Rick Rule on the Sprott Natural Resource Symposium and the time to get repositioned for the resource recovery
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By Allen Alper Jr., President of Metals News
on 6/11/2017
I had the
pleasure of talking with Rick Rule about the Sprott
Natural Resource Symposium that will take place July 25-28th. Now is the time to get repositioned for the resource recovery and this venue gives exceptional exposure and insight to the investor. Mr. Rule has gained a clear and focused approach from dedicating his entire adult life to understanding and capitalizing on many specialized aspects of natural resource securities investing. In addition to this knowledge and experience gained, he has a worldwide network of contacts in the natural resource and finance worlds. As Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Sprott US Holdings, Inc., Mr. Rule leads a highly skilled team of earth science and finance professionals who enjoy a worldwide reputation for resource investment management. It is always a great opportunity to pick Rick Rule's brain and at the Sprott
Natural Resource Symposium, he is just one of the resources available. If you attend one conference this year the Sprott
Natural Resource Symposium is the conference that you should attend.
Allen Alper Jr.: This is Al Alper Jr., with Metals News. I'm speaking with Rick Rule, who
needs no introduction. Rick, we're going to be talking about the Sprott
Natural Resource Symposium that you guys are hosting in July. Why don't you tell me what
sets that apart from any other natural resource conference?
Rick Rule: Well I think really because the conference is almost attendee run. We
didn't go into this conference to be in the conference business. We picked it up when Agora
Financial dropped it because many of our clients wanted us to pick it up and wanted it to
continue. The consequence of that is that every important business decision we've made in the
four years since we've run the conference has really come out of the attendee evaluation forms.
They tell us who to bring in as speakers. They tell us who to bring back as speakers. Many of
the other prominent features of the conference really have come from the attendees.
Here's an example. The political economy. The global political economy is important to
our attendees this year, so we have Jim Rickards, who knows as much about the construct of
financial services business worldwide as anybody else. As an example, he was general counsel for
Long Term Capital Management when it blew up. He understands the nature of risks that are posed
to us by the financial structure.
David Stockman, of course, was budget director in the Reagan years and knows all about
the true state of the budget of the US Federal Government. Another example would be with regards
to energy politics on a global basis. We have Spencer Abraham, who was Secretary of Energy for
the United States, and also a senator from the state of Michigan to talk about domestic energy
in the Trump era.
Another really important differentiator, and I'm switching here from speakers to
content, is that at most investment conferences worldwide, the exhibitors, the companies that
have their booths there are chosen merely because they're willing to participate and they have a
check that cashes. The conference promoter regards the exhibitors as advertisers. But our
attendees have told us that the exhibitors are actually content. They believe that there is an
implied endorsement from the podium. The consequence of that is that at the Sprott Conference,
unlike any other conference I know, if the exhibitor is not owned in a Sprott account where
Sprott partner's capital and Sprott's own corporate capital is at risk, they cannot exhibit.
Now the fact that Sprott owns the exhibitors does not guarantee that they will be a
success, but it does guarantee that we will have vetted them. In other words, we won't let
people exhibit that we haven't invested our own money in. Independent research by John Kaiser
has proven at least for the last couple years that a composite made up of the exhibitors invited
to participate in the Sprott conference has outperformed the relative index relatively handily.
High quality speakers chosen for a purpose. High quality exhibitors chosen for a
purpose. Then, the fact is that the caliber of the attendees is very high for the simple reason
that they have to pay to be there. People who pay expect to get more out of a conference because
they put more into a conference. There will be 1000 attendees at this conference, all of whom,
or virtually all of whom will be knowledgeable, high caliber investors themselves. The idea that
all of the knowledge in the room would emanate from the podium out to the room when 1000 people
have paid good money as professional investors to be there is ludicrous. High quality speakers,
high quality exhibitors, high quality attendees.
Allen Alper Jr.: Now you mentioned a little bit about what the speakers are talking
about. Could you just tell me why the issues that these speakers are addressing are important
right now in the market?
Rick Rule: Well remember first of all that this is a natural resource conference.
We don't try to be all things to all people. If your primary interest in investing is ... Oh I
don't know, generalist mutual funds or technology, this is not the place for you. But natural
resource investments and precious metals investments are hyper volatile and hyper cyclical. As
an example, the structure of the global financial system is probably the most important
determinant of the gold price. Similarly natural resource investment is very capital intensive.
One of the big risks to natural resource investment is politics. That's why David Stockman's and
Senator Abraham's contributions are so important.
We will have other types of speakers too that aren't speaking on the big picture issues.
As an example, one of our really popular features is that we have people who have started
successful mining or oil and gas companies and been serially successful over time talking about
what it is that makes a company a success, and how you can identify those traits in picking out
your own companies. CEO's that have started companies like Silver Wheaton, like Franklin Nevada,
like Gold Corp will all be present, hearing not so much from the gurus, although the gurus will
be present, but hearing from the men and women who have started successful companies, grown them
to maturity, sold them, started again, and are successful investors and speculators themselves.
You really have it all in one place here.
Allen Alper Jr.: Now, I expect that you're going to be speaking.
Rick Rule: Of course. I will have several talks actually. One at the beginning of
the conference to sort of set the stage for what I think is a rebound in natural resource
equities markets generally. You'll recall my earlier statement that you are either a contrarian
or you will be a victim. We've been through four very bad years in the natural resource business
and now we're starting to climb out, so this is the time to get repositioned for the resource
recovery, and I'll be talking about that.
