Edel hat es an anderer Stelle schon verlinkt.
Hier das ganze Interview, das wieder mal zeigt, aus welchem Holz der Mann geschnitzt ist.
Er hat auch Fehler: Ich sage nur: Biotechnologie!!!!
Q&A ROB MCEWEN
TheStar.com - Business - Peak gold theory
Jul 09, 2007 04:30 AM
Q. Are you still the ultimate gold bug?
A. Am I? Well I've always believed gold has a big place in one's portfolio at particular times in history, and I think we're at one of those times today. I happen to believe gold is money and that it offers very special properties as a currency. If you have a house and you want to sell it I don't think anyone could sell it in two days unless it was at a huge discount. But you can sell gold in two days through intermediaries anywhere in the world, at almost any time of the day. It's instantly liquid. It takes three days to liquidate a share in the marketplace, but gold is recognized globally as money.
Q. Just playing devil's advocate here, but hasn't it also been a lousy investment since it hit its peak of $850 U.S. back in 1980 and it's straddling $650 U.S. today?
A. If you buy and hold for 26 years you're probably a little ahead, but if you owned Barrick the last 10 years you got beat up. You're up 4 per cent. Newmont was down 18 per cent and Kinross was down 47 per cent. Those were not places where you wanted to have your money. I just think the large companies pursued a strategy of growth without regard for the share price.
Q. Are you sticking to your previous prediction that gold would hit $850 by the end of next year?
A. Like Krazy Glue. And by the end of 2010 I believe it will be between $2,000 and $5,000 U.S. an ounce.
The world is awash with money right now. It might not be finding its way into everybody's pockets but there's an enormous amount of capital floating around. And it's entering into derivative products, indices and real estate and we're feeling this real financial inflation. We have a period today where there are enormous manufacturing capabilities in China and that's what's allowing us to live in a world where it feels like everything is getting cheaper.
I was looking in a Canadian Tire flyer the other day and I'm looking at power tools but you look at them and say, I couldn't have bought that saw before. And they had flat screen TVs for $200, not big, but prices are dropping. Electronic goods and manufactured consumer goods are just falling out of the sky in terms of prices, so that makes us feel that we can buy them up.
Q. Come on, Rob McEwen looks at flyers?
A. Every once in a while (laughs).
Q. Why is gold in the doldrums lately?
A. It's seasonality. It had a nice run and people say it's going to keep going higher. Well maybe it has to pause and correct for a moment before going again. I felt that over the next 4 or 5 years gold was going to go considerably higher, but not in a straight line. It doesn't go continuously higher. It advances, then corrects, consolidates, but the trend is up.
Q. Some mining executives have been very vocal about how terrible the Canadian mining scene is these days with all the big players being gobbled up. What's your view?
A. The government is very short sighted. The natural resource sector, and all of our industries have been disadvantaged by our government through our tax system. And we're basically facing a world where the competition comes in and we're supposed to fight them off with both hands tied behind our back because our taxes are so high.
My concern is that our children will no longer be the owners of the country. They'll be the tenants. There are pools of capital that are growing in lower tax regimes, less regulated regimes, and those monies are coming unimpeded into this country and buying anything and all they want.
Q. What can be done about it?
A. We have to be attracting foreign capital in enormous quantities to develop the resources we have here and keep them here. But I don't think going in and nationalizing industries is going to do it, that's going to chase it away. We just have to make Canadians more competitive in the world environment and that means allowing them to build more wealth so they're more inclined to hold onto these assets than selling them.
Q. What's the upside of being in the junior game?
A. I think there's more leverage to make more money. There are discoveries and they're going to be accorded premiums.
Q. Do you miss the days of being a big fish, back when you ran Goldcorp?
A. No. When you come out of one company and it's worked you can see other opportunities and you can build on that experience and be more nimble.
Q. Is your latest play, the Cortez trend in Nevada, the next Red Lake?
A. Hopefully, and more. It's not as high grade but the deposit is bigger.
Q. Would you develop it or sell it if you make a big find?
A. You want to create as much value as possible. The future is in the hands of your shareholders. I have 22 per cent of the company so I'm a large shareholder but if somebody puts something on the table that everybody likes, I'm sure I'd like it too.
Q. Did you get rid of all your Goldcorp shares as you said you would after the Glamis takeover?
A. They're all gone. I sold them earlier this year. I made my money. (That investment) treated me well. My shareholders did well too.
Q. What do you see in your crystal ball for gold?
A. I think there'll be a point when gold reaches its zenith in terms of relative purchasing power as it did in 1980. I think it's in the 2010 to 2012 area.
Q. Why's that?
A. Well in 1980 when gold was at its peak, interest rates were high. The Canada Savings Bond, 1981 issue, had a 22 per cent coupon. If you had been astute enough and moved out of gold and into bonds you would have done very nicely. And then you would roll into the equities. So in a few years investors are going to say, maybe keep some of the gold and deploy some of the assets into other areas.
Q. What about your interest in uranium and oil and gas, is this the right time for that?
A. (Junior explorer) Lexam Explorations is a dream of energy, and then I have some private bio-medical. You look at Goldcorp. When gold went down to $250 we were building a mine. And we were very profitable when everybody else was suffering.
Q. What's the next big thing?
A. When Governor Schwarzenegger was in town he visited the labs of one of our researchers ... Here's a guy who's putting more money into this research than anybody else in the world and he happens to think that Toronto has the best stem cell scientists outside of California and it's worthy of creating a link. He believes it is the future.
Q. Did you meet Arnie?
A. My wife shook his hand. I was in the press gallery and I listened to his speech. I thought he spoke very well. He's a man who has planned his life and he's been able to execute it. He had a goal and he achieved it. I really admire his can-do attitude. It takes someone from outside to say Canada has a wonderful collection of some of the best medical science in the world. That's one of the treasures of this country.
Q. How would you describe Rob McEwen in 2007?
A. Excited. And I like the future.
–Lisa Wright
