Category Archives: Critical Materials

GO USA! First New #Copper Mine in USA in 10 Years

his comes at a huge cost. A major legal case has been launched against the largest tech companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Tesla for using child slave labor. Demand for copper and cobalt is soaring but a lot originates from areas with extreme poverty and no labor laws. Washington DC is seeing a push led by President Trump to boost domestic mineral production, development and exploration for the first time in decades.
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Rare Earths Sector ETF $REMX Booming Again On Trade War With China

Over eight years ago I wrote about a crisis that could unfold in the United States related to rare earth imports from China. Remember the Chinese control the rare earth market. These rare earths are used in your phones, Ipads, and hybrid/electric vehicles. Just think of rare earths in all your advanced technologies which involve magnets like hard drives and speakers. Some think the rare earth boom has been and gone...but I think its coming back and it could be very soon.
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Gold Makes Bullish Breakout as Investors Fear Higher Interest Rates $GDXJ

Its been a great week for the beaten up gold investors as capital sought safety as a market panic started. In reality, the stock market was way overbought and needed at least a shakeout which it has done pulling back to the rising 200 DMA. For months I have been early seeing declining momentum and insider selling in the Large Caps. Despite that the share price of large cap equities continued into nosebleed territory. I was taught years ago that the smart investors sell into rising markets and buy into declining markets. That's how the intelligent investors get in early. You can witness this phenomenon possibly through the divergence between momentum and price as we see in chart below. The trend is a friend until its broken on huge volume. During this week's market selloff gold remained the true safe haven not crypto as was promoted by the young 20 year old know nothings.
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Trump Signs New Law Boosting US Critical Metal Projects

For many years, I have asked my readers to learn more about our national security being totally reliant on foreign imports of our must crucial minerals and metals needed for our newest technologies. At times I even suggested to contact your local elected officials and make them aware of dire importance of a domestic secure supply of these most critical elements. I have been warning for close to a decade about a coming crisis among modern industrial nations posed by China's draconian and monopolistic maneuvers in the implementation of a rare earth quota system. See the full article on Seeking Alpha written more than seven years ago entitled, "The Fast Growing Rare Earth Crisis In The United States". Fast forward eight years after little support from Obama, the rare earth industry (REMX) as well as other critical battery and clean energy metals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite ...etc could receive an important boost. Late last year under the new Trump Administration an executive order was signed ordering federal agencies to end this monopoly of critical metals by China. Lithium Ion Battery materials was identified as crucial for America's economic future to have a secure domestic supply.
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Is Trump Sparking a Revival in US Lithium Sector?

Many investors are ignoring the recent move in the nation's capital by President Trump to reduce our reliance on imported lithium which more than half comes from South America. A US domestic lithium supply is becoming a top interest for lawmakers and energy companies. I believe we should continue to witness increasing agreements between end user battery makes and junior lithium companies especially in the USA. Notice the chart below the US is nowhere to be found for lithium production despite having significant resources. That could change under Trump.
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Trump Wants Investors To Buy American Mining and Manufacturing

I just read Trump's inaugural speech and it can be summed up in the following sentence, "Buy American and hire American". This policy could have a great impact on some of our US natural resource holdings including our investments in US precious metals, rare earths, graphite, lithium, uranium...which have been forgotten about for nearly twenty years as large mining companies sought mines in foreign jurisdictions which had less regulatory burdens then the US. For years I expected a renaissance in this abandoned mineral sector as a country can last only so long before people realize that their jobs have been sent overseas.
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Prepare Your Stock Portfolio For President Trump with Strategic Metals and Minerals

The markets are pricing in inflation following the Trump US Presidential Election Win. US stocks are soaring to record highs and the Dow is on verge of breaking 20k a major psychological level. Investors should be prepared for volatility as President Trump will counteract a lot of Obama's moves over the past eight years and this could accelerate moves in many markets. Notice already US bonds are breaking down as capital is flowing to riskier assets most notably stocks and recently copper and energy. This is signaling to me inflation, rising interest rates and major policy changes which is already having dramatic effects on the average portfolio. Continue following the tensions in the South China Seas with the recent stealing of the Chinese of a US military drone. Could China have taken that drone to see what rare earths the US in using to power and guide the advanced drones? All the metals which China has control of should be watched and you should get exposure. Focus on rare earths, graphite and other strategic battery technology metals such as scandium, graphite and cobalt. Trump has put in Peter Navarro as a trade advisor with China and the Chinese are already threatening a trade showdown. Hopefully Trump will move fast to help secure our own supply chain of critical metals as that is how the Chinese can squeeze the West.
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M&A Signaling Market Bottom in Agriculture and Fertilizer Stocks?

Big news hits the fertilizer sector as Bloomberg reports that Potash Corp (POT) and Agrium (AGU) are in advance M&A discussions. If Bloomberg is true then this could be a major catalyst for the sector. Potash Corp is the world's second largest producer and a merger with Agrium could mark a bottom in the agricultural sectors which has been declining for years. Both companies are struggling cutting dividends and taking losses as emerging economies such as India and China have been waiting on the sidelines to sign contracts. Today's action may be signalling the end of this downtrend.
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Smart Money Coming into Clean Energy Sector Should Look at Uranium Lithium Deposits

Uranium continues to drop to breathtaking 5 year lows despite being the most crucial clean and carbon free energy source. However, these low prices can be cured quite quickly by a black swan and I am positioned for this sort of move. Attention should be paid to the restructuring of the deal between Cameco and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producing nation but as I have always written is not a secure supplier of this strategic clean energy metal and at any time could make moves to squeeze foreign operators like Cameco or Areva possibly nationalizing their assets. The Government is being hurt by low uranium prices and these producers are cutting back due to the low price. This means Kazakhstan is putting pressure even on the lowest cost producers in the world. Uranium investors must watch developments in Kazakhstan as nationalization fears could spark a major rebound in uranium developers and producer in much safer places such as North America.
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