Not sure where to begin with the Davos fallout... All commodities bull gaining pace is nice though.

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd and its associated entities may hold direct or indirect interests in securities referred to in this publication and may receive fees or other forms of consideration from entities mentioned. These interests and arrangements may create a potential conflict of interest in the preparation of this material.

The information contained in this communication is provided for general information purposes only and may relate to speculative investments. It does not constitute financial product advice, and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider obtaining independent financial advice before making any investment decision. Any forward-looking statements are uncertain and not a guaranteed outcome.

This article has been edited on the 26/01/2026.

Lots to talk about this week...

We could be entering an “every commodity” bull market.

(yes, even the long hated battery metals that everyone loved in 2020-2021 are starting to look good again)

World leaders met at Davos during the week and basically called the “end of globalisation”...

Europe, Canada and the USA acknowledged that they are going to need to domestically “build” all the strategically important “stuff” they have been importing from frenemy countries over the last 50 years.

(including the critical minerals needed to build said “stuff”)

Silver closed out the week this morning at US$103.

Up 7.3% in the day’s session, and up ~43% in the first 24 days of January...

(it’s going to be a long wait till the ASX opens again on Tuesday, with the Australia Day holiday on Monday)

Gold is a few dollars off hitting US$5,000.

... plus more on autonomous AI robots and the metals needed to build them...

AI robots are coming - and they’ll need a lot of metal

I’ve been going deep on autonomous AI robots because we reckon this will be the next major investment thematic to drive interest, demand and most importantly, speculation into the metals needed to build billions of robots...

Part of the research involved visiting a shop (while in Singapore last week) that is already selling autonomous, humanoid AI robots.

(yep, companies and warehouses can buy these robots RIGHT NOW and put them to work...)

(Anyone who has seen a robot movie knows it’s all fun and games until that blue circle turns red...)

Co-incidentally, these robots are from the same Chinese robot company UBTECH that released this video announcing the “First Mass Delivery of Humanoid Robots” a few weeks ago:

So it was surprising to see that they are already available for anyone to buy in a reseller all the way over in Singapore...

We first referenced the above robot video on Tuesday in our initiation note on NiCo Resources (ASX:NC1).

(building billions of these robots is going to need a LOT of nickel)

NC1 owns 100% of one of the largest undeveloped nickel projects on the planet.

It’s one of those giant Tier 1 assets that major mining companies like to own - an initial reserve of 1.56 million tonnes of contained nickel, capable of producing approximately 40,000t of nickel and 3,000t of cobalt annually... for at least 42 years.

The autonomous AI robots are coming, and they are going to need a lot of metals - especially nickel - read our NC1 launch note here.

Speaking of the metals needed to build the batteries to power the billions of autonomous AI robots expected to be built over the coming years...

Lithium is back?

It appears lithium is becoming popular again... up 65% over the last 4 weeks and near-quadrupling over the past six months.

So we checked up on which of our gold, silver and critical minerals Investments still own a lithium project that they tried to develop during 2020-22...

(remember how many early stage lithium companies switched to more sexy themes when the lithium price started crashing - many of them will still hold the lithium project)

The good thing about an “every commodity” bull market is that quality projects in commodities that went out of favour (to be replaced by a new shiny thing), will suddenly become highly valuable again.

So some of our companies might now have TWO valuable projects at the same time.

We’ll share the list of them at the end of this note.

But before that...

Silver closed trading a few hours ago at an all time record of US$103 per ounce

Back in September last year, we went on a “silver stock adding rampage”, back when silver was in the US$40s...

We wrote that after adding so many silver stocks in such a short time, it will take 12 months to find out if we will look like geniuses or idiots (read that write up here).

(read the full article here, which includes which silver stocks we Invested in)

So far so good...

Silver is up well over 100% since we rapidly added silver stocks during “Silver September” 2025...

and all the silver stocks we added to our Portfolio are up at least 200%...

(except one that is “only” up 134%).

Now if the silver keeps on going up OR even just stays up, we think all silver stocks should keep moving up too...

(keeping in mind that commodity prices can go down as well as up)

Our silver stocks are: SS1, MTH, IVR, BKB, RCM, AVM, WCE, PFE.

SS1 “the next 8,000% Vulcan”? Ingredient #6 is looking good...

Our job is to identify macro investment themes early and try to find stocks that deliver a 10x return in that theme.

And including the occasional major outsized winner...

(this is what we are all in this game for after all)

If you have been on our mailing list for more than a few years, you’ll know that our best ever Investment Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL) was up over 8,000% at its peak.

(and is still up 2,200% from our Initial Entry Price.)

