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The IKN Weekly
Week 671, March 27th 2022
Contents
This Week: In Today’s Edition, A return to Kasparov’s “A piece, then peace”, The New Cold
War and gold (and commodities), US BLS Jobs report on deck.
Fundamental Analysis: A fundamental analysis of Newcore Gold (NCAU.v).
Stocks to Follow: Changes in the Stocks to Follow List, Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v), Minera Alamos
(MAI.v), Element 29 Resources (ECU.v), Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v), Altiplano Metals (APN.v),
Discovery Silver (DSV.v), Minera IRL (MIRL.cse), Aldebaran (ALDE.v), Amerigo (ARG.to).
Copper Basket: Overview, Oroco Resources (OCO.v), Regulus Resources (REG.v), Marimaca
Copper (MARI.to), Copper Mountain (CMMC.to).
Producer Basket: Overview, Agnico Eagle (AEM).
TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Aurelius Minerals (AUL.v), Kingfisher Metals (KFR.v).
Regional Politics: Chile: CESCO Week and an interview with Chile’s new Mining Minister,
Marcela Hernando, Peru: Room to raise taxes, Peru: A Presidential impeachment debate,
Colombia: The Petro vs Fico battle commences, The Brazilian Report identifies Jair Bolsonaro’s
big problem.
Market Watching: A Final Palladium and Platinum update, Superior (SGI.v) Meridian (MNO.v)
Newcore (NCAU.v) Electra (ELBM.v) and Western (WRN.to): Tracking the IKN670 trade ideas.
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
In Today’s Edition
 A sincere thank you to all who wrote in with suggestions for the potential expansion of
the Stocks to Follow to 20 companies and including a few that I don’t personally own.
After due consideration, I’ve adapted the idea and made a couple of changes (hopefully
improvements) to the way the Stocks to Follow list is laid out.
 We also talk up the five new trade ideas this week, with most of them found the catch-
all Market Watching section. However, we make Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) the subject of
our main fundies section and take a closer look at this promising gold exploreco and its
Enchi project in Ghana.
 In Regional Politics, the Colombia election is now set for battle and Chile’s government
has the opportunity to talk sense to the world about its risk outlook at CESCO, plus the
latest from the Peru political soap opera that’s more heat than light.
A return to Kasparov’s “A piece, then peace”
Back in IKN664 dated February 13th, those naïve days when Russia’s military exercises along
the Ukraine border were grabbing headlines without dominating the world narrative, we
mentioned in passing an op-ed written by Garry Kasparov that week, one in which he outlined
“A piece, then peace” strategy preferred by Vladimir Putin’s . Kasparov wondered out loud
whether Putin would go in hard and take what he wanted, then try to make peace with his
newly created enemies later. Now for sure we can assume at this stage a few extra things, for
example that he was serious about capturing Kyiv and overthrowing the Ukraine President.
1

Also, that he didn’t expect the opposition to be as stiff or the sanctions imposed by a
surprisingly united Free World (to pick one of the monikers) to have been as draconian, but this
same “Piece Then Peace” may turn into his fallback strategy. With the scene set, here’s an
extended quote from this link, dated Friday March 25th (1):
First phase of invasion 'generally' complete, says Russia in downgrading of aims
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation was “generally”
complete, saying the country will focus on the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The defence ministry stated Russian-backed separatists now controlled 93% of Luhansk and 54%
of Donetsk, the self-proclaimed republics in Ukraine’s east. The two together are commonly known
as the Donbas region.
“The main objectives of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished,” Sergei
Rudskoi, the head of the Russian general staff’s main operational directorate said during a briefing.
In Friday’s announcement, Russia also appeared to hint that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine may be
turning to more limited objectives, adding that the main goal of the operation was the “liberation of
the Donbas”.
“The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which ...
makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbas.”
Russia has been shifting its objectives in Ukraine throughout the war. The Russian president,
Vladimir Putin, earlier said that the “denazification” of the Ukrainian leadership – generally
understood as regime change – was the main motivation for the invasion.
Michael Kofman, the director of the Russia studies programme at the CNA thinktank, on Friday
tweeted that the military briefing suggested Russia would focus on “taking as much of the Donbas
as possible,” while claiming Donbas was always the main goal of what Kremlin refers to a “special
military operation”.
“I had a hypothesis that the more minimal aims Moscow could have at this point is to try to take all
of the Donbas, pursue some political settlement, then turn around and claim that’s what this
operation was really all about in an effort to salvage something & declare victory,” Kofman tweeted.
If that’s the plan, it coincides with the Free World ratcheting up its rhetoric on the use of
Chemical and/or Biological weapons, the moral no-go that would suit a world unwilling to gallop
headlong over that “nuclear threshold” all at once. If the world can lay down the rules of moral
limitations at chemical/biological weapons, rather than the terrifying prospect of nuclear
engagement and eventual exchange, it would mean the moral high ground would be lost by
Russia (or Ukraine/The West for that matter) if that line were crossed. We even have China
positioning itself as the quiet arbiter, as it would be able to withdraw its tacit support for Russia
if the line were crossed (thereby delivering more power to Xi in this geopolitical chess game,
something he would certainly enjoy).
For examples of the West’s obsession with its proposed moral tipping point, look no further
than the summit of leaders last week. Here’s the NYT (2):
“BRUSSELS — The White House has quietly assembled a team of national security
officials to sketch out scenarios of how the United States and its allies should respond
if President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — frustrated by his lack of progress in Ukraine
or determined to warn Western nations against intervening in the war — unleashes his
stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
The Tiger Team, as the group is known, is also examining responses if Mr. Putin
reaches into NATO territory to attack convoys bringing weapons and aid to Ukraine…”
Here’s a CNBC headline from Thursday March 24th (3):
Biden says U.S. would ‘respond’ to Russia if Putin
uses chemical or biological weapons
This short paragraph from The BBC (4) gets two names in for the price of one:
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said it would be "catastrophic" if Mr Putin used
chemical weapons, while Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has made it clear it
would result in severe consequences.
And via Reuters (5), Emmanuel Macron is basking in his new world leader image, is he not?
Macron wanted to send a message. He would not be rash. Asked by reporters about
2

fears of future Russian chemical weapons use in Ukraine, he remained prudent.
He would not set red lines that could not be backed up with action as had been the
case when he ordered air strikes on Syrian targets in 2018 after a suspected chemical
attack.
France's word depended on it, he said.
All fair enough and as a person all these Western leaders would like to be compared to once
said, “Jaw Jaw is better than War War”. Talking the talk is easy and scores points, but then
again, Winston Churchill also correctly observed this in October 1939: “I cannot forecast to you
the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."
The New Cold War and gold (and commodities)
So Russia growled and again rattled its nuclear sabre while downgrading its objectives, at least
in the near-term. Biden called for Putin to be deposed and then let the White House walk back
the message. Meanwhile, we got to see more wreckage of cities via artillery, a patent lack of
urban warfare between troops and a surfeit of refugees. In sum, last week saw the opposing
forces draw more lines in the sand, welcoming us to a New Grim Normal, up to including a
metaphor for the political theatre when Russian troops dug in to positions North of Kyiv without
advancing any further. Welcome to the New Cold War.
Enough op-ed blabber, what does all this mean for the standard focus for our intros these days,
gold bullion? Let’s start with our Wall Street popularity gauge, the GLD inventory data:
GLD gold holdings, 2021 to date (metric tonnes)
1220
1200
1180
1160
1140
1120
1100
1080
1060
1040
1020
1000
980
960
940
3
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 22/3/02
mt
source: SPDR GLD data
GLD added nearly 11 metric tonnes on the week to close at 1,093.18mt, with the
Inventory/Price ratio one again indicating that there’s orderly and steady purchases compared
to the wider gold market, GLD isn’t being rushed by the Wall St instos (yet).
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 02/3/2202
Source: SPDR data, IKN calcs
With those regular charts updated and aired, here’s a gold price chart:

It’s difficult to ignore the financial elephant in the room at the moment, as the Ukraine situation
and its fast-developing political and financial fallout is affecting everything and rolling back the
years. The New Cold War is with us and while globalization may not be dead, it’s taken a severe
hit as the West rolls back its assumptions about how the world works.
But elephant or not I don’t want to get repetitive and say the same thing in different ways in
every intro of The IKN Weekly. Therefore, the framework outlined in the last couple of weeks is
still largely valid and the main message still works: This time really is different, the way the
world works financially has changed and whatever the outcome of Ukraine vs Russia, we don’t
get the luxury of going back to the way things were on February 23rd. We’re going to get Jay
Powell trying to cajole The USA into higher rates and inviting stagflation to ruin the party, we’re
going to get economic uncertainty in all types of issues and as they are Fear Trade factors, they
will be good for gold bullion prices in US Dollars. However, I want to add just one more short
thought to the list this weekend, related to the end of the Peace Dividend. As the world wakes
up and realizes it cannot assume cheap input prices any longer, it may also notice how the very
same Russia that’s threatening global political stability (and even nuclear war) got rich over the
last years by supplying the raw materials the West wanted at the right price. As such, the end
of the Peace Dividend threatens to bring the knock-on effect of a re-pricing all primary
commodities, not just precious metals and gold. Not good for the people suffering Russian
brutality in Mariupol today, but good for mining companies in the long-term.
US BLS Jobs report on deck
Friday sees the first real test of Jay Powell’s new hawkishness toward interest rates, as the US
BLS published the Employment Report for February. As noted on Calculated Risk this weekend
(6), consensus currently stands at +475,000 NFP jobs and the headline unemployment rate to
drop to 3.7%, however those estimates may adjust as we get data during the week.
Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
A fundamental analysis of Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) (in CAD$ unless stated)
Last week in IKN670 we made first mention of this company to The IKN Weekly in the segment
“Newcore Gold (NCAU.v): Cheap, big and simple”, one of five companies identified as potential
trades in our new resource investment environment. This week we zero in on the company, go
into more details, consider its financials and the economic potential of the Enchi project in
Ghana and put a reasonable price target for the stock. However and before diving in, a
4

