‘Early Stages Of This Rally’: How High Can Silver Climb? | Ken Berry
Summary
Market Outlook: The podcast discusses the early stages of a rally in silver and gold, with expectations for significant growth as retail investors have yet to fully engage in the market.
Company Overview: Ken Berry, co-founder of Kney Silver, highlights the company's history since 2006, its development of key projects in Mexico, and its position as a major junior silver bank with over 325 million ounces of silver equivalent in the ground.
Silver Performance: Silver has seen a recent price surge, currently at $41, and is expected to continue rising, with Kney Silver aiming for a rerating due to its undervaluation compared to peers like Visa and Silver Crest.
Project Development: Kney Silver's focus is on expanding its Colomba project in Mexico, with plans to increase its silver resource to 100 million ounces and explore further mineralization at depth.
Financial Position: The company is well-funded with $19 million in the bank and an additional $7.5 million in warrants, supporting its 50,000-meter drilling program and future resource updates.
M&A Environment: The podcast touches on the current M&A landscape, noting low premiums on deals and Kney Silver's potential interest in strategic partnerships or buyouts as it continues to add value through exploration.
Investment Strategy: Despite market fluctuations, Kney Silver remains committed to aggressive drilling and resource expansion, with a focus on long-term value creation and potential production of its projects.
Industry Sentiment: There is a cautious optimism in the silver market, with professional investors showing interest, but retail participation is still limited, suggesting further room for growth.
Transcript
We're in the early stages of this rally. Silver especially and gold are two of the areas that that uh the marketplace will start to wake up to. So I don't believe we've seen the retail uh side uh really take positions. Uh and that's why I say I believe we have a lot of room to go. [Music] Very pleased to welcome to the show Ken Barry, co-founder and chairman of Kney Silver. My audience is no stranger to the coupney story. We've had Jim McDonald CEO on a couple times. He has been calling for higher prices for silver uh for a lot of reasons which we'll revisit today. Jim's been right. We'll get Ken's outlook and we'll get Ken's uh evaluation of what the silver mining industry is doing right now and updates on silver. Welcome to the show, Ken. >> David, thanks for having me on. I've had Jim on a couple times. Unfortunately, he couldn't be here at the conference, but I'm very honored to be speaking with you today. Hey, you're one of the co-founders and I haven't asked Jim about this, I don't think, on my show. Tell us about the origins of this company. >> Well, Coutney was founded back in 2006 and uh this was the first time that Jim McDonald and myself got together and uh uh Jim had a number of properties in the Coupney region, British Columbia and hence the name Coupney Silver. uh we rolled those into a CPC at the time and uh since that uh nearly 20 years time frame back to 2006 2005 2006 uh the company has raised over oh it's close to 160 million now we've developed four key projects uh which we're focused on in Mexico currently uh but there's been times when we've had anywhere from 25 to 30 properties uh being a property generator we brought in other groups uh to option these properties. We've had Pan-American uh Ago and uh and various others. Uh so it it's been a a tremendous amount of uh work over those years. Uh but we have assets now which are stronger than ever. Uh and I'd love to tell you more about those. Yeah, for sure. The silver price has had a huge explosion to the upside in the last couple of months. More this year, but more hap more over the last couple of months. It's been lagging gold for quite some time until earlier this summer. What happened to silver? How would you characterize silver's performance in 2025? Well, I think uh everyone is uh has been expecting a a silver rise. Uh I think we are in the initial innings of what we see as a a longer term play here. We're very happy. It's about $41 currently. It's bringing a lot of attention to silver. Coupney being one of the uh largest juniors silver bank in the industry. We've we have over 325 million ounces uh silver equivalent in the ground. We have over 200 million ounces of pure silver. Uh so we're getting a lot of attention now. Uh there's companies that have uh been ahead of us such as Visa and Silver Crest and we feel that we're undervalued. We think that we're in the position to have a rerating. Uh, and as I say, it's the early innings in a in a silver move that we see will go much higher. >> When you say attention, well, I'll come back to that last statement, but when you when you say attention, what do you mean? Attention from whom? Well, I think the investment community is looking for silver plays, looking for juniors. Uh, Coutney has been 20 years in the making. Uh, a lot of people think it's an overnight success. It's been 20 years establishing these assets. Uh most recently the last 5 years we've been focused on Colombia and that's a project down in the Chihuahua state. Uh we have a 50 floor in Mexico. We have a 54 million ounce resource that we published in June. Uh we're currently fully funded for a 50,000 meter program. We have over 19 million in the bank. Uh we have a team on the ground. We're very confident that visited the site in the last couple weeks. Uh we are hitting