Over the past six months, the international mining sector represented by PICK has rallied 57%, outperforming the S&P 500’s 8% gain and the US mining ETF’s 48% rise. This surge reflects a dramatic shift in investor sentiment toward metals producers as strategic holdings.

Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, US-China trade war export controls, and resource nationalism—such as cobalt restrictions in the Democratic Republic of Congo—have tightened metal supplies by curtailing new production and imposing tariffs. These factors have elevated metals security concerns.

Rapid expansion of data centers and the broader AI infrastructure build-out have driven metals demand, while an “AI scare trade” rotation has sent funds flowing out of software and real estate into energy, materials, and physical production sectors. This trend underpins further upside for mining equities.

Heightened supply pressures are creating scarcity premiums that effectively lower miners’ cost of capital and recast mining stocks as strategic investments for defense, energy transition, and electrical infrastructure needs. Investors are now pricing in tighter supply dynamics rather than growth outlooks.