Mining
How to Avoid Common Mistakes With Mining Stocks (Part 1: Team)
For investors and speculators focused on growth, there is nothing more exciting than watching a stock go “on a run” for a big return.
Junior mining stocks, which are small publicly-traded companies that are aiming to make big discoveries, are well-known for being extremely high in both risk and reward.
But with a universe of thousands of available companies out there, how does an investor even begin to evaluate opportunities in this sector?
An Investor Checklist
We’ve partnered with Eclipse Gold Mining on an infographic series to show you how to avoid common mistakes when evaluating and investing in mining exploration stocks.
Part 1 of the series focuses on what to look for in a management team, including the types of characters you’ll want to avoid!
If you’ve ever researched mining exploration stocks before, it doesn’t take long to realize that every company will talk about how “great” their team is.
Here’s a few steps to ensure that the team is actually great — and not filled with pretenders.
Management Team Checklist
Step 1: Avoid the Bad Characters
The mining stock universe can be filled with interesting and amusing characters, but many of them are not there to generate you a return. Here are the personas you should aim to avoid:
- The Close-ologist
Funds new enterprises by staking land around a project that the market currently finds exciting. - The Trend Chaser
Jumps from industry to industry, or mineral to mineral, to chase the market’s flavor of the week. - The Pump n’ Dumper
Accumulates stock at insanely low prices, raises money, and then uses gray-area promotional strategies. Sells stock as soon as price is high enough to make a profit. - The Commodity Collector
Builds up an extensive list of ongoing assets and projects, thinking that this reduces risk. But really, it just reduces focus. - The Lifestyle Executive
Uses shareholder money almost exclusively to fund the salaries of management and other G&A expenses. Almost no actual work gets done. - The Optimistic Geologist
This is usually the pet project of a geologist, and the project may have some merit. However, time is the enemy of the Optimistic Geologist.
It’s also not impossible for CEOs to exhibit two or more of these personas at once, so beware.
Step 2: Traits You Want to See
Examine the management team and the board of directors, and dig deep into their history. Here’s what you want to actually see:
Wanted Traits | Description |
---|---|
A clear vision | Management has articulated a clear vision for the company and how it will create value for shareholders. |
Winning track record | Management has made previous discoveries and has successfully exited companies in the past, taking shareholders along for the ride. |
Skin in the game" | Simply put, management owns sufficient shares of the company (not just options) and has the incentive to succeed. |
Transparency | Management has a history of integrity, being honest with shareholders in every circumstance. |
Relevant expertise | Management has hired a team that has relevant experience, knowledge, and connections that can help advance the vision. |
Business mindset | Management has a plan to generate ROI for shareholders and knows how to execute on that plan. |
Step 3: Past Performance
Finally, look to see how the management team in question has handled situations in the past. The following questions will help you evaluate:
- Have they been able to consistently fund projects in the past, even in bad markets, without overdiluting shareholders?
- Is the team well-rounded? Do they have expertise covering multiple fields?
- Did they do what they said they’d do, while sticking to timelines?
- Does the team have connections to major mining companies, major banks, or other important institutions?
- Has the team successfully exited from their previous ventures?
The De-risking Imperative
You can’t control everything that happens in the market.
But by successfully de-risking each management team with these criteria, you can better your odds at success in a high-risk, high-reward market.
This is part 1 of a five-part series on common mistakes made by investors when evaluating mining exploration stocks. Stay tuned for the upcoming parts in the series, covering other topics like jurisdiction, project quality, and more.
Energy
Visualizing U.S. Consumption of Fuel and Materials per Capita
Wealthy countries consume large amounts of natural resources per capita, and the U.S. is no exception. See how much is used per person.

Visualizing U.S. Consumption of Fuel and Materials per Capita
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.
Wealthy countries consume massive amounts of natural resources per capita, and the United States is no exception.
According to data from the National Mining Association, each American needs more than 39,000 pounds (17,700 kg) of minerals and fossil fuels annually to maintain their standard of living.
Materials We Need to Build
Every building around us and every sidewalk we walk on is made of sand, steel, and cement.
As a result, these materials lead consumption per capita in the United States. On average, each person in America drives the demand of over 10,000 lbs of stone and around 7,000 lbs of sand and gravel per year.
Material/Fossil Fuel | Pounds Per Person |
---|---|
Stone | 10,643 |
Natural Gas | 9,456 |
Sand, Gravel | 7,088 |
Petroleum Products | 6,527 |
Coal | 3,290 |
Cement | 724 |
Other Nonmetals | 569 |
Salt | 359 |
Iron Ore | 239 |
Phosphate Rock | 166 |
Sulfur | 66 |
Potash | 49 |
Soda Ash | 36 |
Bauxite (Aluminum) | 24 |
Other Metals | 21 |
Copper | 13 |
Lead | 11 |
Zinc | 6 |
Manganese | 4 |
Total | 39,291 |
The construction industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economy.
Crushed stone, sand, gravel, and other construction aggregates represent half of the industrial minerals produced in the country, resulting in $29 billion in revenue per year.
Also on the list are crucial hard metals such as copper, aluminum, iron ore, and of course many rarer metals used in smaller quantities each year. These rarer metals can make a big economic difference even when their uses are more concentrated and isolated—for example, palladium (primarily used in catalytic converters) costs $54 million per tonne.
Fuels Powering our Lives
Despite ongoing efforts to fight climate change and reduce carbon emissions, each person in the U.S. uses over 19,000 lbs of fossil fuels per year.
Gasoline is the most consumed petroleum product in the United States.
In 2021, finished motor gasoline consumption averaged about 369 million gallons per day, equal to about 44% of total U.S. petroleum use. Distillate fuel oil (20%), hydrocarbon gas liquids (17%), and jet fuel (7%) were the next most important uses.
Reliance on Other Countries
Over the past three decades, the United States has become reliant on foreign sources to meet domestic demand for minerals and fossil fuels. Today, the country is 100% import-reliant for 17 mineral commodities and at least 50% for 30 others.
In order to reduce the dependency on other countries, namely China, the Biden administration has been working to diversify supply chains in critical minerals. This includes strengthening alliances with other countries such as Australia, India, and Japan.
However, questions still remain about how soon these policies can make an impact, and the degree to which they can ultimately help localize and diversify supply chains.
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