mineralization in all directions. We've uh got an average with our resource uh that was 54 million ounces average of 280 g per ton. >> Yeah. >> Uh so it's it's a property that shows a lot of potential. >> Okay. I I'll come back to that in just a minute. Um are you getting attention from partners or potential uh um uh uh JVS or uh seniors, producers looking for a buyout? I would say all of the above. Uh we see ourselves taking this project much further down the field. Uh as I say, it's early stages, 54 million ounces. Uh we're very pleased with that resource. Uh but we we see a lot more upside. Uh the project at hand is about a 3 km by 4 km uh located in a caldera. Uh and it's barely been touched. Uh we are also drilling to about 350 meters. So we're we're relatively close to the surface. uh we see potential at depth. Uh there's a lot more mineralization uh expected at depth and that's something that we'll be testing as we move along. Well, you've been with the company for 20 years. What does the next 5 to 10 years looks look like for for you? Well, we announced uh a $12 million financing in June and it was upsized to 20 million. Uh we had orders for 35 million. Uh there's a lot of interest in Coutney. Uh I see us in the future uh being rerated and then there will be additional opportunities uh for financings to expand Colomba uh which many people think will be taken to production. But we also have Lasagara and that's in the Pel state. It's over 65 million ounce resource uh with a tremendous amount of upside as well. That was a property that was acquired through North Air Transaction back in 2016. And then we have Promentorio which was our flagship property initially uh with a resource of well over 125 million ounces. Uh and that has a a silver uh poly metallic silver lead zinc also has a gold portion to it. It is refractory. Uh but that's another opportunity. So we have uh actually four projects and Leneagra is also a sister project to promon. So we have four projects two in Sonora, two in the Chihuahua state. uh and I see a lot of upside on all those projects. >> Well, let's just take Columbbo for example. What's your endgame with that particular project? Are you planning to take it into production? I mean, you have a history of operating mines. So, that seems like a logical next step now. >> Well, as you mentioned, we have a history of operating mines. Uh we took a project in Arizona to production from expiration and that was from 2012 to about 201920. Uh and that was in a tough market at that time. We were able to finance for well over 150 million. Sure. Uh so we're not afraid to take this further down the field. We see the next 50,000 m giving us the opportunity to hit the 100 million ounce threshold in silver. Uh and then we'll test this uh we'll test this uh project at depth. We think that uh there's uh additional ounces to be found. So we'll we'll take it as far down the field. We'll take it into production if if necessary. Yeah. or uh as you mentioned uh we've got a lot of interest from other majors as well as the investment communities. >> Talk about the M&A environment right now. So this week earlier this week uh Aglo American and Tech Resources merged. I think it was 65 to 35 ownership split. Now it was a no premium deal though. A lot of the shareholders in the tech side were pretty disappointed at that. Is that the market environment right now where you got low premiums on bids? Well, I can only speak to Coupney and and again, we feel very much undervalued uh with over 300 million ounces silver equivalent in the ground. Uh we think there's a tremendous upside, but as you've stated, uh there's many rumors, many companies out there that are looking for M&A, looking to do transactions. Uh so, uh definitely we'll have to entertain the opportunities. Currently, we're focused on Cola and drilling off this next 50,000 m. Hypothetically, if someone were to approach you right now with a check, right, what is a premium that you would entertain? >> As you say, that's valued right now by how much? We feel we're undervalued. I mean, I'll let the investment community do the calculation, but with over 325 million ounces in the ground, >> and we're currently at about an 80 million market cap, there's tremendous upside >> uh on the table. So, I see us uh continuing to drill. We'll put updates out on the resource. Uh and um as an example, we've drilled uh about 50,000 meters to establish a 54 million ounce silver resource. Uh you look at Visa and you look at Silver Crest, they've drilled in the hundreds of thousands of of meters. And uh we I think we're getting a lot more value and we're getting a lot more success on a limited amount of drilling. So this next 50,000 m, as I said, fully funded, $19 million in treasury. I should mention we have another $7.5 million in warrants which are in the money currently and we expect those to come in over the next 3 months. So company is well funded. >> Okay, so over $26 million of cash potentially in the next couple months. What are your plans for this reserve? >> Well, our goal is 100 million ounces. Uh but I wouldn't put a cap on that. Uh I I see us having the opportunity. We've uh we're seeing some uh some interesting mineralization and breadated material at depth which is different from the vein system that we're currently drilling. We've got over 17 veins that we're on to right now. >> Yeah. >> Uh we're we're drilling at 100 meter centers. Uh so lots of opportunity to expand this. Uh but I wouldn't put a cap at 100 million ounces. I think we can go