(Kitco News) - Keith Neumeyer, president & CEO of First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG), believes the U.S. stock market is topping. When the crash comes, it will be good for gold and silver, repeating what happened in the decade-long gold bull market of 2001-12.
In February, Neumeyer spoke to Kitco Mining at the BMO Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference 2024 in Hollywood, Florida.
"You wouldn't know it with NVIDIA (NASDAQ;NVDA) going through $2 trillion but talking more generally about the S&P, I think that's where all the money is, and I've said before and I'll say it again, this to me is 2000 and 2001 all over again," he said. "When the Nasdaq hit 5,000 in March of 2000, and over the three-year period after that, it dropped 80 percent, and then gold lit up, the miners lit up, and we went into a 10-year bull market for the miners, which ended in 2011-2012. I think exactly the same thing's going to happen all over again."
Neumeyer said mothballing the Jerritt Canyon mine in Nevada last year helped to push First Majestic's full-year costs down. Consolidated cash cost was $14.49 per silver-equivalent ounce, and the All-In Sustaining Costs (AISC) was $20.16 per AgEq ounce.
The company plans on spending $10 million on exploration at Jerritt Canyon out of a 2024 exploration budget of $35 million.
The CEO has been actively promoting silver as a critical metal to the U.S. and Canadian governments. He noted solar panels and electric cars are now consuming about a third of the annual supply of silver. "Those industries didn't exist ten years ago," Neumeyer said.
"Everything we do with the human race requires silver, and yet the politicians look at silver as a poor man's gold, which I think is a completely incorrect way of looking at this very critical metal," he added.
While 2024 will see "a big focus on drilling," the company isn't taking its eyes off any deals, either. "I want to see a really nice cornerstone silver asset come into our portfolio sometime in the next couple of years," Neumeyer said.
Coverage of the BMO Global Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference sponsored by First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG).
Andrew Topf
With over two decades of journalism experience, Andrew writes about resource companies and trends. Along with Kitco, his work has been published by MINING.com, Investing News Network, Oilprice.com, and syndicated across major international business news platforms including Stockhouse, Business Insider, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Al Jazeera and TIME Magazine.