Why Beginners Shouldn’t Fear Resource Stocks — Richard Hemming Explains

Resource Stocks for 2026: Gold, Silver, Lithium & Uranium

with Richard Hemming

I’m joined by Richard Hemming, founder of Under the Radar Report, for a wide‑ranging conversation about the resource stocks shaping 2026. If you’ve ever felt unsure about investing in miners, this episode is designed to give beginners clarity, confidence and a practical framework for thinking about commodities.

Richard explains why resources deserve a place in almost every portfolio, how to size positions sensibly, and why the biggest mistake beginners make is avoiding the sector altogether. We explore the major themes driving gold, silver, copper, lithium and uranium, and why each commodity behaves differently depending on global demand, supply constraints and long‑term structural trends.

We also discuss specific companies including Evolution Mining, Northern Star, Romelius, Pantoro, Sun Silver, South32, Capstone Copper, Pilbara Minerals, Liontown Resources and Paladin Energy. Richard shares how he evaluates quality in mining stocks, why costs and grades matter, and how to use rebalancing to take emotion out of investing.

Whether you’re curious about the silver supercycle, wondering if lithium still has legs, or trying to understand uranium’s resurgence, this episode offers grounded, beginner‑friendly insights backed by real companies and real stories.

New episodes every Wednesday - helping beginners understand the stock market through real companies and real stories.

TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS AFTER THIS BRIEF MESSAGE

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Phil: G' day and welcome back to Shares for Beginners. I'm Phil Muscatello. Which are the resource companies that you should think about buying and why should you own them? What are the commodities that are maybe possibly poised to outperform? Joining me today to look under the radar and under the hood is Richard Hemming. Hello, Richard.

Richard: Hi, Phil. It's a pleasure to join you again on the program.

Phil: Great to have you back again. And I'm incredibly excited today because we're recording on the 13th of Feb, which is just about close to being the seventh anniversary of this podcast. And I can't believe what an incredible journey it's been.

Richard: It's always special to be talking, and it's especially special to be talking about stocks. And to be talking about you is a big bonus.

Phil: And we're talking nothing but stocks, stocks and more stocks. Yeah. So, Richard, the stocks we're going to be talking about is, uh, resource stocks.

Richard: That's right, yeah.

Phil: We're just talking nothing but resources today, which is incredible because I think it's kind of something. When I first started the podcast, I was kind of afraid of the resource sector apart from the big companies, but we're looking at the medium and the small fry as well. So why should beginners consider owning resource stocks right now?

Richard: I think a mistake a lot of people make is being scared of resources because they don't like the lack of control that commodities represent. You know, like you've got the biggest companies in the world, bhp, but one of the reasons it trades on sort of a lower than average multiple is because there's so much uncertainty about where the commodities price will be. And that of course dictates their earnings. But ultimately you need to own exposure, you need exposure to resources in your portfolio because that gives you access to global economic growth and more to the point, the big trends in global economic growth, because, you know, for example, bhp, Rio Tinto and the like have been pouring literally billions and billions and billions of dollars into copper and There's a reason for that, and it's because copper is an irreplaceable commodity for the electrification, for industrialization, for everything. So you're getting exposure to that trend. And I think it's important for any portfolio to have access to big trends like that.

Phil: It's interesting that you say that resource companies, uh, are uh, frightening to people because they're really just exposed to the price of the commodity, aren't they? There's nothing else that really affects the operation apart from that.

Richard: Lots of fund managers, like, you know, I've been in, worked in fund managers and lots of them are just fearful. Like these are some of the smartest guys I know, but they say, I don't understand mining, so I'm not going to invest in it. Whereas I've always taken the view you can't afford not to be invested in it. There's swings and roundabouts, sure. And that comes back to your, uh, perception of value. But one of the things that I've always done under the radar report is make sure I employ very smart people on the resources side. Because really, and you'll have to forgive me, Phil, but they're worth their weight in gold. I mean, it's a very technical area, sure, but it's not that complicated. You're looking to find the lowest cost producers and you're looking to find people who can grow production. So really there are complications. There's more macro themes that run through them. I don't think it's an area you can afford not to be invested in commodities in some way, shape or form. That's my view.

