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Mining Monthly: May Edition

What you need to know:
• May was silver’s time to shine, hitting 12-year highs up 13.7% on the month, significantly outperforming gold and other metals. The silver equities also followed suit, up 13.4%.
• Gold and copper posted smaller gains, despite both metals setting all-time highs mid-month, closing up 0.2% and 1.7%, respectively.
• We continue to be highly bullish on the metals and mining sector as the continued outperformance of broader markets will attract more and more generalist investors, adding fuel to the fire.

Sentiment Update
Following a breakout month in March, gold performed similarly to the month of April, surging to new all-time highs in May at $2,450/oz and then losing steam closing up just 0.2% on the month at $2,328/oz. The GDX and GDXJ outperformed the metal as investors play catchup, up 6.7% and 11.6%, respectively. However, silver made a big move this month, separating itself from gold, up 13.7% to $30.4/oz and hitting a 12-year high of $32.3/oz intra-month. The silver equities were in line with the metal, up 13.4%, and notably, the best performers in the sector were all silver companies (see table on the left). Copper also hit new all-time highs in the month hitting $5.20/lb and then settling down and closing the month at $4.60/lb (+1.7% on the month). This builds on the breakout month in April where the copper price was up 13%. Copper equities outperformed, being up 5.2% in May. Mining equities outperformed broader indices as the S&P500 and TSX were up 2.3% and 5.2%, respectively.

Following April where battery metals bounced off lows, the month of May was mixed and a definitive direction for this sector has not yet set in. We see many investment opportunities in the battery metals space, however, are proceeding cautiously as we await a more definitive bottom (see Performance by Commodity section below for pricing data).

We continue to be excited by the metals and mining space as the unrelenting outperformance in the metal’s prices and the subsequent strong performance of the mining equities, continue to catch eyeballs and drive more money into the sector, accelerating the momentum which we believe could last long into the future.