well beyond that. As I say, I was down at the property a couple weeks ago, right? >> Uh we took some investors down. They were very excited with what they saw. >> We were using the latest round of financing and cash primarily for drilling. >> It's primarily drilling. Uh we have a team down on site in the in the uh Chihuahua area. Um the property we've just uh we're completing three warehouses uh on and near uh the current Columba. Uh that'll be our staging ground. Uh so we we've got lots of development. We have about 50 men on site right now working uh men and women. So uh we're certainly active. Uh we've got two drill rigs currently and and I I'd likely see additional rigs being added. Silver was at $20 an ounce not too long ago. Um about in 2023 it was at 20 less than $20 an ounce. Doubled in more than just under two years. Does your corporate strategy change if depending on the silver price, let's say it's $20, $18 or $40. Does that matter to you? >> Well, I think it always matters because as an example, our La Sagara project uh with 65 million ounces, uh the uh resource was calculated at a much lower silver price. So, we will be updating those reports uh Lasagara Proto. Uh so that is also going to demonstrate to the marketplace uh the valuation uh rerating potential in terms of uh in terms of raising capital or drilling or exploration uh does your does your you know strategy or tactic change uh depending on the macro environment for silver? >> No, our our strategy has been to uh drill on Columbus drill as get as active as we can. Uh, as I mentioned, we're always uh gauging the marketplace. Uh, we're out as as an example at the conference here at Beaver Creek, which we're currently attending. We had over 43 meetings. Yeah. >> In 3 and 1/2 days. Uh, so we're constantly getting the message out, interacting with the investment community, uh, gauging, uh, where the interest is. As I mentioned, we announced 12 million financing on the last round. Within hours, we were upsized to 20 million. We had orders for 35 million. We cut it off at 20. Uh the rest of the interest is is coming into the market. We're seeing the market uh react as we speak. Uh uh today our market hit a $1.70. So the market cap increased substantially, pulled back to about a $150, I believe. And uh so definitely we're always aware of what the market's doing. Uh but the marketplace is interested in in ounces being added and uh we're going to add to that 325 million ounces. >> Based on the conversations you've had with investors and potentially banking analysts, uh do you or have you heard the sentiment that the silver price today is here to stay or is this kind of an effal ephemeral passing of a new rally? I think the feedback that we're hearing from the investment community is that we're going to see much higher silver prices. We may see a pullback along the way. Uh but we're seeing a new level being established and uh there's definitely a a feeling that we're in the early stages of this rally. Uh so uh we're very excited with our ability to add ounces, as I say, to the 325 million. We if we're successful at hitting 100 million ounces, we'll be up at you know getting close to 375 to 400 million ounces. If we're comparing now to the last bull cycle of silver and gold, which is 2011, how would you compare the sentiment in the sector now versus the end of 2010 when silver was then trading at $40 before it hit 50? It seems to me based on what I've heard um of stories around 2011 that people are a little bit cautious now compared to 15 years ago. I think uh based on this investment show, we're seeing a lot of professionals uh step into the market. I don't believe we've seen the retail uh side uh really take positions. Uh and that's why I say I believe we have a lot of room to go. >> Um macrow wise, uh we're all experiencing devaluation of currencies. Uh uh I think we we can look back over the last 10 years and say we're not in in a better position. uh you know there's many people living paycheck to paycheck. Uh they're trying to trying to establish where can they uh maintain their wealth, where can they uh enter an area that that might preserve that and I think uh silver especially and gold are two of the areas that that uh the marketplace will start to wake up to. So uh it's very bullish but uh macro-wise in the economy uh there could be a lot more disappointment ahead. What are some of the reasons you've heard for why silver is going higher even from today's levels? >> Well, I think silver has many uses. You know, it's it's it's considered a precious metal, but it's also has industry industrial use, uh medical use and and electronics. Uh so there is uh there's a real demand out there as well as uh as the preservation of capital and and the investing in in silver itself. And if if you uh pick your companies wisely, pick companies that have uh established resources that have been around uh for the long term. We've been here 20 years. You asked how how we differ uh from 10 years ago. Uh we were focused on one project 10 years ago and that was proven with over 125 million ounces. Uh we're currently uh we have four projects as as our key assets. Uh and so th this is a completely different company. We've proven that we can be around for the long term. There's not a lot of juniors that have been around 20 years and and have assets as strong as Kney Silver. What's different about Mexico compared to Canada where the US is a jurisdiction? >> Well, Mexico is well endowed with silver. There's no doubt about it. Um you've got to uh you've got