CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: March 3-7, 2025

North American Markets were hit with a second week of declines as volatility increased on a mixed approach to tariff implementation, worries over U.S. job cuts beyond Government, future US debt levels, fears of resistant inflation and the inconsistent foreign and economic policies from President Trump.  Money fled to international markets, and the U.S. dollar (USD) fell to its lowest level in 4 months as bond yields declined. The signal is clear that the markets and investors do not like the uncertainty caused by tariffs and trade wars.  The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) proudly celebrated another landmark gathering with PDAC 2025, which brought together 27,353 participants to explore premier business prospects, investment opportunities, and professional networks in global mineral exploration and mining. More than 1,100 exhibitors were featured, including government representatives, corporate leaders, and technical specialists from across the world. PDAC is encouraged by the Canadian federal government’s commitment to extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) for two years, although it would be preferred to have it made a permanent feature of the tax code and for the recent Critical minerals provisions to be included.  CHF clients exhibiting at PDAC included:

• Athena Gold Corp./Libra Energy Materials

• Nuinsco Resources Limited

• Rocky Shore Gold

• Sokoman Minerals Corp.
  

Gold continues to find support above USD$2,900/oz, opening at USD$2,919/oz this morning. Some talk of gold topping out and the start of a Bear market is being heard, but the level of global uncertainty is not expected to go down, and inflationary pressures still exist, as U.S. and European government deficit spending is set to rise this year; this may be the last good buying opportunity. Gold producers remain highly profitable at this level, and at PDAC, many were seen to be looking at undervalued Juniors with “Gold in the ground” and explorers with high potential projects. Silver opens at USD$32.40/oz today, but investors should be looking towards a major breakout, with a price target above USD$250/oz "entirely possible," according to renowned investor and mining industry titan Eric Sprott.  Base and industrial metals are all at year-to-date highs this week, perhaps because of U.S. buyers stocking up on the materials that they import before another round of tariffs is imposed. Note that Commodity markets typically react to immediate supply and demand issues, not future supply deficits. Analysts project a "structural supply deficit" in the copper market driven by the rising energy intensity of growing GDP, the increasing need for power transmission upgrades, AI and data centre demand, and the move to building climate-adapted infrastructure. By the end of this decade, they see much higher copper prices, potentially leading to "supernormal returns" for investors in well-managed copper companies.  Battery and electric materials remain in a six-month slump with no sign of breakout, held down by export restrictions on materials and technology being placed by China, and the increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. China accounts for more than half of the global production of battery metals including lithium, cobalt, and manganese, and 69% of global rare earth output. Energy growth is vital to global development and the development of other sources of supply in this sector is essential.  It is doubted that looking to Ukraine for rare materials, when they have no reserves or even resources, will bring anything to market. Canada has several advanced critical mineral projects that could move to production much sooner.  We present our round-up of client news released between March 3-7, 2025.   Technology On March 3, 2025, Visionstate Corp. (TSXV: VIS) announces $450,000 Financing. The financing will consist of one full unit at $0.025 (two and a half cents) per share, along with a full warrant exercisable at $0.05 (five cents) per share for a term of 36 months upon closing, subject to an acceleration clause. The price per share is based on the previous closing price of the Company's common shares. The Company intends to issue up to 18 million shares for this financing round. The financing is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. On March 4, 2025, Visionstate Corp. (TSXV: VIS) announced the installation of its WANDA™technology in the Town of Banff, one of the world’s most scenic and visited tourist destinations. This deployment underscores Banff’s commitment to proactive facility cleanliness and public engagement while aligning with a growing industry trend toward digital cleaning management as recent legislative changes in Canada, require digital tracking of cleaning activities to enhance worker safety.  Shannon Moore, President of Visionstate IoT Inc., said "Banff’s adoption of WANDA™ reflects a broader shift in the industry towards digitized cleaning management. Providing real-time tracking, public interaction, and operational insights is key to maintaining high facility standards, especially in high-traffic environments."  With millions of visitors each year, Banff’s public spaces require efficient and responsive facility management. WANDA™ provides real-time monitoring of cleaning activities, automated alerts for service needs, and visitor counting sensors to enhance operational efficiency. The system also empowers the public to easily report issues by scanning a QR code, ensuring that facility managers receive instant feedback and can take immediate action. As municipalities, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities embrace digital solutions, WANDA™ continues to lead the way in modernizing facility management and ensuring compliance with evolving standards.   Fintech On March 4, 2025, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTCQB: PKKFF) announced that it has launched its ie-Pulse macroeconomic data platform aimed at providing a sense of economic activity by leveraging small and medium sized enterprise (SME) financial and operational data gathered through the Company's Cubeler Business Hub platform.  Tenet’s CEO, Johnson Joseph, stated "Today marks a very important milestone in Tenet's history. "The launch of the Business Hub as a lending platform in China several years ago allows us to gather financial performance data on SMEs directly from their accounting software systems. The platform is only launched with a single index (the Canada Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Sales Index) and it's not yet providing macroeconomic data on the Chinese economy, but the idea is to eventually be able to expand and leverage the Business Hub to give clients a sense of how economies around the world are performing on a daily basis. We believe this will be of great value to capital market professionals who often wait for the official release of monthly government macroeconomic data, such as retail sales data, to make important investment decisions. We'll be working very hard over the next few weeks to ensure that most current and future SMEs registered on the Business Hub use the Dext bookkeeping automation software to contribute data to ie-Pulse on a day-to-day basis," concluded Mr. Joseph.  With the development of the ie-Pulse platform completed and the initial index launched, Tenet now plans to launch new indexes every month while systematically increasing the number of SMEs in each index to be gradually more representative of the industrial sectors covered. Tenet plans to work on ie-Pulse enhancements and improvements with capital market advisors, economists, government representatives and academics going forward to ensure that ie-Pulse continues to deliver value to its intended clientele, and ultimately, to Tenet shareholders.  On March 6, 2025, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTCQB: PKKFF) announced that it intends to conduct a private placement financing by selling up to 60,000,000 units with each unit priced at $0.05 for gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000. Tenet intends to use the proceeds of the Offering to develop more macroeconomic data indexes for the Company's recently launched ie-Pulse platform, to prepare the expansion of the Cubeler Business Hub to the U.S. and for general working capital purposes.  The securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the closing date of the Offering.  Each unit of the Offering will be comprised of one common share of the Company (and one Common Share purchase warrant. Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.15 for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance thereof. After a period of 6 months from the date of their issuance, if at any time the price of the Common Shares closes at or above $0.30 for 10 consecutive trading days, the Expiry Date of the Warrants will be reduced to thirty 30 days. Any Warrants remaining unexercised after the Accelerated Expiry Date will be cancelled.  On March 7, 2025, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTCQB: PKKFF) announced that it will be adding support for at least three new accounting software packages to the Business Hub. The Company's Business Hub currently supports the top three accounting software packages used by small businesses in Canada, combining for a market share of almost 70%, according to the most recent statistics published by Codat Ltd.  Although Statistics Canada indicates that 97.8% of Canada's 1.23M businesses are small businesses, and being able to support almost 70% of them through the Business Hub is a good start, the Company believes that it needs to remove all possible barriers to entry for SMEs to the Business Hub by adding support for accounting software packages used by businesses who may fall into the medium sized category or operate in industries where using small business accounting software may not be suitable. Tenet's decision to support more accounting software packages is also motivated by the recent launch of the Company's ie-Pulse macroeconomic data platform. Tenet believes the additional software support will help the Company accelerate the launch of new indexes on ie-Pulse to cover industries such as the manufacturing sector, which is widely seen as a valuable economic barometer.