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The IKN Weekly
Week 669, March 13th 2022
Contents
This Week: Trade heads-up, In Today’s Edition, Ugly truths about wars and markets,
Stagflation to drive the gold price higher.
Fundamental Analysis: McEwen Mining (MUX): No turnaround and no trade.
Stocks to Follow: Trilogy Metals (TMQ), Element 29 (ECU.v), Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v), QC Copper &
Gold (QCCU.v), Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v), Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v), Minera IRL
(MIRL.cse), Palamina Corp (PA.v), Amerigo Resources (ARG.to).
Copper Basket: Overview, Nevada Copper (NCU.to), Oroco Resources (OCO.v), Meridian
Mining (MNO.v), Copper Mountain (CMMC.to), Western Copper & Gold (WRN.to).
Producer Basket: Overview, Kinross (KGC).
TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Kingfisher Metals (KFR.v), Signature Resources (SGU.v).
Regional Politics: Colombia: No stopping Petro, Brazil: Lula da Silva opposes Jair Bolsonaro
on mining (and everything), Argentina: The pro-mining alignment, Peru: On social rights and
money, Ecuador: Anti-mining legislation is up in Congress, Costa Rica joins Honduras and bans
open pit mines, Chile: Boric and mining, Three more non-mining developments concerning
Nicaragua political risk.
Market Watching: A promising mining webinar this week, Palladium and Platinum update,
Further to last week’s note on the target-rich environment (featuring Almaden (AMM.to), Great
Panther (GPR.to) and Excellon (EXN.to)).
I remind subscribers that no part of this newsletter can be copied, reproduced or
given to any third party without the express permission of the author.
This Week
Trade heads-up
SELLING: Not an easy decision, but I am going to sell my Trilogy Metals (TMQ) position and
cauterize the loss generated by its permitting reversal. TMQ now looks too much like Dead
Money in a market that demands agility.
NOT SELLING YET (but likely): Along the same vein, it won’t happen in the next week but at
some point between now and the end of April I’m going to pick a spot and exit the trade in
McEwen Mining, largely for the same “looks like dead money” reason but at least in the case of
MUX, there’s no real financial damage done.
In Today’s Edition
 The nature of this market places importance on getting the Big Picture right, as share
price moves become less about specific fundamentals and more about what metals and
the market does. At such times generalized comments come to the fore, which often
manifests here at The IKN Weekly in an expanded Introduction note that walks through
its arguments. The two notes, “Ugly truths about wars and markets” and “Stagflation to
drive the gold price higher”, cover four pages of script and are today’s main event.
 Also script-heavy, today’s Regional Politics section updates on several news events from
around the LatAm region (mostly South America, in fact) affecting the mining sector.
1

With Eastern Europe dominating world headlines, The IKN Weekly’s tries to stick to its
brief and bring relevant news that may otherwise be lost in the fog of global events.
 The McEwen Mining (MUX) Conference Call was one of the strangest CC’s I’ve ever
witnessed, with “downbeat” an understatement. As such, This desk’s decision is to find
an exit window and close this trade, most likely in April once MUX offers news on
McEwen Copper’s financing round. MUX has the stench of Dead Money and there are
better places for the funds of a real-world portfolio with limited resources.
 Last week in IKN668 we made a clear “Be long everything” call, which is still valid
despite the subsequent choppy action in metals. In particular, copper’s moves do not
offer a true perspective of the market for the world’s most important base metal and
your author is still fully bullish on its future. The Copper Basket has plenty on that.
Ugly truths about wars and markets
This week’s intro once again focuses on the effects of our new world backdrop on the price of
gold bullion. We argue the following:
 The war in Ukraine underpins the new price deck for all metals and commodities, gold
is no exception
 Now firmly installed as a Fear Trade, what’s bad for broad markets will be good for gold
(and vice-versa)
 The financial consequences of the new geopolitics are set to push gold higher
“Stocks Fall After Peace Talks Fail” was a headline pushed electronically into my phone by
Yahoo! Finance on Thursday morning, one of many on the same theme, but it so happened to
come through at the same time I was checking out a screen of mostly green mid-cap and large-
cap precious metals producers. Here’s a chart:
Two things:
1) The IKN Weekly will again attempt to keep purely political commentary on Ukraine to a
minimum. That said, why anyone thought there was a chance peace talks would
succeed to the extent that their “failure” caused the S&P500 to drop 2% is beyond me.
2) There’s a reason the rest of the world is ambivalent toward precious metals mining
stocks. At moments like these, not only is gold bullion the Fear Trade (as mentioned
previously on these pages, the “Love Trade” doesn’t dictate gold prices) but the PM
sector, from GDX on down, is also the Anti-Market Trade, or the Pro-War Trade but
either way, it’s not an easy sell to board market participants.
If you don’t like the latter I suggest you get used to the idea, or at least think past the visceral
levels it implies and realize PM Mining companies are not bad or evil per se. When done wrong
mining gets its bad reputation, but the world’s mining sector is not a leech or parasite to society
and when it comes to capital markets, is simply providing one essential corner of the whole.
2

Money has no smell after all, but by the same token we cannot ignore plain facts. Uncertainty
caused by the expansive shockwaves of financial influence from (excuse the phrase) ground
zero Ukraine is beneficial for gold bullion, period. Going forward, uncertainty generated by news
out of Ukraine is broad market negative and gold bullish, period. That means, for example, a
news of Putin’s next evil act is gold bullish. If Kyiv doesn’t fall quickly and, to paraphrase
Ukraine’s President, “needs to be razed to the ground”, that’s gold bullish. If the Republic of
Belarus is dragged into the conflict and sends its own troops into Ukraine, that’s gold bullish. If
part or all of the Russia war machine suffers significant setbacks and retreats across its borders,
only to be followed in by Ukraine forces with their tails up and looking to finish a job, that’s gold
bullish. The other side of the argument is also true, for example the “progress in talks” reported
this Sunday morning may see US broad markets rally tomorrow and the inverse effect on gold.
Then again it may not, these are difficult times to micro-manage and something written on a
Sunday afternoon can be past history on a Monday morning.
Last week, we considered the macro landscape in the most general of terms in “The nuclear
option changes the house position on geopolitical risk”. To remind the reader, Russia’s nuclear
arsenal sabre-rattling is a key moment in world geopolitics, changes the stability of decades and
adds systemic risk that underpins the gold price, as these long-term consequences will see gold
return to a place of more importance in the world’s financial structure as both Central Banks
and individuals will want to own more. However last week’s intro was also written with the
backdrop of rapidly deteriorating relations and in the week between us and IKN668 (a long time
in politics), the fast-moving scenario of hot conflict has seen two developments that slow
humanity’s headlong run to Armageddon. As a result, gold’s immediate run higher eased off
which is not to say its run is over (far from it, in fact) but as market observers, we have to face
a few ugly truths about the way the financial world is now reacting to all things Ukraine.
With battle lines now being drawn between The West (or NATO, or The Free World, or
whatever other rough grouping works best for you) and Russia, as perverse as it may seem
(and in fact, is) the rise of conversation and rhetoric on chemical weapons is broad market-
friendly. Putin’s designs on a shock front victory are now gone, as dead as many of his troops
he fantasized as liberators from Nazis. Instead, Russia has reached for its brutalist playbook,
Ukraine is becoming a war of attrition and if that continues without further escalation, the
financial world will do what it does and work around its new normal. However, the threat of the
moving “across the nuclear threshold” (as this perceptive essay posted on the blog last week
put it (1)) is now the major threat on the horizon, the geopolitical card that has changed
everything. Therefore, if a new line in the sand gets inserted between the current reality and
the worst of all outcomes, it provides a buffer. Chemical/Biological weaponry is becoming that
line in the sand and it is in the interest of both The West and Russia, one that provides a moral
and operational limit to what either side is allowed to do without losing rights to the moral high
ground. Instead of the nuclear threshold, if chemical weapons become the Line That Shall Not
Be Crossed by either side it becomes the tacitly understood battle line, the one that loses world
public opinion once and for all (and with the bonus of not killing all the world’s public).
Which means in turn that the war in Ukraine war can now continue without threatening the end
of civilization as we know it and while it’s ugly as sin to put it into words, the financial world can
live with that and we on the outside then get to observe Ukraine being demolished before our
eyes. I’m not trying to make the situation sound pleasant, the months to come are bound to fill
our screens and column inches with desperate humanitarian events, not to mention the political
quagmire of epic proportions. Talk of Ukraine being “Putin's Afghanistan” is probably early (and
perhaps better framed as The USSR’s return to Afghanistan) but again, if the war is contained
by its current geographical limits that’s not a bad thing for the uncertainty-hating markets.
We’ve already seen markets trying to adapt to the new normal, because that’s what markets
do. With the broad thrust of sanctions, now either in place or part of the playbook, both The
West and Russia are looking to their own versions of the. Therefore, if Ukraine is contained to
Ukraine from here I’m not saying it’s going to be pretty, but I am saying that we’re not about to
3

get wholesale panic and financial disaster in the rest of the world. That’s the geopolitical
comment done for this edition (didn’t hurt too much and avoided most of the politics), the
arena that underpins our new world of U$2,000/oz-or-abouts gold bullion. Before switching
gears and considering reasons why gold should continue to climb, we dial up three standard
house charts to show how gold’s nascent return to fashion on Wall St. continued last week…
GLD gold holdings, 2021 to date (metric tonnes)
1220
1200
1180
1160
1140
1120
1100
1080
1060
1040
1020
1000
980
960
940
4
12/1/4 12/1/41 12/1/42 12/2/3 12/2/31 12/2/32 12/3/5 12/3/51 12/3/52 12/4/4 12/4/41 12/4/42 12/5/4 12/5/41 12/5/42 12/6/3 12/6/31 12/6/32 12/7/3 12/7/31 12/7/32 12/8/2 12/8/21 12/8/22 12/9/1 12/9/11 12/9/12 12/01/1 12/01/11 12/01/12 12/01/13 12/11/01 12/11/02 12/11/03 12/21/01 12/21/02 12/21/03 22/1/9 22/1/91 22/1/92 22/2/8 22/2/81 22/2/82 22/3/01
mt
source: SPDR GLD data
….despite its volatility and spike/drop in USD prices. We also note that on its ration basis…
GLD: Inventory/Price Ratio, 2021 to date
7.00
6.80
6.60
6.40
6.20
6.00
5.80
5.60
5.40
5.20
5.00
4/1/1202 41/1/1202 42/1/1202 3/2/1202 31/2/1202 32/2/1202 5/3/1202 51/3/1202 52/3/1202 4/4/1202 41/4/1202 42/4/1202 4/5/1202 41/5/1202 42/5/1202 3/6/1202 31/6/1202 32/6/1202 3/7/1202 31/7/1202 32/7/1202 2/8/1202 21/8/1202 22/8/1202 1/9/1202 11/9/1202 12/9/1202 1/01/1202 11/01/1202 12/01/1202 13/01/1202 01/11/1202 02/11/1202 03/11/1202 01/21/1202 02/21/1202 03/21/1202 9/1/2202 91/1/2202 92/1/2202 8/2/2202 81/2/2202 82/2/2202 01/3/2202
Source: SPDR data, IKN calcs
…there’s still a whole lot of slack left to take up and Wall St. needs to do a lot more buying to
return to the level of ownership interest pre-Biden admin. Finally, that the PM stocks performed
pretty much in lockstep, as seen in the way GDX and GDXJ have done basically the same thing
for the last two weeks:
We now consider why gold’s next leg higher will be fueled by The US Fed, rather a Russian Red
Stagflation to drive the gold price higher
No matter the board market rally and gold’s volatility last week, significant financial headwinds
to the world abound and give plenty of reason to 1) own gold and 2) expect it higher. Step
forward inflation, already a bone of contention before February 24th and just by starting with
fuel costs, there are few on this distribution list who’ll be unaware of the rise in prices since
Putin moved on Ukraine. Rising prices, reduced world activity due to sanctions and their knock-