to focus on areas which are are uh um you can get work done. Uh we happen to be in the Chihuahua state. Uh we're about uh uh 3 hours north of Chihuahua City. Uh we're on a ranching land. Uh Menanite community. Uh they're very um very pro- industry. Uh the um social aspects are favorable. So uh we're we're happy to be located in that area. Uh we have great relationships with with uh our partners in the area. How would you evaluate uh the M&A landscape right now overall? Is it uh are people getting in on deals? Um or are they just starting or do you see this phase passing already? Where are we in this cycle? >> I think we're early st again I I believe we're in the early stages on on a metals movement but also on M&A activity as well. Uh and and look, our investors are getting in because of the potential to add significant ounces of silver. Uh the M&A opportunities uh that'll unfold as time goes on, but uh we uh we see this as an early early stage. You've taken projects to production before. At what point uh do you look at a project and you realize that it's ready to go into production? What are some of the key stats that you look at? >> Well, you'd want to have that 100 million ounces. That's sort of the minimum threshold that that we're shooting for. That's our goal, 100 million ounces. Uh we're continuing to do uh the environmental studies and and all the peripheral work uh that is necessary to take a project to production. Uh as we get closer, uh we'll start to draw on our our network and our and our uh um various contacts uh such as Han Schmidt. Uh he's an adviser to the company. He was uh uh one of the key individuals with grade resources. Uh he took that project uh put together the feasibility study for grade. Ag came in and it was one of the best uh feasibilities. It went right to production. Uh so we draw on individuals like Aan Schmidt and Jim McDonald who was a key figure in the Alamos development had national gold merged together with Alamos took the Molados project to production uh and and and brought on numerous other projects. We also have a great relationship with Manley Garduchi, former COO of Alamos. And so we start to draw on those individuals, prepare a project to go to production. And uh if we're approached during that process, then then fine, we'll we'll we'll um you know, of course, entertain uh different opportunities, but our goal is to move this to the stage where it can move into production. >> Who are your key shareholders right now? key shareholders Eric Sprat uh cond out of Texas uh we have 35% uh um institutional shareholders out of Switzerland and North America management holds approximately 3% uh so we have a a diverse shareholder base we have over 9,000 shareholders uh and and they've shown a lot of loyalty uh especially to Jim McDonald and his ability to take projects uh from that early stage and to uh establish resources. >> Has the um shareholder structure of the company changed this year given how far Silver has risen from the beginning of the year? We're currently at approximately 80 million shares outstanding. So uh and the last financing was done at uh just over a buck and uh as I say we're we're touching uh we we I think closed at about a buck 55 thereabouts went as high as buck 70 today. Uh but we all believe this is uh early stages. >> Well, are you taking advantage of this higher share price now? I think you're up 50% year to date to do more financing now. >> Well, we've got a built-in financing with the warrants that are outstanding. There's $7.5 million worth of warrants that are in the money. Uh so certainly there's interest from uh those shareholders and to convert. Uh and that's uh you know in a marketplace uh such as Coupney where you've got liquidity, you've got uh well over I think we did over a million shares in the last couple days, but it averages about 700,000 shares a day. So with that liquidity, you would expect that those warrants would come in and again we're sitting at approximately 19 million in Treasury, another 7.5 million. It gives us plenty of room to uh do the drilling, add ounces. Every ounce that we add adds value for the shareholders. How long approximately would it take to build LA Colomba if you were to um take it into production? >> That's a lot of hypothetical at this time. It's it's like I say, it's the you've got to go in stages. Uh we uh the project that we built in Arizona, put it into production. Uh by the time we uh finished completed the feasibility and it was a couple years construction into production. Uh so uh you know it it's all about putting the fundamental building blocks in place the uh environmental studies and and the social side of of building a project like this. >> What's the uh timeline uh that investors can expect for Cola? Uh so you've there's a resource estimate done recently. Uh what's next? When can we expect a feasibility study for example? >> Well, I think the next stage would be uh continue to update resources. Uh, as I said, we're drilling about uh currently about 3,000 m a month. Uh, it's likely that we'll add some drill rigs to the project. Uh, you could see that potentially double and as we come with more results. You'll see additional resource updates and then next stage would be a pea in preparation for feasibility study. >> Excellent. Well, thank you very much, Ken. And uh, we'll put the link down to Kune Silver. But make sure to follow the company for more updates there. Appreciate your time, Ken. >> David, thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like and subscribe.
