CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: April 28 - May 2, 2025

Further adjustments to the tariff regime and suggestions of impending trade deals came out of the White House again this week, injecting some calm into the markets. Global markets were seen advancing this morning after China’s Commerce Ministry said Beijing is evaluating overtures from the U.S. regarding President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The markets are still waiting for the promised "Deals", maybe with India, Japan or South Korea. An agreement with Ukraine is not the ticket, but Trump gets a symbolic win with the U.S. getting a stake in Ukraine's future resource potential. The 90-day clock on full tariff implementation continues to tick away.

On April 28 Canadians elected Liberal leader Mark Carney as Prime Minister. Canadian markets have not responded very well, with the TSX flat since election day and the Venture exchange down 3%. Canada’s economy is sluggish, gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2 per cent in February, missing expectations for zero growth. As well, StatCan’s estimate for March showed output rising by a slight 0.1 per cent. The weak economic outlook will be taken into consideration by the Bank of Canada, which paused its rate-cutting cycle earlier this month, but is faced with a possible recession. Its next rate decision is set for June 4, 2025. Economists are forecasting a modest downturn during the second and third quarter of the year, with GDP shrinking.

U.S. equity markets continued to rally yesterday and are higher again today after a solid jobs report this morning. Major indices were all up over 2% this week. A closely watched inflation gauge cooled last month as prices were easing before most of President Trump’s tariffs were implemented and had not yet begun to push up prices. Consumers accelerated their spending, particularly on cars, likely in an effort to get ahead of the duties. Most economists expect inflation to start picking up in the coming months, with core inflation near 4% by late this year. If there's a Recession coming, the Federal Reserve will need to be cutting in advance. But then on Tuesday to celebrate the 100-day mark of the Trump administration, U.S. President Trump renewed his criticism of Chair Powell.

Offsetting that, many remain “Bullish on Gold”, with analysts saying “you can’t be short gold, the thing’s going to fly. USD$5,000/oz is in sight and possibly USD$10,000, if the tensions keep getting worse and worse.” Gold opens today at USD$3,245/oz and held above the USD$3,200/oz technical support level this week. Some profit taking was seen in gold shares, but Canadian mining industry veteran Rob McEwen, said bullion is still in the early stages of a bull market and he expects gold equities to eventually outperform that of gold in the next two to three years, as the metal surges to USD$5,000 an ounce. Mainstream analysts are adjusting their price projections to follow him. Hang on to your gold and gold stocks.

Base and industrial metals felt some downward pressure this week, possibly associated with May Day/International Labour Day taking Chinese buyers out of the market. Some recovery in prices is being seen this morning with Copper at USD$4.24/lb and Nickel at USD$6.99/lb at opening, but those are in the range of average prices for the last year. The tariff issues continue to hold the markets back.

Battery, electric, and energy commodity prices continued to be weak after a rush to stock-up on these materials ahead of tariff implementation faded. Investors in the sector are seen holding cash and waiting out trade-related uncertainty but ready to move when the time is right. Watch for the openings.

We are pleased to present our round-up of client news released between April 28 and May 2, 2025.

Mining

On April 28, 2025, Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF) announced the closing of a non-brokered private placement of flow-through common shares previously announced on April 7, 2025, as amended April 21, 2025. The Company issued an aggregate of 15,300,000 flow-through shares at a price of CAD$0.05 per share for gross proceeds of CAD$765,000. Due to increased demand the Company received approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange, to increase the size of the flow-through offering (“FT Offering”) from CDN$500,000 to CDN$765,000, an oversubscription of CDN$265,000.  Proceeds of the FT Offering will be spent on the Company's Laird Lake and Oneman Lake Projects located in Ontario, Canada.  The Company's new Laird Lake project is situated in the Red Lake Gold District of Ontario, covering 4,158 hectares along more than 10 km of the Balmer-Confederation Assemblage contact, where recent surface sampling results returned up to 373 g/t Au. This underexplored area is road-accessible, located about 10 km west of West Red Lake Gold's Madsen mine and 34 km northwest of Kinross Gold's Great Bear project.  On April 28, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced that its planned spin-out of approximately half of its shares of Vinland Lithium Inc. has been completed. Accounts holding at least 8,000 Sokoman shares will see approximately 50 Vinland shares credited for each 8,000 Sokoman shares owned with the credit effective May 7, 2025.  Details of the spin-out are contained in the Company's February 4, 2025, Management Information Circular, filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+. Sokoman will spin-out to its shareholders a total of 2,025,126 common shares of Vinland and will continue to hold 2,000,000 Vinland shares. Vinland has approximately 10,000,000 issued shares. Benton Resources Inc. is spinning out the same number of Vinland shares to its shareholders. Sokoman shares after the spin-out, ("New Sokoman" shares), are identical to Sokoman shares currently listed ("Old Sokoman" shares), except that they are post-spin-out of Vinland. New Sokoman shares have a new identifying security number CA83410N1096. The New Sokoman shares will be listed on the Exchange at market open on Tuesday May 6, 2025, and the Old Sokoman shares will be delisted from the Exchange effective close of business Monday May 5, 2025.  No Vinland shares will be listed on the Exchange on closing of the Plan of Arrangement. Vinland has made a separate application to the Exchange for listing of the Vinland shares. Accounts holding less than 8,000 Sokoman shares will not participate in the Vinland share distribution.  On May 1, 2025, Anteros Metals Inc. (CSE: ANT) announced the identification of a near-surface, high-grade, critical-metal-bearing zone at its 100% owned, road-accessible Havens Steady VMS Property in central Newfoundland. AI-assisted 3D modelling of historical drill data has highlighted stacked lenses of zinc-lead-silver-copper mineralization near surface. This newly interpreted target area, termed the NHC Zone, remains largely untested by historical drilling and will be a key focus of upcoming exploration activities. Field validation and further targeting work are planned to support an inaugural mineral resource estimate for the Property.  Located approximately 40 kilometres southeast of Buchans and 17 kilometres from the past-producing Duck Pond Mine, Havens Steady hosts a laterally extensive polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") system. The latest modelling confirms a steeply southeast-dipping main mineralized zone ("MMZ") trending 057°, with over 700 metres of drilled strike and multiple open vectors along strike and at depth. Within the MMZ, a shallow, relatively high-grade zone is modelled to exist (Figure 1).  NHC TARGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Shallow High-Grade Zone - A near-surface, high-grade target interpreted from historical data with limited prior drill testing (Table 1).

