Investing News Network
- Vale CEO: Real Assets Gaining Traction as Money Shifts Away from Tech (2026-03-02)
With technology, energy and society set to undergo massive transformations over the next few decades, the mining sector may never have been more important than it is today.
Globally, demand for consumer electronics such as mobile phones, air conditioners and refrigerators is on the rise. Additionally, the energy needs and technological advancement associated with artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers are driving even more demand from commercial sectors.
However, the mining industry has been known for its heavy environmental footprint and complex relationships with local communities. As much of the world pushes towards a greener future, mining companies are increasingly integrating environmental and social responsibility as they operate mines and projects around the world.
In the opening keynote speech at the 2026 Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto, Vale (NYSE:VALE) CEO Gustavo Pimenta, who joined the company in 2021 following one of the worst mining accidents in Brazil’s history, spoke about these challenges and the importance of addressing them.
Electrification continues driving minerals demand
Since the start of the third millennium, there has been a broad societal shift.
Not only has the Earth's population exploded from about 6 billion in 2001 to over 8 billion today, but the needs of both developing and developed nations are changing and growing.
Increasingly, the populations in many developing nations are urbanizing, driving demand for the materials necessary to build and modernize the infrastructure, including electricity grids, needed to adequately support them.
Likewise, western desires and demands are also changing. Consumers are driving a transition to low-carbon and sustainable industries, while also moving toward more service- and tech-reliant economies.
These shifts in both developed and developing economies have one thing in common: they are not possible without the mining sector. However, it's struggling to match the pace of demand growth.
“We’ll have to increase the supply of minerals in general by effect of five to six times, vis-a-vis everything with mining to date,” Pimenta said. He pointed out that without mining, there is no AI and no energy transition.
“Electrification is a massive theme and trend, the electrification of everything, that is driving so much of the copper excitement lately,” he added. However, Pimenta said it isn’t just copper demand that is increasing — he pointed to rising demand for other metals such as nickel, iron and rare earths.
Although demand for these commodities has been high, it's only recently that more consumers are becoming aware of the important role they play in how electricity is delivered or how mobile phones are made.
For Pimenta, this has led to a disconnect, with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and its US$4.3 trillion market cap exceeding the US$3.8 trillion captured by the top 300 mining companies.
However, he sees some balance returning.
“That is certainly something that is imbalanced, and we started to see a little bit of that rebalance today with money moving away from tech into real, important assets like the commodity assets,” he said.
Evolving economic and environmental strategies for mining
As awareness increases alongside demand, there has been a greater pressure on mining companies to move beyond their checkered pasts and to recognize their own role in creating a sustainable, responsible industry.
Pimenta emphasized this point.
“We can’t just stand and have a conversation where we are telling people, ‘I’m sorry that you have to buy from me.’ We have to go beyond that. We have to move from being essential to something else,” he said.
He noted that his company, Vale, isn't just focused on its operations in Canada or Brazil; it has operations in 31 countries, and the scope of its responsibility is global.
Pimenta suggested that the future of mining will require a different way of operating, and that some of the needed changes are already being implemented today, citing the adoption of technology and greater automation.
In terms of how Vale is progressing this at its own operations, the company’s use of these technologies led to its Brucutu mine in Brazil being awarded the Shingo prize for operational excellence.
This marked the first time the prize has been awarded to an operation in Latin America.
“That classification shows that moving towards that future not only is the right thing because it’s safe, but also it’s more productive and more efficient. I think we have to make sure we continue to accelerate that,” Pimenta said.
Another area of focus for Pimenta is for Vale to develop what he sees as the workforce of the future.
“They have to be able to deal with AI and find ways to be more productive,” he said. “So there’s a new workforce needed that coexists with the senior, experienced workforce that is already in the companies.”
While automation addresses some core safety and business case aspects of mining’s future, Pimenta also focused on environmental concerns as a central concern. Using the example of Vale’s Carajás operation, he explained how mining companies can offer protection to the lands on which they operate.