‘Early Stages Of This Rally’: How High Can Silver Climb? | Ken Berry
Summary
Transcript
We're in the early stages of this rally. Silver especially and gold are two of the areas that that uh the marketplace will start to wake up to. So I don't believe we've seen the retail uh side uh really take positions. Uh and that's why I say I believe we have a lot of room to go. [Music] Very pleased to welcome to the show Ken Barry, co-founder and chairman of Kney Silver. My audience is no stranger to the coupney story. We've had Jim McDonald CEO on a couple times. He has been calling for higher prices for silver uh for a lot of reasons which we'll revisit today. Jim's been right. We'll get Ken's outlook and we'll get Ken's uh evaluation of what the silver mining industry is doing right now and updates on silver. Welcome to the show, Ken. >> David, thanks for having me on. I've had Jim on a couple times. Unfortunately, he couldn't be here at the conference, but I'm very honored to be speaking with you today. Hey, you're one of the co-founders and I haven't asked Jim about this, I don't think, on my show. Tell us about the origins of this company. >> Well, Coutney was founded back in 2006 and uh this was the first time that Jim McDonald and myself got together and uh uh Jim had a number of properties in the Coupney region, British Columbia and hence the name Coupney Silver. uh we rolled those into a CPC at the time and uh since that uh nearly 20 years time frame back to 2006 2005 2006 uh the company has raised over oh it's close to 160 million now we've developed four key projects uh which we're focused on in Mexico currently uh but there's been times when we've had anywhere from 25 to 30 properties uh being a property generator we brought in other groups uh to option these properties. We've had Pan-American uh Ago and uh and various others. Uh so it it's been a a tremendous amount of uh work over those years. Uh but we have assets now which are stronger than ever. Uh and I'd love to tell you more about those. Yeah, for sure. The silver price has had a huge explosion to the upside in the last couple of months. More this year, but more hap more over the last couple of months. It's been lagging gold for quite some time until earlier this summer. What happened to silver? How would you characterize silver's performance in 2025? Well, I think uh everyone is uh has been expecting a a silver rise. Uh I think we are in the initial innings of what we see as a a longer term play here. We're very happy. It's about $41 currently. It's bringing a lot of attention to silver. Coupney being one of the uh largest juniors silver bank in the industry. We've we have over 325 million ounces uh silver equivalent in the ground. We have over 200 million ounces of pure silver. Uh so we're getting a lot of attention now. Uh there's companies that have uh been ahead of us such as Visa and Silver Crest and we feel that we're undervalued. We think that we're in the position to have a rerating. Uh, and as I say, it's the early innings in a in a silver move that we see will go much higher. >> When you say attention, well, I'll come back to that last statement, but when you when you say attention, what do you mean? Attention from whom? Well, I think the investment community is looking for silver plays, looking for juniors. Uh, Coutney has been 20 years in the making. Uh, a lot of people think it's an overnight success. It's been 20 years establishing these assets. Uh most recently the last 5 years we've been focused on Colombia and that's a project down in the Chihuahua state. Uh we have a 50 floor in Mexico. We have a 54 million ounce resource that we published in June. Uh we're currently fully funded for a 50,000 meter program. We have over 19 million in the bank. Uh we have a team on the ground. We're very confident that visited the site in the last couple weeks. Uh we are hitting mineralization in all directions. We've uh got an average with our resource uh that was 54 million ounces average of 280 g per ton. >> Yeah. >> Uh so it's it's a property that shows a lot of potential. >> Okay. I I'll come back to that in just a minute. Um are you getting attention from partners or potential uh um uh uh JVS or uh seniors, producers looking for a buyout? I would say all of the above. Uh we see ourselves taking this project much further down the field. Uh as I say, it's early stages, 54 million ounces. Uh we're very pleased with that resource. Uh but we we see a lot more upside. Uh the project at hand is about a 3 km by 4 km uh located in a caldera. Uh and it's barely been touched. Uh we are also drilling to about 350 meters. So we're we're relatively close to the surface. uh we see potential at depth. Uh there's a lot more mineralization uh expected at depth and that's something that we'll be testing as we move along. Well, you've been with the company for 20 years. What does the next 5 to 10 years looks look like for for you? Well, we announced uh a $12 million financing in June and it was upsized to 20 million. Uh we had orders for 35 million. Uh there's a lot of interest in Coutney. Uh I see us in the future uh being rerated