Commodities are about as low as they can go, valuations are at rock bottom, and big picture forces are slowing turning to support metals and miners again.
It will still take time for the rebound to establish. Blame for that goes to the US dollar and US markets that keep climbing, contrasted against a resource sector that screwed up the last bull run so badly that generalist investors completely abandoned the space.
But time is not necessarily a bad thing.
Right now, mining's movers and shakers are using this time to their advantage. They are making deals, buying properties, setting up new resource vehicles, and outlining the potential in their new assets so they are ready. And they are working hard and fast, in expectation that the window of opportunity is closing.
I hear about it every day. And it's awesome. We may still be in the bear-bull lull, but look at some of the highly intriguing exploration and development deals emerging from this big bad bear market and you can see the bull is coming.
Opportunities Under Development
I don't expect gold, and the metals and mining markets in general, to make a sustained move upwards until US markets top. That moment is coming, though I know not when. Forced to guess, I would say before the end of the year.
Until then, gold will ebb and flow in response to Greece and Yellen and the greenback and physical demand and seasonality. In other words, be ready for markets to keep moving sideways for a while.
While they do, the movers and shakers of metals and mining world are setting up companies, buying projects, advancing new assets, and generally taking advantage of today's cheap prices to set up for tomorrow's run.
I couldn't possibly go through all the opportunities I see out there in the market. But here are some, to give a taste of the potential being prepared.
I could go on and on. Uranium is a really interesting space – the spot price keeps creeping up and there are several enticing Athabasca-area explorers (FCU, NXE, REL). Diamonds are also looking good and diamond exploration and production plays in Canada and around the world are ramping up.
Then there are all the private deals being done involving all kinds of interesting projects, like a Zambian copper belt replica in another part of the world, a series of Mexican silver opportunities, interesting Quebec gold assets, and district-scale exploration efforts in places like Cote d'Ivoire, Norway, and Serbia.
I know you've heard it before. But this time really is different. The people, the teams, who have been through exploration cycles before are increasingly confident that right now, at the broad bottom, is the time to put together the vehicles they will ride back up. And the opportunities are getting exciting.
In her letter, Resource Maven explains what she is buying and selling, and why. Maven has bought into several of the markets best - performing stocks well ahead of the curve. She regularly identifies exciting new exploration opportunities and manages the inherent risk by selling some into speculative gains. And the mine builder and operator stocks that form the basis of the portfolio give strong, ongoing leverage to the rising prices of gold and silver. She has your precious metal bases covered.
Great job Gwen... you are becoming the most credible in the world at this... Bravo
"Gwen - I just analyzed our returns for the past month. We had a 36.7% return on our portfolio in one month! Thank you so much for your excellent, thoughtful and timely guidance. 12 of the 18 stocks in my portfolio were recommended by you. 4 were recommended by other MIF letter writers and 1 each by Eric Sprott and Rick Rule. Yes it was a good month for precious metals - Gold was up $50 and Silver $3.90 - but “our" portfolio performance more than doubled the 16% of the GDXJ"
-WJ