4 Gold Miners to Play This Meteoric Bull Market Before Wall Street Finally Catches On

Jason Williams

Posted January 16, 2026

Gold isn’t creeping higher anymore. It’s launching.

After years of chopping sideways, frustrating investors, and being dismissed as a “barbarous relic,” gold has done what it always does when confidence in paper systems starts to crack — it has reasserted itself as real money.

Prices have pushed to new highs, pulled back, then surged again, and all signs point to this bull market having plenty of fuel left…

And not just for another few months, but very likely for another few years.

What’s most interesting — borderline amusing, actually — is who is finally starting to talk about it…

The same big banks and Wall Street strategists who ignored gold for years are now cautiously recommending “some allocation” to the metal.

Translation: They’re late. Again.

Those of us who’ve been paying attention know this rally didn’t start last week or last quarter.

It started back in 2021, when inflation stopped being “transitory,” central banks quietly ramped up gold buying, and the cracks in the global monetary system became impossible to ignore.

We’ve been pounding the table on gold — and more importantly, gold miners — since then.

And the best part? The biggest gains are still likely ahead.

Why Gold Still Has Room to Run

Let’s start with the obvious question skeptics keep asking: Hasn’t gold already gone up too much?

Historically speaking, not even close…

Gold thrives when trust in fiat currencies erodes, when debt loads become unmanageable, and when geopolitical risk rises.

And right now we’re checking all three boxes at once…

Governments are running trillion-dollar deficits like it’s normal.

Central banks are trapped between inflation and recession.

Wars and trade conflicts are multiplying, not resolving.

And on top of all that, real interest rates remain deeply unattractive for savers.

This is exactly the environment gold was built for.

Yet institutional portfolios are still underallocated…

Many large funds hold little to no gold exposure, and retail investors are even further behind.

That’s why this rally feels different — it’s being driven first by central banks and early movers, not by a euphoric crowd.

And when the crowd finally shows up, prices don’t just rise… they explode higher.

And that brings us to the miners…

Why Miners Are the Catch-Up Trade

Here’s the part most investors miss…

Gold miners almost always lag the metal in the early stages of a bull market.

Costs are sticky. Sentiment is terrible. Analysts don’t believe higher prices will last. So miners stay cheap.

Then something changes…

Gold stays high longer than expected and cash flow explodes.

Earnings reports start reflecting reality. Balance sheets improve.

Suddenly, valuations that made sense at $3,700 gold look absurd at $4,600-plus gold. That’s when re-ratings happen — and they tend to happen fast.

So if you feel like you missed out on some big gains in the metals and you’re looking to play catch-up to gold’s gains, miners are still the best levered way to do it.

And with earnings from these elevated prices about to roll in over the next few months, the setup is about as compelling as it gets.

Now, let’s talk about four very different ways to play this meteoric bull market…

AngloGold Ashanti: The Turnaround Giant

AngloGold Ashanti is one of those names that spent years in the penalty box.

Operational challenges, jurisdictional complexity, and legacy assets weighed on the stock.

But that’s precisely why it’s so interesting now…

Over the past couple of years, AngloGold has been simplifying its portfolio, focusing on higher-quality, longer-life assets, and improving cost discipline.

The result is a leaner company that is far more sensitive to rising gold prices than it used to be.

At current gold levels, AngloGold is printing serious free cash flow.

If gold stays anywhere near these highs for another year — and all signs suggest it will — the market will be forced to reassess what this company is worth.

This is classic late-bloomer miner behavior, and historically, those can be some of the most explosive moves in a bull cycle.

Gold Resource Corp.: Small Cap, Big Torque

Gold Resource Corp. is not for the faint of heart, and that’s exactly why it belongs in this conversation.

Smaller producers tend to suffer the most when gold prices are weak…

Costs bite harder, margins evaporate faster, and investors flee. But flip the script, and those same companies suddenly offer enormous upside torque to higher prices.

Gold Resource has spent years restructuring, optimizing operations, and positioning itself to survive — and now potentially thrive — in a higher-price environment.

If gold prices remain elevated, even modest operational improvements can translate into outsized earnings growth.

But the market doesn’t price that optionality until it’s staring at it in black and white on an income statement.

This is the kind of stock that doesn’t need gold to double to work. It just needs gold to stay high. And that’s exactly what looks increasingly likely.

Barrick Mining: The Institutional Anchor

Barrick is the blue chip of the gold mining world, and every bull market needs its anchor.

With world-class assets, global diversification, and a management team obsessed with returns on capital, Barrick offers exposure to rising gold prices without the existential risk that comes with smaller players.

It’s also one of the names institutions feel comfortable buying when they finally decide they need gold exposure.

That’s important…

When big money moves into the sector, it doesn’t start with obscure juniors.

It starts with names like Barrick. As allocations increase, Barrick benefits first — and then capital trickles down to the rest of the space.

Strong margins, improving balance sheets, and disciplined capital returns make Barrick a core holding for anyone who wants exposure to gold’s upside without going full market rebel.

NatBridge Resources: A New Take on Gold Ownership

Now for the twist…

NatBridge Resources represents something fundamentally different from traditional gold miners.

Instead of digging up gold, processing it, and selling it into the market, NatBridge focuses on verified, in-ground gold resources that can be tokenized and monetized in entirely new ways.

This model sidesteps many of the issues that plague conventional mining — capex blowouts, operating risks, environmental hurdles — while still offering exposure to rising gold prices.

It’s a bridge (pun intended) between hard assets and the digital future of finance.

As tokenization of real-world assets gains traction, concepts like this could become far more mainstream.

And for investors who believe gold’s bull market isn’t just about price, but about how gold is owned and used in the future, NatBridge adds an intriguing layer of optionality.

The Crowd Isn’t Here Yet

This is the part you really need to internalize…

Despite new highs, gold is still not a crowded trade.

Most retail investors don’t own it. Many advisers are only now tiptoeing into recommendations. The headlines haven’t turned euphoric yet.

That’s not how tops are formed…

Tops happen when everyone is already in. And we’re nowhere near that point.

So, if you’ve missed part of the move, don’t panic. That’s exactly why miners matter here.

They’re the catch-up trade. They’re the leverage play.

And with earnings about to be released that reflect today’s gold prices, the market is setting up for a revaluation phase that could surprise a lot of people.

So keep reading. Keep learning.

Dig deeper into these companies and the broader gold thesis.

And most importantly, get invested before the rank-and-file finally realize what’s happening and pile in…

Because when that happens, prices don’t move politely — they go vertical.

This bull market isn’t over. In many ways, it’s just getting started.

To your wealth,

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Jason Williams

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After graduating Cum Laude in finance and economics, Jason designed and analyzed complex projects for the U.S. Army. He made the jump to the private sector as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley, where he eventually led his own team responsible for billions of dollars in daily trading. Jason left Wall Street to found his own investment office and now shares the strategies he used and the network he built with you. Jason is the founder of Main Street Ventures, a pre-IPO investment newsletter; the founder of Future Giants, a nano cap investing service; and authors The Wealth Advisory income stock newsletter. He is also the managing editor of Wealth Daily. To learn more about Jason, click here.

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