The site covers about 800,000 hectares, but because of an agreement it made with the Brazilian government in the 1980s, the company uses only 2 percent of the total area for its mining operations, and preserves everything else.
“What has happened to that area? Everything outside the area we protect has been devastated. We protect with technology, guards, a partnership with the Brazilian Federal Police, and a lot of investment,” Pimenta said.
He acknowledged that mines will impact the environment, and it may seem counterintuitive that companies like Vale can be stewards of the land in ways that governments can’t.
However, Vale’s own past hasn’t been without incident. In 2019, a tailings dam collapsed at its Brumadinho operation, sending 13 million cubic meters of mud and mining waste downstream, killing 272 people.
For his part, Pimenta didn’t shy away from this, and said it forced the company to reassess its operations.
“Today 5 percent of our production is without dams, dry stack infiltration, and that’s the way we will continue to move. We are doing more use of circularity. It’s cheaper, less environmental impact,” he said, noting the use of reprocessing of mine waste to gather more resources.
Additionally, Vale has also been working to reduce its carbon footprint. Pimenta stated that the company had been looking at several ways to do this including using ethanol in its trucks at its Brazilian mines instead of diesel.
However, mines are only one part of the equation for decarbonization, as even more carbon dioxide is emitted during the production of steel.
“The steel industry is still very dependent on fossil fuel, coal, and that’s how most of the production is based. We are working on two main fronts. The first is green solutions, new products that will help our clients to decarbonize,” he said.
One of these solutions is a new iron ore briquette that Pimenta says uses a cold agglomeration process that can reduce the carbon footprint when used in a blast furnace.
The second front Vale is focused on is the development of mega hubs to produce steel in regions that have cheap access to lower-carbon fuels like hydrogen.
Supporting local communities is key
Beyond the economics and the environmental concerns with mining, Pimenta says that mining companies hold social commitments to the communities in which they operate.
“Back in 2021, when I joined the company, we announced a target to lift 500,000 people out of poverty,” he said.
This goal drew a lot of questions from Vale shareholders who asked how much it would cost, and if this meant putting people on payroll. Pimenta explained Vale co-developed a methodology to help them address the specific needs of different communities where they operate.
“Sometimes it’s education, sometimes it’s job opportunities, sometimes they just need to eat to have another day,” he explained. “Today we can measure, we know the social security number of each one of the 52,000 people that, from international standards measurement, have been lifted out of poverty.”
Operations should go beyond mining and making money; they should also contribute positively to the community. If they do so, Pimenta says there could be a shift in how mining companies are perceived. Rather than being pariahs, he hopes they can become welcomed for the value they bring to people.
The company also has the goal of increasing the percentage of women in its workforce. “Diversity is another element that, despite people not talking about it, is important. It was important before, and it continues to be important,” he said.
Investor takeaway
Pimenta addressed early in his keynote that demand for resources is there, but access requires money — it's started to flow, but he suggested that changing perceptions and approaches within the mining industry is critical.
While there has been a push from some to move away from initiatives like ESG, or diversity, equity and inclusion, the reality is that they’ve permeated the mining industry for a long time now.
Throughout the presentation, Pimenta laid out how these goals have not only become foundational to the way Vale operates, but they can also provide long-term economic benefits to mining companies.
Initiatives, such as greater automation, have made Vale’s operations more efficient, driving cost-effectiveness, while dry tailings have enabled the reprocessing of mining waste and the maximization of output.
Social programs can drive community involvement and help make the operations more desirable to the communities where they operate. This alone has been a bottleneck in permitting in many jurisdictions; if communities welcome mines, it can reduce significant red tape.
Likewise, a diversified workforce can create more jobs in the community while opening the industry to people who haven’t been accepted in the past, helping address another industry challenge: finding new workers.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- Steve Barton: Gold, Silver, Oil — Key Price Levels to Watch Now (2026-03-02)
Steve Barton, host of In It To Win It, shares key price levels for silver and gold.
