I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and here today with me is Chenlin of Lynn Asset Management. Thank you so much for being here. Great to have you again. >> Thank you Charlotte. Great to be here. >> Yes, nice to see you. We're here at PDAC in Toronto and I believe later today you'll be presenting on your favorite commodity in 2026. So I was hoping I can ask for a preview. What is that commodity? >> I think this year will be the year for critical commodity. Critical including


many of those on the list, including copper and silver, but also there's many other um critical mineral. For example, this year tungsten went up already one over 100% just in the past seven weeks for this area and after a few hundred% rise and then the Gallian germanian a lot of those uh small metals going up are great. I can give you a little bit preview. Yes, >> I think this Iran war the which commodity will benefit the most will be probably sapphireic asset because uh Middle East is a big producer of sulfi


uh Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran and then they shut down the street the all United have strategic reserve they can pump that but we don't have sulfi strategic reserve and sulfi price already four to fivefolded in the past year or two. So believe it or not safari just a simple thing safari asset because it is using the battery using the war. So Russia already banned the export of sulfide because for the war effort and that's trigger the dramatic rise of safyic acid. So I think Monday uh which


commodity I bet will rise the most and then you got a preview of my talk will be safaric asset. So for Okay. I have never nobody has ever mentioned this market to me and I'm guessing that maybe investors haven't necessarily heard much about it either. Can you talk a little bit more about the supply demand dynamics of the market just so we know >> right the it's a lot of those use a battery right I uh so the safaric asset and also use the fertilizer that's pretty constant demand but battery has


been going parabolic and also using the making the chemical for the war effort so uh Russia was a big exporter of sulfi and they b the export of sulfi for their internal that triggered the sharp rise of sapphire asset. Actually that led to what we already know in the mining industry smelter fees are negative. People are talking about negative smelter fee. First start with copper now it's zinc. Why? Because they are sulfite or so they can get sulfi. You know the smelters in Japan in Korea in China can


get sulfi to subsidize the smelter fee. So actually that's why this the mining company is so profitable because if you have some si content >> that's actually worth a lot of money than before. >> Okay. And yeah I guess on the company side how how would people think about getting exposure to this? Who are the the main players maybe? >> Oh th those are pretty mostly of the softi are coming from refiners. Uh so it's not a small company for us to play but it benefit greatly for the mining


industry uh because the margin actually really goes up. you see the free cash flow goes up especially you have pyite ore and I was just talking to some other juniors uh if you have those refractory pyite ore they're very bad ore now actually you can direct ship them you have some gold they can direct ship to Asia >> okay >> they will refine it and then give you gold credit so you don't need to waiting for the roster you know waiting autoclave you don't need to do that anymore there's so much demand of si And


uh it's um yeah it's a open up a new door for a lot of uh visionary gold mining company. >> Okay. Okay. So it's something that the gold mining companies can engage >> gold and copper because you know a lot of those you we know oxide or sulfite transition sulfite or so. So sulfite war is very tough to crack. Now you don't have to crack it. There are people more than happy to take it. >> Really interesting. Okay. So critical minerals that's the theme for 2026 and


in that case I want to get your thoughts on the project vault initiative that has been announced in the US. So talking about creating a critical mineral stockpile maybe price floors what are your thoughts on that? Do you like this? >> Oh I I think it's very proactive uh from United States government side and it will be very beneficial for mining company. uh I I know there's a lot of mining company was supported by the United States government and they are uh getting the non-dilutive capital


including some of shares some stock I own. So the this announcement after announcement the director of their critical mineral was uh at the beimo conference for example just last week and then also I heard even Trump was there. So there is a great push to support the mineral industry the mining industry in United States. It's a ren renaissance of the mining in United States probably also around the world. So it's very good for mining company. >> Well and maybe maybe another question


related to project vault is is is this doable? There's a lot of talk about, as I mentioned, setting up price floors, reference prices for critical minerals. And I just wonder, it also sounds like the US wants to work with other countries to to break away from China's dominance. Do you think this is realistic? >> Well, some are probably not very realistic. Some are are I think some. And then for United States, I don't think um the government has a choice, >> right? >> Okay. uh for example uh give you one


example uh I know very familiar is a gallion gallian is used a radar is used in semiconductor is 98% by China 1% by Russia you know together 99% it's a gallium supply and the gallian more than double last year is still going up very very rapidly this year and I heard the United States when they uh produce a plane um F F-35 this year is without radar. Yeah, it's just like if as if you are walking blind, you know, you think of plane without radar. The rumors is some supply chain issue. I don't know is this


