12 March 2010, 3:00 p.m. EST
By Daniela Cambone
Of Kitco News

Toronto (Kitco News) -- Rob McEwen, Chairman and CEO of US Gold and Lexam Explorations said that with so much paper money being printed, it is important to protect one’s assets with gold.

In an exclusive interview with Kitco News during the 2010 McEwen Capital Reception last Tuesday, McEwen said that governments are printing excess amounts of paper currency and it is cheapening the value.

“It is making everyone’s bank account worth less, so you need to go out and find a way to protect it,” he said at the gala in Toronto.
According to McEwen, gold is the answer. He remains confident in his repeated prediction that gold will hit $2,000/oz by year-end and $5,000/oz before the gold bull run is over.

“It is up to me and you to protect ourselves by going into gold and other hard assets. It will deliver you multiples on your investments; this is what you need to protect yourself in this type of environment,” he said.

“I happen to like gold bullion and Junior Mining Stocks because they are going to run,” he added.

McEwen noted that not all juniors will run and it is important to choose wisely.

In terms of what he looks for when choosing juniors, he said he likes to see the CEO of the company have a large equity interest in the company.

“I don’t like to see him take a large salary and lots of options and have no stock. I like to see the property be in a place where it is not going to be taken away by a foreign government. That they are not people with more guns than we have and with no laws, so I tend to go in the Americas,” he said.

On the topic of the sale of the IMF’s gold, McEwen says it will have no depressing effect on gold. “When the IMF offers it, it will be gone in a nano-second,” he said.

For the Full Interview, Click to Watch