on effects are a clear recipe for The S Word, the dreaded Stagflation. On that score, we’ve
already seen CPI come in at +7.9% annualized last week, Goldman Sachs has downgraded its
US GDP forecast for this quarter by half a point (from +1.0% to +0.5%) and this coming week
provides a major signal event. Once the Producer Price Index reading is known Tuesday
morning (expect more inflation pipeline), the US Federal Reserve meets with its keenly
anticipated decision on interest rates on Wednesday at 2pm. We then have FedHead Jerome
Powell holding what may be an equally important presser at 2:30pm, so a couple of notes on
the US macro newsflow to come:
 We all expect The Fed to raise rates by 0.25% in this FOMC
 We all expect the thrust of the Fed position to be uncertain and “we will watch and see”
 We’ll all read the small print of the communiqué and dissect Jay Powell’s every presser
comment for clues on what is to come.
Next week’s headline news is already a given: The USA needs to head off recession and to do
that, it needs to prop its stock market. That means giving the market what it wants to hear and
therefore, The Fed raises this week. What matters more are perception of what is to come,
because before this Ukraine mess blew up in our financial faces the market was already
factoring in five, or seven or however many rate raises in order that the Fed might head off the
rising spectre of inflation. That’s the big change wrought by the Ukraine crisis to the financial
market and what is now up for debate; Yes, the geopolitical uncertainty of Russia’s invasion and
apparent decision to go long-term on Kyiv in order to win its prize, backed up by the nuke sabre
rattling, means gold is more highly prized. Also yes, the way Russian capitals are being cut off
from the rest of the world means gold as a means of large-scale transaction and/or wealth
storage may come back into fashion (after a long break for the barbarous relic). However, the
real driver for gold in the medium-term will be what happens to The US Dollar and for that, look
no further than the interplay between economic recession and interest rates.
Before Feb 24th the Fed plan was simple: Hike and hike rates again they reeled in the inflation
pulse and bought real rates under control. The theory states that is gold bearish and ostensibly,
it’s still the course the Fed wants to take. After the +7.9% CPI reading last Thursday, Treasury
Secretary Janet Yellen warned The US to buckle up for another year of high inflation (2):
“I think there’s a lot of uncertainty that is related to what’s going on with Russia in
Ukraine,” Yellen told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
“And I do think that it’s exacerbating inflation. I don’t want to make a prediction exactly
as to what’s going to happen in the second half of the year,” she continued. “We’re
likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very
uncomfortably high.”
However, the world backdrop has changed dramatically and with extra inflation added by the
Russian sanctions along with the recognized slowdown in GDP growth (Goldman are just one of
many houses predicting the same thing), the Fed’s ability to raise rates sharply is now under
question. Here’s a simple line:
Raising rates into a slowing economy turns a slowdown into a recession.
Or to boil it down further hello stagflation but as we know, The Fed will avoid it at all costs. The
US Dollar’s recent relative strength gives the Fed some room for manoeuvre and next week, it
will still be keen on projecting the image of multiple rate rises in the future but Spanish phrase I
so enjoy comes to mind, The Reality Is Other, and in real terms the Fed is now hampered in its
plans to raise rates aggressively and reel in inflation. Which is where gold comes in, because we
know that if inflation continues out front and is not pulled back by monetary policy, gold rises in
this environment and for any proof you require, look to the 1970’s USA under Jimmy Carter.
Summing up, until Russia invaded Ukraine the world financial markets were geared up to
expect multiple rate rises from The US Federal Reserve over the course of the upcoming cycle.
Perhaps half a point instead of a quarter, perhaps nine or seven or five consecutive hikes. Due
to Ukraine, the massive shift in geopolitical events, the financial consequences of The West’s
5

sanctions in response and price rises for primary commodities fueling another inflationary pulse,
The Fed now finds itself between a rock and a hard place. It would surely like to tackle inflation
(and hard), but reality is going to limit the extent of its response and as soon as the market
perceives an earlier end to the rate hike cycle, gold will see its price move higher. Or if you
prefer, we’re about to see a return to the ‘Whatever It Takes’ policies rolled out in April and
May of 2020 that ensured the world didn’t slip into recession (or even depression) due to Covid-
19 and for that, the Fed prioritize the Dow over the CPI. That’s gold bullish and the real driver
of the next move higher in bullion.
Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
He that fights and runs away,
May turn and fight another day;
But he that is in battle slain,
Will never rise to fight again.
Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56AD - 120AD)
McEwen Mining (MUX): No turnaround and no trade
The basics: This note is not a long one, but it deserves a brief TL:DR summary at the top to
make sure everyone gets the message: I do not plan to sell immediately but as soon as NMUX
provides and reasonable selling window I plan to exit this trade. The general plan is to sell on
news of the second round of financing for Los Azules, expected by the end of this month. I
certainly do not want to hold MUX through its 1q22 production NR and eventual financials.
Now we begin. On Wednesday March 9th I spent one of the more bizarre hours of my working
life tuning in to the McEwen Mining (MUX) 4q21 and year-end conference call (CC). Since that
time and until this weekend, I’ve been playing around with the house model for MUX, trying to
decide how to frame this analysis note and trade decision to you, the esteemed subscribers of
The IKN Weekly, because whether I make it long and detailed with a mass of charts, or short
and sweet with a simple call on what I plan to do with my money, there’s no getting round that
the basic message is simple. Some bullet points:
As 4q21 production was pre-announced, we never expected a sparkling set of numbers or
financial results form the quarter. The interest has always been about MUX in 2022, as from
the start of this trade three months ago the plan was to ride MUX as it turned around its
fortunes and improved from a poor operational period in 2019 to early 2021 that seemed to be
coming to an end. However, the Conference Call was one of the most negative and downbeat I
can remember and MUX, including Chief Owner Rob McEwen who led the call, had difficulty in
raising a good word to say about MUX assets and projects. We learned:
 Its 49% owned San José mine had been hit by Covid restrictions and 1q22 was not
going well
 The 100% owned Gold Bar operation in USA had issues with its new contractors last
quarter plus a machinery failure this quarter and guidance in 2022 was for lower than
expected production and higher costs, particularly in Q1.
 A similar story at Fox Complex in Canada, where production guidance is at the lower
end of expectations with higher costs in Q1 of this year
 Most importantly, the original aggressive development schedule for the Los Azules
copper project in Argentina is now being slowed by MUX, probably due to its failure to
attract the original investment. Far from the image portrayed in 2021, MUX is now
dragging its feet.
As for Chief Owner Rob McEwen, it may be due to having just come back from an inspection
site visit to Los Azules, but his air and demeanour during the CC was nothing short of dejected.
6

There were weak answers to shareholders bemoaning the share price, disclosure and
reflections on past mistakes at Gold Bar, allusions to corporate strategies that have gone badly
wrong such as preferring debt financing over equity. He sounded lost all through the CC, didn’t
get much help from his C-suite colleagues, and when asked about the potential de-listing from
the NYSE due to the share price staying under U$1.00, there was no plan or pzazz on show.
Instead a demoralized McEwen was reduced to saying it would be “the last nail in the coffin”.
And when asked whether they would be able to turn the price around and get it over U$1.00
for the requisite period, his only respond was, “We sure as hell are going to try.” I expected
more fight from the MUX de facto CEO, more evidence that the company would indeed be able
to turn itself around, but the atmosphere was of resignation and fatigue.
However, my issues are not merely about style, as the substance of the CC was not what this
shareholder was expecting, either. Firstly, guidance for 2022 is mediocre and this chart latys
out the expected production schedule:
MUX: Quarterly GEO production
7
02
3.42
4.22
9.42
7.12
22
5.32
8.61
9.91
4.61
2.32
7.22
4.42
5.12
2.42
1.22
9.41
2.02 9
2.01
9.51
5.41
8.41
4.51
7.61
9.31
3.81
5.22
6.12
3.12
2.02
59.91
51
02
02
12
02
22
5.02
12
50
45
40
35 30
25
20
15 10
5
0
81q1 81q2 81q3 81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3 tse22q4
source: company filings
OEG
zoK
San José 49%
Own GEOs
At the 100% owned projects expect not production growth in the four quarters of 2022. At the
49% owned San José, expect a poor Q1 followed by a return to its normal cadence of
production, but not much else. So far so vanilla, the problems arise when MUX revealed
guidance for cash costs at its 100% owned mines for the four quarters of 2022. Here’s the
chart generated from the numbers given on the CC, comments below:
MUX: Consolidated cash costs and AISC
5731 8671
0712
9172
3851 3171
7912
3932
1161 7771 6821 7441 0931 9351 1061 0491 0091
0542
0041 0581 0321 0551 0021 0531
2800
2600
2400
2200
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000 800
600
400
200
0
02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3 tse22q4
U$/oz Au
Cash cost
AISC
source: MUX filings & data, IKN ests
First of all, the figures for the 2022 guidance in the above chart are different from those given
in the 2022 guidance NR, published the next day by MUX (3). However,
I’m not going to change the figures as offered in the CC as the company
was clearly reading from its own data when telling us, for example, AISC
for the year was slated for U$2,450/oz in 1q22, U$1,850/oz in 2q22,
U$1,550/oz in 3q22 and U$1,350/oz in 4q22. Those figures are either
slightly or significantly higher than those quoted in the NR of the next
day (inset) but as there’s little reason to believe the company at this
point, it’s far safer to assume the high end.

More importantly, cost estimates for 1q22 are off-scale high! What’s more 2q22 is hardly set to
be a bargain quarter either and there’s little true operating profit on show until 3q22 at the
earliest. For reasons why that might be, we now consider the main MUX assets separately:
At Gold Bar, the first issue was a lower than expected mined grade of 0.41 g/t gold, which
according to MUX was due to the changeover in
contractors during 4q22. The implication, that the
new guys didn’t know what they were doing,
doesn’t have great optics but the company said on
the CC that its operations had now improved and
grade in 1q22 beyond should reflect that. However,
the mine had suffered cost increases from Covid-
related issues and from a piece of broken
machinery (no further details) that would affect
costs into the quarters ahead.
He other issue was guidance, as previously MUX
was expecting grade not just to maintain but to
increase, which meant this desk estimated 2q22 at 48k oz production. Apparently that’s not
going to happen any longer and the Q1 issues, along with lower throughput rhythm, mean Gold
Bar guidance is for between 38k and 44k oz this year. We now estimate a low side 40k:
Gold Bar: Production AuEq, per qtr
8
1.2
9.7
11 7.9 1.9
1.6 8.6 9.5 4.7
1.41
4.21
59.9
9
01 11 01
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3 tse22q4
AuEq Koz
source: MUX filings
At Fox Complex, guidance was just about in-line with our previous expectations, so I’m
leaving the house estimates at a flat 11k oz/qtr as Froome begins to reach steady state mining.
The issue once again is costs, as the company ploughs more exploration millions into the wider
asset with no immediate return, for example it expects to spend $10m at Stock West this year
with a view to making a development decision at the end of 2022.
Fox Complex: Prod and Sales in AuEq, per qtr
4.21
5.51
8.9
2.31
2.7
7.21
0.8 7.9 6.8
6.2
6.5 0.8 3.5 9.6 4.8 2.9
0.11 0.11 0.11 0.11
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
81q1 81q2 81q3 81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3 tse22q4
g/t Gold Bar: Processed grade (g/t)
1.1
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1q192q193q194q191q202q203q204q201q212q213q214q21
source: MUX filings
AuEq Koz
Prod
Sold
source: MUX filings
At the 49% owned MSC (San José) we know MUX is not the operator and doesn’t set the
tone for production, but GEO guidance will be affected by a low production Q1.

MSC (100%): production in AuEq, per qtr
9
3.03
2.91
4.03 1.03
1.43
7.04 9.24 6.04
03
04 04 14
AuEq Koz
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1q
20
2q
20
3q
20
4q
20
1q
21
2q
21
3q
21
4q
21
2
2est
2
2est
2
2est
2
2est
1q 2q 3q 4q
source: MUX filings
We also found out why MSC’s cash costs had risen dramatically in 4q21. The MD&A note on the
subject was rather bland: “In addition, MSC expended a significant amount in extra costs for
COVID-19 risk mitigation activities during Q4/21 including alternative housing, testing, and
travel arrangements”. In fact and as he open blog reported at the time, MSC was all-but
evacuated by Argentine authorities due to a Covid-19 outbreak, leaving only a skeleton staff on
hand. This issue has knocked on into 1q22 and we can expect a low production quarter.
And finally at Los Azules, the atmosphere has changed and you don’t even need to listen to the
whole of the CC. Instead, consider the way MUX marketed its planned IPO of McEwen Copper
in its 3q21 filings:
“McEwen Copper intends to pursue an initial public listing within 12 months.”
And now we offer the equivalent line from the latest 4q21 financials:
“McEwen Copper intends to pursue an initial public listing within 12 months of
the completion of the private placement.”
Subtle changes. In other words, once upon a time the IPO was going to happen in 2q22 or
3q22 latest, these days NMUX has given itself 12 months from the time the placement finally
fills. On that subject, you may recall Rob McEwen’s plan was to invest U$40m himself into the
McEwen Copper subsidiary (done in 3q21), then get another U$40m in from fellow seed
investors, then in 2022 spin out the company into its own public listing. That second U$40m
was confidently predicted to close during 3q21, then when that deadline passed it was to be
4q21. Then when that passed, we were told “January” but last week during the CC, Rob
McEwen said he was confident the second tranche would close by the end of the first quarter of
2022, i.e. this month of March. Also, somewhere along the way the original U$40m became
“between U$20m and U$40m”, so we may not even get the full amount of cash on board.
On the bright side, McEwen did say he had just returned from a site visit to Los Azules, there
was lots of excitement around the project and the company, via third party Whittle, would soon
publish an updated PEA on Los Azules that would show better economics and better reflect
current copper prices. That’s all fair enough, but the reason to sponsor Los Azules is to get it to
a PFS stage, not see it stuck in the never-ending loop of “updated PEAs” that are designed for
market consumption only.
Discussion and conclusion
As car-crash Conference Calls go, this was one of the best (worst?) I’ve ever sat through and
even without the mediocre guidance for 2022, it would not have inspired anyone not already
long to buy shares in the company. However, where the rubber hits the road is the guidance for
the year ahead and the major issue is the upcoming 1q22 production and costs numbers, which
are going to suck bigtime. Therefore, once MUX announces its closure of the financing round
for Los Azules (and I’m going to presume that closure really happens this time), your author ios
going to give up the ghost on this trade and sell.
The silver lining is that due to the way MUX had already been beaten down to under U$1.00,

