Four shares that have not let that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are pushing higher today:

The Iron Road Limited (ASX: IRD) share price has rocketed 59% higher to 17.5 cents. This morning the iron ore company announced that it has entered into a joint development agreement with Macquarie Capital and Eyre Peninsula Co-operative Bulk Handling. The agreement provides the framework to advance development and financing plans for the proposed $250 million Cape Hardy Stage I multi-user, multi-commodity port facility.

The Nuchev Ltd (ASX: NUC) share price is up 7% to $1.99. This morning the junior infant formula company announced a strategic partnership with Blue Ocean International. Blue Ocean is a top tier distributor and will manage the sales and distribution of Nuchev's premium Oli6 goat infant formula brand across a number of key platforms and territories in China.

The Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) share price is up 3% to $1.83. Investors have been buying the biopharmaceutical company's shares after it provided an update on its TLX591-CDx product. According to the release, Telix has submitted a New Drug Application to the United States Food and Drug Administration for the prostate cancer imaging product.

The Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX: TWE) share price has climbed 1.5% to $9.04. The catalyst for this gain appears to be a broker note out of Credit Suisse. According to the note, the broker has upgraded the wine company's shares to an outperform rating with a $12.30 price target. It made the move largely on valuation grounds but also on the belief that the Penfolds brand image has been unaffected by anti-dumping investigations in China.

The post Why Iron Road, Nuchev, Telix, & Treasury Wine shares are pushing higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Source: CommSec  

*Please note, I have excluded shares with a market capitalisation of less than $80 million.

Unfortunately, it would be very difficult to consider any of the shares listed above as investment grade material.

In fact, it is pretty clear that most investors should steer well-clear of the shares above considering that not a single company managed to turn a profit over the past year. On top of that, it is hard to envisage any of these companies as having the ability to pay out a dividend anytime soon.

Nonetheless, there are some interesting companies on that list and it is not hard to see why some traders may be interested in them.

For example, Auscann and MMJ Phytotech operate in the medical marijuana sector and perhaps have the most credible prospects of those listed on the ASX. There is no doubt that the sector could be highly lucrative, but it still remains unclear exactly how these companies will develop a long-term competitive advantage.

Uranium, cobalt, lithium, gold and iron ore miners are also represented in the list above. Cobalt and lithium shares have been particularly popular over the last few months as some analysts have forecast huge demand for these minerals as a result of the growing demand for rechargeable batteries. Unfortunately, many of these smaller players are competing against much larger competitors who are likely to bring a higher level of expertise and scale to their operations.

Finally, Sky and Space Global is an exciting company that is developing nano-satellite technology aimed at providing telecommunications services to over 4 billion people. The company has an ambitious target of rolling out around 200 satellites over a five-year time frame, but with only three satellites contracted so far, this target seems a like a universe away.

The post Should you buy the best performing shares of 2017? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO), BC Iron Limited (ASX: BCI), Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX), Grange Resources Ltd (ASX: GRR), Arrium Limited (ASX: ARI), Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) and US-listed Cliffs Natural Resources have all been named as producers facing production cuts over the next few years due to depletion of some of their mines as well as the unsustainability of some of their mines at low prices.

"Whether driven by price or depletion we expect the number of iron ore companies in Australia to dwindle by the end of the decade," says Citi.

At the same time, the big miners Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP), Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) and Hancock Prospecting are all expected to increase production over the long term. Hancock Prospecting's Roy Hill is still ramping up to full production of 55 million tonnes a year, having begun operations late last year.

Citi also raised its forecasts for the commodity price for this year from US$47 a tonne to US$49 a tonne, and projected 2017 would average US$42 – up from their previous forecast of US$39 a tonne.

The investment bank says it remains bearish on the iron ore – despite the short-term upside thanks to better-than-expected Chinese steel output. The bank's forecasts for 2018 and 2019 are for US$38 a tonne and a modest recovery in 2020 to US$40 a tonne.

Here's what the iron ore price has been doing over the past 3 years.

Those prices would be bad news for the juniors – generally higher cost- producers, and probably spells the end of a number of junior iron ore explorers hopes of coming to market. Those include Brockman Mining, Iron Road Limited (ASX: IRD), Flinders Mines Limited (ASX: FMS), Red Hill Iron Limited (ASX: RHI) and API Management –  which holds a number of joint ventures in the Pilbara.

Foolish takeaway

Given the current commodity price, iron ore mines need to be massive in scale with many years of reserves to get their production costs down – ala Roy Hill. That makes it incredibly difficult for the junior miners and explorers to commercialise their projects and then survive for many decades.

Investors beware.

The post Can the junior iron ore miners survive? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.