reminder of the basic corporate structure via a repeat of the topbox, adjusted for this weekend:
Shares out: 120.6m
Options: 9.9m
Warrants: Zero
Incentive award shares: 2.0m
Fully diluted shares: 132.5m
Current share price: C$0.50
Market Cap: C$60.3m
Approx cash per S/O: 7c
All prices are in Canadian Dollars unless stated. Forex U$0.80=CAD$1
Last weekend’s brief introduction on NCAU included my opinion of how NCAU at Enchi stands
out among peers, as it ticks the boxes for a gold project in our new environment for precious
metals mining projects and in the intro, I mentioned four categories:
 Good address and safe jurisdiction.
 A simple project with robust economics
 Growth upside
 Price
The job today is to expand on these subjects and of the four, we’ll spend most time on the
latter (short titles lend themselves to long answers) but before we get there, a word on the
NCAU team.
Management and ownership structure
NCAU is led by President and CEO Luke Alexander, who comes from the financial side of the
business and worked with company Chair Doug Forster and Lead Director Blayne Johnson on
their previous successes, for example Newmarket Gold (which was taken over by Kirkland Lake
and started the Fosterville success) and Calibre Mining (CXB.to), which has grown in Nicaragua
and recently de-risked somewhat by buying Fiore Gold. In other words there’s plenty of
corporate success running this company and they are backed up by VP Exploration Greg Smith
(also a Nicaragua veteran) and his team, among whom CEO Alexander was quick to point to
country manager Daniel Wilson, also a geologist with deep knowledge of the West Africa scene
and located in zone (which, incidentally, allowed the company to advance while the Covid-19
travel restrictions were at their height). Regarding ownership, during our Conference Call last
week (VP Ex also present) CEO Alexander was quick and keen to point out how management
and insiders hold an aggregate of 27% of shares and the ownership roster includes big name
funds covers another 40% of total shares out (see slide 7 of the latest corporate presentation
for the list of names, found here (7)).
Summing up the management team, this one passes muster
not only for its mining experience but importantly for its
alignment with key shareholders to create equity value. A
board and team with its skin firmly in the game and a
successful track record of operating in the corporate sphere
that attracts the right sort of institutional backing shouldn’t
be underestimated.
Address and jurisdiction
In real estate parlance Enchi has Location Location Location
and to illustrate, here follow four maps and diagrams from
the recent company presentation. You author goes to town a
little, with no fewer than four visuals as the project address
is one of its strong selling points. We begin with a country
image that locates the project (right). Herein lies the first
positive, as Ghana is arguably the best address to go mining
in West Africa. This may at first sound like damning by faint
5

praise but Ghana sits well against most other world jurisdictions; a stable government and
democracy, a mature and established mining industry and an economic profile which includes
gold as the country’s number one export, overall
having Ghana as project location would reduce
nearly any multi-asset gold miner’s country risk. A
safe place to go mining, as well as its established
“mining culture” and clear understanding of the
pros and cons the sector Ghana also offers
advantages to FDI, such as its competitive 25%
corporate tax rate and tax holidays for capex-
intensive project of between five and 15 years.
Our second map (right) zooms in to the region and
shows how Enchi is in the right neighbourhood. As
well as having the Endeavour Mining (EDV.to)
‘Afema’ mine to its Southwest, across the border in
Cote D’Ivoire/Ivory Coast, the large Chirano
operating gold mine bought by Kinross in 2010
(part of its Tasiast deal) is located some 50km to
the North-Northeast. As the visual notes, some
5.5m oz gold have come out of Chirano so far and
provides an easy blueprint to the potential of Enchi
and its surroundings.
There are numerous similarities between Chirano
and Enchi, the KGC operation began as an open pit
oxide mine before transforming into the (largely)
UG sulphide operation of today. The easiest hack is
this next visual, a comparative section of Enchi
(above) and Chirano (below) that almost demands
the question, “Hey guys, how about a few deep
holes to test that Sulphide?”. Both have defined
oxide mineralization, but the mature Chirano shows
the direction in which Enchi should or could be able to develop over the longer term, both via
those sulphides at depth as well as the development of other surface oxide targets.
Which leaves us the fourth visual stolen from the corporate presentation (below), an overhead
view of the Enchi concession with useful notes on the four defined resources, as known to date.
Another stand-out is the row of red markers, showing the plethora of earlier stage targets,
some of which having already shown early promise via successful first pass drill holes.
6

The simple project with robust economics
With that, we move to NCAU’s second point of distinction and away from the corporate
presentation. Instead, we now use the company’s 2021 PEA as source material to sum up the
current 43-101 resource count, this table from the document:
Using a U$1,600/oz gold price and an economic cut-off of 0.2 g/t, the four zones at Enchi with
enough drilling to show 43-101 compliant inferred resources totalling a little over 1.4m oz gold,
grading an average of 0.62 g/t Au. Indeed, Enchi is a low grade, bulk mining, open-pit heap
leach gold mining project, as straightforward as mining stories come and as alluded last
weekend, simple is one of its strong points. As well as the low country risk profile of Ghana,
NCAU enjoys an enviable mix of infrastructure advantages. The local main town, also called
Enchi, is around 20km from the project and offers easy connectivity via paved roads to the
project door, an ample labour pool versed in mining culture, power lines run close by and
abundant water supply. All the things a budding mine needs and all at hand, plus the Enchi
project is in a rural setting and sparsely populated, making for fewer issues on the day the
project becomes a fully operational open pit mine. This combination of factors along with the
low labour costs of working on the African continent (instead of North America, for example)
allows NCAU to use a low cut-off for its mine economics, but even there the deposit shows
leeway and would be able to absorb a cost
rise as the PEA also outlines a resource of
55m tonnes with 1.2m oz gold at a higher,
0.3 g/t cut. This optimal infrastructure
scenario also makes for a low capex hurdle
and the PEA tells us that Enchi could be
build and running for under U$100m. For
what it’s worth we do not assume that low
any longer, what with inflation and our
economic assumptions of a larger mine built at Enchi (see below), but it does at least frame its
likely low capital intensity.
7

As early-stage project parameters go, Enchi has a lot to like. However, we should at this point
mention the two major weaknesses but even then, they are less about project red flags and
more about the relative novelty of the company and its development
Enchi is an inferred resource: The nature of drilling and developing a large and expansive low
grade mineral body means the initial stages will use widely spaced holes. This is the case here
and, while NCAU is now reportedly ¾ through its current 90,000m drill program and should
wrap up this stage midyear, it means the 43-101 compliant resource is currently inferred-only
and will mostly stay that way for a while. However and in defence of NCAU, among explorecos
“there are inferred resources and inferred resources”, with some more reliable than others.
Enchi has the look of a “reliable inferred” given the nature of its regular and even predictable
drill assay returns, its disseminated bulk mine nature and knowledge of this type of oxide
mineralization as seen in neighbouring mines and projects.
The other potential weakness is its metallurgy. The 2021 PEA did include a reasonable amount
of met work, mostly at a bottle roll stage that tested many of the typical zones, grades and rock
types among the four delineated deposits at Enchi, but there’s clearly more work to do. This
was one of the main subjects of conversation during my conference call with the team last
week and I came away satisfied with their responses. NCAU is conducting concurrent met
testing during its current drill program and VP Ex Smith clearly takes the met issue seriously
(not always the case with junior explorecos), the work is ongoing and while they haven’t
uncovered any major issues from rock type or reagent responses, the work will continue. NCAU
has now embarked on more extensive column leach testing (good to hear) and will provide
regular NR updates on met results as the project develops.
Growth upside
This desk has to keep reminding itself that Newcore is still a new company compared to most
other explorecos, as it has got a lot done in its relatively brief corporate life to date. That
includes the delivery of its maiden resource of 1.41m oz gold, grading an average of 0.62g/t at
a 0.2 g/t cut-off and on the back of that, last year’s PEA that demonstrated strong economics
on the project (e.g. a 54% IRR at U$1,850/oz gold, to name just one of the possible outlines).
However another glance at the maps featured above from corporate literature make it clear
there is plenty of potential resource upside to come and indeed, there’s a cool 70,000m of drill
core that is not part of the current PEA resource.
The company is right to market itself on its published numbers, but for the rest of us it’s a no-
brainer that the next resource update will see the Enchi oxide deposit grow, both in terms of
tonnage and contained gold ounces. The company is going to use 2022 to get to that number
and expects to publish its resource update at some point in 4q22. Last week we mentioned in
passing that the current 1.41m oz gold resource flies somewhat under the radars of the wider
market and while a good start point, would need to grow in order to attract buzz and attention.
On this, the team has made no secret of the fact it is aiming for an eventual resource of at least
3m oz gold, perhaps as high at 5m oz. That size of deposit doesn’t come in one stage, so this
year’s resource update will give us a good idea of the development cadence of Enchi and how
long it would take to get to that size.
Once the 2022 resource update is delivered, NCAU then plans to use 2023 to grow the deposit
further and also an updated PEA, rather than move to PFS. This is the correct decision and for
two main reasons, firstly a PFS would mean curtailing its resource expansion drill program in
order to concentrate on turning as much inferred resource into M+I and secondly, as Enchi has
the potential to become very big and not just big, there’s no point in crimping ambitions in the
rush to get to a marketable 43-101 document, only to see it go out of date quickly afterward.
The regular nature of the low grade disseminated oxide mineralization (to date at least)
provides a reasonable level of confidence, even at inferred level, and personally I’d much prefer
the team to work on “PFS Standard Metallurgy” that would become part of an upgraded and
8

