Tim Treadgold
Tim Treadgold is an award winning Perth-based business journalist who has been covering the resources sector for numerous decades. He was around during the 1969 nickel boom when he made the shift from geology to journalism. Tim's writing features in Forbes and London’s Mining Journal.
CGN Resources lists on ASX, begins drilling at IOCG targets in West Arunta
The eyes of the mining world are focused on the red-hot West Arunta region of Western Australia where freshly-floated CGN Resources (ASX: CGR) has started drilling two holes to test copper-gold targets identified by earlier geophysical and geochemical analysis. A long-term explorer in the area close to the Northern Territory border, CGN is listing today […]
Uranium price breaches US$60 a pound as demand outstrips supply
It’s getting harder by the day to ignore the uranium revival as the price breaches the US$60 level with stockpiles shrinking and demand comfortably outstripping supply. If it was any other commodity the price would almost certainly be a lot higher as would the share prices of the small band of Australian mining companies prepared […]
Amateur investors bet on Andrew Forrest despite professional doubts
Amateurs are investing a lot of faith in the belief that Andrew Forrest can keep delivering generous dividends from his iron ore business, Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG), just as professionals warn that risks are rising in a company which isn’t quite sure what it is. The disconnect is the most remarkable event on the […]
Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole could set gold price on course for $2,000 or $1,700
Gold faces a testing time but has the potential to recover from the recent sell-off if the chairman of the US central bank Jerome Powell tells a meeting of bankers in the US on Friday that the cycle of rising interest rates is coming to an end. The annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in a […]
Graphite stocks look oversold as they diverge from their lithium cousins
It’s been a tough year for investors exposed to graphite, the commodity which is the essential “other side” of a lithium-ion battery with prices for the two materials disconnecting: lithium up and graphite down. Whether the divergence can continue for much longer is an interesting question for investors because both are exposed to the same […]
China’s gallium and germanium export ban could spark minor metals boom
China’s threat to curb exports of gallium and germanium has sparked investor interest in the metals but they are just two of a group classified as minor metals which have the potential to surprise. The common threads connecting thinly traded commodities such as minor metals are emerging uses in modern technologies and the tight control […]
An investors guide to the 2023 Diggers & Dealers mining forum
Investors looking for small-cap mining companies with a bright future discover every year that the best place to find them is also the most difficult. Australia’s remote gold, nickel and rare earth capital, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, is where there will next week be a concentration of mining company managers at the annual Diggers and […]
The challenges facing a renewable energy rush
The great renewable energy rush is proving to be more difficult, and perhaps less profitable than expected, with a combination of rising costs and consumer resistance sounding a warning bell for investors. Most of the problems reported so far have affected big players in the renewables and critical metal sectors but small players are not […]
Gold outperforms as investors seek safe haven
It’s not a fair comparison, strictly speaking, because they are very different metals but over the past four weeks signs have emerged of what might be a significant change in the mining world’s pecking order with gold starting to outperform the speculator’s favourite, lithium. That trend could continue into next year as governments take their […]
Andrew Forrest blazes a nickel trail
Nickel’s dismal performance so far this year has hurt investors but there are three reasons to believe that it will bounce back, all connected to Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest. The most obvious Forrest/nickel link is the completion last week of his takeover of Mincor Resources (ASX: MCR), one of the small but successful miners […]
Drilling services companies back in favour as mineral exploration booms
Pickaxe sellers, a legendary and largely extinct species, were once described as the major money-makers in mining, a title transferred in part to a new breed of hole diggers, companies selling drilling services. The modern way of punching through the earth’s surface is essentially the same as a man with a pickaxe and shovel, only […]
Small cap starter kit for the next phase of the battery boom
Battery metal stocks have outperformed the broader market for the past two years with the result being that most of the better-known companies are no longer small caps which is why a small-cap “starter kit” might be useful for the next phase of the battery boom. Three stocks best demonstrate the problem for late arrivals […]
The growing cost inflation crisis in Australia’s resources sector
Another day, another cost blow-out. This time it’s the Mardie potash project of BCI Minerals (ASX: BCI) which is facing construction costs almost double those of the original design, following a 40% blow-out at the Yangibana rare earths mine of Hastings Technology Metals (ASX: HAS). BCI and Hastings are not alone in battling the effects […]
Cygnus Metals eyes lithium and rare earths in Canada and Australia
It’s a long way from the dusty wheatbelt of WA to the forests of Canada but there is a small explorer with a plan to connect the two locations through a focus on energy transition, lithium in Canada and rare earths in WA. Cygnus Metals (ASX: CY5), which had an indifferent early life as a […]
Kingsland Minerals’ Leliyn prospect could become one of Australia’s largest graphite deposits
Just as silver has been dubbed the poor man’s gold so has graphite been described as poor man’s lithium, though an eye-catching discovery which doubled the money of investors in Kingsland Minerals (ASX: KNG) could put a gloss on graphite’s tarnished reputation. A true small-cap with a market value of $18 million recently, Kingsland was […]
Strike two: the second round of WA’s gas game
Natural gas is not for every investor but as a money maker it can be hard to beat, especially in a hothouse market created by strong demand, limited supply, potential takeover action, the promise of discovery — and the unexpected interest of iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest. The place where most of those factors intersect […]
Lithium boom: is this time different?
“Stronger for longer” was a snappy slogan in past mining booms that never lived up to its promise because the boom always ended sooner than expected, and while that might be the case with the latest surge in lithium, there is a chance that this phase could be the real thing. One reason for believing […]
David Flanagan’s Delta Lithium looks to repeat past success
Exploration can be a slow process, but not for companies run by David Flanagan, as he proved in the iron ore boom of 20 years ago and is doing again in today’s lithium rush. Atlas Iron was the business which made Flanagan’s reputation as a mine developer, initially with a small iron ore deposit at […]
Gold sector poised for a takeover rush
It’s not a feeding frenzy yet, but a close look at the gold sector shows that conditions are perfect for a takeover rush. Newmont’s $26 billion bid for Newcrest is the best example of what’s happening at the top end of gold. Barrick, Newmont’s arch-rival for the title of world’s biggest goldminer, is poised to […]
British billionaire and James Bond connection injects new energy into Orion Minerals
There are plenty of reasons for investors to avoid Orion Minerals (ASX: ORN), a copper hopeful which has essentially gone nowhere over the past 10 years, and a few important reasons to take a closer look at a company showing signs of stirring. Negatives include its focus on assets in South Africa, a country struggling […]