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The IKN Weekly
Week 718, February 19th 2023
Contents
This Week: Trade heads-up, In Today’s Edition, Dates for diaries, Nothing changed in The USA
last week.
Fundamental Analysis: Buying SolGold (SOLG.to) (SOLG.L)
Stocks to Follow: Mene Inc (MENE.v), ATAC Resources (ATC.v), Amerigo Resources (ARG.to),
Western Copper & Gold (WRN.to), Newcore Gold (NCAU.v), Minera Alamos (MAI.v), QC Copper
& Gold (QCCU.v).
Copper Basket: Overview, Libero Copper (LBC.v), Arizona Sonoran (ASCU.v), Regulus
Resources (REG.v), Atacama Copper (ACOP.v).
Producer Basket: Overview, Newmont (NEM) and Newcrest (NCM), One week and four (five)
big losers ((KGC) (GOLD) (AEM) (BTG)).
TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Latin Metals (LMS.v).
Regional Politics: Another negative signal from Burkina Faso, Ecuador: The Lasso
government now under severe pressure, Peru’s crisis goes international, First Quantum and
Panama’s government continue to play chicken.
Market Watching: Hecla (HL) 4q22 financials, A reminder to juniors that pay dividends.
I remind subscribers that no part of this newsletter can be copied, reproduced or
given to any third party without the express permission of the author.
This Week
Trade heads-up
I’m a buyer of SoldGold (SOLG), but I’m also happy to wait a day or two to see if the current
near-term selling raft continues and pushes the stock even lower. It’s a bargain for traders at
13p UK, it may become even cheaper as nerves get further frayed by a conjunction of events
that, I believe, will see this dysfunctional family of a company finally find its buyout deal.
Details in today’s main fundies section.
 As noted above, today’s main event explains why I am a buyer of SolGold Plc (SOLG.L)
(SOLG.to). However, this call is far more about macro strategy than specific project
economics, as I believe we’re closing in on a moment when the separate parts of this
strange and bizarre narrative will come together and offer a window in which the
company gets sold, almost certainly to Chinese capitals. I also like buying when
everyone else is selling.
 Ecuador is going downhill fast and even in a best case, social protests are in the cards.
The worst case includes the ousting of another South American Presiddent from his
post.
 Newsflow from the Tier 1 and Tier 2 PM producers companies this week is enough to fill
a whole edition with actionable news from a whole bunch of Producer Basket stocks.
That’s mostly in The Producer Basket, but my eye for the potential to trade silver name
Hecla (HL) has that one getting some extra focus in Market Watching.
 Better news from Regulus (REG.v) last week, but it’s still not enough to make me into a
buyer. Western (WRN.to) on the other hand almost has me selling. For copper
purchases, look no further than SolGold.
1

Dates for diaries
Three for you, four for me:
 Happy birthday Mister President (Marilyn Monroe voice) as tomorrow Monday February 20th is
Presidents’ Day in The USA and Family Day in Canada*, which means both countries’ stock
markets are closed until Tuesday morning. Please adjust plans accordingly
 Starting next Sunday February 26th and running to Wednesday March 1st, the 32nd Global
Metals, Mining & Critical Minerals Conference, normally known as “The BMO Conference” is on
in Miami FL USA. This pre-PDAC gig attracts the great and the good from the big mining
companies, as well as a limited but official list of and a long list of companies that just show
up for the fun, sun and networking. BMO Miami is well known a deal making occasion on the
mining calendar and with M&A apparently hotting up, it may be worth watching the wires.
 Then from March 5th to March 8th in Toronto we have PDAC and if you don’t have a hotel
room booked by now, I suggest you join AirBnB because according to plenty of sources
downtown is booked solid. The first PDAC in its traditional time slot since Covid caused its
mayhem, expect full-scale attendance numbers and plenty of people telling you what they
want you to hear.
 Finally, the person whose photo featured in IKN667 turns one year old on Saturday and my
word, how time flies. However, he doesn’t look like he did in that photo any longer and at
around 12kg, he’s not as easy to carry around either.
*Or Louis Riel Day in Manitoba, of course.
