I have returned to chilly Vancouver after an extended visit to sunny southern Africa. My last days there included visiting the Zambian part of the Central African Copper Belt, where I saw significant infrastructure improvements, particularly in the road network. These upgrades highlight the impact of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), but there is also renewed interest from Western companies like Barrick Gold, First Quantum Minerals, and Vedanta Resources, all eager to boost domestic copper production. 

In the Weekly Market Digest, a weaker US dollar combined with continued uncertainty regarding the implementation of and impacts of US tariffs on major trading partners and reciprocal ones on everyone else pushed the gold price to another record high of over US$2,900 per ounce, but it underperformed silver, which has been one of the better-performing metals in 2025 year-to-date. Although precious metal equities did not follow suit, they are still among the best asset classes in 2025. Negative net FDI flows in China continue to weigh on industrial metal prices while M&A hopes to buoy equities.

The Exploration Insights Portfolio outperformed the precious and base metal equity ETFs driven by a transformational pivot for an ASX-listed junior and another outstanding drill hole from Kazakhstan.

In The Rant, I review some of the infrastructural challenges of operating large copper projects in southern Africa, specifically power. I also review a pair of copper projects in the region.

In Stock Talk, I review a third-party transaction that has positive implications for an Arizona-focused copper developer, the potential for a spin-out of an antimony asset from a gold developer in the SW US, and the exploration upside for a Top Pick cash-flowing royalty.