Most of His Net Worth Is in Gold, Here’s Why Mine Builder Bob Quartermain Is Still Bullish

Gold fell back below $4,000 on Oct. 30, and Robert Quartermain has weathered drops like this before. He started in the business when gold was $140 an ounce, and he says the industry’s discipline means producers are still making money at today’s prices, with costs around $1,600 to $2,000 an ounce.

At the New Orleans Investment Conference, the veteran mine builder tells Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron that gold is “still a small trade,” so short sellers and liquidity squeezes can knock it down fast. The fundamentals haven’t changed, he argues, with central banks still buying and gold still flowing into China. Most of his own net worth is tied to gold, and he says there’s “a point where even I start buying physical gold back again.”

An honorary colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Quartermain also explains why North America’s critical minerals gap is in refining, not mining, and how China built that choke point over the past two decades. Gold is critical in every phone and server, he notes, but it’s missing from NATO’s list of defense-critical materials because it’s so abundant. For the first time in his 50-year career, he adds, politicians are talking about the need for these…