In a recent interview with Streetwise Reports, Alpha North Asset Management's Steve Palmer addressed gold's role in the current market, the broader TSX Venture bull cycle, and the parts of the resource sector he is watching most closely.
Steve Palmer is president and chief investment officer of Alpha North and has worked in the investment industry since 1995. Before founding Alpha North in 2007, he served as vice president of Canadian equities for nine years at one of the world's largest financial institutions, where the small-cap fund he managed returned 35.8% annualized during his tenure and ranked as the No. 1 fund across several time periods by a major fund ranking service.
Palmer said he believes the current venture market remains in the early stages of a longer resource-focused run. Comparing the current market to the 2000 to 2008 resource bull market, he said the earlier period "went in terms of magnitude, significantly higher than where we've come so far in the current run, and it lasted multiple years." He added that "it's still early" and said investors have been underinvesting in the resource sector for years, concluding that "it's probably time for another bull market."
On gold, Palmer said he does not try to predict a specific future price. "I have no idea. I don't try to predict the exact price," he said. He added that he views gold "a little differently than most people" and described it as "more U.S. dollar trade," saying some investors are taking money out of the United States and looking for another reserve asset.
Palmer also said he is more focused on critical minerals than gold. "I think critical minerals are the better place to look, that's where I'm more focused," he said. He pointed to copper as "the obvious one," adding that "the world's electrifying, the grid needs to be upgraded." He also said, "There's a huge demand for copper. We need copper to live. We don't need gold to live."
That demand is tied to copper's wide use in power transmission and generation, building wiring, telecommunications, and electrical and electronic products. The U.S. Geological Survey says electrical uses account for about three-quarters of total copper use, while the Copper Development Association says copper is also integral to electric motors, transformers, and grid infrastructure.
The interview also touched on workforce questions in mining. Palmer said he had not looked closely at the details of the labor issue, but said it made sense that a long downturn in the sector may have affected the number of younger people entering mining-related fields. He said, "The mining sector was down and out for more than a decade. So it's not really a place where young people thought to get some training." He added that "during these cycles, there are always people who come out of retirement to work."
Emerita Resources
Palmer pointed to Emerita Resources Corp. (EMO:TSX.V; EMOTF:OTCQX; LLJA:FSE) as one company he believes investors should be watching. The company recently reported metallurgical test results from its wholly owned Iberian Belt West Project showing 81% gold recovery and 96% silver recovery from post-flotation material samples using the Albion hydrometallurgical process at the La Romanera deposit. According to Emerita, the test work focused on residual material remaining after flotation removed base metal concentrates, with more than 80% of the precious metals remaining in the post-flotation material.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*
Emerita Resources Corp. (EMO:TSX.V; EMOTF:OTCQB; LLJA:FSE)
The company said the Albion Process is a post-flotation metallurgical process based on ultrafine grinding and oxidative leaching. It was developed in 1994 at Core's laboratories and is licensed worldwide by Glencore Technology. Test work was conducted at CORE Resources' laboratories in Australia and evaluated a flowsheet consisting of ultrafine grinding and atmospheric oxidation using the Albion Process, oxidative neutral leaching at mildly acidic to near neutral pH, and precious metals recovery through a carbon in pulp recovery circuit followed by elution.
Emerita said the Albion-based flowsheet achieved 81% gold recovery and 96% silver recovery. The company stated that these results exceeded previously reported metallurgical results from May 27, 2025, which showed gold recoveries of 81.5% and 64.1% using the optimized CLEVR post-flotation process. It also compared the Albion-based process with an alternative pyrometallurgical route involving single-step pyrolysis and thermal oxidation, followed by cooling, acid washing, and gold leaching using the CLEVR Process non-cyanide technology, which reported 81.5% gold recovery and between 50% and 64% silver recovery.
Joaquin Merino, P.Geo., President of Emerita, stated in a company news release, "Both technologies that we have examined demonstrate comparable gold recoveries of approximately 81%. However, the Albion route maximizes silver recovery, which in the current market may add significant value to the IBW Project." The company said results from both the pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes enhance the technical robustness of the Iberian Belt West Project and provide two technically viable processing alternatives. Emerita also said it will continue testing several other technologies in 2026 to determine the optimal flowsheet for the project.
In his interview with Streetwise Reports, Palmer said that Emerita is operating in Spain and is "normally thought of as a base metal asset, primarily zinc." He said the company has "a significant resource there," but added that with higher silver and gold prices, "the value of their asset is more precious metals than it is base metals. I don't think investors appreciate that."
