Building social license

Much of Debruyne’s role over the past five years has centered on improving engagement with Indigenous communities, many of which have deep historical grievances tied to land, water and the impact of large-scale resource extraction.

“It’s really about being the best neighbor possible,” he said.

But getting there has required fundamental shifts in mindset and method. One of the clearest examples is what Debruyne called the principle of horizontality — a change born from early missteps.

A decade ago, when communities questioned the mine’s hydrological impacts, SQM responded the way many industrial operators would: it sent engineers to explain the technical data.

“You would think that’s a great thing to do,” Debruyne said. “But we learned that’s not the right way, because community members aren’t hydrologists. There’s a vertical difference.”

Instead, SQM now helps communities secure independent experts of their choosing, ensuring conversations happen “on a horizontal level.” This shift has been crucial to rebuilding trust.

Just as important, Debruyne said, is abandoning the western notion of time.

“Communities have a different concept of time. It’s about giving them the time they need — taking information back, returning, iterating. You may think you’re doing things the right way, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Why social investment reduces risk

For Oxfam policy advisor Andrew Bogrand, these types of changes are not just ethical — they’re also practical.

The expert, who also spoke on the panel, noted that since 2010, more than 800 protests or violent incidents have occurred around mine sites globally, including 300 since 2021 alone.

Each one carries real costs: slowdowns, legal expenses, rising insurance premiums — and, as Bogrand pointed out, the hidden cost of executive time diverted to crisis management.

“There is a win-win solution,” he told the Benchmark Week audience. “It’s engaging communities, making sure everyone’s on the same page. Sometimes the solutions are very simple.”

As an example, he pointed to mining projects where warning messages were sent in English to communities that do not speak the language, or where key safety information was delivered over SMS when what residents needed was a physical noticeboard in their own dialect.

Bogrand described companies that “step over a dollar to pick up a penny” — refusing modest community requests, only to face shutdowns costing tens of millions of dollars.

Transparency: A tool, not a threat

Debruyne described transparency as one of SQM’s most effective tools, even if it initially felt counterintuitive.

A few years ago, the company made all hydrological data from its government reporting publicly accessible online.

“I was bracing myself,” he said, expecting to receive dozens of questions about brine levels. But counter to his fears, transparency defused tension rather than fueling it. “I received complete silence,’ Debruyne noted.

It also created a foundation for future collaboration, including joint environmental monitoring programs with communities that had refused to speak with SQM for years.

Moving slow to move fast

The tension between rapid industry growth and slow, iterative sustainability processes often surfaces in investor discussions. For Bogrand, the answer is simple: “You have to move slow to move fast.”

Rushing early stage engagement almost always backfires, he argued, while early investment in community relationships pays dividends across the life of a mine.

Debruyne echoed this idea, noting that patience, consistency and presence — not promises — win trust. In one case, SQM organized a visit for Atacama Indigenous women leaders to electric vehicle and battery plants in Germany and Poland, allowing them to see firsthand where lithium fits in a finished product.

One participant, surprised that the metal formed only a thin coating on a cathode, admitted she had imagined an “Avatar-like” scenario where mines destroyed massive volumes of land for each battery.

“Because they don’t have visibility on the value chain, they make interpretations, which is human,” Debruyne told listeners. “Dialogue is so important.”

Both Debruyne and Bogrand agree that the lithium supply chain cannot scale without social acceptance, credible transparency and deep engagement with affected communities.

As Debruyne noted, “Ultimately, it’s about people.”

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$91,192.19, down by 0.2 percent over 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, November 28, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

However, the expert added that whale selling is keeping upside momentum fragile, preventing Bitcoin’s recovery from becoming a sustained trend. Hasn also noted that while derivatives market indicators show some stabilization, the rebound lacks the aggressive leverage buildup that typically supports strong rallies.

Friday’s derivatives data reinforces this view. Open interest fell 0.13 percent over four hours as traders trimmed positions. Liquidations hit US$23.74 million, mostly in longs, clearing excess bets without sparking fresh buying.

The slightly negative funding rate of -0.001 percent shows shorts paying longs with no bullish premium, while Bitcoin’s relative strength index of 58 signals neutral momentum, not the overextension needed for a strong rally.

As Hasn explained:

“Bitcoin’s resilience this week is therefore being shaped by a supportive macro environment rather than internal strength. The mixed whale distribution pattern and the lack of sustained accumulation still underline that the market remains vulnerable. The next phase will likely depend on whether improving sentiment in equities can translate into more durable inflows across the crypto market.”

Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) was at US$3,057.17, up by 0.7 percent over 24 hours. Ether derivatives showed balanced consolidation: US$8.83 million in mixed long/short liquidations cleared positions evenly, while a 0.06 percent rise in open interest signals modest new bets. However, neutral funding at 0.001 percent lacks a bullish premium.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$2.19, down by 1.8 percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$137.88, down by 3.3 percent over 24 hours.