Nothing changed in The USA last week
California sunlight
Sweet Calcutta rain
Honolulu starbright
The song remains the same
Led Zeppelin, 1972
Another Valentine’s Day came and went, Nikki Haley joined the race to be next President of The
USA, there was some hoo-hah over balloons being shot down and the US Consumer Price Index
came in at 6.4% when the markets expected 6.2%. None of these things changed the world to
any great degree.
US Consumer Price Inflation (CPI)
2
4.1 7.1
6.2
2.4 5
4.5 4.5 3.5 4.5 2.6 8.6 7 5.7 9.7 5.8 3.8 6.8 1.9 5.8 3.8 2.8 7.7 1.7 5.6 4.6
10
9
8
7
6
5 4 3
2
1
0
12'naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced 22'naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes 2'tco von ced 32'naj
source: U.S. BLS
But you wouldn’t have thought so if you listened to the Fed hawks, given their collective wings
last week on that CPI number, as well as the PPI that came in hotter than expected with
+0.7% month on month. Non-voting members of the Fed hit the airwaves last week, with both
Jim Bullar and Loretta Mester telling the world that they should forget about a peak in rates and
even change their attitude toward a few FOMCs of a quarter point each, the Fed in their view
should go back to half point raises (1):
Feb 16 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said
Thursday inflation remains too high and noted that she was open to raising rates by
more than her colleagues wanted at their last monetary policy meeting.
“Setting aside what financial market participants expected us to do, I saw a compelling
economic case for a 50-basis-point increase, which would have brought the top of the
target range to 5%,” she said.

That was Reuters, but on checking a second source I found this quote from the same person on
the same day which gave me pause:
“My expectation is that we will see a meaningful improvement in inflation this year and
further improvement over the following year, with inflation reaching our 2% goal in
2025,” Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said in a speech Thursday morning.
“But my outlook is contingent on appropriate monetary policy.”
So riddle me that again, Ms. Mester…you’re telling us that the logic behind a 0.5% raise next
FOMC instead of a 0.25% raise is compelling, and the reason you want one is to get inflation
down to 2% in the year 2025. Why on earth should a 25bps difference in what you do make a
meaningful effect on real life two years down the line (away from spreadsheet projection
charts, of course)? Are you seriously suggesting that is a
compelling reason to tank the market this year?
It is, of course, pure showboating but when you see the
(non-voting) hawks given their wings in the way they were
last week, there’s active jawbone reasons for the show.
Maybe, just maybe, the Fed is trying to carve out some
extra wriggle room for its next decision and make the near-
inevitable 0.25% raise look more bullish than it actually will
be.
Other things that didn’t change last week include the bonds
signal for an upcoming recession (chart right), the US
Dollar’s continued rally and move back to where things
stood at the start of the year (way back when the pivot was due any moment) and…
…of course, the continued apathy shown by the Big Money People Of New York toward gold:
GLD gold holdings, 2022 to date (metric tonnes)
1140
1120
1100
1080
1060
1040
1020
1000
980
960
940
920
900
880
860
So with another week of limited intro done we move to something more proactive, new
planned purchase for this week.
3
12/21/13 22/1/41 22/1/82 22/2/11 22/2/52 22/3/11 22/3/52 22/4/8 22/4/22 22/5/6 22/5/02 22/6/3 22/6/71 22/7/1 22/7/51 22/7/92 22/8/21 22/8/62 22/9/9 22/9/32 22/01/7 22/01/12 22/11/4 22/11/81 22/21/2 22/21/61 22/21/03 32/1/31 32/1/72 32/2/01
mt 6.60 GLD: Inventory/Price Ratio, 2022 to date
6.40
source: SPDR GLD data
6.20
6.00
5.80
5.60
5.40
5.20
5.00
4.80
12/21/13 22/1/41 22/1/82 22/2/11 22/2/52 22/3/11 22/3/52 22/4/8 22/4/22 22/5/6 22/5/02 22/6/3 22/6/71 22/7/1 22/7/51 22/7/92 22/8/21 22/8/62 22/9/9 22/9/32 22/01/7 22/01/12 22/11/4 22/11/81 22/21/2 22/21/61 22/21/03 32/1/31 32/1/72 32/2/01
Source: SPDR data, IKN calcs

Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
SolGold Plc (SOLG.L) (SOLG.to): Buying
Today’s main fundies note is not an in-depth number crunch on SolGold Plc (SOLG.L)
(SOLG.to), its main Cascabel property, or the Alpala resource that underpins Cascabel and is
the centre of its 43-101 compliant Pre-Feasibility study published April last year. We’re not
going deeply into its balance sheet, we’re not running a cash flows study, we’re not generating
a mathematically accurate price target for the stock. Today’s note is all about trade strategy, as
we take into account the recent corporate moves at SOLG, add in the country of Ecuador and
its rapidly shifting political scene, then consider the players in this story, be they inside the
company of circling around, looking to bite. In other words, the plan is to lay out the strategic,
rather than any numerical or value-driven reasons why SOLG is a buy today as, after having
watched this three-ringed circus of a company for too many years to count, now is the first time
there’s enough on the bone for a retail investor to buy the stock.
