An Investor's Guide to Precious Metals and Critical Materials

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September 24, 2024 | (66 mins 08 secs)

2024 has been an exciting year thus far for precious metals and critical materials. Silver has established a strong base price and gold is striving for important breakout levels. Copper has found a burgeoning demand within the global energy transition. Uranium remains crucial for the renewed focus on nuclear power, and as a reliable base load power source. All of these metals may contribute to a diversified portfolio.

The webcast will discuss:

• A technical perspective on the key drivers for gold, silver, uranium and copper.
• Gold’s current price momentum and silver’s growth through its contribution to solar panels and electric vehicles (EVs).
• Demand for uranium is likely to outstrip supply, with a nearly 1 billion pound deficit to 2040 and copper’s central role in electricity transmission and EVs.
• Surging energy consumption and the role that critical minerals play in further development.
• Critical materials benefiting from the buildout of AI and data centers.
• Strategic portfolio allocation for precious metals and critical materials.

Webcast Transcript

Sarah Martin, RIA Database: Cover Slide

Ed Coyne: Slides 2-6, Introduction

Edward Coyne: Thank you all for joining our webcast today. Again, my name is Edward Coyne, Senior Managing Partner at Sprott Inc.

With me today are Paul Wong and Ryan McIntyre. Paul is our Market Strategist at Sprott Asset Management, with over 37 years of investment industry experience. He specializes in analyzing natural resource investments and earned his Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Toronto. Paul is a CFA Charter Holder.

Also with us today is Ryan McIntyre. Ryan is the Managing Partner at Sprott Inc. and Senior Portfolio Manager at Sprott Asset Management. Ryan brings more than 20 years of experience in the natural resources sector and, most recently, was the president of the gold royalty company Maverick Metals. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Commerce with distinction, majoring in finance from Dalhousie University, and is an MBA from Yale School of Management, and is also a CFA Charter Holder.

For today's webcast, I've asked Paul to give us a Technical Outlook on Gold, Silver, Copper, and Uranium. We'll then turn it over to Ryan McIntyre, who will give us best practices in Portfolio Allocation within Gold, Silver, and Copper, and Uranium.

For those who aren't familiar with Sprott, Sprott is a global leader in precious metals and critical materials investments. With over $31 billion in assets under management, Sprott is a publicly listed company and trades both on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SII. At Sprott, we offer a full suite of exchange listed products with over $25 billion in assets under management, a suite of managed equities with over $3 billion of assets under management, and private strategies with over $2.5 billion in assets under management. At Sprott, you can allocate to the physical market, the equity market, as well as the debt market through our suite of products.

For today's webcast, we're going to explore "Why Gold, Why Silver, Why Copper, and Why Uranium?" From gold's point of view, gold continues to touch new highs, finding momentum at that $2,600-hour level. It's enjoying this rising demand from central banks, which provides a safe haven during times of economic uncertainty.

From silver's point of view, we believe silver continues to have a dual role, both as a precious metal as well as an industrial metal, making it uniquely attractive and heavily used in industries like electronics, solar energy, and electric vehicles. And we at Sprott believe it's currently undervalued relative to gold.

As we turn to copper, we believe copper continues to play a critical role in the energy sector and is necessary for fueling the growth of renewable energy systems and benefiting from the surging demand in energy consumption.

And last but certainly not least is uranium. The growing demand for nuclear energy continues to push for cleaner energy and seek a stable base load power source. Disruptions in traditional oil and gas supplies continue to force countries to focus on energy security. And today we're going to explore all four of these and really talk about why they could be unique within your portfolio. We believe at Sprott, all four important metals will continue to outstrip the current supply that we're seeing going forward.

We're noticing, and you may have noticed as well as a listener, that the performance, both short-term, mid-term, and even long-term, continues to support this narrative. When you look at gold, silver, copper and uranium, the short-term and mid- to longer-term returns continue to support the long-term outlook that we at Sprott believe will continue going forward.

At this time, I'd like to now turn it over to Paul Wong, who will give us a Technical Outlook on Gold, Silver, Copper, and Uranium. Paul?

Paul Wong: Slides 8-12, Technical Outlook on Gold, Silver, Copper and Uranium

GOLD

Paul Wong: Great. Thank you, Ed. Starting with the gold chart, we'll go by quickly by decades. Starting with the 1990s bear market, this was a pretty negative period for gold. We had central banks selling during this time, reaching highs of 400 to 500 tons sold per year. Central banks were essentially diversifying away from gold. The U.S. dollar index increased roughly by 50%. Again, gold is inversely correlated to the dollar. And the debt was not an issue during this period. The U.S. government ran balanced budgets, and gold through this time period fell roughly about 35% from the beginning to the end of the decade.

