McEwen, Meding: Gold Sector Poised to Move, Copper Crunch Keeps Building

Rob McEwen of McEwen Mining (TSX:MUX,NYSE:MUX) and Michael Meding of McEwen Copper sat down to speak about the outlook for gold and copper, as well as news from their respective companies.

Looking first at gold, McEwen said it has space to move higher in 2024, and pointed to eye-watering predictions from a number of market participants. Citi is calling for US$3,000 per ounce before the end of 2024, while Bloomberg Intelligence expects US$7,000 by 2025. Meanwhile, Pierre Lassonde has given a US$19,000 to US$20,000 target.

"The whole sector has been underinvested for quite awhile, and I think it's poised to move," he said. "Inflation isn't going away, and even when interest rates rose in the late '70s and early '80s gold was climbing. So I think it's heading higher."

In terms of copper, Meding said that while the red metal is seeing a short-term supply crunch, its strong long-term demand outlook is more important to watch. "Depending on who you ask in terms of forecasting agencies, there's demand between 2035 and 2050 of somewhere between 50 million and 68 million tonnes of copper when the world consumes about 25 million tonnes of copper per year," he said during the interview.

"That means that if you compare this to the biggest producer, which is Chile, which is somewhere between 5.5 million and 6 million tonnes, that means we need somewhere between five and eight times Chile on top of what we currently have to be able to satisfy that demand going forward," Meding added.

McEwen Copper's Los Azules copper project is located in Argentina's San Juan province, and Meding and McEwen also both spoke about the changes they've seen in the country so far under President Javier Milei.

"I think there will be a rush of companies coming in there if it looks like you can have a sustained lower tax rate and a stability agreement. So it's a good place to be right now — (it's) a seismic change in the politics," said McEwen.

Watch the interview above for more from McEwen and Meding on company plans moving forward.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

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