During three separate discussions at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, Robert Kiyosaki, Rick Rule, Jeff Clark and Peter Spina shared key insights on navigating an increasingly unstable economic landscape.
Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” warned of America’s mounting US$36 trillion debt, highlighting the inflationary risks of excessive money printing and adding that the US is printing a trillion dollars every hundred days.
The author and public speaker went on to underscore the opportunity in mining equities.
“When they print that much money, what happens is this — the rich get richer,’ said Kiyosaki.
‘Let me say it again — the after effect of people (printing) money is the rich get richer, because there’s asset inflation. So when they print money, gold and silver, real estate and oil go up.’
Of sister metals gold and silver, Kiyosaki said he prefers the versatility of silver. To underscore this idea, he shared an anecdote about Andy Schectman, his friend and the president of Miles Franklin.
“He says every time they fire those Tomahawk rockets, there’s 1.4 pounds of silver, and they never get it back,” said Kiyosaki. “We all know silver is an industrial metal, so it’s also a strategic metal in war.”
Kiyosaki believes more war is in the cards, explaining that he likes US President Donald Trump because he is anti-war.
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Although fond of silver, Kiyosaki offered up price predictions for gold and Bitcoin in 2025, forecasting that the yellow metal will hit US$15,000 per ounce. For the original cryptocurrency, he expects a fresh high of US$250,000.
More broadly, Kiyosaki sees hard assets as a hedge against the devaluation of the US dollar.
Rule’s stock picks
Later in the day, well-known resource speculator and investor and Rick Rule headlined a presentation titled “Exhibitors at This Conference, That I Own; Why, and What Could Go Wrong.”
During his 20-minute discussion, Rule, who is also proprietor at Rule Investment Media and host of the Rule Symposium, stressed the importance of practical investment strategies over broad market predictions.
He shared insights into his own holdings, offering investors a ‘focus list’ for further research.
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Some of the companies that Rule listed include:
While reading out his alphabetical list, Rule provided insight into how he selects equity investments. He prioritizes large, high-quality deposits over smaller ones, seeing them as better bets for strong returns.
He also noted that he prefers political risk to technical risk, and made the case for the prospect generator model, where companies fund exploration using external capital.
“Using other people’s money is simply the easiest way to leverage exploration growth without diluting yourself out of existence. People describe prospect generators as boring,’ said Rule.
‘At age 71, almost 72, I’ve decided that boredom is preferable to terror.’
With investments spanning copper, gold, silver, uranium and royalties, he emphasized the importance of backing experienced, transparent management teams. Rule’s approach underscores selective, well-researched resource investing— where size, strategy and leadership matter most.
Spina and Clark’s stock picks
In a similar vein, Peter Spina, president and CEO of GoldSeek.com and SilverSeek.com, and Jeff Clark, editor of Paydirt Prospector, sat down for a conversation titled, “Stocks I Love Right Now,” moderated by David Lin.
Starting the conversation, Clark reminded investors to not get emotionally attached to stocks, especially resource stocks, noting that a more appropriate title for the conversation would be ‘Stocks I Want to Buy.’
“You’re dating, you’re not marrying them,” said Clark.
Lin then asked if there is any investment a person should marry.
“I don’t know about marrying an investment in this sector other than gold itself,” quipped Clark.
Adding his thoughts, Spina offered a little more nuance in his response.
“You might really love a company, but you always have to be thinking about it as an investor — always question the premise, and always try to have an independence to it, because you can get so emotionally attached to something that you lose perspective, and you don’t see the risks. You’re only focusing on the rewards,” he said.
Even though gold continues to hit record highs and silver is gaining momentum, mining stocks have yet to follow suit, creating what one expert has called a prime risk/reward entry point, Spina explained.
Although gold and silver miners have strong cashflow, improving balance sheets and rising metal prices working in their favor, they remain undervalued and present an opportunity for investors.
“Sometime this year, there’s going to be a move that really starts to ignite all these miners and stocks higher,” said Spina. “I think this is an easy opportunity to take advantage of right now.”
Offering tips on selecting small-cap mining stocks, Spina, like many of the conference speakers, pointed to management as the top priority, noting that strong leadership with significant equity ensures alignment with investors.
He went on to explain that given the resource sector’s cyclical nature, experienced managers are crucial for navigating downturns without excessive dilution. Share structure, project quality and operating margins also play a role, particularly in mining companies, where break-even costs vary widely.
Clark also put management at the top of his list of criteria. He urged investors to ask management if they own shares in their company. He also advised attendees to look at management’s work history.
“What did the stock do with the prior company they ran?” Clark posited, adding that he considers himself a “conservative speculator” when it comes to jurisdictional risk. “I’m looking at companies that have the potential to make a big find, run by a high-quality management team that is in a pro-mining jurisdiction,” he said.
From there, Clark and Spina provided stock picks to the audience.
Spina mentioned Idaho Strategic Resources (NYSEAMERICAN:IDR), a US-based gold producer that also has a large rare earths resource. His next selection was Fortuna Mining (TSX:FVI,NYSE:FSM) a precious metals company with mines in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico and Peru.
His third pick was Silvercorp Metals (TSX:SVM,NYSEAMERICAN:SVM) a producer of silver, gold, lead and zinc.
Clark’s picks included Luca Mining (TSXV:LUCA,OTCQX:LUCMF) a polymetallic miner with two assets in Mexico. Next was Radisson Mining Resources (TSXV:RDS,OTCQB:RMRDF) a Québec-focused gold explorer. Lastly, Clark chose Independence Gold (TSXV:IGO,OTCQB:IEGCF), a precious metals explorer with assets in BC and the Yukon.
Highlighting the value each company offers, Spina and Clark also noted that the juniors could become M&A targets as larger producers look to replenish their pipelines.
“I think the conditions are right, because the producers are generating a lot of free cashflow,’ said Clark, noting that he has questioned why more juniors weren’t acquired two or three years ago when they were “stupid cheap.’
‘Well, maybe they were waiting until their cashflow was higher (and) the gold price was higher. We have those conditions now,’ he added. ‘So we are ripe for an M&A cycle to start. All it’s going to take is one big one to get it rolling, and then we’ll be off to the races.”
Stay tuned for more event coverage, including video interviews with many of the experts who attended.
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