He also explains his current approach to the oil and copper markets, and outlines an emerging opportunity in nickel as Indonesia loosens its hold on the space.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- Gold, Silver Prices Spike on US-Iran War (2026-03-02)
Prices for gold and silver spiked higher over the weekend and in early morning trading on Monday (March 2) as a full-blown war broke out in the Middle East.
Tensions between Iran on one side and the US and Israel on the other have been intensifying over the past few weeks.
On Sunday (February 28), the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, a massive military campaign targeting multiple locations across Iran. The Trump administration has said the aim of the operation is eliminating Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, while also encouraging regime change.
The legality of the military action is being heavily debated as it was not approved by US Congress.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the initial strikes, along with dozens of other senior Iranian leaders. The conflict has since escalated into a large-scale regional war after Iran retaliated with missile strikes and drone attacks on US military bases and allied targets in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, where at least four US service members lost their lives.
The gold price responded quickly to the events, rallying to an intraday high of US$5,419.60 per ounce on Monday. Silver also benefited from a rush to safe-haven assets, surging to US$97.30 per ounce. By 12:00 p.m. PST, both metals had retreated, with gold back down to around the US$5,330 mark and silver trading at US$89.44.
How should investors react to price-spiking geopolitical events?
Speaking with the Investing News Network (INN) at this year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention, happening this week in Toronto, Lobo Tiggre, CEO of IndependentSpeculator.com, warned investors not to “give in to FOMO” as markets respond to safe-haven demand or fear-based responses.
"If we do see prices go nuts on that fear trade, that would probably fade. So don't chase that," he said.
"Maybe that's not what everybody wants to hear. They want to hear, 'Oh, it's going to the moon.' But experience suggests that geopolitical scares tend to produce short-term spikes," Tiggre added.
He also explained that the US and Israel’s military actions against Iran were not entirely unexpected and mostly already priced into the market. Hence, a return to the mean is expected.
Prior to this latest run in precious metals prices, gold was trading below the US$5,200 level, while silver was below US$90. The interest rate environment seems to be the chief factor capping gains for gold and silver.
“U.S. inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, making near-term monetary easing more difficult. As a result, gold may struggle to stage a strong breakout in the short term, even though safe-haven demand persists,” Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com, shared in a February 26 emailed market report to INN.
What is giving gold upward support, according to Tran, is robust institutional demand.
“From a flow perspective, a notable signal comes from SPDR Gold Trust, which purchased nearly 19 tons over three consecutive sessions. The swift return of institutional inflows suggests that hedging demand remains intact,” she said.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
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- ASX AI Stocks: 5 Biggest Companies in 2026 (2026-03-02)
Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and advance rapidly, becoming increasingly integrated in the automation of everyday life and a focal point of growth in the technology sector.
Although the AI market is relatively small in Australia, it’s growing.
According to a September 2023 report from IDC on worldwide AI spending, Australia is leading the Asia-Pacific region in spending on AI solutions along with Korea and India. The three countries are also leading when it comes to AI adoption in the area. Spending in the region, excluding Japan and China, is expected to reach US$28.2 billion by 2027.
To help investors understand the options available, the Investing News Network used TradingView's stock screener to find the top AI stocks on ASX by market cap. All ASX AI stocks data was retrieved on February 25, 2026. Companies whose businesses are focused mainly on AI were considered.
1. NEXTDC (ASX:NXT)
Market cap: AU$8.51 billion
Share price: AU$14.00NEXTDC is Australia’s leading data centre operator, with 16 functioning centres and 10 more in various stages of development throughout Oceania. New centers in Adelaide and Darwin came online in early 2025.
The company has also forged several business and academic partnerships to enhance Australia's digital infrastructure, including a collaboration with La Trobe Business School’s Research Centre for Data Analytics and Cognition to research theoretical and practical applications of AI across a range of industries.
