H Widdup on the Diggers and Dealers vibe | Australian Markets

Some people get all the enjoyable.

While I slave away in the workplace, Hedley Widdup – chief investment officer of useful resource fund LSX – has been off adventuring in Western Australia.

Is he on the market in the bush, battling snakes and heat and dingo bites?

Not this time. He’s been holed up in Kalgoorlie for the annual Diggers and Dealers mining convention.

This is the place the movers and shakers in the industry get collectively.

The arduous half is getting a resort room in the city! It’s a promote out yearly.

And contemplating the run in gold stocks recently, no doubt it was buzzing.

I requested Hedley to offer us a bit of insight about the vibe over there.

He instructed me…

“Many of the gold producers are talking about process plant expansions – they are looking ahead to being larger producers, and this brings established gold resource positions into strategic gaze – companies that own resources, but aren’t producing, are suddenly potential targets.

“Just check out Warriedar ($WA8) – take over announced a couple of weeks ago.

“This coincides with junior golds having (as a group) performed more strongly than producers in CY 2025.

“The pattern of fund raisings points to some vogue coming back to gold juniors, who are a long way behind!”

Hedley additionally prompt I share this chart from his quarterly letter.

This is a visible on how small junior stocks are starting to rumble.

I began getting publicity to this theme about 18-24 months in the past.

But I’m not promoting anytime quickly.

When I look back on errors I’ve remodeled the years, it’s often round being too impatient and short time period.

I reckon we’ve a humdinger of a gold bull market on the playing cards, with a long solution to go.

That jogs my memory…

Did you see this bit of news?

“The U.S. government’s gross national debt has surpassed $37 trillion, a record number that highlights the accelerating debt on America’s balance sheet and increased cost pressures on taxpayers.”

Trump was going to get this down, wasn’t he? That’s what he stated, anyway, in his election marketing campaign.

More doubtless, he simply instructed the crowd what they wished to listen to to get the high job.

I imply, why fear?

Trump bullshit apart, right here’s why you and I care.

Gold tends to observe US national debt / money provide.

They’re solely going a method…that’s up!

That offers me confidence we’re in a structural gold bull market.

This ought to keep the gold price trending increased over time. That’s the first, and most important, element of using a useful resource bull.

Then we’ve the state of the gold mining industry.

It’s acquired huge money flows presently. Excellent.

However, a quirk of the present cycle is how hammered the junior mining space acquired in the final three years.

It’s solely recovering now.

Mining juniors have very long timelines too.

They have to search out a deposit…assess it…finance it…construct it…and transfer into manufacturing.

It all takes years. But the positive factors will be enormous, should you can back the proper project and it goes all the method, with a commodity price tailwind at its back.

It’s all there for gold. Now we simply need to see how it performs out. It’s going to take years.

Nothing goes up in a straight line. Surely sooner or later the market will take a look at gold bull conviction in some way.

We’ll see.

Regardless, the alternative is just too good to move up, in my guide.

It’s additionally fascinating to notice that two current, and separate, reviews inform me that China is accumulating oil and nickel for his or her strategic reserve. Even their imports of iron ore keep holding the line.

Why they’re doing this isn’t clear.

It might be to take benefit of low costs. It might be for navy or defence functions. Or one thing else. Your guess is pretty much as good as mine.

Europe and the USA are spending huge on their militaries too. All of it feeds demand for commodities – and makes their strategic worth more acute.

Most wars are about assets and land, all through historical past. Now is no totally different.

I’d urge you to observe mining insiders like our own James Cooper as they scour the Aussie market for the most promising junior mining prospects. You can be taught more about what’s occurring right here.

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Source: Tradingview

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Now that Trumps tariffs are beginning to take form, the market can begin attempting to determine what the long-term ramifications might be.

Inflation information launched in the US in a single day didn’t trace at a coming inflation tsunami as a end result of the tariffs.

But maybe it’s too early to make a judgment on that entrance.

Rising costs typically results in much less demand, so maybe shoppers will vote with their wallets, by slamming them shut.

The US Dollar Index [TVC:DXY] stays in a precarious state, with the current spike to 100.00 assembly stiff resistance.

The US Dollar has had its worst begin to a yr since 1973.

After such a giant fall there’s all the time the chance of a short squeeze that might see the US greenback spike quickly.

In the chart above I’ve positioned a inexperienced box between 101.00-102.00. Above there I believe the prospects of the US greenback rising additional will increase.

But as long as the US greenback stays under there the bearish outlook stays.

The long-term development is down, and costs stay under the 10-month EMA (Exponential Moving Average).

The low of the entire sell-off since the begin of the yr is at 96.37.

A failure under that degree might see a sharp fall.

How the US greenback behaves in the main buy zone between 92.5-95.5 might be important to watch. If the consumers don’t step in we may even see the US greenback stunning to the draw back which might see commodities take off like a rocket.