As 2025 draws to a close, I want to thank you for your continued support of Exploration Insights™. This year took us to core shacks, site visits, and conferences across the globe, through volatile but buoyant commodity markets, shifting government policies, supply chain concerns, geopolitical risks, and plenty of noise along the way. 

I hope the coming days bring some well-earned rest with family and friends, and I look forward to continuing the work together in 2026.

In the Weekly Market Digest, precious metal prices and equities hit record highs, driven by forecasts of more interest rate cuts in 2026 and ongoing geopolitical crises. Positive moves in the copper price supported base metal equities. But the best performing metals were PGMs.

The Exploration Insights Portfolio outperformed both the precious metal equity ETF benchmark and the base metal one, driven by a cluster of outsized winners, led by names tied to either transformational corporate events or high-optionality exploration and advanced exploration.

In Stock Talk, the main discussion centers around the transformational transaction announced by a critical mineral developer and soon-to-be producer in the northern US. A Quebec-focused prospect generator divests a lithium project while maintaining exposure through equity and a royalty. I also review exploration updates by a Top Pick silver-gold developer in northwest Argentina, a grassroots copper explorer in Peru, and another in Australia. Finally, a REE developer in Chile provides updates on permitting.