In December 2025, NEXTDC signed an memorandum of understanding MOU with OpenAI to develop a sovereign AI hyperscale campus and GPU supercluster at its S7 site in Sydney, valued at around AU$7 billion. The company has also secured approval from the Victorian government to build an AU$2 billion M4 tech campus in Port Melbourne.
NEXTDC's international expansion efforts include planned data centres in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Auckland, New Zealand. The Malaysian data centre is expected to launch in H1 2026.
2. Dicker Data (ASX:DDR)
Market cap: AU$1.83 billion
Share price: AU$10.28Dicker Data is an Australian IT distributor, specialising in hardware, software, cloud and related products. It has rapidly expanded its AI business through partnerships with a range of companies, including Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL), to deliver AI-ready infrastructure, GPU-as-a-service offerings and channel-focused practices like AI Accelerate for resellers to deploy enterprise-grade AI solutions.
Dicker Data's recent visibility spike stems from its role as the lead technology supplier for Australia's first sovereign AI factory, ResetData's AI-F1, and the launch of AI Accelerate in September 2025.
3. Megaport (ASX:MP1)
Market cap: AU$1.31 billion
Share price: AU$8.10Megaport is a software-defined network service provider that allows enterprise customers to connect between data centres. The company offers a marketplace where customers can find and connect with various service providers within the Megaport ecosystem. Headquartered in Queensland, Australia, the company operates in 26 countries.
Megaport expanded its reach in South America and Europe in 2024, launching services in Spain, Italy and Brazil. As of August 7, 2025, Megaport's network-as-a-service platform is directly accessible to over 1,000 enabled locations worldwide.
The firm's customer base includes cloud service providers like Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Microsoft Azure. Megaport's service also allows customers to link their own equipment across different sites and connect to internet exchange points.
Its Megaport Virtual Edge allows the deployment of virtual network devices like routers and firewalls without needing physical hardware in a data centre. In 2025, the company purchased a fast-deploy compute provider for AI tasks for US$70 million, funded by raising AU$200 million from investors. It also acquired Indian internet exchange operator Extreme IX to support its expansion into India.
4. Weebit Nano (ASX:WBT)
Market cap: AU$989.14 million
Share price: AU$4.71While Weebit Nano isn't directly developing AI applications or algorithms, its core technology, Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM), is positioned to be a crucial enabler for the future of AI, particularly in the realm of edge AI and neuromorphic computing. ReRAM's low-power operation and potential for high-density make it a promising memory technology for building neuromorphic chips.
Weebit Nano's target markets are heavily driven by AI, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and advanced Internet of Things devices. In 2025, it secured licencing deals with ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), plus progressed GlobalFoundries (NASDAQ:GFS) 22FDX integration for automotive and edge AI.
The second half of 2025 also saw Weebit establish its first US subsidiary to support growing North American customer sales and business development.
5. NUIX (ASX:NXL)
Market cap: AU$579.13 million
Share price: AU$1.82Nuix specializes in investigative analytics and intelligence software, with tools to help organizations analyze and understand copious amounts of data using AI. Nuix's Natural Language Processing capabilities allow it to read unstructured formats, including emails and social media posts. Its machine learning algorithms include advanced abilities like semantic search and risk scoring to identify patterns and connections within the data.
Nuix can handle extremely large data sets, and its software is designed to operate at a forensic level, ensuring that data is collected and analyzed in a way that is legally sound and defensible in court, giving it a significant market share within the law enforcement and legal communities.
In 2025, the company won a multiyear contract to supply forensic analysis software to the tax authority of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Later that year, the company agreed to acquire Linkurious, a graph AI visualization software provider, adding roughly AU$12 million to its annualised contract value and enhancing its data intelligence platform, Neo.
FAQs for investing in AI
What is artificial intelligence?
