June 12, 2025
The Commodity Discovery Fund recorded a gain of +5.44% in May. This results in a NAV of 78.82, a year-to-date return of +19.39%, and €132 million in assets under management. The recovery is continuing strongly into early June. At the time of writing (June 11), the fund is up 25%.
The weakening dollar appears to be supporting commodity markets. Gold was volatile throughout the month but ended neutral. Silver and copper prices also seem to have found their upward path, rising by +1.3% and +1.4%, respectively. Silver finally appears to be heading toward $40 per ounce. The oil price also seems to have found a bottom and is stabilizing around $60 per barrel.
Over the past three years, central banks have each purchased more than 1,000 tonnes of gold annually. As a result, gold has risen by more than 90% during this period. A shift of just half a percent of all foreign U.S. investments into gold could push the gold price to $6,000 by
At the end of May, Trump issued an executive order to accelerate the development of nuclear energy. This initiative simplifies reactor licensing, promotes small modular reactors (SMRs), and strengthens domestic uranium production. The goal is to meet growing energy demand and enhance national security. The correction in uranium appears to be over after one and a half years. The price per pound of U3O8 (uranium concentrate) peaked above $100 last year and subsequently fell by 40%. Uranium prices are now rising again.
The share prices of uranium companies like Cameco and NexGen Energy have risen sharply in recent weeks. As a result, the fund’s uranium exposure is slowly climbing back towards 10% of the portfolio.
Snowline Gold recently published a new study showing that the Valley discovery in Canada’s Yukon contains 8 million ounces of gold, double the estimate from the previous 2024 study. This makes Snowline one of the largest undeveloped gold projects not yet owned by a major producer. The company was the winner of the CDFund Discovery Award in 2024. This exploration company also expects to publish a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) soon, which will demonstrate the project’s economic viability. Such a study is often a prerequisite for a gold producer to make a takeover offer.
Last month, Pan American Silver (PAAS)—the world’s second-largest silver producer after Fresnillo—announced an agreement to acquire MAG Silver in a deal worth C$2.1 billion. MAG holds a 44% stake in the Juanicipio silver mine in Mexico, which is operated by Fresnillo, the owner of the remaining share.
At the Zgounder mine in Morocco, Aya Gold & Silver is ramping up production faster than expected. In early May, Aya formed a double bottom at C$8.50 and soon after broke through its long-standing downtrend. With the recent acquisitions of SilverCrest (by Coeur), Gatos (by First Majestic), and now the takeover deal for MAG, only a few mid-sized, single-asset silver producers remain—Aya being one of the last.
Underground seismic activity at the Kamoa-Kakula mine—Africa’s largest copper mine and one of the largest globally—has shaken the copper world. It appears that mistakes were made during the start-up phase of this new mine in Congo. Ivanhoe Mines reported the formation of cracks in critical underground ‘pillars,’ which have rendered part of the mine unstable and allowed significant water ingress. It will take several months to pump out the water and resume normal production.
Following the closure of Cobre Panama—responsible for over 2% of global copper production—due to environmental protests a year and a half ago, this incident highlights the vulnerability of critical metal supply. According to the International Energy Agency, it is now “time to sound the alarm” over potential future shortages of metals essential for the green transition.
