Nick Hodge, Co-Owner of Digest Publishing and editor of Foundational Profits and Hodge Family Office, joins us live at the New Orleans Investment Conference for a discussion on how technology is being implemented in the mining sector, and then the macroeconomic factors moving the copper, uranium, and gold markets.

First off we get Nick’s take on the sentiment and key themes from the conference, and the economic optimism at the event and in the broader market with regards to the Trump administration anticipated policy initiatives. On the macroeconomics front, he briefly touches up on the health of the economy, jobs, inflation, the US dollar, US equities, and separated the noise from what is more likely with regards to tariffs, tax cuts, deficits, and any meaningful cuts in government spending.

We then shift over the commodities space, but start off reviewing some key takeaways from his keynote address at the conference covering technology applications and breakthroughs being applied to the mining sector.  We talk about the coming battery passports that will be tracking the supply chain and emissions around extractive companies, highlighting the platform that MineHub Technologies Inc. (TSXV: MHUB) (OTCQB: MHUBF) has built.   

We also discuss how Rio Tinto’s Nuton technology is being applied to a copper leaching space by companies like Aldebaran Resources (TSXV:ALDE)(OTCQX:ADBRF). Additionally, we highlight that CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH)(OTCQB:CTHCF) announced that Ceibo has partnered with Glencore‘s (GB:GLEN) Lomas Bayas Mining Company to deploy Ceibo’s proprietary leaching technologies targeting a more effective extraction of copper from low-grade sulphides at one of Chile’s leading mines.  This leads to a broader discussion on the supply and demand fundamentals for the copper markets.

With regards to uranium, Nick outlines the bullish tailwinds behind nuclear power both domestically and globally, including an interest from big tech companies into small modular reactors along with reactor restarts to fuel AI datacenters, and just for more baseload power.  He reminds listeners that he has remained constructive on uranium longer-term, and is expecting a better year in 2025 than we saw in 2024.  For uranium equities he points to why he like an ETF like the Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (URNJ) or liquid mid-tiers like Energy Fuels (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) and Denison Mines (TSX: DML) (NYSE American: DNN); but also is taking a speculation on the management team behind URZ3 Energy (TSX-V: URZ; OTCQB: NVDEF).

Wrapping up we cover the fundamentals and Nick’s outlook on gold and the gold stocks, and how they are valued in relation to cryptos and the US general equities.   He brings up some interesting value and newsflow in companies at the conference like Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE American and TSX: VGZ), new discoveries at Sitka Gold Corp. (TSXV: SIG) (OTCQB: SITKF), and new company launches like Kingsmen Resources (TSXV: KNG) (OTCQB: KNGRF).

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