'There is nowhere to hide’ - Steve de Jong on why this market pullback is different

Too much conservatism and a focus on capital discipline was a drag on the mining sector's big get together in September, said Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.On Tuesday Harris recorded Kitco Roundtable with mining audiences manager Michael McCrae and VRIFY CEO Steve de Jong. Roundtable was filmed at Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs. The event began on Monday.The forum started on a sour note with gold dropping to its lowest level in nearly 2.5 years on Friday. De Jong noted similarities to past pullbacks in the previous decade when junior companies had the option of switching to other sectors."What's fascinating about right now is that there is no sector to hide in," noted de Jong. "In the previous downturn, all of a sudden a bunch of mining companies...were starting really early stage cannabis companies or became blockchain companies. But right now there is no corner that you can hide in."With the markets so uncertain, that has made the sector less risk averse. The proceedings were "boring.""I would even go to so far to say it's more boring than last year's event when pretty much nobody came," said Harris, noting the event in 2021 where attendance was hampered by the pandemic. "It's almost like we're at the institute chartered accounting, because everybody's talking about capital discipline, balance sheets and share buybacks. Nobody's talking about building things, developing things. There's no excitement at all."