Now is the time to be focusing on exploration – McEwen – by (Mineweb.com – December 13, 2013)

http://www.mineweb.com/

In an interview with Tekoa Da Silva, McEwen Mining CEO, Rob McEwen, discusses the current state of the market and how one should be approaching it.

BULLMARKETTHINKING.COM – During a time of continued stagnation in both share prices and sentiment in the mining sector, Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner of McEwen Mining, was kind enough to share a few comments.

Of particular interest to investors, Rob noted that the next move higher for the sector will likely be driven by a combination of rising gold prices, combined with new discoveries. The mantra of “growth for growth’s sake” is still alive according to Rob, but the companies who implement “big data” within their operations will likely generate better returns for investors going forward.

Here is his full interview commentary with Bull Market Thinking’s Tekoa Da Silva:

Tekoa Da Silva: Rob, I remember during the summer months the team there at McEwen Mining began adding language into company statements which basically read, “We’re looking to put together smart deals with other companies and if you’ve got something in mind, give us a call.”

Based on the feedback in response to that announcement, what would you say is the willingness out there right now in the marketplace in terms of people coming together to assemble unorthodox types of deals?

Rob McEwen: We received a number of suggestions from our shareholders, from general investors, and institutional investors. In many instances, the people making the suggestions were already shareholders of the companies they were suggesting we look at.

In some cases, I would say more institutional investors than retail were looking for large premiums over the current market to put the company together which was more than we wanted to do, [but suggestions are] still coming in. So the call for ideas I think was a very useful exercise. There’s certainly a wide array of companies out there and we haven’t quite fixated on one at the moment, but we’re still looking.

TD: Do you feel the longstanding ideas and philosophies that got some of the big mining companies into trouble—are those still being clung on to right now to the detriment of some of those companies?

RM: Well, the concept of growth—while everybody might talk about growth, the big question is “How are they going to finance it?” That’s throughout the industry [right now]. So it’s somewhat putting a cap on the growth of the industry because there’s [limited] access to capital and it’s much more difficult today, but the mantra of growth for growth’s sake, it’s still alive and kicking in the industry. [Otherwise], everybody is looking for a very conservative way to play the market which I think might be misguided.

For the rest of this interview, click here: http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-independent-viewpoint?oid=221753&sn=Detail