Focusing on one's own long-term ambitions can prove challenging in these rather anarchic and volatile times. 

But a couple of weeks ago, I managed to check one item off the bucket list when I officially became an honorary “Newfie” after consensually kissing a fish (halibut?) on Canada’s East Coast. I even got to keep the sou'wester, which should come in handy back on the West Coast, where the rivers tend to flow in the sky.

In the Weekly Market Digest, the choking off of the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea and beyond, has supported the prices of major cargoes, including oil/LNG, aluminum, and sulfur (for acid) shipped through the waterway. 

The negative impact of higher real rates hit precious metals, while the effects of higher energy prices on the global economy pressured industrial metals and the resource equities levered to them.

The Exploration Insights Portfolio pulled back last week and, once again, outperformed the precious metal resource equity ETF benchmarks, but not those that cover critical minerals. 

In Stock Talk, we have a plethora of news to cover from recent conferences, including several exploration updates from copper explorers in Kazakhstan and Peru. Precious, base metal, and PGE-nickel-copper explorers and developers provide drill updates. A few companies capitalize on the positive sentiment at the PDAC conference to raise capital.

Finally, I highlight some corporate updates from a REE developer in South America and a Top Pick cash-flowing royalty generator.