PDAC 2026: Gold and copper are the go-tos as investors seek tangible assets amid ongoing global uncertainty

Gold notched a record year in 2025. Photo by David Gray/Bloomberg files

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A shift is coming in how the public views mining as investors seek tangible assets amid the United States dollar‘s declining power and persistent global uncertainty, say mining executives.

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“I’ve been a big fan of gold and precious metals for a long time and always felt that that’s money. And fiat currencies are not money; they’re pieces of paper,” Rob McEwen, chair and chief executive of gold and silver mining company McEwen Inc., said while on a panel about mining finance at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto on Tuesday.

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He said mining stocks represented 11 per cent of global equities in the 1950s and 1960s, but now only make up three per cent. He said that could soon rise to five per cent or eight per cent, or even 10 per cent.

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“You’re seeing a shift coming as people become more aware of the necessity of metals to sustain modern civilization, and there’s not enough material to be recycled to satisfy the demand that is now surfacing,” he said. “It’s the beginning of a rotation from growth stories to value stories. And value is metal.”

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Panellists chose gold and copper as their top picks for which commodities will perform the best over the next 12 months.

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After gold notched a record year in 2025, any chaos or conflict leading up to the U.S. midterm elections in November could support the price of gold, said Jackie Przybylowski, vice-president, capital markets, at royalty and streaming company Gold Royalty Corp.

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“Whether the Republicans or the Democrats succeed in the midterm elections, either way, U.S. spending continues to go up,” she said. “We’ll probably see that through this year, through next year, and into the next full presidential election term. De-dollarization, or a weaker U.S. dollar, is generally positive for gold as well.”

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Ilan Bahar, co-head of BMO Capital Markets’ Global Metals & Mining Group, said stockpiling could be a prominent theme that drives commodity prices over the next year.

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He pointed to Project Vault, a partnership between the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the U.S. government to establish a U.S. strategic critical minerals reserve, which would likely include copper.

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“When you think about (the next) 12 months, there’s a great opportunity for copper because of the short-term pull on the commodity as a result of government action and also just the various conflicts we’ve seen,” Bahar said.

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Nawojka Wachowiak, senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners LP, said one thing she’s seeing is big price disconnects.

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“You could have one company that’s worth $100 million, another one that’s $300 million and, really, there is no difference in the asset base,” she said. “I’m surprised to see that level of disconnect this far into the rally. There is definitely a lot of momentum in the producers and the mid-caps.”

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Wachowiak said there’s a lot of value left in junior miners and that, overall, the industry has not been capitalized further downmarket.