Zinc Scales The $1 A Pound Barrier And Keeps Going – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – July 8, 2014)

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Last week a 5% rise in the price of zinc over the previous two weeks was considered sufficiently newsworthy to earn a report into what seemed to be the start of a revival in a sector of the mining market known as base metals, which makes it hard to ignore the fact that zinc has just gone up by another 5%.

The latest rise takes zinc, which is largely used to galvanize (rust-proof) steel, over the $1 per pound mark to $1.03, its highest in three years.

Other base metals, including nickel and copper, are also performing strongly as global industrial production continues its slow recovery and mine development continues to suffer from a capital drought.

But, while many investors favor stories from the technology sector early-bird speculators playing the small end of the mining market are making a killing.

Thanks in part to heavy selling over the past three years which has trashed their share prices mineral exploration stocks have been consigned to the bargain basement, though it is getting hard to ignore stocks which double in a matter of days.

Two recent examples of that “double-your-money” effect could be found on the Australian stock market last week then they made surprise entries into the metal of the week; zinc.

Mungana Goldfields has risen by 88% over the past three trading days thanks to its acquisition of zinc assets in the Australian State of Queensland. Looked at over a longer time horizon and the rise is even more spectacular, up 213% over two weeks with a rise from A5.1c to A16c.

Red River Resources, also a new entrant into the world of zinc, has done almost as well for its supporters, up by 50% over the past three days, and 158% over the past two weeks.

Both of those stocks qualify as micro-caps, but they also demonstrate the rising level of interest in metals which had been written off as suffering from over-supply and under-demand which would condemn them to low prices for years.

For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timtreadgold/2014/07/08/zinc-scales-the-1-a-pound-barrier-and-keeps-going/