200 NCAU.v: Shares Out
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
9
0
81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 tse12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3
source: company filings
serahs
fo
snoillim
improved PEA.
Price
That general, catch-all heading now covers the rest of this analysis, but there are several angles
on the financials side of NCAU and not just one pointer to show it’s at the right price for an
investment today. We begin with a brief overview of company financials, starting with your
author’s fetish balance sheet items:
NCAU.v: Assets
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
And that’s because balance sheets matter. The overview asset chart shows how NCAU wasn’t
doing much more than holding fixed assets two years ago, then after a funding round began to
get active. We also note that the company has elected to capitalize its exploration and
evaluation costs, with fixed assets up to $32.7m as at end 3q21. On this subject, NCAU shares
one of the positive attributes found in our preferred silver exploreco, Discovery Silver (DSV.v),
its focus on getting as much treasury as possible into the ground. For example, in the first nine
months of 2021 (to the latest report date), C$12.3 of a total over just over C$15m has been
dedicated to drilling costs at Enchi. As for the key point of liquidity, as liabilities (above) are
minor we note the similarity between raw treasury and working capital, which is the optimal
situation for a junior exploreco at this stage of development:
These charts assume a capital raising at some point in 2022 and for argument’s sake, I’ve gone
for a modest raise of C$10m during 2q22. That could be larger and could be later, but at some
point we know NCAU will go back to market and on asking CEO Alexander about this, it will
almost certainly be a straight equity raise (and likely backed by willing instos, as seen before).
While we should recognize that large instos and
their patient time horizons often have different
near-term objectives and like getting in as cheaply
as possible, it’s tough to get too Machiavellian
about NCAU and its backers and there’s no reason
to suppose they would deliberately sit on the share
price in 2022 in order to get in a few pennies
cheaper, it’s neither here nor there and current
91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 tse12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3
$m NCAU.v: Liabilities per qtr
5
fixed
4.5
other current
4 cash+ST
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
source: company filings
91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 tse12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
LT liabs
current liabs
NCAU.v: Cash treasury per qtr
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 tse12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
16 NCAU.v: Working Capital per qtr
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 tse12q4 tse22q1 tse22q2 tse22q3
source company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim

holders like to show paper profits as much as any retail investor. Therefore, the guesstimated
share count sees NCAU leaving 2022 with around 140m shares out. There’s no hidden agenda
on how the company is looking to raise working and development capital, that’s a good thing.
The only other financials chart I’d like to use today is the expenses breakdown, which shows
how the company partly uses shares to pay its drill program, which is only a relatively large
number and nothing too onerous in absolute terms (see Y axis). This is a tightly run ship that
uses its capital to good effect.
NCAU.v: Expenses breakdown
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
10
91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3
C$m
other exp
IR &marketing
Share based comp
Mgmt fees
source: company filings
A first pass price target on Newcore Gold (NCAU.v)
This is not an easy one to pin down, there’s a need to balance a growth oriented company that
has an interesting and prospective project against a reasonable set of first pass assumptions
and hat doesn’t try to throw sequins in eyes and promise too much. Also, any price target in
early 2022 on a company with a mine that’s built in West Africa maybe three or five years form
now is obviously going to be best-guess only, there are a host of variables that could change
between now and then (start with gold price and inflation, add a hundred others). On the other
hand, Enchi is already an interesting project and has the potential to become a stand-out asset,
blessed as it is with its location, early development success and a good team with the right
attitude toward wealth generation. It’s the kind of early stage project that deserves a first-pass
ballpark economic framework and from that, we can at least generate a reasonable and modest
price target that’s attainable in the next 12 months or so.
Here come a list of assumptions on our eventual mine and company, as imagined on Production
Day One of the Enchi gold mine:
 A 30,000tpd open pit mine operation: Clearly Enchi is going to grow form the first-pass
economics used in the 2021 PEA and, if management is right, could double or perhaps
triple in size. The 20k tpd model used in its economic study makes perfect sense for a
1.41m oz deposit but there’s no doubt the whole project would scale as tonnes and
ounces are added. While it’s tempting to run a 40ktpd model and improve economies of
scale greatly, for the moment I’m going to assume a more modest scaling and go for
an average of 30ktpd. Be clear, this assumption could change dramatically and for the
better.
 A Capex bill of U$150m: We already know the U$97m assumption in last year’s PEA is
history, so with the larger assumed operation and cost inflation comes a bigger ticket,
mitigated somewhat by capex scale economies. Therefore a best guess of U$150m
today, feel free to argue (I won’t push back hard)
 Capex is paid 50/50 debt/equity style, a standard assumption that infers an NCAU with
250m shares out and debt servicing of U$10m per annum on Production Day One. We
ballpark.
 Operating cash cost of U$16/tonne: Again a best guess, predicated on last year’s
U$13.45/tonne PEA assumption with the pluses and minuses of scale and inflation, then
sticking a thumb in the air for a ballpark number
 Average gold grade of 0.62 g/t and recoveries at 79%, as per last year’s PEA. Both
seem reasonable assumptions at this point.

 TC/RC charges of 15%, in line with current industry
 Total royalties of 7%, this comprised of the 5% owned by the country of Ghana by law,
plus the 2% outstanding NSR on Enchi.
 Other line items include DD&A of U$8m per annum, SG&A at U$/m per annum,
Sustaining Capex of U$6m/annum, R&D at $1m annum. All best guesses and potentially
pitched too low, but as the operator isn’t likely to be a standalone miner that’s okay
 Corporate tax rate at 25% and paid from year one, ignoring the likely tax breaks Ghana
offers for the sake of conservatism
 Forex of CAD$1 = U$0.80, our standard house assumption
By hiking up capex, adjusting op-ex for inflation (and then some), assuming 250m shares out
instead of the current 120.6m and expecting NCAU to service debt on its capex, we’re trying to
keep the model conservative. This isn’t about cherry-picking optimized input criteria and then
wowing you with an amazing level of gross or operating profits. On the other hand, it’s clear
Enchi will grow as a deposit before any mine is built and so the 2021 PEA is used as a guide for
certain parameters, but is understood as the “snaphot in time” it most certainly is.
We then apply four different average gold prices to the model assumptions…
 U$1,600/oz is our idea of a baseline these days
 U$1,800/oz is the preferred gold price for target calculations
 U$1,900/oz reflects the present day reality (the future is unknown)
 U$2,000/oz gold gives a pointer to the leverage upside available from a low grade
heap-leacher in West Africa
…and start the Excel results rolling with this simple table:
NCAU.v: Enchi model year operating parameters (at 30k tpd throughput)
Price deck U$1.6k/ozAu U$1.8k/ozAu U$1.9k/ozAu U$2.0k/ozAu
Avg grade (g/t Au) 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62
Au prod oz (79% rec) 165,367 165,367 165,367 165,367
gross Au rev (U$m) 264.6 297.7 314.2 330.7
TC/RC (U$m) 39.7 44.6 47.1 49.6
Sales revenue (U$m) 224.9 253.0 267.1 281.1
source: NCAU data, IKN calcs & estimates
At our preferred gold price assumption of U$1,800/oz (once again, we prefer to be reasonably
conservative), a 30kptd machine at Enchi running 0.62 g/t gold at 79% recoveries generates
U$253m in top-line sales revenues for NCAU or its eventual operator. We then run a simplified
income statement on our model year:
NCAU at Enchi: Income statement model year (U$m)
at 220m S/O U$1.6k/ozAu U$1.8k/ozAu U$1.9k/ozAu U$2.0k/ozAu
Sales (U$m) 224.9 253.0 267.1 281.1
COGS 168.0 168.0 168.0 168.0
Depreciation 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
SGA+R&D 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
7% NSR (Ghana 5% +2%) 15.7 17.7 18.7 19.7
Op income 40.9 69.0 83.1 97.1
Interest 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
Workers Part. 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Tax 7.7 14.8 18.3 21.8
Net income 23.2 44.3 54.8 65.3
Shares out 250 250 250 250
EPS 0.09 0.18 0.22 0.26
FCF 0.15 0.23 0.28 0.32
Sources: NCAU data, IKN calcs & estimates
11

Operating income of U$69.0m at U$1,800/oz gold is probably more important than the eventual
theoretical net of U$44.3m, but for our valuation purposes today we’re going to stick with
bottom line profits and the EPS, which comes to 18c at our assumed 250m shares out. And
from here we can take a guess at a price target for NCAU:
Sales and earnings Valuation data for NCAU.v at Enchi based on
gold price
(U$/oz) 1.6kAu 1.8kAu 1.9kAu 2.0kAu average annual production and U$1,800/oz gold
Sales (U$m) 225 253 267 281 12-month target $1.12 based on 4x fcf
Upside to target 124%
EPS 0.09 0.18 0.22 0.26 Mkt cap (CAD$m) $60 Enterprise value $57
FCF 0.15 0.23 0.28 0.32 P/sales (1.6k Au) 0.24 EV/sales (1.6k Au) 0.23
P/E (1.6k Au) 5.4 EV/EBITDA (1.6k Au) 1.2
P/E (1.8k Au) 2.8 EV/EBITDA (1.8k Au) 0.7
P/E (1.9k Au) 2.3 EV/EBITDA (1.9k Au) 0.6
Be clear, I am the first in line to tell you that this $1.12 price target, based on a lowball 4X EPS
due to the length of time between us and Production Day One, is a best-guess ballpark and
prone to any number of variables. First and foremost, as a 12 month price target a lot would
depend on the amount of market momentum and buzz created by NCAU as 2022 moves
forward, the veteran investors among this audience will know full well that promising and
robust gold mine projects can stay undervalued for painfully long periods of time before they’re
suddenly discovered by a wider audience (Exhibit A, Rio2 at Fenix).
However, even my conservatively-pitched numbers cannot hide the fact that there’s a lot of
untapped value in Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) today around its current price deck, a statement that
even stands up to very-near-term examination if we consider the last 12 months of this stock
against its GDXJ benchmark:
Aside from a lack of radar, there’s no real reason for the recent disconnect of NCAU to GDXJ
and the chart suggests that just for starters, there’s a 20% catch-up in the near future of this
company.
To conclude this fundies look at Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) on a personal note, please remember
that while I like this stock and think it’s a great fit for our new market circumstances, I’m not an
owner (yet). That might change at any moment, however. NCAU has a checklist of positives at
this stage in its development and in Enchi, has the right type of project in the right location at
the right time and the right price, you could do a lot worse than picking up a few of these at
C$0.50 or so and we’ll watch its progress as from this week in our new section of the Stocks to
Follow list. Finally, there’s no need to take my word for today’s overview, because on Thursday
March 31st at 12 noon ET you have the chance to grill the NCAU team about Enchi and its
development, via an hour long 6ix webinar at which they will present and then answer
12

