Gold's Pullback, a Hidden Debt Crisis, and the K-Shaped Economy | Michael Dehn - Total Metals

The Deep Dive Jul 2, 2026

Summary

Political brinksmanship adds noise to commodity prices, the guest argues, and tariffs hit many commodities while sparing gold.

Wealthier investors keep adding gold and hard assets while stretched households sit out, a K-shaped divide now shaping commodity demand.

Total Metals' Electro drilling cut high-grade mineralization — up to 30% zinc and over 3% copper — with copper in its own hanging-wall zone.

The Pick Lake critical minerals project, bought for just over $2 million, carries a $13 million analyst valuation and near-20% zinc grades.

Next 12 months: larger permits at High Lake, First Nations engagement starting July 7, and compiling West Hawk Lake's century-old exploration data.

Dehn says he consulted for West Red Lake Gold Mines when the company holding the Great Bear property tried to merge with it.
He says he first drilled West Red Lake's Rowan property in 1997 and sat on its board of directors for almost 12 years.

Top takeaway Hyland argues the ingredients of a debt crisis are stacking up — private credit and private equity stress, a rising Japanese yield curve, and deficits growing faster than economic growth and inflation — and presses Dehn on whether a collapse is a matter of when, not if.
He frames the economy as K-shaped, saying the high-earning lawyers and accountants around him feel no pain while many people he knows are out of work.

Top takeaway Dehn argues political gamesmanship, particularly from the US, is distorting commodity prices more than fundamentals, and he does not think the world yet believes a federal-debt-driven economic collapse is coming.
He sees a K-shaped economy behind the gold bid: people with money have more than two years ago and keep buying gold and hard assets, while households scraping by on rent, mortgages and food stay on the sidelines.
He says he is very happy with the Electroload drill results — up to about 30% zinc and over 3% copper showing continuity in the main zone — and sees the separate copper zone as a target geophysics may have missed.
He claims his edge in Red Lake is decades of pre-internet knowledge, such as Noranda's old work at Electroload, and says he has usually acted as a project generator rather than an operator.
Over the next 12 months he wants bigger permits for more drilling at High Lake, a partnership with First Nations including a chiefs meeting on July 7, 2026 with a promise to hire local workers, and Minari results he calls the ones to bite your fingernails over.