Therefore, what follows is best considered a strategy piece, one that considers the jigsaw
puzzle pieces that comprise the SOLG story, then attempts to fit them together and make the
case for a purchase. But before we dive in, be clear that it’s a complicated one with many
moving parts and a lot of it is corporate political and high level wheeling and dealing. It’s not
easy to string a coherent narrative together that covers the arc of the story and touches on all
the subjects required, then again and ultimately I’m not trying to convince myself of the validity
of this trade. That’s already done to my own satisfaction, the pieces fit together nicely in my
head and all the signposts now point in the same direction, that of an upcoming sale of SOLG
(or perhaps just Cascabel/Alpala) to the highest bidder. So today’s main fundies section isn’t
much more than an attempted brain dump of a complex story onto a piece of (virtual) paper,
one that works for me but is difficult to explain.
So with caveats and weak excuses for poor prose and arguments in place, we begin.
A potted history of corporate intrigue and big prizes
One of the problems when talking SOLG is where to start, as this junior and its story has been
going on for over a decade. So we’ll ignore the first pops and drops on the long, low-ish grade
intercepts pulled from the first program at Alpala in 2013 and 2014 and jump to Q3 of 2016,
when Newcrest (NCM) took a 10% strategic position, BHP tried and failed to lowball its way to
a 70% earn-in and the stock duly flew. In fact since that incursion quarter SOLG hasn’t been as
low as it is this weekend bar that weird time when Covid ruled the world.
BHP watched from afar until 2018, when it went into direct competition with NCM and took its
own 10% strategic equity position. At the time, the SOLG of ex-CEO Nick Mather welcomed the
multi-billion dollar majors with open arms and the world of mining made confident predictions
on just when (not if) one, the other or perhaps both in JV would buy out the minnow and take
Alpala and Cascabel to full production. Indeed, BHP and NCM went into a bit of a turf war and
kept snapping up pieces through 2019, both got to around 13% holdings and BHP with the
4

slight count advantage (see below for more on the latest on this important factor).
Then some time in 2020, the atmosphere of peace love and kumbaya fell apart. Even your
author watching from the sidelines and only occasionally could see the tension between SOLG’s
board and its major investors rise as their strategies pointed in different directions:
 Nick Mather (aided by Maxit Capital and other supporters) wanted to cash out, get a deal
done and sell the company to the highest bidder.
 Without putting too fine a point on it, NCM and BHP didn’t. With (joint?) plenty of say on its
corporate strategy due to sheer weight of cash, the majors didn’t make a move and looked to
improve their hold by getting the fast cash burning SOLG to run equity financings and dilute
others, while their grip tightened on control.
In the background was Cornerstone Capital, holder of 15% of the Alpala JV and on a free carry
that would need to be merged into SOLG before a serious purchaser could step up. It’s at this
point we could go into a blow-by-blow account of how the relationship between BHP/NCM and
SOLG under Nick Mather soured, with one side accusing the other of X and the other accusing
their “partners” of Y, but it’s probably too much water under the bridge at this point (and I
don’t want to lose sight of the objective in today’s note, either). So to cut a long story short,
things turned from bickering family into outright war when Mather and SOLG, in the wake of
the Covid crisis, in need of funds and refusing to play the BHP/NCM game, instead went to
Franco-Nevada (FNV) and sold a 1% NSR on Alpala for U$100m.
