Skot Kortje

From Tuesday's Globe and MailPublished on Tuesday, Sep. 21, 2010 6:30AM EDTLast updated on Tuesday, Sep. 21, 2010 6:44AM EDT

The stock: Eastern Platinum Ltd. (ELR-T1.410.032.17%)

Recent price: $1.38

Trend: Although the metal mining sector was the big mover on the TSX last week, junior precious metal stocks were hot items, many surging amid high volume of trading as gold bullion(GC-FT1,281.100.300.02%)continued its third-quarter advance. Breakout stocks in the group included CGA Mining Ltd. and Gabriel Resources, which rallied on news that the Romanian government is pressing ahead with its environmental review of the company's long-stalled project in Transylvania – a gold mine that would be Europe's largest. Plays like these tend to get the market's speculative juices percolating.

More generally, though, small-cap gold stocks are helping revive the Toronto market. The BMO Junior Gold Index exchange-traded fund, trading on the TSX since the beginning of this year, is outperforming the S&P/TSX Composite index by 14 per cent in the past three months and has hit new highs for the past five weeks. The S&P/TSX Venture composite index's performance in recent weeks also reflects the small-cap mining strength. It is up 11 per cent already this month.

Investors interested in trading lively junior precious metals stocks don't have to be focused on gold, or silver for that matter. Platinum is an oft-overlooked segment of the category among the broader investing public. However, the metal's important industrial applications – specifically in the automotive industry as an agent for catalytic converters – along with its known appeal in jewellery make miners of this mineral plenty precious.

Like gold bullion, platinum prices (PL-FT1,623.20-8.80-0.54%) are picking up. The E-TRACS UBS Long Platinum ETN and ETFS Physical Platinum Shares advanced 5 per cent last week. While gold and silver prices are tapping new nominal highs, some analysts have pegged platinum for bigger price gains ahead if global economic metrics trend positively. Although platinum does not have the monetary cachet of gold, investors should stay tuned to the metal and its miners.