"Rare Metals"... benefitting from China shutting down access, and war drums pounding louder over time...
I've cherry picked my lists based on positive showings on the RRG... removing the laggards from view.
Clear leaders are three long familiar here... PPTA (gold/antimony), IDR (gold/REE'S) and AII.TO / ALMTF (tungsten/moly)...
IDR is profitable, now, from ongoing operation of the expanded Golden Chest mine... which they've been more or less actively mining for as long as I've followed them, under prior name and from the low pennies... It's now NYSE American listed and optionable... and a solid enough example of the concept of pairing high value exploration projects with backing from gold mining profits... Zacks actively touting it as a strong buy for the last 8 days... taking it from ~ $10.50 to almost $14 in that time.
PPTA still working to get mining... finally nearing the end of the pipeline of regulatory hurdles... and, like LAC... suddenly finding support in the form of billions in government money simplifying the money hunt... But, their focus is now on the "byproduct"... antimony... which they long avoided addressing to focus on gold... Antimony is now selling for $25,000 per metric ton... as China shuts off supply outside China. That's a price per ton which, to win the same $ from mining gold, would require "average" ore grades of 10 oz/ton.
Of course, that short term benefit in elevated prices is not a function of real shortages... which also creates price risks in the opposite direction... as China might Jervois them at some point... making it useful to baseline performance expectations in numbers based on gold... not artificially inflated antimony prices. It's trading off its recent news driven highs at $9.25... down around $8 now... "more" being dependent on outcomes in and timing of "events" we can't precisely predict, now... but, as a function of scaling, they're likely closer than LAC to putting their mine in operation...
Edit... FWIW... should also note... like Mountain Pass... its another property I tried to buy at the bottom of the bust post 2008...
Almonty is my favorite whipping boy... control of the company being far to parochial... and it is thus quite badly mismanaged... with self interested insiders well insulated from suffering any real consequences from their serial underperformance... or their serial dissembling about it. It should have been in production years ago... and that it is STILL not in production... is shocking. That persistent problem... of management dithering and avoiding accountability while the sand runs out of the hour glass... generates quite considerable risks that are greatly understated... as at some point the banks are highly likely to require an accounting for missed milestones... and it will be shareholders who suffer for it when it happens.
But, yes... they are, unfortunately, both smugly corrupt in that way... AND the only real "large scale deposit" alternative to China that is a potential near term supplier of tungsten... which is critical to particular high strength steel production... and has many obvious military uses. The goal has always been to get it in production before "the next war"... which now appears it is a goal that might not be met... potentially causing the failure of U.S. and European defenses in any protracted conflict. But, also, South Korea is not exactly isolated from war risks in the event... making it likely depleted uranium will be more widely used.
It might be useful to look at U.S. and Canadian explorers... for overlooked potentials... in case "events" conspire to require that PPTA fails to deliver. If PPTA fails... who is "next up" and most likely to benefit ? And, which might obviate the management and finance risks ? Right now... I just don't know... but if out there... they're probably deeply discounted now...
The rest ? Maybe keep an eye on them...
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