‘You think this is bad, try looking for copper in Zambia…’
I’ve been driving for an hour.
But I’ve no real idea where I am.
Sat beside me in the car is former geologist and current editor of Diggers and Drillers, James Cooper.
In the back is our cameraman, Cam…my mate Mitch, who’s been roped in to play Spielberg for the day…and a boot full of recording equipment, microphones, and even a drone.
I have absolutely no idea how I ended up playing taxi driver to this lot.
But here I am.
We’re maybe 100km outside Melbourne. The weather looks like it might be closing in. We’re still not at our destination. And I have to get James to the airport to fly back to Adelaide before it’s dark.
In other words: there are three very stressed blokes in the car.
But James is in his element.
He’s telling us stories about his days on the ground as a geologist back in the last major mining boom:
‘My interview was in a bar in Perth.
‘That’s how it works for most geologists. You meet someone from the company, usual a geologist of some sort.
‘You have a few beers. They tell you what crazy adventure they have planned. You decide if you’re mad enough to give it a crack.
‘Two beers in, this guy basically gets the contract out.
‘Two weeks later I’m on a plane to Africa.’
‘We’re here’, says Mitch from the back.
I pull over.
Middle of nowhere. Beautiful. But not exactly somewhere you’re going to get a decent cup of coffee without a three hour trek.
I sit down on a rock and watch Mitch and Cam unload the equipment.
It takes them maybe 40 minutes before they’re happy. They summon James in front of the camera. There’s the wasp-like whir of a drone’s propellers spinning up as Cam sends it up into the sky.
James takes what looks like a lump of rock out of his pocket and starts talking to the camera.
In between takes, as the lads scurry about to reset the equipment, he carries on his story:
‘Actually it was five flights.
‘We flew out of Perth. I can’t remember exactly where we landed. But I know it was five flights. We landed in Solwezi, north-west Zambia.
‘From there it was a two hour drive out to the exploration camp to meet the crew.
‘Funny old bunch. From all over. Aussies, Brits, Irish, Zambians, South Africans.
‘And they’d been busy.
‘They proudly showed me the giant mudbrick bar they’d built. They’d thatched the roof and everything.
‘And believe me, we needed it.
‘We’d go out into the bush and live in tents for months at a time, running soil samples. Getting “home” to a mudbrick bar after that felt like luxury.’
The drone starts up again and James looks back at the camera.
Now he has a coil of copper wiring in his hands.
And it’s probably time I explained what on Earth were doing out there. It’s Steve Pickering here, by the way. Usually, as Marketing Director, I’m content to stay in the background here at Fat Tail Investment Research. I let our editors (and Woody) take the limelight.
But occasionally, I’m roped in to help make one of our really big (or just plain weird) projects happen. Like today. I’m on location with the crew because James has a big story he wants to tell.
He says it could be THE big resource stock story of 2023.
And there are a clutch of Aussie mining stocks that could be right at the heart of it.
But to tell the story properly…to really do it justice and explain what this story means for the markets and the economy…James has dragged us out here.
Not easy. Not simple. Not good for the blood pressure.
But having watched the shoot first hand…I’d say it was worth it.
Mitch and Cam seemed happy too. I’ve sent them off to the editing suite and locked the door. I’ll let them out when the footage is ready for broadcast.
Which — I’m told — should be sometime Thursday morning.
The takeaway: if you’re interested in getting ahead of the next big Aussie resource stock story (it’s not gold, silver, lithium, iron ore, or rare earths — in fact, it might surprise you)…
Then make sure you’re free Thursday for the first broadcast — the world premiere, let’s call it — of James’ film.
If James is right, this could be the big one. The resource trend everyone will want to have their money in later this year. Thursday is your chance to get ahead of it.
I’ll let James get in touch with you direct tomorrow with more.
Until next time,
Steve Pickering,
Executive Team, Fat Tail Investment Research
