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Peru has been pulling silver out of the Andes for nearly five centuries, and it is still a major source. U.S. Geological Survey estimates put Peru’s 2025 output at about 3,600 metric tons, second only to Mexico at 6,300 tons. That works out to roughly 14% of the 26,000 tons mined worldwide.
What really sets Peru apart is what is still in the ground. The country holds an estimated 140,000 metric tons of silver reserves, the largest of any nation. Mexico, the top producer, has only about 37,000 tons in reserve, which raises a fair question about where future supply will come from as older mines wind down.
Much of Peru’s silver does not come from mines built for silver alone. It is often recovered alongside copper, zinc and lead at large operations such as Antamina. Silver and gold mines exist too, including Hochschild Mining plc (LSE: HOC) and its Inmaculada underground mine in the southern Ayacucho region. Mining accounts for about 9.5% of Peru’s economy, and silver exports were worth roughly $1.3 billion in 2024.
Geology is only half the picture. Peru has gone through eight presidents in about a decade, and protests between 2022 and 2023 left 50 demonstrators dead. Informal and illegal mining has also spread. Lawmakers have repeatedly extended a temporary registry that lets informal miners keep working while they seek formal status, a system critics say has been abused.
This year’s election added another layer. As leftist Roberto Sánchez gained ground before the runoff, the Peruvian sol and the local stock index both fell. Conservative Keiko Fujimori ultimately won by a very thin margin and took office on July 28. Her past positions favor foreign investment, but industry voices have long warned that rushed bills on concession terms or mining taxes tend to surface around elections.
That is the setting for Highlander Silver Corp. (NYSE American: HSLV, TSX: HSLV), which signed a mandate letter with Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, part of France’s Groupe BPCE. Natixis will lead a fully underwritten, seven-year senior secured project finance facility of $330 million to fund construction of the Corani Silver Project in Peru’s southern Puno region.
A mandate letter is not a finished loan. It means the bank has agreed to lead and underwrite the financing, while final terms are still being worked out. The facility needs definitive documentation, credit approvals and more technical, financial, environmental and social due diligence, and final amounts could change. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027. Before the first draw, Highlander itself must set up a cost overrun facility of up to $100 million, a cushion in case construction runs over budget.
As of June 30, it had about $100 million in cash and no debt. Highlander grew in February 2026 when it completed a combination with Bear Creek Mining, which brought in Corani and the producing Mercedes gold and silver mine in Mexico. It already owned the high-grade San Luis gold and silver project in Peru’s Ancash region, bought from SSR Mining in 2024. Major shareholders include the Augusta Group, the Lundin family and Eric Sprott.
Citing S&P Global rankings, the company calls Corani the largest fully permitted primary silver project in the world. Work has already started. By July, more than 300 workers, mostly from nearby communities, were on site building the camp, repairing roads and putting up a substation.
The debt matters because paying for construction is usually the hardest step for a mine developer. Selling new shares raises money but shrinks each existing shareholder’s slice of the company. Bank debt reduces how much of that is needed. Chief Executive Daniel Earle said the financing followed a rigorous due diligence process, and he noted that Highlander kept all of Corani’s offtake rights, so it remains free to choose who buys its concentrate.
None of this removes Peru’s risks, and the loan is not yet signed. Still, a major international bank agreeing to lead the financing says something about how outsiders view Corani. The next things to watch are the final loan documents, the cost overrun facility and a closing early next year, all under a new government in Lima.
