At home in Southern Germany, the passionate stock exchange expert has been accompanying the capital markets for about twenty years. With a soft spot for smaller companies, he is constantly on the lookout for exciting investment stories. That it depends thereby less on large names, but on the future potential and whether the market also recognizes these perspectives, was one of its first learnings at the stock exchange.
On these pages, Nico examines current events at listed companies and takes a closer look at companies that are traded under the radar of the market, in addition to well-known securities.
In order to be able to take advantage of speculative opportunities on the stock exchange, Nico not only focuses on a balanced asset allocation of defensive and opportunity-oriented securities, but also on an intact risk management. "In addition to position size and entry in several tranches, investors should also develop a sense of timing and get to know a stock better before investing," says the columnist.
Commented by Nico Popp
Commented by Nico Popp on February 19th, 2026 | 07:55 CET
Energy transition 2.0: Why CHAR Technologies is thinking much further ahead than Enviva and why Plug Power is still dreaming
The global energy market has learned its lesson - electrons alone cannot save heavy industry. While wind turbines and solar parks are making power grids greener, steelmakers and gas suppliers face a physical dilemma: they need carbon molecules – just "green" ones. In this gigantic market for sectors that are difficult to decarbonize, former biomass giant Enviva has already proven that wood is a suitable energy source. But while Enviva has only burned pellets, CHAR Technologies is igniting the next stage of evolution. With their high-temperature pyrolysis (HTP) process, the Canadians are transforming simple biomass not only into heat, but into two high-value industrial products: biochar for the steel industry and renewable natural gas (RNG) for the grid. CHAR is thus delivering exactly the solution that visionaries like Plug Power are striving for with hydrogen, but can often only achieve with billions in investment in new infrastructure. CHAR Technologies uses the existing gas grid and earns money from day one.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 19th, 2026 | 07:25 CET
The molecular revolution: Why A.H.T. Syngas wins where BASF invests billions and EQTEC paves the way
While policymakers preach electrification, practitioners in heavy industry know that process heat and chemical raw materials require molecules. This is where synthesis gas (syngas), an old acquaintance, is celebrating a spectacular renaissance. Syngas is the backbone of modern chemistry, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide without which neither fertilizers, plastics, nor synthetic fuels could exist. Market forecasts from research firms like MarketsandMarkets and Grand View Research paint a similar picture: the global syngas market is expected to grow at high single- to double-digit rates through 2030, expanding from several dozen billion US dollars today to a significantly larger market. Three parallel developments are currently taking place in this gigantic growth market. While chemical giant BASF validates the demand and EQTEC proves the large-scale feasibility, German technology specialist A.H.T. Syngas Technology (A.H.T.) is disrupting decentralized applications. We analyze the market and the key players.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 19th, 2026 | 07:05 CET
"Property Bank" for the raw materials era: Globex Mining combines the best of Franco-Nevada and Altius
The current market phase is a turning point for the global mining industry. While gold prices above USD 5,000 per ounce and a structural copper deficit dominate the headlines in the financial press, traditional explorers are struggling with the harsh reality in the background: drilling costs are skyrocketing, approval processes are taking forever, and the risk of drilling a "dry hole" has never been more expensive than it is today. In an environment of growing operational risks, a business model that creates security through scale and diversification is gaining in importance: the so-called "property bank." While industry giants such as Franco-Nevada shine with substantial revenues from royalties and Altius Minerals creates value as a project generator, a smaller but highly agile player combines both worlds in a single stock. With a portfolio of over 250 projects, Globex Mining effectively offers investors a commodity ETF in a single holding, without any of the debt or dilution risks of a conventional mining operator.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 18th, 2026 | 07:35 CET
People Make Markets: Why NEO Battery Materials Could Now Repeat the Successes of Patriot Battery and Enovix
In the global battery market, the harsh reality has set in that a patent alone is worthless if it cannot be scaled. History is full of start-ups that delivered brilliant lab results but failed in the transition to mass production. Today, professional investors are looking less at theoretical energy densities and more at the minds behind the business. If you want to build billion-dollar factories and manage complex supply chains, you need doers, not theorists. Recent history provides impressive evidence of this: Patriot Battery Metals exploded on the stock market when lithium legend Ken Brinsden took the helm. Enovix is winning the confidence of the markets thanks to the iron fist of chip veteran T.J. Rodgers. Now, NEO Battery Materials is preparing to play the same card. The company is not only banking on a disruptive silicon anode, but also on a management team that comes from the heart of South Korea's battery superpower – reinforced by strategic new additions from the military.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 18th, 2026 | 07:25 CET
The Transaction Era: Why Desert Gold Ventures Emerges as the Clear Winner in West Africa – B2Gold Watches, Robex Resources as a Blueprint
The spotlight at Mining Indaba 2026 in Cape Town in early February illuminated a new reality that goes far beyond production quotas and drilling results. A term emerged from the panel discussions that defines future commodity policy: "transactional." The era of purely ideological alliances is giving way to a pragmatic age in which security of supply and access to resources are the currency of geopolitics. In this new global structure, in which the West, China, and the Global South are vying for influence, Africa is no longer positioning itself as a supplicant but as a strategic partner on an equal footing. Capital follows this logic. However, it does not flow indiscriminately, but rather targets the most geologically productive regions. In the gold sector, this means that all eyes are on the Senegal-Mali Shear Zone (SMSZ). In this world-class district, a small explorer controls the key to the longevity of the giants there: Desert Gold Ventures. While B2Gold and Robex Resources manage their billion-dollar assets, Desert Gold sits on strategic reserves that are likely to become very expensive in a transactional world.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 18th, 2026 | 06:55 CET
