McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call March 14, 2023 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Rob McEwen - Chairman and Chief Owner
Perry Ing - Chief Financial Officer
William Shaver - Chief Operating Officer
Michael Meding - Vice President and General Manager of McEwen Copper
Stefan Spears - Vice President, Corporate Development
Conference Call Participants
Jake Sekelsky - Alliance Global Partners
Heiko Ihle - H.C. Wainwright
Mike Kozak - Cantor Fitzgerald
John Tumazos - John Tumazos Very Independent Research
Operator
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to McEwen Mining's Fourth Quarter and Year End 2022 Operating and Financial Results Conference Call.
Present from the company today are Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner; Perry Ing, Chief Financial Officer; William Shaver, Chief Operating Officer; Michael Meding, Vice President and General Manager of McEwen Copper.
After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
I will now turn the call over to Mr. Rob McEwen, Chief Owner. Please go ahead, sir. Again, Mr. Rob McEwen, please go ahead.
Rob McEwen
Thank you, operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Today, I'll start with a discussion about gold and then our share price performance and follow up with factors driving our future.
With all the uncertainties in the world, many people are asking why the price of gold hasn't climbed much higher. I believe that most investors feel that we have entered into a new era where very low interest rates and massive monetary stimulation are here to stay. And the gold's reputation as a store of wealth is no longer relevant or needed in a world of awash with easy money.
However, as we all know, the unexpected happens quickly. Rising interest rates and an unexpected bank failure are vivid reminders, gold still has a role to play in your portfolio. I suspect more investors will start adding gold and gold shares to their portfolio and they will follow the lead of a select number of central banks who became large gold buyers in 2022. In fact, their purchases were the largest purchases made in the past 50 years by central bankers. Perhaps they too are concerned about holding too much of their reserves in fiat currencies.
So, during 2022, the price of gold outperformed not only gold equities, but also the Dow Jones. Gold increased 1% year-over-year, and at the yesterday's close, it was up 6% since December 31, 2021. During that same period, the senior and junior gold equities as measured by the ETFs, the GDX and the GDXJ registered losses of 10.5% and 15%, respectively in 2022, while the Dow was down 3.7%. But if we look back another year to December 31, 2021, and come forward to yesterday's close, the GDX was down 9.1%, the GDXJ down 16.2%, and the Dow was down 12.4%.