Sunday Edition: 1st February

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.

Yesterday we wrote about the gold and silver pull back on Friday and what it means for junior gold and silver stocks...

Read it in full here: click here to read.

We also updated our gold and silver ebook with our current positions.

We read, researched and wrote a lot about gold and gold stocks for a couple of years and in February 2025, we collated everything we had learned into an ebook.

In the ebook below we share what we have learned, including:

• Why gold and silver prices are surging
• A quick history of gold and silver
• What a “mega bubble” is - when the price of gold and silver reach “astronomical” levels due to severe inflation and currency debasement
• Is the world about to enter a gold and silver “mega bubble”?
• Six books we found helpful to understand the drivers behind gold and silver markets

We have updated the book with all the new gold (and silver) stocks we added in the last 12 months since it was published.

We’ve left the rest of it unchanged.

We think this thesis for gold and silver rising further is still very much in play.

Download updated ebook here

Below you can find everything else we wrote about last week, plus some interesting stuff we came across on our travels.

Quick Takes: VKA, SGQ, SS1, RCM, PNN

Deep Dives: HVY, BPM

VKA completed an aerial drone survey at its US tungsten project.

VKA’s project has a history of producing tungsten decades ago, but the project has seen barely any modern exploration.

VKA completed ultra-high-resolution drone surveys which will give VKA data to plan its drill program and determine where most of the remaining stockpiles sit over the project.

VKA also announced high-resolution geophysical surveys will begin in mid February.

SGQ appointed a US advisory firm to “support engagement with key US government agencies”

The team at SGQ’s new US government relations firm includes a former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of War. That same Chief of Staff was a part of the team that administered the direct investment into the USA’s only rare earths mine (owned by MP Materials).

There has lately been a bit of buzz around a potential US-Brazil critical minerals deal and funds flowing into the Brazilian rare earths sector (out of the US). Hopefully, some of that capital makes its way into SGQ’s accounts (fingers crossed).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will host an inaugural Critical Minerals summit on Feb. 4 with foreign ministers from dozens of “international allies.” Perhaps this is when we will get some more colour on exactly what the US government’s intentions are.

SS1 (OTC: SSLVF) hit more high grade silver at its giant silver asset in Nevada, USA.

SS1 delivered more high-grade results from its 539Moz silver project, with grades surpassing the existing resource average.

The big surprise was a 9m antimony hit @ ~0.99% grades - which is well above the average resource grade at Perpetua’s $6BN project - now we wait for that maiden antimony resource from SS1.

RCM kicked off a scoping study for its silver projects in NSW.

RCM has already defined ~67M ounces of silver equivalent in resources across three projects (Webbs, Webbs Consol, and Conrads), and it has been successfully drilling to grow its total resource.

Now we will get to see how the economics of a development scenario look for those resources in the current silver bull market. The scoping study is due for completion in Q2 of this year.

RCM also has 15,000m of drilling planned to start next quarter- a busy few months coming up for RCM.

PNN started a 10,000m drill program on its rare earths project in Brazil.

PNN will be following up the success from all the shallow drilling - up to 51m @ 1.16% rare earths oxides from surface.

Hopefully we see those type results continue well below 51m. The deeper drilling aims to confirm extensions at depth beyond the prior shallow holes and validate the theory that PNN sits on a massive carbonatite complex.

Should these drill results come back positive, PNN owns the entire complex so would then be looking to test all around it.

Heavy Minerals (ASX:HVY) - Transformational new deal? Producing by the end of this year?

We Invested in Heavy Minerals (ASX:HVY) in 2023 for its development stage Port Gregory garnet project in WA, right next door to the biggest garnet producer in the world.

Garnet is an important industrial material used in high-precision manufacturing, global shipbuilding, defence infrastructure, and heavy engineering.

HVY’s original WA project’s scoping study returned a Net Present Value of $253M - a decent size project for a company currently capped at just $39M...

... but more on this in the link below.

This week, the ~$39M capped HVY announced a deal that could make the company a revenue generating garnet producer before the end of this year.

Just in time for an “every commodity” bull run?

(We hope so... HVY is currently one of our largest holdings.)

