TOP PICK

Highly liquid at $1-billion market cap. Generating free cash flow and one of the only royalty plays where streamers show growth, driven by a gold asset in Turkey that should come in in 2022-3. This should generate a lot of free cash flow. (no dividend, Analysts' price target: $8.02)

PARTIAL SELL

Up 160% YTD. One shareholder owns 45% of it. Doing well in the operations side. If you've done well, take some money off the table. He doesn't own any vanadium stocks.

DON'T BUY

High-grade gold deposit in Burkino-Faso that he visited. They're down 40% YTD. They're exposed to Burkino-Faso which has security issues. Asset is great. Gold and G-F need a turn in sentiment.

COMMENT

They have a large, high-grade deposit but their geopolitical risk is very high. In recent years, they've been buying Canadian assets, till they now have a 55% NAV in Canada. Potential turnaround, but watch their balance sheet and generate free cash flow from their Canadian assets.

COMMENT

He's owned this forever. They're a prospect generator model.They now have a project to explore but it's in Argentina which attracts negative sentiment. He himself is positive Argentina. He sees little financing risk and should deliver. To lessen negative sentiment, MRZ has diversified into Chile where he expects good results.

COMMENT

Gold has long been range-bound. To change this, there needs to be a systemic risk that hits the general market to force investors to flock to gold, where greed overtakes fear. It's usually trade events that trigger a move out of equities and into gold. Conversely in past years, the rise of equities has made gold a dead trade. Now, we could see a bounce in gold to $1,350. Junior mining is risky, but more retail investors have been moving into this space. The industry is concerned that there isn't enough supply in minerals like gold and lithium. His end game is to find a junior miner that gets taken out by a producer. For the past 5-7 years, gold has been undercapitalized with not enough exploration. But he's really concerned how grassroots exploration has fallen since 2002.

COMMENT

Last November he did a site visit in Argentina and it was the biggest site visit he ever saw. The lithium sector was hot, but now there's a fear that it might be well-supplied because SQM in Chile is now allowed to produce at a much higher volume than before. The Chinese are now partnering in lithium.

RISKY

Doesn't generate much free cash flow but occasionally they find very high-grade nickel like recently. This has helped their debt. They are now focused on Beta Hunt in Australia. It's a nice speculative play.

BUY

A copper play in Arizona. They put acidic solution in the great to dissolve the copper then recover it. Upfront capital is low, so there's a potentially high return later. They have key permits in place to turn this project around. Their 2016 study implies a 40% return.

COMMENT

They're building a gold mine in the Yukon. It's coming into production now. He doesn't own development play and buys exploration instead.

COMMENT

Active vs. Passive funds in mining Mining ETFs have taken out active funds which are seeing redemptions now. There are 18 actively managed mining funds in the U.S. and they dropped $1-billion in AUM and now sit at $8.5 billion. On the other end the 10 passive mining funds increased to $7.2 billion to $14-billion AUM. This is a turnaround, and it's playing out across the spectrum, not just mining. Investors wants the liquidity and anonymity of ETFs.

PAST TOP PICK

(Past top pick March 6, 2018, Down 57%) When he bought it, he was interested in their copper play in Mexico. Since then, they had a big investment from Newcrest Mining. AMX has split into two companies, including Azucar. AMX is now the prospect generator. He owns them both. That transaction took a long time to close. Drillings have finally resumed.

PAST TOP PICK

(Past top pick March 6, 2018, Up 275%) It was up even more this year, which is when he sold some shares, but has held onto most of it. He always knew it was a prospect generator and is expecting drill results by the end of 2018. Up 450% YTD.

PAST TOP PICK

(Past top pick March 6, 2018, Down 39%) Diversified North American portfolio with good geopolitical risk. They have a joint venture with Barrick which he just saw himself. Likes management. They have development as wel as exploration assets. He really likes their exposure to Nevada.

COMMENT

Have a good open-pit project in the Yukon with a good production profile. You own this as a take-out target. They are doing a lot of exploration around the area to prove the upside potential and de-risk any development issues.