questions on the live link. Here’s the link (8) and here’s the accompanying blurb for the event:
Join Newcore Gold’s President & CEO, Luke Alexander, and VP Exploration, Greg
Smith, to get an update on Newcore Gold. Luke and Greg will discuss Newcore’s multi-
pronged exploration approach and dive deeper into the drill results released to date
from the 90,000 metre drill program underway at the Company’s Enchi Gold Project in
Ghana.
I’ll be on the webinar as a fellow spectator, hope to see you there.
Stocks to Follow
We do the housework first: While the gold bullion proxy GLD improved by 1.72% on the week
and pushed blanket PM producer ETF GDX up 4.03%, the smaller stocks didn’t improve as well
as their bigger sisters as seen in the +2.55% move in GDXJ. This reflected in the performance
of our Stocks to Follow list, as of the 14 stocks open this time last week (we exclude the new
category today) four were unchanged (QCCU.v, PA.v, APN.v) and three were downers (RIO.v,
MUX, ALDE.v). That means seven winners (MAI.v, ARG.to, DSV.v, ECU.v, CKG.v, SMD.v,
MENE.v) and that’s not bad, but there weren’t any big winners among them. In fact, the
biggest move in either direction was the 8.4% improvement from Discovery Silver and that was
more about a rebound from abnormal selling.
Standard intro done, now we move to news and the two major changes in our Stocks to Follow
list, as from this week:
1) A new category
2) A better classification of owned portfolio stocks
First up, let’s talk about the brand new category and before anything else, a big thank you to all
those who provided feedback on the idea floated in IKN670 last weekend, as you helped greatly
in working out this new classification. You collectively provided plenty of opinions and nuances
but, as I replied to one of you kind mailers, most opinions pointed in one So after due
consideration, a reasonable way forward is to expand the list, add our five interesting new ideas
I don’t yet own, but all without abandoning the “I Own This Stock" stamp of approval. That’s
what I’ve done in “Five Trade Ideas”, added to the table as from today.
Now to explain the other major and, with the advent of the new category, it got me thinking
about how I present my own open trades to readers. Over time I get the occasion query mail
about positions and sizings and while I try to point out that some trade (e.g, APN.v, PA.v) are
much smaller than other (e.g. ARG.to, DSV.v) even though none of them are Top Picks, I’m
aware of my shortcomings and how lumping them on in one basket causes some confusion. So
with the change in presentation today, I’ve gone a step further and taken the opportunity to
split the other open positions into two groups which, hopefully, should show my own attitude
toward the trades. As from today, “Recommended Stocks” are the more serious companies that
tick all the boxes without being Top Picks. Here we want good management teams, strong
projects with either good profitability for producers, strong project economics for a developer,
or an exciting, under-valued project if still at the exploreco stage. They will also be larger
personal trades in absolute terms. Meanwhile the new “Speculative Trades” group are lesser
trades at a higher risk/reward profile, though still interesting and carrying some cash.
That’s the news, now for the presentations and, up to now, the Stocks to Follow charts has
been “Top Picks”, then “Recommended Stocks” and then the long-term mining hold in the
shape of Mene Inc (MENE.v). That changes into five colour-coded categories, noted below:
TOP PICKS
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
SPECULATIVE TRADES
FIVE TRADE IDEAS FROM IKN670
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
13

 Top Picks: Self–explanatory and no changes
 Recommended Stocks: Companies I consider investments and solid
companies
 Speculative Trades: Less personal money exposed and typically, higher
risk/reward profile.
 Five Trade Ideas: The new category, that starts with the five trade ideas we
highlighted last weekend
 Long-term non-mining hold: That hasn’t changed and it’s still the
developing jewel Mene Inc (MENE.v)
There’s just one more note to add. Assuming I eventually buy one of the new five, it would
then move up and become part of either the Recommended Stocks list or the Speculative
Trades list and coloured accordingly.
Hopefully, this solution and presentation sheds more light and doesn’t complicate things too
much. It’s not going to please all of you and while some good ideas received didn’t make the
final cut, this provides a best fit between your smart feedback mails and how I’d like to move
this forward. So on we go and to wrap up today’s extended intro, we currently have 19 open
positions, one less than our self-imposed maximum. Nine are in the green, nine are in the red,
one is unchanged since inception.
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$0.62 195.2% $1.14 tgt, #1 idea on FY22 dev
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v STR BUY C$0.83 22-Apr-18 C$0.76 -8.4% $1.30 tgt May22 permit catalyst
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Amerigo Res ARG.to STR BUY C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.92 41.1% $2..40 tgt on FY22 guidance
Discovery Silver DSV.v STR BUY C$1.77 24-Oct-21 C$1.80 1.7% Best Ag play, 1st tgt $2.75
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v BUY C$0.275 25-Apr-21 C$0.27 -1.8% Now drilling. Easy hold
Element 29 ECU.v BUY C$0.59 6-Mar-22 C$0.59 0.0% Cu exploreco w/ 2 Peru assets
SPECULATIVE TRADES
Chesapeake Gold CKG.v SPEC BUY C$3.26 20-Feb-22 C$3.78 16.0% "Leverage to gold" started well
McEwen Mining MUX hold/sell U$0.89 2-Jan-22 U$0.855 -3.9% Failed trade to close in April
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v SPEC BUY C$0.72 16-May-21 C$0.92 27.8% Assay catalyst in Q1 and Q2
Strategic Metals SMD.v BUY C$0.42 31-Jan-21 C$0.39 -7.1% Canada land bet+Zn in FY22
Palamina Corp PA.v SPEC BUY C$0.295 21-Nov-21 C$0.155 -47.5% Au expl in S.Peru
Altiplano Metals APN.v SPEC BUY C$0.31 17-Sep-21 C$0.285 -8.1% Cheap entry, 1q22 re-rate
Minera IRL MIRL.cse hold C$0.195 22-Jul-12 C$0.08 -59.0% CEO change will move stock
FIVE TRADE IDEAS FROM IKN670, March 2022 (yellow not owned, blue owned)
Meridian Mining MNO.v BUY C$0.88 20-Mar-22 C$0.97 10.2% tracking IKN670 idea
Superior Gold SGI.v BUY C$0.95 20-Mar-22 C$1.00 5.3% tracking IKN670 idea
Newcore Gold NCAU.v BUY C$0.51 20-Mar-22 C$0.50 -2.0% tracking IKN670 idea
Electra Battery ELBM.v BUY C$0.295 20-Mar-22 C$0.30 1.7% tracking IKN670 idea
Western Copper WRN.to BUY C$2.41 20-Mar-22 C$2.81 16.6% tracking IKN670 idea
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.67 6-Dec-20 C$0.60 -10.4% LT bet, adding slowly
CLOSED TRADES IN 2022 date 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
Trilogy Metals TMQ Mar'22 U$1.84 15-Sep-19 U$1.04 -41.3% killed by US permit reversal
2015 to 2021 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
14

Now for notes on a few of our covered stocks:
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v): Friday evening saw Rio2 drop its 4q21 and year-end financials and it’s not a
case of belittling the core financial status of one of our two Top Pick stocks, but at this stage
the financials aren’t that important. For one, we’re looking backward on a developer that’s all
about the future quarters, for another the way RIO.v is being financed means the staged
payments don’t come in until milestones are reached (e.g. the main project permit, due in
May). Therefore, the only things we really need to know are in the balance sheet items, and
specifically cash. Here’s the assets and liabilities charts and below them, the only chart that
really matters:
RIO.v: Assets overview, per qtr
The working capital position is what matters today, as what we need to know is that RIO.v has
the liquidity required for it “pre-construction”
period and to cover the first weeks of the real
build-out, coming soon.
So after reading through the financials and the
MD&A and updating the Excel I was “no news
here” but to make sure, I pinged CEO Alex Black
Friday evening on WhatsApp. Here’s the verbatim:
Me: “I see your annuals filed tonight.
Anything to point to?”
AB: “Pretty much boilerplate at this time.”
Enough said. Meanwhile and as part of Chile’s
CRESCO conference next week, Exec VP José Luis Maertínez of RIO.v is giving a presentation to
the conference as one of the invited speakers in its “Projects Close to Production, Status and
Challenges” segments. In the same segment are reps from Marimaca (MARI.to), Gold Fields
Chile (GFI and it Salares Norte project) and Los Andes Copper (LA.v and its Vizcachitas project).
Minera Alamos (MAI.v): FWIW, the more interesting financial report from, this our other Top
Pick MAI, won’t show until the last week of
April, so don’t hold your breath on those. And
on the subject of patience, your author
doesn’t need to tell this audience MAI has
been a frustrating hold recently, but Today I
defend the company corner and this pick with
a 12 month comparative chart (right).
Despite being whacked at exactly the wrong
time by Jabba’s bulk selling in 4q21, MAI
hasn’t done any worse than the GDXJ
benchmark over the year. I’d agree we should
have been holding a clear out-performer by
15
279.96 381.27 925.27
185.27 563.47
957.37 329.08 370.48
613.86 273.96 450.17
972.17 975.27
C$m RIO.v: Liabilities overview
10
120
9
100 8
7
80
6
60 5
4
40
3
20 2
1
0
0
18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 21 21
4q 1q 2q 3q 4q 1q 2q 3q 4q 1q 2q 3q 4q
source: company filings
81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4
C$m
LT liab
current liab
source: company filings
RIO.v: Working capital
22.1-
25.1
67.0-
94.02
28.51
69.31
92.9 19.9
64.1
60.3
80.0-
68.22
54.91 25
20
15
10
5
0
-5
81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4
C$m
source: company filings

now (Grrrr OGR) but all the same, it’s not a lost cause and with the big seller now out and with
several catalysts in the pipeline dare I say there are better times ahead? Also and admittedly,
while strongly disagreeing with the decision out of OGR to dump its shares of MAI in the way it
did during 4q21 (and even more so in the method, open market without trying to reach out to
the company for a block counterparty until the damage was done), you can at least understand
their call to liquidate as long as MAI shares held close to the median line.
Element 29 Resources (ECU.v): On Monday March 21st your author had a fruitful and useful
conference call with E29’s (interim) CEO Richard Osmond. Here’s the need-to-know:
At Flor de Cobre (FdC) in South Peru, the drill program is progressing basically on-plan and they
are half-way through the original nine hole program at the fully permitted Candelaria zone of
FdC. However, ECU is likely to extend the program to 11 as it now has plans for two deeper
holes to test the underlying hypogene at Candelaria. As turnaround from the labs is reportedly
reasonable, we may see results as soon as this coming week but reading between the lines, I
get the feeling ECU will prefer to report a batch of holes in April, rather than peppering us with
a series of single hole NRs. The results from the first nine holes that are mostly twinning the
historical holes, the plan to confirm previous grades and lengths in order to get the deposit up
to 43-101 standard. CEO Osmond seems confident that on a visual level, ECU is seeing what
was expected to see in the core.
However, please recall that the currently permitted Candelaria zone is just a small corner of
FdC. The main Atravedazo zone is now on the permitting track for drilling in 2023 and in
community engagement happening now (dialogue reportedly fluid and every reason to expect a
standard agreement (access and good will in exchange for casual labour and work programs,
etc). On that point, I’d like to mention one of the advantages of backing ECU instead of A.N.
Other junior in Peru. Unlike other companies, ECU isn’t just reliant on its local team for insight
on CSR, instead its C-suite and management really understand the place and how it ticks.
That’s important in this day and age and is greater benefit than being able to hire a competent
community relations team on the ground. We should see the benefits of this in 2023 and
beyond.
We then switched subjects and talked on its Elida project in the North of Peru. CEO Osmond got
me up to speed on the last hole, which
was finished in mineralization at over
900m depth before the end of 2021. The
company is working on its Maiden
Resource Estimate for the limited
amount of drilling at Target One and we
should get that “snapshot in time” in
3q22, by which time the drills should be
turning on its next phase of drilling. The
plans for Elida drilling run through 3q22
and 4q22.
Finally a word on corporate matters and
treasury, budget and eventual financing.
CEO Osmond was relaxed about the
current funds available as they cover all
planned work. It doesn’t take Sherlock
Holmes level of deduction to work out
that most of the current treasury will be
burned into development of FdC and
Elida, so they will pick their spot and run
a financing at some point, but there’s clearly no rush so perhaps a classic “post-Labor Day”
event is on their minds. Finally, Interim CEO Osmond confirmed that he is indeed interim and at
some point, will step back and hand the company to a permanent replacement so when that
16

