CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: July 14-18, 2025

President Trump has been stress-testing global financial markets this week and is now considering issuing letters to raise his 10% base tariff to 15% or 20% on most trading partners by the new August 1, 2025, deadline. Opinions are that he needs to get this trade issue behind him so that he can focus on campaigning for Republicans running in next year's midterm congressional elections. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney conceded that most countries will likely have to accept some baseline tariff rate on their goods exported to the United States. Canada is facing 35% tariffs on all goods not covered by the existing Canada-USA free trade agreement, starting August 1, 2025. So, there is still time to negotiate a trade deal, but an elbows-up approach has not been productive, as weaker economies have little leverage. The Prime Minister has announced new measures aimed at protecting Canada’s steel industry, including targeting metal imports from China. Additional duties will also be imposed on steel imports from all non-U.S. countries that contain steel melted and poured in China before the end of July 2025. Getting trade partners to target Chinese oversupply and the routing of Chinese materials into the U.S. through other countries has been an issue driving the tariff imposition from day one.

Canada’s inflation rate edged up slightly in June, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday as the consumer price index (CPI) reading was 1.9%, up from the 1.7% in May. The Bank of Canada’s (BoC) preferred core measures of inflation hovered around 3%, which was higher than expected. The BoC finds itself with a weak economy, a weak labour market, and core inflation numbers that have not landed where they would have liked. The BoC is likely to hold policy rates in its July meeting next week.

The TSX continues to set new all-time highs and has performed very well, rising 3% in the last month and 13% in the last three months. The Venture exchange continues its breakout, as it emerges from a long and painful sideways-to-down period of 12+ years, moving up 1.5% this week, 9.5% in the last month, and 32.4% year-to-date. Anchored as it is by gold, silver, copper, uranium, and other critical metals, investors need to have exposure to the junior issuers. While speaking of juniors, note that the CSE Composite Index has staged a recovery of its own and is up 13.9% over the last three months.

The U.S. stock markets held up very well in the face of President Trump's escalation of what seems to be a trade war with the world. He also threatened to impose 100% "secondary" tariffs on any country doing business with Russia if a Ukraine ceasefire isn't secured within 50 days. The President also continued to target Federal Reserve Chair Powell, demanding lower interest rates. A Wednesday morning report claiming Trump was preparing to fire Powell quickly sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq down more than 1%. A quick denial snapped the market back into the positive range. Despite the political drama, the three major indexes finished higher, and volatility subsided; the market’s upward moves are still led by record-setting strength in the tech sector. General investor sentiment remains upbeat, supported by cooler-than-expected PPI inflation data and strong corporate earnings results. The U.S. dollar (USD) gained almost 3% so far in July but seems to be settling back downward this week, favouring U.S. exports.

Gold at USD$3,356.80/oz and silver at USD$38.25/oz are higher in early U.S. trading this morning, boosted in part by the selloff in the U.S. dollar index. Higher crude oil prices and a slight dip in U.S. Treasury yields are also supportive elements for the precious metals. Gold bears continue to claim that gold has peaked and call for prices to fall below USD$3,000/oz, even to USD$2,500/oz, in the next quarter. Gold has built considerable support in the current price range during the past four months, and Fed rates will start to fall, maybe not until September, but will be supportive of gold. The Chinese Central Bank reported a 2t gold purchase in June, and Indian Investment demand was very strong last month. The near-term target is USD$3,500, with a goal of reaching USD$4,000 by year-end. Platinum is seeing some selling pressure today after a 20% run-up in the last month. Palladium has risen 20% in the previous two weeks, at USD$1,280/oz. Impala Mining will need to reconsider the closure of its Lac des Iles mine in Ontario, scheduled for May of next year.

Copper has held in the USD$5.50 range for the last two weeks, maybe held up by U.S. tariff threats. Demand for copper is very strong, yet the supply chain is weak, with few new mines in sight. The world is going to need a lot more copper mines for EVs, power grids, alternative energy, technology, AI and robots. There is little excitement in other base and industrial metals, but in metals bull markets, gold leads, then silver, copper and other metals follow.

Battery, electric and other critical minerals did not make any significant price gains this week as China's dominance and market control are holding this sector down. The lithium price rose to USD$9.00/kg, up USD$1.00 from the previous week, likely due to China's battery manufacturers ramping up their output. China announced that it will continue to restrict the use of its battery-making technology in other countries, in order to maintain its lead in electric-vehicle production.

The uranium price remained soft this week, despite no improvement in the impending growth in the supply gap and the expansion in the number of planned nuclear power facilities.

We are pleased to present our round-up of client news released between July 14 and 18, 2025.

Mining

On July 14, 2025, Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) announced the signing of a drill contract and the mobilization of its exploration crew for the upcoming drill program at its Wedge Lake Gold Project in Saskatchewan. Arya is fully funded to execute its planned exploration program.

The Company has signed a drilling contract with Ruick Ventures Ltd., a Northern Saskatchewan-based company committed to employing northern professionals and supporting local economic development.

The drill program will focus on several high-priority targets identified in the June 20, 2022, Technical Report for the Wedge Lake Gold Property, prepared by Kevin Wells, P.Geo.  Historic work on the property has outlined gold, copper, and potential silver zones that remain underexplored and warrant modern exploration techniques, including diamond drilling and downhole geophysics.

Initial drilling will test key mineralized zones, including but not limited to the Twin, T-12, and T-6 Zones.

On July 14, 2025, Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF) announced the successful completion of its comprehensive till survey at its Laird Lake gold project, located in Ontario's prolific Red Lake Gold District. The survey, completed ahead of schedule, marks a significant milestone in advancing the Company's exploration strategy on this highly prospective 4,158-hectare property, which spans over 10 km of the Balmer-Confederation Assemblage contact. The survey was designed to identify gold-in-till anomalies and refine high-priority drill targets, leveraging Athena Gold's existing dataset, including LiDAR, detailed mapping, magnetics, and electromagnetic surveys.

Figure 1: Map of Laird Lake project, showing till sample locations.

"We are thrilled to have completed the till survey at Laird Lake ahead of schedule, a testament to the efficiency and expertise of our exploration team and our partners at Bayside Geoscience," said Koby Kushner, President and CEO of Athena Gold. "The data from this survey is expected to significantly enhance our understanding of the project's potential and guide our upcoming drilling campaign, which we hope to initiate this winter."

The till survey, initiated in May 2025, involved the collection of 2,048 till and QAQC samples across the Laird Lake project, utilizing a grid spacing of 100 m x 100 m within the Balmer and Confederation assemblages and 200 m x 200 m in surrounding felsic intrusive bodies. The program employed the same sampling methodology as West Red Lake Gold's successful till survey at the nearby Madsen Mine, which confirmed existing mineralization and outlined new zones.