McEwen Mining Inc (MUX)

[JD400]

The company had already met five of the S&P's seven requirements.

"The merger we did in January to create McEwen Mining moves us on to the sixth, which is four consecutive quarters of earnings. Right now, we have a positive cash flow, but the earnings will come in the next few years."

The final requirement, he said, is market capitalization of more than $5 billion. McEwen Mining is at $1.1 billion now.

"We think our growth will take us a good part of the way, but we'll have to look to an M&A transaction to get the critical mass," he told Reuters journalists.