Fear and Greed Index snapshot

CMC’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index continued to climb steadily after plunging into ‘extreme fear’ territory in the last two weeks. It has currently settled at 20 and is inching closer to ‘fear.’

Bitcoin’s rebound from the mid-US$80,000 zone has triggered a swift shift in market sentiment. After the price briefly cooled near US$80,000, many expected a sluggish recovery phase. Instead, optimism snapped back, with the sentiment index rising 10 points over the week and marking one of its sharpest moves in recent months.

The increase corresponds with heavier buying activity and reduced caution among traders who had previously stayed on the sidelines during the cryptocurrency’s pullback.

CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index, Bitcoin price and Bitcoin volume.

Chart via CoinMarketCap.

Today’s crypto news to know

Major CME Group outage halts futures trading

CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) experienced a major outage on Friday due to a chiller plant malfunction at the CyrusOne CHI1 facility, halting trading in futures and options across equities, currencies, commodities, treasuries and FOREX.

The disruption started late on Thursday (November 27) and affected the Globex platform, which handles 90 percent of CME Group’s volume. The outage halted trading in Bitcoin and Ether futures for about nine to 11 hours, disrupting access to quotes and positions, but leaving spot crypto markets largely unaffected.

Visa expands stablecoin settlement push with Aquanow partnership

Visa (NYSE:V) has deepened its stablecoin strategy by teaming up with Aquanow to support faster settlement across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The deal plugs Aquanow’s infrastructure directly into Visa’s payment rails, allowing banks and payment firms in the region to settle transactions in approved stablecoins such as USDC.

Visa says the upgrade is aimed at institutions seeking cheaper and quicker cross-border settlement options as demand for digital asset rails grows. The company also aims to modernize the “back-end plumbing” of payments by reducing reliance on traditional networks with multiple intermediaries. Aquanow, which processes billions in crypto transactions each month, will provide liquidity and technical support for the integrations.

The collaboration follows Visa’s recent stablecoin payout pilot, Visa Direct, which lets businesses fund transactions in fiat while recipients opt to receive stablecoins directly in their wallets.

UK backs “no gain, no loss” tax model for DeFi activity

The UK government has endorsed a major shift in how DeFi transactions are taxed, moving to eliminate capital gains charges when users deposit tokens into lending protocols or liquidity pools.

Under the current rules, deposits can be treated as disposals, often generating tax liabilities even when investors haven’t realized any economic gain. HM Revenue & Customs’ updated guidance supports a “no gain, no loss” approach that would tax users only when they withdraw assets and eventually sell them.

The proposal comes after two years of industry feedback from firms, many of which argued that the existing system distorts reality and burdens ordinary users with excessive record keeping. The new model would apply to both simple lending and automated market makers, ensuring that only genuine gains or losses are captured for tax purposes.

Australia introduces digital assets bill

Australia has tabled a new digital assets bill aimed at ending years of regulatory uncertainty and preventing a repeat of past offshore failures such as FTX and Celsius.

The proposed Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 would require platforms holding customer crypto to meet the same licensing and conduct standards applied across the financial sector.

Officials said the legislation is designed to bring crypto businesses fully into the regulated economy, ensuring transparency, custody safeguards and clear accountability.

The bill includes exemptions for smaller operators that process under US$10 million annually and hold less than US$5,000 per customer, mirroring existing thresholds for low-risk financial products. The government argues that modernizing the rules could unlock as much as US$24 billion a year in productivity and efficiency gains.

Silver’s price history since 2011

Silver price chart, November 10, 2010, to November 10, 2025.

Chart via SilverPrice.org.

After its 2011 peak, silver’s price pulled back over the following years before settling between US$15 and US$20 for much of the second half of last decade. An upward trend in the silver price started in mid-2020, when it was spurred on by the economic uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The price of silver breached the key US$26 level in early August 2020, and soon after tested US$30. However, it failed to make substantial progress past that.

In the spring of 2023, the silver price surged by 30 percent, briefly rising above US$26 in early May; however, the precious metal cratered back down to US$20.90 in early October. Later that month, silver advanced toward the US$23 level on the back of safe-haven demand due to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Following remarks from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speculation about interest rate reductions sent the price of silver to US$25.48 on November 30, its highest point for the fourth quarter.

After starting 2024 on a low note, the white metal saw gains in March on rising Fed rate cut expectations. The resulting upward momentum led silver to reach a Q1 high of US$25.62 on March 20 before breaking through the US$30 mark on May 17. The silver price reached a then 12 year high of US$32.33 on May 20.

In Q3, the metal’s price slid down below the US$27 mark to as low as US$26.64 by August 7 alongside its industrial cousin copper. Heading into Q4 2024, silver reversed course to the upside, tracking the record breaking moves in the gold price. Silver once again breached the US$30 level on September 13 and continued higher.

