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Eric Sprott on Gold, Silver, & His Biggest Investing Wins and Losses

Jimmy Connor Aug 22, 2026 40:15

Summary

Sprott frames gold and silver as the ultimate bear-market refuge — central banks flipped from sellers to buyers, and weak currencies reinforce the case.

He argues the biggest mispricings sit in under-followed small caps — being a numbers guy nobody else is looking at is his edge.

Kirkland Lake proved high-grade ore plus patience equals a $1B win; Pure Gold's bankruptcy showed even strong theses cannot overcome bad geology.

He keeps pressing high-conviction positions through multi-year drawdowns and rarely sells — patient capital compounds in resources.

Sprott calls the AI bubble the largest yet, with 40x sales echoing 2000 — and gold's bull run, he argues, has just begun.

Key points on Barrick Mining

  • Sprott argues that the major gold producers, including Barrick, have dragged on returns for gold investors through persistent underperformance, and Barrick's year-to-date performance is 'nowhere near' the 25% gain in gold itself as of the 2026-08-22 as-of date.
  • He notes Barrick's annual output has roughly halved, from about 8 million ounces in 2000 to around 4 million ounces more recently, calling it the wrong formula for excess returns and tying the shortfall to mistimed acquisitions.

Key points on Newmont

  • Sprott describes Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, as trading roughly in line with gold's 25% year-to-date gain as of the 2026-08-22 as-of date, contrasting it with the weaker performance of second-place Barrick.

Key points on Jaguar Mining Inc

  • Sprott uses Jaguar Mining as a working example of why high-grade ore bodies matter, with its existing mine running at about 3.4 grams per tonne.
  • He points to an adjacent target he believes could host at least 50% more gold at similar cost, framing it as roughly 15,000 ounces of 'free' incremental output at $2,600 gold.
  • He values that incremental 15,000 ounces at about $40 million, calling it quantum value relative to Jaguar's recent ~C$120 million market capitalization.

Eric Sprott's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Sprott argues the current bubble is larger than 2000 or 2008 and will end via the credit markets, citing waning foreign demand for US Treasuries and a US savings base that has turned negative.
  • He frames his own positioning as roughly 90% in gold and silver, with gold up about tenfold from $250 in 2000 to $2,600 as of the 2026-08-22 as-of date, and about 5% in short stock positions.
  • He says gold is easier to call higher than the timing of a MAG-7 rollover, citing central banks switching from net sellers to net buyers of gold and declining silver mine production.
  • He walks through his two extreme outcomes — over $1 billion of gains in Kirkland Lake (the Fosterville acquisition was the catalyst) and roughly $20-40 million lost in Pure Gold Mining's Red Lake asset after the geology did not work out.
  • He lays out his investment checklist as starting with why an opportunity exists, anchored in being a 'numbers guy' and the patience to hold through 10-year discovery-to-production cycles in mining.

Jimmy Connor's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Connor frames the interview around Sprott's record as one of the most successful resource investors, citing a single trade worth over $1 billion in gains and another losing more than $250 million.
  • Connor sets up the current-cycle comparison by citing Nvidia's roughly $2 trillion market cap, 40-times-revenue multiple, and approximate 12% of US GDP share as the AI bubble's defining statistics.