Starting in 2001, it was a remarkable change. basically, we saw was the central banks decided to slow the selling and stop the selling of gold. And during the financial crisis, they reversed sharply. The dollar went through a bear market falling roughly by 40%. Probably more important are the recession and the financial crisis. We saw a massive expansion in debt from about roughly 54% of debt to GDP up to 96% of GDP. And equally important, real yields fell from about 4% to 0.2%. During this time period, gold increased about sevenfold.

Into the 2021-22 consolidation period, we saw central bank buying return, but it was stable buying and lacked delta. U.S. dollar began its recovery phase rising by percent. Debt continued to grow but with the QE (quantitative easing) and the zero interest rate policies. Interest rate policies, interest spent on that debt was limited to roughly $400 billion per year, about one and a half percent of the GDP. So, during this time period, gold was flat, but through it all, it shaped by the end of this massive 12-year cup and handle bullish chart configuration.

That chart pattern is targeting roughly about $2,600, which you are through right now. And the longer-term technical from there extrapolates to about $3,000 to $3,200, that's sort of the range. What's changed dramatically is that the last eight quarters, central banks have returned to buying gold roughly just under 1,200 tons per year on average in the last eight quarters. That's roughly about two and a half times the buying rate of the prior decade. The DXY, U.S. dollar index is also showing signs of a significant cut with the Fed cutting rates and the dot plot. The relative yield spreads between U.S. two-years versus German two-years, Japanese two-years, and virtually any other G7 two-year yield. They can't match that kind of drop in yields.

Debt to GDP started this run at roughly 120%, but with much higher rates. Right now, deficits are running about $1.9 trillion, and interest expense is well over $1 trillion for this year. Current debt is roughly about $35 trillion, and pretty much under any scenario, this debt level will increase.

Going forward, the important part is that even as debt rises, interest expense will probably keep rising as well. The R-star, the natural rate of interest, is likely higher, meaning that interest expense is not likely to receive anything.

On the lower panel, we also show gold relative to the Bloomberg Commodity Index. There's a little distortion in 2020-21 when oil prices went negative. Just follow the red dashed line, and you'll see that gold has been outperforming the broader Commodity index for almost 20 years and has broken up to new highs.

SILVER

Turning to silver, it generally has the same macro drivers as gold. Silver performs roughly in line with the prior regimes with roughly slightly higher volatility. Silver has also followed a very large cup-and-handle formation. The target on the cup-and-handle breakout is $40 to $42, with higher targets depending on how the pattern progresses toward that level. Since 2011, or the peak, despite the movements, silver has maintained a very high correlation to gold.

There has been a big change in silver, though. It's the demand for solar, which has essentially fundamentally changed the supply and demand for silver. In the last nine years, photovoltaic demand has run roughly about 16% annualized compound returns. Using Bloomberg NGS data, growth is expected to be about 10% going into 2030.

The important part is that in the previous decades, the main industrial drivers for silver grew at roughly GDP or less. This current demand for photovoltaics is a significant fundamental change.

From 2022 to 2030, using the Silver Institute data and Bloomberg data, if you run the calculations, silver is estimated to have an almost 250-million-ounce deficit almost every year. Literally, within a few years, that deficit will surpass all the silver held in ETFs and the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) vaults. The wild card is investment demand. If demand rebounds, which seems like there's a high probability of that occurring, these deficits widen considerably.

Lower panel: Like gold, silver has been above the broader commodity index for at least 20 years or so. Again, adjusting for the energy price distortion, silver has broken out of a flag formation.

COPPER

Switching to copper. The 1990s was a bad decade for almost all commodities. The main driver really was the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it was literally the largest producer of almost any and every commodity. And with its collapse, they flooded the market. Along with the great moderation, you saw this wide inflationary wave hit across the capital markets. Growth in the U.S. is a concern as well from major crisis, the Russian default, Long-Term Capital and basically that led to a very negative bearish intone to the commodities.

In the 1990s, bear market silver fell roughly about 35%. However, starting in 2001, China joined the WTO and literally created the single largest demand shock for commodities in history. Through this time period and in a few short years, massive growth in China was plus 12% for several years. Copper demand basically outstripped all the stagnant supply coming from production that came on in the 1980s and all the supply that came out from the fall.

