Driven by rising copper prices and the thematic popularity of rare earths and uranium, U.S. strategic mineral stocks have generally outperformed: Energy Fuels surged over 10% in a single day, MP Materials rose over 5%, and U.S. Antimony followed with a gain of over 5%. All three directly benefit from market expectations regarding U.S. government policies aimed at increasing self-sufficiency in critical minerals. In contrast, the E Fund Gold and Mining ETF fell 3.5%, and Hong Kong-listed gold mining stocks are actually underperforming the price of gold itself. Mining assets in China and the U.S. are moving in completely opposite rhythms within the same commodity bull market narrative 😔.

The divergence between strategic mineral ETFs and traditional mining ETFs is widening recently. The former relies on policy premiums, while the latter depends on gold price performance; the two logics are not entirely consistent.