Fresh from a FIFA award, the “President of Peace” has released a new National Security Strategy, an unmistakably “America First” document where references to 'America,' 'US,' and 'Trump' appear 290 times in just 29 pages. What matters to us is the impact on the mining sector, particularly the 19 mentions of ‘critical' and 'minerals’. A dedicated paragraph addresses securing access to supply chains and flags at least seven federal agencies as potential funding sources for aligned projects. 

In the Weekly Market Digest, with the government shutdown now over, US economic data show consumer spending losing momentum. Despite inflation remaining above the Federal Reserve’s target, and nearly half the FOMC opposing further cuts, the market has priced in a high probability of a 0.25% cut at next week’s meeting. That optimism modestly lifted the broader US equity markets. 

Gold slipped slightly on the week with a rise in real yield rates, which also weighed on precious metal equities. Silver, however, continued to defy gravity while the copper market remained tight, driving the base metal equity benchmark to another weekly high.

The Exploration Insights Portfolio outperformed both the precious metal and base metal equity ETF benchmarks. The upside was led by double-digit gains from several grassroots explorers in Peru, the western US, northern Quebec, and Kazakhstan.

In Stock Talk, a grassroots precious metal explorer finds a partner for a project in Idaho. I cover drill updates from an infill program for an advanced gold project in southern Idaho and a precious metal prospect in Finland. 

A Top Pick cash-flowing royalty generator generates a royalty on a porphyry copper prospect in New Mexico. Finally, a REE developer displays its advanced project in southern Chile to a delegation of Europeans.