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Jeff Phillips: 'Especially Now' Huge Opportunity in Junior Miners | Finding 10-Baggers

Palisades Gold Radio Oct 14, 2026 47:34

Summary

Jeff Phillips argues the pullback in gold and juniors is a buying window inside a commodity super cycle driven by underinvestment and currency debasement.

Phillips expects tax loss selling (October into US Thanksgiving) to set up 20-40% re-rates in juniors when the selling dries up.

He vets management and share structure before geology, seeking insiders holding 20-50% of shares alongside long-term investors rather than warrant flippers.

Prospect generators (juniors that joint venture projects so dilution hits the project, not shareholders) and royalties offer lower-risk exposure.

He concentrates in 12-18 names entered at $5-40 million market caps, keeps cash against timing risk, and sees AI speeding up exploration.

Key points on Newmont

  • The guest says Headwater Gold made its Spring Peak discovery alongside Newmont and counts Newmont among the three or four majors joint-venturing Headwater's projects.

Key points on Oceanagold

  • The guest names Oceana Gold among the major companies joint-venturing projects with prospect generator Headwater Gold, alongside Newmont and Sentara.

Key points on Perpetua Resources

  • The video description identifies the guest as a long-standing backer of Perpetua Resources, a US antimony developer, though the company is not discussed in the conversation itself.

Key points on Empress Royalty Corp

  • The guest argues Empress Royalty's competitive advantage comes from its chairman David Rhodes also running Endeavor Financial, whose decades in mine finance give the company a deal network other small royalty names lack.
  • He says the company is now cash-flow positive, having placed its first four royalties in jurisdictions some investors considered higher-risk but where its experience let it compete and earn good returns.
  • He has been a shareholder since Rick Rule introduced him to a financing roughly three to four years ago, and reports the company just completed another really big deal with more expected.
  • He cautions that at about a $150 million market cap this is a high-risk bet on people and management, not a Franco-Nevada-scale royalty company.

Key points on Franco-Nevada Corp

  • The guest cites Franco-Nevada as a prime example of why the royalty model has been one of the more successful areas to invest in, while stressing that names like Empress Royalty are far smaller and riskier than the multi-billion-dollar Franco-Nevada.

Key points on Regulus Resources Inc

  • The guest says Regulus Resources, one of John Black's companies and a client of his for roughly four to six years, has gone on to reach a market cap in the $300-500 million range.

Stijn Schmitz's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The host frames the interview around a painful consolidation, noting as of the recording that gold was still down about 25% from its January intraday peak.
  • He challenges the guest on whether mining gains are real, arguing investors can be taxed on nominal profits yet only be treading water after currency debasement.

Jeff Phillips's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The guest argues this is a long-term commodity super cycle — likely the biggest bull market he has seen — and treats the current pullback, with many juniors 30-50% below their highs, as a buying opportunity rather than the end of the bull market.
  • He tells smaller investors the tax-loss selling window, running through late October to around US Thanksgiving, has historically produced 20-40% re-rates off the sale price in the new year for solid juniors, though it is not foolproof.
  • He picks management and share structure over geology — seeking proven teams with 20-50% fully reporting insider ownership and long-term shareholders — and typically enters junior explorers at $5-40 million market caps.
  • He warns timing can go wrong: citing unregulated private credit as a possible black swan, he keeps cash and avoids overleverage so he can hold through any short-term liquidity shock.
  • He is structurally bullish across commodities on decades of underinvestment and fiat currency debasement, and calls out uranium stocks as not yet reflecting rising uranium prices — a contrarian setup he expects to correct.