Phil: So how much of a portfolio should beginners allocate to, to resources?

Richard: Well, I know this is beginners, but I think this goes across the board and I like to just keep things simple. I think people get wound up in our industry by over complicating things. And I look at, in, in my portfolio just having 25% in any given sector and maybe no more than 10% in any given stock. So that is kind of a, uh, the litmus test. So. And I would put resources in that basket. I wouldn't necessarily include the contractors or the resource services companies. I don't necessarily include them in that basket. Well, I don't. So I don't include them in that basket because of various reasons. But yeah, I don't think you want to be necessarily too overweight. But my maximum weighting would be 25%

00:05:00

Richard: in resources.

Phil: I've been having this discussion. Or any sector. That's right, you want to just have some diversification. That's okay. You can interrupt me at any time that you like. I've been having this discussion with other analysts at the moment and they look at things like gold or silver or other commodities as having no intrinsic value. They say it's like Bitcoin. But then if you're talking about the companies that are extracting these commodities or minerals, they are actually businesses as well that can be valued. Do you have a view on this kind of thinking?

Richard: I don't agree that they don't have a value. I don't agree. I think you have a risk continuum, right. So at one end of the spectrum you've got like going to the races and betting on a horse. And then just above that you might have bitcoin, which to varying degrees you know, could be investable but it's very early stage. And then just above that on the continuum you would have like exploration where there is extremely high risk or whether it's biotech or exploration in mining. Then you get to developers, producers, the list goes on. But it's all about risk, isn't it? It's all about. And you're saying, well uh, we did a big silver report. Silver is definitely productive, very productive. Like the point about silver is it is an industrial commodity and a precious metal, both cases. And the point about gold is that you know, it's been around for millennia as a store of value. You know, like you can't just ignore, you cannot ignore that. And like I look at some of these gold companies in their most, some of the most profitable machines I've ah, ever seen. Like uh, the cash flow that they produce is unbelievable. Like other companies debts, oh no, maybe a bad thing. But for these companies they actually you, you can work leverage much better. And they, they do and have work to leverage a lot better. So you know, I just disagree that they don't have their economic place. I disagree completely. Especially in the case of silver, which is like the most conductive metal there is.

Phil: Yeah. I've been watching the silver price because I do have a small um, weighting in my portfolio of a couple of silver companies.

Richard: Oh, that's good.

Phil: Yeah, yeah. I had some good advice from a friend in the industry who's been waiting for the latest, what is it, 30 year silver super cycle that uh, we're apparently playing out at the moment. But I think what's happening is a lot of the, well it seems to be is that a lot of the producers and developers of silver resources are still not reflecting the upside in the price that silver has gone through. And while we might not be still looking at $120 US silver, even at $50 US silver, um. Is that the way you're viewing it, that even at $50 or $40 silver?

Richard: I think it's close to that.

Phil: It's still an attractive, attractive.

Richard: Sorry, I think it's closer to $80.

Phil: I know at the moment. But even if it was to drop to $50, for example, there would still be um, a compelling view for silver miners and explorers.

Richard: Well, I mean silver traditionally has not been much available because it's like a, it's often a byproduct of production. So there's not, hasn't been much focus on silver. And we, we got early on into the gold stocks and indeed the gold product, gold, which we own. So silver is a lot more, I guess recent in the explosion of investor interest. But like one of the first stocks that I made a lot of money from was called Bolnesi Gold. But they're actually a silver developer. And the point about it is, is that they had a great, great resource and they were able to develop that resource. And that's one of the stock that we look at, we're looking at at the moment. We've just commenced coverage of Sun Sun Silver SS1. Like they have a fantastic resource in a very, a very good location in Nevada. So a, uh, relatively low risk location, prospective location. And my mining analyst has done a lot of work on the metallurgy and the grade and he says it ticks the boxes. Now they're three years away from production Philippines. So that's a long time. So that is a long time. So there's a lot of, there's risk there. And yes, if the silver price goes down, they've gone from 1 to $2. Their price will be volatile if you're not looking for that volatility or if you're not a real silver bull. But you do recognize the importance of silver. Well, you might buy South32. Silver's about 10% of their earnings at the moment, maybe slightly less, but that's probably going to go up to 15%, you know, on the current trajectory. So there are other ways of playing themes