The Global Financial Crisis in China triggered a mass stimulus in 2009, roughly about $600 billion, or about 12% to 13% of GDP, which catalyzed the oil-off-cop in the commodity market.

From 2011 to 2016, growth expectations significantly recalibrated. China slowed from an average 11%-12% compound annual rate return to 7%, and the U.S. and EU entered the low-growth, low-inflation period. New supply has come in from various mines over the last several years, and the U.S. dollar entered the bull market.

The final bear in copper ended with the bond devaluation at the end of 2015, which triggered the final washout wave in the commodity sector. During this time period, copper fell from roughly about 50% from peak to trough. And from 2016, recovery began. Basic demand began to recover while we started seeing supply disruptions from mines globally, which continues today.

Post the COVID market, there has been a massive acceleration in energy transition-related activities. Today and onward, the big theme really is electrification going from AI (artificial intelligence), which is probably the most illustrative of technologies coming out. And through it all, expectations from the IEA are that electricity demand will increase by roughly 165% by 2050. We are entering a demand shock for electricity probably analogous to the China demand shock, except this time it's worldwide. And from about this year, 2024, 2025, especially up to 2030 and 2050, all forecasts that we see show demand far outstripping supply.

Looking at the technical chart, again, we see another cup-and-handle projection. The initial target is about 630 to about 650. In the lower panel, we see the same outperforming trend against the broader commodity index for the past 20 years.

URANIUM

Switching to uranium. In the 1990s, again, we see a pretty negative period for uranium. You had the lingering effects from Chernobyl, nuclear test ban. You had the fall of the Soviet Union, so weapons of high-grade, highly enhanced uranium that get down blended for use for reactors. The production boom from the 1970s and 1980s basically ends while older reactors are closed. But through it all, uranium in this time period actually remains relatively flat.

In 2001, 2007, that's the bull market. During this period, we had a bit of an oil mania. Oil went from $20 to $140. Natural gas went up to almost $6, and coal prices followed. This was the peak oil demand period in the market, and uranium was considered to be one of the few available fuel supplies that could offset peak oil.

Speculative funds entered during this time period, and geopolitics entered as well. We had supply problems and resource nationalism, particularly in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and Libya. This is an ongoing theme that continues today.

Also, the commodity supercycle lifted every commodity. From here, uranium increased about 19-fold, peaking at roughly $135 per pound. After that, the bear market began with the Global Financial Crisis; basically, access to capital for construction was limited, projects became delayed or canceled, and investment and demand fell.

But the 2011 Fukushima disaster basically was the black swan event for uranium. We had roughly about 54 nuclear reactors in Japan close. Germany, the EU, began to phase out older reactors.

On the supply side, new supply from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia, in particular, came online. Also, the Shell revolution is now well in place, and crude oil and gas prices are starting to fall. The demand for oil and gas substitutes falls with that.

From 2017 onwards, we've had a steady recovery. The industry has run through several production cuts. Demand has rebounded. Japan restarted its nuclear fleet. New nuclear reactor plants from China and India came online, and utilities finally began to contract out both short- and long-term contracting schedules. Another significant event was the Russia-Ukraine war, which elevated energy security above all else. If you were in Europe and you had your supplies from Russia cut off, that was particularly notable.

The energy transition and massive demand for electrification continue. Nuclear power roughly is about 18% of the base load in the U.S., and it's really the only main power generation source that has sufficient scale, is pure, clean, reliable, safe and efficient. A chart on uranium looks like we will retest the $135 highs, and then after that, we'll see how it corrects from there if it does. If it doesn't, you can probably add about another roughly a few dollars to that higher price target.

Next slide: Long-term Positive Outlook for Gold, Silver, Copper and Uranium. We believe it's very bullish. Historically, commodities move through different regimes, and they shift with different macro drivers. We're seeing that now. Gold is a good example. Central banks, the U.S. dollar trend and debt have all reversed positive for gold. Uranium, copper and silver have new themes.

One of the important macro themes would be de-globalization. We see geopolitical tensions continue to rise. They're causing central banks to diversify away from U.S. dollar reserves. We're seeing resource nationalism across several countries. With that, the U.S. is reshoring its manufacturing industrial base. It's amplifying the electrification trend demand for copper, uranium, and silver will rise with that. Increasing fiscal spending as a result of the shoring, we see that as an inflationary driver. Again, all are generally positive for the four commodities listed.

