StockBox at SMI Panama — Panels, Interviews and Key Takeaways

The Swiss Mining Institute’s inaugural Panama conference has wrapped up, and the message from the ground is clear.

Our Head of Content, Mark Fairbairn, was there throughout, hosting panels and speaking with key industry figures including Alexander Scanlon of Barton Gold and macro investor Tavi Costa of Azuria Capital, as well as attending a keynote from legendary US investor Peter Schiff.

• Mark’s overall takeaway: the mood across the sector is firmly bullish and increasingly driven by structural forces.

A key theme was the macro backdrop. The Iran conflict has reinforced expectations of a second wave of inflation, particularly in energy and food, alongside slower growth; a classic stagflationary setup.

At the same time, a weaker US dollar is expected to push capital into hard assets and emerging markets. That’s historically a strong tailwind for commodities.

In that context, Latin America stood out as a major focus. The region is seen as underexplored, increasingly open to capital, and relatively stable compared to other parts of the world.

Tavi Costa summed it up simply: we are in the early stages of a commodity supercycle.

Precious metals remain central to that view. Peter Schiff highlighted continued central bank buying as a key driver of gold, with private investors still underexposed. Silver is also attracting attention, supported by supply deficits and strong producer margins.

There was also a clear shift in where the opportunity lies.

AsPeter Krauth, author of The Great Silver Bull, noted, much of the early upside in the metals has already played out. The focus is now moving towards equities; particularly developers and mid-tier producers, where valuations remain low.

That view was echoed more broadly.

Capital is returning to the sector, M&A activity is picking up, and institutional investors remain underweight, suggesting there is still significant money yet to come in. Across base metals, copper was repeatedly highlighted as undervalued relative to its long-term fundamentals.

• All-in-all, the message from Panama was consistent: the setup for a sustained move higher is in place — and we are still early in the cycle.

We’ve also come away with astrong body of content from the event,all of which you can now explore across the StockBoxYouTubeandXchannels.Highlights so far include:

• An opening panel chaired by Mark, featuring Willem Middelkoop, Shree Kargutkar, David Finch, Peter Krauth, Caroline Donnelly and Tavi Costa, discussing why mining equities — particularly developers and select silver and copper names — may still offer significant upside from here.

• The second panel, focused on the return to tangible assets, with John Barker, Arun Daniel, Wasif Latif, Garrett Goggin and Adrian Day — exploring why investors are rotating back into gold, copper and energy with increasing conviction.

• Interviews with Alex Ball, VP of Aya Gold & Silver, and Scott Emerson, President and CEO of Kingsmen Resources.

• Mark’s “on the green” catch-up with attendees, where they provide a candid take on the market—covering the growing risk-on mood, rising interest from younger investors, and why capital is increasingly shifting towards producers and developers.

There’s plenty more to come over the coming days, including:

• Sit-down interviews with Peter Krauth, Wasif Latif and Alexander Scanlon.

• On-the-ground insights from Tavi Costa and Peter Schiff.

All in all, it’s a valuable set of insights for anyone looking to get a real feel for where sentiment and capital is moving across the sector right now.