happens, don’t be surprised. Overall, 2022 should be busy at ECU and with two strong and
active projects, any NR at any time of the year could provide a price catalyst.
Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v): The idea behind the trade call and modest initial purchase of
Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v) in IKN665 was to take advantage of its well-established “leverage to
gold” aspect and with six weeks behind us, the results have been positive enough:
Not exactly headline-making, but the type of beta you’d require from a speculative punt. So the
optionality is working to date and the table has a decent entry point for the modest starter
position. However and as pointed out in IKN665, there’s more to CKG than just its established
resource count because 2022 should be the year we see the story improve. The new approach
to its trappy metallurgy is the bonus card and if the team can deliver what they’ve suggested,
the ounces at Metates will revalue accordingly. FWIW, I’m sticking to the current position size
until we know more about the results of the team’s met work, but adding at higher prices is a
valid option later on.
Altiplano Metals (APN.v): One of these days,
stocks such as this well-run and promising junior,
with interesting exploration projects and improving
cash flow to pay for its development plans, will get
more sustained loved from the market. However, at
the moment they only get bids when there’s news, or
perhaps a new video segment, or after somebody
reads a small paragraph or two on the stock in a
weekend letter focused on junior mining stocks.
Discovery Silver (DSV.v): On Friday, Cormark
Securities opened coverage on DSV with their note
“Silver Developer With Unmatched Scale”, giving the stock a Spec Buy rating and a C$3.50 price
target. Cormark put together a decent initial coverage note and touched on all the major bases,
so no issues to report on content, the house reco or even its price target. Instead a comment
on a couple of aspects and angles Cormark sees:
1) The Cormark $3.50 price target is above most others (including here), so a word on
their reasoning. They understand that “bigger is better” at Cordero and rightly so, but
instead of keeping the idea theoretical, they assume a 60ktpd machine for the eventual
mine, rather than 40ktpd. That drives economies of scale and better cash flow, hence
the higher price target.
2) Cormark adds flavour to the 2022 drill program that we’ve only sketched out here. To
begin, they note how drilling in 1q22 was mostly about holes for the upcoming resource
upgrade into the eventual PFS. We’ve had a few of those results already, the bulk of
the remaining assays come from the North-East zone of Cordero that should allow more
rock in that zone of the deposit into the PFS
3) As for what remains of the 30,000m program for the rest of 2022, drilling now switches
17

focus to exploration and resource expansion. DSV has several targets identified,
including five not located in or next to the current Cordero pit zone, mostly identified by
geophysics.
As for trading last week, our 30,000ft thoughts in IKN670 last weekend on how DSV offered a
great entry point for a fliptrade turned out to be true, but…
…also virtually untradable. There was nothing under $1.70 and only the very quickest early
buyers got shares under the $1.80 line, at which DSV proceed to trade at or above all week.
However, it’s worth nothing the lack of reaction from the Cormark note on Friday.
Minera IRL (MIRL.cse): One of the issues your author complained to management about for
over a year is the lack of market in MIRL, so the announcement dated March 1st did at least
seem to address the problem (8). To remind the audience, as well as announcing the end of its
agreement with Haywood to market to company and/or the Ollachea project to third parties,
MIRL also told us this:
MARKET-MAKING SERVICES
Minera also announces that it has entered into a market-making agreement with
Independent Trading Group (“ITG”) effective March 1, 2022. ITG has agreed to provide
market-making services for Minera on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”) in an
effort to maintain an orderly market and improve liquidity.
We compare that announcement to the reality of the stock trading:
It has taken from March 17th to last Friday to register five trades in MIRL. Another fail from this
company to throw on a very large pile.
Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v): It goes up 5c, it goes down 5c, it goes up 5c, it goes down
5c. We await drill assay news but while being patient, the CESCO conference next week may
shine some light on the undervalued advantages of this large copper story. Holding and waiting
for the next drill results, the noisy online marketing and the financing round.
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): This trade is running on rails:
18

This is what they are supposed to do every time, of course. The continue accumulation of ARG
saw it briefly break the C$2.00 line, but we’ve also seen how ARG gives back a few pennies end
week, so while the C$1.92 close doesn’t scream massive weekly gains, the regularity of the
trend is the thing. While copper’s price improvement drives the price gain, the dividend will
make for reluctant sellers.
The Copper Basket
After twelve weeks of 2022, The Copper Basket shows a loss of 1.35% level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/22 Shares out Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Copper Mtn CMMC.to 3.42 210.166 804.94 3.83 12.0%
2 Western Copper WRN.to 2.00 151.451 425.58 2.81 40.5%
3 Oroco Res OCO.v 2.04 203.4 376.29 1.85 -9.3%
4 Marimaca Cop MARI.to 3.77 88.028 355.63 4.04 7.2%
5 Nevada Copper NCU.to 0.71 448.437 336.33 0.75 5.6%
6 Meridian Min MNO.v 1.18 153.735 149.12 0.97 -17.8%
7 Hot Chili HCH.v 1.53 109.223 147.45 1.35 -11.8%
8 Regulus Res. REG.v 1.06 101.845 131.38 1.29 21.7%
9 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 0.84 114.495 105.34 0.92 9.5%
10 C3 Metals CCCM.v 0.16 645.379 64.54 0.10 -37.5%
11 Kutcho Copper KC.v 0.88 103.94 61.32 0.59 -33.0%
12 Doré Copper DCMC.v 0.79 66.123 54.22 0.82 3.8%
13 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.58 79.24 46.75 0.59 1.7%
14 QC Copper QCCU.v 0.34 129.06 34.85 0.27 -20.6%
15 Coast Copper COCO.v 0.13 41.335 5.79 0.14 7.7%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg -1.35%
A good week for copper stocks large and small, The Copper Basket 2022, weekly evolution
4%
reflected in the results of our Copper Basket on
2%
the week with just three losers from the 15 names
0%
(ALDE.v, KC.v, COCO.v) and two others
-2%
unchanged (DCMC.v, QCCU.v). That means ten
winners so there’s no need to name them all, we -4%
just highlight the biggest gains as seen in Regulus -6%
(REG.v up 19.4%), Western (WRN.to up 16.6%), -8%
C3 Metals (CCCM.v up 11.1%...in fact just a -10%
penny) and Meridian (MNO.v up 10.2% and soon
to be Dot Tee Oh).
19
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source: IKN calcs

Underscoring the positivism was the price action in copper the metal, which traded either at or
above U$4.70/lb all week, briefing holding above U$4.80/lb before profit takers moved in
Friday. Volumes traded were strong
and the realization that near-term
demand issues are driving the price
has spread through the wider financial
markets. Copper is back in-play, folks.
This week’s curated macro
commentary was an easy pick, the
title includes five trigger words for
The IKN Weekly: Copper, Russia,
Supply, Andy and Home…total catnip
. As always, Andy Home of Reuters
supplies plenty of insight on the base
metals market in this report (9)
entitled, “Copper may be too relaxed
about Russian supply threat”, which
looked at the supply and demand of
Russian copper production but went into the weeds on its physical trade routes as they are
complicated and may mean more trouble than just removing around 4% of world production
from the open market. As usual it’s difficult to offer a single snippet from a Andu home piece,
but let’s try to show the flavour. After explaining that Russia’s minor role in the world copper
market wasn’t worrying the LME grandees, he continued with:
“…not everyone is so sanguine about the consequences of what the Russian
government terms its "special operation" in Ukraine.
Goldman Sachs argues that copper is "mispricing Russian supply risk", the super-cycle
bull keeping its elevated target of $12,000 per tonne over a 12-month time-frame.
The report then explains that while most Russian copper ends up in China, some of it has to
take a long route through Europe and that’s the basic reason why the sanctions being imposed
on all things Russian may hurt copper supply more than expected. He then quotes the Vampire
Squid a second time…
"Until the shipping constraints subside, these copper units are likely to be dislocated
from the market," according to Goldman, which adds that "this implies up to a 50-60kt
per month reduction of copper supply to the ex-Russia refined market."
…before adding more data and insight of his own:
It's questionable to what extent the global refined copper supply chain can handle that
scale of disruption right now. Global exchange stocks are low. There are currently
276,000 tonnes of copper sitting in LME, Shanghai Futures Exchange and CME
warehouses. Total inventory has risen by 85,800 tonnes so far this year but that's
down to the seasonal stock build in China around the lunar new year holidays.
Compared with this time last year exchange inventory cover is down by 121,000
tonnes. LME stocks have fallen by almost 9,000 tonnes since the start of the year and
at 79,975 tonnes are equivalent to just over a day's global usage. Time-spreads are
relaxed but that may have as much to do with the LME's backwardation caps across all
its main contracts as it has with copper's own dynamics. By any historical gauge LME
inventory is close to depleted and highly vulnerable to any renewed panic buying such
as seen in the run-up to last October's squeeze. Russian copper isn't yet sanctioned
and it won't be banned by the LME, for now at least. And even if it were, there's no
doubt that it would find a ready home in China.
Eventually.
But getting it to China means transhipping it through Europe and that's getting harder
by the day. A readjustment of Russian copper trade flows may not be nearly as smooth
as Doctor Copper seems to be expecting.
20