Electrification is sort of the new demand shock developing this cycle. We're seeing a new technology wave, the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), take hold, and AI is very prominent in the energy transition. All of these are increasing demand for high-quality, stable electricity generation. Nuclear, solar power and batteries are central to these development themes.

Another wild card is China, it's facing the risk of deflation due to its overbuilt property markets and high levels of associated debt with it. If you look at the key commodities tied to China, iron ore, met coal, oil, natural gas, and liquid natural gas, all of them are underperforming trends relative to the Bloomberg Commodity Index. And if you look at the charts, some of them, they look like they're putting in some pretty big, massive tops.

An important thing to consider is that, if you're investing in a broad commodity basket, you mostly tend to be overweight towards energy. So, essentially over half of the broad commodity index is potentially exposed to China's inflation and will not act as an inflation hedge.

Our four key commodities that we highlighted, gold, silver, uranium and copper, have been on an outperforming trend versus the Bloomberg Commodity Index for decades now. All of them, we believe are entering acceleration phases and tied to this new commodity trend that we see developing and not tied to the prior commodity cycle that was led by China. And with that, I'd like to turn that over back to Ed.

Edward Coyne: Thank you, Paul. Paul will also be available for questions towards the end of our webcast. Thank you for the comments. I'd like to turn it over to Ryan McIntyre to talk about "How to think about Gold, Silver, Copper and Uranium from a Portfolio Allocation Standpoint." Ryan, thanks for joining us today.

Ryan McIntyre: Slides 14-25, Portfolio Allocation

Ryan McIntyre: Thanks, Ed. And good day, everyone. We're now going to talk about and explore how precious metals like gold and silver, as well as critical materials such as copper and uranium, can play a strategic role in your portfolio.

First, these assets provide diversification. Unlike stocks and bonds, which often correlate with market conditions, gold and silver, in particular, behave differently. Their low correlation really helps reduce overall portfolio volatility and, therefore, risk. Second, they also serve as an effective hedge against inflation, which we've all recently witnessed.

Additionally, critical materials are essential to green and digital transitions, fueling industries from renewable energy to tech. Finally, I think one key thing to highlight is that they're backed by physical, tangible assets, offering real intrinsic value, something that's particularly important in uncertain times.

The key question is, how should you allocate to these assets? The question of exactly how much exposure you should have to precious metals, the critical materials, really depends on your risk tolerance and investment objectives. But here are some general guidelines. Gold, we think, should be a long-term core strategic position, making up approximately 10% of your portfolio. It's a stable store of value that has performed consistently over centuries, and we view it as a great fixed income alternative.

Silver and critical materials, on the other hand, should account for roughly 3% to 5% of a portfolio. Silver adds an industrial demand factor, while critical materials give you exposure to high-growth areas like electronics, renewable energy, and electrification. This balanced approach gives you stability with gold and growth potential with silver and critical materials.

Now moving to the next slide. Gold has been a monetary metal for thousands of years, making it truly unique among asset classes. As you can see on this chart on the left-hand side of the page, over 90% of demand for gold is split between two categories, investment and jewelry. We will go over the investment attributes of gold in a little bit, but notably, jewelry is desired for its aesthetic appeal, cultural significance, and as a status symbol, but it is often viewed as an investment given its metal values are easily assessed and can be attained if desired.

And gold scarcity is really a key aspect of its allure and really what holds its value. It's estimated that all the gold ever mined would only fill about three Olympic-sized swimming pools. This rarity stems from the fact that gold is really not evenly distributed in the Earth's crust and is often found in low concentrations, making it difficult in terms of extraction and a challenge in the fact that that becomes expensive. Gold's unique properties have been established and recognized over thousands of years, and it's a testament to its appeal across various cultures and economies. Gold exhibits a low correlation with other assets, like stocks and bonds. It's viewed as an inflation hedge and a safe haven in times of crisis. When economic or geopolitical conditions become unstable, investors flock to gold, knowing that it holds its value when other assets don't.

One of the best aspects of gold is its liquidity. It's highly liquid, meaning you can easily sell it and convert it into cash without incurring a lot of friction costs, making it a flexible asset to hold. This all goes along with the key increasing trend across the globe of a desire to have a store of value that's truly independent of other assets and institutions.

