PRINS: Hi, everybody, and welcome to this special episode of Prinsights Global Spotlight, here live at The Rules Symposium with Keith Neumeier, the CEO of First Majestic Silver. Keith, silver has had, obviously, a wild ride since it was up at triple digits, up at 121 in January, came down, I think, because a lot of paper trading. And now we're creeping back up. And you've had some great results that you just released today on First Majestic.
NEUMEIER: We did. And first off, thanks for the opportunity. It's been a while since we've chatted. Yeah, the second quarter financials, not financials, production results came out today. Another fantastic quarter for us. And obviously the cash flow of these prices are pretty fantastic. We've got over a billion dollars in the bank right now, which is a pretty good place to be.
PRINS: Yeah, you probably have one of the highest cash reserves right now in the silver market. It's interesting because you are located in Mexico and investors who know how you've managed this company know and they've seen the price go. How positive First Majestic has moved even with what is perceived as potential risk.
NEUMEIER: Well, 23 years. It's not all up and down. Right now, we're seeing a correction in the market. I look at 2006 almost exactly the same as it is today. We entered the bull market in 2002. It was a 10-year bull market. It ended in 2012 quite abruptly. But in 06, I remember people were saying, oh, the bull market's over. And I'm hearing that same kind of chatter today. But this is just a normal correction, 50% correction. I know it looks bad, painful to some people, but this is normal. And June, July, seasonality is on us. And if you look at the 30-year chart, metal prices are always at their lows at this time of year.
PRINS: Yeah, it's interesting. There's some rebalancing at the end of last quarter, plus all the Iran inflation overhang, and that didn't help. But right now, you have that experience, and we are in a bull market. Do you see anything different about this particular bull market relative to your last one?
NEUMEIER: Well, in 2010, 2011, April 2011 when silver hit 50 bucks, I was a double top. We had only seen $50 at a time twice in our lifetime. Breaking through 50 again, we went parabolic. And these parabolic moves are never healthy. The thing about a parabolic move is you never know where the top is and they always go further than you expect they're going to go. And when the correction occurs, it always corrects more than you expect. It doesn't matter if it's a commodity or a stock. It's just typical type trading. So we have to take advantage of that ourselves. We have a share buyback program in place. We've been buying back shares. Not that I like seeing the share price where it's at, of course, but it is what it is, and we just have to keep doing what we do, produce silver and gold and try to make a profit, and we're making substantial profits right now.
PRINS: Yeah, you have amazing margins. And also, are there some dates, if your investor is concerned, just getting into First Majestic that you could talk to about or that people should look at that are coming up on the horizon after today's great results, of course?
NEUMEIER: Well, I think from an institutional perspective, I think a lot of the institutions who watch us or have been watching us thought they missed the boat. The stock went from $20 to $40 in a matter of a few weeks. It was exciting for everyone that owned the stock, of course. And our employees. But nevertheless, it's tough to buy when things are going down. It seems to be easiest for people to buy when things are going up. But it's actually the wrong thing to be doing. And I tell this to the institutions all the time. And I think they're finally getting it. What I'm hearing from the traders, the different brokerage firms that we work with, is that the institutions are coming into this market right now, which I think is a very positive thing.
PRINS: And of course, people and institutions and countries who need the silver from a physical perspective, that hasn't stopped.
NEUMEIER: No, and you asked me a question I didn't completely answer correctly, but the move in 2010-2011 was very much a paper move. This move that we've experienced over the last six months has really been a physical market where you've had actual real physical. And we saw it show up at the banks. You see the margins start to increase. We actually had a margin call in December of 2025. And of course, we have enough money to meet those demands. And we just paid the margin and then dealt with the debt. We have our own Mint, FirstMint.com, and we have a vault there. There's about 500,000 ounces sitting in that vault, which we use for special situations like that.
PRINS: Right. And right now, so again, demand is still existing. It's a good time to either accrete or get into First Majestic.
NEUMEIER: It hasn't changed. Demand at $120 is exactly the same as it is today. I'm talking about physical demand. We're in a market. Silver has now been deemed a critical metal. And nuclear energy, AI, robotics, all the electronic gadgets that we're trying to produce as a human race, it all needs silver. And I think the institutions are finally catching on.
PRINS: Absolutely. Keith, thank you so much for your time. I know you're very popular here as his first Majestic. And thanks all of you for tuning in to this special episode of Prinsights Global Spotlight.