there’s going to be little or no damage done to the
personal portfolio (aside opportunity cost). But I
see no reason to hang around in this stock that
looks for all the world like dead money for at least
the next two quarters when 1) we are in such a
strong market for metals that 2) should offer up
no end of more interesting trading opportunities. I
therefore admit defeat on my Turnaround Trade in
McEwen Mining (MUX) for 2022 and in a couple of
weeks’ time will walk away, suitably chastened.
Stocks to Follow
We have 15 open positions in our Stocks to Follow list and six of them returned week-over-
week gains last week (ARG.to, MUX, ECU.v, CKG.v, PA.v, TMQ). Four stocks remained
unchanged on the week (MAI.v, ALDE.v, SMD.v, MIRL.cse) and that leaves five losers (RIO.v,
QCCU.v, DSV.v, APN.v, MENE.v) Best gains were posted by Palamina Corp (PA.v up 14.3%),
McEwen Mining (MUX up 10.6%) and Trilogy (TMQ up 9.1%) as the dogs wagged their tails at
U$2k/oz gold. The worst performing of the 15 was Altiplano (APN.v down 14.3%) as that stock
continues to suffer from market disinterest and a wide gap between bid and ask.
With the addition of Element 29 (ECU.v) last week, we now have 15 open positions in our
Stocks to Follow list, one less than our self-imposed maximum. Six are in the green, nine are in
the red.
company Ticker this week Avg Price Reco date Current PPS Gain/Loss% Notes
TOP PICKS
Minera Alamos MAI.v STR BUY C$0.21 13-Oct-19 C$0.58 176.2% $1.14 tgt Aug'20, #1 idea
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v STR BUY C$0.83 22-Apr-18 C$0.74 -10.8% $1.30 1st tgt, building now
Recommended stocks (in order of preference)
Amerigo Res ARG.to STR BUY C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.87 37.5% Strong Q4 & FY22 guidance
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v STR BUY C$0.275 25-Apr-21 C$0.27 -1.8% Now drilling. Easy hold
Discovery Silver DSV.v STR BUY C$1.77 24-Oct-21 C$1.93 9.0% Best Ag play, 1st tgt $2.75
McEwen Mining MUX hold/sell U$0.89 2-Jan-22 U$0.885 -0.6% will close in April
Element 29 ECU.v BUY C$0.59 6-Mar-22 C$0.60 1.7% New Cu exploreco position
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v SPEC BUY C$0.72 16-May-21 C$1.00 38.9% Assay catalyst in Q1 and Q2
Strategic Metals SMD.v BUY C$0.42 31-Jan-21 C$0.40 -4.8% Canada land bet+Zn in FY22
Chesapeake Gold CKG.v SPEC BUY C$3.26 20-Feb-22 C$3.65 12.0% Leverage trade on $1.9k/oz Au
Altiplano Metals APN.v SPEC BUY C$0.31 17-Sep-21 C$0.295 -4.8% Cheap entry, 1q22 re-rate
Palamina Corp PA.v SPEC BUY C$0.295 21-Nov-21 C$0.16 -45.8% Au expl in S.Peru
Trilogy Metals TMQ SELLING U$1.84 15-Sep-19 U$1.08 -41.3% dead $ in active mkt, selling
Minera IRL MIRL.cse hold C$0.195 22-Jul-12 C$0.09 -53.8% CEO change will move stock
Long-term non-mining hold
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.67 6-Dec-20 C$0.58 -13.4% LT bet, adding slowly
Closed in 2022 closed close price
Great Bear Res GBR.v Jan'22 C$15.83 26-Aug-20 C$28.58 80.5% Bought out by Kinross, print
Copper Mountain CMMC.to Jan'22 C$3.40 18-Jun-21 C$3.78 15.9% Sold 1/2 position in rebalance
Copper Mountain CMMC.to Feb'22 C$3.40 18-Jun-21 C$3.70 8.8% Sold rest on FY22 guidance
2015 to 2021 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
10

Now for notes on a few of our covered stocks:
Trilogy Metals (TMQ): SELLING. The disappointment of the permitting news out of TMQ
three weeks ago continues to weigh heavily on its price performance. As a result and as much
for personal portfolio rebalancing reasons as
anything else, I’ve made the reluctant decision to
close this position and realize my loss.
A sad and frustrating way to lose money in this
market, as on paper TMQ has everything you’d want
from a prospective copper play and all at the right
time in the market cycle. However, the reversal of its
permitting status is too much of a negative to ignore
and at this point I prefer to own cash than a non-
performing equity with little chance of reversing its
fortunes in the near-term.
Element 29 Resources (ECU.v): POSITION OPENED. I felt smart about grabbing some
59c paper in ECU on Monday as copper spot prices launched higher and thought the stock was
a sure thing to move higher during the week. However, copper’s nominal spot price reversal
(see The Copper Basket) put a dampener on progress and though ECU traded mostly at 60c for
the rest of the week, it didn’t show any more legs.
As per the main note of last weekend in IKN668 the house starter position is now off and
running, with room to add more if things go well. We now look to the horizon and the
company’s upcoming drill results from Flor de Cobre in the South of Peru for the next catalyst.
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v): No formal news from the company yet, though on checking in we hear the
permitting track in Chile is still on course for a May
2022 award and that camp construction continues
as per plan.
Meanwhile, RIO.v got good nearology news as
Kinross (KGC) (K.to) announced on Thursday first
pour at its La Coipa mine, a neighbour project to
Fenix. That’s a step forward in perception for Fenix,
as it shows the market how this neck of Chile’s
woods is open for business and in the same type of
project too, a low-grade open pit heapleacher. It
also shows how the market won’t be able to ignore
Fenix during its build-out and a re-rate through
construction is a given. Once complete, RIO as a
single asset operator of a gold mine with serious upside (5m oz Au there, remember) will stick
out like the proverbial sore thumb. Finally in trading, there’s something about the way RIO.v
tends to climb just above my personal cost average from time to time, only to drop back
immediately. Call me a jinx.
QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v): We’re likely to get the next batch of drill assays out of QCCU in
the days ahead, as the results from drilling done in January finally turns round from a busy lab.
Hopefully, the company will do a better job this time of explaining why the grade of what was
previously considered halo zones is less important than the fact they can turn it from waste into
economic mineralization.
In other news, Research Capital Corp (the new name for Mackie) became the second Canadian
brokerage to pick up coverage of QCCU, publishing a detailed 22 page analysis report on
11

Opemiska and the corporate background and starting with a Spec Buy rating and a 90c target
price. I have no issue with that.
Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v): Despite losing 5% on Friday as profit-takers did their thing, the
type of trading we envisaged when opening
this trade is beginning to show. Volumes are
still bitty and the decent trading of Monday
and Tuesday didn’t hold and if CKG is going
to climb hard, we’ll need general
improvement in the amount of daily traded
volume. After watching what happened to
the US listed AAU GPR and EXN tickers last
week (see Market Watching), I’d guess that
it would only take one online trading
collective or social media guru to turn their
attention to CKG for it to move up very
strongly. This is still a very decent trade
vehicle on the risk/reward balance at any
price under C$4.00 and easy to hold now.
Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v): One of the stocks featured in next week’s interesting and
comprehensive online conference out of 6ix next week (see Market Watching), ALDE held its
own in the market last week and didn’t drop in the same way as many other small copper
juniors, but until it gives the world an active reason to buy the stock it’s likely to tread water in
the same way. That means the company needs to start delivering those strong drill assay
results it promises us between now and the end of 2q22. Watching and holding.
Minera IRL (MIRL.cse): MIRL published its February 2022 production numbers to CSE last
week, with 1,913oz shipped. Here’s the updated tracking chart:
MIRL: 2020/22 Corihuarmi gold shipments, per month
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
12
02naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced 12naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced 22naj bef
Oz Au
source: MIRL filings
The shipment number is acceptable, the issue lays beneath the headline as Contained Ounces
on pad (grey bars) dropped to 1,323oz due to lower grades (0.175% Au, compared to 0.21 g/t
in 2021) and lower levels of mining (ore mined down 26%). We were given no reason for
these decreases.
This time of year sometimes sees a lapse in production and shipments, for example January
2018 saw just 1,562/oz shipped, February 2019 1,758/oz shipped and most recently, 1,767oz
shipped in January 2021. This coincides with the Peru vacation period as well as the rainy
season in the zone, which has reportedly been very heavy this year. However, the consecutive
months of low ounce placements onto pad are somewhat concerning and different, we would
not want to see a thirds month of the same.
Palamina Corp (PA.v): There’s nothing world-beating to get truly excited about in PA and its
+14.3% move last week, but as the chart of its last two weeks suggests, the modest buying
volume is getting no opposition:

As half the battle in a tinycap exploreco stock is not opposing sellers, this is a reasonably good
start to a recovery from Palamina. As noted last weekend, we can expect reasonable newsflow
and as its work program is budgeted, there’s no rush to dilute the share count.
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): Word is getting out among dividend-lovers and by Thursday,
the accumulation in this stock was starting to look
relentless. Nobody should begrudge the profit-
takers from closing out a few trades on Friday and
the stock dropped back from the $1.90s as a
result.
The recent left-field hits from the likes of Trilogy
Metals and Argonaut Gold were somewhat
demoralizing, so the recent performance of ARG
has lifted the spirits (as well as adding value to
the overall portfolio). It’s nice to get a call right for
the right reasons and with good timing to boot
(a.k.a “even a stopped clock is right twice a day”).
The Copper Basket
After ten weeks of 2022, The Copper Basket shows a loss of 3.35% level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/22 Shares out Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Copper Mtn CMMC.to 3.42 210.166 773.41 3.68 7.6%
2 Western Copper WRN.to 2.00 151.426 390.68 2.58 29.0%
3 Oroco Res OCO.v 2.04 192.689 344.91 1.79 -12.3%
4 Marimaca Cop MARI.to 3.77 88.028 343.31 3.90 3.4%
5 Nevada Copper NCU.to 0.71 448.437 309.42 0.69 -2.8%
6 Meridian Min MNO.v 1.18 153.735 153.74 1.00 -15.3%
7 Hot Chili HCH.v 1.53 109.223 141.99 1.30 -15.0%
8 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 0.84 114.495 114.50 1.00 19.0%
9 Regulus Res. REG.v 1.06 101.845 107.96 1.06 0.0%
10 Kutcho Copper KC.v 0.88 103.94 67.56 0.65 -26.1%
11 C3 Metals CCCM.v 0.16 645.379 58.08 0.09 -43.8%
12 Doré Copper DCMC.v 0.79 66.123 52.24 0.79 0.0%
13 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.58 79.24 47.54 0.60 3.4%
14 QC Copper QCCU.v 0.34 129.06 34.85 0.27 -20.6%
15 Coast Copper COCO.v 0.13 41.335 6.61 0.16 23.1%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg -3.35%
13