Now, one of the things that typically surprises most investors is gold's solid long-term price performance. Since the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1971, gold prices appreciated by almost 8% annually. Moreover, gold has outperformed many significant asset classes since the start of this century and has continued to do so this year as gold is up 27% year to date versus 21% for the S&P 500. And I think this really shows that gold has the ability not only to preserve wealth but actually to grow it as well.

Now, gold's role as a diversifier really can't be overstated. You know, historically, it has shown a low correlation with other major asset classes, as you can see on this chart, including stocks and bonds. In fact, adding gold to your portfolio often results in better risk-adjusted returns because it tends to move in the opposite direction of traditional assets during market downturns. This makes gold not only a hedge but also an asset that can reduce overall portfolio volatility, which is truly important.

Now, this brings us to gold's role in crisis periods on slide 18. Whether it's a financial crash or geopolitical uncertainty, gold consistently acts as a safe haven. During times when the S&P 500 might be underperforming, gold historically performed better, making it a vital part of any portfolio during these uncertain times and extended U.S. equity valuations. As the chart on this slide shows, gold has, on average, outperformed the S&P 500 by 24 percentage points during recent crisis periods. Additionally, it's also worth pointing out that gold has outperformed U.S. Treasuries by an average of 10 percentage points during these same periods.

Now, moving on to slide 20, you know that while no asset is completely without risk, gold is notably less volatile than many other assets. Its price has been less volatile than many equity indices and alternatives over the last several decades, as you can see on this chart. And really, this lower volatility stems from gold's liquidity and its diverse sources of demand. Whether it's for jewelry, investment, or industrial uses, gold has a tremendously broad appeal across the globe, which really helps stabilize its price even during market turbulence.

Now, moving on to slide 20. The key question is, "How should you incorporate gold in your portfolio?" Now, a common recommendation is to replace a portion of your traditional 60-40 stock and bond allocation with gold. In the chart below, we have shown two allocations to gold, one portfolio having 5% in gold and the other one holding 10% in gold. Now, in both cases, adding gold enhanced returns while also reducing volatility, which is truly the holy grail of portfolio management. With the current 10-year treasury yield being only 3.7%, which is significantly below its long-term average, and the S&P 500 having a Shiller PE ratio of 36 times, more than twice its historical average, we think gold will continue to be strongly additive to the portfolio.

Now, moving on to slide 22. I think, in sum, we think you should hold a permanent 10% position in physical gold to provide solid returns and diversification and anywhere from 0% to 5% in gold-related equities because they can offer leverage via the gold price and potential growth for new discoveries or production. Now, as these equities can be highly cyclical, we believe that they should only be purchased when undervalued and sold when in high demand and overpriced to really take advantage of the cyclicality of the space. And the good thing for everyone here is at present, we actually view gold-related equities as particularly appealing due to their undervalued status and the lack of popularity, despite the recent upward move in the gold price. Truly, there's an opportunity today where they've kept up with the gold price, but with the implied leverage in terms of their earnings, we think they should be doing a lot better.

Edward Coyne: Ryan, this is Edward Coyne.

Ryan McIntyre: Yes.

Edward Coyne: Before you turn to silver, can talk a little bit about why you think gold equities haven't been as popular with investors in this most recent move? Based on your experience, what are your opinions on that?

Ryan McIntyre: Yes. I think probably the first thing is, I think people have done very well with general equities, so the S&P 500, I think everyone has done very well with those. And, I think people's first move, if they move into gold at all, the first stop is typically on the physical side. We haven't until very recently actually seen inflows into the physical gold ETFs. The ETF on the physical gold side has actually been releasing inventory since October 2020, just up until May.

Actually, it just started to turn positive in May. Despite the gold price moving up, actually, there hasn't been that much interest, I would say, from an institutional and retail side in the gold area. And so, now we're just starting to see ETFs holding physical gold actually increase the amount of gold inventory they hold, which is good. That's a good first sign that they've yet to move to the equity side, which I think is probably the next move after they get comfortable being in the gold space. Because what you'll start seeing, probably this Q3 or Q4, you'll actually start seeing the higher gold price being reflected in gold mining companies' earnings and balance sheets. And I think that'll really open people's eyes to how much cash flow they're really producing, which, from our perspective, is usually about a two-to-one ratio. For example, if the gold price goes up, we'd expect their earnings to increase by about 2%. And it goes the other way as well if the gold price goes down, but the same 2 to 1 ratio exists.

