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The stock analysis and comparison methodology of SILVERAXIS.COM is currently in progress. As a result of our early stage process, we have included many stocks which are not at all "silver stocks" or "silver companies" in the pure sense of the word, but which still provide relevant points of reference. Such companies include BHP Billiton, which owns the mega-silver producer Cannington in Australia, responsible for approximately 7.5% of worldwide silver production in 2005. BHP also produced about 50 million ounces of silver companywide in 2005, making it the top publicly traded silver producing company in the world. If silver were to rise to $100 per ounce tomorrow, the market cap of BHP might double to around $200 billion. That seems like very poor leverage, but keep in mind that silver represents under 3% of BHP's production, so the rise in the price of other commodities at the same or different times will provide a compounding and diversification aspect not present in primary silver companies like Silver Standard. For similar reasons, Barrick, Meridian and other companies are included in our widest categorization of "silver stocks". No, they are not a good way to gain pure exposure to silver, but they are good measuring sticks and are an important source of silver mining.

What is a Silver Company or Silver Stock?

Defining what constitutes a silver company or silver stock is a very subjective exercise and everybody seems to have a different opinion. We try to be all-inclusive while focusing on the key points. Of course, what we are really interested is in silver stocks that can provide investors with the greatest leverage to rising silver prices and increased production.

To find them, we first need to identify the universe of all companies that mine, explore or otherwise devote at least a portion of their business to silver.

Second, we eliminate from our investment consideration any company which does not have shares trading on a liquid, readily accessible market. This is how we arrive at our population of silver stocks.

Finally, we focus increasingly on those silver stocks with relatively greater exposure to rising silver prices and production.

We have devised probably one of the more complex structures for categorizing silver companies in the pursuit of grouping them into roughly comparable subsets. In fact, we have identified over a dozen groupings while still being able to aggregate at the higher levels typically used by mining analysts. At this point, we are not entirely certain that we can derive substantial benefits from such a Ginsu approach, but we are trying!

Our categories, which will be further explained as we document our methodologies, rerpesent a matrix of possibilities based on the definitions provided below. For example, Pan American would be a large primary senior producer while Canadian Zinc would be a small coproduct junior explorer.

As we shall soon demonstrate, it would be pointless to directly compare two companies that are so different even if both might represent (I'm not necessarily saying they do) good leverage to silver prices.

MARKET CAPITALIZATION

(X) Micro - Market capitalization under $10 million.

(S) Small - Market capitalization between $10 million and $300 million.

(M) Mid - Market capitalization between $300 million to $750 million.

(L) Large - Market capitalization over $750 million.

FOCUS

(P) Primary - More than 50% of company-wide production, profits or reserve/resource base attributed to silver.

(S) Secondary - Between 25-50% of company-wide production, profits or reserve/resource base attributed to silver.

(C) Coproduct - Between 5-25% of company-wide production, profits or reserve/resource base attributed to silver. Must have minimum of 5 million ounces annual silver production or 50 million ounces of silver reserve/resource base.

(D) Diversified – Less than 5% of company-wide production, profits or reserve/resource base attributed to silver. Must have a minimum of 25 million ounces annual silver production or 250 million ounces of silver reserve/resource base.

STAGE

(I) Inactive - No production or active exploration program on properties with silver as a target.

(G) Grassroots - No silver production or drill-ready properties with silver as a target.

(J) Junior - Silver production under 1 million ounces per year or active drilling program, feasibility study or mine development on at least one property with silver as a target.

(A) Advanced - Within 2 years of production anticipated to be at least 1 million ounces per year.

(E) Emerging - Silver production between 1-3 million ounces per year.

(S) Senior - Silver production over 3 milion ounces per year.

OPERATIONS

(S) Shell - Shell company or no active operations.

(E) Explorer - Exploration costs represent over 50% of annual expenses.

(P) Producer - Mining costs represent over 50% of annual expenses..

(R) Royalty Holder - Financial interest in at least 1 million ounces of annual silver production or 25 million ounces of silver reserve/resource base.

Silver Company Critical News

Hecla Completes Acquisition of 100% of Greens Creek Joint Venture | Apr 16 2008 | Company [Hecla] | AG STOCK NEWS

World No.1 silver miner, Penoles, plans to spin off precious metals assets in London IPO | Apr 11 2008 | Mineweb | AG STOCK NEWS

Central Fund Files Shelf Prospectus | Mar 24 2008 | Company [Central Fund] | AG STOCK NEWS

Hecla to Acquire Assets of Independence Lead Mines | Feb 13 2008 | Reuters | AG STOCK NEWS

Goldcorp seen eager to sell Silver Wheaton stake | Jan 29 2008 | Reuters

Mines Management Announces Completion of US$10 Million Private Placement with Silver Wheaton | Nov 5 2007 | Company [Mines Management]

Coeur Receives Ruling on Kensington Gold Mine | May 22 2007 | Company [Coeur]

UPDATE 3-U.S. court blocks Alaska mine waste from lake (Coeur) | May 22 2007 | Reuters

Silver Wheaton Acquires Silver Production from European Goldfields | Apr 23 2007 | Company [Silver Wheaton]

Silver Wheaton Expects Silver Sales in 2009 to Reach 22M Ounces | Apr 17 2007 | Craig Wong [Resource Investor]

Silver Wheaton To Acquire 25% Of Life Of Mine Silver Production From Peñasquito Project | Apr 16 2007 | Company [Silver Wheaton]

Silverstone Signs Letter Of Intent To Purchase All Of The Silver Produced From The Cozamin Mine Over The Next 10 Years | Feb 21 2007 | Company [Silverstone]

® Barrick Says NovaGold Fails to Respond with Facts - Market Wire | Nov 17 2006 | Company

Drilling Confirms San Luis' Bonanza Gold and Silver Grades | Oct 31 2006 | Company [Esperanza]

Arian Silver Corporation Lists on the TSX Venture Exchange ... | Jul 20 2006 | Company

Aquiline Awarded Ownership of Navidad | Jul 16 2006 | Company

Judgment Goes Against IMA on Navidad Court Decision | Jul 16 2006 | Company

Gammon Lake and Mexgold Agree to Business Combination | May 29 2006 | Company

First Majestic Silver Corp.: Acquisition of Majority Interest in First Silver Reserve Inc. | Apr 5 2006 | Company

Western Silver to be Acquired by Glamis | Feb 24 2006 | Company