As any regular readers will be aware, Horizonte Minerals (HZM) has been a favourite of mine for several years now and is edging ever closer to finally reaching production.

I know what many of you are thinking today: why don’t I hold 100% cash in my portfolio this morning? Or maybe 100% gold? Or have been super short the Russian markets. Hindsight Asset Management is always the best performer but – patently obviously – it does not exist and never will. And if you are smart you will realise – whether we are talking about markets or any other challenges – what matters is not what you might have (or probably have not) predicted, but how you react and see the future.

I had an interesting exchange in the comments section of this website with a subscriber (BlueFrewExile) who has encouraged me to write a little more on the some of the aspects of UK power system as consequence of my comments regarding BP (BP.) moving into the renewable energy sector. The last few decades have seen very material change in generation sources and Boris developing wind has of course added further dimensions to the considerations. With this being an investment commentary site, I will focus on a few opportunities I see after meandering through some of the issues.

Hello Share  Peekers.  Lithium, as my sharp-witted colleague Gary Newman observes, is not that rare a metal. Which has made me wary of buying shares in lithium miners and explorers. Ah, yes, you say, but lithium batteries are needed for the new electric cars. Not to mention the ubiquitous phones, laptops, tablets, electric bikes and all that jive. 

When’s an oil field potentially not an oil field? Simple in my view – ask UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) to become the operator and see what else you can do with the “asset”! I reviewed in Part 1 my views on the current extended well testing and what I concluded that meant to the investment case, but now I turn to some of the issues I found on review of the planning application seeking consent for continuous production.

Oracle Power (ORCP) seems to have become popular all of a sudden and has seen its share price rise by around 80% in the past week, but as usual some on the bulletin boards seem to be claiming that it should actually be worth many multiples of its current valuation.

Investors in GCM Resources (GCM) seem to be shocked that recent news hasn’t caused the share price to rise much higher, and barring a very brief spike immediately after news of a deal landed, it has settled back to around the level that it was trading at before the RNS dropped. The news that has got everyone invested in this Bangladeshi coal miner so excited is a joint venture agreement with a huge government owned entity called PowerChina, which is involved in coal fired power plants and is a name that some will be familiar with as it also has similar deals in place with other small mining companies in various parts of Africa as well...

It never ceases to amaze me just how excited some investors seem to get over memorandum of understanding announcements, especially when the agreement is with a Chinese company.

Bushveld Minerals (BMN) has turned out to be my best performing mining tip ever and shows that it is possible for a small AIM outfit to become a successful producer.

In Africa things always tend to take far longer than people expect, and even more so when it comes to anything in the natural resources sector. Interest in, and the share price of, Tlou Energy (TLOU) seems to have waned and I think that has largely been as a result of some having far too optimistic timescales with regards to the company’s coal bed methane project at Lesedi, in Botswana.

If AIM gave out awards for achieving little and issuing billions of shares, then Tanzanian coal miner Edenville Energy (EDL) would be high up the list to receive one!

Powerhouse Energy (PHE) is a company which I have previously been very negative on, and rightly so given its performance over the past few years. The company specialises in waste-to-energy production, either in the form of generating electricity or producing hydrogen for fuel cells, but in the past its gasification technology has failed to really take off in the way that investors had hoped.

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) has been on a steady upwards trajectory ever since taking a big hit to its share price when the UK voted in favour of Brexit last June, but that rise looks like it is about to hit a brick wall following last week’s debacle involving British Airways.

Vedanta Resources (VED) was one of my best performing shares during 2016, and after a significant pullback in the share price in recent months it is well worth considering buying back in at current levels.

Edenville Energy (EDL) has long been a favourite of small private investors, but ultimately I have to wonder whether it will actually ever get to a stage where its projects come to fruition.

The recent low oil prices have not only affected companies producing the commodity, but also others which rely on prices being high in order for their own products to be competitive. AIM-listed Quadrise Fuels (QFI) offers a good alternative investment for anyone who is confident that oil prices will ultimately recover, but who is looking for something a bit different to the traditional earlier-stage oil and gas investments around.

Hello Share Bouncers. I am now back at my desk following a very invasive operation the day before. However the team carrying it out was a modal of politeness, friendliness and efficiency. Would that some of Britain’s Chef execs were as useful. There’s a very competent management at the National Grid (NG.) too. But that’s not the big factor in the current ballooning share price. The value has shown a 14% rise since Brexit. A few days ago it was another 2% higher than that.