Galian related or something else, but they see it's so crucial for United States. They have no choice. You know, the government has no choice but to support domestic industry. >> Well, and staying on the critical minerals angle. So, silver now a critical mineral in the US. And I want to pick up on the conversation we had at VR about a month ago. We were talking at a very exciting time for silver. It had gotten to the triple digit level and of course not long after that we saw a big correction, but now now we're coming


back up. So where where are we at right now in terms of silver? How are you looking at the market right now? >> Oh, silver market is very very exciting. uh it's one of the most dynamic market we see in uh what I see is there's a squeeze right now uh the physical demand is at the peak uh because one month exactly one month from from now April 1st uh China going to stop uh the tax rebate for the solar panel. So that was announced uh last year late last year. So basically all the solar panel


production use of all the silver was pushed forward in the Q4 last year and Q1 this year. So there's a tremendous demand for silver. But I what I see unfortunately the other flip side also true after April 1 the export of solar panel because of the 13% tax they will drop dramatically. So the silver demand will drop from solar industry and in meantime uh there are lot of junk silver coming to the market. I've been hearing a lot of people ask me calling oh I have the silver coin silver where silver is


so expensive I want to sell and cash in. So those silver will supply will come in residue. I'm uh I think it's constructive for silver just to consolidate even at this price or a little bit lower for the rest of the year to absorb the actual supply from the junk silver while also the reduced demand solar panel industry and then maybe we have another run by by close to the end of the year. >> Okay. Okay. So maybe some near-term consolidation for the silver price. I I kind of expect yeah there's a near-term


if basically right now we are looking we're talking it's the highest physical demand it's a peak demand because all the silver the Chinese factory are are just three shifted they try to push out as many solar panel as possible before April 1 so that's the maximum physical demand the tightest physical market as we are speaking and that's tell us it's still it's going up still not triple digit yet. So gave me think feel like they probably will be a little bit softer in the near term, but it's very


constructive for the long term. >> Well, and talking talking more about that demand for physical metal, I'm hearing a lot about more people wanting to take delivery. So, can you can you talk about that? I think there's a lot of questions that people have about what's going on there. >> Right. That's is that's uh exactly the the March delivery is on the focus. So uh there could be a squeeze on silver and with a lot of investor demand delivery but on the other hand uh if


there's a march there's uh no squeeze as right now we are already March 1 right if there there there's a that we don't see any significant squeeze that's probably means you know silver will be softer going up so again I invested demand has it's double-edged sword You look at the bitcoin what happen bitcoin and then investor they buy it for profit if there's no profit they will sell it so that's the same thing for silver it they take a lot of delivery if silver doesn't go up they


will sell it so it actually I don't see it very constructive for the long run uh for the silver company if you talk to look at first majestic I company I own they already had alltime high so they're making a lot of money at 8090 silver we don't need to be very high silver for them to because their cost is in $20 range they make so much money more than Google more than Microsoft the profit margin so I feel I mean I'm I'm a silver bull so but I feel uh it's good to stay here uh around here for for the year


actually company making a lot of money we consolidate and then we still have a deficit that's important we have another deficit year if we really shoot up it will kill kill a lot of demand >> right Right. And for for the silver companies, the silver miners, they are still really waiting for the higher prices to come through in their results. So there should be more potential upside for the companies in that case, >> right? But if you look at the first majestic, it's already higher uh than


when silver was over 100. This the stock already reflect because why is that uh people at 100 people don't believe it? People think silver will crash. Well, it did. It did. And now it's coming back. people has the confidence silver will stay around at least uh 8090 range uh then for that for that first magenta you can argue still undervalued because you they're not pricing in for 100 yet you don't need 100 above triple digit silver for them to be very profitable you know it's $20 silver margin is very fat


>> yeah maybe maybe you can talk a little bit more about how you are approaching the silver market right now and maybe going back even to when we had prices going way up and then way down. How how did you react when that was happening in terms of your investments? >> Well, I I sold uh sold a lot of silver at around 100. Uh and just for the record, uh I I have a relatively less silver right now than before. Most uh silver miners I'm taking some profit as well. I still own a lot of silver miner


like first majestic. Um the uh C quart cordon actually is my my coming to my my favorite uh we can talk about because I think they pro they they just merging with new gold and the two Canadian project they will be more than uh two billion in free cash flow this year. So and then they can potentially add it to S&P 500. So it's relatively safer bet. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe you can you can tell me a little bit more about why why it's the favorite, why you like that one so much. >> Oh, it used to be my favorite and then


last year I switched to first majest did so well. I take somehow off and then put it back to to core. It's free cash flow. Bottom line is free cash flow. If you compare the free cash flow level of core versus other company like Kin Ross, like other is similar level, but the market cap is half of it. So that means they have upside and then they can be because it's a market company it can be including S&P 500 that will be a big lift as well. So I feel it's relatively safe uh because uh I I I see a potential