The bad blood spilled into the public realm, BHP/NCM “express disappointment” and at the end
of the year, nearly got Mather voted out of his own company (he saw 44% of votes against his
name). The dysfunction limps on into 2021 until eventually Mather succumbs and steps down
as CEO, retaining his seat on the board (due to his large share position). A replacement CEO in
the shape of Darryl Cuzzubbo is found in late 2021, an ex-BHP guy who came in as an apparent
peacemaker role. Things were okay for a while and under Cuzzubbo, SOLG (in conjunction with
15% holder CGP) finally delivered a pre-feas study in early 2022 but the bad blood reappeared
in October and November last year with two moves that seem to catch BHP/NCM off-guard.
First, the long-awaited consolidation of Cascabel happened when on October 7th (2)
Cornerstone and SolGold agreed terms on a merger, something that suited the Mather/Maxit
side of the board as their desires to cash out are as strong as ever. The deal also got approval
from the BHP/NCM side, but then on the heels of that agreement and under Cuzzubbo SOLG
announced a new NSR deal on November 7th (3), this time selling another 0.6% of Alpala to
Osisko Gold Royalties for U$60m. BHP/NCM once again “expressed disappointment” (in other
words, they were livid that Cuzzubbo wouldn’t give them the equity financing they were still
looking for as SOLG’s cash position ran down). This time Cuzzubbo was booted off by the big
boys but it would seem all this was part of the plan and BHP/NCM fell into the trap set by
Mather/Maxit. This time and due to the pending fusion with Cornerstone, the Mather/Maxit
team had two allies appointed to the board at the behest of CGP, Dan Vujcic and Scott
Caldwell. On November 10th Cuzzubbo “was resigned” by the angry majors and their backers,
the highly experienced Scott Caldwell was given the job of interim CEO. It made sense at the
time, then the plan rolled out and after signing off on the 3q22 financials on November 14th,
Caldwell’s first real move was this (4):
BISHOPSGATE, UK / ACCESSWIRE / November 23, 2022 / The Board of Directors of
SolGold (LSE:SOLG)(TSX:SOLG) is pleased to announce that investors, including
Jiangxi Copper (Hong Kong) Investment Company Limited ("Jiangxi"), (the "Investors")
have agreed to purchase 180,000,000 shares (the "Investment Shares") at a price of
US$0.20 per share (the "Investment"). Jiangxi has agreed to purchase 155,000,000 of
the Investment Shares. The Investment Shares are expected to raise gross proceeds
of US$36,000,000.
Or the record, 23m of the other 25m shares went to Maxit Capital, 1m went to interim CEO
Scott Caldwell and 1m shares went to director James Clare. Oh to have been a fly on the wall at
BHP/NCM when that news dropped. Team Mather/Maxit had outflanked team BHP/NCM, first by
getting Cuzzubbo to sign off on a deal that BHP/NCM would hate, then replacing him with their
5

own man and bringing in a new strategic partner to dilute the diluters. The reaction was plain
to see at the AGM next month and this voting results table speaks volumes:
BHP and NCM, along with allies from the insto and banking world (more on that in a moment)
tried and failed to vote off the four board members that sprung their trap. They were no longer
the only game and town and, after two rounds of funding SOLG was now flush with cash and
able to move ahead with their 2023, thanks to Osisko and Jiangxi (and not BHP and NCM).
What’s more the upcoming merger with Cornerstone means that the opposition to Maxit/Mather
and their plans to sell to the highest bidder as soon as possible was about to be diluted further.
