Top Stories This Week: US$2,500 Gold in 2020, Battery Day’s Real Story

The gold price was in the doldrums last week, but this week brought a little more positivity.

The yellow metal remained under US$1,900 per ounce for much of the period, but at the time of this writing had risen slightly above that level, supported in part by the news that US President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19. First Lady Melania Trump has tested positive as well.

Despite the small slowdown, many experts believe the price activity seen recently is a period of consolidation for the yellow metal, and anticipate much more upward momentum moving forward.

One person who has that opinion is the ever-popular EB Tucker — he said this week that he sees gold hitting US$2,500 by the end of the year, while silver should reach US$40 per ounce.

As a reminder, EB, a director at Metalla Royalty & Streaming (TSXV:MTA,NYSEAMERICAN:MTA), has made a number of correct gold calls, including the prediction that it would take out its all-time high this year.

“It’s not that exciting of a time for stocks. You certainly can’t put your money in bonds, you can’t have your money in cash because the Fed’s telling you they’re going to inflate at 2 percent and you’re getting zero money on your cash, so you’re losing money. All signs point to gold” — EB Tucker, Metalla Royalty & Streaming

Although he’s best known for his thoughts on precious metals, EB shared that he actually has another sector in mind right now as well. He’s involved in Nova Royalty (TSXV:NOVR), which just started trading this week, and he believes that with its focus on copper and nickel royalties it’s a good way to get exposure to the growing green energy space.

“Nickel is very, very unique, it’s less than US$7 a pound right now. I hope you’re not too shocked by this, but we think it eventually goes over US$$25” — EB Tucker, Metalla Royalty & Streaming

Staying on the topic of battery metals, we promised last week that we’d be sharing expert opinions on Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Battery Day. This week, INN’s Priscila Barrera spoke with Howard Klein of RK Equity about his takeaways from the much-anticipated event.

In Howard’s opinion, the real story of Battery Day is hard rock lithium deposits — not lithium clay deposits, which jumped into the spotlight after the event due to comments made by Elon Musk.

“(Clay) is definitely not the story of Battery Day, hard rock to hydroxide is the story of battery day. And everyone who has hard rock projects in jurisdictions where (Tesla) is manufacturing cars” — Howard Klein, RK Equity

Howard explained that lithium extraction from clay is still a relatively unproven process, and weighed in on Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL,NASDAQ:PPL), which has signed a deal with Tesla for spodumene concentrate from its North Carolina deposit. He believes the agreement is a positive sign for other companies with hard rock deposits in North America.

With that in mind, we asked our Twitter followers if they expect to see Tesla sign more battery metals supply deals in North American, and if so, in what time frame.

Most respondents said they think it will happen within the next six months, but many also expect it to happen as soon as the next three months or as far out as a year.

We’ll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource or follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts.

In the cannabis space this week, INN’s Bryan Mc Govern looked at what a Joe Biden victory could mean for the American marijuana space. Some experts have pointed out that the former vice president has sent mixed messages when it comes to cannabis, although his choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate has given other market watchers more optimism.

“It will be somewhere in the mix. But that is not going to be a first 100 days sort of initiative, there’s going to be other things that they’re definitely going to have to tackle first in terms of just their own agenda and the economy” — Matt Carr, the Oxford Club

Overall there seems to be agreement that any changes in the cannabis landscape would be slow. As Matt Carr of the Oxford Club pointed out to Bryan, it’s unlikely to be a topic that Biden and his administration would tackle in their first 100 days.

Want more YouTube content? Check out our YouTube playlist At Home With INN, which features interviews with experts in the resource space. If there’s someone you’d like to see us interview, please send an email to cmcleod@investingnews.com.

And don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: Piedmont Lithium is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.

The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.