Silver price at record - Black Bear silver project in Texas starts trading on the US markets.
The silver price is at near all time highs - up over 100% just this year.
Our 2025 Small Cap Pick of the Year Black Bear Minerals (ASX: BKB | OTC: BKBMF) shares are now trading in the USA on the OTCQB.
The ticker code in the USA BKBMF - we will be tracking the trading here.
BKB owns an advanced stage silver project in Texas, USA.
With a 17.5M ounce silver (non-JORC) resource estimate, at an average silver grade of 289g/t.
AND a processing plant with infrastructure worth an estimated ~$150M (source) (which can be quickly restarted to sell the silver while prices are at record highs):
(Source)
In October we named BKB our 2025 Small Cap Pick of the Year.
10 weeks later...
The silver price has rocketed up nearly 35% to new all time highs at ~US$64/oz... (thanks overnight US Fed rate cut)
The USA officially declared silver a critical mineral (source) (BKB’s project is in Texas, USA)
China announced export controls on silver starting next month (source)
Last week BKB announced that exploration drilling has commenced...
This morning we saw a research note on BKB in with a “12-month target price of A$3.07 per share”.
BKB is currently trading at $A0.80
Here is the full note for anyone wanting to have a look at the East Coast thesis:
(Read the full research note here)
BKB now has two projects one in Nevada (gold) and the other in Texas (silver).
(Source)
Silver recently got added to the US critical minerals list (source), and gold was put in the critical minerals basket earlier in the year when Trump signed an Executive Order to boost domestic mining. (source)
US critical minerals are the hottest macro thematic in the small cap end of the market right now.
By listing on the OTC market, BKB ( will now be more accessible to US investors.
The last time BKB raised capital (back in October) the $30M placement was led by “strong demand from North American institutions”.
(Source)
After the OTC listing, BKB (the code is BKBMF on the OTC) will be more accessible to these institutions as well as the broader US investor base.
Now we wait to see if that critical mineral/precious metals interest out of the US translates to increased OTC volumes in BKB.
BKB is currently capped at $119M (at 80c per share) - which by US standards is almost considered a micro cap…
We are hoping that access to US markets helps drive a re-rate higher in BKB’s valuation.
BKB now owns two projects in the US outright:
1. Independence Gold Project (next door to 240k oz gold per year producer N.G.M) with a 1.37M ounce gold resource located in Nevada, USA.
Our latest article on that: JBY: +95% gold recoveries from high grade “skarn” resource
2. The Shafter project contains a 17.5Moz @ 259g/t silver foreign resource estimate plus includes ~$150M in site infrastructure.
Our latest article on that: BKB: Silver drilling started in Texas USA as silver price hits new all time high US$61.80/oz (By the way, silver is currently ~US$64/oz)
More on both of these assets later in today’s note. Before that, here are the 10 reasons why we made BKB Our 2025 Small Cap Pick Of The Year:
The 10 reasons were initially written on the 2nd of October 2025 (here). Below we have included brief updates where appropriate:
10 reasons why we made BKB our 2025 Small Cap Pick of the Year
1. BKB’s silver project has an estimated 17.57M ounces at very high grades (289g/t)
BKB’s silver project in Texas has a 17.5M ounce foreign resource estimate at an average silver grade of 289g/t.
Those grades are on par with some of the highest-grade operating mines in this part of the world.
For context - $9BN First Majestic Silver’s operating La Encantada mine which is just over the US/Mexico border has a 15.3M ounce resource with average silver grades of 208g/t.
2. BKB’s silver project has ~A$150M of existing project infrastructure
BKB’s project has A$150M+ in infrastructure, including mine shafts, a 3,000tpd processing plant and even a power substation.
The project is also partially permitted.
3. We think BKB’s gold project backstops its $94M current valuation
BKB has a 1.37M ounce (estimate) gold project next door to N.G.M’s (Barrick and Newmont JV) Phoenix pit in Nevada - one of the biggest gold mines in the world.
At today’s gold prices, we think that gold resource estimate can grow, and based on current numbers, it backstops BKB’s valuation.
Update:
At 80c, BKB is trading at a market cap of ~$119M.
4. We like gold and silver (especially in the US)
Gold is currently trading at all time highs (US$3,850 per ounce), and we think it could continue running against a backdrop of ever increasing debt and fiat currency depreciation.
We also think silver will follow gold and run to new all time highs.. Silver is currently at 14 year highs (US$47 per ounce).
(No guarantees of course - commodity prices are hard to predict and can go down as well as up.)
Update:
Gold is currently trading at ~US$4,293 per ounce, and silver at US$63.11 per ounce. Both are up from when we announced BKB as our Small Cap Pick Of The Year.
5. BKB has the same team and backers as our 2024 Small Cap Pick of the Year SS1
Board, management, corporate advisors and top 20 shareholders are very similar across BKB and SS1 (our 2024 Small Cap Pick of the Year that IPO’d at 20c and hit over $1.18 within nine months).
We are backing the same group to deliver more wins with BKB.
(Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.)
