Who are the largest silver refiners in the united states

1. Elemetal — national network and repeated “largest” claim

Elemetal presents itself across multiple company pages as “America’s largest precious metals refiner,” highlighting a network of more than 45 U.S. locations and extensive silver-refining services for flatware, bullion, batteries and industrial sources ^{[1] [6] [7] [8]}; those claims appear consistently on Elemetal’s own site and in product/service descriptions, which makes Elemetal a clear contender by footprint and marketing presence, though the figure is self-reported rather than independently audited in the materials provided ^{[1] [6]}.

2. United Precious Metal Refining (United PMR) — largest U.S.-owned primary refiner by company claim

United PMR positions itself as “the largest U.S.-owned full-service primary refiner” for gold, silver, platinum and palladium, with corporate messaging repeated on its website and service pages; United also notes specific service changes tied to silver-market conditions, a reminder that refining scale and capacity can be dynamic and sensitive to market forces ^{[2] [9]}. That status is framed specifically as “largest U.S.-owned,” which implicitly distinguishes it from multinational refiners that operate in the U.S. ^[2].

3. Arch Enterprises and other regional heavyweights

Arch Enterprises frequently advertises itself as “one of the nation’s largest precious metal refiners,” with particular expertise in junk silver coins, silverware and photographic-film silver recovery — a niche that historically drives significant volumes for some refiners ^{[3] [10]}. Other private or specialized refiners mentioned in industry directories and aggregators include Metallix, Materion, PMR, and Texas Precious Metals (a Kaspar Companies subsidiary), each cited for leadership in specific segments such as recycling, bullion fabrication, or industrial alloys, but none in the provided material offers an independently verified, nationwide tonnage ranking ^{[11] [4]}.

4. Miners and smelters that blur the refinery line

Large mining companies and integrated smelters also touch U.S. refining volumes: Rio Tinto’s Kennecott operation, for example, includes smelting and refining capacity that handles silver alongside copper and other metals, which complicates a pure “refiner” count because miners sometimes refine their own concentrates rather than sell raw ore ^[4]. Industry coverage of top silver miners (Hecla, Coeur, Americas Gold and Silver) underscores the production side of silver in the U.S., but mining output is distinct from the nationwide network of third‑party refiners that process scrap and industrial residues ^{[12] [13] [14]}.

5. Limits of the public record and how “largest” is being defined

Public materials show clear marketing claims and industry-directory listings but no single authoritative public dataset ranking U.S. refiners by silver tonnage or revenue was provided; the U.S. Geological Survey notes 24 U.S. refiners reporting commercial-grade silver production but does not publish company-by-company volumes in the supplied excerpt, leaving a gap between company claims and verifiable comparative metrics ^[5]. The practical takeaway is that Elemetal, United PMR and Arch Enterprises are repeatedly described as among the largest by footprint, ownership status or reputation in the supplied sources, while other refiners and integrated smelters fill important but less publicly quantified roles ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.