The hunt for forgotten ounces: Why Silver Viper Minerals has the potential to repeat the success story of Blackrock Silver and Dolly Varden
The global silver market is in an exceptional situation. Industry analyses confirm that the market is heading for its sixth consecutive year of structural supply deficit in 2026. Driven by the insatiable demand from the photovoltaic industry and the booming AI infrastructure, which requires silver for high-performance chips, investors are looking for quality in the ground. In this environment, two models for success have emerged: premium development in secure top jurisdictions, as exemplified by Dolly Varden Silver, and the revitalization of historic silver territories through modern technology, as demonstrated by Blackrock Silver. But while these stocks have already performed well, one company that combines these two approaches in the world's most productive silver country is still largely flying under the radar: Silver Viper Minerals. In Mexico, the heartland of global silver production, the company combines the geological knowledge of old mines with state-of-the-art drilling technology – offering investors the chance to be part of a classic discovery story with enormous leverage.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 17th, 2026 | 07:20 CET
Dual return profile: How Antimony Resources combines the security of MP Materials with the potential of Albemarle
In the world of strategic raw materials, true giants often emerge out of necessity. When global supply chains break down, geopolitical alliances crumble, and national security is suddenly at stake, the capital market often responds with a radical revaluation of those companies that hold the strategic solutions. We have observed this phenomenon exemplified by MP Materials, which rose from obscurity to become the indispensable pillar of the American defense industry and delivered dream returns to investors as the only relevant US producer of rare earths. We have also seen this with Albemarle, which transformed itself from a specialized chemical company into the undisputed lithium king of electromobility when the world realized that without lithium, a transport revolution would be impossible.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 17th, 2026 | 07:10 CET
The Dividend Trap: Why RE Royalties Offers Greater Structural Stability Than Petrobras and Maersk
In times of geopolitical uncertainty and volatile markets, investors seek dependable cash flow. Dividend stocks are often perceived as a safe haven in stormy weather, but appearances can often be deceiving. Investors who focus solely on headline dividend yields frequently ignore the structural risks embedded in the underlying business model. An oil major exposed to political interference or a shipping conglomerate whose earnings fluctuate with freight rate cycles may struggle to sustain dividend commitments over the long term. In this environment, it is worth taking a closer look at the substance. While giants such as Petrobras and AP Moller-Maersk are struggling with cyclical challenges, Canadian niche player RE Royalties has developed a model positioned to benefit from one of the biggest investment waves of our time - while elegantly sidestepping many of the typical industry risks.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 17th, 2026 | 07:00 CET
Tungsten price explodes to USD 1,737: Why Almonty is now becoming the West's money printing machine – bottleneck for Sandvik and Rheinmetall
A scenario is currently unfolding on the commodity markets that even experienced traders and analysts describe as "extraordinary," if not a "tectonic shift." While investors often look to gold or copper, an exponential price development is taking place in a strategic niche that is turning the calculations of the entire Western industry upside down and creating new hierarchies. The tungsten market, the metal that forms the backbone of the modern defense and high-tech industry due to its extreme hardness and heat resistance, has spiraled out of control. Almonty is the only Western producer to create significant new capacity in 2026.
The price of ammonium paratungstate (APT), the global benchmark product for tungsten trading, is skyrocketing. Within a single week, the price in Rotterdam shot up by more than 26% to reach an average price of USD 1,737 per mtu (metric ton unit). To really understand the drama of this development, one needs to look at the timeline. **At the beginning of 2025, the price was still hovering around USD 340. By the end of 2025, it had more than doubled to USD 862, which was already considered sensational. But what we are now experiencing in the first quarter of 2026 is no longer a normal market fluctuation. It is a wave of panic buying that has caused the price to increase fivefold in just over a year. In this extremely dynamic environment, there are many losers on the buyer side – but on the producer side, there is one clear winner that is positioned like no other: Almonty Industries.
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Commented by Nico Popp on February 4th, 2026 | 07:30 CET
History repeats itself: Why Antimony Resources now offers the Lynas Rare Earths opportunity of 2010 and could benefit like Cameco
There are moments when geopolitical ruptures disrupt entire industries. Anyone who remembers 2010 knows what we are talking about: at that time, China effectively shut down exports of rare earths amid a dispute over the Senkaku Islands. Western industry was in shock, prices exploded, and a small, hitherto little-noticed Australian explorer named Lynas Rare Earths became the Western world's only hope overnight. Today, 15 years later, we are experiencing déjà vu: this time, however, the focus is not on neodymium, but on antimony – the forgotten metal without which the defense industry would grind to a halt. Once again, China dominates the market, once again export restrictions are being used as a political weapon, and once again the West is desperately searching for a safe alternative. This is where Antimony Resources comes into play. The company is now at exactly the same point where Lynas was before its legendary rise: it controls an antimony project in a secure jurisdiction that can break dependence on the East.
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