Is the Australian mining sector changing FOR GOOD? Here’s my take

Earlier this month I attended the RIU conference in Sydney.

Here are my insights from what I saw and the conversations I had:

Over 50% of exhibitors were focused on gold, which is rarely shocking for Australia. Aussies love gold and the country is the second largest producer globally, after all.

Now in terms of jurisdictions, 65% had at least 1 Australian asset – so certainly a more ‘domestic’ focus for this conference.

Don’t get me wrong, both are certainly of interest and there were plenty of interesting investment opportunities in that space, such as Medallion Metals.

But I tend to gravitate to more diverse events as we have a broader view and focus. Plus given the energy transition is a global theme and the king, copper, is not yet as crucial here as it could be.

So I was happy to see some surprises:

• 2 relatively new companies with operations in Argentina we hadn’t met, Greenwing and Belararox (that hasn’t happened in a while, even Musk says it’s time to invest in Argentina thanks to productive disruptions by Javier Milei)
• In addition, Australian companies with assets in Canada seem to be on the rise, like Pivotal Metals Ltd (ASX:PVT) (I did meet them at IMARC last year, and they have been doing great work since).
• An interesting pivot to uranium is underway given the transformative time we are seeing in all things nuclear (including a new bestie, Paul Dickson from Aligator Energy!) plus some copper sprouts which I’m digging deeper on.
• While lithium was mostly subdued as a reflection of the commodity prices (here’s my latest meme in case you feel like relating!), there were some new, fresh stories such as Kali Metals.

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Are these trends or just outliers? I tend to think it’s the former. Time will tell.

Overall, I had a great time talking to friends and colleagues, and learning about some fantastic project opportunities for clients.

We have such a beautiful country, blessed with abundant resources but also, our people are awesome!

PS: We got new collabs and deals in discussion, so stay tuned for news from us very soon! (plus a new podcast episode next week).