Edward Coyne: Thank you.

Ryan McIntyre: All right. So, moving on to slide 22. Now, silver is a little different than gold in that it holds a dual role. So, like gold, it has a monetary value, but it also has significant industrial demand. Silver is used in everything from electronics to solar panels to medical devices. And frankly, as economies grow and industries expand, demand for silver will continue to rise. But the one thing about silver is that it actually comes with higher volatility due to that industrial demand. So, silver is interesting in that it can really outperform during bullish market cycles, offering greater upside, but it also carries higher risk during downturns as well. So, it's more economically sensitive to a variety of industrial factors that make it more volatile, but a potentially rewarding investment, as Paul mentioned earlier.

And just moving to slide 23 here. In terms of recommendation for silver, we recommend a 3% to 5% allocation to silver. And you can consider it part of your gold allocation or your critical materials exposure, depending on how your portfolio is structured. Over the past 30 years, the gold-silver price ratio, a common metric that people use to evaluate the relative, I'd say, price points of both, has averaged 67, which means there are times that if it's above 67, it means silver is cheap, and if it's below 67, it means it's expensive. And right now, it's solidly above 67, and as Paul mentioned earlier, we actually think today is a great opportunity on the silver side to increase your holdings. And I guess I would generically conclude that, because these things are cyclical, you can really take advantage of the cycles as well. And so, when the ratio gets too high one way or the other if it gets too pricey, obviously trim and vice versa.

And just moving to slide 24. Now, let's talk about critical materials, resources like uranium, lithium, copper, and nickel. Yes, these materials are crucial for modern technology, critical to the production of batteries, electronics, digital processing, and the electrification of the world. The push into these new technologies has really caused a significant demand for the resources that really should be in place for many years to come. The one interesting dynamic, however, is that this increased demand comes with supply constraints as well. And many of these materials are only available in limited quantities and extracting them can really be complex and costly, which can lead to some price volatility.

But the great thing is that these metals have traditionally shown strong performance during inflationary periods as well, which makes them a valuable addition to a portfolio.

Moving on to slide 25. Given the importance and growth potential of critical materials, we recommend a 3% to 5% allocation to critical material equities. Right now, they're trading at a discount in terms of P-E ratio to their 10-year average, and that's not incorporating extreme earnings one way or the other, so I think it's sort of a normalized number, meaning that really there's a buying opportunity today in these particular equities. And with these materials poised to play a crucial role in the future of technology and electrification, they really do present a compelling case for investors seeking both growth and inflation protection¹ all wrapped up into one.

In summary, precious metals and critical materials provide a unique blend of diversification, inflation protection, and growth potential. By incorporating these assets into your portfolio, you can really hedge against some of the market risks and position yourself to benefit from the ongoing energy and digital transitions. So, you know, with that, thank you for your attention. And Ed, I'll turn it back to you.

Edward Coyne: Great. Thanks, Ryan. And Ryan, before we go into the Q&A session, could you just talk for a minute about how you would slot or allocate or how you would think about, I guess is probably the right way to say it, your precious metals and or critical material investment? You put it in the commodity bucket, the energy bucket. Is it in the alternative part of your portfolio? What kind of guidance could you give someone listening today as they're building on a position where that should sit in their overall portfolio?

Ryan McIntyre: I would definitely think about putting gold in the fixed income category. I would think about it like a long-term instrument that's inflation protected, but doesn't pay a coupon, but depreciates by price, a zero coupon bond, think of it that way. And I guess from our point of view, it has outperformed bonds to the extent that anyone leaves sort of a fixed income allocation. Gold has done very well against that category. At the very least, you'll get some good pickup from that perspective.

In terms of other things, silver is obviously interesting because it has this dual role of a monetary element but also an industrial element. It can really be categorized, I would say, either, in the material side, not as much on the electrical, in terms of energy side. I categorize, obviously, uranium and copper much more firmly in the energy side of things. And to me, it's a fairly straightforward shift moving out of oil and gas, let's say, into copper, uranium, that type of thing, where you're clearly seeing more growth. The future is definitely in that area. Not to say that oil and gas should be abandoned completely, but I do think it's probably underrepresented, I would say, in a lot of portfolios due to history more than anything else.

Edward Coyne: Thank you, Ryan. We're going to go into the Q&A. We've got well over 60 questions that have come in since the start of this. But before we do that, I'd like to turn it back to Sarah briefly.

Footnotes