This was back in 2019 to 2022 during the first major lithium bull run.

VUL is still our best Investment to date, so naturally we think a lot about how and why it happened, and how to try to repeat it.

But of course past performance like this is extremely hard to replicate, most Investments don't turn out anywhere near as successful.

We identified a 6 ingredient “recipe” that we thought led to the 8,000% run with Vulcan.

TLDR; the VUL recipe needs 6 ingredients:

1. Acquired a project in a down cycle for a commodity
2. A project with size and scale
3. In the green theme (or today, in the precious metals and/or USA critical minerals theme)
4. In a country with demand for the end product
5. Be the first mover
6. Then wait for that commodity price run....

Ingredients #1 to #5 are in the company's control when acquiring the project, and in the investors’ control when choosing the company.

Ingredient #6 - this is the hard one to get: a significant price run in the commodity.

This is where you need luck and timing, and nobody can control that.

VUL had all 5 ingredients and then lithium went on a generational price run...

SS1 has all 5 ingredients and we were just waiting for silver to go on a generational price run...

Back in May 2024, when silver was US$38 and Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) had just IPO’d at 20c, we first wrote about the “Vulcan recipe” for SS1:

(Source May 2024)

We wrote about the VUL recipe for SS1 again in July 2025:

(again in July 2025 - you can read the full thesis here)

Well, over the last two months silver has certainly started to deliver ingredient #6 for SS1...

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

SS1 is already up over 1,100% (so far) from our Initial Entry Price:

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

So what next?

Ingredient #6 looks like it’s coming along nicely?

The big institutional money (that really pushes stocks up when they start buying) doesn’t generally believe in quick price spikes like we have seen in silver.

While the silver price has run hard over the last couple of months, and yes SS1 has tracked along nicely with it...

We think the silver price needs to consolidate the gains (i.e. to stabilise and go sideways for a while to show the price re-rate is real) for the broader market to start believing and the “big boys” to start buying.

Once the gains are more consolidated, silver producers will be cashed up from a quarter of selling at high prices and we should see more ‘new silver mine’ CAPEX financiers open their wallets betting on a structural change in the market.

OR

If silver does something silly like go to US$200 or US$300 then good old fashioned FOMO will kick in and it will be “game on” for a generalist investor driven rally in silver stocks.

Our favourite momentum and technical analyst Michael Oliver is calling US$300 to US$500 silver over the next 6 months.

He also says there is going to be a silver price correction on this journey to his price targets - so buckle up for a wild ride if he is right.

Check out his latest video interview here (ignore the clickbait-y title the interviewer decided to use, we have found Michael Oliver to be pretty solid) :

(watch it here)

And as always, as exciting as this US$300 to US$500 silver price prediction sounds for silver investors, keep in mind that analysts do get it wrong all the time.

But if silver DOES do something crazy like go to even US$200 or US$300, this should be what we need for a serious run for SS1 and all our silver stocks.

(yes, even more than the 10x return delivered since SS1’s 20c IPO)

With silver’s big spike over the last two months, there is already talk that silver could be becoming a “meme-stock” commodity.

(remember the Reddit driven “almost” silver squeeze from 2021?)

Some are even saying that the silver price is starting to behave like “crypto” or an “alt-coin”.

(a lot of salty bitcoin holders are lamenting about silver’s run on social media - attracting some of that hot and fast crypto money?)

Speaking of meme stocks and silver - Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC)

Above we covered our thesis on why we Invested in Sun Silver’s (🇦🇺 SS1, 🇺🇸 SSLVF) giant Nevada silver deposit...

(same thesis as why we bought Hycroft Mining 1 hour into our site visit to the Hycroft mine back in September last year)

To try to deliver the 6 ingredients we think led to an 8,000% price run we got with VUL back in 2020 when the lithium price rose by nearly 1,000%.

(except this time for silver)

TLDR; the VUL recipe needs 6 ingredients:

1. Acquired a project in a down cycle for a commodity
2. A project with size and scale
3. In the green theme (or today, in the precious metals and/or USA critical minerals theme)
4. In a country with demand for the end product
5. Be the first mover
6. Then wait for that commodity price run....

Ingredients #1 to #5 are in the company's control when acquiring the project, and in the investors’ control when choosing the company.

Ingredient #6 - this is the hard one to get: a significant price run in the commodity.

This is where you need luck and timing, and nobody can control that.

Back in 2020, VUL had all 5 ingredients and then lithium went on a generational price run...

SS1 and Hycroft have all 5 ingredients and we were just waiting for silver to go on a generational price run... which is looking pretty good right now.

