POG is at it's highest price in about two years, and this strong price recovery year-to-date looks sustainable. This could lead to a very powerful bull market in mining generally, understanding that mining has quite unusually underperfomed against metals prices in this cycle.

Recall here that a modest improvement in metals prices means improving leverage for mining investors in what were marginal, or unprofitable projects. A strong improvement in prices brings a "raging bull" to the sector. Throw in "discovery" and profits from speculating in this sector can make fortunes out of pipe dreams.

Raging bulls happen in the mining sector on average of about twice per century. This bull in metals prices since 2002 has not had the impact on mining as have other bulls, so in that sense it is immature and incomplete. The bull market of the late '70's and into 1980 was mild historically speaking, even though the poorest perforning mining stocks rose several hundred percent. Check Lion Mines for the most outrageous examaple during this time - 7 cents to 380 dollars.

However, the last really powerful bull market in mining was in the 1960's. That took questionable "mining?" stocks up by 10s , good ones by hundreds, or more.

For instance, Coeur d'Alene Mining in over eight years rose from two cents to twenty dollars. While that's among the most dramatic of examples, there were others that rose from less than a nickle to multiples of a dollar.

Keep in mind that these previous bulls involved different economic environments than in our present experience. In the 60's demand came from industry. Into 1980, if was inflation fears. From 2002, it has been industrial demand again, this time driven by China.

Now what? Demand is driven both by supply concerns, and by increasing fears over further deterioration of fiat money.

Does it matter where the bull comes from? Probably not when one understands that raging bull markets in mining come along every few decades, and it's looking like the one that began in '02 still has increasingly powerful legs under it (as mining stocks still haven't risen to the extent that have metals prices in prevous bull moves).

Can LBSR's share price rise by tens or hundreds or thousands with disovery? It certainly can in looking at history. First we have to answser the question as to whether or not it will have a major discovery, but that's my bet (which is a gamble at this stage, not an investment). Then, we have to watch for the bull to grow stronger.

...as we wait on drilling, drop another nickle in the slot machine.

VP in AZ