6. Nevada/Texas are some of the best jurisdictions for mining assets
BKB’s two main assets are now in Nevada and Texas, USA.
Nevada was ranked as the best mining jurisdiction in the world in 2022 by the Fraser Institute and has ranked in the top 3 every year for the past 10 years.
Texas is among the most business friendly states in the US - just ask Elon Musk.
7. BKB’s gold project is surrounded by low cost heap leach mines on similar geology
BKB’s gold project is surrounded by some of the lowest cost gold mining operations in the world. Barrick and Newmont’s Nevada Gold Mines JV has pits operating with AISC (all in sustaining cost) to produce at below ~US$1,000 per ounce.
8. BKB’s gold project had a previous Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) completed
BKB’s gold project had a PEA completed in 2022 which showed 32,050 ounces of gold per year for 6 years at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,078 per ounce.
By our back of the napkin calculation, that is US$121M in revenues per year, assuming a US$3,800 ounce gold (without considering an upgrade to the project’s resource since then).
(of course we are not financial analysts here - we are ignoring all costs in the above calculation and any discount on the future value of money.)
Update:
The gold price is now trading at ~US$4,293 per ounce so the potential economics could be even stronger at spot prices.
9. BKB is a well-known retail stock with potential to re-rate
BKB appears to have a large retail following and the potential for share price re-rates on good news.
The company promotes well, it was a hot IPO back in September of 2023, when James Bay lithium stocks were popular amongst investors and right before the lithium sentiment crash.
It's been responding to newsflow on its gold asset too.
As a result, we think that if the company can deliver material news on its silver and gold projects, there will be enough eyeballs on the stock for the share price to re-rate.
10. BKB has protected its capital structure well over the years.
Even after today’s $30M capital raise and the silver project being acquired, BKB will have only ~145M shares on issue and no options overhang.
We have seen a similar style clean structure for SS1 which has so far worked out well for investors.
A clean structure with no options overhang allows for the company’s share price to rise off the back of strong positive news.
Black Bear Minerals
ASX: BKB
More on BKB’s silver project
BKB’s Shafter project has a 17.5Moz @ 259g/t silver foreign resource estimate plus ~$150M in site infrastructure (including a processing plant).
The project was last producing between 2012-2013 when the silver price was ~US$30/oz, before falling to under US$20/oz.
It was able to produce at those prices because the average grades are high…
For context, the average resource grade here is 259g/t vs 208g/t at the La Encantada mine owned by $12BN capped First Majestic.
The project sits on the Sierra Madre belt, which extends from Mexico and contains some of the worlds largest silver miners, this includes First Majestic Silver which sits over the border in Mexico.
(Source)
BKB raised $30M as part of the acquisition and has just started drilling on the silver project a few weeks ago.
At the Shafter Silver project BKB will be looking to extend the existing foreign resource estimate, while also converting it to JORC status.
We are hoping to see the blue areas from the image below get drilled out:
(Source)
With silver now on the critical minerals list the likelihood of a silver project inside US borders (like BKB’s) receiving funding and/or support is a lot higher…
(Source)
This may be a catalyst for the US to start putting a higher focus on ensuring local silver projects get off the ground or increase output, have reduced red tape and also more favourable funding avenues.
More on BKB’s gold project
BKB is also developing the Independence Gold Project in Nevada which has a 1.37M ounce gold resource split between:
- Shallow resource 384k ounces gold
- Deep resource 984k ounces gold.
Check out our most recent article on this project: JBY: +95% gold recoveries from high grade “skarn” resource
This project is adjoining the N.G.M Phoenix Mine complex, a joint venture between $165BN Newmont and $112BN Barrick Gold.
(Source)
We recently finished building roads (source) up to the top of the hill its project sits on and back in early November said that drilling would start “next week” so we could see some surprise drill results from this project inside the next few months too.
There is also old deep diamond drilling cores that were never assayed for gold that could be a quick way to see if there are any signs of gold deep underground.
What do we want to see next from BKB?
Over the next 3-6 months we will be tracking the following two catalysts:
🔄Silver drilling in Texas
This is the first time BKB will be drilling the project.
It will also be the first time the project’s ever been assayed for anything other than silver.
Surprise high grade hits or multi-element assays could be a catalyst for BKB’s share price.
(source)
🔄Gold drilling in Nevada
BKB will be drilling the targets which up until now were not accessible because the roads and drill pads hadn’t been built yet.
(Previously those areas were too difficult to get a rig up to)
On November 6th BKB said that drilling on the highest grade targets for this asset would start “next week”.
So BKB should be drilling below those high grade targets now…
We think strong results from this round of drilling could be material for BKB mainly because it's where the highest grade rock chips have been sampled for the project and because it would be shallow, near surface mineralisation (if drilling comes in).
Here is us hiking up to the top of the hill (where BKB would be drilling now):
It just so happens to be right near the border of its project and the N.G.M JV too - here’s the view from the top:
Check out our site visit for BKB’s gold project here - BKB is surrounded by one of the world’s biggest gold mines - here’s what we saw on site.