1In third-party commentary, Stewart Thomson wrote on February 23 that Emerita was "a Canadian polymetallic metals (zinc, copper, gold, silver, lead) company with an updated NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for its La Romanera, El Cura, and La Infanta deposits." He said the company's flagship Iberian Belt West project is "hosted within the renowned Iberian Pyrite Belt in Western Spain, one of the most productive volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) terranes in the world." Thomson also wrote that the Iberian Pyrite Belt "has had more than 2000 million tons of ore removed, and yet still has more than 400 million tons left to exploit," and called it "the single largest concentration of massive sulfides in the world."
Thomson also stated that the 2025 updated Mineral Resource Estimate reflected "a 35% increase in 'Total Indicated Mineral Resource' tonnage to 18.96 million tonnes (Mt), at 8.44% ZnEq (3.01% CuEq) and a 44% increase in 'Total Inferred Resource' tonnage to 6.80 Mt at 8.72% ZnEq (3.00% CuEq), relative to the 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate." He added that "the El Cura deposit has been incorporated for the first time, contributing significant copper and gold mineralization, while overall contained gold in the 'Indicated' category has increased by 24% to 783,000 ounces." Thomson also wrote that the stock was seeing "strong hands taking the stock in both cases." At the time of writing, he listed a short-term technical price target of CA$0.80, a medium-term technical price target of CA$1.60, and a long-term technical price target of CA$2.50, and assigned the stock a "Technical Rating: Speculative Buy."
Company materials also outline project development steps at Iberian Belt West, including Declaration of Strategic Importance status from the Junta de Andalucia, completion of a Mineral Resource Estimate, submission of an Environmental Impact Study referred to as AAU, public consultation activities, submission of the project to the Andalusia authority for mining license approval, engagement with the Huelva Mining Department for project approval, commencement and completion of a Prefeasibility Study, an updated Mineral Resource Estimate, and continued public consultations related to the environmental approval process.
Catalysts for Emerita include continued metallurgical testing in 2026 as the company evaluates additional technologies to determine the optimal flowsheet for the Iberian Belt West Project. Company materials also outline a series of project development steps, including the submission of the Environmental Impact Study referred to as AAU, public consultation activities tied to that process, submission of the project to the Andalusia authority for mining license approval, engagement with the Huelva Mining Department for project approval, and engineering work tied to the Prefeasibility Study. The project timeline also includes an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and continued public consultations related to environmental approval.
2Management and insiders hold 5.32% of Emerita. Michael Lawrence Guy owns 1.45%, David Patrick Gower holds 1.3%, and Joaquin Merino-Marquez controls 1.04%.
Institutional ownership totals 1.12%, including Merk Investments LLC with a 0.99% stake.
The company has 289.12 million shares outstanding, with 248.80 million freely tradable. Emerita's market capitalization is CA$167.89 million, and shares have traded between CA$0.39 and CA$2.00 over the past 52 weeks.
LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc
Palmer also highlighted LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc (LIB:TSX; LIBLF:OTC), which on March 12 announced that it had completed site preparations and begun installation of its direct lithium extraction and lithium carbonate refining systems at Select Water Solutions' site in Howard County, Texas. The company said the systems are being integrated with Select's existing produced water pretreatment and recycling infrastructure and are expected to begin producing technical-grade and battery-grade lithium carbonate in early Q2 2026.
According to the company, the initial deployment is intended to support continued bulk sample production and customer qualification while establishing a systems-integration template for planned scaling at the site and future deployments across major U.S. basins, including the Permian and Bakken. LibertyStream said this deployment is intended to validate its on-site systems integration at Select and support continued bulk sample production for customer qualification. It also said the effort is designed to establish an operating template for scaling through the remainder of 2026 by integrating its proprietary direct lithium extraction technology and refining systems into existing oilfield infrastructure.
Streetwise Ownership Overview*
LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc (LIB:TSX; LIBLF:OTC)
Alex Wylie, President and CEO of LibertyStream, stated in a company news release, "Our team has made significant progress over the past month preparing the site and installing our DLE extraction and refining systems at Select's facility. We remain ahead of schedule for commissioning and expect to begin initial lithium carbonate production early in the second quarter. This deployment is designed to support bulk sample production and customer qualification while establishing the integration template for planned scaling through the balance of 2026."
