Glencore Xstrata to Shed Copper Project; Juniors Pick Up Copper Assets
Source: Vivien Diniz, Copper Investing News  (1/30/14)
"The newly formed Glencore Xstrata is looking to shed its $5.9 billion stake in the Tampakan copper project in the Philippines, proving that the company prefers investing in mines that are in operation or close to production." More >

Gold Crybabies Are Born to Lose, Says Lawrence Roulston
Source: Peter Byrne of The Gold Report  (1/29/14)
Geologist, engineer, Midas-touch investor and financial newsletter publisher Lawrence Roulston has little patience for investors without the nerves to hold onto a good thing during tough times. Gold has been the main embodiment of value for thousands of years, Roulston points out, so why should tomorrow be different? In this interview with The Gold Report, Roulston has some tips on how to double down on gold investments and wipe away the tears. More >

The Numbers Don't Lie: Why the Industrial Minerals Sector Is Here to Stay
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Mining Report  (1/28/14)
There are two ways to visualize the critical metals and industrial minerals sector. Some see a hostile climate, where junior mining companies compete for scarce financing dollars. But there's a sunnier side to this story: more than ever, companies, government and academia are forming partnerships to solve a global problem—the ongoing need for scarce critical materials. In this Mining Report interview, Luisa Moreno, industrial minerals analyst with Euro Pacific Capital, discusses the challenges and the prospects for players in a sector she insists is here to stay. More >

The Rare Earth Commodities that Just Won't Go Away
Source: Byron King, The Daily Reckoning  (1/23/14)
"The Chinese still hold the trump card when to comes to rare earth production—they still produce over 95% of the world's supply." More >

Eric Lemieux: What Does 2014 Hold for Metals?
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report  (1/22/14)
Eric Lemieux, a mining analyst with Laurentian Bank Securities in Québec, is a realist, which makes his optimistic outlook for miners in 2014 that much more compelling. Lemieux believes that with the wheat separated from the chaff over the past tumultuous year, the truly strong companies have emerged. But you may be surprised by the jurisdictions he predicts will come to life in 2014. Lemieux makes some startling, but happy forecasts in this interview with The Gold Report. More >

Amanda Van Dyke: A Dozen Gold, Copper, Phosphate and Uranium Standouts
Source: Kevin Michael Grace of The Mining Report  (1/21/14)
Amanda Van Dyke of Palisade Capital is confident that China's reforms will ensure that the commodity supercycle will continue for some time to come. In this interview with The Mining Report, Van Dyke argues that investors should worry less about the right balance of specific commodities and more about the right mix of early-stage, development-stage and producing companies. She expands on a dozen she believes have the right stuff to succeed. More >

2014 Graphite Outlook: Price Rebound, Supply Shift and New End Uses
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Mining Report  (1/14/14)
China's recent halting of flake graphite production in Pingdu, Shandong, made headlines, and has many investors wondering how supply may shift. Simon Moores, manager of Industrial Minerals Data, tells The Mining Report that he sees an interesting dynamic unfolding in the graphite space over the next five years. As buyers for steel and battery markets compete for limited graphite supplies, the winners will be companies that can deliver the best, tailor-made products. In the meantime, offtake agreements are signaling a new confidence in the sector. More >

Rules of Thumb for Junior Mining Speculators: A Light at the End of the Tunnel
Source: Brent Cook, Exploration Insights  (1/13/14)
"Fundamental trends have been set in motion over the past few years that follow upon the previous decade-long bull market and that point to an improving investment climate for the junior miners." More >

Zinc or Swim: Do Base Metals Have a Future?
Source: Peter Byrne of The Mining Report  (1/7/14)
Joseph Gallucci of Dundee Capital Markets sees a rosy future for zinc investors. As the large zinc mines shut down, the juniors are stepping forward to meet growing demand for the industrial staple. In this interview with The Mining Report, Gallucci delivers smart tips for base metals investors on where to find opportunity when zinc prices start to climb. More >

Bullish or Bearish: Mining Sector Prospects for 2014
Source: PinnacleDigest  (1/5/14)
"The mining sector is not dead. . .not by a long shot. Sure, many metals are relying on an inflationary rally, which may or may not happen in 2014, but others are simply poised to move higher in value based on a supply crunch that has been building for several years. You can't ignore fundamentals." More >

New Royalty Scheme a Leveler in the Mexican Silver Space
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Mining Report  (12/31/13)
We may be headed into a new year, but Chris Thompson, mining analyst with Raymond James, expects more of the same in the precious metals prices: volatility. In this Mining Report interview, he advises investors to play that volatility. He details why—despite its higher royalty tax—Mexico remains a silver powerhouse, and which companies will feel the royalty pinch most. More >

Miners Should Launch a Gold Cartel or Risk Losing Everything, Advises Stephan Bogner
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report  (12/28/13)
It's no surprise that Stephan Bogner, analyst with Rockstone Research Ltd. and CEO of Elementum International—a precious metals trading and storage firm—advises investors to hold physical metals outside the banking system, but he also advocates mining companies keeping gold on their balance sheets and forming a cartel. In this interview with The Gold Report, Bogner discusses which exploration and development companies will be ready to produce when metals prices rise and shares his interest in the diamond, potash and uranium space. More >

Shane Nagle: Making Your Portfolio Pricing-Pressure Proof
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Metals Report  (12/24/13)
Forget about the gold price. Forget about the copper, zinc and nickel price. Start searching out companies that can weather another few years of recovery, because it's unlikely mining companies will get any price relief soon. Shane Nagle, a metals and mining analyst with National Bank Financial, talks with The Mining Report about some names he's found that have strong balance sheets that can carry them through another few years of pricing pressures to smooth sailing on the other side. More >

