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Mining stocks enjoyed a fabulous run during the first 10 years of this century. Booming global demand pushed a wide range of commodity prices to racy levels. Investors simply couldn't get enough of miners, ranging from the mega-caps of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)
By mid-2011, the price of gold had stretched to just over $1,800 per ounce, but it turned out to be a high water mark.
Since 2011, mining stocks have been on their knees, as slowing demand and falling prices forced them into swingeing write-downs, cutbacks and profit warnings. Many of the exploration minnows on AIM have long since gone.
And, despite regular calls by some market-watchers that commodities are due to bounce off the bottom, nobody has wanted to own them...until now.
Commodities stage a comeback
The price of gold was already showing signs of a sustained mini-recovery when the EU referendum was held in June. So it was no surprise on the day of the result that it was mining stocks that enjoyed some of the biggest gains, and they've continued to surge ever since
Part of the appeal of mining shares, particularly among the large caps, is that they offer investors comfort in times of domestic economic uncertainty. For a start, commodities are global in nature and almost always priced in dollars. Plus, of course, these firms earn large proportions of their revenues from foreign markets.
We screened for stocks with the best blend of high quality, appealing value and positive momentum. In terms of the falling value of sterling, UK quoted mining stocks whose shares are priced in pounds are theoretically now more attractively priced for foreign investors.
For the companies themselves, though, a slump in sterling may not necessarily make a difference.
Many of them hedge their commodity exposure to take account of price fluctuations. So, a rising gold price may not have an immediate effect on the earnings for some of them.
With all this in mind, we had a look for some of the most potentially interesting mining stocks around right now. We used the StockRank to look for those with the strongest blend of high quality, appealing value and positive momentum.
We also looked for stocks where earnings are forecast to grow next year and where brokers have upgraded their earnings forecasts in the past three months.