It was an overall negative week for our Copper Basket, the average dropping by a couple of
points due to the effect of seven week-over-week losers (CMMC.to, MARI.to, NCU.to, MNO.v,
CCCM.v, KC.v, QCCU.v) beating out six winners (OCO.v, WRN.to, REG.v, DCMC.v, ECU.v,
COCO.v), with two stocks remaining unchanged on the week (HCH.ax, ALDE.v).
There were three double figure percentage losers, The Copper Basket 2022, weekly evolution
4%
led by Meridian (MNO.v down 16.0%) and
2%
followed by Kutcho Copper (KC.v down 11.0%)
0%
and C3 Metals (CCCM.v down 10.0%). No big
-2%
winners in the plus-column, however.
-4%
-6%
As for copper-the-metal, trading was insane.
-8%
However, with the world-level headlines made by
-10%
the LME nickel pit happening at the same time it
seems as though the equally suspicious
movements in the more liquid copper market got
away without making too many shock headlines.
Here’s a chart and a comment, but the real op-ed starts below:
You may have noticed how this desk enjoys casting around for a pithy comment from market
watchers or metals trading desks for this moment, the curated copper macro section of The
Copper Basket. Today is no exception and, as soon as I saw this one (4), the search was over:
"There is across commodities markets some confusion about where prices should be,"
said WisdomTree analyst Nitesh Shah. "If this (war in Ukraine) is a protracted conflict,
a lot more supply will probably get hurt."
Welcome, Captain Obvious. That could be the understatement of Nitesh’s career a with Alu
down 9% and Nickel still suspended for trading on the LME as we move into next week (the
LME says “conditions for trading haven’t been met”) we can say that yes, there is indeed some
confusion. Either that or outright anger, as this report from Bloomberg News notes (5). When
nickel spiked to over $100,000/tonne, the LME took it upon itself to suspend trading and roll
back trades that bailed out shorts to the tune of U$3.9Bn and left those traders holding winning
tickets without their payouts, despite their having read the market correctly and executed valid
trades. Here’s a quote:
About half a dozen traders in London among a variety of asset classes expressed
surprise that the LME would cancel trades. Metals traders speaking to Bloomberg
expressed outrage, with some saying they plan to ditch trading on the metals platform
in the future.
Then this (6), a widely reproduced report note also out of Bloomie (8) entitled, “Hedge Funds
Walk Away From LME After $3.9 Billion Trades Torn Up” (I saw at least four rebound copies on
the wires last week) is worth linking through and a full read, but the opening segment quoting
14
ts1naJ ht9naJ ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6bef ht31 ht02 ht72 ht6raM ht31
source: IKN calcs

fund manager Luke Sadrian hits the nail on the head:
(Bloomberg) -- Fund manager Luke Sadrian has been trading metals for thirty years, at
hedge fund titans Brevan Howard and Moore Capital to now running his own shop. For
the first time in his career, he says the London Metal Exchange is too risky to trade.
Sadrian, like many market veterans, was shocked by the LME’s decision to suspend
nickel trading on Tuesday morning and cancel all the transactions from earlier in the
day. Now, in the middle of a scorching bull market that’s lifted prices to record highs,
some in the industry are simply deciding to walk away.
“The LME has been my bread and butter for a very long time, so it’s heartbreaking,”
said Sadrian, whose Commodities World Capital fund is up about 120% this year.
“Given the current uncertainty, I am exiting all of my LME positions, despite being
ragingly bullish on copper.”
What’s in question here is the entire concept of Price Discovery, not merely the walking back of
trades that may-or-may-not have been “fair” (and would, let us add, have caused a massive
transfer of wealth from the short losers to the long winners). The LME prides itself on its place
in the metals universe for its price discovery attributes; in the same way “the price of oil” is
largely based on WTI or Brent contracts (and those crude barrels represent a very small
percentage of the crude oil that’s bought and sold), so The LME will set the price benchmarks
for the rest of the world. Nickel last week (and apparently this) is an extreme example, but the
way in which traders re now willing to walk away from LME trading pits (or at least openly talk
about doing so) puts its position under threat and it’s not just nickel or alu at play; our focus
metal in this segment has shown multiple signs of being artificially priced to market for months,
not just the last couple of weeks or under its spike to U$5.00/lb overnight Monday. For
example, in late 2021 and through to today spiking premiums charged to end users above LME
spot or forward contract prices in the futures market speaks of the same malaise, that of a
trading pit that’s disconnected from the reality of the commodity it trades. It made no sense to
watch copper flatline the way it did in 2021 in its U$4.40/lb to U$4.60/lb range while all that
time, end users in China, South Korea, Japan, mainland Europe etc were willing to pay higher
and higher per tonne premiums just to get their hands on a few tonnes of physical copper.
The bottom line is that the LME has a problem and it took a massive short squeeze against the
more thinly traded nickel for the issue to come to light. If its market and closing prices no
longer reflect the reality of the prices paid by end users for the metals in question, what’s the
point in trusting the exchange to do its job of true price discovery? This seems to have occurred
to the trader Luke Sadrian and puts his “Given the current uncertainty, I am exiting all of my
LME positions, despite being ragingly bullish on copper” into context.
We turn to more bullish copper data, this time our weekly look at the world inventories scene
with data supplied as always by Chile’s Cochilco (7):
 Overall aggregate stocks dropped on the week by 2,197 metric tonnes (mt), the world
losing what it had added the week before last. Once again, this is not normal for this
time of year when inventories are normally built.
 Shanghai’s SHFE is the big news, as stocks dropped by 6,283mt to a total of 161,668mt
this weekend. This is not right, it’s not normal and if confirmed in the next weeks,
bullish for copper in the near future. This time of year should see tens of thousands of
tonnes added to stocks on a weekly basis. Instead, the re-stock seems to have stalled
after just three weeks and the overall drawdown of last week, while small, indicates big
supply issues in the pipeline. We wrote last weekend that “…if the slowdown is
confirmed in the next couple of weeks it would be seriously bullish news” and that’s
what we got on Friday. Another week of the same and the red lights will flash hard.
 The LME added a modest 4,375mt to stocks on the week, closing Friday at 74,200mt
and still close to all-time lows.
 The Comex inventory moves had a quieter week than its trading exchange, with just
289mt leaving warehouses on aggregate. This weekend’s total is 63,108mt.
15

Here’s the dedicated SHFE inventory chart and to the right, we see the annual spike threatening
to flame out now, at under 170kmt, instead of reaching the heights it needs to reach before the
de-stocking cycle takes over:
Shanghai Futures Exchange Warehouse Stocks, 2014 to date
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
16
31'13ceD ht9 ht81 ht72 ht5tco ht41 dn22 dr3yam ht21 ht02 ht92 ht7bef ht71 ht62 ht4peS ht31 ht92 ht9 ht81 ht72 7102
ht5von
ht41 ht52 ht01 ht91 ht82 9102
ht6naJ
ht71 ht62 ht4gua ht31 dn22 0202ts1ram ht01 ht91 ht72 0202ht6ced ht41 ht52 1202ht4luj ht21 ts12 2202ht03naj
Mt Cu
|
source: Cochilco
It’s not confirmed yet and you never know, the last couple of weeks may have seen an unusual
pause before stocks resume higher. However, at best it’s now very suspicious and the set-up is
becoming more bullish for copper prices by the week. Now for notes on a few of the stocks in
our 2022 basket:
Nevada Copper (NCU.to): The Russian ownership behind NCU, via Pala Investments and Mr.
Iorich as mentioned last weekend, didn’t really
weigh too heavily on the stock last week but
there were two occasions when selling took the
stock down to 66c. One of those was Friday
afternoon, just before some late block buying
propped the stock into its 69c close, just a penny
lower than last weekend.
We included NCU in this year’s basket as its
financial re-working had lightened its balance
sheet burden. However, recent geopolitical turns
have once again lessened its potential as an
active trade and it’s not one I’d have high on my
shopping list, strong copper price or not.
Oroco Resources (OCO.v): The news last week (8) that Oroco Resources (OCO.v) is raising
$13.6m in capital in a unit financing priced at $1.70 (unit = 1 share + a full warrant priced at
C$2.40) suggests the company and its share price has officially come back to its field. This 12-
month chart flatters the opinion of this desk, because if we used the two-year chart we’d see
OCO’s run from the 50c and 70c levels that IKN did
not predict and in fact, vociferously opposed as too
much too soon. However, the round trip we see
over the last 12 months makes more sense and
with OCO raising a substantial amount of working
capital at a reasonable level compared to peers,
given current market circumstances I’d say the
company is fairly or even reasonably priced. Yes, it
can move up from here.
Notably, the full warrant priced at $2.40 produces a
new overhang but on the other hand, allows the
marketing and promotion people behind this
company a target at which to aim (its strong retail

YouTube/Twitter following, for example).
We picked over the recent exploration drill results in January that were successful holes, but
largely confirmed the previously understood grades and lengths at OCO’s approx 75% owned
Santo Tomas property. To generalize, the project shows 0.44% CuEq with 80% in copper, a
grade that theoretically works in the geographical location as seen in neighbour operations.
However, we note that we’ve only been given results for eight of the 12 holes drilled in the
recent campaign and this financing comes before four (potentially) slow-reported holes.
Meridian Mining (MNO.v): The sharp jump in MNO’s share price we reported on in IKN668
last weekend didn’t hold and the stock gave back all the gains, despite it delivering reasonable
news on Monday morning (9). The headline tells the story, “Meridian Mining reports shallow
high-grade zone of 64.3m @ 1.9% CuEq
from 22.0m at Cabaçal” and once again, the
high-grading copper/gold nature of this VMS
deposit was on display as the copper
equivalent breaks down to 0.7% Cu and
1.9g/t Au, with a 2.6g/t Ag kicker along for
the ride.
In his comments, MNO president/CEO Adrian
McArthur said, "CD-094 is one of our best
holes to date at Cabaçal” and that’s fair, but
the result was more confirmatory of previous
results than new news that moves stocks
15% or 20% higher. So, down it came and
here we are again, back at the C$1.00 level
that this desk considers fair for its current level of development and cycle. More-or-less fair,
roughly, best-guess.
Copper Mountain (CMMC.to): A quick and mostly personal comment on the way CMMC has
traded, via this 10-day comparative chart to Amerigo Resources (ARG.to):
It’s one of those occasions where it wouldn’t bother at all to have been wrong, mainly because
I think CMMC has turned into a serious, long-term thinking company that is aligned with all its
stakeholders and does a good job of mining. I wish the company the best and hope it has a
better 2022 than my forecast so this isn’t some sort of horn-toot, merely a trade commentary:
I’m glad to have made the recent decision to exit CMMC and move some of the cash to ARG.
Western Copper & Gold (WRN.to): The brief seven lines on WRN last weekend mentioned it
as perhaps “…the best-positioned stock of our whole list now” due to its size, location and CSR
profile. The way it traded last week, up 6.6% on decent volume (including that spike in volume
Wednesday afternoon) underscored that opinion. This 10-day comparative to COPX shows how
WRN swam against the tide last week and picked up plenty of buying interest while all around,
17

copper stocks got sold down:
I may regret not owning WRN in 2022, but at least the house position and call on these pages
is on the right side of the trade.
The Producer Basket
After ten weeks of 2022, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 20.37% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/22 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 62.02 797.44 61.32 76.89 24.0%
2 Barrick GOLD 19.00 1779 43.32 24.35 26.2%
3 Franco-Nevada FNV 138.29 191.192 30.22 158.05 14.3%
4 Agnico Eagle AEM 53.14 453.5 27.84 61.40 15.5%
5 Wheaton PM WPM 42.93 450.3 21.66 48.10 12.0%
6 Gold Fields GFI 10.99 887.72 14.80 16.67 51.7%
7 Kinross Gold KGC 5.81 1369.3 7.71 5.63 -3.1%
8 B2Gold BTG 3.93 1055.6 4.80 4.55 15.8%
9 Alamos Gold AGI 7.69 392.503 3.42 8.72 13.4%
10 Sandstorm SAND 6.20 191.4 1.57 8.18 31.9%
All prices and stock quotes in U$ Port. avg 20.37%
Despite seeing the company post what it framed as its all-time best quarter on Thursaday
Franco-Nevada (FNV down 0.1%) was a week-over-week loser for the list. However, the other
nine stocks all took their cue from the overall bullishness of the sector and rose, including the
best performances from Alamos (AGI up 11.2%), the rebounding Agnigo (AEM up 8.7%) and
2022’s best bigcap performer to date, the apparently unstoppable Gold Fields (GFI up 7.4% and
now up over 50% in the first ten weeks of the year). Overall our house performance managed
to out-strip that of the benchmark GDX for the first time in a long time and while we still trail by
around 2%, the gap is the lowest it’s been since we started 2022.
The 2022 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and
30% comparative to GDX control
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
-15%
18
ts1naJ ht9naJ ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6bef ht31 ht02 ht72 ht6ram ht31
The 2022 Producer Basket: Percentage difference
between GDX benchmark & basket (negative = IKN ahead) 6.0%
5.0%
ikn 4.0%
gdx control
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
-1.0%
source: NYSE, IKN Calcs
J
an 1st
J
an 9t h 1 6th 2 3rd 3 0th
f
eb6t h 1 3th 2 0th 2 7th
m
ar6th 1 3th
source: IKN calcs, NYSE data

