Copper and Magnets Bottleneck
Victor Angel@vanmosti
−7.1%
since Oct 9
The idea
I believe the shift to electric motors, in everything from EVs to robots to data center fans, is outrunning the copper and rare earth magnet supply needed to build them, so I want to own the scarce inputs rather than the companies buying them. The portfolio leans heaviest on rare earth processing and magnet makers outside China, especially heavy rare earths under export restrictions, with copper miners in stable regions as the steadier base and smaller growth miners for upside.
What it owns
- The biggest copper producers with decades of reserves, the steady base of the take, since new mines take ten years to build. · Freeport-McMoRan Inc.It is the biggest US copper miner and owns Grasberg in Indonesia, selling directly into the copper shortage this take bets on., Southern Copper CorporationIt holds some of the largest copper reserves in the world in Peru and Mexico, mines that can run for decades without new discovery., BHP Group LimitedIt owns Escondida in Chile, the largest copper mine on earth, and has been steering more of its business toward copper., Teck Resources LimitedIt is a Canadian miner focused on copper with big mines in Chile and Peru and room to grow output in the Americas., Rio Tinto GroupIt is ramping up Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, one of the largest new copper mines, alongside its Kennecott mine in Utah.30%
- These companies process rare earths and make magnets outside China, the narrowest choke point in every electric motor. · MP Materials Corp.It owns Mountain Pass, the only working US rare earth mine, and is turning that ore into finished magnets on US soil, making it the clearest bottleneck owner in this take., USA Rare Earth, Inc.It is building a US magnet plant fed by its own Texas deposit rich in heavy rare earths that China's export licenses choke., Energy Fuels Inc.It separates dysprosium and terbium in Utah, the two heavy rare earths that make magnets survive heat in motors, skills few companies outside China possess.29%
- Smaller miners bringing new copper online in the US and Canada, which gain the most from high prices and US tariffs on imported copper. · Hudbay Minerals Inc.It runs copper mines in Peru and Canada and is developing Copper World in Arizona, a new US copper source., Ero Copper Corp.It mines high-grade copper in Brazil and is growing output, so each ton costs less to dig than at most rivals., Ivanhoe Electric Inc.It is developing the Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona, a bet on new US copper supply getting built., Trilogy Metals Inc.It holds a stake in the Upper Kobuk copper district in Alaska, a long-dated option on new US copper dependent on the Ambler Road.17%
- Smaller, earlier-stage projects that could add non-China rare earth supply and gain the most if China tightens its export controls. · Ramaco Resources, Inc.It is developing a rare earth mine in Wyoming, a small bet that a new US source of magnet materials gets built., American Resources CorporationIt is a small bet on rare earth refining through ReElement Technologies, aimed at cleaning up magnet-grade material in the US., NioCorp Developments Ltd.Its Elk Creek project in Nebraska would produce niobium, scandium and rare earths, adding a new US source of materials China restricts., Critical Metals Corp.It is developing Tanbreez in Greenland, one of the largest heavy rare earth deposits outside China, with formal mining approvals in hand.9%
- Cash14%