In short: A mailbag question that walks through his whole checklist and fails on three counts. The attraction first: both iron-ore names are "in the toilet… and that's why I was interested." Then the supply problem: "I discovered there's a big expansion in production in the world. A big mine is coming to production in Africa. 5% expansion in production in terms of world iron ore supplies. That's a big big thing." Then demand: "also again on the economy I'm not super keen." And then the governance screen that decides it: "the third thing for Champion Iron is the founder. This founder created it very early. He made a lot of money for himself. He created this company which is very well established for going forward in the future. But he's also been selling shares. So for those reasons, I'm staying away, but I'm watching… I want to see where iron ore is going to bottom and I want to see where it's going to go back up." Tariffs are explicitly not the issue: "not really for these two companies. They're selling their products mostly in Asia and Europe."
Champion Iron mines iron ore in Quebec. Tardif looked at it precisely because it and Labrador Iron Ore Royalty are both, in the host's phrase he happily adopts, "in the toilet" — cheapness is what gets a name onto his desk. Then three separate checks failed.
First, supply: a major new mine is coming into production in Africa, adding roughly 5% to world iron ore supply. In a commodity, a 5% supply increase is a large number and it lands regardless of what any individual company does. Second, demand: he is "not super keen" on the economy, and iron ore feeds steel, which is as cyclical as industry gets.
Third — and this is the one that decided it — the founder has been selling shares. He is careful to be fair about the man, who built a well-established company and made himself a lot of money doing it. But the signal stands on its own, and it is the same screen that made him pass on Propel: the people with the best information are reducing. So he is "staying away, but I'm watching" — waiting to see iron ore bottom and turn before revisiting. On tariffs he notes they are not the issue here, since both companies sell mostly into Asia and Europe.
35:07keen. And then the third thing for Champion Iron is the founder. This founder created it very early. He made a lot of money for himself. He created this company which is very well established for going forward in the future. But he's also been selling shares. — So for those reasons, I'm staying away, but I'm watching.
Nothing matches this filter.
Verbatim excerpts from the public transcripts (auto-pulled at each mention's timestamp, lightly cleaned). Timestamps link into the video; "source page" opens that commentator's full analysis at this row. Click a mention's header line to expand it (one open at a time). For personal study — not investment advice.