McEwen (NYSE:MUX) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter and year-end 2025 results call to outline a growth strategy centered on extending mine lives through exploration, advancing multiple development projects, and moving the Los Azules copper project toward production through its subsidiary, McEwen Copper.
Chairman and Chief Owner Rob McEwen said 2025 was a “very momentous year” for the company, citing higher gold, silver, and copper prices alongside operational and strategic progress. He pointed to exploration results that have been “adding resources that will extend the lives of our mines,” and said expansions at existing operations plus “several acquisitions” have created an opportunity to “significantly increase, more than double, our precious metal production by 2030.”
Financial results: higher margins and a return to net income
Ng said McEwen reported net income of $38.1 million, or $0.70 per share, for the fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $8.2 million, or $0.16 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2024. For the full year, net income was $34.4 million, a turnaround from a net loss of $43.7 million in 2024.
Management attributed the performance primarily to a higher gold price environment, increased fourth-quarter production versus earlier in the year, and higher realized gold prices at the company’s 100%-owned operations. Ng said the company realized “over $4,400 an ounce gold in the fourth quarter.” He also cited contributions from the San José mine, where McEwen holds a 49% interest, and noted a $27.5 million deferred tax recovery tied to the expected use of U.S. tax losses. The company ended 2025 with $51 million in cash versus $14 million at the end of 2024.
Financing growth: management emphasizes minimizing dilution
Executive Vice Chairman Ian Ball addressed what he framed as a central investor question: how McEwen plans to finance growth without excessive dilution. Ball said higher commodity prices are improving cash generation and noted the company received its “first dividend from the San José Mine in quite some time,” attributing that to both metal prices and the mine having covered certain closure obligations. Ng later added that subsequent to the fourth quarter, McEwen received an $8.8 million dividend in February.
Ball also pointed to internal cash flow contributions expected from Mexico as development work progresses at Stock, and said internal cash flow should help fund development of Gray Fox—described as a potential underground operation to feed the Stock mill—and ongoing work at Gold Bar, including “more pre-stripping and expanding the leach pad.” He said management believes projects are “scaled in such a way that we can finance them,” largely internally, and emphasized being “very mindful of the cost of capital” and per-share value.
Operations and near-term milestones: Stock, Gray Fox, and other projects
Chief Operating Officer William Shaver said first-quarter operations at Gold Bar and Fox were “on target,” contrasting the start of 2026 with a slower start in the prior year. He said Mexico is producing a small amount of gold, which “is carrying all of the operating costs out of Mexico.”
Shaver said development of the Stock ramp and access to “Stock East” is expected to be completed this year, with Stock East targeted for production in the second half of 2026. He also said a Gray Fox pre-feasibility study is expected in June and that the company is doing detailed planning to bring the Tartan asset into production. Shaver added that permitting work is underway across projects, including the Phoenix project, and said mining at the Froome mine is expected to be completed in the third quarter, though ongoing drilling could potentially extend production by “another couple of quarters.”
In the Q&A, management said Stock is progressing on schedule. In response to a question on why Stock was excluded from guidance, Vice President of Finance Jeff Chan said McEwen expects to begin reporting “pre-commercial production” from Stock partway through the year, but because it is pre-commercial, the company is not providing production or cost guidance for it at this time.
Los Azules: feasibility study, RIGI approval, and IPO planning
McEwen Copper Managing Director Michael Meding said 2025 was a “transformational year” for Los Azules in Argentina. He highlighted three achievements: securing RIGI approval, completing a feasibility study, and doing so amid a strengthening macro backdrop for copper.
Meding described RIGI, approved in September 2025, as a key de-risking event, providing 30 years of legal, fiscal, and customs stability. He said the corporate income tax rate drops from 35% to 25% under RIGI, with a 50% reduction in dividend withholding tax, exemption from export duties at the start of exports, and access to foreign currency and international arbitration.
He then reviewed feasibility study “headline numbers” released in October 2025. At a $4.35/lb copper base case, Meding said the project shows an after-tax NPV (8% discount) of $2.9 billion, a 19.8% IRR, and 3.9 years payback. The feasibility case is built around a 22-year project life, with average copper cathode production of 205,000 tons per year in the first five years and 148,000 tons per year over life-of-mine. Meding said C1 cash cost is $1.71/lb and all-in sustaining cost is $2.11/lb.
At what he called today’s copper price of around $5.80/lb, Meding said the NPV would more than double to $6.3 billion, with IRR rising to 30% and payback shortening to 2.7 years. He added that the feasibility work identified potential upside beyond the base case, including potential for “an additional 33 years life of mine.”
Meding also emphasized environmental design, saying Los Azules is expected to use one quarter of the water and produce one-tenth of the carbon emissions of a conventional mine of similar scale, with the potential to operate on 100% renewable power and “no conventional tailing dams.” He said the International Finance Corporation has signed a collaboration agreement to align Los Azules with IFC environmental, social, and governance standards, and that the agreement provides IFC customary rights to act as lender or arranger for prospective project financing.
Looking ahead, Meding said the team is targeting a final investment decision by the end of 2026 and targeting construction to begin in early 2027, subject to project financing. He also said the company is evaluating the ideal timing for an IPO of McEwen Copper in connection with ongoing financing discussions. Rob McEwen separately said the company is planning to take McEwen Copper public later in 2026, and suggested that if copper prices remain near current levels, the value could exceed the last private placement level of $30 per share, benefiting McEwen Mining’s shareholdings.
Other discussion points: silver, San José, Paragon, and M&A approach
On silver, Ball said current attributable silver production comes from San José, with total mine production of approximately 3.6 million ounces and McEwen’s share being half. He said the company converts silver to gold equivalent using a 77:1 silver-to-gold ratio. Ball said a future source of silver could be “El Gallo phase two,” which management is evaluating at approximately 3–4 million ounces of 100%-owned silver production, and he said the company is looking at whether stronger silver prices could justify accelerating that phase two production.
On M&A, Rob McEwen said the company has focused on companies with properties adjacent or near existing operations, aiming to extend mine life and avoiding expensive acquisitions that would require issuing significant stock. He said the approach is “opportunistic,” while keeping jurisdiction and operational focus close to existing assets.
Management also discussed Paragon Geochemical Laboratories and photon assay technology. Ball said McEwen’s ownership stake is about 28%, and described industry adoption as increasing. He said Barrick is using photon assay machines and that turnaround times for gold and silver assays can be “as low as 6 days” versus “3–4 weeks” for traditional fire assay, with similar costs. Ball said the financial impact to McEwen is currently reflected as an equity investment rather than dividends.
About McEwen (NYSE:MUX)
McEwen Mining Inc (NYSE: MUX) is a Canada-based precious metals company focused on the exploration, development and production of gold, silver and copper. Headquartered in Toronto, the company pursues a diversified portfolio of assets across the Americas, with operations and projects spanning Argentina, Mexico, Canada and the United States. McEwen Mining employs an integrated approach that combines in-house technical expertise with strategic partnerships to advance its assets from resource definition through to commercial production.
The company’s flagship producing asset is the San José mine in Argentina, a high-grade silver-gold operation.
