CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: October 20-24, 2025

An investor panic attack rolled through markets from Thursday of last week into Wednesday. It was more of a panic-generated minor pullback rather than a correction or start of a bear market. The U.S. economy remains resilient, and independent analysts feel that a recession is unlikely. Everything was getting sold, as fear of a bubble, overvalued Tech stocks, credit issues in midsized U.S. banks, more Crypto scams, and uncertainty around the continuing U.S. Government shutdown and trade talks between the U.S and China all boiled over. Money fled to the security of U.S. treasuries, and the U.S. dollar rose against world currencies.  Today world shares are mixed as President Trump is expected to meet with Xi Jinping next week amid uncertainty surrounding trade tensions between the two biggest economies, though prospects for a significant trade deal remain unclear.

Canadian Prime Minister Carney staged a televised pre-budget presentation, which many took as a pre-election event. No budget details were presented, but vague warnings were given about “sacrifices” and “trade-offs” and somehow balancing the operational budget while maintaining capital spending. He also spoke of doubling Canada’s non-U.S. exports over the next decade to unlock about $300 billion in new trade, without specifics on what that would include. Building up port infrastructure and exporting more resources, like the critical minerals, was implied. Much of the current exports to the U.S. are locked-in to supply chains and the growth of exports will require increased production of materials and products. Prime Minister Carney claims that the November 4th budget will spur “unprecedented” levels of private sector investment and unleash a building spree. He is expected to announce a list of new, large industrial projects Ottawa will fast-track through permitting approvals by November 10th. Ongoing trade talks and hopes for resolution on steel and aluminium tariffs seem to be floundering as President Trump has now announced termination of all trade talks.

The U.S. government shutdown continues to shut off the supply of many economic indicators. CPI inflation rate for September will be released and is widely expected to remain stuck at 3.0% on an annual basis, and the labour department is reported to be calling in staff to ensure an employment report is delivered. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point when policymakers meet next week. Since the start of the government shutdown three weeks ago, the central bank has been cut off from vital economic data, but it has its own internal mechanisms to guide rate policy decisions. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (Canada’s top two trading partners) will be meeting at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in South Korea; Prime Minister Carney will be in Asia for nine days and hopes to meet with them individually, at that event.

Gold prices rose today, reaching USD$4,115.70/oz as the headline U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose only by 0.3% last month, lower than expected. Gold held the USD$4,000/oz support level and is now looking to build a base at USD$4,100/oz. There is a lot of bearish talk of “topped out” and “sell on rebounds”. The big buyers (Central Banks) remain in the market, and geopolitical risks persist following the U.S. imposition of new sanctions on Russia. The nine-week winning streak for gold may be over, but there is room to run between now and spring while we ride out the volatility.

The selloff in precious metals has been reflected in base and industrial metals. This group seems to be recovering this morning. Copper is at USD$5.06/lb. today, in a general uptrend since early 2021. Two of the five “nation-building” projects on Ottawa’s fast-track list are linked to copper in Prime Minister Carney’s plan to boost the economy and “strengthen Canada’s position as a global supplier of critical minerals for clean energy” however the potential for finding value-add in downstream processing and manufacturing of copper products remains absent, as only one operational copper smelter and one copper refinery remain in Canada. Canadian copper production has gone down in recent years, dropping nearly 25% between 2014 and 2023, and Canada had less than 1% of global copper reserves in 2023. The copper mine expansions named to Ottawa’s list of projects won’t make Canada a top global producer, and the country needs to move beyond the export of raw concentrates to China to have an impact on economic growth.

Cobalt prices are up 25% this month but that is related to export restrictions from the DRC. Lithium, while rising to USD$10.50/kg, remains near five-year lows. Uranium, despite supply constraints, fell to USD$76.40/lb. this week.

We are pleased to present our round-up of client news released between October 20 and 24, 2025.

Mining

On October 20, 2025, Arya Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RBZ) reported that its ongoing drill program at the Wedge Lake Gold Project in Saskatchewan's La Ronge Gold Belt has intersected high-grade gold mineralization, including 21.59 g/t Au over 5.84 metres with a higher-grade core of 30.45 g/t Au over 4.06 metres in drill hole AR25-10 at the T-6 Zone.

Rasool Mohammad, CEO of Arya Resources, said, “Visible gold has been confirmed in multiple T-6 holes, with several returning significant gold assays. We are particularly encouraged by the consistency of mineralization across the T-6 Zone.”

Assay results from holes AR25-07, 08 and 09 that were drilled at the Twin Zone remain pending.

Claim Location Map

On October 20, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) provided further details regarding the expansion of the Company's holdings along the Valentine Lake Fault.

Sokoman has entered into an agreement with Kevin Keats and 91112 Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. to acquire a 100% interest in and to six mineral licences known as the Keats Property.

Sokoman has also entered in an option agreement with K9 Gold Corp. and District Copper Corp. for the right to acquire a 100% interest in and to four mineral licenses, totalling 257 mining claims located in the Valentine Lake Fault area of Newfoundland known as the Stony Lake Property.

SAVE THE DATE

Our CHF clients — Sokoman Minerals Corp. (Booth #57) and Rocky Shore Gold (Booth #16) — will be attending the Mineral Resources Review 2025, taking place November 4–7 in St. John’s, NL.  

Register here to attend.