Investor Education: Minor Metals Explained with Expert Lara Smith​

Minor metals can be mystifying for investors. Many of them have important industrial and high-tech applications, but information on prices, supply and demand can be scarce, making it difficult to jump in.

Speaking to the Investing News Network, Lara Smith, founder of Core Consultants, shared advice on how to understand these smaller-scale markets, emphasizing that it's doable for those who are willing to put in some work.

"Once you start to look at one minor metal, you can know about the rest — you start to learn what goes together," she said, noting that her background in chemistry has helped her understand many lesser-known metals. "All these commodities, all these metal markets have very few drivers, so if you can identify the top driver then you know which direction it's going to go."

Smith is also CEO of Molten Metals, an exploration company focused on antimony and tin, and she discussed those metals in detail, sharing what Molten Metals has planned this year at its projects in Slovakia and Canada.

Aside from that, she spoke about supply chain security, saying that governments need to do more to build them out.

For one thing, they generally don't get in early enough — Smith noted that many sources of funding require a NI 43-101 resource estimate, but to get to that point a company will already have had to spend a decent amount of money.

"That leaves opportunity for a higher-risk investor — China — to come along and give you that money to get your NI 43-101, or to get some kind of knowledge around the resource. What do they want in return? They want offtake," she explained during the interview. "So suddenly you look around, and you've got your best deposits, which you didn't know were your best deposits, (and they) are not owned by who you want them to be. And that becomes a problem."

In her view, the mining industry has a lot to learn from the tech industry, where funders often come forward in pre-seed financing rounds. That would be the equivalent of investing in a junior miner prior to the release of a NI 43-101 report.

Watch the interview above for more of Smith's thoughts on minor metals.

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

Editorial Disclosure: 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.