Analysts See Gold-Copper Exploration Stocks Shining In '10

That's according to a Reuters report, which quotes three analysts that see copper-gold properties as the ones that'll be hot - particularly, large deposits that can interest the majors. The main analyst quoted in the story, Wendell Zerb of Canaccord, doesn't expect the 92% performance for gold juniors as a whole to repeat itself this year.

"We like the overall environment for the junior mining space," said Canaccord Adams analyst Wendell Zerb. "But we see 2010 as being more mixed, mostly because you typically don't just have everything go straight up -- you do have periods of volatility."...

"There has been a lot of interest in advanced copper assets and there also interest in gold-copper assets," said Zerb, who touts the prospects of Exeter Resource (XRC.TO) and Copper Mountain (CUM.TO).

Another analyst points to the '09 plummet in exploration spending as likely to be reversed as metal markets recover:

"We expect to see a rebound in exploration spending in 2010 and more interest on the part of producing companies to look very closely at high quality juniors," said Dundee Securities analyst Ron Stewart.

Stewart's own angle is watching for possible takeovers; he expects M&A activity to rise this year. So does another analyst:

"We didn't see an overwhelming amount of M&A transactions last year. But now that everyone is a little bit more comforted with the economic environment, companies will start looking at their growth profile," said Curic

I have to admit that it's hard to unveil the wet blanket when others are aware that yesterday's performance isn't likely to be repeated today. The case against copper prices staying up, in a nutshell, is rising inventory levels accompanying rising prices. Charts of both are on this Kitco page. Although London Metal Exchange inventories have dipped recently, they're still at five-year highs. The inventory picture is actually a bit muddied, as LME inventories had peaked when copper was around $1.40, but high inventories are typically associated with either price declines or trading ranges.