some volatilities in in the precious metal market. >> Well and you're okay with the gold component because I know some people if they are looking at silver stocks they want you know a lot of silver but you're okay with some gold. I >> I like a lot of silver. uh when I see uh the silver really uh can really break out really do well. So I was loading up a first majestic including core options uh last September. Last September right the core options almost 10x for me which is really nice and then the stock


tripled more than triple. So um that was a good run. I feel like it's a good run. Um the uh uh because at that time it's so undervalued. Uh the silver is just about to take off. Now it seems I think a lot of good news the pricing. So, I just play a little bit more conservative, right? It's doesn't hurt to take some profit. >> And just one more point on silver. I think there's a lot of focus right now on manipulation in the market. There's a lot of concern about what's going on,


especially after this past week, we had the next CME Group issue. So, I wonder how how do you look at that? How do you see what's going on there? >> Right. I'm I'm not a big fan of consp conspiracy theory. Okay. There are some legitimate shorts uh on silver. I know I saw I know some company they shorted silver at the wrong time because they have silver byproduct. They want to cash in. They want to use that to financing. They shorted silver and then the margin uh requirement for silver goes up. I was


worrying about that if they got margin core those company could bankrupt. >> But actually they seems to survive. Uh those uh I've been watching those companies seems to have survived. So of course they always traders trying to short they're playing against the g you know playing playing the game. Um I I feel is um you know the those talk like you long silver you you you you break the JP Morgan or this I mean I'm not really a big fan of those uh I think the silver market yeah it's a relatively


small market you put a lot of money in it will really parabolic. So, it's possible silver go to two 300, but I don't think it's healthy for the silver market in the long run. I'd rather have it stabilize and then we have another leg up. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I definitely I definitely see what you mean. And I should I should get your I know we've been focusing on silver and the critical metals. I should get your thoughts on gold as well because it's kind of a similar situation that we've had with


silver where we saw the big run up then down and now we're coming back up again for gold. So, are you are you interested in gold right now? Are you investing in gold stocks? How are you seeing the market? >> Yeah, actually I'm lean more towards gold stock than silver right now. At this moment, last year I was more lean more I mean in the past two years I was lean more on silver stock. >> Uh why is that? Uh because uh gold actually demand is pretty s constant. It's come from central bank, right? The


big seller right now is Russia because they need to fund the war. uh that's we know but any selling probably will take over by all the other countries and then we have this a big iron war and all the country middle east probably will buy more uh gold. So it seems to be steady demand for gold. So I feel on the commodity side gold seems to be more stable >> and then gold company are undervalued relatively speaking because gold company don't trade at premium. good company trading a a much lower valuation than


the silver versus price revenue, price earning, price of cash flow. So that's why I think I'm I'm poor more, you know, just to be conservative. I have a great year last year. Yeah. >> So I'm a little bit conservative actually on the go side. >> Well, yeah. No, that makes sense. And so for the silver stocks, it sounds like you you like some of those bigger silver stocks. Is it the same approach when it comes to the gold stocks? Are you going like to those larger companies?


>> Oh, I have a small and large. I have a many collection. They got the my family right now. I'm managing a very sizable asset base of my family, but some are juniors and some are small. I was just talking about uh the big companies because they are very liquid. >> Of course. >> So, a lot lot of investor want me to talk about that. They're easy to trade in and trade out. So, um yeah, I've been I take some some off uh put it. So I I I you know I'm been picking up some gold


uh gold mining company big gold I mean but for juniors actually uh I'm still looking I'm still buying and there's a lot of opportunity very exciting companies coming out so >> okay so still a good time to look at the gold juniors right now >> right the juniors gold and silver are in different category okay >> okay so right now the big company the bigger the more expensive >> the juniors I the mid tier is like this. Junior is like this. So there's tremendous opportunity. Tremendous


opportunity right there. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is a good place to >> great place to be at PDAC and good to check out the company and there's so many opportunity out there and I'm I'm very excited and then as you said we said uh there's a new opportunity for for the SFI lot of times uh if you're pyite your refractory gold you're like this in in US I mean maybe also in Canada it's very hard to get gold out but now you can there's a lot of company looking that way direct shipping Yeah,


it's a new new way and then it can be very very profitable. >> Yeah, that's really interesting. Thank you for sharing that and I think we're coming to the end here. Anything else you had mentioned that you're noticing in the mining space or things that you're doing with your money right now? >> Oh, I I just uh I'm very excited. There's a old uh small companies lot of comp lot of people uh forming new idea new new deposit a new project and I welcome everybody come down to the Pike


floor there is it's just so exciting and so many opportunity here. >> Okay well I'm going to I'll send you back out onto the show floor. I hope you have a great time at the convention and thank you so much for coming on to talk once again. >> Thank you. We're so glad to be here, Sharon. Oh, >> of course. And once again, I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and this is Chenlin with Lynn Asset Management.