(read our full 6 ingredient recipe for an 8,000% gain here)

Back in September last year, we visited the Hycroft Mining (NASDAQ:HYMC) gold and silver mine in Nevada.

(Read it here)

While we don’t cover Hycroft we did buy a few during the site visit. (Disclosure: 21,500 HYMC shares held, no commercial engagement with HYMC)

(we generally only write about ASX listed stocks, and Hycroft is only listed on the NASDAQ)

We bought because we like giant silver deposits in Nevada (like our other main Investment Sun Silver 🇦🇺 SS1, 🇺🇸 SSLVF)

AND

Also because Hycroft used to be one of the main “meme stocks” during the 2021 GameStop mania era.

And we thought the dormant meme stock crowd could be re-activated on Hycroft in the current gold and silver run.

Back in 2021, a handful of US stocks delivered eye-watering price runs after hundreds of thousands of retail investors started buying them at the same time, coordinating through Reddit and other social media.

Gamestop was by far the biggest meme stock, followed soon after by AMC Cinemas.

During the middle of its meme stock mania, AMC invested into Hycroft Mining, drawing the attention of meme-stock crowds and turning Hycroft into a meme stock in its own right.

(why did a cinema company invest into a silver company? Peak meme stock behaviour)

Part of our thesis for Hycroft is that any of the crowd that followed Hycroft during its meme stock phase might be re-energised if the silver price started running...

(and it looks like they have been if you take a quick look at #HYMC on X)

Hycroft has delivered an incredible 2,200% run over the last 12 months, with most of it over the last 2 months:

(source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

NASDAQ listed Hycroft has an estimated ~1.5BN ounces 44.85 g/t silver equivalent resource in Nevada USA.

Fully diluted Hycroft is now capped at US$5BN (~$7.25BN AUD).

Sun SIlver (🇦🇺 SS1, 🇺🇸 SSLVF) has ~0.539 billion ounces at 72 g/t silver equivalent also in Nevada, USA.

Fully diluted SS1 is capped at $384M AUD...

(SS1’s resource is open in all directions, they are drilling to grow it even more, and recently picked up more ground surrounding their silver deposit)

SS1 is already listed in the USA on the OTC market (🇺🇸 SSLVF) but says they are working on a potential listing on a main USA stock exchange - which we are eagerly anticipating given how well $7.25BN Hycroft has been performing recently.

Eric Sprott owns 40% of Hycroft, and has been buying on market this month (source)

(he actually bought AMC Cinemas’ Hycroft shares from them a couple of months ago... before the massive run)

Eric Sprott is a Canadian billionaire, investor and philanthropist and one of the biggest silver bulls in the world.

We’ve listened to a lot of interviews with Eric over the years, but haven't heard him as excited about a stock as he is when he talks about Hycroft.

and a lot of the reasons given for his excitement are similar to SS1.

(Check out the 2 minute video below, he is literally bouncing up and down in his seat when he talks about it)

(watch the video here)

Here is his same thesis presented in a different article:

(source - read it here)

Sprott's thesis is basically that over the years, projects with giant deposits but at a lower grade (like SS1 and Hycroft) may not be commercial while the commodity price is low, so share prices are very low...

BUT if the commodity price goes up a few hundred per cent, suddenly these projects become extremely profitable, and share prices rise fast from a low base.

This is a solid thesis for SS1 and HYMC with their giant silver deposits in Nevada (assuming the silver price keeps running of course).

Remember in 2024 when everyone was complaining about how deep SS1’s silver deposit was? And how expensive it would be to dig the hole to get to it?

With the silver price tripling since then, suddenly nobody is talking about that anymore...

(Sun SIlver (🇦🇺 SS1, 🇺🇸 SSLVF), if you are listening - please get listed on a USA main exchange like NASDAQ or NYSE asap and try and catch some of the “Hycroft 2.0” tailwinds)

(also if anyone knows Eric Sprott please tell him about SS1)

Davos - end of globalisation?

Last week, country leaders and CEOs of major companies descended to Davos, Switzerland for their yearly catch up to discuss and plan out the future of the world.

Across speeches, panels, and commentary, leaders and analysts repeatedly debated whether the post‐Cold War era of globalization is over and what a more fragmented, sovereignty‐ and resilience‐focused world economy will look like.

There were some pretty wild moments, scathing opinions shared and blatant pot shots taken between the USA, Canada and Europe.

