CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: August 18 - September 5, 2025

September has become a troublesome month for stocks, traditionally a period of volatility and uncertainty for the stock market after a low-volatility summer. World shares rose Friday after U.S. stocks climbed to a record ahead of an update on the American job market that could clear the way for cuts to interest rates that investors have been seeking. The last couple of weeks of September are, on average, the worst two weeks of the year for stock prices, but that is not necessarily a dreadful thing for investors. Do not sell; buy the dips in September.

The TSX powered its way through the last three months with a dip at the beginning of August when a trade deal deadline passed with no agreement. It continues to set new all-time highs, supported by interest rate cut expectations later this month in Canada and the U.S. Some predictions are for the index to gain another 12% – 15% by the end of the year.

The Canadian government recently removed counter-tariffs on U.S. imports, which it hopes will facilitate more positive discussions with the U.S. administration regarding the state of trade. Little progress has been made, and agreements will be held up by the legal challenges in the U.S. Canadian exporters have been quite adept at ensuring that their goods are eligible to enter the U.S. tariff-free under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Hoped for Canadian export rotation into non-U.S. markets may not have the same staying power, and exports shifted back to the U.S. in July. New tariff supports seem to be coming from the Canadian government. Statistics Canada says the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.1% in August as the economy continued to be weak across several industries. Expect economic stimulus to be a hot topic as Parliament resumes sitting on September 15 after an extended summer break.

U.S. equity markets softened early this week but reverted to new all-time highs and were up at opening today. Bond markets are looking forward to interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. A divided U.S. appeals court ruled last week that most of President Trump's tariffs are illegal, undercutting the use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool. The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place, giving the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump wants the Supreme Court to rule quickly, and it is widely expected that it will overturn the lower court ruling on tariffs, avoiding the need for the President to resort to other trade tools to implement them.

The USD is at its lowest since January 2022 and continued to weaken on growing rate-cut expectations in September. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada are both set to make their next rate decisions on September 17.

This morning, the August U.S. non-farm payrolls came in below expectations for a 75,000 rise, with the U.S. unemployment rate rising to 4.3%. Gold prices were spiking to record highs at USD$3,590.70/oz this morning, before settling back to USD$3,584.70/oz.  Silver has now been over the mystical USD$40.00/oz level for two weeks and has spiked to USD$41.30/oz at opening today, and is holding at USD$40.80/oz. Platinum has moved up as well. The precious metal bears seem to have cleared out. Gold analysts are looking for USD$3,700/oz by year-end. A technical analyst is telling institutions that gold will reach USD$4,000/oz and silver will reach USD$50/oz. Hang onto your gold and precious metal shares; buy on weakness.

Base and industrial metal prices are falling back this week after a small rise in late August. Overall, this sector has been flat all summer.

Battery, Electric and Critical minerals have not been able to generate upside momentum. Some optimism was observed in the Lithium price, based on short-term supply disruptions, but that was short-lived, and Chinese stockpiles remain robust. A few analysts became optimistic as Lithium prices rose 20% in the first half of August, but they have fallen 15% since. New projects in Africa, Australia, and South America are hitting roadblocks. While automaker futures remain rooted in electrification, EVs are not currently providing growth as Western governments fight Chinese domination of the sector. Canada appears ready to back off EV mandates. Demand growth going forward will have to come from Battery storage systems. Uranium prices have been recovering through the summer, reaching USD$76.55/lb. this week.

We are pleased to present our round-up of client news released between August 18 and September 5, 2025.

Mining

On August 26, 2025, Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) announced the commencement of a diamond drill program at its Wedge Lake Gold Project in Saskatchewan. Initial drilling will focus on key mineralized areas, including, but not limited to, the Twin Zone and T-6 Zone.

Historic work on the property outlined gold, copper, and potential silver mineralization that remains underexplored and requires modern exploration techniques, including diamond drilling and downhole geophysical surveys.

On September 2, 2025, Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) announced that its maiden drill program at the Wedge Lake Gold Project in Saskatchewan's La Ronge Gold Belt had intersected visible gold in multiple drill holes, including the very first three drill holes of the campaign.

On September 02, 2025, Rocky Shore Gold Ltd. (CSE: RSG) announced that it has closed the first tranche of the non-brokered private placement announced on August 11, 2025.

Under the First Tranche, the Company raised aggregate gross proceeds of $697,500 and issued:

1. 6,800,000 units, at an issue price of C$0.05 per Unit, with each Unit comprised of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, and

2. (ii) 7,150,000 Common Shares that qualify as “flow-through shares” at an issue price of C$0.05 per FT Share.

On September 2, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced that it has signed 2 property purchase agreements, expanding its land position at Crippleback Lake in Central Newfoundland. The Company has agreed to purchase a 100% undivided interest in 105 mineral claims located in the Crippleback Lake Area from United Gold Inc., and with David Evans to acquire a 100% interest, subject to a 1% NSR royalty, in 74 mineral claims.

Tim Froude, CEO, says, "We are pleased to have locked in these two key pieces of ground in what we feel is an emerging new copper-gold play in central Newfoundland. Combined with existing claims, we now control over 13,000 hectares at Crippleback Lake. We will immediately get boots on the ground with IP geophysical surveys, soil and rock sampling and geological mapping planned to start in the coming days."

On September 3, 2025, Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) announced that the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources had approved the Company's application for a strategic expansion of mineral claims at its Wedge Lake Gold Project in the highly prospective La Ronge Gold Belt. The Ministry granted two new dispositions, which together add approximately 29,485 acres (11,932 hectares) to the Wedge Lake Gold Project.

On September 4, 2025, Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF) announced the results from the 2025 summer till program completed at its flagship Laird Lake gold project, located in the Red Lake Gold District. 

Results from the program have highlighted at least four distinct zones of gold anomalism, ranging up to approximately 3,000 metres in length, not associated with any historical occurrences and that represent new opportunities to make near-surface discoveries. Athena has further grown its land position by another 2,302 hectares, with the project now comprising a total of 7,457 hectares.

Koby Kushner, CEO, said, "We are beyond thrilled with the results from our 2025 till program at Laird Lake, which have revealed four significant gold anomalies. The discovery of the Nemo, Hugo, and Chungus zones, combined with the expansion of our land package to over 7,400 hectares, positions Athena to unlock substantial value in this prolific gold camp. With minimal overburden and road-accessible targets, we are well-positioned to efficiently advance these discoveries toward our maiden drilling campaign this winter.”

“The new targets identified happen to occur in areas with very thin overburden. We believe the till material sampled likely underwent minimal glacial displacement from surface mineralization near the new anomalies. This means that we should be able to ground truth these targets cheaply and quickly finalize drill targets for our maiden winter drilling campaign", said Benjamin Kuzmich, VP Exploration.

Fintech

On August 29, 2025, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTC Pink: PKKFF) announced that the filing of its year-end 2024 audited consolidated financial statements, along with the Company's financial statements for the first and second quarters of 2025, has been pushed to September 22, 2025. There is a possibility that the Financial Statements will also be filed prior to that date, but the Company needed to be certain that the filings would be completed to be able to firmly set a date for its annual general meeting ("AGM") of shareholders. Tenet also has updated its investor presentation.