• Copper-Rich Feeder Zone - Historic drill intercepts, elevated Cu:Pb+Zn ratios, and silica-chlorite alteration suggest a potential vent-proximal feeder.

• Shallow Infill Potential - Gaps in historical drill coverage within the MMZ, particularly in areas with thin overburden, present cost-effective opportunities for delineating additional mineralization and supporting future resource evaluation.

• Improved Surface Access - Recent timber harvesting has improved access to multiple target areas, enabling inaugural trenching and low-cost grade verification in underexplored areas.

• Scalable System in a Proven Critical Mineral District - Havens Steady is situated within a critical mineral belt with strong regional analogues, including past-producing VMS mines.
  

Anteros CEO Trumbull Fisher comments, "The identification of this shallow, high-grade zone adds meaningful scale and near-term potential to the Havens Steady Property. With surface access recently improved and multiple untested vectors emerging, we are well-positioned to advance this system toward resource definition."  The Company also announced that at its annual and special shareholder meeting held on April 30, 2025, Ms. Emily Halle was elected as a new director of the Company. Ms. Halle is the Co-founder, Geologist, and Managing Director at Halle Geological Services Ltd, a comprehensive exploration management and consulting company since 2008. Mr. Wesley Keats did not stand for re-election at the Meeting; however, Mr. Keats will remain an advisor to the Company.  On May 1, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced that the Company has filed documents with the TSX Venture Exchange seeking conditional approval for its CAD$400,000 non-brokered flow-through (“FT Financing”) private-placement financing.  The Company is also seeking approval to close the first tranche of the FT Financing, issuing 6,000,000 common shares at CAD$0.05, for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$300,000.  All securities issued pursuant to the FT Financing are subject to a four-month and one-day hold period.  The Company intends to spend the flow-through proceeds on the Company's exploration projects.  On May 2, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) provided an update from the 100%-owned Moosehead Gold Project in central Newfoundland. Activities at Moosehead are focused on the first of two bulk samples proposed for 2025, which is tentatively scheduled for a late May or early June extraction date. The exact timing could vary depending on contractor availability or other as yet unforeseen factors.  The first sample is a conventional bulk sample on the Western Trend using drill and blast methods (see Plan Map 1 for proposed locations). The proposed sample will consist of approximately 1,000 cubic metres of mineralized rock consisting of both high-grade quartz veining plus lower-grade wall rock that detailed channel sampling in late 2024 indicated a weighted-average gold grade of 5.78 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au). The Company has contracted P&E Mining Consultants to provide a proposed pit shell (see Plan Map 2) with a cross-sectional view and drill pattern (pending) to facilitate the sample extraction.

Timothy Froude, P. Geo., President and CEO, stated, “The time is drawing near for our first bulk sample and the pieces are coming together. This pivotal step will yield critical insights into the metallurgy and gold recoveries at Moosehead, marking a significant milestone in our project's development."

Plan Map 1: Proposed bulk sample areas

Plan Map 2: Pit Design for Bulk Sample**West HW1 and West HW3, not exposed in current trench - only known in drill core

SAVE THE DATE

The Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce presents Central MinEx 2025, the Mining Industry Development Supplier Showcase from May 13-15, 2025, at the Steele Community Centre in Gander, NL.

Our clients Sokoman Minerals and Rocky Shore Gold will be attending Central MinEx., so please make sure to stop by and say hello!