Kinross Gold (KGC): Having lost around 15% to the GDX during the first two weeks of
Russia’s campaign against Ukraine, mostly due to the company’s exposure to Russia via its
Kupol mine and surrounding exploration projects, Special K clawed 2% of its relative loss back
against the benchmark last week and mostly due to the NR it filed post-close on Monday (10):
Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE:KGC) (“Kinross”) announced today that it has
arranged a new US$1.0 billion term loan. The three-year term loan will mature on
March 7, 2025, has no mandatory amortization payments, and has a flexible
repayment schedule.
Kinross used the proceeds of the financing to repay
amounts drawn under its US$1.5 billion revolving
credit facility in connection with the closing of its
acquisition of Great Bear Resources Ltd. Joint Lead
Arrangers were The Bank of Nova Scotia, HSBC
Bank Canada and RBC Capital Markets.
Above all, seeing K still had access to capital in this was
boosted its market perception, above all. Also later in
the week on March 9th, this from Special K (11):
Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K; NYSE:KGC)
(“Kinross” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce
that its La Coipa project in Chile achieved a
significant milestone and poured its first gold bar.
Good news for K, for Chile and for its near-neighbours in the region, such as Rio2 Ltd at Fenix.
See above.
The TinyCaps List
After ten weeks of 2022, the TinyCaps show a gain of 8.15% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/22 Shares out Mkt Cap current pps gain/loss%
Aurelius Min AUL.v 0.24 37.134 12.07 0.325 35.4%
Golden Pursuit GDP.v 0.13 34.638 6.06 0.175 34.6%
Infield Min INFD.v 0.06 48.276 2.41 0.05 -16.7%
Kingfisher Met KFR.v 0.30 84.57 17.34 0.205 -31.7%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.12 57.296 8.02 0.14 16.7%
Manitou Gold MTU.v 0.06 344.47 20.67 0.06 0.0%
Melkior Res MKR.v 0.295 24.011 7.08 0.295 0.0%
Precipitate Gold PRG.v 0.105 129.322 18.11 0.14 33.3%
Signature Res SGU.v 0.07 238.4 20.26 0.085 21.4%
Winshear Gold WINS.v 0.08 61.585 4.31 0.07 -12.5%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 8.15%
This section attempts to track the tinycap mining sub-sector of the market, our ten companies
chosen under the following criteria to put together a list representing the state of play in the
sub-sector of tinycap exploration company stocks. At least, that’s the plan.
 Market capitalization of under $20m. They have to be tiny. In two cases I’ve stretched the window a
little and allowed sub-U$20m market capper in that are just over the C$20m level, but the spirit is unaltered.
 A “non broken” stock price and project story. There are literally hundreds of tinycap juniors of the right
size, but it was a particularly depressing exercise to trawl through the whole of the TSXV and find companies
that are small enough, but with life in them. The vast majority of sub-$20m stocks are broken stocks, either
traded to death on the exchange or with projects that are a bust or with entrenched management more
interested in their monthly paycheck than anything else.
 Likelihood of meaningful newsflow in 2020. This connects to the company’s “unbroken” status, as we
want news and potential catalysts from companies with projects that can work.
 Decent management if possible. When you are down among the little guys it doesn’t pay to be too
choosy, but still I preferred companies that have teams or people with good peer reputations.
19

The tinycaps showed a pulse last week and while
the small end of the mining world didn’t make 14% TinyCaps, 2022 weekly tracker
many headlines compared to its bigger siblings, 12%
there was enough to move our average up over 10%
4% and to its second highest weekly close of the 8%
year to date. Of the ten, six were weekly winners 6%
(AUL.v, GDP.v, INFD.v, LMS.v, PRG.v, SGU.v) 4%
and four were losers (KFR.v, MTU.v, MKR.v, 2%
WINS.v) but the moves were all relatively 0%
modest and nothing went up or down by more -2%
than 17% (which would be big moves for big
companies, but pennies here).
Kingfisher Metals (KFR.v): When opening this year’s TinyCaps list KFR’s market cap was on
the very limit of qualification, but I decided to push the window slightly in order to include the
stock because it was an interesting case. I’m now glad I did, as the continued price drop has
brought the market cap comfortably inside the limits while, at the same time, it is generating
interesting news from its second round of geological targets at its Goldrange project, BC
Canada.
On Wednesday, KFR announced trenching, sampling and dump sample results from the
“Langara Zone” of its project. To remind readers, KFR has a very large concession it calls
Goldrange, inside it the “Cloud Drifter” project zone is very big in itself and inside Cloud Drifter,
KFR has already generated several separate and prospective targets (it’s Big Country). The NR
last week has a useful map that helps orient the reader (but it’s big, so go look over there (12)
and check the bottom-right corner for scale). Instead here are the bullet points from the NR:
 Expansion of mineralized footprint to over 400 x 600 m with more than 360 m of vertical extent.
 Hand trenching extends high-grade gold mineralization 150 m to the east with the discovery of a
~60 m trend of veins and breccia grading up to 38.6 g/t Au in rock chips and 8.42 g/t Au over 1 m
in backpack drilling.
 Prospecting of the western Langara Zone identified several new mineralized veins with rock chips
grading up to 60.4 g/t Au, which doubles 2020 and historical grades from the zone.
 An additional undocumented historical adit was located with dump samples grading up to 9.57 g/t
Au.
 The Langara Zone will be drill tested in May to June of 2022.
That last point is the most interesting, as KFR will now look to generate real market moving
news via the drillbit and we should get assay results during the Canadian summer. The CEO
comments give interesting context, too so here’s CEO Dustin Perry:
“After two years of field work at the Langara Zone, we are now ready to move towards
drill testing this exciting target. It’s no surprise that hand mining activities from the
1930s are centered on a major structural intersection that we have outlined with our
own mapping. Although prospectors from the 1930s likely did not understand the
exploration implications of this structural setting, we believe the geology is highly
prospective for the continuation of surface mineralization to significant depths. The
Langara Zone is one of the first targets we will test this year with a reverse circulation
(RC) drill in late May to early June.”
Drill plays are always high risk and as we’ve already seen a swing-and-a-miss from KFR at
Cloud Drifter already, one should approach this company and any potential trade with caution.
However, its theory still holds water and the
mere fact one zone of Cloud Drifter failed to
deliver the goods doesn’t preclude another from
hitting big. KFR is on the TinyCaps list and my
personal radar in 2022 for exactly the type of
progress we’ll get I the next three months or so,
only time will tell whether the truth machine
pays. Watching actively.
20
dn2naJ ht9
naJ
ht61naJ dr32 ht03 ht6bef ht31 ht02 ht72 ht6ram ht31
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

Signature Resources (SGU.v): SGU closed its successful raising on March 9th (13), with
gross proceeds finishing at just under C$2.45m good going when one considers they originally
pitched for C$1m. As the non-flow through shares were priced at 6c and the flow-thru at 7c,
this weekend’s 8.5c close must have takers feeling good about the initial reaction. The main
reason for the raise is to put together a 43-101 compliant resource estimate and to that end,
SGU has selected Wood as its third party compiler. According to its Feb 9th NR that was
released before the raising process began (14), the plan is threefold:
 Establishing a modern NI 43-101 compliant resource that is more representative of the existing
mineralization;
 Providing a better understanding of the associated local geology and geologic controls of the
mineralization; and
 Positioning the team to be able to continue to unlock and extend the pending initial resource with
improved geological guidance for drilling as testing and developing new drill targets at Lingman
Lake.
In other words, once they have the 43-101 resource by the end of 2q22, they will look to raise
again and drill the project. Finally SGU also took the opportunity to award a hefty 12m incentive
options to insiders last week.
NB: Please be clear that The Tiny Dogs is NOT a list of recommended tinycap stocks. It is a list of companies with
market caps of under $20m offering a reasonable representation of the wider tinycaps market. It’s possible in the future
I may buy shares in one or several of these stocks, at the moment both my opinion and wallet are strictly neutral.
Regional politics
Colombia: No stopping Petro
The main Colombia vacation period is now firmly behind us, the country is back to work and its
political scene is getting serious about the upcoming Presidential election. That begins today
March 13th, a big day for the Colombian election year as the country votes for its new upper
and lower parliament members (as briefed previously in IKN665 dated Feb 20th, when the
world wasn’t watching bombs drop on Ukraine). There are 188 House of Representatives and
108 Senate seats decided today and as well as deciding the political make-up of Congress for
the next four years, will help clear the field for the Presidential vote.
However, there’s much more in play today than just Colombia’s legislature, as the three main
coalition parties also decide their Presidential candidates. We have Gustavo Petro of Pacto
Histórico, a dead cert to be the choice of the Left wing coalition, meanwhile the centrist Centro
Esperanza has Sergio Fajardo as hot favourite to be its chosen candidate. Finally on the right,
it’s tight between Federico Gutiérrez (probable) and Alex Char (possible) for the Equipo Por
Colombia coalition. Those winners will join the others in running for the job of President, with
the first round vote scheduled for May 29th. They include Rodolfo Hernandez, the independent
(and wild-card) candidate who, so far at least, has maintained his 12% voter intention for the
main Presidential election without making any further ground on field leader Gustavo Petro in
the last three months. As well as the decisions on the candidates for the three coalitions, we
will also get decisions on the Vice President tickets for candidates running for their own parties,
including (ex FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt and the right winger, Óscar Iván Zuluaga.
As for voter intention for the main job, this poll out last week from respected pollster Invamer
lays the reality out clearly (15) and tallies valid votes. The Spanish language question at the top
being “If the election were this Sunday and these were the candidates, for whom would you
vote?” and the recent February 2022 results to the right of each candidate:
21

In modern times, Colombia’s Presidential elections involved a near-inevitable second round run-
off between the top two players, but this year Gustavo Petro is far ahead and has an outside
chance of the required 50%+1 vote to become President in Round One. In short, the left wing
Petro is now hot favourite to become Colombia’s next President and while that will change
many things in the country, it is of particular interest to our focus subject of mining.
Why so? This report of a comments made by Petro during a debate on the campaign trail last
week should provide plenty of evidence to this esteemed readership (16) and here’s a
translation of the main parts:
“We will revise mining titles, as they are assets of the Nation over which we have rights
as a country. All mining titles will enter into a revision process. Those that are
damaging the environment or have not attended the needs of the communities in
consultations, they are illegal titles”, said Petro during the debate.
Asked on what would happen if a mining concession did not comply with the
established requirements, he said that “They are exploration titles that are made with
national (land) assets), therefore they would simply be renegotiated.”
A few days previously, Petro also referred to the subject when talking about the
purchase of mining concessions, as the candidate considers that the multinational
companies are “predators”. “We propose to buy the mining concessions in Buriticá and
Jericó, so that small and medium-scale mining is developed by the people of Antioquia
and agriculture and water are given more importance. Duque and Uribe handed over
Antioquia to predatory transnational mining companies”, said Petro.
As campaign stances go, that’s as anti-mining as it gets so be warned, fellow junior investor, as
Petro is beginning to look unstoppable as the next President. It brings back memories of AMLO
in Mexico, the left-wing firebrand who ran for President of that country three times before
finally breaking through. During his Presidency, AMLO has picked up something of a reputation
of being miner-unfriendly, mostly due to his embargo on new mining concessions that has seen
the surface area of Mexico under concession drop from 11.5% to around 9%. However, AMLO’s
slightly ambivalent attitude toward mining and FDI hasn’t stopped miners from mining in
Mexico. His government’s stance would pale in comparison to that of an eventual President
Petro and would stop mining development in Colombia in its tracks.
This desk recommends zero exposure to Colombia’s mining industry in 2022, a position that
would only change if Gustavo Petro fails to win the presidency.
Brazil: Lula da Silva opposes Jair Bolsonaro on mining (and everything)
This report (17) on a wide-ranging radio interview ex-President Lula da Silva gave last
Thursday, is one of dozens that did the rounds last week. In it, Lula announced he would
decide on whether to run for President in April, the announcement-of-an-announcement a
typical move in Brazilian politics that means he will certainly be the Worker Party (PT)
22

candidate. Lula also mentioned the mining industry as, the day before, Brazil’s Lower House
passed a law project that would open up large areas of indigenous territories in Brazil’s Amazon
basin to mining development as well as ease environmental regulations to make development
faster. The law project now goes to the Upper house for a vote that’s expected to pass next
month and become law, but Lula will clearly oppose the initiative and reverse the law if he wins
in October. He said (translated):
“If I am president of the Republic there will be no mining on indigenous lands.” He
continued by stating that indigenous natives “…are not intruders and were here before
the Portuguese arrived,”
“We should not intrude on native peoples, but give them the right to live decently and
with dignity. Perhaps it is more important for humanity to take care of the Amazon
rainforest than to try to find a little bit of gold on indigenous lands.”
As noted last weekend when highlighting the lead Lula has against incumbent President Jair
Bolsonaro, the Lula/Bolsonaro dynamic now dominates every political debate and mining is very
much included. Lula is sure to win support by proposing restrictions on mining in jungle, as last
week’s parliamentary debate and vote caught the attention of plenty of environmental protest
groups in the country.
Argentina: The pro-mining alignment
In Argentina we have:
 A national government pushing its pro-mining agenda hard
 The powerful trade unions, headed by the biggest union AOMA, pro-mining
 The Mining industry and Chambers of Commerce on the same side and marketing
itself
 Many geologically rich provinces also promoting a pro-mining agenda (San Juan,
Santa Cruz, Jujuy, etc)
We agree that not all Provinces are on-side. The leading dissenter regions are Chubut and
Mendoza (others include Rio Negro, Neuquen and Tierra del Fuego) which continue to oppose
the industry due to their social and environmental objections. However, the way in which most
of the national influence groups are now pulling in the same direction is telling, with policies
that include selling mining as part of the country’s own Green Energy future (copper and lithium
in particular). This position has won over names as big as BHP, which last week closed on its
$100m strategic placement in Filo Mining (FIL.v) as that Lundin Group company move forward
Filo del Sol. For more, we now cut to the head of AOMA union, Héctor Laplace, who last week
said, (18) “Mining is an absolutely indispensable activity” and made a staunch defence of the
sector, with an emphasis on explaining to the anti-mining provinces of Chubut and Mendoza its
green energy footprint, the important FDI investment dollars and the job creation around
modern mining.”
Add this to “superminister” Matrias Kulfas promoting the mining sector at every turn and the
country’s Chamber of Mining now pushing the Green Energy angle hard (and in the process,
cutting the legs away from the Greenpeace anti-mine argument) and Argentina should now be
considered on full charm offensive for its mining industry. BHP seems to appreciate the efforts.
Peru: On social rights and money
From the way the world talks you’d think Peru’s mining industry were on the rocks and about to
collapse due to social upheavals and an anti-mining government, so it’s time to offer some
overdue context. The disconnect between Peru’s government and its economic reality is not
new, these pages have mentioned the way in which the country carries on regardless of who is
in power. That’s as true today as ever and for evidence, this chart of Peru’s stock market (ETF
proxy EPU), which has recovered the losses entailed during the 2021 election, eventual victory
of Left wing Pedro Castillo and resulting political turmoil.
23