(which made for some fun watching)

Trump’s pre-Davos statements to “acquire” Greenland were met with shock from European leaders.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney basically called out that the US led “rules based order” since WW2 was a bunch of BS, it benefitted only a select few countries and we all pretended it was real because it was convenient... but now it’s gone (watch the snippet here)

Every US politician (Trump, Bessent, Lutnick) was lecturing Europe on being too regulated, too slow, not innovative enough and too reliant on foreign countries.

Ultimately enough to to elicit heckling, jeering and the president of the European Central Bank to walk out of a speech by the US Commerce Secretary:

(source)

Europe, Canada and the USA acknowledged that they are going to need to domestically “build” all the strategically important “stuff” they have been importing from frenemy countries over the last 50 years.

(including the critical minerals needed to build said “stuff”)

We called out the coming “end of globalisation” all the way back in 2022 and foreshadowed that critical metals could be next to be withheld by adversaries:

(read it here)

Musk at Davos - “there will be more robots than people”

Elon Musk appeared at Davos... and was talking robots (starting at the 6 minute mark)

(Source)

Elon talked about his prediction that very soon there will be billions of humanoid robots

He says every human will want at least one - to watch over our kids, take care of our pets, look after elderly parents.

We are bullish on the robot boom, and hence are positioning our Portfolio for robot metals.

(robot metals are needed to build robots, and robot batteries are similar to electric vehicle batteries - so nickel, cobalt, lithium etc)

Building billions of these robots is going to need a LOT of nickel.

Our new Investment from this week is NiCo Resources (ASX:NC1).

NC1 owns 100% of one of the largest undeveloped nickel projects on the planet.

It’s one of those giant Tier 1 assets that major mining companies like to own - an initial reserve of 1.56 million tonnes of contained nickel, capable of producing approximately 40,000t of nickel and 3,000t of cobalt annually... for at least 42 years.

The autonomous AI robots are coming, and they are going to need a lot of metals - especially nickel - read our NC1 launch note here.

What about lithium making a comeback?

Lithium is delivering some precious metals level price action recently:

Below are the stocks in our Portfolio with decent lithium projects that have taken a back seat to a shiny new asset - likely in precious metals or critical metals.

Key point being, that if lithium does another 2021 style run, these companies will now have TWO projects the markets like, at the same time.

Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB | OTC: BKBMF)

Current Project: Advanced-stage, high-grade 17.6Moz silver project in Texas, USA, and a 1.37M ounce gold resource (estimate) in Nevada, USA

In November last year BKB acquired an advanced-stage, high-grade 17.6Moz silver project in the US.

The project has ~$150M+ of silver mining and processing infrastructure that was last producing silver in 2012-2013 before going into care and maintenance because silver prices fell to ~US$18 per ounce.

Our thesis with BKB is to see the company restart its silver processing plant, then start mining and selling silver ASAP.

BKB also owns 100% of a 1.37M ounce gold resource (estimate) in Nevada, USA - next door to N.G.M. N.G.M is a joint venture between two giants of the gold industry - the $188BN Newmont and $128BN Barrick Gold.

BKB was drilling in Nevada late last year and is baking all drill results into an updated near surface Mineral Resource Estimate.

“Secret” lithium project: Hard rock lithium exploration in James Bay, Canada.

BKB has 100% interest in one of the largest exploration portfolios in the James Bay region, covering an area of 416km2.

These projects contain large-scale pegmatite outcrops and are located near major discoveries by Patriot Battery Metals and Winsome Resources.

Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR)

Current Project: Gold exploration in Argentina

PUR has a gold project in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, one of the world’s premier precious metals provinces. The province hosts ~30 million ounces of gold equivalent.

PUR’s theory is that if it drills down to 150-400m it could make a giant gold discovery that was previously missed because of the shallower silica cap that sits on top of the gold mineralisation.

This is exactly how the 8 million ounce, Cerro Negro deposit was discovered (now a mine operated by Newmont).

PUR has completed planning for its first drill programme here, expected to be 4,050m.

“Secret” lithium project: 1M+ tonnes JORC lithium carbonate equivalent resource, development stage, in Argentina (Lithium Triangle).

This is a near term production lithium brine asset, with a JORC inferred resource of 1.104 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).

PUR has a 250 tpa pilot plant that has successfully produced 99.5% technical grade lithium carbonate.

A feasibility study is underway on a 5,000 tpa plant to lock down process design and economics.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN)

Current Project: Rare earths and niobium exploration in Brazil

PNN holds the entire Santa Anna alkaline carbonatite complex in the state of Goias, Brazil.

Over the last few months, PNN has completed several rounds of shallow aircore drilling on the project and recently said that its theory of a hard rock intrusion has been validated.

An upcoming 10,000m drill campaign is going to try to extend the niobium and rare earths mineralised footprint at depth, and from initial drilling.

