Jeff Diamond

Mining.com reported this afternoon that the U.S. Commerce Department said it will block exports of tungsten scrap because the metal is in great shortage. Tungsten is widely regarded as a critical mineral for modern missile production and broader munitions manufacturing, mainly because of its role in warheads, penetrators, and high‑temperature structural and guidance components. The DoD is very short of tungsten (and antimony) which is needed to replace the missiles that have been expended in the Iran/Ukraine wars. Additionally, "the U.S. does not have enough capacity to recycle all the scrap it produces." One hour later (nicely timed), Perpetua Resources released impressive exploration drill results for its Stibnite gold mine project, which is fully funded (with the help of the U.S. government) and where the pre-construction process has begun. From the press release: "First exploratory drilling in nearly a decade at Perpetua's Idaho properties returned significant, high-grade gold, antimony & tungsten results, including intercepts of 21.3 meters @ 3.2 g/t gold & 0.9% tungsten and 6.4 meters @ 16.2 g/t gold & 1.7% antimony at Yellow-Pine and 3.0 meters @ 14.5 g/t gold at Hangar Flats" And: "Historically, the Stibnite district was not only a major producer of antimony, but also one of America's most significant historical tungsten-producing regions. Following the discovery of tungsten at Yellow Pine by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Survey in the spring of 1941, production at Stibnite commenced just months later in August of that year. From 1941 to 1945, the Stibnite deposit produced more tungsten than any other mine in the United States with an estimated 611,284 short tons of ore produced averaging 1.645% WO₃. In total, this represented approximately 50% of all tungsten consumed by the United States during the Second World War and the Korean War." Perpetua (PPTA) appears to be in the right spot at the right time. mining.com/perpetua-discover…

Sinators. Happy Halloween! (this is a joke!)

From tonight's Almost Daily Grants: "One indicator suggests that the iPhone manufacturer will be hard-pressed to please its investors. Craig Moffett, co-founder and one-half eponym of research firm MoffettNathanson, pointed out yesterday that handset upgrade rates from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile “were down sharply” in the most recent quarter.  The bulk of that period took place before Apple rolled out its latest iteration smartphone in mid-September, but the downshift “carries implications for Apple’s earnings report on Monday [and] also for the fourth calendar quarter, as the trends appear likely to continue,” Moffett relayed." My take: Could be a major wake-up call for the brazen AAPL stock buyers following Monday night's results. So much risk (see my prior tweet as well as this one) and so little upside considering the 40 PE - which is more than 2x Apple's historical average. At a $5+ Trillion market cap for AAPL and retail investors "all-in" with this stock market (and with $1.5T of margin debt - not including hedge funds' margin), AAPL - possibly the most crowded trade in history thanks to the mindless "rotation" that's been occurring - could have major repercussions in an already massively overvalued and shaky stock market.