This week HVY executed a binding agreement to:

• Take the garnet rich tailings (waste) from a producing copper-gold mine in South Australia (Hillgrove Resources)
• process the tailings,
• Extract valuable industrial use Hardrock Almandine Garnet, and;
• sell that garnet for cash.

And, HVY says it could be in production by the end of this year ...

HVY wants to start generating cash asap from this project, and use a bulked up balance sheet to help secure the CAPEX funding for its original and much bigger Port Gregory Project.

Check out our back of the napkin calcs on what kind of cash flow this new deal could generate in our full note:

Read more: HVY: Transformational new deal just announced? Producing by end of this year?

BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) - WA Gold explorer: First drill results in. More drilling this quarter. “Moonshot” targets await...

Our WA gold exploration Investment BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) has a massive 630km2 project about 150km east of Kalgoorlie.

BPM’s project sits along the same structures that host the 8M ounce Tropicana gold discovery (now a mine owned by $79BN AngloGold and $6.3BN Regis Resources):

(Source) (Source)

BPM has 75km of mineralised strike within its project, and has a pipeline of drill targets (years worth of exploration), but for now and in 2026, we are most interested in:

1. Beachcomber - Ground that already has high grade gold hits and is getting drilled out now.

BPM just drilled this target, hit gold in all 24 holes and has another drill program planned for February/March...

2. Bonnie and Clyde - Two nearby targets in a ~6km long gold in soil anomaly that has never been drilled before.

Bonnie and Clyde are two of the many completely undrilled targets where BPM can go for a “moonshot” new discovery...

(permitting and approvals in progress - this is going to be the big one once they start drilling it)

Here is what the soil anomaly targets look like in between the 8Moz Tropicana and 510koz Glenburg:

(Source)

This could be the footprint of a major gold system...

It’s not just us interested in Bonnie & Clyde -Tom Woolrych, fund manager from Deutsche Rohstoff AG, gave BPM and these targets a shout out on the Money of Mine podcast last week, when explaining why he personally bought BPM shares - listen here.

Always nice to hear fund managers give a shout out to the smaller stocks in our Portfolio.

BPM is currently capped at $27M and held $5.6M cash in the bank at the end of December, which gives it enough runway to plug a few more potentially company making holes into the ground.

BPM has very few shares and options on issue, which means the share price can move quickly on good news.

BPM’s broad plan is to grow defined gold resources (at Beachcomber and beyond) and make a discovery of new deposits along the broader 75km corridor.

Soil sampling results are imminent.

BPM is going out drilling again this quarter.

And that big Bonnie and Clyde target awaits drilling later this year...

Read more: BPM WA Gold explorer: First drill results in. More drilling this quarter. “Moonshot” targets await...

Nico Resources (ASX:NC1) - Investor Presentation

Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) - COMBATTING URGENT VIRAL DISEASE THREATS

Bloomberg - Gold reached an historic US$5,000 per ounce earlier in the week as a perfect storm of global upheaval continues to fuel an unprecedented rally in precious metals.

WSJ - 5 reasons are given here with explanations as to why gold has been able to push beyond US$5,000/oz including: debasement, interest rates, central banks buying, rotating out of expensive stocks and momentum.

Bloomberg - Tether has emerged as a major disruptive force in the global bullion market, amassing a massive gold hoard that rivals the reserves of many central banks as the stablecoin issuer seeks to further back its digital assets with physical commodities.

Bloomberg - Gold prices have continued to climb to new records over $5,500 an ounce as traders signal that the Trump administration will install a more dovish Federal Reserve chair (potential for looser monetary policy and further dollar weakness).

Bloomberg - As gold prices shatter records, Germany’s massive 3,350-ton reserve has ballooned in value to $599 billion, sparking intense debate over whether Berlin should leverage these dormant riches to fix its crumbling infrastructure and stagnant economy.

Bloomberg - Widespread protests have erupted in China as record gold prices trigger a "gold rush" gone wrong, citizens have accused state entities of freezing withdrawals and manipulating valuations.

The Globe and Mail - The Sprott Silver Miners Physical Silver ETF has surpassed $1BN in assets in just over a year, fueled by continued investor demand as silver prices keep hitting historic highs.

