Several days ahead of the company's annual earnings release, Silver Wheaton (SLW 0.91%) has released a set of operational statistics for 2012 that include news of record reserves. Acquisitions last year played a significant role in hitting those new highs.
The mining company's attributable proven and provable reserves grew by more than 38% on a year-over-year basis to an unprecedented 1.1 billion silver equivalent ounces. This total comprised 851 million ounces of silver and nearly 5 million ounces of gold.
Meanwhile, attributable measured and indicated resources saw an increase of 28% over the same time frame. They also notched a new company record, at more than 603 million silver equivalent ounces. Of that amount, 529 million ounces of were silver, while 1.4 million ounces were gold.
The strong growth is at least partially attributable to acquisitions in 2012. Silver Wheaton purchased a set of mining assets from Hudbay Materials and acquired stakes in several precious metals projects operated by Vale.
Silver Wheaton is to release its Q4 and fiscal 2012 results after market close on Thursday.
