January Resource Sector Conference Season Kicks Off In Vancouver
Excelsior Prosperity w/ Shad Marquitz - 01/26/2024
From the end of last week through the end of this week, the global resource sector conference season has now once again kicked off in Vancouver, Canada. I had the good pleasure of attending both the Metals Investor Forum from January 19th-20th, and the Vancouver Resource Investor Conference right after that on January 21st-22nd, which will be the focus of today’s article.
Hopefully, this also explains to readers here why there was a gap in posts last week, as I was covered up with endless meetings, mixers, events, attending lectures, and networking with fellow investors, newsletter writers, fund managers, and resource companies. The good news is that there will be a few rapid fire articles coming out over the next few days, with the Week In Review article hitting this weekend, and then the next in the series of “Growth-Oriented Gold Producers”. Additionally, there are a number of other topics and sectors I want to unpack in future articles so stay tuned for those…
Let’s jump into things first with the key takeaways from the Metals Investors Forum (MIF): https://metalsinvestorforum.com/
After years of just binge-watching many of the YouTube videos produced from the MIF, I decided to make the trek up to Vancouver this year and see things with my own eyes, hear company presentations with my own ears, network with investors in attendance, and spend some quality time with a number of companies. I’m very happy to have done so and would wholeheartedly recommend other investors attend one of these MIF events that they rotate between Vancouver and Toronto.
My overall experience was very positive, and the energy level of companies and attendees was higher than expected, with so many mining stocks stuck in the malaise of sour sector sentiment. One should expect a little of that at sector specific conferences, but still I sensed a growing optimism from attendees about the year of 2024 ahead of us, and the lecture hall remained cram-packed for both of the 2 days with standing room only around the back. Additionally, even out in the hallways with company booths, there was a steady stream of investors milling about asking questions from the companies, even during lectures, whereas at other events it’s normally a ghost town in the hallways during keynote addresses.
Look, what I can say is that the whole event was quality. From ease of registration, to the multiple newsletter writers and company presentations, to the layout of booths and quality time spent with companies getting questions answered, to the mid-day lunches, and then eventually the post-event mixers fueled by adult beverages, the whole conference was top notch.
Roger Rosmus, CEO of Goliath Resources (GOT.V) (GOTRF) unpacks some of the solid drill results from last year’s exploration program, as a company guest of newsletter writer Chen Lin.
Newsletter writer Jeff Clark did a great job of coaching investors in attendance of some of the finer nuances for resource investing.
Andrew Pollard, CEO of Blackrock Silver (BRC.V) (BKRRF) presents from stage as a guest of silver-focused newsletter writer, Peter Krauth.
The festivities and networking continued as investors filtered out in the evenings into the bar of the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel, and then out into the bustling streets of Vancouver down into the Gastown district. Again, the MIF was a great way to kick off 2024 conference season, and they have already been posting video presentations from this event on their YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/@MetalsInvestorForum/videos
Now let’s talk about the much larger Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC), which is hosted by Cambridge House and Jay Martin.
VRIC remains the primary investor conference in the Vancouver event circuit each year, and is one of the key mining gatherings on a global basis; only eclipsed by the granddaddy of them all, the Prospector and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference slated this year for March 3-6, 2024. While some investors and commentators have lamented that the VRIC has shrunk in size for the past few years, with less company booths, less rows of exhibitors, and a generally less diverse roster of speakers, I came away far more encouraged from this years VRIC than last year’s event, and was still very happy I attended.
Again, the last few years have been very tough sledding in the resource stocks, with very negative sentiment overall, so that has not been easy on investors, companies, or conference promoters. There were of course the exceptions in the resource sector with the standout of lithium stocks in 2021/2022, oil stocks in 2022, and uranium stocks in 2021/2023, that did have solid bull market runs. Overall though, it’s understandable that there were many less gold, silver, and copper companies that could pony up the expenses to fly their teams to Vancouver, pay for pricey hotels, and then have booths at the VRIC for 2024.
