Nick Hodge, Co-Owner of Digest Publishing and editor of Foundational Profits and Hodge Family Office, joins me for a longer-format discussion on and the macroeconomic themes and fundamental drivers that that are continuing to push the purchasing power of the US dollar down and most other asset classes higher.  Nick shares how he has been successfully “buying the dip” in gold, silver, copper, rare earths, uranium, and lithium stocks.

We start off reviewing how the US fiscal policy and the Fed’s upcoming monetary policy is leading to a weaker US dollar, which has been a key tailwind to US equities, cryptos, and the commodities sectors. Nick points out that the “Fed is not your friend,” and that the coming rate cuts will be further debasing the dollar’s purchasing power, which is going to send real assets higher in response.

We review the impacts of the back-to-back Biden and Trump administration large fiscal policy bills, that increased the national debt burden, which has been a boon to the precious metals sector, as a hedge against fiscal malfeasance and as a way to protect purchasing power. 

Many of the government fiscal bills passed the last few years have had provisions in them for accelerating the development of nuclear power infrastructure and uranium mining, and they have provisions included to fund boosting domestic supplies and refinement of critical minerals like rare earths, antimony, tungsten, copper,  lithium, and many other strategic critical minerals. We discuss how all this attention at the federal level in the US and in many nations abroad is bringing in new investors to resource investing.

With regards to the precious metals, Nick has continued building up positions in quality explorers through private placements, as well as buying larger companies with exposure to rising gold and silver prices on pullbacks.  He noted the example of picking up a position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD), during the corrective move that played out after their announcement of the acquisition of Sandstorm Gold.

Next we got into the longer-term structural supply demand fundamentals underlying the copper market, and that it has been in an upward trajectory for the last handful of years.  When the recent volatility from the initial reaction to the copper tariffs to the reversal back down once there was more clarity around what precisely would get tariffs, Nick took the opportunity to exit his domestic copper producer position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX). He chose instead to then position back outside of the US via buying the dip in Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF), after it pulled down on some short-duration challenges.  He also flagged his recent private placement into the earlier-stage prospect generator, Kincora Copper Limited (TSXV: KCC) (ASX: KCC), with exploration properties looking for copper and gold porphyries in Australia. 

The conversation then turns to growing generalist interest in the rare earths sector in particular, especially after the recent Department of Defense investment into MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP) as a key stakeholder, but also providing them a floor on their Neodymium products, and agreeing to be a buyer future magnet production.   Then, shortly thereafter, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) made a $500M investment into MP Materials to accelerate and help fund the future development of a permanent magnet recycling plant in Texas.   Nick points to CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH)(OTCQB:CTHCF), as another company poised to start recycling permanent magnets, also in Texas. Additionally, he highlights the heavy rare earth production capacity increasing from Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX: EFR) (NYSE American: UUUU). We reviewed the news out this week of the MOU between Energy Fuels and Vulcan Elements, focused on ex-China high-purity “light” and “heavy” rare earth oxides for production of rare earth permanent magnets in the United States, using high-purity NdPr and Dy oxides refined in Utah.

This transitioned the discussion to the volatile year, to the upside and downside, in the nuclear and uranium stocks, and Nick pointed out the good opportunities to buy the dip in the sector throughout this year on pullbacks. In addition to the positive response from the multiple executive orders and fiscal bills passed surrounding nuclear power and the nuclear fuel cycle, Nick highlights that companies like Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC) and Anfield Energy Inc. (TSX.V: AEC) (OTCQB: ANLDF) were both approved for federal fast-track permitting.   Nick also highlights his recent participation in the private placement financing for North Shore Uranium Ltd. (TSXV:NSU), and how he’s done well with this management team in the past on other companies, why he finds the current project fundamentals compelling.

Wrapping up we got into how even the lithium space has presented a “buy the dip” moment recently, and that both the underlying metals price and the related equities have bounced and started a trajectory higher. Nick revisits the case for a company he’s done quite well in during the prior cycle, Patriot Battery Metals Inc. (TSX: PMET) (ASX: PMT) (OTCQX: PMETF), as well as the value proposition for a new private placement he just participated in with Lion Rock Resources Inc. (TSXV: ROAR) (OTCQB: LRRIF).

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