So much better than a couple of years ago. We've got higher metal prices, all sorts of new projects coming on stream. I think we're going to have a challenge because we really haven't addressed the opposition to our industry. We've got the government finally looking at it and starting to endorse it, but we haven't got the public yet believing that we are responsible when we develop a mine. I think that is a very important issue. How do you win social license to build a mine? I would expect we're going to see more opposition rather than less, and we have to come up with an alternative to the way we've done it in the past. I think to protect the environment, we now have to show the public that not only are we talking it, we're practicing it.
I'd like to show you an alternative, start with an alternative. There's a safe harbor statement. You've all seen it. Don't invest if you don't like. Just the first macro comment, mining is underowned. Right now, if you look at the global markets, about 2% of the global equity markets are in the mining stocks. You can look at two periods. You can look at right after World War II, it was 9%-10%, 11% of equity markets were in mining stocks. Then you can go back, you can see on this graph, you can go back to the beginning of the 1900s, when it was 9%, 10%, not quite 11%.
I think we're going to see more people coming into our sector, and you could be looking, if we reverted to some of those levels of the two earlier periods, a 4x to 5x increase in ownership. As I said, there is a danger. Before I get into the danger and the alternative, I want to just show you, since we were here last September, we've been able to do 10 achievements that I think are making a difference. We went out in late September last year. We got the International Finance Corporation to come in and endorse our project, and that allows us to get better exposure to debt. Also in September, we received a RIGI improvement or approval from the Argentinian government. That's their large tax incentive program. In October, we put out our feasibility study, a robust project at Los Azules.
In today's market, if you use the prices and the feasibility, we'd be looking at a 75% gross margin on the copper production. In December, we got our permits to restart our Mexican operation. In January, we acquired a small exploration called Canadian Gold Corp. They owned a former Tartan Mine in Manitoba, and recently we discovered a new zone there, and we'll be building a plant there. In April, we continued expanding our properties near our Nevada property, looking to extend the life of that operation. We're very pleased in May, we got a $58 million dividend from our joint venture with the San Jose mine in southern Argentina. In June, we put out a pre-feasibility study for our Timmins operation for Grey Fox that will add another 15 years to our life of our operations there.
Also in June, we were added to the Russell 2000 Index, opening more exposure. Just late in August, we completed a $240 million term loan for our McEwen Copper. That will take us through to the final investment decision for Los Azules mid-next year. I would like to introduce you to Los Azules and an alternative. There should be sound. This is another way of trying to win social license.
McEwen Copper is planning the world's first regenerative copper mine in Argentina. It goes without saying that we need to transform industry to provide us with the materials we need for a renewable society, but without the historic legacy of environmental damage. Copper is one resource that will only grow in importance as we replace fossil fuels with a decarbonized world. Electric cars, wind turbines, batteries, solar panels, and the computers that power everything all require copper. That copper needs to be green copper, carbon neutral, and ecologically responsible. When we started the project, we began by drafting a set of principles for the project that would guide the team in its decision-making and approach. We did this work informed by the place itself.
The Andes are an incredibly beautiful and sensitive ecosystem, so we knew it was our duty to be stewards of this place, protecting habitats, glaciers, water, and life itself, while at the same time getting the copper resources that we need. So we have been thinking carefully about the future first and our eventual legacy. We then focused on the people, the miners, and the community itself, and we have been working to create a new kind of experience for people that live in San Juan and the surroundings. Over the life of the mine, over 1,000 high-quality local jobs will be created, and these will be jobs unlike any others in the industry. We think people will covet working for McEwen Copper because not only do we focus on safety, but also on dignity and livability, creating a mining facility that is an oasis in the sky.
Here is our vision for the mine camp of the future. Beautiful, inspiring, and bold. A biosphere of health and life. After a long day of work, our people will return to a place completely powered by the sun and create ideal conditions for rest, sleep, recuperation, and the daily needs of miners. Imagine a place that grows its own food, collects and treats its own water, and generates energy without emissions on a giant solar super roof. We are placing specific emphasis on indoor air quality, acoustics, and stress reduction with a focus on social justice, equity, and even beauty within a mine setting. This will be a place to live and thrive while earning a living. We are designing an ecological water treatment valley that not only completely protects downstream water quality, but allows for the creation of new habitat and the enhancement of Vegas.
Partnerships with local universities and scientists will see new advances in natural phytoremediation water treatment and ecological. Our entire mine operation will be powered by on-site and off-site solar farms, generating all electricity without carbon emissions. Wherever possible, conveyors and fleet facilities will be electrified and plugged into this network of clean energy with batteries instead of diesel for backup generation. At Los Azules, we are not building. Instead, we are advancing heap leaching techniques to extract metals chemically and in a completely closed-loop process with radical reductions in energy and water requirements as a result. Finally, a state-of-the-art, renewably powered electrowinning facility will produce pure copper, so that from the pit to the product, our investors and customers know that sustainability informed every single step, and they can count on that for their own ESG goal setting.
