The Charts of The Week: Bull Market Corrections, Virgins, Gold M&A, And Porphyry Copper Explorers
An action-packed charts of the week featuring MP Materials, Cameco, IDEX Metals, Ridgeline Minerals, Prospector Metals & more!
The market correction that began at the end of October continued last week. By Friday, the bear was beginning to sink its fangs deeply into a number of equity market sectors and stocks. At Friday’s low, NVDA had fallen roughly 15% in the span of one week, Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) was down about 20% from an all-time high made just two weeks ago, and even a relatively stable blue-chip name like Boeing (NYSE: BA) had declined more than 10% since the end of October.
Thankfully, we witnessed an impressive equity market rebound on Friday afternoon. It’s worth noting that we are now entering a seasonally favorable stretch for U.S. equities that typically lasts into the new year. Meanwhile, gold miners are about a week away from the beginning of their own period of seasonal strength, which extends well into January. The ongoing U.S. government shutdown and uncertainty surrounding a potential December Fed rate cut have certainly thrown a wrench into the works. However, I can envision a wildly bullish scenario unfolding if a deal is reached in Washington, D.C., and the Fed responds to labor-market softness with another ¼-point rate cut in December.
Without further ado, let’s dive into a particularly lengthy edition of Charts of the Week. We begin with the macro charts—starting with soaring U.S. Treasury interest expense, which has now decisively surpassed defense spending.
The Fed’s multi-year restrictive monetary policy stance continues to weigh heavily on real-estate demand. It has now reached the point where an unusual pricing signal has emerged: newly constructed homes are being priced slightly below existing homes for sale.
Normally, new-construction homes command a premium over resales. However, that pricing gap has been narrowing for a decade, and it has recently reached the point where builders are discounting inventory just to move it off their books. This is about as clear a sign of a weak housing market as one can find.
I am increasingly convinced that Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran has it right—that the Fed once again finds itself well behind the curve amid a rapidly deteriorating labor-market environment.
Miran appeared on the Monetary Matters podcast last week, delivering a virtuoso performance that explained many key aspects of today’s economic and monetary landscape. Miran should be the next Fed Chair come June 2026. If that comes to pass, investors will want to be overweight in hard-asset and materials stocks.
As AI becomes an increasingly disruptive force in the labor market, we are also facing a troubling demographic challenge—people are having less sex. Could it be a cultural shift toward gaming, OnlyFans, and social media? Whatever the causes, we are witnessing a steady rise in young-male virginity.
The fact that more than one in four young men in their 20s are virgins is troubling. It supports the notion that we are facing a deep mental-health crisis that can’t be solved easily by AI or humanoid robots (don’t even think about that…).
Turning to the week’s notable equity-market charts, we begin with fallen rare-earth high-flyer MP Materials (NYSE: MP):
MP (Daily)
MP enjoyed an incredible rise from July through October, gaining more than 200% during that period on the back of a major equity investment by the Department of War (DoW). However, since topping out in October, MP shares have tumbled roughly 50%. Friday’s low came within a whisker of the rising 156-day moving average, before MP reversed powerfully higher, printing a large bullish engulfing candlestick and closing up 12.8% on the day.
Last week, we may have witnessed a tradable low in marquee U.S. critical-minerals names such as MP, Trilogy Metals (NYSE: TMQ), Talon Metals (TSX: TLO), Idaho Strategic (NYSE: IDR), and Lithium Americas (NYSE: LAC). Let’s see what next week brings.
The uranium sector has also endured a sharp drawdown since late October. The outlook for vertically integrated uranium-fuel supplier Cameco’s business has never been better, but that didn’t stop a brisk round of profit-taking over the past couple of weeks:
CCJ (Daily)
Similar to my comments on MP and Talon, I believe there’s a good chance that Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) put in place a tradable low on Friday. Bull-market corrections are typically the most violent—and CCJ’s ~20% drawdown since October 28th certainly qualifies.
Meanwhile, the M&A cycle continues apace in the precious-metals mining sector. Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE) announced a US $7 billion acquisition of New Gold (NYSE: NGD)—an all-stock transaction implying a price of US $8.51 per New Gold share based on Coeur’s closing price on October 31, 2025. That represents about a 16% premium to New Gold’s closing price on the same day. The pro-forma combined company will have an estimated equity market capitalization of roughly US$20 billion, creating a North America-focused senior gold and silver producer.
CDE (Daily)
Coeur has enjoyed a terrific run over the past couple of years, but the market did not respond kindly to the New Gold acquisition. We’ve seen similar “indigestion” after big takeover deals in the past, so the reaction isn’t entirely surprising. In fact, I believe CDE shares are approaching an attractive entry point—probably closer to the US$12 level.
Speaking of gold-mining M&A, the rumor mill is still buzzing with Barrick (NYSE:B, TSX:ABX) chatter. The world’s second-largest gold producer will release Q3 earnings Monday morning, and the management conference call (11 a.m. EST) will surely be standing-room only.
B (Weekly)
It’s notable that Barrick has held up relatively well during the recent gold-sector downdraft—down less than 10% versus the sector’s roughly 20% slide. The bullish price action and chart structure help affirm my view that Barrick could unlock more shareholder value in the months ahead, potentially trading above US$40 per share by early 2026.
Turning to the juniors, Ridgeline Minerals (TSX-V: RDG, OTC: RDGMF) delivered a new CRD-style massive-sulfide discovery at its Selena Project in Nevada. Tuesday’s news release detailed a deep, covered CRD-style discovery on just the second drill hole of the program at the Chinchilla Sulfide Target.
