Base Metals

Base Metals Investment

Investing In Individual Base Metal Stocks

If you are looking for stocks that strongly correlate with macroeconomic trends, companies that produce commodities like base metal stocks are worth a look.  Base metals are common metals that tarnish, oxidize, or corrode relatively quickly when exposed to air or moisture. They are widely used in commercial and industrial applications, such as construction and manufacturing. Base metals include lead, copper, nickel, and zinc. They are often more abundant in nature and sometimes easier to mine. That makes base metals far less expensive for use in manufacturing than precious metals, such as gold, silver, and platinum.

As with precious metals companies, base metals stocks come in two main types: companies with producing mines that provide regular revenue and profits, or exploration mining companies that are focused on finding new base metals deposits that may potentially become mines in the future.

What’s Great about Base Metals?

Base metals serve many purposes, such as construction, steel making, and infrastructure. Some base metals have unique properties that cannot be duplicated by other metals.

For example, nickel is one of the major components of stainless steel. Zinc goes into galvanizing steel as a protection against corrosion.

When analyzing base metals stocks, the investors’ knowledge of global and regional politics, economics, and trade can be crucial in picking the right company to invest in. 

Base metals stocks typically track economic growth a well, meaning that when the economy is in decline, these stocks could be worth a look.

The Big Players

Some of the largest mining companies in the world mine for base metals. The top 5 of these include:

Glencore is a Switzerland-based diversified natural resources company. Its core business segments include metals and minerals, energy products and agricultural products.

Glencore’s revenues in 2018 grew by more than 6% year-on-year to $219.75bn. The energy products segment contributed the highest revenues of $139bn, followed by the metals and minerals segment, which earned $83bn.

Luxembourg-based steel and mining company ArcelorMittal earned $76.03bn in revenues in 2018, representing a 10.7% increase compared to the previous year. The company has five segments namely NAFTA, Brazil, Europe, ACIS, and Mining.

Rio Tinto is an Australia-based mining company with operations in 35 countries across six continents.

The iron ore business comprising 16 mines in Australia, including the major projects Koodaideri, Robe Valley and West Angelas, posted revenues of $18.48bn. The aluminium business, which includes five mines, four refineries and 14 smelters, earned $12.19bn in revenues.

BHP (formerly BHP Billiton) posted revenues of $44.3bn in 2019.  BHP is an Australian natural resources company with operations across the world. The company’s business includes exploration and production of petroleum, copper, iron ore, and coal.

Brazil-based mining company Vale SA reported revenues of $37.57B in 2019. The company’s operations are divided into five main segments, including ferrous minerals, coal, base metals, and fertilisers.

Learn about base metals companies that we think can be worth a look for your portfolio:

Company Name

Metals

Category

Project Location

Stock Info

Copper

Development

BC, Canada

Copper, Gold

Exploration

QC, Canada

Zinc

Exploration

SK, Canada

Copper, Zinc, Gold, Silver

Exploration

MB, Canada