00:10:00

Richard: like, uh, I'll go on about copper. Well, you might own BHP or Rio Tinto or we took a bet on Capstone Copper and now we're taking profits. So it just depends how much risk you're willing to take in your portfolio as to how you want to play the thematics. We're talking about Phil So, uh, if.

Phil: You'Re taking profits on Capstone, what helped you to decide when to take profits? Because that's always the big question. You buy something, something, and it goes well. But when do you know to sell?

Richard: Well, one of the big things we do here at under the Radar Report is sleep. We're good sleepers. Why are we good sleepers? Because we just take our costs out and let our profits run. One of the mistakes I've made in the past is just holding on, holding on and just thinking the good times will keep going and not recognizing, like, the wood for the trees when it came to the lithium price, like, for example, and like, I'm still sitting on big gains, but, you know, sure, I should have cashed out earlier. And that's when it comes back to looking at your portfolio's balance and how, like what I said before, how you want those sort of moves in your portfolio to go from, say, 2% of your portfolio with Capstone Copper. So it got to 10, 8 or 9, I, uh, can't remember 9% of the portfolio. And then we thought, right, we're going to, we're going to take it back, prune it back to be 4 or 4% of the portfolio in this case. So that's what I'm talking about. But also, Phil, like having a resources analyst, we did analysis on the copper price and we were saying, okay, copper's in a very good space, but, you know, we're not sure that it could keep going ad infinitum. And we're, we're saying, okay, it's done really well and the big companies are certainly benefiting, but maybe it's time to take profits. And one of those places where you can take profits is these more focused companies, because, okay, they're not necessarily going to be companies you're going to hold forever, like a bhp, a Rio Tinto or a CBA nab. You know, these are not necessarily ones you want to be in your core portfolio. These are ones where you're necessarily going to be profiting from because you're not buying them for dividends. You're not buying them, buying them for, I guess, for that forever. You're saying this is sort of at some point of speculation. The point of the speculation is to profit from it, is to take profits.

Phil: Take control of your investments. Sharesite has you covered. It's Investopedia's number one tracking tool for DIY investors get four months free on an annual premium plan@sharesite.com sharesforbeginners. So I guess It's a function as well of the sizing in the portfolio as well as how far you think it's going to run. Is that the case?

Richard: Well, that's more, yeah, because you're forced. Like rebalancing your portfolio regularly means you take a lot of the emotion out. So who knows how far these things, these commodities are going to go. Like, what I was saying before Phil was I learned from holding on to lithium for too long. We've seen some of these commodities bounce again to levels that they were. And we're saying, well, like in another example, uranium. Well, it's back around $100 a pound. We've seen this scenario before. We think it might be time to take a bit of risk off the table. I think that's really important when it comes to investing in mining is buying cheap. That's what you always want to do. But then when do you sell? And you sell when you've made some good money and you can afford to take your costs out and you've still got a position, such an individual. Individual.

Phil: It is. It's up to yourself in your own psychology and everything. And it's like, uh. But it's like you said, it's good to be able to get your original investment out and then just let the rest run. And, you know, in the end, you haven't lost any money either way.

Richard: Well, I like sleeping and I don't, uh. And I like playing with house money. I used to love going to the casino when I was winning, and I didn't like when I was losing, so I just cut my losses and walk out. But there's nothing like when you're playing with house money. It's the best feeling in the world, Phil.

Phil: Okay, so we promised the listener, uh, stocks, stocks, and more stocks.

Richard: We've been talking some stocks already.