and then there will be additional opportunities uh for financings to expand Colomba uh which many people think will be taken to production. But we also have Lasagara and that's in the Pel state. It's over 65 million ounce resource uh with a tremendous amount of upside as well. That was a property that was acquired through North Air Transaction back in 2016. And then we have Promentorio which was our flagship property initially uh with a resource of well over 125 million ounces. Uh and that has a a silver uh poly metallic silver lead zinc also has a gold portion to it. It is refractory. Uh but that's another opportunity. So we have uh actually four projects and Leneagra is also a sister project to promon. So we have four projects two in Sonora, two in the Chihuahua state. uh and I see a lot of upside on all those projects. >> Well, let's just take Columbbo for example. What's your endgame with that particular project? Are you planning to take it into production? I mean, you have a history of operating mines. So, that seems like a logical next step now. >> Well, as you mentioned, we have a history of operating mines. Uh we took a project in Arizona to production from expiration and that was from 2012 to about 201920. Uh and that was in a tough market at that time. We were able to finance for well over 150 million. Sure. Uh so we're not afraid to take this further down the field. We see the next 50,000 m giving us the opportunity to hit the 100 million ounce threshold in silver. Uh and then we'll test this uh we'll test this uh project at depth. We think that uh there's uh additional ounces to be found. So we'll we'll take it as far down the field. We'll take it into production if if necessary. Yeah. or uh as you mentioned uh we've got a lot of interest from other majors as well as the investment communities. >> Talk about the M&A environment right now. So this week earlier this week uh Aglo American and Tech Resources merged. I think it was 65 to 35 ownership split. Now it was a no premium deal though. A lot of the shareholders in the tech side were pretty disappointed at that. Is that the market environment right now where you got low premiums on bids? Well, I can only speak to Coupney and and again, we feel very much undervalued uh with over 300 million ounces silver equivalent in the ground. Uh we think there's a tremendous upside, but as you've stated, uh there's many rumors, many companies out there that are looking for M&A, looking to do transactions. Uh so, uh definitely we'll have to entertain the opportunities. Currently, we're focused on Cola and drilling off this next 50,000 m. Hypothetically, if someone were to approach you right now with a check, right, what is a premium that you would entertain? >> As you say, that's valued right now by how much? We feel we're undervalued. I mean, I'll let the investment community do the calculation, but with over 325 million ounces in the ground, >> and we're currently at about an 80 million market cap, there's tremendous upside >> uh on the table. So, I see us uh continuing to drill. We'll put updates out on the resource. Uh and um as an example, we've drilled uh about 50,000 meters to establish a 54 million ounce silver resource. Uh you look at Visa and you look at Silver Crest, they've drilled in the hundreds of thousands of of meters. And uh we I think we're getting a lot more value and we're getting a lot more success on a limited amount of drilling. So this next 50,000 m, as I said, fully funded, $19 million in treasury. I should mention we have another $7.5 million in warrants which are in the money currently and we expect those to come in over the next 3 months. So company is well funded. >> Okay, so over $26 million of cash potentially in the next couple months. What are your plans for this reserve? >> Well, our goal is 100 million ounces. Uh but I wouldn't put a cap on that. Uh I I see us having the opportunity. We've uh we're seeing some uh some interesting mineralization and breadated material at depth which is different from the vein system that we're currently drilling. We've got over 17 veins that we're on to right now. >> Yeah. >> Uh we're we're drilling at 100 meter centers. Uh so lots of opportunity to expand this. Uh but I wouldn't put a cap at 100 million ounces. I think we can go well beyond that. As I say, I was down at the property a couple weeks ago, right? >> Uh we took some investors down. They were very excited with what they saw. >> We were using the latest round of financing and cash primarily for drilling. >> It's primarily drilling. Uh we have a team down on site in the in the uh Chihuahua area. Um the property we've just uh we're completing three warehouses uh on and near uh the current Columba. Uh that'll be our staging ground. Uh so we we've got lots of development. We have about 50 men on site right now working uh men and women. So uh we're certainly active. Uh we've got two drill rigs currently and and I I'd likely see additional rigs being added. Silver was at $20 an ounce not too long ago. Um about in 2023 it was at 20 less than $20 an ounce. Doubled in more than just under two years. Does