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:

Goldcorp (NYSE: GG) is a new buy recommendation in the Emerging Market Leaders Portfolio at The Coolcat Report. Here's the latest from momentum trader, Kevin Kennedy.

"Goldcorp is one of the world's lowest-cost and fastest growing multi-million ounce gold producers. The company also mines silver and copper. A Canadian company, GG is based in Vancouver and employs more than 9,000 people worldwide.

"Goldcorp has 18 operations and development projects focused primarily throughout the Americas, including Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. The company also owns a gold mine in Australia.

"Gold production for the six months ended June 30 increased 63% to 11 million ounces compared with 674,000 ounces in 2006. Goldcorp paid $31.7 million in dividends to shareholders in the second quarter of 2007. The company has annual sales of $2 billion. Its gold production remains 100% unhedged.

"The stock has jumped 49% in the past two months and is up 6% since I added it to the Emerging Market Leaders Portfolio Oct. 15. The move comes as gold trades at 27-year highs and is within spitting distance of cracking the $800 mark. It's definitely a good idea to have at least some gold exposure here, and Goldcorp is an excellent proxy for the group."

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.

"Momentum stocks are breaking out again, and it's time to stock up," says Kevin Kennedy in his Coolcat Report. The advisor's latest recommendation is global blue chip energy firm, Sasol Ltd. (NYSE: SSL).

He explains, "When we select among blue chip stocks for our portfolio, we look for such factors as having set a 52-week high in the previous two weeks, as well as a ratio of at least 1.5-to-1 between the price and 52-week low.

"One such stock is Sasol, a global energy company with annual sales of more than $13 billion, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is engaged in the commercial production and marketing of chemicals and liquid fuels with a growing interest in oil and gas exploration.

"The company has developed world-leading technology for the commercial production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from low-grade coal, as well as the conversion of natural gas to environment-friendly fuels and chemicals. The stock has advanced 22% in 2007 and is working on its seventh straight month of gains."

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

JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU) raised its revenue guidance last night. The company had seen Q2 revenue of $332M-$352M and now sees revenue at $360M-$365M; consensus is for $343.29M.

The company cited strong performance by its communications test and measurement segment, which has been an area of focus for JDSU CEO, Kevin Kennedy, a former top executive at Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).

However, JDSU's test and measurement business is focused more on IP and optical traffic than the test and measure tools used in the semiconductor space. Two different businesses.

This is another data point that the optical business continues to improve. Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN) should also benefit from this news.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

CDC Corp. (NASDAQ: CHINA) is a favorite speculative idea for 2007 from momentum trading expert, Kevin Kennedy. The editor of The Coolcat Report notes, "CDC operates companies focused on enterprise software applications and services, mobile applications, online games, and the Chinese portal China.com.

"The company's software solutions are used by more than 5,000 customers worldwide within the manufacturing, financial services, health care, home building, real estate, and wholesale and retail distribution industries.

"Its China.com unit is a leading Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) provider and Internet services company operating principally in China. CDC Mobile is focused on providing MVAS products to subscribers in China. CDC Games Limited is one of the market leaders of online and mobile games in China with more than 37 million registered users.

"CDC reported blowout third-quarter results in November. Total revenue was $78.2 million, an increase of 26%. Earnings per share tripled to $0.09 per share. Future plans include an initial public offering of either CDC Software or CDC Games and a continued emphasis on acquisitions. The stock is on a five-month win streak, including a 41% surge in November."