Drill hole SE25-053 returned a highlight intercept of 8.6 meters grading 10.4% zinc, 21.1 g/t silver, 0.3% lead, 0.1% copper, 0.1 g/t Au and .1% antimony within 17.4 meters grading 6.0% Zn, 35.6 g/t Ag, 0.2 g/t Au, 0.5% Pb, 0.1% Cu, and .1% Sb starting at 958 meters downhole.
The partial results from hole 053 provided powerful proof of concept, demonstrating that the MT anomaly is coincident with sulfide mineralization. Moreover, the remainder of the 1,500 m × 2,000 m anomaly remains untested—opening up the potential for thicker, higher-grade zones of massive sulfides in future drilling.
The market, however, was unimpressed—selling RDG shares down roughly 30%.
Ridgeline Minerals (Daily)
The negative reaction likely reflected the strong run-up in RDG shares over the past few months. Investors had bid the stock higher on optimism surrounding the South32-funded drill program, but they were quick to hit the sell button when early results didn’t yet confirm an economic orebody.
It’s important to note that hole 053 is still ongoing, with one more hole (054) remaining in this first phase. Ridgeline is also expected to deliver updates later this month on two other partner-funded Nevada projects—Swift and Black Ridge.
South America-focused porphyry explorer Andina Copper (CSE: ANDC) received conditional approval to list on the TSX-V. The stock has seen some paper hit the market recently, potentially offering an attractive entry point near C$0.40 for new investors.
Andina Copper (Daily)
Drilling is underway at the Cobrasco porphyry copper-molybdenum project in Chocó, Colombia, while the 2025/26 field season at Piuquenes in San Juan, Argentina is set to commence shortly, with project-wide geophysics and additional drilling planned.
Further north, exploration is heating up across the Idaho Copper Belt, where IDEX Metals (TSX-V: IDEX), Scout Discoveries (private), and Hercules Metals (TSX-V: BIG) are all drilling aggressively. Last week, IDEX announced the discovery of a second mineralized breccia body, located 700 meters north of current drilling at the Kismet Breccia Complex on its 100%-owned Freeze Property in Idaho. Field crews also uncovered a new gold-bearing zone—Frostfall—approximately 950 meters further north.
This second copper-bearing breccia exhibits malachite–chalcopyrite mineralization hosted in porphyritic granodiorite, indicating a broader mineralized footprint than previously recognized. At Frostfall, surface grab samples returned up to 2.91 g/t Au, pointing to a previously unrecognized structural gold trend.
Complementing these discoveries, IDEX presented geophysical data showing a linked NW-SE resistivity corridor connecting Kismet, North Breccia, and Frostfall—interpreted as a major magmatic-hydrothermal feeder system. Soil and rock sampling (over 2,300 samples) indicate a metallogenic transition from Cu-Mo in the south/central area to Cu-Au in the north. Looking ahead, IDEX plans IP and ELF surveys and awaits assays from multiple drill holes (KSMT25003–005) to guide the 2026 campaign.
IDEX is steadily building its case that the Freeze Property hosts a robust, district-scale copper-gold system with multiple mineral centers. The discoveries of North Breccia and Frostfall expand the known footprint and strengthen the structural and geophysical model for further drilling. Drill hole KSMT25006, a 300-meter step-out north from KSMT25001, is currently at ~200 meters depth, testing a large low-resistivity anomaly.
The recent share-price weakness in both BIG and IDEX stands in sharp contrast to the strong exploration progress across the belt. IDEX recently closed a C$5.32 million financing at C$0.60, meaning Friday’s close already represents a ~15% discount to that financing—an excessively pessimistic valuation, in my view, given the high-grade near-surface copper intercepts reported in its first two holes at Kismet.
IDEX Metals (Daily)
Finally, we wrap up with Prospector Metals (TSX-V: PPP), which secured a C$10 million strategic investment from B2Gold (NYSE: BTG, TSX: BTO) earlier in the week. Then on Friday, Prospector shocked the market by announcing an additional C$27.6 million financing, with Alpayana S.A.C. subscribing for 14.63 million non-flow-through shares. Upon completion, Alpayana will own roughly 9.9% of Prospector’s outstanding shares.
Alpayana is a family-owned private mining group with more than 39 years of continuous operations in Peru and Mexico, currently operating six mining units: Americana, Yauliyacu, Iscaycruz, Morococha, and Yauricocha in Peru, and Bolívar in Mexico. Its 2025 revenues are expected to exceed US$1 billion.
The investment marks another major move by the Gubbins Family and Alpayana in the Yukon, continuing a trend of active private-capital involvement in the territory. Together, the B2Gold and Alpayana financings put Prospector in a position of great financial strength, fully addressing any prior funding concerns.
Prospector Metals (Daily)
The market quickly recognized the significance of these developments. The validation provided by B2Gold and Alpayana sets the stage for a potentially transformative summer 2026 drilling season—which can’t come soon enough.
Overall, it was an exceptionally busy week across the junior-mining sector, with no shortage of news flow. On Wednesday and Thursday, the press releases were dropping so fast it was difficult to keep up. I’ll close this week’s note by saying I’m optimistic we are nearing the end of the correction—and that a strong rally across the sector could arrive later this month.
Disclosure: Author owns shares of Barrick, Cameco, IDEX, Ridgeline, and Andina at the time of publishing and may choose to buy or sell at any time without notice.
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