your corporate strategy change if depending on the silver price, let's say it's $20, $18 or $40. Does that matter to you? >> Well, I think it always matters because as an example, our La Sagara project uh with 65 million ounces, uh the uh resource was calculated at a much lower silver price. So, we will be updating those reports uh Lasagara Proto. Uh so that is also going to demonstrate to the marketplace uh the valuation uh rerating potential in terms of uh in terms of raising capital or drilling or exploration uh does your does your you know strategy or tactic change uh depending on the macro environment for silver? >> No, our our strategy has been to uh drill on Columbus drill as get as active as we can. Uh, as I mentioned, we're always uh gauging the marketplace. Uh, we're out as as an example at the conference here at Beaver Creek, which we're currently attending. We had over 43 meetings. Yeah. >> In 3 and 1/2 days. Uh, so we're constantly getting the message out, interacting with the investment community, uh, gauging, uh, where the interest is. As I mentioned, we announced 12 million financing on the last round. Within hours, we were upsized to 20 million. We had orders for 35 million. We cut it off at 20. Uh the rest of the interest is is coming into the market. We're seeing the market uh react as we speak. Uh uh today our market hit a $1.70. So the market cap increased substantially, pulled back to about a $150, I believe. And uh so definitely we're always aware of what the market's doing. Uh but the marketplace is interested in in ounces being added and uh we're going to add to that 325 million ounces. >> Based on the conversations you've had with investors and potentially banking analysts, uh do you or have you heard the sentiment that the silver price today is here to stay or is this kind of an effal ephemeral passing of a new rally? I think the feedback that we're hearing from the investment community is that we're going to see much higher silver prices. We may see a pullback along the way. Uh but we're seeing a new level being established and uh there's definitely a a feeling that we're in the early stages of this rally. Uh so uh we're very excited with our ability to add ounces, as I say, to the 325 million. We if we're successful at hitting 100 million ounces, we'll be up at you know getting close to 375 to 400 million ounces. If we're comparing now to the last bull cycle of silver and gold, which is 2011, how would you compare the sentiment in the sector now versus the end of 2010 when silver was then trading at $40 before it hit 50? It seems to me based on what I've heard um of stories around 2011 that people are a little bit cautious now compared to 15 years ago. I think uh based on this investment show, we're seeing a lot of professionals uh step into the market. I don't believe we've seen the retail uh side uh really take positions. Uh and that's why I say I believe we have a lot of room to go. >> Um macrow wise, uh we're all experiencing devaluation of currencies. Uh uh I think we we can look back over the last 10 years and say we're not in in a better position. uh you know there's many people living paycheck to paycheck. Uh they're trying to trying to establish where can they uh maintain their wealth, where can they uh enter an area that that might preserve that and I think uh silver especially and gold are two of the areas that that uh the marketplace will start to wake up to. So uh it's very bullish but uh macro-wise in the economy uh there could be a lot more disappointment ahead. What are some of the reasons you've heard for why silver is going higher even from today's levels? >> Well, I think silver has many uses. You know, it's it's it's considered a precious metal, but it's also has industry industrial use, uh medical use and and electronics. Uh so there is uh there's a real demand out there as well as uh as the preservation of capital and and the investing in in silver itself. And if if you uh pick your companies wisely, pick companies that have uh established resources that have been around uh for the long term. We've been here 20 years. You asked how how we differ uh from 10 years ago. Uh we were focused on one project 10 years ago and that was proven with over 125 million ounces. Uh we're currently uh we have four projects as as our key assets. Uh and so th this is a completely different company. We've proven that we can be around for the long term. There's not a lot of juniors that have been around 20 years and and have assets as strong as Kney Silver. What's different about Mexico compared to Canada where the US is a jurisdiction? >> Well, Mexico is well endowed with silver. There's no doubt about it. Um you've got to uh you've got to focus on areas which are are uh um you can get work done. Uh we happen to be in the Chihuahua state. Uh we're about uh uh 3 hours north of Chihuahua City. Uh we're on a ranching land. Uh Menanite community. Uh they're very um very pro- industry. Uh the um social aspects are favorable. So uh we're we're happy to be located in that area. Uh we have great relationships with with uh our partners in the area. How would