The Commodity Run to Watch in 2019

LONDON, October 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

FN Media Group Presents OilPrice.com Market Commentary 

Rare elements are poised for a bull run that's long overdue. And now it's a matter of defense and national security. The hottest metal right now is definitively vanadium-not only is it a major additive for steel. Mentioned in today's commentary includes: BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BBL), Rio Tinto plc(NYSE: RIO), Freeport-McMoRan Inc.(NYSE: FCX), Albemarle Corp. (NYSE: ALB), Turquoise Hill Resources (NYSE: TRQ).

Now it's the future of our electricity storage revolution: It's the key to making "liquid electricity" and if we thought lithium was a mouth-watering investment thanks to the electric vehicle boom, vanadium should be much bigger.

It's where the enormous potential of electric storage becomes a reality. It does everything lithium can't do in the large battery market. That's because the batteries are giant-as 'small' as a shipping container or as big as a football field. And prices are soaring as vanadium-Element 23-becomes the backbone of the looming $13-billion energy storage market by 2025.

Vanadium has soared more than 130 percent in the past year, outperforming other battery bets like cobalt, lithium and nickel. That's because Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries are closing in on the cost of lithium-ion batteries, and are expected to become cheaper real soon.

By January of this year, prices of ferro-vanadium (VAN-FERRO-LON) had hit a nine-year high of $59/kg. They've gained some $20 since then.

We don't just need a ton of batteries anymore-we need utility scale, and lithium won't cut it. It will be vanadium. It's catching up to lithium quickly, and because of cheaper scaling, it will soon overtake it as the far superior element.

With that in mind … here are 5 mining stocks poised to take advantage of the rare element's bonanza:

#1 BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL)

If you've been on the fence over BHP Billiton, it's probably time to get off. In late July, BHP announced the sale of its onshore U.S. assets for a whopping $10.8 billion, and those funds will likely make their way back to shareholders in the form of buybacks or dividends. That makes it a good play for income investors. It's seen a 42-percent jump in final dividends, hitting a record 63 U.S. cents a share. That means the total payout for the year is $2.5 billion. But this isn't just for income investors … there's also a big global growth outlook here, and the general sentiment is that BHP is going to now grow earnings steadily.