Precious metals weren’t the only things hitting record highs last week. The September edition of the Metals Investor Forum in downtown Vancouver drew 1,600 attendees (up 140% year-on-year) and 38 companies (up 80%). 

Notably, about half tuned in online, proving once again that, just like in concerts, hybrid is the new normal in mining.

In the Weekly Market Digest, the significant rise in precious metal prices has enabled seven precious metal companies (with a total value of US$400 billion) to enter the Top 25 mining companies globally, which collectively have a cumulative value of US$1.4 trillion. 

The Exploration Insights portfolio easily outperformed both the precious and base metal equity ETFs, with half of the total companies achieving new 52-week highs, led by a hybrid precious metal explorer in the southwestern US and another in southern Chile. The only significant laggard was a grassroots copper explorer in Australia.

In Stock Talk, I cover positive corporate activity at a grassroots precious metal explorer in the Southwest US and a Top Pick precious metal developer in Northwest Argentina, as well as mixed financial/project updates from a pair of prospect generators. I also review exploration updates from a PGM explorer/developer in Brazil, a gold-antimony play in Australia, and a precious metal prospect in northern Finland. Finally, I review the next phase of metallurgical testwork at an oxide open-pit gold project in southern Idaho.