That turmoil continues to today and while the new Castillo cabinet was approved by Congress
last week (tight vote), we now get the standard sniping of individual ministers and there is now
also a motion to “vacate” (impeach) Castillo with enough votes to move to debate. However,
the politics haven’t stopped this from happening, either:
The Peruvian Sol (PEN) has rallied from its mid-2021 lows of S/4.14 to the US Dollar (USD) and
now trades back at S/3.70, a marked improvement all down to the wise handling of monetary
policy by the real centre of economic power in the country, Central Bank chief Julio Velarde. On
that subject, this Reuters note last week (19) used last week’s rate hike to 4% (the next in the
series we’ve already mentioned) as a pretext to consider the improvement in Peru’s economic
outlook. Unsurprisingly, it’s all connected to metals production and prices:
A greater supply of dollars from the mining sector in Peru - the world's No. 2 copper
producer - is pushing up the local sol currency, which has risen around 7% this year,
the central bank said on Friday.
So far this year, the sol is South America's second best performing currency behind
Brazil's real, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. It has also outperformed Chile's peso,
whose economy is similarly dependent on mining as the world's top copper producer.
High metal prices should allow Peru to collect over 6 billion soles ($1.62 billion) in tax
revenue this year, said Adrian Armas, the Central Bank manager of economic studies.
"With the record prices of commodities, collection is improved, therefore (also) the
supply of dollars from mining," Armas said during a conference call.
The real powers in Peru are under no illusions about the key role of mining for the country and
the image of constant battles between companies and communities is something of a false
polemic. Yes agreed, the incidents around Las Bambas and the so-called “Mining Corridor” are
newsworthy and serious, but we also saw last year how MMG’s decision to suspend operations
was enough to bring the wider population in the South of Peru into its side. Ideology and the
environment is all well and good in Peru, but money talks and people want jobs. It’s a volatile
backdrop and one made worse by the lack of a formal negotiation process between sides (e.g.
workers’ unions in Peru have nowhere near the heft of their Chilean counterparts), but from the
chaos comes Capitalism first, other issues later.
Last but definitely not least, an interesting development from Peru’s judiciary last week flew
under the radar of all the trade press but should not have done. The news franks Peru’s pro-
mining status and for good measure, deals a blow to the anti-mining communities trying to
24

oppose projects on their territories. Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal (i.e. its Supreme Court) last
week ruled that local communities did not have the automatic right to a so-called “Prior
Consultancy” and did not have the right of veto on any civil works project, no matter whether
indigenous or not. The Constitutional Tribunal ruled on two cases, one involving a mining
project in the Puno region contested by locals and another around a hydrocarbons concession
opposed by the Achuar indigenous of the Amazon basin and came to the conclusion; that the
country’s Constitution supersedes their rights under the OIT169 international regulations, to
which Peru is a signatory. As this report on the cases explains (20) (translated):
“That is to say, the right of prior consultancy is not in the Constitution, the right of prior
consultancy is not a fundamental right, right of consultancy is not covered by the
Constitution and finally, right of prior consultancy cannot be protected by a legal action
or blocking order (against the project).”
With this ruling, Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal has taken a markedly different position to that of
Ecuador’s recent Constitutional Court rulings that uphold those rights, as well as many others to
help the anti-mining side as seen in our coverage this year of the Cornerstone Capital case. I’m
not saying Peru is suddenly a panacea of good will toward the mining industry and perfect in
every way, as all you need to do is sit down with any Peru-exposed exploreco and talk about
the time it takes to get a permit these days to hear dissention. However, do not confuse a
transitory period in which Peru flirts with Left wing politics for a country that has gone anti-
mining, nothing could be further from the truth.
Ecuador: Anti-mining legislation is up in Congress
We on the outside tend to get more newsflow regarding pro-mining measures from Ecuador
than anti-mine initiatives. Recent examples include talk of how the Guillermo Lasso government
is planning to send a mining law reform law project to Congress, or how the Lasso government
is considering by-passing Congress or environmental authorities, instead using executive orders
for construction or EIA permits. However ands so far at least, his designs on promoting the
mining sector have fallen short due to sustained opposition from environmentalists, anti-mining
groups and most significantly, the opposition Pachakutik Congressional bloc, the political wing
of the long-established CONAIE indigenous pressure group. Additionally, the last months have
seen Ecuador’s Constitutional Court (CC) make international waves by ruling in favour of locals
and against the Los Cedros concession, owned by Cornerstone Capital and State mining
company Enami. The main reports on that event are in IKN654 dated December 5th 2021 and
IKN 655 dated, December 12th 2021, but we also noted the way the country’s mining industry
was trying to ignore the consequences of that ruling in IKN660 dated January 16th and the
note entitled “Ecuador’s Chamber of Mining whistles past the graveyard”. Most recently we saw
the CC rule in favour of The Quito Referendum (see IKN663 dated February 6th) which is now
in petition stage and assuming enough signatures are raised (likely) will see a legally binding
referendum vote on allowing mining in the Quito regional zone next year.
The issue for the outsider is to understand how Ecuador’s pro and anti mining camps interact
and what they do and do not control. With a strongly
pro-mining President at the helm there’s always going to
be pro-mining news on hand out of the country, but it’s
as important to understand the spheres of influence and
how the country is split geographically, as well as
politically. After due consideration, this map from a year
and a bit ago helps a deal (right). Back in January 2021
the first round of voting for the Presidential election gave
this regional result per candidate. Back then, Andrés
Arauz (the Rafael Correa dauphin) got 32.2% of the vote
and made the run-off, only to lose to Guillermo Lasso
who got 19% and squeezed in front of the Pachakutik
candidate and fierce anti-mining campaigner, Yaku Pérez
(who almost caused the biggest political upset of the
year). But what you get from the visual is the way that
25

Pachakutik these days rules the area to the East of the Andean Continental Divide. And of
course that, along with the Western flank of the Andean divide, plays host to most of the
country’s mining projects and operations.
While Yaku Pérez failed to make the run-off, the Pachakutik Party took full advantage of its
momentum to take control of a powerful voting bloc in Ecuador’s Congress (officially, its
National Assembly). Congress is currently controlled by an opposition alliance to Lasso, but a
Pachakutik party member is President of the Assembly and Pachkutik has been smart in the
way it uses its 25 seat voting block, rarely siding with the government but often either joining
the opposition of abstaining. To cut a long story short, in its first year of Congressional
influence Pachakutik has matured from a reactionary pressure group to a real party and uses its
National Assembly influence smartly and that’s now a worry, because the anti-Lasso forces have
recently joined to push through a new law that would making permitting for a mining project
much more difficult.
The Pachakutik law project proposes joining together the current regulations for Prior
Consultancy of locals, legislative permitting of mining projects and also their environmental
permitting under one roof. The ostensible plan is to make the permitting track more transparent
and accountable, but the pro-mining groups see the law project as a direct threat because in
effect, it would slow down permitting to a snail’s pace and mean Ecuador becomes the country
of interminable bureaucracy and governmental delays for the mining industry. The law project
is expected to make it to the floor of the Assembly this month and with plenty of cross-party
support and if passed, would mean we’d see Guillermo Lasso using his Presidential veto. That’s
part of the Pachakutik plan it seems, as the law project would then be able to bounce between
executive and legislature, stopping any other mining reform from moving into law (21).
Costa Rica joins Honduras and bans open pit mines
We noted last weekend that Honduras has now declared itself a country free of open pit metals
mining. This weekend Costa Rica joins its team, via the news last week that the country had
won its tribunal case against Infinito Gold at the World Bank CIADI/ICSID tribunal regarding the
long-polemic Las Crucitas mine. It came as little surprise that Infinito lost and Costa Rica won,
but more interesting were the resulting comments made by Costa Rica’s Minister of the
Environment, one Andrea Meza, who said (translated) (22) that the tribunal judges “…had
recognized the legitimacy of a country to declare itself free of open pit metals mining, as a
sovereign right of protection toward its environment.” In other words, if a country decides to
enact a new policy and pick out open pit mines and/or projects, it has the right to do so and the
international courts will recognize that. A sobering thought for the mining industry abroad.
Chile: Boric and mining
We begin with a little context, as last week the world’s biggest mining company BHP was fined
U$8.2m by Chile for over-extraction of fresh water from the Atacama Desert water table (23)
for its La Escondida mine, the world’s largest copper mining operation. The fine is for supposed
infractions in the period 2005 to 2019 that caused (translated) “irreparable environmental
damage in the Vegas de Tilopozo” (zone of the region) by drawing the water table down further
than the stipulated maximum of 25cm. BHP says it will appeal the ruling and fine.
An example of how the new Left wing government of Gabriel Boric is about to go anti-mining
and crack down on FDI and the nasty miners? Not at all, this fine was levied by Chile’s
environmental authorities on March 10th, one day before the handover of power. Also last week,
Chile made good on its changes to the mining law previously mentioned here, which among
other things have tripled State payments for mining concessions and crack down on so-called
concession squatting by allowing any company just four years to develop on a concession, else
seen it taken away (and offered to others).
In other news, the “Nationalize Mining” project now set for debate by the Constitutional
Assembly picked up more column inches during the handover of power to Gabriel Boric, what
with the spotlight on the country for a few days. The arguments from left-wing committee are
26

rather naïve and academic, the pushback is coming from business and somewhere in between,
Chile’s polite society is looking to its new President to bring the hard left down to Earth. Among
those present, the outgoing Mining Minister (Jobet) pointed out (24) the Green Energy angle of
mining and how Chile must mine copper and lithium as the future unfolds. Also, Chile’s mining
chamber of commerce the IIMch released a detailed argument (25) against nationalization
which includes these points:
 Chilean mining has been the country’s economic driving force for over 80 years
 Mining can grow while at the same time improve its environmental standards and
community relations
 In the last 20 years, the example of Codelco shows how State-run companies lack
investment capital to grow production. Codelco’s production footprint has remained
largely unchanged for two decades.
 Chile does not have the funds to compensate private companies if it nationalizes its
industry. The IIMch reminds Chileans of the heavy price paid by the Allende
government in 1970 when it nationalized the country’s mines (to eventually form
Codelco). It cost Allende his government and eventually his life in the 1973 Coup led by
Pinochet and afterwards, the country still had to compensate the owner of the
sequestrated assets.
 The IIMch makes clear that if all Chilean mining were State controlled, production and
investment would drop rapidly.
As it happens, Boric’s new cabinet including his Minister of Mining and Energy agrees with the
pro-mining side of the debate and we should start to see him bringing realpolitik to the table
soon. Expect the hard Left ambitions of nationalization to disappear soon enough, Boric has
already indicated that his line in the sand on mining will be “better controls” and “more money
from the industry to the State”, rather the sequestration of assets and a confrontation.
Three more non-mining developments concerning Nicaragua political risk
The trial we mentioned in last weekend’s edition is over and Cristiana Chamorro, the journalist
and editor of Nicaragua’s La Prensa newspaper who was arrested last June during her run for
President against the Dictator Daniel Ortega, was found guilty by a Nicaragua court for money
laundering along with five others in her inner circle. She now faces many years in prison (26).
Also last week, human rights defender Eveling Pinto was found guilty of “treason against the
fatherland and for publishing false news stories and given an eight year jail sentence (27)
In response on Thursday, The USA added nine Nicaraguan lawmakers, officials and judges to
the Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors list, effectively banning them from entry to The USA (28)
and making its list of sanctions against Nicaragua longer. Expect this trend to continue.
Market Watching
A promising mining webinar this week
This coming week sees a four-day online mining conference running March 15th to 18th
organized by the online webinar people 6ix. Called the “6ix Virtual Spring Conference” and on
this link (29), it’s free to register and attend and, thanks to the number of companies
participating, looks a cut above the average in these online events. Here’s the blurb on the
dedicated 6ix page:
Between inflation hedging, green industrial demand, and a nuclear market about to
realize its need for fuel, the basic materials sector is poised for growth and has
historically outperformed other sectors during recessionary periods.
Register now to attend this free, 4-day virtual conference to watch corporate
presentations, book 1-on-1 meetings with the CEOs of Public Companies, and
experience the full power of the 6ix Investment Discovery Platform.
There are around 50 junior miners slated to attend and plenty of the companies on the roster
are actively interesting to this desk, including some already owned/covered here at The IKN
27