This house agrees, even more so when you consider that Andy Home went to print with last
weekend’s copper inventories numbers. As we are about to see in our weekly look at world
copper inventories, things are even tighter this weekend:
 In much the same pattern as last weekend’s ultra-bullish market data, world aggregate
stocks from the three systems dropped by another 25,719 metric tonnes (mt) this
week. March should see the total rise, it’s the opposite.
 Once again, it’s all the SHFE all the time. Shanghai copper stocks dropped by another
27, 451mt on the week, which means they’ve dropped by nearly 60kmt in two weeks a
and underscores our bullish outlook. This weekend’s SHFE total is 102,055mt and the
timing of this drop is unheard of in the China market cycle.
 The LME saw a net of 1,100mt Cu enter warehouses on the week, a modest total and
still not enough to cover the 17,450mt under cancelled warrant and scheduled to leave
stocks soon. Friday closed at 80,600mt, still very tight and with 26,100mt of that total
located in the relative backwater LME warehouses in New Orleans USA, it’s tighter still
in real terms.
 The Comex’s minor changes continue, stocks added 632mt to close at 66,537mt.
Here’s the dedicated SHFE inventory chart, showing that dramatic dip in the last two weeks
after stocks topped out at just over 160kmt
Shanghai Futures Exchange Warehouse Stocks, 2017 to date
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
21
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ht6naJ
dr3ram 9102ht82rpa dr32 ht81 ht31 ht8 0202dn2bef 202ht92ram ht42 ht91 ht31 ht8 dr3 ht82 1202ht52rpa ht02 ht51 ht01 1202ht5ced 2202ht03naj ht72
Mt Cu
|
source: Cochilco
The inventories outlook could not be more bullish, with the LME as depleted as SHFE and
Comex not part of the price discovery equation, not yet anyway. Now for notes on a couple of
our basket stocks:
Oroco Resources (OCO.v): The upsized
placement closed in good order (10), OCO
raised $18.2m in gross proceeds and now has
around 203.4m shares out. Its book duly
filled, the share price lifted away from the
$1.70 line readily and I’d expect it to re-take
the $2+ level soon enough. Near-term
ambitions may be crimped at the $2.40 line
and that new warrants overhang, but that’s a
few percentage points away as yet and there’s
trade-ability in this stock now (for those that
care enough).
Regulus Resources (REG.v): We’re now in the umbra of the first drill assay results and the
“2021” hole that could show as early as this week, but was always slated by these pages for
April. The share price seems to be pre-empting good news…

…but the Achilles’ Heel of REG, traded volume, is still patchy. It’s not so easy to be comfortable
with a trade here than at OCO due to liquidity, on the other hand the jagged way in which REG
can rise quickly during the periods of live trading means there’s upside potential and a lot of
room for the stock to play catch-up to peers on the pure trading level.
Marimaca Copper (MARI.to): As well as a good week at market, MARI is one of the
sponsors of next week’s CESCO Conference Day One on Resource companies. The day features
a keynote speech by Chile’s Minister of Mining Marcela Hernando (see Regional Politics below)
and MARI’s VP Exploration, Sergio Rivera, gets his presentation slot later in the day.
Copper Mountain (CMMC.to): Although I personally tapped out on this trade recently (and
at slightly lower prices than this weekend’s close,
more fool me) CMMc is always close to the centre
of my copper stocks radar, as it’s traditionally a
high volatility play used as a copper trading
vehicle by the Canadian market and gets thrown
around on high beta. This six month chart
comparing CMMC to the copper producers’ ETF
(COPX) illustrates the concept, with the help of a
few simple red lines, drawn in.
As a reminder, I decided to sell CMMC due to its
weak 2022 guidance and as 1q22 wraps up next
week, that influence may be back in-play soon.
The Producer Basket
After twelve weeks of 2022, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 20.21% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/22 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 62.02 797.44 62.96 78.95 27.3%
2 Barrick GOLD 19.00 1779 43.66 24.54 29.2%
3 Franco-Nevada FNV 138.29 191.192 30.23 158.09 14.3%
4 Agnico Eagle AEM 53.14 453.5 28.14 62.05 16.8%
5 Wheaton PM WPM 42.93 450.3 21.74 48.28 12.5%
6 Gold Fields GFI 10.99 887.72 13.89 15.65 42.4%
7 Kinross Gold KGC 5.81 1369.3 7.85 5.73 -1.4%
8 B2Gold BTG 3.93 1055.6 4.94 4.68 19.1%
9 Alamos Gold AGI 7.69 392.503 3.28 8.35 8.6%
10 Sandstorm SAND 6.20 191.4 1.58 8.27 33.4%
All prices and stock quotes in U$ Port. avg 20.21%
22

All ten of our basket stocks returned gains but the GDX out-performed our picks and we’re
trailing by an overly large gap of 3.5% again, not surprising when you consider the defensive
nature of the 2022 IKN picks (we gained ground two weeks ago when the sector dropped). The
best performer of our list is the biggest market capper, so an impressive 6.8% gained by NEM
on the week. At the tail end, Gold Fields’ (GFI) rocket run in 1q22 has stalled in the last couple
of weeks of Q1, last week up just was only up by 0.4% after losing a heavy 6.5% the week
before last.
The 2022 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and
30% comparative to GDX control
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
-15%
Next week sees the end of the first quarter of 2022 (time flies) and our first comparative
snapshot of our ten producers (along with the same exercise for The Copper Basket). No
doubts about the quarter’s biggest loser, as Kinross (KGC) was first punished for buying Great
Bear (ex-GBR) without having a strong balance sheet as back-up, then got whacked through no
fault of its own, thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the company having its Kupol
operations in the newly-sanctioned aggressor State. As for the rest, we can chew it over next
weekend.
Agnico Eagle (AEM): The last of the big players to file its 4q21 financials, Agnico Eagle got
through earnings unscathed as seen in this ten-day comparative chart to GDX (right).
That makes sense, as this stock price doesn’t rely on a backwards look at 4q21 earnings when
the biggest factor going forward is its new fusion with Kirkland Lake. So with the shock news
that AEM “had retried” Tony Makuch even before he could start doing whatever he wanted to
do (that upset directors), the only potential market mover left was its 2022 guidance and as
that…
The mid-point of payable gold production guidance for 2022 and 2023 is 3.3 and 3.33
million ounces, respectively. Payable production in 2022 is expected to range between
3,210,000 and 3,390,000 ounces, and in 2023 is expected to range between 3,235,000
and 3,425,000.
…came in as expected for 2022 (and it’s too early to price in 2023), the market gave AEM its
pass and moved on.
23
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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 2 0th 2 7th
source: IKN calcs, NYSE data

The TinyCaps List
After twelve weeks of 2022, the TinyCaps show a gain of 3.43% 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 10.58 0.285 18.8%
Golden Pursuit GDP.v 0.13 34.638 5.72 0.165 26.9%
Infield Min INFD.v 0.06 48.276 2.17 0.045 -25.0%
Kingfisher Met KFR.v 0.30 84.57 16.91 0.20 -33.3%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.12 57.296 7.16 0.125 4.2%
Manitou Gold MTU.v 0.06 344.47 20.67 0.06 0.0%
Melkior Res MKR.v 0.295 24.011 6.48 0.27 -8.5%
Precipitate Gold PRG.v 0.105 129.322 17.46 0.135 28.6%
Signature Res SGU.v 0.07 238.4 21.46 0.09 28.6%
Winshear Gold WINS.v 0.08 61.585 4.62 0.075 -6.3%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 3.43%
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.
A Curate’s Egg of a week for the micro cap end of the market, with lack of volume again the
main influence and disparate performances from
14% TinyCaps, 2022 weekly tracker
stocks getting moved around by trades, rather
12%
than news or macro events. Just one stock on
10%
our list was a winner (PRG.v up 12.5%) and
8%
three others remained unchanged (INFD.v,
6%
KFR.v, SGU.v), which means six losers (AUL.v,
4%
GDP.v, LMS.v, MTU.v, MKR.v, WINS.v) and the
2%
biggest drop in those was the 14.3% lost by
0%
Manitou, so we’re talking a penny or two down
for the rest. No biggie either way and the weekly -2%
tracking chart (right) shows the lack of trend or
direction in the basket so far this year, too.
Aurelius Minerals (AUL.v): Here in the 2022 TinyCaps list to keep an eye on the progress of
this previous personal loser of a trade, AUL
started 2022 briskly but, as the chart
indicates, its share price deterioration is all
about a lack of volume.
Interest has sagged in this stock over the last
month. The likely reason for the lack of
volume is the lack of news, and that in turn is
explained by the last NR from AUL dated
February 22nd, in which the company stated
24
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naJ
ht61naJ dr32 ht03 ht6bef ht31 ht02 ht72 ht6ram ht31 ht02 ht72
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

(quote), “Nordmin Engineering has been retained to prepare the updated mineral resource
estimate, expected by early in the second quarter of 2022.” As the NR also stated “six to eight
weeks” on Feb 22nd, its reasonable to assume mid-April (11). We are now just days away from
the start of 2q22, so the company should come out of hibernation with interesting news for the
market soon enough. It’s always
dangerous to attempt second-guessing
the company on matters such as resource
updates, there are so many moving parts,
but it’s due this quarter and then should
be followed by a PEA. I’ve never hidden
the fact that I like the Aureus East project
and its geology may allow AUL to declare
a larger inferred gold resource count than
the market expects, certainly compared to
the company’s tiny market cap today High
risk at this stage and the 43-101 will lean
heavily toward inferred-only ounces , but
there are worse crapshoot rolls out there
than this one at a sub-30c price.
Kingfisher Metals (KFR.v): Another piece on what’s turning into the most intriguing
company on the list, at least during this first quarter as the stock tumbles while the company
waits to go drilling at Goldrange. The excuse to mention KFR this time is this link to a 30+
minute YouTube slot in which KFR CEO Dustin Perry gets softball questions and the opportunity
to extol the virtues of his company (12). Though typical pay-to-play fare, it provides a good
overview of 2022 company plans and the main takeaway, that as from May the company will be
drilling 2,000m of percussion drilling and then 7,500m of shallow diamond drill holes at
Goldrange, with the Day Trip zone clearly high on CEO Perry’s hit list of exciting targets. We
also learned that shallow holes would have been
preferred last year as well, but the company was
limited in the number of pads it could create and so
decided to do the longer holes we saw. CEO Perry
was also keen on the company’s share price down
here, calling it highly undervalued and mentioning
that he’d been buying on the open market.
KFR spent the week bouncing between 20c and 21c,
closing on the lower and UNCH for the week, which
is fair enough and allows those with the required
high-risk tolerance to build at the 20c level, using
patience of course.
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
Chile: CESCO Week and an interview with Chile’s new Mining Minister, Marcela
Hernando
This week is CESCO Week 2022 in Chile (13), the country’s annual mining leaders conference
that also incorporates the CRU/CESCO World Copper Conference on days two and three of its
four days. CRU/CESCO in particular gathers the major players of copper’s supply, middlemen
and demand in Santiago and this year in-person again, with a hybrid online option (your author
is using, this lucky boy has a freebie). While a range of topical and interesting industry focused
presentations are on the agenda (the Argentine Copper Mining Outlook, Brazilian Copper Mining
25