Phil: Yeah, yeah, we have been. But gold, which has been your main focus, which we've discussed, and specifically Evolution Mining, Northern Star, Ramelius and Pantoro. Why are they standouts for you? And I'm sure that's all to do with your fabulous mining analyst, Peter.

Richard: Definitely. We've been taking profits in Evolution and Northern Star. These are companies that have gone from being those marginal companies that I was talking about. Like, you know, when I first looked at them, they were cheap. They had, like, one mine, and they were just focused on growing those mines, and they just really did

00:15:00

Richard: well over time. But now, like, you know, like Evolution fill, it's like close to a million ounces, if not over a million ounces after they bought the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, and Northern Star is close to a million ounces. Evolution's about 800,000 ounces, and northern Star owns a Super Pit. But what I'm saying is these are big, sizable companies that have moved from being those kind of speculative growth companies to being sort of more core companies in our portfolio. So we reduced our holding from 25% to. To around 15% in those stocks. So they're still a good part of the portfolio. Ramelius is a lot smaller at around 300,000. And that's like where these companies were seven or eight years ago. So we've got. Got a buy on Ramelius, and that's why we're more positive because, you know, like, they've earned their position. Like, I've watched them, we watched them for a long time. We like their growth profile. And they've been making the right moves. They've had hiccups. The one that I. I think probably one of the best value gold stocks. There are other gold stocks we cover. But Pantoro is interesting because it's a bit of a. I've covered Pantor. I've looked at Pantoro for a long time, Phil, because I love. I love Spanish and I love the name Pantoro. That's what initially attracted it to me. But I thought they had their great foot on something in the Norseman. And it's been, uh, a troubled existence. Like, they've got a very fertile area, multiple mines, but it's really just one mine site. So there is risk, but they are ramping up. Production costs are coming down. Because, remember, what we're talking about in mining is about scale. So people talk about unit costs, and the bigger miners are often the better. The lowest cost miners. Why is that? Because they're producing the most. The most ore, so they get their unit costs the lowest. That's. That's the case with Rio Tinto and bh, especially in iron ore. And that's the case with these other companies in gold. But what investing is about is improvement. So, like, you know, Pantoro's, uh, I've got around 80,000 ounces, but it's projected to get to 100,000 ounces. So that's good production growth. So. And it's. And it's good value. So I like. That's one story we like.

Phil: And do you think generally that the prices of these companies are fully reflecting the value of gold at the moment?

Richard: Well, you're getting leverage with a gold miner. Uh, and because you're getting access to the gold price. Well, like for example, the gold price is. It's gone up fivefold, I think over the past sort of decade or something. Whereas some of these stocks that I'm talking about, Northern Star Evolution, they've gone up tenfold. So they've gone up twice as much. Like really there is a lot of uncertainty. Mining is a tough, tough business. It doesn't get tougher than mining. You look at the mining economics of the, you know, they're extracting grams per tonne. Just think it's got the strip that's after the strip ratio. Mining is very, very tough, highly uncertain. So you're going to pay a premium for people that are good at it. So I'm saying you're paying a premium for an evolution for Northern Star and you're paying a discount to that, to Pantoro. Like there is leverage on the gold price, but yeah, they earn the rating that they're given by the market over time.

Phil: Okay, well, let's move on to silver. And we've spoken about Sun Silver before in their mine in Nevada. I guess part of this is the value of the underlying commodity as well.

Richard: As part of it.

Phil: Yeah, yeah, that's part of it. But also the critical minerals and the legislation that may be coming into effect in the United States. Are you taking that into your view of silver and its price? Especially as. Because it is a critical mineral.

Richard: I think that just goes into why we think that the price rises. Exactly, Phil. Why the price rise is sustainable. Like we did. Wait, we'd looked at Sun Silver, but then the silver price just went so crazy that we just had to pull back. We had to pull back. We didn't. And then we saw the bubble puncture to some degree and we thought, okay, it's time to get our feet wet. Toe wet.

Phil: Yeah. It's because it's so volatile, the price of silver at the moment. I mean it went up to 120, then it went down to 70 something, then it went up to the 80s. And I think overnight it's just dropped another 10%. But there is a lot of volatility there. But that can scare people off as well.

