick Mining has even skyrocketed by almost 200%.
Based on the current price of around USD 45, it is only about 20% away from its all-time high at the turn of 2010 to 2011.

Strategically, the gold and copper group is likely to have a lot on its plate in the coming year. Rumors continue to circulate that Newmont is planning a hostile takeover to completely take over Barrick's US operations. To prevent this, Barrick announced in early December that it was considering an IPO of its North American gold assets. The Company plans to retain a majority stake in any case, but also disclose the value of its cash-flow-strong US business. This would also accommodate activist investor Elliott.

It will also be interesting to see whether Barrick Mining actually refrains from acquisitions and instead focuses on organic growth through the expansion of existing mines. Capital should not be an issue, as the group received USD 192 million in cash for the sale of the Tongon gold mine and certain exploration properties in Côte d'Ivoire to the Atlantic Group. A further USD 113 million could flow in over the next five years through milestone payments.

It is not unlikely that Barrick will have to make larger acquisitions to prevent a hostile takeover if the takeover merry-go-round spins faster in the coming year. In any case, it could afford to do so.

At Barrick Mining, the motto for the coming year could indeed be: eat or be eaten. First Majestic Silver remains a core investment in the manageable silver sector. Both stocks have performed very strongly this year. It would come as no surprise if investors focused more on exploration companies in 2026. Silver North Resources' stock is interesting in this regard. The Company is entering the new year with full cash coffers and can carry out its drilling program consistently.