Update and a presentation on the future of Sulphuric Acid prices have caught this desk’s eye),
the most keenly awaited segment is the keynote speech at the start of the two days, set to be
delivered by Chile’s new government. It will the be opportunity for the Boric presidency to set
international minds at ease on its intentions for the copper sector and for mining in Chile, so
you can be sure they will grab this media opportunity with both hands.
As for the content, you need look no further than the recent interview conducted CNN Chile
(though obviously affiliated, not CNN or CNN International, CNN Chile strong local reputation for
factual news), in which newly inaugurated Minister of Mining in Chile, Marcela Hernando, laid
out the vision of the incoming government and mining (14). The interview is worth the time of
Spanish speakers and covers all the themes we’ve broached on these pages in recent times.
Hernando defended the adoption of the new mining royalty, that’s taken until from May 2021 to
now to find passage through the Senate, and the raising of concession dues as well as the
changes in the laws that are aimed at stopping Concession Squatting. Here’s a quote:
“It’s painful that companies can explore anywhere. The majority of terrains in Chile are under
concession for exploration, but only 2% of the terrain are exploited. Once they are designated
and something is found they have a designated project: They spend money, contract workers
and only then do they (bother about) consulting the locals. In this way, projects that have seen
a lot investment become conflictive and difficult, such as the Dominga project.” To this, she
refers to the Dominga iron/copper project owned by Andes Iron, with a capex tickert price of
$”.5Bn which had its permits denied in 2017 and then approved in 2021 under the previous
Sebastian Piñera government, only to be the centre of a corruption scandal when the Panama
Papers leak connected Piñera to payments and incentive schemes with the company.
She also made crystal clear that Chile under Boric would welcome mining FDI as a key part of
the country’s post-pandemic economic revival and the country was not about to nationalize the
industry or use Codelco as an obligatory partner in new projects. But the message also came
with the new emphasis on ESG and environmental care, for example in diplomatically chosen
phraseology such as (translated) “We would like to favour economic reactivation and
investment, but also making the industry more sustainable.”
This interview, along with a hatchet-burying meeting with Chile’s Chamber of Mining last week,
cover the message that CESCO Week 2022 delegates will hear on Tuesday morning and when
the dust is settled, the copper mining industry will be generally receptive to the new Chile that’s
a far cry from the “Commies Taking Over” messages they picked up from social media
ignorance.
Peru: Room to raise taxes
Back in 4q21, we reported on the hoo-hah between Peru’s new government and its plans to
hike taxes on mining, part of President Castillo’s election platform and backed by FinMin at the
time, Pedro Francke. Back then, the government said they were looking to add around three
points onto the State burden for mining companies, which would bring the total burden on cash
flow to around 45%. Unsurprisingly the industry hit back, as seen for example in this
December 13th Reuters note (15):
The National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy said Francke's proposal would
"irreparably" damage competitiveness in Peru's sector mining, the engine of the
country's economy.
"We consider that there is ample evidence that the tax burden on mining is currently
close to 50% of profits," the chamber said. It added the rate in neighboring Chile was
just over 40%, while it was 35.5% in Canada and 44.3% in Australia.
The Peru government brought in the IMF to give its opinion and that report finally arrived this
Thursday March 24th. The IMF said (16) that the overall burden on mining companies was
around 41.7%, was competitive with other regions (with particular attention to neighbour and
fellow big copper producer Chile) and most of all, Peru’s regime was advantageous to large-
scale mining operations, who tended to pay less of their total percentage of cash flows in State
26

burdens. Therefore as long as any extra tax were 1) moderate and 2) based on back end profit
sharing rather than gross values, the IMF judged that it would not be a problem for the sector
relative to other countries or regions. So now you know and that also means the delayed tax
hike will happen, no matter under a Castillo presidency or whoever comes after. On that
subject…
Peru: A Presidential impeachment debate
After gaining enough votes to move the process to its final and critical stage, tomorrow Monday
sees Peru’s Congress conduct its debate and eventual vote on the “Vacancy” of its President,
Pedro Castillo, on the ground of “Moral Incapacity” (a catch-all accusation if ever there was
one, as it seems to presume other politicians are morally capable). As noted last weekend, if at
least 87 of the 130 members of Congress vote against Castillo he will be forced to resign or be
kicked out and one of this weekend’s parlour games in Peru is to guess if Congress has enough
votes. After listening to and reading most sides, this desk thinks it’s too tough to call and a lot
will depend on selfish political decisions or calls from party leaders.
To Castillo’s benefit, one of the proposals now doing the rounds is to call early cross-Peru
elections and that’s not what the current Congress wants (they want to kick out the President
without losing their own cushy numbers, of course), which is also a threat being used by Veep
Dina Boluarte and this self-interest may deter enough of the fence-sitting politicos in Congress
to abstain rather than vote against their President. However, the claim used by from Castillo’s
Prime Minister and cabinet chief PM Anibal Torres that (17), “If Castillo falls, we all fall, all the
people and all of Peru”, is nonsense. PM Torres is alluding to the plight of the working class
against the oligarchy powers of the country and might hold water if Castillo had a reasonable
mandate, but his win only came about by default due to the bizarre circumstance of 1) a
protest vote that got him into the run-off and 2) being up against the unelectable Keiko
Fujimori. Just because Castillo is a lefty, from the provinces and hated by the Lima Clans
doesn’t make him a good President. Quite the contrary, he’s an awful Head of State and as
interested in lining his own pockets as any other (and his entourage is even worse). Be it just or
unjust, if he’s thrown out next week most Peruvians will not lament his departure.
The problem is less about impeaching Castillo, more about what would happen if he were as a
power vacuum could quickly develop without a clear path toward a new vote and new
democratically elected President. So if the current members Congress decide not to risk their
seats in new elections and believe that getting rid of Castillo would cause more harm than good
he would survive next week, but only as the lamest of lame duck Presidents.
Colombia: The Petro vs Fico battle commences
As noted on the blog last week (18), we had the third edition of Colombia’s benchmark opinion
poll “La Gran Encuesta” (sponsored and run by many of its most reliable media sources and not
a phone or internet based, this one is face-to-face polling) and the first one since the Senate
vote and quasi-primaries in the country (see IKN670 last weekend). Here’s the visual that
matters from the report (19):
27

In fact, “Fico” Gutiérrez may be polling a few points higher than his 19% reading as the poll
was taken between March 14th and 19th and, by the end of that period, his name was better
known than at the beginning just one day after his quasi-primary victory. The other significant
readings were the extension of Petro’s Round One lead and the “anti-vote” as those saying they
wouldn’t select a candidate or spoil their ballot dropped to 16%.
We’re now 10 weeks from election day and the field is clearing, with the most probable scenario
leading to a run-off between Petro on the left and Gutiérrez representing the right. That’s now
highly likely, with perhaps the other possible result being an outright win for Petro, which isn’t
impossible as we know he will move to the political centre and tone down the hardline rhetoric
in this final stage. The other potential result would perhaps a resurgent Rodolfo Hernández
grabbing second spot, but that would now be dependent on a turnaround in sentiment and
some sort of major error from the Fico camp. As for the likely ballotage, La Gran Encuesta
measures it at 42% Petro, 35% Fico, with 23% None-Of-The-Above. The bottom line is that La
Gran Encuesta confirms our call from last weekend and that this election is Petro’s to lose, so
watch out mining world.
Finally, this weekend saw the two frontrunners settle their tickets and choose Vice-Presidential
running mates. Gustavo Petro’s Veep candidate is Francia Márquez, an activist politician from
the Cauca region who ran second to Petro in the left wing primaries. A rising star of the left
wing, if elected she would be the country’s first ever Afrocolombiana (that’s the word) Veep.
She is also the winner of the Goldman Prize in 2018 for her activism work in Cauca against…roll
on drums…the mining industry and the environmental devastation it causes in Cauca. As for
Fico Gutiérrez, yesterday Saturday he announced that Rodrigo Lara Sánchez would be his
running mate. He is the son of Rodrigo Lara, the Minister of Justice assassinated by Pablo
Escobar’s henchmen in 1984, a previous governor of the Neiva who until last week was a
vociferous backer of centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo. Lara is centre-right by political nature
and not a natural ally of the hard right wing in Colombia politics (Alvaro Uribe etc), having also
coordinated the campaign of Green Party leader Antonus Mockus in 2014. That Fico picked a
centrist for his ticket shows where the battleground lies, but it may also open the door to
dissent for Fico Gutiérrez from the right wing, potentially helping the independent Rodolfo
Hernandez. We shall see.
The Brazilian Report identifies Jair Bolsonaro’s big problem
This week saw another Brazil election poll, from pollster Instituto FSB Pesquisa and
commissioned by investment bank BTG Pactual, which shows Lula da Silva in a handy 43 to 29
lead over current President Jair Bolsonaro and what’s more, Lula’s 14 point lead stretches to 19
points in the event of a second round run-off between the two.
We may see the gap close in the next few weeks as President Bolsonaro is scheduled to kick off
his formal campaign this weekend, his reported strategy will be to remind Brazilians of the
corruption that went on in the time of Lula’s PT (Workers Party) governments. However, a brief
but insightful note from the English language website The Brazilian Report (20)homes in on
Lula’s true advantage and the major hurdle facing Jair. Here’s a screenshot:
28

