What are the best speculations and investments among metals, miners, and other resource plays? To find out, I turned to 20 of the nation's leading newsletter editors, as well as speakers from the recent New Orleans Conference, a leading forum for resource advisors.

Their current top ideas cover a wide diversity of ideas, from gold and silver, from alumina and copper, to platinum and palladium. These picks cover markets from Chile to China and from Canada to Russia. These ideas also range from large cap, well-established, and diversified companies to small cap, development-stage junior speculations.

Readers should only consider these ideas as a starting place for their own research and should keep in mind the caveat that any stock you buy should only be considered within the framework of your own time horizon and risk parameters. Meanwhile, here are 20 different advisors assessing various aspects of the metals, mining, and resources sectors:

Jack Adamo: Bet on Buenaventura (BVN)

Mary Anne & Pamela Aden: Gold and silver from the Aden sisters

Tom Bishop: Buy Taseko (TGB) for copper gains

Doug Casey: Junior miners from Doug Casey

Adrian Day: Adrian Day 'sticks with the best'

Larry Edelson: Newcrest (NCMGY) from 'Down Under'

Daniel Frishberg: Frishberg's favorites in precious metals

Neil George: A 'bedrock' bet among hard assets

Frida Ghitis: Chile's SQM is a 'non-metal' miner

Elliott Gue and Yiannis Mostrous: 'Vital' advice on Alumina (AWC)

Frank Holmes and Jack Dzierwa: US Global on mega-trends

Kevin Kennedy: Momentum trader buys Goldcorp (GG)

Brien Lundin: 'Does gold know something we don't?'

Bill Martin: Stillwater (SWC) for platinum and palladium

Robert Prechter: Elliott Wave sees cash as best asset

Eric Roseman: ASA Ltd. (ASA) offers gold at a discount

Mark Skousen: Harmony (HMY) and Freeport (FCX)

Dan Sullivan: Chartist sees 'relative' gains for Freeport (FCX)

Paul Tracy: An ETF SPDR for hard assets

Nick Vardy: Global expert targets Russian miner

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com website features the latest investment commentary and favorite stock picks of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.