(Kitco News) - While Ian Ball touted running Abitibi Royalties with an 80% return, he warned that his methods may not suit all.
On Friday Ball talked with Kitco. Ball ran Abitibi Royalties from 2014 to 2021. Last year the company was acquired by Gold Royalty in an all-share deal. He was asked where he might be headed next.
"My views on how to run a mining company may be a bit too extreme: no stock options within the company, use all of your compensation to buy shares in the open market like every other shareholder," said Bell, touting that Abitibi had the least amount of shares outstanding of any other miner.
"These are things that any mining company can do, but most choose not do. I work for the shareholder. They don't work for me. If I win I want to make sure our interests are the same."
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Ball commented on the recent market correction. When Ball was interviewed both the NASDAQ and Bitcoin had both fallen about one-third year-to-date.
"When you look at bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies, they were deemed to be an alternative to the U.S. Dollar—another form of money or alternative to gold. But I don't think they're performing very well when you have 20%, 30% and 40% fluctuations with some of these coins. I don't think they are serving the function they were designed to be," said Bell.
Ball said that gold at around $1,800 is at a "key support level."
"You would be very hard pressed to say that gold is not under-valued, and once you see the U.S. dollar come down, you should see gold rally."
