The tide is rising for Aussie explorers as metals run hot.
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After two years of unfulfilled promise, gold and copper have finally broken out, hitting record levels this year.
As the hero metals of the energy transition hit choppy waters, pulling battery metals investors into the rip, the old favourites copper and gold have emerged as, to quote Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, “the hero we needed”.
It’s to the metals of antiquity where investors have been able to run for safety in the shift back to conservatism and risk-off behaviour from the keepers of the world’s coin.
Gold and copper both hit record levels this year.
Tight physical copper stocks in the American market and a string of supply shortages caused by operational and political issues in South and Central America sent prices soaring in May before cooling.
But the long-term outlook for copper is extremely bullish. In fact, if we want to meet Net Zero targets set by governments and big business, we may need to mine all the copper we’ve ever mined again by 2050.
Just take a look at the wheeling and dealing from all of the world’s top miners – BHP, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore. The red metal is squarely on their minds if aggressive takeover activity is anything to go by.
Gold meanwhile is at the top of a hockey-stick growth pattern that has run, with a few bumps in the road, since share prices were ~US$300/oz in 2002.
Grab a basket of goods worth the then Aussie dollar equivalent of $555 and keep them fresh, and you’d be sitting on $971 right now, almost double. Spend that on gold and you’d be talking near 600% growth.
According to the London Bullion Market Association, the precious metal surged as high as US$2,480.25/oz on July 17. That’s around $3,700/oz in Aussie dollar terms. Good if you can get it.
With war, trade tensions and inflation raging, central banks and investors have been enticed by safe haven and the commodity’s role as a store of wealth. Gold’s poor cousin silver has even joined the ride.
In this special investor guide, Stockhead’s resources writers – including legendary mining guru Barry FitzGerald – take you inside the copper and gold markets of today and tomorrow, and zero in on junior companies exploring for the next major mine.
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