“I don’t think it’s all about commodity prices,” he said at Mines and Money Hong Kong yesterday.

“In this market, it’s more about quality.”

Atkins said miners had been poor performers in returning funds to shareholders and as a result, investors were flocking to companies with good projects and management.

But he said the outlook for miners varied dramatically depending on what commodity a company was in.

“Copper has not been bad and gold has been quite stable,” Atkins said.

Patersons likes uranium due to the underinvestment in the sector, while graphite is “difficult to understand”

“Graphite can be more difficult to understand as it is more of a technology play rather than a straight mining play," he said.

"There is a need to establish stable supply and quality, which would favour stable countries like Valence in Australia and Talga in Sweden."

Atkins said mineral sands five years ago was where iron ore was today.

He was also bullish on nickel.

“Nickel in the Fraser Range shows you how hot an area can be,” he said.

Atkins pointed to Windward Resources’ $A6 million oversubscribed raising this week off the back of electromagnetic conductors near Nova.

“There are still situations around that investors are prepared to back.”