As at this weekend, there are 2,476.05m shares out (two point four seven six Billion, with a B)
and assuming the CGP merger closes by the end of March 2023, the 15 SOLG shares for every
CGP share implies a pro rata total shares out of 3,029.85m S/O once the two companies are
fused. Here’s a chart:
SOLG: Shares Out
6
23.6481 23.6481 23.3291 23.3291 12.2702 12.2702 12.2702 11.4802 11.4802
28.3922 28.3922 28.3922 28.3922 57.5922 50.6742
58.9203
3250
3000
2750
2500
2250
2000
1750
1500
1250
1000
750
500
250
0
91.nuj 91.pes 91.ced 02.ram 02.nuj 02.pes 02.ced 12.ram 12.nuj 12.pes 12.ced 22.ram 22.nuj 22.pes 22.ced tse32.ram
source: company filings
serahs
fo
snoillim
At this weekend’s £0.13 share price, that gives newco SOLG a pro rata market cap of £393.9m
(approx U$473m) and at this point, it’s worth noting in passing that just three months ago
China’s Jiangxi was happy to pay U$0.20 per share for its new position. That price would imply
a market cap this weekend of U$606m and an upside of 28% to this weekend’s close.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s first finish the story of how Maxit and Mather have
wrested executive control away from BHP/NCM, moves that will allow the company to sell in the
near future. For this we need to consider the distribution of SOLG shares among major players,
the following table is a general estimate and should not be taken as gospel, as there’s a high
likelihood of corporate moves having gone on/going on to move the counts higher or lower.
However, we do know the totals as at end 2q22 and then the likely ones after the recent

U$0.20 (£0.167) placement that brought in Chinese capitals Jiangxi (and Maxit), we also know
that Bob Sangha of Maxit collectively controls just under 20% of CGP shares and his friend Greg
Chamandy (CGP chair) just over 10%. So once the numbers are done, here’s what the pro-rata
best guess this weekend looks like:
SOLG: Estimated holdings
name end 2q22 current est % post CGP merger
BHP 13.56% 12.56% 10.30%
NCM 13.48% 12.49% 10.20%
Mather 12.86% 11.89% 9.70%
Blackrock/Norge 8.85% 8.20% 6.70%
Jiangxi 0.00% 6.26% 5.10%
Maxit 0.00% 0.76% 4.32%
Chamandy 0.00% 0.00% 2.20%
total 48.75% 52.16% 48.52%
source: SOLG/CGP filings, IKN ests
These large holders combined hold around half the SOLG shares out and in order to recap and
sum up the long-winded narrative so far, the holders are split into two camps:
1) Team BHP/NCM and the insto duo of BlackRock and Norges Bank collectively pull together
as a team on votes and direction and oppose the Mather/Sangha camp. They owned over 33%
of shares out before the recent AGM and equity financing, and the influence of the
BHP/NCM/BlackRockNorge bloc showed in the voting percentages at the recent AGM. However,
with the advent of the Jiangxi raise and the CGP shares about to dilute the count, that influence
is set to drop considerably. We now have them at around 27.2% and even if that’s wrong by a
point or two, the “anti sale” camp at SOLG now controls less than 30% of shares and is going
to find it a lot more difficult to block any sale of the company to “other than BHP/NCM”.
2) Team Maxit/Mather. Via his own holdings and those in his publicly traded investment
vehicle DGM, Nick Mather control an estimated pro-rata 9.7% of shares out once the CGP deal
closes. He is the largest holder of the “sell out now” team with allies including Jiangxi at 5.1%
estimated, Maxit/Sangha and his colleague with shares coming in from the CGP deal Greg
Chamandy, collectively at 6.5%, bring their estimated total heft to 21.3%. That’s still below the
other team, but it’s climbing and with control of the CEO’s seat via Scott Caldwell (himself an
owner of nearly 8m shares).
Now that we have the main piece explained and have shown how Maxit/Mather have managed
to take the helm of SOLG for the first time since 2016, it’s time to add in the other ducks that
are not coming into line for this story.
The share price
It would not have escaped your attention that SOLG has sold off recently. Currently £0.13 at its
main and most liquid London listing (SOLG.L) at C$0.25 at its thinly traded Canadian ticker
(SOLG.to), it’s been one-way traffic since the move that put Team Maxit/Mather in charge.
Here’s the three-month chart for the UK ticker:
7

That looks for all the world like sour grapes to me, the chart pattern of a stock being shorted
into the ground by deep-pocketed players with a grudge. Now for sure I’m not giving SOLG
some clean bill of corporate health in its new set-up and, as the NR last week from the
company showed, there’s still much to be desired about the way the company is being run (5).
