Monday, September 15, 2025
Mark Reichman, Managing Director, Equity Research Analyst, Natural Resources, Noble Capital Markets, Inc.
Refer to the bottom of the report for important disclosures.
Precious Metals Summit. Noble Capital Markets was well represented at The Precious Metals Summit on September 9-12at the Beaver Creek Resort in Colorado. The conference attracted 1,700 registrants compared to approximately 1,200 in 2024 and included a broad spectrum of mining companies and institutional investors. Collectively, Noble had private meetings with over 70 company management teams during the invitation-only event.
Relative performance. Year-to-date through September 12,mining companies (as measured by the XME) appreciated 51.2% compared to a gain of 11.9% for the S&P 500 index. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) and Junior Gold Miners (GDXJ) ETFs were up 105.7% and 110.6%, respectively. Platinum, silver, and gold futures prices have gained 55.0%, 46.5%, and 39.6%, respectively, while copper, lead, and nickel increased 15.5%, 3.4% and 0.4%. Zinc declined 1.0%. Precious metals have led the charge as Central Banks around the world have added to global gold reserves, along with greater portfolio allocations among investors to precious metals as a hedge against rising inflation, a depreciating U.S. dollar, concerns about government debt, and increased geopolitical uncertainty. Moreover, there has been a desire among some nations to diversify away from the U.S. dollar as the benchmark reserve currency. Gold has become the global asset of choice to preserve value amid declining confidence in fiat currencies and an era of global monetary, geopolitical, and fiscal uncertainty.
Common themes. Producers were the first to experience the benefit of strengthening commodity prices,
which have carried through to income and cash flow statements. We expect more consolidation within the junior exploration sector and increased merger and acquisition activity. A common refrain we heard from Canada and Australia-based company management teams is a desire to increase exposure and access to the U.S. capital markets, which are the largest, deepest, and most liquid in the world. Generalists are returning to the sector, and greater allocations to the metals and mining sector among U.S. investors could provide another boost to valuation levels.
Conclusion. We remain constructive on the metals and mining sector. In our view, the broad-based rally in precious metals remains durable. While base metals have underperformed precious metals, we favor mining companies with copper exposure due to secular demand themes, including electrification, which we think supports a constructive outlook.
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ANALYST CREDENTIALS, PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATIONS, AND EXPERIENCE
Senior Equity Analyst focusing on Basic Materials & Mining. 20 years of experience in equity research. BA in Business Administration from Westminster College. MBA with a Finance concentration from the University of Missouri. MA in International Affairs from Washington University in St. Louis.
Named WSJ ‘Best on the Street’ Analyst and Forbes/StarMine’s “Best Brokerage Analyst.”
FINRA licenses 7, 24, 63, 87
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