Weekly. I’m not listing the 50 or so different companies and won’t even manage to mention all
those I consider promising, but here’s a sample:
 Minera Alamos (MAI.v)
 Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v)
 Element 29 (ECU.v)
 Contango Ore (CTGO)
 Karora Resources (KRR.to)
 Bluestone Resources (BSR.v)
 Newcore Gold (NCAU.v)
 Bunker Hill Mining (BNKR.cse)
 Kodiak Copper (KDK.v)
 Fireweed Zinc (FWZ.v)
 Superior Gold (SGI.v)
That covers only 20% or so of the companies attending, so click through to find out more, see
the whole list and to get your free entry to the four day webinar. And if we cross paths in one
of the chatrooms feel free to say hi.
Palladium and Platinum update
Further to last week’s high-level note on the relative merits of palladium and platinum, it will do
no harm to run a simple monitor of the PGM market prices for the next few weeks to see how
they trade. Here in this chart pitting Pt and Pl
against spot gold (GC00), we see the relative
calm of the monetary metal, negative volatility in
Platinum and a extreme volatility in palladium,
which culminated in a sharp sell-off on Friday.
Our house theory is that, due to physical demand
and potential lack of availability of palladium
(Norilsk mine in Russia produces around 40% of
the world’s palladium) the real manufacturing
world will be forced to transfer from palladium
and toward platinum. If this happens we’d
expect the price of platinum to out-perform that
of palladium and while there’s only negative
evidence so far, it’s still early days to know whether a real market change is in the cards.
Further to last week’s note on the target-rich environment (featuring Almaden
(AMM.to), Great Panther (GPR.to) and Excellon (EXN.to))
Predicting the unpredictable is the easy part, knowing where the unpredictable will manifest in
the junior mining market is the tough one. Last week’s market offered evidence to back up the
house musing in the intro section of IKN668 regarding on the new Target Rich Environment in
the juniors market, even as metals prices stalled from their record runs.
Step forward, Exhibits A, B and C: Almaden Minerals (AMM.to), Great Panther Metals (GPR.to)
and Excellon Resources (EXN.to) are three
companies this desk knows well and share
common traits. They are LatAm-based, they
are long-established and in two cases, they
are producers of precious metals. They’ve also
been poorly run and all three have serious
issues (recent and long-term) with EXN’s
failure to make La Platosa work, Almaden’s
reversal of permitting for Ixtaca and Great
Panther’s poor execution of production along
with a tailings dam failure and ensuing
28

environmental damage at the tips of these three icebergs. And of course, it almost goes without
saying that all three are in a financial mess and have seen very poor share price action recently.
However and coincidentally, all three are also listed on the NYSE in The USA and, for its own
sweet reasons, the market jumped on just this type of profile last week as “rebound plays” in
our new environment. Here is a chart showing all three NYSE tickers (AAU, GPL, EXN) against
the GDXJ (right).
This fits in with the commentary of last weekend:
“…with gold doing what it’s doing, copper doing what’s it’s doing, or nickel, palladium,
aluminium, zinc etc, any company with a heartbeat can return impressive gains and
many CEOs that don’t deserve success will see their stock spike higher. There are no
end of possibilities for wins from the good, the bad and the ugly of our weird and
wonderful sector.”
This won’t be the last time you see weird and wonderful moves made by junior mining stocks
as this chapter in juniors begins to mature. Therefore, we remind viewers of this desk’s two-
part stance on our newly coined target-rich environment, as per last weekend. First is the weak
excuse of “The IKN Weekly can’t cover ‘em all”, second the more important “The IKN Weekly’s
preferred trades will continue to be “good companies””, rather than those which are
fundamentally unsound. This publication isn’t a tip sheet for day-trading and while it
understands that companies such as Excellon, Great Panther and Almaden can run on a sudden
focus of market attention (and a moderate amount of dumb money is all it needs to move such
names fast and far), the mechanisms involved have very little to do with company
fundamentals.
Conclusion
IKN669 is done, we end with bullet points:
 Though not the biggest section of this week’s edition, my mind keeps harking back to
the trade potential and set-up at Kingfisher Metals (KFR.v). Explorecos are allowed to
swing and miss, ones that have a large selection of promising targets in their back
pockets even more so. The current price makes KFR a spec buy and while I think I
prefer to wait on the sidelines for news, it’s one I’m now watching closely. High risk,
potential high reward.
 When it comes to mining, Peru will be fine, as will Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
Meanwhile, Ecuador has never been a good destination (no matter the marketing) and
its issues are beginning to show. However, even Ecuador looks good next to Colombia,
get your mining money out of there while the getting is still good.
 Quo vadis æris? Copper’s price drop from the dizzying heights we recorded this time
last Sunday took it off the market boil, but there’s a growing assumption that market
and spot prices do not reflect the reality of metal demand. I remain fully bullish the
metal and see nothing but supply shortages in the near and intermediate future.
 The plan to ID McEwen Ming (MUX) as ‘Turnaround Stock of the Year’ has fallen flat on
its face and, while there’s no rush to liquidate immediately, the wiser decision is to
admit defeat and redeploy the capital in other places. Also true for the more immediate
sale coming in Trilogy (TMQ).
 All eyes on Wednesday and The Fed. I will be honest and expect the FOMC decision
and presser to be a bearish afternoon for the price of gold. Jay Powell’s most pressing
issue is to prop the broad market and for that, he will have to come out confident on
further rate rises behind Wednesday’s. However and later down the line when recession
threatens and inflation rates continue stubbornly high, this desk suspects that for the
Fed, The Reality Is Other. If so, sooner or later gold runs higher.
29

I thank you in advance for any feedback. Our Top Pick stocks are Minera Alamos (MAI.v) and
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v). Flash updates will be sent if required by events.
I wish you good trading fortune, ladies and gentlemen.
Best wishes, Mark
Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://iknnews.com/if-you-havent-read-how-does-this-end-by-christopher-chivvis-yet/
(2) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/10/treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-says-inflation-could-be-high-for-a-year.html
(3) https://www.mcewenmining.com/investor-relations/press-releases/press-release-details/2022/McEwen-Mining-
Provides-2022-Guidance/default.aspx
(4) https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/aluminium-set-big-weekly-fall-prices-whipsaw-2022-03-11/
(5) https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/hedge-fund-titan-clifford-asness-leads-trader-fury-after-lme-cancels-4bn-in-nickel-
trades-20220311
(6) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-walk-away-lme-221740519.html
(7)
https://www.cochilco.cl/Paginas/Estudios/Mercados%20de%20metales%20e%20insumos%20estrat%C3%A9gicos/Infor
mes-Semanales-2015.aspx
(8) https://www.orocoresourcecorp.com/news/oroco-announces-private-placment-finanincing
(9) https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/meridian-mining-reports-shallow-high-grade-zone-of-64-3m-1-9-cueq-from-
22-0m-at-cabacal-805485405.html
(10) https://www.kinross.com/news-and-investors/news-releases/press-release-details/2022/Kinross-announces-US1.0-
billion-term-loan/default.aspx
(11) https://www.kinross.com/news-and-investors/news-releases/press-release-details/2022/Kinross-pours-first-gold-
bar-at-La-Coipa/default.aspx
(12) https://kingfishermetals.com/kingfisher-expands-cloud-drifter-trend-with-new-sampling-at-langara-zone-grading-up-
to-60-4-g-t-gold%ef%bf%bc/
(13) https://www.signatureresources.ca/news-media/news-releases/2022/signature-resources-announces-closing-of-
oversubscribed-private-placement-and-engagement-of-wood-canada-to-complete-the-initial-mineral-resource-estimate-
for-q222
(14) https://www.signatureresources.ca/news-media/news-releases/2022/signature-resources-announces-acceleration-
of-an-initial-ni-43-101--resource-estimate
(15) https://colombia.as.com/colombia/2022/03/05/actualidad/1646517691_235805.html
(16) https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/toda-la-titulacion-minera-va-a-entrar-en-revision-gustavo-petro/202242/
(17) https://www.infobae.com/america/agencias/2022/03/10/lula-promete-que-no-habra-mineria-en-tierras-indigenas-si-
vuelve-al-poder/
(18) https://www.memo.com.ar/runrunes/un-sindicalista-pidio-ilustrar-a-la-poblacion-de-mendoza-sobre-mineria/
(19) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/increased-mining-supply-pushing-peruvian-currency-higher-cenbank-
2022-03-11/
(20) https://sudaca.pe/noticia/opinion/adios-a-la-consulta-previa/
(21) www.bnamericas.com%2Fes%2Fnoticias%2Fproyecto-de-ley-para-regular-consulta-previa-provoca-alarma-en-
ecuador&usg=AOvVaw3so7dQULkmPEJN8OK37P0K
(22) https://deporticos.co.cr/costa-rica-declara-ganador-su-caso-de-arbitraje-sobre-una-mina-de-oro-a-cielo-abierto/
(23) https://holanews.com/la-autoridad-ambiental-chilena-multa-a-una-minera-por-dano-al-salar-de-atacama/
(24) https://www.bloomberglinea.com/2022/03/09/ministro-de-energia-de-chile-rechazo-a-la-mineria-amenaza-
30

esfuerzos-climaticos/
(25) https://www.mch.cl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/RENACIONALIZACI%C3%93N-DE-LA-MINER%C3%8DA-
Posici%C3%B3n-y-Declaraci%C3%B3n-del-IIMCh-090322.pdf
(26) https://kstp.com/associated-press/ap-us-international/opposition-figures-including-chamorro-convicted-in-nicaragua/
(27) https://www.efe.com/efe/america/sociedad/defensora-de-derechos-humanos-culpable-traicion-a-la-patria-en-
nicaragua/20000013-4758201
(28) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-bars-9-nicaraguans-entry-into-us-alleging-they-undermined-democracy-2022-
03-09/
(29) https://6ix.com/conference/
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2021
Closed in 2021 closed close price
Fiore Gold F.v jan'21 C$0.98 21-May-20 C$1.17 19.4% closed as part of rebalance
Norsemont Min NOM.cse feb'21 C$1.55 6-Set-20 C$0.70 -54.8% Cut loser to reduce Au exp.
Element 29 Res ECU.v feb'21 C$0.49 7-Feb-21 C$0.54 10.2% Cut Peru exposure
Kuya Silver KUYA.cse feb'21 C$1.66 8-Nov-20 C$2.51 51.2% Cut Peru exposure
Pucara Gold TORO.v apr'21 C$0.65 4-Oct-20 C$0.26 -60.0% Cut loser, Peru risk call
Copper Mountain CMMC.to apr'21 C$1.40 22-Nov-20 C$4.18 198.6% tgt hit, profit taken
New Gold NGD may'21 U$0.76 9-Feb-20 U$2.14 181.6% Sold to buy AGC, nice win
Orezone Gold ORE.v jun'21 C$0.79 21-Jun-20 C$1.61 103.8% sold on pop, leaky boat
Wolfden Res. WLF.v sep'21 C$0.30 11-Abr-21 C$0.19 -36.7% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Cartier Res ECR.v sep'21 C$0.32 21-Mar-21 C$0.235 -26.6% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Amarillo Gold AGC.v sep'21 C$0.31 30-May-21 C$0.30 -3.2% Capex story changed: Out
Excelsior Mining MIN.to oct'21 C$0.93 10-Mar-19 C$0.53 -43.0% May return in 2022
Royal Road Min. RYR.v nov'21 C$0.155 17-Mar-19 C$0.275 77.4% Closed on Nica pol risk
Aurelius Min. AUL.v dec'21 C$0.75 28-Jun-20 0.24 -68.0% cut end 2021, failed trade
Argonaut Gold AR.to dec'21 C$2.95 25-Jun-21 C$2.15 -27.1% cut on capex blowout
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2020
Closed in 2020 closed close price
TMAC Resources TMR.to Jan'20 C$3.41 20-Dec-19 C$3.61 5.9% TLS flip play, sold new year
Regulus Res REG.v Jan'20 C$1.10 20-Dec-19 C$1.30 18.2% TLS flip play, profit taken
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jan'20 C$1.90 9-Dec-19 C$1.66 -12.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
McEwen Mining MUX Jan'20 U$1.12 2-Dec-19 U$1.18 5.4% TLS flip play, profit taken
Core Gold CGLD.v Jan'20 C$0.255 7-Apr-19 C$0.305 19.6% arb trade, profit taken
HudBay Min HBM Jan'20 U$3.56 9-Dec-19 U$3.36 -5.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
Midas Gold MAX.to Feb'20 C$0.71 5-Jan-20 C$0.57 -19.7% sm & silly trade
Warrior Gold WAR.v Feb'20 C$0.08 3-Aug-18 C$0.05 -31.3% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Contact Gold C.v Feb'20 C$0.40 19-Aug-18 C$0.18 -55.0% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Sandstorm Gold SAND Feb'20 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$7.21 93.3% Sold during port rebalance
NexGen Energy NXE Feb'20 U$1.20 2-Dec-19 U$1.06 -11.7% TLS flip play, loss taken
MAG Silver MAG Apr'20 U$8.95 1-Mar-20 U$10.07 12.5% Sold to cut silver exposure
Alexco Res AXU Apr'20 U$1.69 7-Sep-17 U$1.69 0.0% sold to close Ag exp. in FY20
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jun'20 C$1.62 2-Feb-20 C$1.10 -32.1% under-performer cash moved
Regulus Res REG.v Jun'20 C$0.64 6-Apr-15 C$0.79 23.4% moved $ TMQ/MIN & Au stocks
Great Panther GPR.to Aug'20 C$0.60 21-Jun-20 C$1.10 83.3% Profit taken, good trade
Jaguar Mining JAG.v Aug'20 C$0.42 21-Jun-20 C$0.65 54.8% Profit taken, good trade
Sandstorm Gold SAND Aug'20 U$7.76 10-May-20 U$9.37 20.7% Profit taken, good trade
Integra Resources ITR.v Aug'20 C$2.23 13-Aug-18 C$5.40 142.2% Profit taken, good trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Aug'20 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$14.82 525.3% last 1/2 of big win closed
INV Metals INV.to Sep'20 C$0.40 17-May-20 C$0.45 12.5% Cut all Ecuador exposure
31

