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Lab Report | July 23 Deep Dive on McEwen

CEO.CA Jul 23, 2026 14:42

Summary

McEwen's Gray Fox study models 15 years of Ontario gold, 1 million reserved ounces, and $2,212 per ounce AISC — the all-in cost of an ounce.

At $4,500 gold the same study lifts Gray Fox to a 55% return and 2.3-year payback, against 25% and 4.6 years at $3,000.

Nevada's Lookout Mountain and Windfall ounces sit in oxide mineralization that heap leaching recovers cheaply, with estimates still limited to the open pit.

Las Azulis copper targets $2.11 per pound life-of-mine costs against copper above $6, and McEwen, Stellantis, Rio Tinto and Rob McEwen hold about 96%.

Thin US-listing volume near $1.2 million a day leaves the stock cheap on the host's view of a 2030 goal of 250,000-300,000 gold-equivalent ounces.

Key points on Mcewen Mining Inc

  • The speaker's lead news for July 23, 2026 is that McEwen filed two NI 43-101 technical reports: a Gray Fox pre-feasibility study in Ontario and a mineral resource estimate for the Lookout Mountain and Windfall deposits in Nevada.
  • Gray Fox carries a 15-year project life that would extend production at the Fox Complex through 2041, on about 1 million ounces of gold reserves grading 3.24 g/t, with annual production of 43,000 ounces in project years 2 through 8 and 87,000 ounces in years 9 through 14.
  • On the Gray Fox economics, the speaker reads the $3,000/oz base case as an all-in sustaining cost of $2,212 per ounce, a post-tax NPV at 5% of $282 million, a 25% IRR and 4.6 years to payback, rising at $4,500/oz to a $2,421 sustaining cost, an $841 million NPV, a 55% IRR and 2.3 years.
  • The Nevada Lookout Mountain and Windfall deposits hold 629,000 indicated ounces and 262,000 inferred ounces, and he highlights that essentially all of the contained gold sits in oxide mineralization that is heap leachable and low cost, with open-pit-constrained estimates that can grow with gold prices and further drilling.
  • He argues the shares are cheap relative to asset quality, saying McEwen is being punished while holding one of the world's top 10 undeveloped copper projects plus growing gold production, with a 2030 target of 250,000 to 300,000 gold-equivalent ounces.

Robert McEwen's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The speaker says Robert McEwen personally owns 14% of McEwen Mining, is paid $1 a year and has put $290 million into the company.
  • He adds that Robert McEwen personally holds 13% of the private McEwen Copper, part of the concentrated ownership group there.

Allan Barry Laboucan's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He argues McEwen is being punished and looks cheap relative to the quality of its assets, pairing a world-class undeveloped mine moving toward production with a gold producer that is growing output.
  • He treats the company's copper project as the main driver of the equity, calling it one of the top 10 undeveloped copper projects in the world and expecting it to come into production over the next couple of years.
  • On the Gray Fox study he highlights the $4,500 per ounce gold case, with a 5% NPV of $841 million, a 55% IRR and 2.3-year payback, and says he thinks that gold price is very doable by the time the project reaches production.
  • On Las Azules he points to a feasibility life-of-mine all-in sustaining cost of $2.11 per pound against copper trading well over $6 per pound as of the July 23, 2026 broadcast, and says the project is needed because the world needs more copper projects.
  • He notes the shares trade thinly, around 50,000 shares a day on the Canadian listing and roughly $1.2 million of average daily dollar volume on the US listing, and argues that liquidity shapes how the name gets valued.