The Greatest Story Never Told

“You know what the most precious thing is in the mining industry today?” asked Mr. X. “It’s people.”

I call him Mr. X because to reveal his name would reveal one of the stocks I’m recommending in my new uranium report, “Small Uranium Wonders.” We got together for a quiet lunch away from the 2007 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. Mr. X explained how, in the heyday of the first uranium boom, 2,000 people worked in uranium mining in the US. Now, the number has shrunk to just 400 people – even as America’s uranium appetite was waking up again.

“Do we want to import our uranium from Russia? To be dependent on them as suppliers?” Mr. X continued. “How is that any better than being dependent on the Saudis to supply us with oil? No, if we want energy independence, we have to develop America’s own uranium resources.

I’ve often heard about the supply/demand crunch in trained geologists and mining engineers – often from white-haired miners who wonder who is going to replace them.

Mr. X thinks this is a big advantage for his company – because he’s put together a team of the top talent in the industry.

Other companies were lining up to hire Mr. X’s company as consultants or take them on as partners just to get his people’s expertise. In the meantime, Mr. X and his crew are pushing forward with their plan to develop their own mine – with a timetable of bringing it into production in two years.

Our conversation was interrupted as another miner stopped by our table to say hi. After the other guy left, Mr. X smiled and said: “Our companies have comparably sized resources, in the same part of the country, with similar mining costs. And we’re both bringing mines into production in two years. Yet his company is valued way more than mine (I checked later – more than four times as much). Do you know why?”

Mr. X answered his own question: “publicity. He has it. My company doesn’t … yet."

I can't wait to tell the story of Mr. X's stock in my new uranium report, “Small Uranium Wonders."

And you know, that's just one stock of many. This is an exciting time in mining and especially uranium, and there are undervalued gems just there for the taking.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com