AFR - As silver and gold prices reach record highs, retail mania has hit a fever pitch, with households reportedly selling off family heirlooms and cutlery to capitalise on the historic precious metals rally.

Bloomberg - Gold and silver prices collapsed as the nomination of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair sparked a dollar surge, triggering gold’s biggest intraday decline in four decades.

CNBC - A US rare earths miner is receiving fast tracked permits and low interest federal loans as the Trump administration looks to rapidly establish and secure domestic supplies.

The US Department of Energy - has realigned its Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation programs into three pillars: to accelerate domestic mining, enhance energy technology R&D, and prioritise consumer affordability.

Forbes - As the global race for critical minerals intensifies, the US is increasingly looking to advanced recycling or "urban mining" to recover essential materials from electronic waste and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.

This is what our Investment ION is aiming to achieve and it is already on the path to a US presence, particularly with its Colt Recycling agreement.

The Economist - The "Donroe Doctrine", a Trump era fusion of the Monroe Doctrine, signals a more transactional and assertive US stance toward Brazil, prioritising resource security and countering Chinese influence in South America.

We think this could be interesting for our rare earth Investment SGQ, which just this week announced a US advisory firm that will be aiming to open up relationships to funding opportunities that are a result of this type of policy - more on that above.

Our other Brazilian rare earths Investment is PNN - currently drilling now to extend its current mineralisation footprint.

AFR - The US is intensifying pressure on allies to decouple their supply chains from China, seeking coordinated investment and trade barriers to break Beijing's global stranglehold on rare earth minerals.

Reuters - The nickel market is increasingly volatile as investors navigate Indonesia's shifting (and possibly inaccurate) production data plus export policies, which continue to exert large influence over global supply and pricing dynamics.

Bloomberg - Copper prices soared to a new record on the London Metal Exchange, spearheading a broad base metals rally as supply constraints and surging industrial demand fuel an extended bull run.

Bloomberg - Jeff Currie argues that the current surge in metals prices is just the beginning of a multi-year commodity supercycle, driven by structural underinvestment and massive demand from the global energy transition.

FT - Tesla is scrapping its Model S and X lines to pivot toward AI and robotics as annual revenue fell for the first time, despite a $2bn investment in its “xAI”.

FT - Tesla is pivoting from automaking to robotics, doubling capital spending to over US$20 billion to fund autonomous "Robotaxis" and Optimus robots despite falling vehicle revenues and halved operating margins.

WSJ - China is training AI weapons to mimic animal hunting behaviours, with "hawk-inspired" drones successfully neutralizing targets in seconds during recent high-tech combat simulations.

EchoIQ (ASX:EIQ) coverage from the “Armchair Analyst”.

Power Minerals CEO Mena Habib on Lithium, Rare Earths, Niobium and Critical Metals (ASX: PNN | OTC: PEIMF) - The Ellis Martin Report

Exploration Update from Mithril Silver and Gold (ASX: MTH) - Mining Stock Daily (Podcast)

“There’s No Bubble in Metals. The Bubble Is the Dollar” | Willem Middelkoop

Peter Schiff on Gold’s Dominance Over the S&P and the Plot to Stop You From Noticing

Luke Gromen - "NATO Countries Buying Up All the Silver"

Oliver Nailed $100 Silver - Now Calls For $300-$500

Why 2026 is the Year of Resources - Luke Laretive

ILA Chairman Jason Carroll posed a question on LinkedIn...

Here is a link to that video Jason shared - ASX Defence Exposure Surging as Global Tensions Ignite a Multi Year Investment Boom, which calls out ILA at 3:40 as a stock that could benefit from the defence macro amidst continued global tensions.

A word of caution...

While we aim to highlight developments in the small cap space, investing in early-stage and small cap companies - like those we cover - is inherently risky.

These companies often face funding challenges, regulatory hurdles, and market volatility. Announcements may reflect aspirations more than guaranteed outcomes.

Things can, and often do, change.

Just because a company has signed a deal, released drill results, or appointed a new director doesn’t mean success is assured.

Always assume delays, cost overruns, or results that don’t pan out.

We’re here to share insights, not offer personal financial advice - so please do your own research and speak with a licensed adviser before acting on anything mentioned.

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Bye for now.