Our planning process continues, and we look forward to sharing more innovations as we develop this amazing project further. At McEwen Copper, we are striving to deliver the world's greatest supply of copper and the world's first regenerative copper.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is but one alternative for trying to win social license. Remember that number I said we might see a 4x or 5x, an increase in ownership of mining stocks relative to total global equities. We're not going to get that if we don't change our ways and go out and push back against everyone who derives revenue from the mining industry, and push back to them and say, "What are you doing to show the world that the mining industry has improved its ways?" Whether you're an accountant, you're investment banker, you're lawyers, all your suppliers, the education system, that is required today if we want to see, because otherwise, I think the type of opposition to our industry is only going to magnify. That's one alternative. It could be one of the models for the future of mining.
I certainly believe that, but I'll just move along. Los Azules, the copper project. I've been known, I've grown up in the gold business, but every once in a while, I convert a non-gold asset into a gold equivalent. If you took the prices today of $41,080 for gold and $659 for copper, you need 634 pounds of copper to equate to one ounce of gold. If you divide it into the resource that we have here of 35.7 billion pounds of copper, this is equivalent to a 56-million-ounce gold deposit. If you use the feasibility numbers of $1.71 cash cost or C1 cost, you're looking at just under $1,100 cash cost equivalent. If you look at the AISC, $2.11 a pound, this is equivalent to less than $1,350 all-in sustaining. First year, equivalent of just over 700,000 ounces. Life of mine, over 500,000 ounces.
Life of mine, 21 years with another 33 years after that. This is a giant. I am going to ask my very able Corporate Development Officer, Stefan Spears, to talk about the value of McEwen Mining. Stefan.
Thanks, Rob. Good afternoon, everyone. We feel a little bit misunderstood. As a consequence, we believe that McEwen Inc is undervalued by the market. We prepared some slides to defend that thesis. We have in the company three components. We have a gold and silver business, three producing mines, four development projects, and numerous exploration projects across the Americas. We also have, as Rob said, an interest in a giant copper deposit, Los Azules. McEwen currently owns 46.3% of McEwen Copper, which owns 100% of Los Azules. We also have the foundation for a future royalty company, which I will get to in a few slides. Starting with the copper business, this chart shows the progress that we have made since the summer of 2021 when we did the first private financing for McEwen Copper.
The orange line shows the share price of McEwen Copper over that time. McEwen Copper is private, but we have contrasted it here to our public peers. This is an equal weighted equity index of copper development public companies. You can see that for about three years, we tracked very close. In 2025, there was a big re-rate in the public companies. We have not participated in that yet, but our intention is to take McEwen Copper public. We believe that we would close this gap by rising from $30 or $35 up to the public peers around $60 per share. That would give McEwen Copper a $2 billion U.S. market cap. How do we look at that in a different way, try and substantiate that $2 billion figure?
If you look at the NPV of the Los Azules project, current long-term copper price, around $5 a pound, gives us an after-tax NAV multiple of 0.45, which I think is very reasonable for a permitted project in the Americas. You get to a roughly $2 billion value, looking at it from a NAV buildup standpoint. If you accept that McEwen Copper is worth $2 billion, McEwen Mining owns 46% of it. That is $900 million. We also have a 1.25% NSR on Los Azules. Undiscounted at spot price, that would be $600 million of cash flow over 22 years, $400 million discounted at 5%. Cut that in half again, so $200 million present value for the royalty. $900 million plus $200 million is $1.1 billion, just a little bit less than our market cap at McEwen. You basically get the entire gold and silver business for free.
The question is, what is the gold and silver business worth? Currently producing about 115,000 gold equivalent ounces per year, going to just under 300,000 oz by the end of 2030. This is the growth profile that we have mapped out for the company, and you can see the trajectory, about 110,000 oz- 120,000 oz this year, going up to 185,000 oz by the end of 2028 and just under 300,000 oz by the end of 2030. Let us focus just two years out. At the end of 2028, producing 185,000 oz a year, producing $270 million of asset level free cash flow at $4,000 gold. Make some adjustments again. What is a reasonable P to cash flow? Perhaps 10. You could see a market value of $2.2 billion just for the gold and silver business by the end of 2028.
If you add it all together, you look at the company as a whole, and we see if gold stays where it is and copper stays where it is, a potential triple by the end of 2028. A final chart, another way of looking at it, this is comparing ourselves now to gold and silver producers and development peers. We are currently trading about $10,000 of enterprise value per gold equivalent ounce in our this year guidance, and you can see the peer average is closer to $23,000. If we can make a gain from $10,000 to $15,000 and produce 185,000 oz of gold in 2028, that would put the market cap up to about $2.5 billion-$2.7 billion, just on the gold and silver basis. That is my rationale.
I think it will be a very exciting next 48 months for the company as we realize some of that growth, but also advance Los Azules to construction.
You can buy us, get the copper and the gold for free. Just open it up for questions.
Yes. So thank you. Do we have any questions for Rob and Stefan? If not, I might try and sneak one in here. Just picking up on your comment that effectively you are getting the gold business for free in your opinion. Have you thought about ways of trying to daylight that value? Would a spin-out make sense?
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, we looked at the copper assets. They were obscured because our gold assets were not moving very well, performing well. How do we give visibility? We put it into a separate entity. We have been able to raise privately just over $690 million between debt and equity. I have, as Stefan said, $290 million plus invested in the two companies. Take a dollar a year, and I think it is going to grow considerably from where it is. So thank you very much.
Brilliant. Thank you, Stefan and Rob.