Richard: Yeah, but you gotta remember when they're doing their mining and they're working on projects that volatility, they've got their basic assumptions, as you were alluding to before, on um, what their cost, what their costs are going to be and what kind of unit cost they've got and relate that to the silver price. And I imagine Sun Silver was, you know, they're going to be profitable at $50 upwards. It's just a long way between drinks for them. It's like they've got like three years into production, so there's a long, a

00:20:00

Richard: lot of water to go under the bridge. But what we like is their resource, their huge resource. Like it's like 500 million ounces, one of the world's biggest resources. They're in a stable mining jurisdiction, so they can work that into a reserve. The grade and the metallurgy make sense for us. So we're saying it's a calculated bet. But as I say, you know, it's, it ranks the highest in terms of risk in our spectrum. So it's one of the riskiest stocks that we cover. But we're in the business of looking at risk. And like, if you're comfortable with that risk, we think Sun Silver is a good stock. And you've got to remember as well is that what we're also finding is that gold and silver unpredictable. But argue, uh, I would argue that the world's even more unpredictable. Right. And what we've seen is silver is being used as a hedge as well as gold. So to hedge against that unpredictability. And that's been, you know, evidence through buying from different central banks. So I'm just saying there's good cases for silver, but it could fall 10%, it could fall 20%, who's to know? But we're in the business of looking at assets and we like the asset that they're building in Nevada by Sun Silver or that Sun Silver is building in Nevada.

Phil: Is there a case for, uh, gaining exposure to silver miners, for example, through an etf? Like, I think there's one, isn't there? SILJ might be in the US or.

Richard: Here, I'm not sure we like broader indexed based ETFs. When it comes to nationed ETFs, I'm a bit of a skeptic. So I think ETFs have their place, but it's not necessarily in a niche.

Phil: Uh, interesting. It is a way of getting exposure. If maybe you do feel like you just want to look at the total market rather than a single small. I think the exposure.

Richard: Yeah, a better exposure for mine would be South 32.

Phil: Okay, let's get back to lithium. Is this still high risk and what's your view on Pilbara and Liontown in this space?

Richard: Well, we call, you know, unlike those other commodities, we, we sort of put lithium and nuclear in the, or uranium in the basket of the Boom, bust sort of world, like the fundamentals are improving. You know, it's early stage and we've seen a big shakeout in the space. And I think like we've been taking profits in the likes of Pilbara because I think we've seen lithium bounce, but it's a long way from where it was four years ago. But definitely, definitely. I think you've got to be a bit circumspect with these, with these companies. Pilbara Minerals is the flagship company that we've backed. What that means is they're a relatively big producer, they've got a great position on the cost curve, a significant resource and a good mine life. So they tick the quality boxes. But you know, we're not lithium bulls after the bounce. And we used that to, you know, we saw the big gains that we'd made in Pilbara and we took some profits. In contrast with Liontown, we're much more bearish. Like there are higher cost producers still ramping up and there's a reasonable amount of debt. So you know, some of these higher risk options can really work. They can really make you a lot of money when the price goes up because the price could well be factoring in them not succeeding and then the price goes up, then the underlying commodity price goes up and then it's off to the races. But we don't sort of play that game. Well, having said that, we, you know, I, ah, just advocated sun silver, but uh, we prefer Pilbara Minerals in that space.

Phil: What do you think about the long term prospects for lithium as a commodity? I mean it is something that's pretty easily extracted. But isn't it also to do with how it's processed as well and if it, if it's possible to process it in, you know, countries with reasonable environmental standards?

