CHF WEEKLY ROUND-UP: September 29 - October 3, 2025

World Markets were soft on the threat of a U.S. government shutdown early in the week, but they seem to have shrugged that worry off and rebounded from the early weakness. Most global stock markets are at all-time highs, all at the same time.

Canada’s manufacturing sector contracted at a steeper pace in September, as output, new orders, and exports all continued to decline in an uncertain trading environment. Canada has narrowly avoided a technical recession. Despite aggressive tariffs and a cooling labour market, government stimulus and easing interest rates are laying the foundation for a rebound, with sluggish growth set to persist until momentum improves in 2026. Canadian GDP is now projected to rise just 1.3% in 2025 before accelerating by 1.7% in 2026. The Bank of Canada is forecast to cut its policy rate to 2.25% by year-end. Prime Minister Mark Carney said that trade negotiations with the U.S. are ongoing, and that a lot of the remaining issues would move to a forthcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. While elbows may be down over Canadian tariffs on U.S. imports, Carney continues to find ways to offend Trump on global issues like closeness to China, Ukraine, Palestine, and where Canada will purchase military hardware (submarines and fighters). Carney is set to head to Washington early next week to meet with the President.  

President Trump has issued new tariffs that set a 10% duty on imports of softwood timber and lumber, along with a 25% levy on imports of kitchen cabinets and vanities, and other upholstered wooden products, scheduled to take effect Oct. 14. Trump also announced this Monday that he will impose a 100% tariff on films produced abroad to boost the U.S. film industry and prevent the "movie business" from "being stolen" by other countries. The U.S. government shutdown in President Trump’s first term lasted 35 days, so hopes for a quick resolution to this one are fading as Republicans and Democrats go home for the weekend and dig in for a prolonged fight. Meanwhile, Trump is preparing plans to implement layoffs and cuts across the federal government. The next Labour Department employment report, scheduled for today, is likely to be delayed, like Thursday’s weekly jobless claims report. Wall Street is hoping the job market cools just enough to persuade the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates—without weakening so much that it signals a looming recession. Two rate cuts this year by the U.S. Fed seem to be priced in, and U.S. Stocks have already run to record levels on expectations for those upcoming rate cuts. The U.S. dollar (USD) has remained relatively stable so far, despite the uncertainty surrounding the shutdown.

Commodity analysts at BMO Capital Markets published their fourth-quarter price forecasts, with expectations that gold prices will average USD$3,900/oz in the final three months of 2025. Not expecting the rally to end anytime soon, they projected prices to rise above USD$4,000 an ounce next year, averaging USD$4,400/oz. Gold opens at USD$3,869.40 today, building support above USD$3,850/oz. Silver is opening at USD$47.68 today, after breaking through USD$48 yesterday. Platinum, while at a twelve-year high, is at a historical discount to gold, and palladium is at a three-year high, yet less than half of where it was ten years ago. Hold on to your investments in the precious metals sector.

Copper has had a volatile year, impacted the Trump administration’s trade policy, in the form of country-specific and sectoral tariffs aimed at of U.S. copper-product imports. Widespread expectations for stronger demand for energy transition and artificial-intelligence data centres remain. Prices rose to USD $4.88/lb this week driven by supply disruptions from major producers. Other base and industrial metals appear to be recovering from their post-Liberation Day declines in the face of slowing global economic output.

While global battery and critical minerals pre-treatment capacity is widespread, integrated processing and refining facilities to extract them remain unevenly distributed, and are becoming more concentrated under China’s control.  On a positive note, U.S. mined and processed high-purity neodymium-praseodymium (Nd/Pr) oxides have successfully been used by South Korea’s POSCO for the manufacturing of rare earth permanent magnets used in EVs. More U.S. based REE production is being advanced. Canada has a lot of Rare Earth, Uranium, and battery critical deposits worthy of investment, but they have not made the Nation-building projects short lists. Investors, not governments need to be in the driver’s seat to ensure sustainable long-term returning projects move forward. Government needs to develop an overall strategy to encourage mineral development and let the market choose what goes ahead.

We present our round-up of news released between September 29 – October 3, 2025. 

Mining

On September 29, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced a series of key leadership appointments to its Board of Directors and executive team, effective September 29, 2025. These appointments strengthen the Company's governance, capital market and operational expertise as it advances its flagship Moosehead Gold Project and other exploration initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Denis Laviolette has been appointed as Director, Executive Chairman, and CEO. Mr. Laviolette brings more than 20 years of experience in mining, exploration, capital markets, and corporate leadership, with a proven track record of driving strategic growth.

• Timothy Froude, P.Geo., has transitioned to the role of President, having previously served as President and CEO of Sokoman. Mr. Froude brings more than 35 years of mineral exploration experience.

• Gary Nassif, P.Geo., has been appointed a Director. Mr. Nassif is a professional geologist with more than 30 years of experience in gold, base-metal, and diamond exploration across Canada, the United States, and sub-Saharan Africa.

• Greg Matheson, P.Geo., has been appointed as VP Exploration of the Company,  filling a vacancy left by the departure of Dan Lee. Mr. Matheson is a professional geologist and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, with more than 15 years of experience managing exploration programs from grassroots to advanced stages.

  
  

On September 30, 2025, Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF) announced its participation at the Munich Mining Conference, October 3rd and 4^th, 2025. The conference has 109 companies attending and more than 1,000 individual investors registrants. The conference brings together investors and mining companies from around the world to discuss the latest developments in the mining and commodity markets. Koby Kushner, President & CEO will be in attendance. Free investor registration and event information are available here: Munich Mining Conference 2025.

On October 2, 2025, Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSXV: SIC) (OTCQB: SICNF) announced the appointment of Wanda Cutler to its Board of Directors.  Ms. Cutler, Founder and President of Cutler McCarthy Inc., brings over 25 years of expertise in investor relations, capital markets, corporate governance and strategic advisory in the resource sector. 

On October 3, 2025, CHF Capital released a Byte-sized Review about Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF). Read here.

Fintech

On October 1, 2025, Tenet Fintech Group Inc. (CSE: PKK) (OTC Pink: PKKFF) announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2024. The Company reported revenue of $2.84 million, compared to $42.08 in 2023, and a net loss of $59.26 million for the year, of which a total of $32.39 million was attributed to an expected credit loss provision taken by the Company. The Company generated negative cash flow from operations of $6.92 million in 2024 compared to negative $3.91 million in 2023. All amounts in this news release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

2024 Key Financial Figures

• Total Revenue of $2.84 million

• Net Loss of $59.26 million

• Cash flow from operations of - $6.92 million

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Tenet CEO Johnson Joseph will answer questions from shareholders related to the Company's 2024 audited financial results in a Q&A interview and will also share his perspective on the Company's business plan for the rest of 2025. Shareholders are invited to read the Company's MD&A prior to sending their questions related to these subjects to the Company by 9:00pm EDT on October 7, 2025 to investors@tenetfintech.com or cathy@chfir.com. The interview will be posted on the Company's website by 5:00pm EDT on October 10, 2025.