you evaluate uh the M&A landscape right now overall? Is it uh are people getting in on deals? Um or are they just starting or do you see this phase passing already? Where are we in this cycle? >> I think we're early st again I I believe we're in the early stages on on a metals movement but also on M&A activity as well. Uh and and look, our investors are getting in because of the potential to add significant ounces of silver. Uh the M&A opportunities uh that'll unfold as time goes on, but uh we uh we see this as an early early stage. You've taken projects to production before. At what point uh do you look at a project and you realize that it's ready to go into production? What are some of the key stats that you look at? >> Well, you'd want to have that 100 million ounces. That's sort of the minimum threshold that that we're shooting for. That's our goal, 100 million ounces. Uh we're continuing to do uh the environmental studies and and all the peripheral work uh that is necessary to take a project to production. Uh as we get closer, uh we'll start to draw on our our network and our and our uh um various contacts uh such as Han Schmidt. Uh he's an adviser to the company. He was uh uh one of the key individuals with grade resources. Uh he took that project uh put together the feasibility study for grade. Ag came in and it was one of the best uh feasibilities. It went right to production. Uh so we draw on individuals like Aan Schmidt and Jim McDonald who was a key figure in the Alamos development had national gold merged together with Alamos took the Molados project to production uh and and and brought on numerous other projects. We also have a great relationship with Manley Garduchi, former COO of Alamos. And so we start to draw on those individuals, prepare a project to go to production. And uh if we're approached during that process, then then fine, we'll we'll we'll um you know, of course, entertain uh different opportunities, but our goal is to move this to the stage where it can move into production. >> Who are your key shareholders right now? key shareholders Eric Sprat uh cond out of Texas uh we have 35% uh um institutional shareholders out of Switzerland and North America management holds approximately 3% uh so we have a a diverse shareholder base we have over 9,000 shareholders uh and and they've shown a lot of loyalty uh especially to Jim McDonald and his ability to take projects uh from that early stage and to uh establish resources. >> Has the um shareholder structure of the company changed this year given how far Silver has risen from the beginning of the year? We're currently at approximately 80 million shares outstanding. So uh and the last financing was done at uh just over a buck and uh as I say we're we're touching uh we we I think closed at about a buck 55 thereabouts went as high as buck 70 today. Uh but we all believe this is uh early stages. >> Well, are you taking advantage of this higher share price now? I think you're up 50% year to date to do more financing now. >> Well, we've got a built-in financing with the warrants that are outstanding. There's $7.5 million worth of warrants that are in the money. Uh so certainly there's interest from uh those shareholders and to convert. Uh and that's uh you know in a marketplace uh such as Coupney where you've got liquidity, you've got uh well over I think we did over a million shares in the last couple days, but it averages about 700,000 shares a day. So with that liquidity, you would expect that those warrants would come in and again we're sitting at approximately 19 million in Treasury, another 7.5 million. It gives us plenty of room to uh do the drilling, add ounces. Every ounce that we add adds value for the shareholders. How long approximately would it take to build LA Colomba if you were to um take it into production? >> That's a lot of hypothetical at this time. It's it's like I say, it's the you've got to go in stages. Uh we uh the project that we built in Arizona, put it into production. Uh by the time we uh finished completed the feasibility and it was a couple years construction into production. Uh so uh you know it it's all about putting the fundamental building blocks in place the uh environmental studies and and the social side of of building a project like this. >> What's the uh timeline uh that investors can expect for Cola? Uh so you've there's a resource estimate done recently. Uh what's next? When can we expect a feasibility study for example? >> Well, I think the next stage would be uh continue to update resources. Uh, as I said, we're drilling about uh currently about 3,000 m a month. Uh, it's likely that we'll add some drill rigs to the project. Uh, you could see that potentially double and as we come with more results. You'll see additional resource updates and then next stage would be a pea in preparation for feasibility study. >> Excellent. Well, thank you very much, Ken. And uh, we'll put the link down to Kune Silver. But make sure to follow the company for more updates there. Appreciate your time, Ken. >> David, thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like and subscribe.