Richard: I think, I think it's definitely difficult to process. You've got hard rock, you've got brackish or salt based lithium production in South America. And like I remember looking at Oracobra all those years and they had problem after problem after problem in their Argentinian production process, which they got right eventually. But I'm just, yeah, often with commodities that involve a lot of processing, like we've seen that in rare earths. You see that time and time again. This is one of the very real risks in mining. So I guess one of our areas of comfort is that we like to back a proven performer and Pilbara Minerals is a proven performer. But definitely there's good thematics running behind lithium, like with EV sales globally, but you know you can and, but you've seen Chinese supply disruptions. It's a very opaque market. So I guess the lithium market's

00:25:00

Richard: a lot more opaque than the other markets we've talked about. So you've got to be a bit circumspect, don't you? And that's why I think in the past I was wrong to hold on and not take profits. And I'm kind of being a bit more conservative in my, a bit down shy. Well, you know, like a lot of investing is like, oh, I uh, wish I'd sold or I wish I'd done that. Whereas, um, the point that I'm trying to make to you is that rebalancing your portfolio helps you take that kind of emotion out. And it means that you can know that you've banked some profits and you'll live to fight another day.

Phil: Uh, and you'll sleep well.

Richard: I put a big premium on sleeping, Phil.

Phil: I know. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

Richard: Super is one of the most important investments you'll ever make. But how do you know if you're in the best fund for your situation? Head to lifesherpa.com to find out more. Lifesherpa, uh, Australia's most affordable online financial advice.

Phil: Okay, well, let's have a look at uranium. And I guess the narrative with uranium now is because suddenly we're going to have incredible requirements for energy, for large data centers, for artificial intelligence and LLMs and so forth and that, you know, uranium is now going to be the star producer of energy apparently somewhere.

Richard: Well, I think it's definitely its usage cases improved and, and there's a lot more talk about it. But these so called SMRs or small modular reactors, I don't think they're actually in existence yet or you know, they've been talked up, haven't they? And talked up and talked up.

Phil: But look, I think uh, actually we have looked at one company, it's called SMR in the United States which is building small models modular reactors and is the only one licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission. Anyway, having said that, it might not be a good investment for many reasons.

Richard: Oh, um, well, there's lots of ways to play, you know, like we've, we've looked at Silex, we've invested in Silex Systems and that's been quite successful. You know and I think they fell out of bed a bit recently but there's lots of ways to skin. But definitely I think Paladin for us has Been our favorite exposure. But I would say that, like lithium, I think you have to be a bit careful with the uranium price because it's very opaque and like the Kazakh owned biggest producer in the world.

Phil: Yeah, they're the biggest, aren't they? They're the largest producer Kazakhstan.

Richard: Tom from.

Phil: I think Australia could be as well, but that's another story.

Richard: Ah, they're a fair bit ahead in Kazakhstan. Like, they're pretty big, but they've been reducing supply, so cutting supply. So you kind of like, you know, they have these huge impacts on the market. So if the price does go up, there's an easy supply response. That's what you're looking at. What's this? Like, the supply response in silver is not very easy. The supply response in iron ore is not very easy, but the supply response in uranium in lithium is easier.

Phil: Do they act a little bit like OPEC with the oil price?

Richard: Oh, yeah, not to that degree, no. But they have had a big influence on the supply, cutting supply. There are still significant percentages of control that they have and it's a lot more contract based. So there's no liquid market. There's no, it's not like traded on the LME or anything like that. So, you know, like, loads of companies have tried and failed in the lithium space in particular. And you just have to be very careful because the market can slip from under you. And what we're saying, what we've been doing is taking profits in some of these options. But definitely as well, what we've seen in the uranium mining space is production problems. And this is like, we've seen huge production problems. We saw, you know, from a lot of rain in Namibia, you know, for Paladin, we saw their, their mine not producing properly and, you know, it got sold off pretty heavily. But we thought, well, this is a buying opportunity because we can see that. And they really. Well, that company. In arresting the problem, Boss Energy had a huge down leg because of production problems. Like this is a big risk in mining. That's why you need to be investing in a few different miners. Because no matter how good the thematics are, as we keep seeing, there are hiccups and that's what makes it scary. And Boss Energy has been smacked. But the key is that those two companies are both in production and can take advantage of rising prices. Whereas another company, we cover Bannerman in Namibia, uh, they're high risk, they're not in production, but they're right at the end of commissioning. So they're, they're close to Production. So that makes them very interesting. So that is a higher risk play that someone you

00:30:00

Richard: know who's got the risk appetite could have a look at. So it just comes back to how much risk appetite you have, Phil, because we're dealing with quite dangerously volatile commodities. On top of that, we've got huge production risks. So it comes down to how well diversified are you in your portfolio. You know, when you're investing, can you afford to lose this money? That puts you in a position to be able to make big profits as well.