That being said, the companies that were in attendance were the ones still able to access the capital markets, that had budgets to do meaningful work in 2024, and they were basically the attendees at the survivor’s ball. It was great being able to walk around the conference floor and walk up directly to get the skinny on recent company news, work plans for the year to come, sector specific insights on the underlying commodities, and really get quality time in with the management teams or IR professionals in their respective booths.
There were definitely not throngs of investors piled around each booth, so it’s clear we are far cry from toppy frothy markets, for the gold, silver, copper, and critical minerals companies. This is actually ideal, because the time to be positioning in companies is when they are oversold and unloved, resource stocks have that in spades.
One bright spot at the VRIC is the focus they put on Yukon-based explorers, developers, and producers, and this year was no exception with the Yukon pavilion based up to the right-hand side of the main event entrance on the conference hall floor.
Investors mingle after one of many Yukon panels concludes during the 2-day VRIC.
During all the hustle and bustle of the event, I admittedly only caught a half-dozen of the key note addresses, but was very impressed with the information shared in the ones attended (also they were a great opportunity to rest my legs after walking around and standing at booths for hours at a time).
Conference host Jay Martin interviews mining legend Ross Beaty of Equinox Gold (EQX), Ivan Bebek of Coppernico Metals, and resource investing guru Rick Rule of Rule Investment Media on the fundamentals and trends within the copper sector.
A VRIC panel from fund managers on how they are constructing their investment portfolios for 2024 for performance through the end of the decade. In addition to gold and copper, panelists included other asset classes like oil and natural gas, bitcoin, real estate, farmland, and water as other markets to follow.
VRIC speaker panel on Gold for 2024, featuring Jay Martin, David Garofalo, Ronnie Stoeferle, Alastair Still, and E.B. Tucker.
Tommy Humphreys, Founder of one of my favorite investing platforms, Ceo.ca
https://ceo.ca/ , shares a very emotional rags-to-riches story, with many embedded lessons on taking risks, persevering, finding the inner fortitude through a solid network, and believing in one’s self.
Shawn Khunkhun, CEO of Dolly Varden Silver (DV.V) (DOLLF), presents their company value proposition to investors at one of the additional stages at the VRIC.
One of the better meetings outside of the VRIC that I personally attended was the breakfast meeting hosted by the Metallic Group of companies: Metallic Minerals (MMG.V) (MMNGF), Stillwater Critical Minerals (PGE.V) (PGEZF), and Granite Creek Copper (GCX.V) (GCXXF).
Tim Johnson, Greg Johnson, Mike Rowley, and Scott Petsel of the Metallic Group of Companies presenting at a VRIC breakout breakfast event the morning of Jan 22nd.
Summarizing the Vancouver Resource Investor Conference, there was great value to be had attending the event again this year, and I’ll definitely plan to be there again next year. There is a cumulative value in absorbing the various keynote presentations, numerous company presentations, the access to company management teams at their respective booths, and all the networking with investors in the attendance. With the who’s who of resource investing all in town for this event, there is also value in all the other related meetings outside of the conference halls for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and impromptu or planned meetings off-campus. One thing is for sure… everyone circulating the overall conference got their steps in for the week and left fatigued from all the discussions and meetings crammed into just a few days.
Watch for video replays from the conference on the VRIC YouTube page.
https://www.youtube.com/@vricconference/videos
Additionally, I happened to be staying in the Pan Pacific hotel near all the conference action, which was hosting the AME Roundup event, just getting underway as the VRIC was wrapping up. I got to talk with a number of attendees the first 2 days riding elevators and milling about in hotel lobby and conference welcome area, and see first-hand the throngs of geologists, prospectors, service providers, and all-around rock nerds flooding into that more technical event.
January conference season in Vancouver was definitely well-attended to kick off 2024.
*In full disclosure I am a shareholder, at the time of this writing, in some of the companies featured in this write up like Goliath Resources, Blackrock Silver, Equinox Gold, Dolly Varden, Metallic Minerals, and Stillwater Critical Minerals.