Financial institutions are currently “sleeping” on the potential for mid- and small-cap precious metals miners. But they won’t be for much longer.
The investment world is currently hyper-focused on the AI revolution, specifically AI bottlenecks: the companies that produce the goods and services required for the $600 billion per year AI buildout. And there’s good reason for this: these small, speculative names can return spectacular gains in a short period of time, as our Private Wealth Advisory trading service has shown with Micron Technology (MU), which returned 65% in 21 days; Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS), which returned 74% in just nine days; and Redwire (RDW), which returned a whopping 103% in 40 days.
However, big gains on speculative names don’t last long, and the AI-bottleneck trade will likely prove to be short-term in nature, as most of these companies lose out to the few that emerge as true market leaders. Put another way, most of these companies won’t prove to be sustainable business models — and their share prices will reflect that.
Take a look at IREN to see what I mean. IREN (formerly Iris Energy, renamed in November 2024) is an Australian company, headquartered in Sydney, that operates data centers supplied with renewable energy, with infrastructure optimized for both cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services.
The company was one of the leading AI-bottleneck names in 2025, rising over 1,900% that year. It then erased half of those gains in three weeks and has been dead money for the last eight months.
In simple terms, the AI-bottleneck trade has the potential for large gains, but traders need to be nimble if they don’t want to get caught holding the bag. This is a classic “hot money” investment theme — and one that won’t last for long.
The situation for mid- and small-cap precious metals miners is completely different. Here, the entire industry is primed for a potential rerating, as higher metals prices render new projects economical and existing projects highly profitable.
Think of it this way: because mining costs are relatively fixed, a producer’s profit per ounce can jump ~350% even if the gold price only doubles. That’s the kind of margin expansion that can lead to share prices rerating much higher in a steady fashion, as opposed to a speculative frenzy.
You can see this clearly in the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), which has more than doubled over the last 18 months. Yes, the gains are less explosive, but you have to remember that A) this is an entire sector, not an individual play, and B) this is being driven by a tectonic shift in fundamentals, not a speculative frenzy.
This doesn’t mean the junior mining space can’t have truly explosive gains, either. As the entire sector is rerated based on a shift in fundamentals, the majors are looking to make acquisitions.
Case in point: shares of Rupert Resources (OTC: RUPRF) more than doubled overnight on news that the company would be acquired by Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM).
The bottom line is this: the AI-bottleneck trade is a sprint, while mid- and small-cap precious metals miners are a marathon that’s just getting started.
One is hot money chasing the next IREN — spectacular on the way up, brutal on the way down, and impossible to hold. The other is an entire sector being repriced by a fundamental shift in economics: higher metals prices turning marginal projects into cash machines, and cash machines into takeover targets.
That’s the difference between speculating and investing. And right now, with the majors hunting for acquisitions and Wall Street still asleep, the window to position ahead of the crowd is wide open. But it won’t stay open for long.
On that note, we just published a Special Investment Report concerning FIVE secret investments you can use profit from the next major bull run in precious metals miners.
The report is titled Survive the Inflationary Storm. And it explains my top precious metals plays, including their names, their symbols, and the resources they own. These are HIGH OCTANE positions that rallied 75%, 140%, 150%, 180%, 280% and an incredible 574% in 2025. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see them repeat this performance in 2026.
Normally I’d charge $499 for this report as a standalone item, but in light of what is unfolding today, we are making just 100 copies available to the public.
To grab one of the last remaining copies…
Best Regards
Graham Summers
Chief Market Strategist
Phoenix Capital Research
