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Veteran Investor Transforms Risky Bet on Hycroft into Emblematic Case of Patience, Strategic Vision, and Rare Take Advantage of the Gold and Silver Rally in the Global Market
Canadian Eric Sprott has built a solid reputation over decades betting on gold and silver. Now, this conviction has yielded one of the most impressive returns of his career. His investment in Hycroft Mining has multiplied by 8, turning the US$ 28 million invested in 2022 into a stake now valued at over US$ 2.1 billion, even with the mine not operating fully for years.
The Leap of a Veteran Investor into the Mine
Known as the “Gold Mogul,” Sprott closely monitors the precious metals market and has long advocated the importance of maintaining exposure to these assets.
The recent appreciation of Hycroft reflects this positioning. The company’s shares have risen more than 425% in the last two months and have accumulated a gain of over 1,500% since he began to increase his position last year.
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The total profitability of the investor in the company reached 746%, a number that stands out not only for its size but also for the circumstances.
Hycroft has not extracted gold since 2021 and, in 2022, recorded revenues of only US$ 33 million, according to Bloomberg data.
A Mine That Does Not Mine
Located in northern Nevada (USA), Hycroft’s deposit has been operating since the 1980s. Currently, the company is limited to reprocessing previously extracted ore that remains on the surface.
Most of the reserves, however, are underground, and there is no defined plan for the resumption of traditional mining.
For analyst Brian Quast of the Bank of Montreal, the company operates as “a huge underground ETF.”
The logic is simple: even without production, its reserves appreciate as gold and silver prices reach historic highs.
From Near Bankruptcy to Stardom on the Stock Exchange
The timing of Sprott’s entry was crucial. When he invested in 2022, Hycroft was on the brink of insolvency.
Together with AMC Entertainment, which was experiencing a period of excess liquidity after the meme stock phenomenon, the Canadian helped save the company from its creditors, as reported by Bloomberg.
The announcement caused the shares to surge nearly 100% in pre-market trading. However, the enthusiasm quickly faded.
By the end of 2022, the shares were worth less than half the entry price. Sprott sold one fifth of his position and spent about three years with the investment stagnant.
The Change of Strategy
Last year, Sprott decided to double down. Between June and January, he invested an additional US$ 187 million, raising his stake to over 40% of the company’s capital.
“I’m doing everything possible to maximize my position,” he said in October to Tony Denaro, a content creator dedicated to finance.
The move coincided with new drilling results, which identified silver deposits of higher quality than expected and areas with expansion potential.
Few Billionaires in the Gold Rally
Despite the precious metals boom, few large fortunes have managed to benefit significantly.
According to UBS’s 2025 Global Family Office Report, this type of wealth structure allocates, on average, only 2% to precious metals.
Only a few investors, like Sprott and Hong Kong’s Cheah Cheng Hye, have bet heavily, as reported by Bloomberg.
For Sprott, Hycroft’s irregular history is precisely the main attraction. As gold and silver prices rise, the chance of reprocessing becoming more profitable and opening new ways to monetize underground reserves also increases.
In his words, “there is no way to find a more leveraged and significant reward,” a view that helps explain why he remains confident, even in the face of an asset that, at first glance, seems frozen in time.
With information from Xataka.
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