Phil: So we've covered copper, haven't we, really, with Capstone?

Richard: Well, I think the big thing about copper, it's the big profit differentiator for the Rio Tinto, but especially bhp, we're seeing lots of M and A in copper. It's a very interesting space, very interesting, like dynamics there. They're climbing over themselves to get increased copper exposure at the big end of town, which tells you something, doesn't it?

Phil: So do you see that dynamic as benefiting copper producers and developers and explorers? Is that everyone else, the bigger companies are trying to acquire them? Is that the tailwind there?

Richard: Oh, uh, well, they're trying to acquire each other. They're going, yeah, I mean, definitely the sandfires of this world are going to, are, uh, benefiting. But that's just a function as well, Phil, of the copper price. And everything's a function of the copper price. But what it is is that they see, these guys at the big miners see things. They're looking across the whole. You know, you take very seriously what they say because they are, uh, like have the eagle's nest view of the world. And sure, they don't get it all right. You know, there's questionable strategies when it comes to lots of things in the past, like Rio Tinto almost blew itself up trying to buy. I think it was our can or aluminum, wasn't it just.

Phil: Yeah, yeah, something like that. That was quite a few years ago.

Richard: And the lithium, they've made big forays into lithium Rio Tinto like as Wesfarmers have. So they're kind of using that diversification strategy that we can do ourselves in our own portfolios. We don't have to put the kind of capitals that they have to. These are the behemoths of this world. All we have to do is say, I might have a go at this and uh, and put a, you know, a few, a couple of percent of my portfolio and see how it goes and let it, let it earn its place. I mean, originally that's what I would have done in Evolution and Northern Star, both very small single mine companies. I liked the cut of the jib of both operators like Jake Klein and Bill Beaman. I thought, oh, uh, these. But you know, I've liked other people in the past and been completely wrong. So you let these mining stocks earn their place in your portfolio. The exception being the big producers and the Evolutions now, whereas before they have their place, but they've got to earn it, they've got to increase the weighting in your portfolio before you, you take profits, before you take advantage of it. You don't want to be putting more money in necessarily.

Phil: Now, uh, you want to play with the house money then, don't you?

Richard: Well, you do, but also the question is, what do you do when they fall, if they go really badly, do you put more money in is what I was alluding to there. And I would say it's just very much on a case by case basis. But you know, I'm always loathe to average down, but I guess professional investment managers, they average down more. I'm happy to just wait and see. Often like when you burned, you burned and it takes you a while to get over it.

Phil: Um, yeah, those emotions, it's easy to.

Richard: Say, I just buy more. It's a very emotional thing investing, isn't it, Phil?

Phil: Yeah. Okay, well, so you've got five tips for portfolio management that we'll discuss in regards to this. And the first two, I think we've covered actually the rebalance and take profits on big winners, haven't we?

Richard: Oh, uh, look, I think it all just comes down to what we've been talking about. Like we've been talking about all these tips. I mean, rebalance.

Phil: Well, we, we haven't uh, talked about reading sector analysis. I think a lot of people like to get a company and they say, okay, I've got it in my portfolio, but then do no other work on it.

Richard: Uh, well, I've been mentioning the sector analysis that we've been doing along the track. When I talked about Copper, I talked about the sector analysis.

Phil: Oh, I think, I think we need to hammer this, I think we need to hammer this point home, Richard.

Richard: Oh, uh, look, you can never do enough read. I'm a compulsive reader. I read everything. There's never enough information for me. Uh, like I love working with people like experts, like the resources, the mining analysts and learning from them. And I love people being able to learn as well. And that's what I mean, really. Mining is as much about the top the macro picture as the micro picture.