It’s not just you and your country, dear reader, Brazilians are as fed up with their political class
as most other nations but instead of voting None-Of-The-Above, will apparently prefer to go
tactical and vote against their most hated, rather than for their preferred candidate. That’s bad
news for all the alternative candidates to Lula da Silva or Jair Bolsonaro, as they may see their
slim voter intentions drop even further as voters migrate to their preferred “Anti-Vote”. And as
Lula isn’t far away from getting 50%+1 according to most recent polls, it may even see the
incumbent President lose in round one. To round of, the usual reminder that, unlike in Colombia
where a Petro win would be outright bad news for the mining sector, a Lula win in Brazil
wouldn’t be particularly damaging (no matter what the right wing might say to the contrary).
Market Watching
A Final Palladium and Platinum update
The news on Friday afternoon of Russia’s claim that the first stage of its incursion into Ukraine
was complete and it would now concentrate efforts on the Eastern regions of the country
caused a few ripples in the market. None
more so than in palladium (and platinum), as
seen here compared to the continuous gold
contract (GC00):
The action saw the prices fall off another
mini cliff and made my mind up to close out
this small series of ‘Market Watching’ entries
on the two metals, running since the start of
the invasion. Both metals are volatile, but
palladium is particularly vulnerable to
present-day hearsay and rumour and gets
thrown around at will. This is not a subject
for The IKN Weekly, I don’t know enough
about the sub-sector and can no longer feign
interest in any potential trade opportunity, either. A little knowledge in palladium is clearly a
dangerous thing and even if I timed an entry point well, it would be more luck than judgment.
Superior (SGI.v) Meridian (MNO.v) Newcore (NCAU.v) Electra (ELBM.v) and Western
(WRN.to): Tracking the IKN670 trade ideas
After last week’s introduction to the five ideas for new trades in our radically changed market
for mining (and other) stocks, the intro section and the Stocks to Follow section cover the
decision to incorporate the companies into regular coverage her at the weekly. We also feature
Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) in close focus today, but there’s also room to discuss developments in
the other new trade ideas and that’s why this section exists in Market Watching.
To begin, here’s a five day chart of GDX and the five companies in question: Western Copper &
Gold (WRN.to, yellow line), Meridian Mining (MNO.v, blue line), Superior Gold (SGI.v, gold line),
Electra Battery Materials (ELBM.v, brown line) and Newcore Gold (NCAU.v, orange line):
29

The best performance came from WRN.to, which
sprang to life on Friday after two pieces of news
and here’s that company chart, separated (right).
First up on Thursday morning March 24th WRN
delivered (21) results from the final 13 holes of
its recent 22 holes drill program at Casino, which
saw assay results that are typical of the deposit
and fully in line with the grades expected, but a
line inserted into the NR’s cover paragraph
caught the eye of many market watchers. We
use bold type:
VANCOUVER, B.C. Western Copper and
Gold Corporation (“Western” or the
“Company”) (TSX: WRN; NYSE American: WRN) is pleased to announce assay results
from the remaining 13 holes of the 2021 diamond drilling program at its wholly-owned
Casino Copper-Gold Project (“Casino”) in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The program,
developed with input from Rio Tinto, comprised a total of 6,074.97 m in 22 holes.
Highlights of the first nine drill holes were reported in Western’s Nov. 29, 2021 news
release, and are included herein. Drill assay results are shown in Table 1 and collar
data in Table 2
WRN made a point of reminding the world that its strategic partner and minority shareholder,
the world-class Tier One Rio Tinto (RTZ), had input on where the holes in this campaign had
been sunk. Not only that, but WRN did so just 24 hours before filing its 4q21 and 2021 year-
end financials (22). Those were box standard for the company and exemplify the strategy WRN
has used over the years of being boring, not doing much and spending a minimal amount to
stay active and keep structure intact until the market suits them (i.e. now). The company
capitalized C$11.3m of development work on Casino and burned another C$5.2m in corporates,
all while raising over C$33m in its placement round. That put corporate cash and equivalents at
nearly C$47m as at December 31st and a signal that WRN won’t need to dilute further for years,
if necessary.
But as the price chart shows, that non-descript financial quarter coincided with a stock price set
on fire, but the cause wasn’t the frugality shown by management during 4q21. instead it seems
to be a market rumour, apparently started by someone with skin in the game that RTZ was
about to offer over $6/share for WRN. The rumour was diffused in The USA and caused the US
Ticker (WRN) to explode on volume and all seems a little dubious to this desk, as this same
rumour did the rounds back in 2q21 and via the same type of USA-first channel, only to come
to naught. When somebody purport to won shares pumps a stock via dubious means, there’s
nothing to stop them from selling into the pop and making us all into fools. On the other hand,
the best rumours are the ones wrapped in logic and truth, it’s no big leap off the imagination to
see RTZ stepping up and making a friendly bid for WRN at these levels.
Our second feature today is Meridian Mining, which has the ticker MNO.v but is about to
become MNO.to after its announcement (23) on Wednesday 23rd that it had been accepted
onto Toronto’s Dot Tee Oh big board. The approval is conditional and we don’t yet have a date
for the move, but it’s a strong positive for this stock and one that will allow it into larger funds
and covered by other instos. The five-day price chart shows the news improved the share price
on the day…
30

…however, the real move in the stock was fuelled the day before on Tuesday 22nd and this NR
(24) entitled “Meridian Reports Multiple Zones of High‐Grade Copper‐Gold at Cabaçal”. The
results from this latest round of assays are on-point with our trade theory: smarter geological
theory is unlocking the true metal content of the at-surface VMS which should become a
profitable open pit operation one of these days.
The NR is a long one (MNO likes to give more rather than less in its NRs and covers plenty of
bases, even the CEO comment goes on for a long paragraph and is difficult to excerpt without
leaving out subjects, so read the whole thing on the link. Instead, our hack today is this map
from the NR, which points to some of the highlight holes and also the intriguing CD-099 at the
far end of the Cabaçal Northwest Extension (CNWE), the newly identified zone away from the
main target area around the old mines that has already shown impressive shallow gold returns.
We only got a teaser photo from Cd-099 this time and I don’t normally like those, but this had a
chunk of Visible Gold and considering its location, opens up all types of potential for the future
of CNWE and the larger Cabaçal program.
Two wrap up, a quick word on the other two companies:
Superior Gold (SGI.v) traded well last week and wasn’t easy to buy, I hope this doesn’t turn
into a “theoretical win” only. I’m going to hold off from chasing it and purchasing for the
moment, with a view to its likely soft 1q22 production number allowing an entry window. Then
again, if gold runs they will all run, so the fate of this trade is also partly tied to my other PM
positions. We’ll take a closer look at SGI’s financials and 2022 soon, maybe even next weekend
if anyone cares enough. You know my mailbox.
Electra Battery (ELBM.v) published an update (25) with the main message of “We Are On
Schedule” for the build-out of Battery Park. A reassuring NR that saw the stock trade at and
above 30c for a while, before sellers brought it back to 29.5c at Friday’s close because when
you think about it, anything other than telling the world it was on-schedule would be bad news.
Just a brief update today and as with the other newbies, we’ll take a close look at its interesting
financial set-up and potential in the near future.
31

Conclusion
IKN671 is done, we end with bullet points:
 Another lengthy edition of The IKN Weekly, so for those recently arrived, please don’t
be disappointed if shorter editions show up soon.
 Hopefully, I’ve outlined the reasons why Newcore Gold (NCAU.v) now appeals as a
heap way to play the growth gold sector. Meanwhile, I hope the re-vamped Stocks to
Follow format works for you but if not, feel free to write in with your criticisms.
 For the record, 3.1kg Joseph is now 4.4kg Joseph, not bad at all for one month.
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://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/25/ukraine-war-latest-news-sanctions-a-little-late-zelenskiy-tells-
european-council-biden-to-visit-poland-live?page=with:block-623dfc0e8f08118734a7287c-pinned#block-
623dfc0e8f08118734a7287c-pinned
(2) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/politics/biden-russia-nuclear-weapons.html
(3) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/24/biden-says-us-would-respond-to-russia-if-putin-uses-chemical-or-biological-
weapons.html
(4) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60870771
(5) https://www.reuters.com/world/macron-underscores-his-leader-credentials-nato-with-map-2022-03-24/
(6) https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2022/03/schedule-for-week-of-march-27-2022.html
(7) https://newcoregold.com/investors/presentations/
(8) https://6ix.com/event/newcore-gold-delivering-on-a-multi-pronged-exploration-approach/
(9) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/copper-may-be-too-relaxed-about-russian-supply-threat-2022-03-23/
(10) https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/25/2410449/0/en/OROCO-CLOSES-FINAL-TRANCHE-OF-
NON-BROKERED-PRIVATE-PLACEMENT.html
(11) https://aureliusminerals.com/news/aurelius-reports-final-drill-results-from-phase-2-program-at-aureus-east-
resource-update-expected-by-early-q2-2022/
(12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsY87iSycV0
(13) https://www.cesco.cl/cesco-week-stgo/
(14) https://www.cnnchile.com/m360/mineria-360-capitulo-27-desafios-prioridades-ministra-marcela-
hernando_20220319/
(15) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/peru-mining-chamber-says-tax-hike-proposal-risks-50-bln-
investment-2021-12-13/
(16) https://elperuano.pe/noticia/142078-fmi-regimen-fiscal-para-la-mineria-es-competitivo
(17) https://canaln.pe/actualidad/anibal-torres-si-pedro-castillo-cae-caemos-todos-todos-pueblos-peru-n443827
(18) https://iknnews.com/colombia-presidential-polling-petro-over-fico/
(19) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lHf8DVzgdvz-Ol3kbr8rHh3z3-QZQ4XP/view
32

(20) https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2022/03/21/poll-bad-news-third-way/
(21) https://www.westerncoppercorp.com/news-and-resources/news-release/western-copper-and-gold-announces-
casino-copper-gold-project-drilling-results/
(22) https://www.westerncoppercorp.com/news-and-resources/news-release/western-copper-and-gold-files-form-40-f-
and-annual-filings-3/
(23) https://meridianmining.wp2.adnetcms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-03-23-NR-MNO-B2WhIi11trG.pdf
(24) https://meridianmining.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-03-22-NR-MNO-N44h49g56AA.pdf
(25) https://electrabmc.com/electra-advances-construction-of-solvent-extraction-plant/
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
33

INV Metals INV.to Sep'20 C$0.40 17-May-20 C$0.45 12.5% Cut all Ecuador exposure
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
34

Constantine Metal CEM.v Aug'17 C$0.135 9-Apr-17 C$0.28 107.4% spec trade closed, good win
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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