AI is defined as human intelligence exhibited by machines. The development of graphics processing units with faster and more powerful chips has supported the emergence of AI technologies.
Where is AI used?
AI has been heralded as a technology of the fourth industrial revolution, with heavy investment from industries including transportation, manufacturing, education and agriculture. Some of the sectors that will likely see the fastest AI investment growth in the coming years are healthcare, pharmaceutical research, retail, industrial automation, finance and intelligent process automation.
How to invest in AI stocks?
Investors looking to capitalise on AI's growth potential have a number of entry points when it comes to stocks. It's key for each person to practise due diligence and speak to their broker to determine the most suitable investments.
The companies listed above have a strong focus on AI, but investing in companies that are using AI as part of a larger business model is one way to gain indirect exposure to the sector. Examples of stocks like this on the ASX include Block (ASX:SQ2), WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), Seek (ASX:SEK) and Xero (ASX:XRO).
For a more diversified approach, the Betashares Global Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (ASX:RBTZ) invests in companies involved in the development of AI applications all across the globe. Investing in an exchange-traded fund is a low-cost way to benefit from a sector without directly buying individual stocks.
This is an updated version of an article first published by the Investing News Network in 2020.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
- Oil, LNG Prices Climb on Fears of Prolonged Hormuz Shutdown (2026-03-02)
Oil and gas prices surged Monday (March 2) after fresh military strikes between the US, Israel, and Iran rattled energy markets and brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz close to a halt, raising fears of a wider supply shock.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped as much as 10 percent to trade above US$82 per barrel before easing back toward US$79. US crude rose more than 6.5 percent, climbing nearly US$5 per barrel to around US$72.
Natural gas markets saw even sharper moves. European gas futures rocketed higher after QatarEnergy said it had suspended liquefied natural gas (LNG) production following what it described as “military attacks” on its facilities.
The company halted production after a drone targeted a facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Defence. A separate drone reportedly struck a water tank at a power plant in Mesaieed. In Saudi Arabia, Aramco temporarily shut its Ras Tanura refinery after it was hit by a drone.
Tensions have centred on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and significant LNG volumes pass.
Shipping traffic through the strait has slowed dramatically.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported that two vessels had been struck and that an “unknown projectile” exploded “in very close proximity” to a third. At least 150 tankers have reportedly dropped anchor beyond the strait, while major shipping companies paused or rerouted sailings.
"Meanwhile, no LNG vessels have transited the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday, effectively cutting off around 20 percent of global LNG supply. Although there is no formal blockade, tankers remain anchored due to heightened security and insurance risks, intensifying supply concerns," an email from the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS) noted.
Analysts say the disruption threatens around 120 billion cubic meters per year of LNG supply from Qatar and the UAE, volumes that are comparable to the gas Europe has lost from Russia since 2021.Others warned that prices could climb much higher if the standoff persists. Some estimates suggest Brent could approach or exceed US$100 per barrel in the event of a prolonged closure.
OPEC+ spare capacity is largely located in the Gulf and would be difficult to access if shipping remains constrained. On Sunday (March 1), OPEC+ agreed to increase output by 206,000 barrels per day starting next month in an effort to cushion price rises.However, any additional barrels would still need to transit through the region.
Gold, often viewed as a safe-haven asset during geopolitical turmoil, also rose by around 2 percent to US$5,378 per ounce.
Much now depends on whether energy infrastructure continues to be targeted and how long shipping disruptions persist.
“The jump in prices will feed through almost immediately because the oil traders are very much following the news too,” Robin Mills, chief executive of consultancy Qamar Energy, told BBC.
“At the moment, oil prices are not particularly high, they are still below where they were even two years ago so we're not in full-blown oil crisis mode yet.”
The trajectory of prices, analysts say, will hinge on how much supply is ultimately disrupted, how long any other form of disruption lasts, and whether traffic through one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints resumes in the coming days.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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