Before heading to Toronto later this month for the pre-PDAC Metals Investor Forum and PDAC itself, where I expect a noticeable pickup in attendance, I spent time in Stillwater, a small town outside Minneapolis, presenting to a niche group of investors with a strong interest in the mining sector. 

The experience reinforced the value of engaging beyond the usual financial centers, where the level of curiosity and engagement can match, and sometimes exceed, that of the traditional hubs.

In the Weekly Market Digest, market volatility spiked last week with equities retreating as investors tried to reconcile mixed signals from the US Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. 

The net result was a renewed rise in rate-cut expectations, which were supportive of precious metals and provided a tailwind for equities levered to them. Industrial metals sent mixed signals at the commodity level, but equity exposure held up better, suggesting equity investors were willing to look through short-term price weakness.

The Exploration Insights Portfolio posted a modest gain last week but lagged the major resource equity ETF benchmarks, weighed down by negative reactions to significant declines in two grassroots explorers: one in Québec and the other in Kazakhstan, both of which I cover in Stock Talk. 

These declines were partially offset by strong moves elsewhere in the portfolio. A prospect generator in Eastern Europe continued to play catch-up with its peer group. At the same time, a gold development player in Idaho demonstrated its leverage to gold, hitting a new 52-week high after releasing an updated MRE.

Finally, I cover drilling programs that have successfully converted resources into higher categories for a Top Pick copper developer in the SW USA and the decision by an advanced explorer in Brazil to split its commodity focus between two dedicated teams.