CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: April 7-11, 2025

It was a rough ride on global markets this week, driven by U.S. tariff policy as President Donald Trump has managed to plunge the American economy into turmoil. Rumours had investors rush back in and drive the markets up, only to fall later in the day. On Wednesday, a ninety-day pause on some of the tariffs pulled markets back upward, only for the rise to turn out to be a bull trap. Slowed economic growth and increased volatility will likely persist through the ninety days unless clarity arrives.

Canadian economists are concerned about a potential recession due to economic disruptions, leading to widespread job losses in Canada caused by the U.S. trade war. The TSX recovered some of the worst losses of the week but ended down another 3% on Thursday. The Venture exchange held up a little better losing only 1.75% over five days. The Bank of Canada may be forced to cut rates again next Wednesday faced with signs of growing weakness in the economy.

The S&P 500 is down 5.7%, and the Nasdaq is down 6.5% from April 1, 2025. They are now down 11.2% and 18.3% from this year's record highs. Trump and his cabinet continue to defend the tariff strategy, instituting a 145% tariff on China while pressure on congressional representatives from their constituencies mounts, asking to stop the madness. Today, an equally defiant China raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%. The Federal Reserve is a month away from making any interest rate announcements. Still, it seems not ready to provide any relief as the inflationary impact of tariffs is only starting to be felt. There are no trends that can be relied upon; be very careful. The U.S. dollar (USD) has been driven down to its lowest level against global currencies since the beginning of 2022, and down 8% year to date.

Gold is hitting a new all-time high this morning at USD$3,237 and is only looking up amid the uncertainty. Hang onto your gold and remember that the gold shares do not yet reflect the price action. Gold producers continue to acquire undervalued juniors. Silver has seen some price rise but is still lagging behind the move in gold. Silver bulls are talking USD$40 before the second half of this year and +USD$50 later in the year.

Base and industrial metals are softening today, but they showed some price recovery early this week, which is mainly related to the lower U.S. dollar. This morning, some Chinese buying could be seen in copper at USD$4.04/lb. Fears of a global manufacturing slowdown continue to place downward pressure on metals demand.

Battery and critical materials have shown little inclination to rise in price. Chinese control of these markets continues, and the list of materials banned from exporting to the U.S. in retaliation for tariffs is growing.

A warning came out that global uranium reserves could be exhausted within 50 years, especially if the demand for nuclear energy continues to expand at its current pace. Major new investment in uranium exploration is urgently required, especially given the timelines for new mining production to be available. Uranium remains below USD$65/lb.

We are pleased to present our round-up of client news released between April 7 and 11, 2025.

Mining

On April 7, 2025, Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNR) announced that it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of up to 10,000,000 common shares of the Company issued on a flow-through basis at a price of CDN$0.05 per FT Share for proceeds of up to CDN$500,000. Proceeds of the Offering will be spent on the Company’s Laird Lake and Oneman Lake Projects located in Ontario, Canada.

The FT Shares will be offered for sale to accredited investors in all provinces of Canada pursuant to Section 2.3 of National Instrument 45-106 and will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

Each FT Share of the Company will be issued as defined in section 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada). An amount equal to the gross proceeds from the issuance of the FT Shares will be used to incur, on the Company’s Canadian mineral exploration properties, eligible resource exploration expenses that will qualify as “Canadian exploration expenses.” The Qualifying Expenditures in an aggregate amount not less than the gross proceeds raised from the issue of the FT Shares will be incurred on or before December 31, 2026, and will be renounced by the Company to the purchasers of the initial purchasers of the FT Shares with an effective date no later than December 31, 2025.