It appears there’s a lot of interest in a new exploration-stage gold company called Kobex Minerals Inc. (AMEX:KXM). Kobex Minerals was created on Sept. 30, 2009, when IMA Exploration Inc. acquired all the shares of Kobex Resources Inc. and International Barytex Resources Ltd.

Shares in the resulting company, Kobex Minerals Inc., shot up 33.97 percent last week (11/23-11/27). The stock was one of just four gold and silver mining stocks that posts a gain on Friday, Nov. 27. Shares in the combined companies began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Oct. 2, 2009, at 77 cents per share.

The three other gold and silver stocks that gained on Friday, Nov. 27:

    •  Kimber Resources, Inc. (AMEX:KBX) +2.3 percent.
    •  Golden Star Resources Ltd. (AMEX:GSS) +1.3 percent
    •  Metalline Mining Company (AMEX:MMG) +0.3 percent

Kobex’s gains could be due, in part, to a large number of options to buy the stock granted to employees and partner companies including Blue Sky. The options were issued at 82 cents.

While they get about as little media coverage as genetically-modified food, base metals are just as important to investors and a country’s economic growth. We need food to eat, but we need base metals to harvest that food (tractors), transport it (railroads) and consume it (forks).

That’s a bit of a stretch, but base metals truly are the fundamental building blocks of a society. There’s used for infrastructure, for technology, in industrial production, construction and, perhaps most of all, in the military. Before we get much further, though, here’s our definition of base metals:

Base metals: Non-precious metals that are used in large-scale manufacturing. Common base metals include copper, aluminum, nickel, lead, zinc and tin.

When to Invest in Base Metals

One of the most common misconceptions about base metals is that they’re not “precious metals” so they’re not worth buying. Not true. Just because base metals aren’t precious doesn’t mean there’s an unlimited supply of them.

The price of base metals can rise during periods of inflation. Be warned, though, that if you’re looking at base metals as a hedge against inflation, you might do better to consider gold or silver. Gold and silver, after all, are even more finite than copper and aluminum. On top of that, gold’s generally seen as the ultimate hedge against inflation, and its price will typically rise far more than base metals during periods of protracted inflation.

All that said, base metals are an excellent investment when the economy’s sound. Since base metals are one of the main ingredients required during periods of economic growth, their prices tend to go up when economies are expanding.

Periods of prolonged economic stagnation, which we seem to be going through now, are bad for base metals, but, just before things start to look better, base metals might provide a great investment opportunity. The trick, then, is in the timing.

One of the best ways to time your entry into the base metals market is when you see industry leaders like Alcoa (NYSE:AA) starting to outperform analyst estimates. That means the economic engine is humming again, and it might be time for you to step out of your precious metals investments and into something that’s more directly tied to economic growth.

Banking and financial giant HSBC Holdings started elbowing out the little guy recently when they informed retail customers at their underground vault in Manhattan that they needed get their gold off the premises by July 2010.

“The decision has seen fleets of armored cars laden with gold ferrying the precious metal out of New York,” the Telegraph reported.

The vault is buried beneath HSBC’s U.S. headquarters near Bryant Park in Manhattan, and it currently holds gold stored on behalf of individual investors. Often, middle-men serve as the agents who deal with HSBC and their gold vault. Some of those agents have speculated that the reason for the vault’s new rules are because corporate clients (who have deeper wallets) need more room to store their own gold.

In all, there are some 9.6 million troy ounces of gold stored at various Comex-approved facilities in New York City – including vaults at HSBC (4.4 million ounces), Scotia Mocatta (4.8 million ounces), Brinks (500,000 ounces), and Manfra, Tordella and Brookes (80,000 ounces).

“I have never seen any relocation like this,” Jonathan Potts, managing director of FideliTrade, told the Wall Street Journal. One vault – Gold Silver Vault, a depository in Nampa, Idaho. – claims their gold storage numbers have risen 500 percent this quarter since HSBC stopped taking individuals vault deposits.

Still, before you decide to open your own vault for individual investors, consider the fact that individuals buy silver American eagles and gold American eagles – and often in limited quantities. Since vaults charge by the ounce for storage, you’d have to court investors who have lots of coins.

Institutions and corporations, on the other hand, buy large bars of gold and silver (sometimes up to 400-ounce gold bars in the case of London Good Delivery bars) that garner more cash per square inch in the vault.

“Precious-metal storage isn’t as lucrative as it may sound,” the Journal reports. “Many vaults are run on thin margins. The Delaware depository, one of the five major ones in the country, charges $6 each month for a 1,000-ounce silver bar and $12 for a 100-ounce gold bar.”

If nothing else, though, HSBC’s move points out the heightened demand for the precious metal as we move into what many predict will be America’s next great inflationary period.

Marketwatch.com ran a story recently titled, A reality check for investors mulling the sale of gold. There they argue that the its nearly impossible to pick the best time to exit your investment in gold. You stand the risk of missing out on profits or of getting burned when you could have locked in a lot of greenbacks.

The most interesting thing about the article, though, was a quote from Patrick Kerr, managing director at Amerifutures Commodities & Options: “We may reach levels previously thought of as crazy — $5,000 an ounce or even $10,000, with plenty of volatility along the way, including pullbacks.”

Yesterday, I wrote an blog post looking at Seven ways gold could top $2,000 per ounce. The same logic applies to even higher values, but this is the first time I’ve heard an analyst claiming gold could hit $10,000 per ounce by the end of 2010.

So first, we’ve got to look at the facts:

1) Gold’s went up 40+ percent on the year. Gold would have to go up 850 percent from here in order to hit $10,000 per ounce.

2) The analyst claiming gold might hit $10,000 per ounce has a vested interest in encouraging people to trade (as he works at Amerifutures).

3) We can’t accurately predict the future.

So, while $10,000 per ounce gold by 2010 might fall far outside of the trend (and the prediction’s coming from someone who encourages trading), it’s the third item on the list above that makes $10,000 per ounce gold a possibility.

But it’s not going to happen without some drastic changes in the way the economy’s operating. We’d have to be embroiled in war, for instance. Or the dollar would have to utterly collapse against other currencies. The government would have to default on a batch of treasuries or the stock market would need to collapse (again).

Those aren’t all that appealing options, but they’re certainly within the realm of possibility. And for that reason alone every investor should have at least some exposure in gold. It’s the investment of last resort, and a hedge against the unthinkable. It also happens to be quite trendy right now.