Top Stock Picks: Holmes vs. Rule vs. Katusa

At this year’s Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), there were plenty of investors eager to learn more from mining experts and thought leaders.
One of the most well-attended panels on Sunday (January 21) featured Frank Holmes of US Global Investors (NASDAQ:GROW); Rick Rule of US Sprott Holdings; and Marin Katusa of Katusa Research. They shared a few of their top stock picks for the coming year.
Here’s a closer look at their favorite companies. If you missed VRIC this year, don’t forget to check out our notes from the floor for day one — and be sure to stay tuned for more articles and interviews from the conference.

Frank Holmes:

1. Dolly Varden Silver (TSXV:DV)

Current price: C$0.76; year-to-date gain: 7.04 percent
Dolly Varden Silver is a mineral exploration company focused on exploration in Northwestern BC. Dolly Varden has two projects — its namesake Dolly Varden silver property and the nearby Big Bulk copper–gold property.

2. Tristar Gold (TSXV:TSG)

Current price: C$0.28; year-to-date gain: 23.91 percent
TriStar Gold is an exploration and development company focused on precious metals properties in the Americas that have the potential to become significant producing mines. The company’s current flagship property is Castelo de Sonhos in Brazil’s Pará state.

3. New Pacific Metals (TSXV:NUAG)

Current price: C$1.30; year-to-date gain: -11.56 percent
New Pacific Metals is a Canadian exploration and development company that owns the Silver Sand project, located in the Potosi department of Bolivia. It also holds the Tagish Lake gold project in the Yukon, and the RZY project in Chinan’s Qinghai province.

Rick Rule:

1. EMX Royalty (TSXV:EMX)

Current price: C$1.12; year-to-date gain: 8.74 percent
EMX Royalty leverages asset ownership and exploration insight into partnerships that advance its mineral properties, with EMX receiving pre-production payments and retaining royalty interests. EMX complements its royalty generation initiatives with royalty acquisitions and strategic investments. Its royalty and property portfolio spans five continents, and consists of a balanced mix of assets.

2. Sprott (TSX:SII)

Current price: C$2.89; year-to-date gain: 18.44 percent
Sprott is an alternative asset manager and a global leader in precious metals and real asset investments. Through its subsidiaries in Canada, the US and Asia, the company provides investors with investment strategies that include exchange-listed products, alternative asset management and private resource Investments. The company also operates merchant banking and brokerage businesses in both Canada and the US.

Marin Katusa:

1. Equinox Gold (TSXV:EQX)

Current price: C$1.30; year-to-date gain: 16.07 percent
Equinox Gold has a multi-million-ounce gold resource base, near-term and growing gold production from two past-producing mines in Brazil and California and a long-term growth platform with a diverse portfolio of gold and copper assets in North and South America. Construction is underway at the company’s Aurizona project in Brazil, with the objective of pouring gold by the end of this year. A prefeasibility study is underway at the company’s Castle Mountain project in California.

2. Blackbird Energy (TSXV:BBI)

Current price: C$0.32; year-to-date gain: -7.14 percent
Blackbird Energy is an oil and gas exploration and development company focused on the condensate and liquids-rich Montney fairway at Elmworth, near Grande Prairie in Alberta. Blackbird holds a 100-percent working interest in 132 gross (112.4 net) sections of highly prospective Montney rights.

3. Uranium Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:UEC)

Current price: $1.64; year-to-date gain: -7.34 percent
Uranium Energy is a US-based uranium mining and exploration company. The company’s fully licensed Hobson processing facility is central to all of its projects in South Texas, including the Palangana ISR mine, the permitted Goliad ISR project and the development-stage Burke Hollow ISR project. Additionally, the company controls a pipeline of advanced-stage projects in Arizona, Colorado and Paraguay.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.