Phil: Is that because like if economies are going well, that means more resources benefit.

Richard: Well, that's right, but it's where in the economy it's going. What are those resources that are. I mean nickel's a famous example of. Well, you needed to understand what was happening in the nickel commodity. Like it was flying high but then just got undercut by Indonesian product.

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Richard: So you really do need to understand the technicalities, the bigger picture meaning. Yes, okay, economic growth and the positioning, the electrification that you know. And they use these buzzwords of critical minerals. Yes, that's one thing, but nickel is a critical mineral, but it got completely undermined by massive amounts of product coming from Indonesia. And so you really need to be on top of the, the bigger picture and then on top of that you've got production risk. So that's where diversification comes in. Because no matter how much, I guess research you do, you're going to get sideswiped occasionally in resources. That's just a fact. But the point is as well is that if you've invested not too much, then you haven't got too much to lose. Or if you've invested something and then it's gone up a lot and it's come down a lot. Well, you've learned a lesson. You've learned the rebalancing lesson. Yeah, I mean mining m is a very, very difficult activity and one in which you need to be on top of. And reading sector analysis is mand it's mandatory.

Phil: Okay, so one was rebalance. Two, take profits on big winners. Three, read sector analysis. Four is always look for quality. How do you find that quality? What are some of the things that you. I mean we've been talking about it, but quality is uh, about the management, I guess would have something to do with it. Are you looking for companies that have got good managers?

Richard: Well, I think with quality in mining, it's about costs. Often the lower cost the better.

Phil: Um, is that that AISC figure that we hear about in the mining industry?

Richard: All in sustaining costs? Yeah, yeah, they always talk about that, don't they? And C1 costs and they go crazy on costs. But that's because that's the basis of profitability. And when you talk to miners, mining people, they go on about grade, grade, grade, grade, grade. You want as much fat as you can get and fat means low costs. It means good grades and it means prospectivity ultimately. So I guess there's no one thing, but I guess those are the key, like costs, grades and volume. Those are the Three keys to making money. But then you don't want to be paying too much or you don't want to be pushing all your chips into the middle on something that's a speculative company. And that's what comes down to quality. So what you're looking to do in your portfolio is always be increasing quality. But you've got to sometimes push the boat out a bit. But that doesn't mean putting all your money into it. It just means no.

Phil: But you're finding you're using your own money to find that quality ultimately.

Richard: That's right.

Phil: Some will work and some won't work.

Richard: That's right. You're investing in a few different companies and some. And you're learning as you go and you're profiting as you go and you're basically, it's just a moving feast, especially in the mining game.

Phil: Okay. And the fifth tip in portfolio management is read under the radar reports Best Buys. Tell listeners and viewers about that.

Richard: Well, we don't get them all, right? But when you get enough Best Buys, then some of them invariably do really well. And the point is that these are the ones that we sort of rate as being the best bang for your buck at any given price. So stocks like Appen have gone really well. Like in six months it's like doubled or something. But you know, other, uh, stocks that have been in our, uh, Best Buys haven't done as well. But the point is that at least you've got to start and then you can go from there and, and you can build your own portfolio. And that's what we're trying to help people do.

Phil: And if anyone wants to find out any more information, where can they go?

Richard: Go to our website. And then if you put Shares for Beginners in and we'll get a promo code up, you'll get a discount.

Phil: Oh, fantastic. And that's undertheRadareport, uh, dot com, is that correct?

Richard: That's right, yep.

Phil: Fantastic. Is that the coupon code? Shares for Beginners? All lowercase, one word.

Richard: Yeah.

Phil: Richard, thanks very much for joining me today. It's always a pleasure. Pleasure to speak to you.

Richard: Thanks for having me, Phil.

Richard: Thanks for listening to Shares for Beginners. You can find more at sharesforbeginners. Com. If you enjoy listening, please take a moment to rate or review in your podcast player or tell a friend who might want to learn more about investing for their future.

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