On October 21, the silver price moved as high as US$34.20 during the trading day, up more than 48 percent since the start of the year and its highest level in 12 years. However, silver spent the rest of the year in decline, bottoming out at US$28.94 on December 30.

Silver’s price performance in 2025

Silver price chart, December 31, 2024, to November 28, 2025.

The silver price experienced a momentum shift at the start of 2025, breaking through the US$30 barrier as early as January 5, and reaching US$31.31 by January 29. The metal continued to post gains through much of February and March, climbing to US$32.94 on February 20 and then peaking at its quarterly high of US$34.21 on March 28.

Following US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements on April 2, silver slumped to below US$30. While the Trump administration’s tariff policies have been largely beneficial for safe-haven assets like precious metals, there were concerns that the threat of tariffs could weaken industrial demand, which could cool price gains in the silver market.

Yet those concerns were pushed to the back burner as recent economic and geopolitical events have raised analysts’ expectations of a September rate cut by the Fed. The benchmark rate has not changed since November 2024.

On June 5, the silver price rose to a 13 year high of US$36.05 in early morning trading, before retreating toward the US$35.50 mark. By June 16, the white metal had broken through the US$37 mark for the first time since May 2011.

In July, increasing geopolitical strife in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine coupled with a positive outlook for China’s solar power industry proved price positive for both silver’s precious metals and industrial angles.

The silver price overtook the US$39 level to reach US$39.24 on July 22.

These same forces, coupled with the nearly unanimous rate cut expectations, launched the price of silver to over US$40 on August 31 for the first time since 2011, and by September 3 it had climbed as high as US$41.45. Silver continued climbing through September, progressively breaking level after level to top US$47 by the month’s end.

Silver started Q4 by continuing its ascent, breaking through its 2011 peak and topping US$48 on October 3.

The silver price officially surpassed its all-time US dollar high of US$49.95 — set in 1980 on October 9 — as it climbed to US$51.14 during trading that day. The white metal had already beaten its all-time highs in most currencies, including Canadian dollars and Australian dollars, on September 22.

It continued climbing even higher on the safe-haven demand fundamentals behind its 2025 momentum. Helping drive that demand in October was escalating trade tensions between the US and China, leading to export controls on additional rare earth metals by China and threats of 100 percent tariffs on Chinese imports by the US.

While silver pulled back to around US$48 in late October, news that the US government shut down had come to an end on November 9 drove the silver price back above US$50.

Silver’s foray above the US$56 level on November 28 came on the back of an outage at the Comex, where trading was briefly halted due to a ‘cooling issue’ at a CyrusOne data center used by the exchange.

Silver supply and demand dynamics

Market watchers are curious as to whether the silver price will continue its upward trajectory in 2025. Only time will tell, and it will depend on the white metal’s ability to remain above the critical US$30 level.

Like other metals, the silver spot price is most heavily influenced by supply and demand dynamics. However, as the information above illustrates, the silver price can be highly volatile. That’s partially due to the fact that the metal is subject to both investment and industrial metal demand within global markets.

In other words, it’s bought by investors who want it as a store of wealth, as well as by manufacturers looking to use it for different applications that are incredibly varied. For example, silver has diverse technological applications and is used in devices like batteries and catalysts, but it’s also used in medicine and in the automotive industry.

In terms of supply, the world’s three top producers of the metal are Mexico, China and Peru. Even in those countries silver is usually a by-product — for instance, a mine producing primarily gold or lead might also have silver output.

The Silver Institute’s latest World Silver Survey, put together by Metals Focus, outlines a 0.9 percent increase in global mine production to 819.7 million ounces in 2024. This was in partly the result of a return to operations at Newmont’s (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM) Peñasquito mine in Mexico following a suspension of activity brought about by strike action among workers and improved recoveries out of Fresnillo (LSE:FRES,OTC Pink:FNLPF) and MAG Silver’s (TSX:MAG,NYSEAMERICAN:MAG) Juanicipio. Silver output also increased in Australia, Bolivia and the US.

The firm is forecasting a 1.9 percent rise in global silver mine production to 823 million ounces in 2025. Much of that growth is expected to come out of Mexico, and it is also projecting output will rise in Chile and Russia.

Lower production from Australia and Peru will offset some of these gains.

Looking at demand, Metals Focus sees growth in 2025 flatlining as industrial fabrication takes a hit from the global tariff war. This could be tempered by an anticipated rebound in demand from physical investment in silver bars and coins.

The silver market is expected to experience a substantial deficit of 117.6 million ounces in 2025, amounting to the sixth straight year of supply shortage for the metal.

Investor takeaway

Silver has neared US$50 multiple times, including its all-time high, and as momentum continues for the silver price in 2025 investors are wondering if it could reach those heights once again.

While it’s impossible to know for sure what’s next for silver, keeping an eye on the factors driving its performance, including gold’s performance, geopolitics, the economy and industrial demand, will help investors make decisions on when to buy and sell.