Sprott Asset Management and HANetf launch Europe’s first UCITS ETF on silver miners and physical silver

The fund, listed today on Borsa Italiana, Xetra and the LSE under the ticker SLVM, replicates the US product SLVR – which has already reached over $1 billion in assets under management – in a UCITS format. Silver remains a strategic asset, serving as both a precious metal and a critical industrial input.

The fund is available from today on Borsa Italiana, Deutsche Börse Xetra and the London Stock Exchange.

SLVM is the fifth product that Sprott has launched on HANetf’s white-label platform, which now hosts a Sprott range with total assets of $619.57 million.

A combined exposure, unique in the European UCITS landscape

The key feature of SLVM is its hybrid structure: in a single UCITS instrument, investors gain exposure to both silver producers, developers and explorers and to physical silver. This is a combination which, as noted by ETF Stream, remains rare in the European listed fund market — and which HANetf has already adopted for other metals, including uranium and copper.

The fund follows in the footsteps of its twin product listed in the United States, the Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver ETF (Nasdaq: SLVR), launched on 14 January 2025. SLVR had already surpassed the $1 billion in assets milestone by 23 January 2026, just over a year after its launch — according to a statement released by Sprott in January. As of the date of this UCITS listing, the US fund’s assets stand at $822.64 million.

The benchmark is the Nasdaq Sprott Silver Miners Index (NSLVR™), designed to track the performance of a basket of silver-related securities — producers, developers and explorers — supplemented by a physical silver component.

The market context: silver as both a store of value and an industrial metal

Rarely does a single metal combine such diverse characteristics. Silver has been regarded as a store of value for centuries, with demand spanning coins, bullion, jewellery and silverware. At the same time, it is a critical industrial material with a growing presence in some of today’s most significant technologies.

Its electrical conductivity — the highest of any metal — makes it difficult to replace in applications such as:

– Solar energy: every photovoltaic panel contains silver. A study by the University of New South Wales estimated that the solar sector could absorb between 85% and 98% of global reserves by 2050;

– Artificial intelligence and data centres: the expansion of AI infrastructure requires high-conductivity electronic components;

– Automotive: electric vehicles and driver-assistance systems use significant quantities of silver;

– Healthcare: medical electrodes, antimicrobial coatings and diagnostic instruments.

2025 was silver’s strongest performing year since 1979, with a rise of nearly 90% that brought the metal back into the spotlight for global investors. Since the start of 2026, the market has seen further fluctuations, reaching new all-time highs, against a backdrop of structural supply deficits — the market has been in deficit for several consecutive years, with mining production unable to keep pace with expanding industrial demand.

The rationale for investing in silver miners

Direct access to physical silver is only part of the equation. Companies active in silver mining, development and exploration can offer operational leverage on the metal’s performance: with fixed costs remaining constant, a rise in the price of silver translates into potentially much wider margins. This leverage, however, brings with it greater volatility compared to direct ownership of the metal.

SLVM combines these two components into a single solution, based on the belief that the structural growth in demand for silver can support both metal prices and the balance sheets of producing companies in the coming years. The scarcity of new mines, coupled with high development costs and the long lead times for bringing new deposits into production, represents a further structural constraint on supply.

HANetf and Sprott: a well-established partnership in the European UCITS market

HANetf has been operating for years in the thematic funds segment focusing on commodities and critical materials. The collaboration with Sprott Asset Management — a Canadian manager specialising in precious metals and real materials — has so far produced four UCITS products, including:

– Sprott Uranium Miners UCITS ETF (URNM) — launched in May 2022, has surpassed €330 million in assets;

– Sprott Junior Uranium Miners UCITS ETF (URNJ) — listed in February 2024, has surpassed $44 million in assets;

– Sprott Energy Transition Materials UCITS ETF (SETM) — provides exposure to a basket of energy transition materials.

With SLVM, the range is expanded with a fifth addition, this time focused on silver.

Hector McNeil, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of HANetf, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Sprott in expanding its range with the launch of the Sprott Silver Miners & Physical Silver UCITS ETF. Silver is a particularly attractive asset as it combines the characteristics of a precious metal with those of a critical industrial material, with increasingly significant applications in various fields of great importance today. With SLVM, investors can gain access to both silver miners and physical silver within a single UCITS ETF, following a distinctive approach that already characterises Sprott’s strategies for uranium and copper. For us, this new launch confirms both the strength of our partnership with Sprott and the effectiveness of the white-label model in supporting the growth of the European UCITS ETF market.”

Steve Schoffstall, Managing Partner and Head of ETFs at Sprott, added: “In light of geopolitical risks and the current energy crisis in Europe, we believe this is an opportune moment for global investors to increase their exposure to real assets and energy investments. We are delighted to be collaborating with HANetf to offer an investment solution that can also help facilitate the development of clean energy through a diversified portfolio of energy and infrastructure-related companies.”

Final thoughts

The launch of SLVM comes at a time when silver is playing an increasingly significant role in institutional and retail portfolios, driven by both financial and industrial dynamics. The absence of a UCITS product with this combined structure — miners plus physical silver — left a gap that HANetf and Sprott have now filled, replicating in Europe a model already proven in the United States.

The success of the US product SLVR, which has grown to $1 billion in just over a year since its launch, provides a concrete benchmark. It is now up to the European market to demonstrate its demand.

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