The Fight for this Obscure Copper Mine in Peru Is Your First Major Buy Signal
Source: Peter Krauth, Money Morning  (12/24/13)
"Blackstone's interest in Las Bambas likely means the firm smells an opportunity in both mining and copper, simultaneously." More >

Levi Spry Highlights Quality Australian Projects that Will Find Funding
Source: Kevin Michael Grace of The Gold Report  (12/23/13)
Quality will win out, says Levi Spry, senior resources analyst at GMP Securities Australia. In this interview with The Gold Report, Spry contends that funding project capital expenditures is a problem only when the underlying economics are marginal. In other words, high grades plus low costs ensure victory, and he suggests a handful of Australian companies, in gold, lithium, copper and nickel, that boast the quality needed to earn high margins. More >

Jeb Handwerger: Follow the Fundamentals in Mining Markets
Source: JT Long of The Mining Report  (12/10/13)
It may seem like a confusing time to be a mining investor, but Jeb Handwerger, of Gold Stock Trades, insists it doesn't take a rocket scientist. "Stick to the fundamentals," he says. "The technicals will eventually reflect the fundamentals." In this interview with The Mining Report, Handwerger talks about what companies have the right foundation to shine after the market dusts itself off and starts to climb. More >

Metals Shortages, Lack of Substitutes May Harm Innovation: Yale Report
Source: Dorothy Kosich, Mineweb  (12/9/13)
"Society will need to pay more attention to the acquisition and maintenance of metals than has been the case in the past, a new study by Yale University suggests." More >

Platinum and Copper Are the Metals of the Future: Robert Friedland
Source: Lawrence Williams, Mineweb  (12/2/13)
Robert Friedland's presentation at MineAfrica in London avows that the supercycle is not dead, and he sees huge value ahead for his Ivanhoe company's new platinum, copper and zinc projects in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More >

Richard Karn: Three Australian Miners Positioned for Success
Source: Special to The Energy Report  (11/19/13)
Sometimes the worst of times brings out the best in people. Such is the case in Australia's mining sector, according to Richard Karn, managing editor of The Emerging Trends Report. While some companies are floundering or failing altogether, Karn has noticed a few shining exceptions. These are companies with innovative management teams that have approached project funding in this challenging environment as though it were a high-stakes chess game—and their maneuvers are astonishing. In this interview with The Mining Report, Karn takes a look at three mining companies that are defying the odds and may emerge victorious. More >

Understanding High-Grade Lump Graphite
Source: J. Alec Gimurtu of The Gold Report  (11/18/13)
Four graphite ore samples are placed on a conference room table. Straight from the earth, which one can be used to write on a piece of paper? Answer: the lump graphite sample. In this interview with The Gold Report, Paul Ogilvie, CEO of the newly formed Saint Jean Carbon, explains the distinctive advantages of lump graphite from a mining and marketing perspective and describes his plan to create a profitable company from an uncommon form of high-grade graphite deposit. Read how the company is educating investors on this highest-grade form of graphite while restarting world-class mines using modern technology and an experienced business team.
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Eric Muschinski: Investor Psychology Can Trump Market Fundamentals
Source: Special to The Gold Report  (11/13/13)
With gold and silver equities markets as volatile as ever and assets of many miners valued at pennies on the dollar, Eric Muschinski, editor of the Gold Investment Letter, believes it is critical to be on the right side of the emotional curve when investing. He pays as much attention to investor psychology as he does to market fundamentals. In this interview with The Gold Report, Muschinski explains how investors can use knowledge of market cycles to their advantage and profiles undervalued companies flying under the radar. More >

Steve Palmer: Change Up Your Portfolio's Sector Weightings to Capture Profits
Source: Peter Byrne of The Mining Report  (11/12/13)
Steve Palmer's AlphaNorth Partners Fund didn't make a 130% return by adhering to a strict natural resource weighting. In this interview with The Mining Report, Steve Palmer describes how his fund uses "bottom-up analysis" to find profit opportunities in metals, energy, life sciences and tech stocks. Small-cap equities may not be leading the pack now, but they are still the best-performing asset class in the long term, says Palmer, and he names some companies that are already outperforming. More >

What Global Copper Reserve Estimates Don't Reveal
Source: Richard Mills, Ahead of the Herd   (11/11/13)
"World copper reserves are currently placed at around 630 million tons. When considered as just a single consolidated global num¬ber, copper reserves seem large and adequate for several decades of production at 2012 levels. Unfortunately most people do not take into consideration that these reserves are made up of many separate deposits, each of which has to be considered as a standalone and on its own merits." More >

Play the Market Bottom and Focus on Energy Commodities: Chris Berry
Source: J. Alec Gimurtu of The Mining Report  (11/5/13)
Commodities are and always will be a cyclical market, asserts Chris Berry of House Mountain Partners. That's why he's not sweating disappointing stock performance and flat pricing environments. But the self-described long-term bull on energy materials has big plans on how to play growth in the developing world, and he insists that now is the time for investors to position themselves ahead of an upswing. Find out about companies that have the cash, the assets and the strategy to create long-term shareholder value in this interview with The Mining Report. More >

Carbon Is the Problem: Is Graphene the Solution?
Source: Christine Hertzog, The Energy Collective  (10/31/13)
"The search is on to find a better material than silicon—one that is much more energy-efficient and less likely to produce waste heat." More >