CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: May 6-10, 2024

A bit of calm, and better weather seems to have arrived as we move into the Mother’s Day weekend. Please take some time to remember your mother whether she is still in your life or passed on. 

May has been good so far for Canadian Markets with the TSX touching a new all-time high during trading and closing on Thursday; up almost 20% since November. Job growth in Canada was stronger than expected and may delay interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada. 

U.S. equity markets took a short breather on Wednesday following five straight days of gains which pushed the S&P 500 within 1% from its record high. The Index continued to rise on Thursday and is pointed positive today. The April Jobs report showed that the U.S. labour market seems to be softening. Payroll gains and wage growth both slowed and came in lighter than expected. The labour market remains solid, but employment growth is slowing, which should help ease some of the inflationary pressures and allow the Fed to implement its first rate cut in the second half of the year. Rate cuts are back on the table, but the major foreign central banks have often waited to follow the Fed’s lead. Now many are feeling pressure to move sooner than the Fed’s present indications. 

The Bank of England left the rate at 5.25%, a 16-year high, for the sixth consecutive meeting even as Governor John Bailey said: “We’ve had encouraging news on inflation and I’m optimistic that things are moving in the right direction.” 

Thursday, as widely expected, the Bank of Mexico maintained its benchmark interest rate at 11.00% at its May meeting. 

Pressure came onto the U.S. dollar following the employment report and commodities felt the benefit. Gold moved up by USD$40/oz through Thursday and is at USD$2370/oz this morning. Silver moved back up to USD$28.50/oz. Action on the M&A front continued in the precious metal sector, as share prices still don’t reasonably value any issuer, from large producers to junior explorers. Treasury Metals Inc. has signed a definitive deal to acquire Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd. in a bid to advance the Goliath Gold Complex in northwestern Ontario toward production. Bargains remain and gold has an upside as the rate cuts come out. 

Base metals rebounded on the weaker U.S. dollar with copper above USD$4.61/lb. reaching towards those high prices of 2022. Other metals (lead, zinc, aluminum) have achieved good price gains over the last six weeks. Apparently, BHP is considering an improved offer for Anglo American, but Glencore appears ready to enter the arena. This sort of acquisition will not expand the ability to meet the forecast copper demand for the energy transition, and companies must prioritize investing in exploring and developing new copper deposits. Falcon Gold Corp. (TSXV: FG) (FRA: 3FA) (OTCQB: FGLDF) is an excellent example of a copper explorer. 

Battery materials saw little improvement for raw materials. There does seem to have been some increase in the prices of processed lithium products. 

Uranium prices have been rising for three weeks, reaching US$93.50/lb. Without an increase in production in the near term, demand will continue to consume existing supplies. Price shocks could be ahead. 

It has been an interesting week for our clients, as they work to advance their projects and businesses, and we are pleased to present to you our round-up of their news released between May 6-10, 2024. 

Mining

On April 30, 2024, Falcon Gold Corp. (TSXV: FG) (FRA: 3FA) (OTCQB: FGLDF) announced that it had arranged a non-brokered private placement of up to 9,000,000 flow-through shares (the “FT Shares”) at $0.05 per FT Share and up to 1,200,000 units (the “Units”) at $0.05 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $510,000. Each Unit consists of one non-flow-through share of the Company and one transferrable share purchase warrant (a “Warrant”).

Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire an additional common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.07 per Warrant Share for a period of three (3) years. The gross proceeds from the sale of the FT Shares will be used for exploration and development of the Company’s British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland, and Quebec projects.

The gross proceeds from the sale of the Units will be used for general working capital purposes. 

Then on May 2, 2024, Falcon Gold Corp. (TSXV: FG) (FRA: 3FA) (OTCQB: FGLDF) announced that it has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement (the “Private Placement”) by issuing 9,000,000 flow-through shares of the Company (the “FT Shares”) at $0.05 per FT Share for gross proceeds of $450,000. The gross proceeds from the First Tranche will be used for exploration and development of the Company’s British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland, and Quebec projects.

The gross proceeds from the issuance of all flow-through shares will be used to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses (CEE) and will qualify as “flow-through mining expenditures” under the Income Tax Act (Canada). 

The offering of up to 1,200,000 units (non-Flow-Through) at $0.05 per unit remains open for subscription. 

All securities issued pursuant to the First Tranche will be subject to a statutory hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The Private Placement is subject to final acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. 

Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF): Proudly sponsored by Sokoman Minerals Corp., the Central MinEx Science Fair event showcased the brightest future innovators. A big thank you to our CEO, Tim Froude, for presenting the awards and Congratulations to all the winners.

“Thank you again for supporting this element of Central MinEx. I think it was a great start, the projects were great and it’s something we can definitely build on for next year. We could not have done this without your support. Thank you so much!” – Jennifer Mills, Executive Director | Gander and Area Chamber of Commerce

Fintech

On May 3, 2024, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTC Pink: PKKFF) published an interview conducted with Company CEO Johnson Joseph on the year-end 2023 financial results filed on April 29, 2024.

Tenet Fintech Group Inc. offers innovative financial technology (Fintech) and artificial intelligence (AI) based products and services to businesses, capital markets professionals, government agencies, and financial institutions either through or by leveraging data gathered by the Cubeler® Business Hub, a global ecosystem where analytics and AI is used to create opportunities and facilitate B2B transactions among its members.

The interview can be accessed by clicking on the following:

Tenet_Year-end_2023_Results_Q and A.