PNN is planning on putting out a Mineral Resource Estimate this quarter.

“Secret” lithium project: 714k tonnes JORC lithium carbonate equivalent resource in Argentina (Lithium Triangle)

PNN’s Salta Lithium Project in Argentina consists of five distinct salars (salt lakes) with a JORC resource estimate of 714,864 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (“LCE”).

This area has Rio Tinto, Argosy Minerals, Arcadium Lithium & Ganfeng Lithium with projects nearby/adjoining PNN’s projects.

The next step for PNN on this asset is to develop a lithium brine pilot plant for brine testing (subject to funding). A pilot plant would determine the project’s lithium brine qualities and help tailor a DLE technology to maximise output from a commercial-scale lithium production operation.

Lightning Minerals (ASX:L1M)

Current Project: Gold exploration project in Queensland, Australia

Late last year L1M completed a successful Phase 1 drilling programme which confirmed the presence of a large scale mineralised system extending over 12km along a fault.

Significant gold, base metal, and silver mineralisation was intersected in eight out of nine holes and multiple new gold targets have been identified.

L1M is planning a Phase 2 drill programme now.

“Secret” lithium project: Hard rock lithium exploration in Brazil, Canada, and WA

L1M has assets in the “Lithium Valley” region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 20km south of Australian lithium heavyweight producer PLS Group (ASX: PLS).

Spodumene was confirmed at the project in November 2024. While drilling confirmed the presence of a pegmatite system, only low lithium grades have been identified to date. L1M now needs to vector in on a source and economic concentrations.

L1M also holds lithium projects in Quebec, Canada, and in Western Australia.

Pantera Minerals (ASX:PFE)

Current Project: Silver and antimony exploration in Arkansas, USA

PFE acquired 18 historic antimony and silver mines in Arkansas in late October, using its local operating knowledge and experience to get access to these.

PFE has 7 high priority targets to follow up - prospective for antimony, silver, lead, zinc and copper, having produced antimony from shallow workings ~100 years ago.

PFE is the first company to be exploring this ground with modern exploration techniques.

“Secret” lithium project: Arkansas lithium brine project (recently sold)

PFE recently sold its Arkansas Lithium Brine Project in the "Smackover Formation" in the USA, to unlisted US lithium developer EnergyX for a combination of cash and Energy X shares.

As part of the transaction, PFE now holds 2.34 million EnergyX shares. Energy X is raising capital at US$11/share, valuing PFE’s holding at approximately A$39.5M.

EnergyX’s next payment will be for $2M on July 1st 2026, which will go toward PFE’s current silver/antimony exploration programme.

TechGen Metals Ltd (ASX:TG1)

Current Projects: Copper, gold, silver exploration in WA

TG1 has four core projects located in Australia prospective for copper, gold and silver, and is planning to drill test all of them throughout 2026. The first drill campaign is due to start next month.

“Secret” lithium project: WA hard rock lithium exploration

TG1 owns 100% of the Ida Valley Lithium Project in WA, 50km along strike from Delta Lithium’s Mt Ida Lithium deposit and 100km south of Liontown Resources’ Kathleen Valley project.

TG1 has encountered a pegmatite field here, and early soil sampling results looked promising.

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ)

Current Project: Rare earths and niobium in Brazil, development stage

SGQ owns 100% of the largest and highest-grade carbonatite-hosted rare earths deposit in South America.

It’s also the second highest grade rare earths asset in the Western world.

SGQ is drilling the project right now with 3 diamond drilling rigs, 24/7.

“Secret” lithium project: WA hard rock lithium exploration

In March 2023, SGQ acquired seven separate lithium projects, encompassing 14 exploration licences covering 653 sq km in total.

Most of the new projects are located in a region referred to as a ‘super province for lithium’ that hosts high-grade spodumene producing lithium mines and lithium deposits.

Last but not least,

Mandrake Resources (ASX:MAN)

MAN has actually maintained its lithium project as its main focus.

Not so “secret” lithium project: 3.3Mt Lithium Carbonate Equivalent inferred resource in Utah, USA.

This is a large-scale brine project across over 93,000 acres of land.

The project benefits from existing oil and gas infrastructure (active and abandoned wells which gives them access to data) that MAN has used to access lithium brines. MAN has been evaluating Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technologies to process the brines.

At the end of the September quarter MAN stated that it continues to pursue both organic and inorganic growth initiatives in the USA and internationally. At the time, MAN held $12.1M cash and no debt.

But with lithium coming back into favour, perhaps a new asset might not be needed?

For now, have a great weekend.

Next Investors