The company said its near-term focus is to complete integration with Select's existing produced water infrastructure and commence lithium carbonate production at the site in early Q2 2026, while also advancing a separate commercial-scale expansion targeted to bring annualized production capability to up to 1,000 tonnes by year-end 2026. To support that plan, LibertyStream said it intends to complete installation, systems integration, and commissioning of its on-site direct lithium extraction and refining systems in early Q2 2026; commence lithium carbonate production and continue shipping bulk samples with certificates of analysis for customer testing and qualification in both industrial and battery-grade markets; continue qualifying customers for offtake through an ongoing sampling program; and advance construction of a separate commercial-scale direct lithium extraction and refining system later in 2026.
In his earlier interview, Palmer briefly discussed LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc when asked for thoughts on specific companies. On Liberty Stream, he said the company is "a lithium company" using direct lithium extraction, or DLE, and targeting oil and gas wells in the United States where lithium is present in brine. He said several companies have talked about this approach, but added, "these guys are actually doing it. They're the first ones to commercially do this." He also referred to "a press release today" and said the company was installing equipment this month, with "commercial production expected in q2."
Earlier company materials said LibertyStream was approaching what it described as the final phase of reducing operational risks and said field development activities included laying concrete pads, establishing on-site power generation to support refining infrastructure, and building a stockpile of lithium chloride eluate for processing once the unit became operational. The company also said its goal upon commissioning was to demonstrate on-site conversion of oilfield-produced brine directly into technical-grade and battery-grade lithium carbonate.
In additional commentary included in the pasted material, LibertyStream said its potential for scalable growth is tied to existing oilfield infrastructure in North America's major producing regions. The company said the Permian Basin generates more than 20 million barrels of water daily and that the Bakken manages an additional 1.5 million to 1.7 million barrels per day through existing systems. The material also stated that these established networks provide a foundation for lithium extraction without requiring new produced water infrastructure. Separately, Hale wrote for AInvest that risk is "mitigated by LibertyStream's low-cost model and structural demand for North American lithium," and added that "By leveraging the Bakken's rich brines, existing oilfield assets, and government backing, it's building a cost-efficient, scalable business model."
2About 9% of the company is owned by insiders and management, and about 9% by institutions. The rest is in retail.
Top shareholders include Pathfinder Asset Management Ltd. with 8.23%, the CEO Wylie with 6.7%, Kyle Robert Hookey with 1%, and Warner Uhl with 0.98%, Refinitiv said.
Its market cap is CA$185 million with 172.93 million shares outstanding. It trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.17 and CA$1.79.
Palmer's Closing View on the Market
At the close of the interview, Palmer returned to his broader outlook for the TSX Venture market, saying the current rally remains in its earlier stages when measured against prior bull markets. He said the market is up roughly 100% from the lows, while the average return of past bull markets was 235%.
Palmer said that, in his view, the current cycle still has room to run. "We're not even halfway, in my opinion," he said. He also reiterated his comparison to the earlier resource bull market, which he said lasted multiple years and reached a significantly greater magnitude than the current move so far.
| Want to be the first to know about interesting Gold, Cobalt / Lithium / Manganese, Copper and Critical Metals investment ideas? Sign up to receive the FREE Streetwise Reports' newsletter. | Subscribe |
Important Disclosures:
- Emerita Resources Corp. is a billboard sponsor of Streetwise Reports and pays SWR a monthly sponsorship fee between US$3,000 and US$6,000.
- As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners Inc.
- James Guttman wrote this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee.
- This article does not constitute investment advice and is not a solicitation for any investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her personal financial adviser and perform their own comprehensive investment research. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company.
For additional disclosures, please click here.
1. Disclosure for the quote from the Stewart Thomson article published on February 23, 2026
- For the quoted article (published on February 23, 2026), the Company has paid Street Smart, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports US$3,550..
- Author Certification and Compensation: Stewart Thomson was retained and compensated as an independent contractor by Street Smart for writing this article. Mr. Thomson is a retired Canadian financial advisor who has passed the Canadian Securities Course as well as additional technical analysis courses that were mandated by his former employer and approved by Ontario regulatory bodies. For the past 15 years, he has been editing and writing numerous financial newsletters that have a strong focus on charts. The recommendations and opinions expressed in this content reflect the personal, independent, and objective views of the author regarding any and all of the companies discussed. No part of the compensation received by the author was, is, or will be directly or indirectly tied to the specific recommendations or views expressed.
2. Ownership and Share Structure Information
The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.
