News Bites
'New Invisible Hand' Is Guiding Commodities; Copper Is The Big Winner - Gianni Kovacevic
(Kitco News) - If you love gold, look at copper, said CopperBank executive chairman Gianni Kovacevic, pointing to a surge in demand.
“There is a new invisible hand for commodities. And within this hinge of history, we are going go to about 50% of final energy as electrification from the current 19% and it will all happen in 30 years and it will be enabled with metals. Copper is the big winner,” Kovacevic told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference.
Kovacevic keeps his focus on copper but says that investors don’t have to choose between copper and gold.
“When you look at the big copper-gold mines, they give us a lot of gold output,” he said. “I always tell my friends that love gold to focus on the copper. You get all the gold as a byproduct and you're going to get all that benefit. You don't necessarily have to look at primary gold deposits, which are harder and harder to find.”
Another interesting investment Kovacevic is looking at is helium — yes, party balloons, but not quite…
“People associate helium with balloons at parties. It is not the case. It's a high-tech commodity. You'll find it in MRIs, the high-tech industry, cooling for servers, and nuclear power plants,” he said.
And there is a big shortage of it around, with one of the biggest reserves located conveniently in the U.S.
“[Supply] is falling off a cliff. We haven't found a lot of new helium reserves and so it trades right now at $279 per MCF when natural gas is at $4-$5, which is a huge differentiator,” Kovacevic noted. “One of the most prolific areas is on the New Mexico-Arizona border. That's where a lot of the high grade, high-quality helium reserves have come from.”
