Dear Friend,

In 1976, a Chevron drilling team tapped an energy source so powerful it could run a city.

No fuel costs. No carbon. No supply chain.

They proved it worked. Then they killed the project.

Unocal proved it worked. Killed it.

Texaco proved it worked. Killed it.

Three of the largest oil companies on Earth confirmed the same thing.

And all three buried the results for the same reason: it would have destroyed their core business.

For fifty years, the official line was “the technology isn’t ready.“

The technology was fine. The threat was too big.

Now one company has spent sixty years perfecting what Big Oil refused to touch.

Google just locked in a 15-year contract. Bill Gates wrote a $100 million check. And on July 4th, the government hands it a competitive edge no other energy source gets.

Big Oil had fifty years to act. They chose not to.

See the company that didn’t wait >>

“The Buck Stops Here,”
Kelly Maguire
Behind the Markets

Copper Stocks Are Getting a Bigger Spotlight as Gold’s Rally Cracks

Written by Nathan Reiff. Posted: 7/1/2026.

After months of a seemingly endless rally to new all-time highs, the price of gold has finally cracked in 2026, creating opportunities for less flashy metals like copper to move into the spotlight. Copper futures are up more than 8% year to date (YTD), while the price of gold has fallen 7% over the same period. Part of the explanation is that copper demand continues to surge thanks to its importance in AI infrastructure, defense applications and other areas.

At the same time, mine supply has struggled to keep pace with demand growth. That has put a strain on global copper availability, a challenge worsened by permitting, processing and geopolitical factors. As many of the world's largest copper mines become deeper and lower grade, they also become more expensive and energy-intensive to operate. The result is that a handful of dominant copper producers—companies with massive resources and operational infrastructure capable of continued expansion—could emerge as key winners.

A Mid-Tier Copper Producer Expanding Thoughtfully But Steadily

With a market capitalization just over $10 billion, Canadian copper miner HudBay Minerals Inc. (NYSE: HBM) has traditionally been a mid-tier producer. It has a much smaller profile than major global mining firms like Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), but its strong presence in Peru and Canada—two crucial regions for copper production—helps give it significant growth potential.

The company is also increasingly focused on copper specifically, narrowing its operations at a time when some larger firms are moving in the opposite direction. While that could benefit HudBay if copper prices continue to rise, it also leaves the company more sensitive to the copper cycle.

HudBay's production expansion is aggressive but responsible. The firm recently completed an acquisition of Arizona Sonoran Copper Co. and is simultaneously moving forward with an expansion at its Copper Mountain Mine in British Columbia, both of which strengthen and diversify its North American operations. This is supported by the company's financial results, including record quarterly revenue of $757 million in Q1 2026, along with adjusted EBITDA of $422 million and $102 million in free cash flow for the period. That represented a 27% year-over-year (YOY) increase in revenue and came with an earnings beat of 6 cents.

As HudBay expands, its diversification helps mitigate operational risk. However, because the company owns fewer mines than some of its larger competitors—and is more concentrated in copper than in multiple metals—it still carries execution and other risks. Even so, the stock trades at a comparatively attractive 14x earnings and carries a solid Buy rating (10 Buys, two Strong Buys, and two Holds), along with a projected 19% upside from Wall Street analysts.

A Pre-Merger Opportunity With Teck

Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE: TECK) is about three times the size of HudBay by market cap, but the company is also pivoting its operations to focus more heavily on copper. Indeed, Teck largely exited its long-time steelmaking coal business in 2024, leaving it focused on base metals like copper and zinc. Its larger scale, combined with that streamlined approach, may give it an advantage in developing its large copper assets.

Teck's size also makes it a good candidate for a merger, and the company has been pursuing just that. Teck appears to be seeking a merger of equals with fellow copper producer Anglo American PLC (LON: AAL), a 40-billion-pound (approx. $53.2 million) British multinational mining firm.

The resulting "Anglo Teck" would immediately become one of the largest copper mining firms in the world by market value and would consolidate a widely varied portfolio of copper mines and developments under a single umbrella. Investors, therefore, may view a pre-merger investment in TECK as a bet that the company will soon become a major player in the industry, on par with FCX or an equivalent.

Of course, with the merger in the works, it remains to be seen exactly how things will pan out. Investors are cautiously optimistic about TECK shares in the meantime.

Although a majority of ratings (14) are Holds, five analysts still call TECK a Buy. Investors bullish on the company's long-term prospects—whether or not the merger is successful—may find Teck an attractive way to capitalize on the surge in copper demand, though the merger introduces unique risks for this stock compared with HBM.