Miners Mooned, Oil Pumped, Miners Dumped
The recent pullback in gold miners is presenting some amazing entry points for those late to the game, or for those who took some profits.
In January of this year I attended the Goldman Sachs energy conference in Miami. Other than their prediction of being bearish on oil and gas for 2026, they were very bullish on gold.
Of course, in hindsight, those calls have been horrible. Oil and gas have ripped higher than most could have ever imagined while gold has pulled back by ~$1,000/oz since January.
Oil, gas, and gold in 2026 have done the complete opposite of what Goldman Sachs predicted… So far, that is.
As you may remember, I was very bullish about oil and gas last year. I even went to Canada on a fact-finding mission, which I shared here. Every company I mentioned in that last article have seen incredible gains over the past couple of months.
But that’s not what I find most interesting right now. It’s metal miners that are currently in a very curious situation, and the recent volatility in oil is what makes this whole opportunity important today.
Cheap Oil, Expensive Metals, Huge Margins
During last year’s run up in metals prices (especially gold, silver, and platinum), there was an even larger price explosion in the mining companies that extract these metals from the earth.
This was not really a major surprise, but it was a little different than how things have unfolded in the past. Generally speaking, mining companies rally after metal prices surge.
The rational is that investors are waiting to see sustained elevation in metals prices before accumulating mining companies that would see increased margins from those valuable metals.
One of the major reasons why miners rallied with metals is because oil was so cheap. In most mining operations, the cost of diesel can account for 20%-40% of total opex… And even more if diesel prices really skyrocket.
Throughout late 2025 mining investors saw this oil-cheap, metals-expensive scenario as a major buying opportunity. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF ( GDX 0.00%↑ ) doubled in just six months. Some individual mining companies share prices exploded much, much more than that.
But since the start of the war in Iran, things have drastically changed. And that may be our opportunity.
The Best Gold Miners in the World are CHEAP Right Now
The run up in gold prices, and miners, could be seen as a repricing event rather than a normal market rally. Meaning that the broader market - really the entire world - was not properly valuing gold prior to 2025.
Now, in early 2026, as we’re seeing gold prices and miners pull back from their highs, one has to ask, “Is this rally over?”
Although no one has the answer to that, gold prices are historically correlated to market uncertainty, inflation, and central bank policy - all three of which could be tailwinds for the foreseeable future.
As I mentioned last week, uncertainty is literally at a generational all time high. And when you look at the US’s budget situation, it’s almost impossible to imagine a scenario where a ‘big print’ doesn’t come at some point.
Regardless of all of that, gold miners are incredibly cheap right now and the market is ignoring them as if they were yesterday’s news. Could this be a major opportunity for investors to load up on the world’s best gold producers?
Let’s start looking…
The World’s Largest Gold Miner
I hesitate to even mention this company because of their stock chart. The run up in Newmont Corporation’s ( NEM 0.00%↑ ) stock price is so extreme my gut tells me to look elsewhere.
But if you look at Newmont’s valuation and financial metrics, it’s hard to paint a bearish picture.
With a forward P/E of less than 9, over $8 billion in cash, and an operating margin of almost 50%, this company is nearly guaranteed to live prosperously far into the future. And that doesn’t even take into account that they are the world’s largest gold miner, both in market cap and ounces of gold produced per year (projected at well over 5 million ounces in 2026).
If I had to pick something that I don’t like about the company, it would only relate to the location of some of its mines. With operations in Canada, Mexico, Suriname, Argentina, Peru, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Ghana, and the U.S., there are a couple of countries I’d prefer to stay away from. But, their portfolio is diversified enough to not cause that much concern.
Newmont isn’t my top pick, but I at least wanted to highlight that even with its unbelievable run up in price, it’s still valued attractively.
The Other 9 Gold Miners
Beyond Newmont, the other major gold miners that round out the top ten largest in the world are also relatively interesting.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd ( AEM 0.00%↑ )
Barrick Mining Corp ( B 0.00%↑ )
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp ( WPM 0.00%↑ )
AngloGold Ashanti Plc ( AU 0.00%↑ )
Franco-Nevada Corporation ( FNV 0.00%↑ )
Gold Field Ltd ( GFI 0.00%↑ )
Kinross Gold Corp ( KGC 0.00%↑ )
Pan American Silver Corp ( PAAS 0.00%↑ )
Royal Gold Inc ( RGLD 0.00%↑ )
And of these nine, only Agnico, Wheaton, Franco-Nevada, and Royal Gold trade with a forward P/E more than 10. The rest are arguably cheap by nearly every metric you can point to.
Despite the top ten gold miners looking very attractive right now, there are others that are even more enticing.
The following four companies make the above look expensive…