I'll also moderate a few panels. It's important for me, because I know my attendees well
to get the various speakers like David Stockman and Jim Rickards, Spencer Abrahams, the CEO's
I'm having to generate information that is useful to my attendees and my customers as I see it.
I'll be participating in that way too.
Allen Alper Jr.: Okay. Now you mentioned that at most conferences, the attendees feel
that it's an implicit endorsement on the people who are exhibiting. Now, you didn't come out and
say it, but do you feel that you endorse your exhibitors?
Rick Rule: We absolutely do. I'm not trying to say that each exhibitor will have a
share price that will go up. What I'm trying to say is that we have looked at the affairs of
each exhibitor, and we own them with our own money at Sprott. The fact that we've invested money
in them is, I have to say, at least an implicit endorsement.
Allen Alper Jr.: Okay.
Rick Rule: I assume in your investments, if you looked at your IRA as an example,
that you would endorse the companies that you are entrusting your family's financial future to.
Allen Alper Jr.: Hopefully. Yes. In the best of worlds, yes.
Rick Rule: Yes of course.
Allen Alper Jr.: Tell me more.
Rick Rule: Well all I can say is that for your readers who are professional or
semi- professional investors, the readers of yours who are attracted to natural resources, who
believe in intellectual capital, who believe in study as a way to get ahead, for those people
who don't follow the got a hunch, got a bunch technique, this is probably the best use of time
and capital that you can spend in terms of taking advantage of the natural resource bull market
that we see unfolding this year and for the next three or four years after it. I don't
understand how people who are serious investors and speculators wouldn't understand the value
proposition associated with all of this information and all of these curated exhibitors in one
spot.
Allen Alper Jr.: As a summary, what do you think an attendee is going to take away from
this?
Rick Rule: Well, I think that'll depend on the attendee. You know, you get out of
something what you put into it. Before coming to the conference, one of the things the attendees
might want to do is familiarize themselves with the speakers. Familiarize themselves with the
exhibitors, which will be uniformly of high quality.
The other thing an attendee might want to do is visit our website, www.sprottglobal.com.
They will find there, among other things, 200 hours of free instructional material about
investing in natural resources and precious metals. As an example, absolutely free there's a 50
hour course. You don't have to complete 50 hours of it of course. There's a 50 hour course that
I did in conjunction with the Colorado school of mines called the Mining Investment College. The
Colorado School of Mines charged $1000 per course as a distance learning program. We give it
away absolutely free. The point of this is, you get out of something what you put into it. If
you invest in yourself, your own investments will do better over time. This conference and the
preparation for this conference is a wonderful way to begin.
When I talk about the other people, we have about 30 speakers there. It isn't just the
headline speakers that people will get benefit from. It isn't just the 60 exhibitors that people
will get benefit from. It's the experience of being in a room with 1000 other intelligent
tenacious investors and speculators that will also be of benefit to you.
Of course, Vancouver's not a bad place to be the last week of July. In fact the weather
will be sublime. The facility, the Hotel Vancouver has hosted this conference for 20 years.
They're very well experienced at it. The whole lifestyle in Vancouver at that time of year,
wonderful restaurants. The fireworks festival, where three countries around the world compete
with each other for fantastic fireworks displays. It's just a wonderful set of circumstances.
Allen Alper Jr.: Great. You did mention the gurus are going to be there presenting. You
didn't talk about anyone other than John Kaiser. Who else would people expect to see?
Rick Rule: Brent Cook, Joe Mazumdar, who run exploration in sites. Of course. Doug
Casey. Louie James. Marin Katusa, Matt Badiali, Byron King. The whole range of popular natural
resources editors from the Agora stable and from others. I would suspect that the combined
circulation of the editors that will be speaking at the conference exceeds 400,000 people. The
whole range of people who routinely command $5,000 a year for their newsletters will be speaking
here. You'll have the ability to compare and contrast all of their messages.
By the way one of the important things you can do at the conference is to troll the
editors, when they're wandering around the exhibit hall. The ability to follow Doug Casey or
Marin Katusa as they interview exhibitors, or for that matter, the ability to follow Bob
Quartermain or Ross Beattie, or the CEO's of companies like Gold Corp, Franklin Nevada and
Silver Wheaton as they wander through the exhibit hall. Or watch them as they listen to other
people's speeches and see what part of the message resonates with them. This is a circumstance
that you can't capture sitting at home or sitting in a library studying in isolation. It's
something that you have to participate in live to get the full benefit from.
Allen Alper Jr.: Okay. What's your favorite part of the conference?
Rick Rule: I would say my own favorite part of the conference is attending the
workshops. Not the general session speeches, but the workshops where people get away from their
main message and get down and teach. Watching the question and answer sessions. Watching highly
skilled individual investors and speculators pulling knowledge from presenters. Expanding my way
of thinking by being exposed to other people's questions and answers. I think that's what I like
the best.
Allen Alper Jr.: Okay. Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
Rick Rule: Just that I look forward to seeing you. I hope you're going to come. I
hope we see a bunch of your readers. By the way, if you come to the conference and we give you
an attendee evaluation form to fill out, which we will, please fill it out if you have an idea
how we can make this a better conference for you next year. We're all ears. That's why it's been
so good this year.
Allen Alper Jr.: Thank you very much for your time and your valuable insights.
Rick Rule: Thank you for yours. I appreciate the help.
Contact Info:
SPROTT NATURAL RESOURCE SYMPOSIUM VANCOUVER - JULY 25-28, 2017
Barbara Perriello & Michelle Sedita, Event Directors
Opportunity Travel
Telephone: +561-243-6276 or +800-926-6575
Email: info [at] opportunity-travel [dot] com
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