Name: Historic Silver Squeeze Warning: $300 Price Next? | Shawn Khunkhun
Uploaded: 2025-09-23T02:39:35+00:00
Duration: 1429 s

Speakers

Shawn Khunkhun — CEO, Dolly Varden Silver

Summary

Shawn Khunkhun, CEO of Dolly Varden Silver, discusses why silver has broken above $40/oz and argues that a structural supply deficit, low LBMA inventories, and rising industrial demand could trigger a squeeze and new all-time highs. He also explains the extreme gold-silver ratio, his bullish view on precious-metals miners, and why Dolly Varden is expanding its high-grade silver resource and drilling aggressively after listing in the US. The interview covers permitting and supply constraints in the silver mining industry.

Silver hit $40/oz for the first time since 2011.
Shawn cites a roughly 200-250 million ounce annual silver deficit and only about 50 million ounces of above-ground liquidity before a potential squeeze.
He argues silver is rarer than gold on a mined-supply basis and expects silver to outperform gold in the next bull-market leg.
He says mining equities are re-rating, with GDX back at 2011 highs and GDXJ still below prior highs.
Dolly Varden has raised capital, acquired assets, expanded its land package, and is running a 55,000-meter drill program.
The company's NYSE listing is intended to improve liquidity and access US institutional and passive capital.
Permitting delays and Mexico's open-pit restrictions are cited as supply constraints for silver.
Shawn aims to make Dolly Varden a top-10 silver equity through M&A and drilling.

Ideas

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 0:00

Silver squeeze setup drives prices much higher.

Silver is in a structurally tight market. Annual demand is about 1.2 billion ounces while mine supply is about 850 million ounces and recycling about 150 million ounces, leaving a roughly 200-250 million ounce annual deficit that has persisted for about five years. LBMA inventories and bullion-bank hedging leave only about 50 million ounces of above-ground liquidity, so a 50 million ounce delivery request could trigger a squeeze and a new US-dollar all-time high. Industrial demand from solar, electronics, batteries and defense plus monetary/generalist demand is rising, while supply cannot respond quickly because only one in four ounces is primary silver, projects are deep and capex-heavy, permitting is slow, and Mexico has stopped issuing new open-pit permits.

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 5:15

Silver should outperform gold, ratio compresses.

The gold-silver ratio is around 90-100:1 even though miners produce only about 7 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold and the natural abundance ratio is about 16:1. Central banks buy gold rather than silver, and generalist or high-net-worth investors priced out of gold often gravitate to silver. In past precious-metals bull markets, silver dramatically outperformed gold, so the ratio should compress in this next leg.

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 7:44

Gold bull market remains early.

Gold is in an early bull market. Gold has made record highs and central banks have been buying gold, while generalist investors remain underallocated to the commodity complex; portfolio managers could raise allocations from 1% toward 2%-3%. That supports higher gold prices and the broader precious-metals complex.

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 7:49

Gold miners offer catch-up upside.

Gold miners, especially juniors, remain cheap relative to gold and prior cycle highs. GDX only recently returned to its 2011 high even though gold is now over $3,500/oz, and GDXJ still needs about 50% to match its 2011 high. Senior producers are generating strong free cash flow, fund managers are increasing commodity allocations, and M&A is trickling down to juniors.

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 8:33

Silver miners outperform in precious metals bull.

Silver mining equities historically dramatically outperform gold and gold equities in precious-metals bull markets. They have recently done better than junior gold miners but not as well as senior gold miners, while the mining equity sector is being broadly revalued. That leaves silver equities with catch-up and leverage potential as the silver price rises.

Shawn Khunkhun CEO, Dolly Varden Silver 13:01

Dolly Varden growth story re-rates.

Dolly Varden is an advanced silver explorer with a large high-grade resource that has been revalued as silver moved above $25. The company used its higher share price to raise capital at record levels and make accretive acquisitions, increasing its land package by 600% and moving from two past-producing mines to five. It is running its largest-ever drill program, 55,000 meters with five rigs, and hit 1,422 g/t silver over 21 meters. The NYSE listing opens US capital, improves liquidity, index/ETF inclusion, and supports its goal to become a top-10 silver equity.

Historic Silver Squeeze Warning: $300 Price Next? | Shawn Khunkhun

Summary

Ideas

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