"Silver Investing News recently covered the world's top silver-producing companies and countries of 2013, and if there's one takeaway from those lists, it's that silver is usually produced as a by-product.
That said, the world definitely contains some major primary silver mines. Here's a look at the 10 that produced the most silver last year, along with some information about their owners and locations.
1. Cannington
The Queensland-based Cannington mine, owned by BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP,ASX:BHP,LSE:BLT), is the world's largest and lowest-cost silver and lead mine, according to Mine Sites.
The deposit was discovered in 1990 by BHP Minerals and the mine was commissioned in 1997. Full production started in 1999, and in 2013 the mine produced 966 metric tons (MT) of silver. Cannington now employees about 900 people and is an underground mine that uses both open-stope and bench-mining methods."
http://silverinvestingnews.com/2578...-fresnillo-hochschild-coeur-hecla-mcewen.html
Considering all of the mines that produce silver, some that produce minor amounts, others produce major amounts - (compared to the total new supply) - Cannington is a primary producer, producing more that other mines.
"Primary producer" is not a statement about what that mine produces, it is a statement about total silver produced.
If we are talking about silver production, it is a primary producer.
If we are talking about what Cannington produces, then it is not a primary silver producer.