Research Needed: Minor Metals

New York, NY – SeekingAlpha reports on the Minor Metals and Rare Earth Conference recently held in Hong Kong. The total size of the entire minor metals market is less than 4% of the copper market, with small-cap names dominating the sector. Most of the commodities in this sector are not traded on the LME or other exchanges, and thus it is quite difficult for the average investor to take a position. Furthermore, many of the countries that play a major role in producing these metals, such as the Congo or China, have economic and political systems that are quite opaque to Western investors. Nevertheless, these metals are increasingly important in a range of high-tech and industrial applications.

The lack of knowledge, small size of exposed companies, political and other risks, and unpredictability of future demand all combine to create an inefficient market. While risky, this may be a market wherein a well-informed investor could find valuable opportunities.

Integrity Research specializes in connecting investors to the best information available. Recently, the team at Integrity Research was engaged by a client to conduct a ResearchSelect® study for one specific commodity within the minor metals market. The commodity in question is fairly obscure, and there is very little reliable market information available from traditional, widely-read sources. Even among metals experts, we found that some of the most well known names in the field could not adequately address our client’s needs.

However, we were able to uncover a small and select number of industry experts, consultants, and analysts who had deep knowledge of this specific market. None of the research in this space fits into the traditional BUY/SELL/HOLD model; rather, the research providers we found would offer a range of alternative services to investors: they could provide considered evaluations of existing and potential projects, conduct a proprietary market study, produce targeted pricing and production datasets that address the investor’s specific concerns, forecast drivers of demand and supply, or simply make themselves available as expert ad hoc consultants. We believe that this highly tailored set of alternative research sources gives our client the best information available on the commodity in question.

The minor metals industry is a good demonstration of Integrity’s thesis that investment research is a long tail market, and that a great deal of additional value is to be found among niche experts and services. Whatever the investment opportunity in question, Integrity can find highly targeted and deep-dive research on the topic.