Cartier Resources ECR.v Nov'20 C$0.155 3-Aug-18 C$0.25 67.7% Exact close price TBA
Tinka Res TK.v Dec'20 C$0.195 19-Apr-16 C$0.195 0.0% Closed on a round trip fail
2015 to 2019 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2019
Closed in 2019 closed close price
Atico Mining ATY.v jan'19 C$0.55 24-Jul-16 C$0.32 41.8% patience ran out, made room
Candente Copper DNT.to jan'19 C$0.075 3-Ago-18 C$0.05 -33.3% tiny trade, made room for new
B2Gold BTO.to feb'19 C$2.11 12-Set-14 C$4.05 91.9% Took 1/2 profits, reduce size
Western Copper WRN.to mar'19 C$0.80 20-Ene-19 C$0.81 1.3% Spec trade that didn't work
B2Gold BTO.to mar'19 C$2.11 12-Set-14 C$4.15 96.7% Took rest of profit.
GT Gold GTT.v mar'19 C$1.17 10-Oct-18 C$0.90 -23.1% Took loss. Story changed
NovaGold NG apr'19 U$3.84 13-Ene-19 U$4.15 -8.1% Short that didn't work, sm loss
Zinc One Z.v jun'19 C$0.47 14-Set-17 C$0.025 -94.7% clearing out dead trade
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jun'19 C$0.24 22-Ago-18 C$0.20 -16.7% clearing out dead trade
New Gold NGD aug'19 U$1.44 31-Jul-19 U$1.23 14.6% ST short win thru Q2 earnings
IMPACT Silver IPT.v aug'19 C$0.39 21-Jul-19 C$0.46 18.0% took a quick profit
Fiore Gold F.v aug'19 C$0.34 26-May-19 C$0.56 64.7% Took profit, 2q19 avg
Chakana Copper PERU.v oct'19 C$0.84 22-Mar-18 C$0.16 -81.0% Exploreco trade fail. Want space
Wesdome Gold WDO.to oct'19 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$7.57 219.4% Sold half, profit taking
Superior Gold SGI.v oct'19 C$1.46 8-Abr-18 C$0.47 -67.8% Failed sm spec on Au. Moved on
Amerigo Res ARG.to nov'19 C$0.91 23-Set-18 C$0.50 -45.1% worst trade of year, hefty loss
Guyana Goldfields GUY.to dec'19 C$0.94 14-Abr-19 C$0.56 -40.4% taking the loss, financials weak
Tethyan Res TETH.v dec'19 C$0.30 8-Set-19 C$0.16 -46.7% tiny trade, word of probs in co
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2018
Closed in 2018 closed close price
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jan'18 C$0.38 24-Mar-17 C$0.31 -18.4% Cut away losing trade
Riverside Res RRI.v jan'18 C$0.39 27-Jun-16 C$0.31 -20.5% Cut away losing trade
Eros Res ERC.v jan'18 C$0.175 1-Mar-17 C$0.16 -8.6% CEO sudden exit, not good
Excellon Res EXN.to jan'18 C$1.54 9-Oct-16 C$1.66 7.8% 4q17 poor, one too many bad qtrs
Wesdome Gold WDO.to jan'18 C$1.68 15-Dec-17 C$2.06 22.6% Near-term trade block, took profit
Sabina G&S SBB.to apr'18 C$2.06 17-Dec-17 C$1.77 -14.1% Near-term trade, bad timing, small
B2Gold BTO.to May'18 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.67 73.9% sold 25% to reduce exposure
Lara Expl. LRA.v May'18 C$0.65 11-Feb-18 C$0.58 -13.8% Spec on Brazil didn't work
Solitario XPL June'18 U$0.72 19-Mar-17 U$0.41 -43.1% Failed trade, may return in 4q18
SolGold plc SOLG.to July'18 C$0.475 19-Nov-17 C$0.415 -12.6% cut, trade didn't perform
Pan American PAAS July'18 U$17.90 1-Jun-18 U$16.30 8.9% modest win on short position
NGEx Res NGQ.to Sep'18 C$1.01 22-Oct-17 C$1.00 -1.0% Closed to reduce Argentina exp
Sandstorm Gold SAND Oct'18 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$4.13 10.7% partial sale to raise cash for GTT
Aldebaran Res ALDE.v Nov'18 n/a n/a n/a n/a liquidate spin out of REG
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2017
Closed in 2017 closed close price
Continental Gold CNL.to Jan'17 C$2.68 22-May-16 C$4.17 55.6% trade closed, profit taken
Focus Ventures FCV.v Jan'17 C$0.23 1-Jul-12 C$0.05 -78.3% Give up, a disaster trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Feb'17 C$1.72 28-Aug-16 C$3.00 74.4% Target hit, sold, good trade
Belo Sun BSX.to Mar'17 C$0.90 30-Jan-17 C$0.90 0.0% failed near-term flip trade
Lara Expl. LRA.v Mar'17 C$1.15 8-Apr-12 C$1.05 -8.7% cut to make room for new trade
Rye Patch Gold RPM.v Apr'17 C$0.31 2-Sep-16 C$0.32 3.2% cut for doubts & new stock
Cordoba Min. CDB.v Jun'17 C$0.75 15-Sep-16 C$0.63 -16.0% closed
Constantine Metal CEM.v Aug'17 C$0.135 9-Apr-17 C$0.28 107.4% spec trade closed, good win
32

Red Eagle Min. R.to Sep'17 C$0.67 13-Dec-16 C$0.27 -59.7% IKN's biggest failure in years
Starcore Intl SAM.to Sep'17 C$0.61 10-Jan-15 C$0.31 -49.2% Patience ran out
B2Gold BTO.to Dec'17 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.39 60.7% sold small portion for liquidity
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2016
Closed in 2016 closed close price
Phoscan Chem FOS.to jan16 C$0.28 29-mar-15 C$0.265 -5.4% Buyout trade, bot but poor deal
True Gold TGM.v jan16 C$0.18 23-ago-15 C$0.25 38.9% okay trade, sold on pol risk
McEwen Mining MUX jan16 U$1.09 25-ene-15 U$1.20 10.1% sold due to lack of value
Lake Shore Gold LSG.to feb-16 C$1.10 07-abr-15 C$1.69 53.6% bot out, sold early in process
Atacama Pacific ATM.v feb-16 C$0.19 26-abr-15 C$0.40 110.5% sold for a double on big pop
New Gold NGD feb-16 U$2.06 24-ene-16 U$2.96 43.7% closed good near-term trade
Sandspring Res SSP.v mar-16 C$0.195 18-oct-15 C$0.32 64.1% Hit tgt, took profit
Teranga Gold TGZ.to mar-16 C$0.54 15-feb-15 C$0.60 11.1% disappointing trade
B2Gold BTG mar-16 U$0.85 13-ene-16 U$1.30 52.9% Separate trade on B2, hit tgt
Dalradian Res DNA.to mar-16 C$0.67 27-oct-13 C$1.00 49.3% Hit target, sold, good win
HudBay Min. HBM may-16 U$4.10 03-abr-16 U$4.36 -6.3% Short trade, poor timing
Nevada Sunrise NEV.v may-16 C$0.185 28-feb-16 C$0.23 24.3% V. small, no big deal either way
Richmont RIC jun-16 U$7.60 01-may-16 U$9.30 22.4% near-term trade, profit taken
INV Metals INV.to jul-16 C$0.25 03-abr-16 C$0.95 280.0% Trade closed on time
HudBay Min. HBM aug16 U$4.98 09-jun-16 U$4.80 3.6% short trade covered, no big deal
Miranda Gold MAD.v oct-16 C$0.125 03-jul-16 C$0.10 -20.0% tiny spec trade, didn't work
Avino G & S ASM nov-16 U$2.00 21-oct-16 U$1.40 -30.0% Abandon trade on bad bot deal
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2015
Closed in 2015 closed close price
Argonaut Gold AR.to jan'15 C$1.47 14-dec-14 C$2.53 72.1% Big gain small time, profit taken
Amerigo Res ARG.to jan'15 C$0.405 20-jul-14 C$0.285 -29.6% Given up on weak Cu prices
Reservoir Min. RMC.v jan'15 C$6.05 18-jun-14 C$4.12 -31.9% sold on Cu downturn
Coro Mining COP.to jan'15 C$0.075 26-jan-14 C$0.035 -53.3% sm, sold on Cu downturn
Fortuna Silver FSM mar'15 U$4.12 10-nov-14 U$3.75 9.0% Short used as hedge
GoldQuest Min. GQC.v mar'15 C$0.26 27-oct-13 C$0.085 -67.3% given up ghost
Rio Alto Mining RIO.to apr'15 C$2.30 07-apr-11 C$3.57 55.2% Top pick, bot out, big win
Timmins Gold TGD jun'15 U$0.60 19-apr-15 U$0.62 3.3% near-term trade, out of time
First Majestic AG jul'15 U$10.51 10-aug-14 U$4.55 56.7% horrible failed trade
NovaCopper NCQ.to jul'15 C$1.05 09-apr-14 C$0.50 -52.4% no more Cu exposure, sm sell
McEwen Mining MUX aug'15 U$0.695 21-jul-15 U$0.92 32.4% Closed nearterm flip for win
Midas Gold MAX.to sep'15 C$0.39 21-sep-15 C$0.35 -10.3% Sm. trade idea that didn't work
New Gold NGD oct'15 U$2.18 23-aug-15 U$3.05 39.9% trade closed, profit taken
Legend Gold LGN.v nov'15 C$0.085 01-mar-15 C$0.035 -58.8% tiny "land grab" idea, failed
Timmins Gold TGD nov'15 U$0.245 20-sep-15 U$0.15 -38.8% small near-term loser
Please note that due to space considerations closed positions 2009 to 2014 are now
available on request, or were published in any edition to IKN553 (end 2019).
Important Disclosure
The information and opinions contained within this report reflect the personal views of the author and therefore all
material within should not be construed as accurate or reliable or be utilized as advice for investment or business
purposes. Independent due diligence and discussions with ones own investment and business advisor is strongly
recommended. Accordingly, nothing in this report should be construed as offering a guarantee of the accuracy or
completeness of the information contained herein, as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any
security or as an endorsement of any product or service. All opinions and estimates included in this report are subject to
change without notice. It is prohibited to copy or redistribute this report to any type of third party without the express
permission of the author.
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