Tim Warman

At around $3,000/oz gold, gold producers are generating record free cash flow and margins not seen in roughly 20 years. Even marginal, low-grade mines are making substantial cash flow, so the producer group is a direct beneficiary of high gold prices.

Gold remains a safe-haven and inflation hedge. The recent drop was mainly a broad rush for liquidity, not a loss of gold's safe-haven role, and gold is holding support near $3,000/oz. He sees the longer-term trend as positive and expects gold prices to continue their strength over the next few months to years.

The recent copper price decline is a short-term tariff/trade-war dislocation rather than the start of an industrial metals collapse, because it does not change the tight supply backdrop. Copper grades are declining, major easy discoveries are largely exhausted, and new projects will be lower-grade and more expensive. At the same time, long-term demand should keep rising from electrification and Chinese smelting demand. Prices likely need to reach around $5 per pound to incentivize the multi-billion-dollar new projects needed to meet that demand, so he expects a recovery to more realistic levels and a higher long-term copper price.