A slightly bizarre NR that announced a delay to the closure of the CGP deal due to the need to
re-file its UK prospectus and include its latest quarterly results (part of its Canadian market
obligations. A corporate FUBAR for sure and the NR went on to suggest that heads were rolling
Corporate HQ in London (fwiw, there’s reason to believe IR exec Fawzi Hanano is one of the
heads to have rolled). But despite the delay due to some paperwork incompetence in-house,
the merger is still on and due to close on February 27th, at which point we’d expect the
company to be able to defend its share price.
There may be more behind last week’s NR and delay, but even if there isn’t I can only welcome
news that tanks the stock further and all at the right time. Sentiment for SOLG is abysmal and
Team BHP/NCM seem to be taking revenge on Team Maxit/Mather, driving down the stock
price (with or without poor corporate paperwork control) and apparently making the price too
low to execute a profitable deal. This may mean we see more selling in the days ahead, of
course, so I’m not averse to waiting a few more days before buying into this trade.
Buy low, sell high, they say.
Ecuador’s heightened risk…for majors
The macro political situation in Ecuador is one we have tracked fairly closely in The IKN Weekly,
particularly during the rough ride of the current Lasso government that includes the indigenous
protests of last year, the eventual negotiation table deals reached and the most recent plummet
in popularity of the Lasso government, as confirmed by the very poor showing of his
government in the regional elections and referendum of two weeks ago. Even more recent
events (see Regional Politics below) have piled on the pressure and while Lasso is unlikely to
give up without a fight, it’s fair to say his government is now at serious risk of falling and
Ecuador to see new elections in the next year or so.
In political terms, the recent newsflow from Ecuador has moved the country away from a
profile preferred (or even required) by a BHP or a Newcrest. Under Guillermo Lasso or Lenin
Moreno before him, Ecuador shaped as a progressive country looking to develop its mining
industry and welcome capitalist FDI, but the last year has seen Lasso’s government spin out of
control and that process has accelerated. If he falls, we’re now likely to see the rise and return
(phoenix-like) of Rafael Correa as well as more political power put into the hands of the
staunchly anti-mining indigenous parties and groups such as CONAIE. Now, I’m not saying that
an eventual return of Rafael Correa and left-wing government under his power would be anti-
mining or even anti-BHP, as Correa too tried hard to develop mining when he was President.
Instead I am saying that BHP was banking on Guillermo Lasso to make a better fist of the
Presidency than he has and that 2023 is set to be a strong of negative stories as the country
goes through its political crisis. All these things must happen before Correa gets a chance to
return and perhaps more important, whatever path incumbent President Lasso takes in the
months to come, be it resign/”muerte cruzada”, or hold on, or try to stay and get forced out by
either Congress or social protests, the country is not going to offer the type of optics required
by these multinational, multibillion dollar companies so keen on upholding their ESG images.
However, the Chinese won’t mind what’s unfolding in Ecuador. For one thing, they’ll see any
crisis point as an opportunity to secure the type of long-term asset they need to feed their
country copper in the years and decades to come. As noted above, when China is the buyer of
your mega-large mining project, they’re less concerned about any pre-feas on top of the
deposit and its capex estimate can be U$2.7Bn or double that, they will go about building the
mine to suit their own taste and ultimately, what they want is to guarantee supply of the metal,
long-term corporate profitability is a secondary concern. For another, Rafael Correa is happy to
deal with “The Chinese” and did so on many occasions during his tenure in a range of civil
works projects that include hydroelectric dams, power infrastructure and even the Mirador
8

copper mine (now finally in production). And on the subject of China…
Perhaps China is the only remaining customer
Therefore, seeing Maxit Capital get Jiangxi Copper (Hong Kong) Investment Company Limited
in as the new strategic investor, in the words of interim CEO Scott Caldwell “…highly
accomplished mining company and more importantly, 100% aligned with SolGold in ensuring all
stakeholders are treated respectfully and fairly”, is telling. We should also note that since SOLG
sprung its trap on Team BHP/NCM, we’ve seen significant moves from the Australian major
mining companies:
 In the case of BHP, they’ve made an offer to buy Australian-based OZ Minerals for a chunky
A$9.6Bn (approx U$6.4Bn) that looks like being successful. Due to be voted upon in April,
the deal recently got the green light from the OZ Minerals board as well as the Brazilian
equivalent of the SEC. The latter is important, as OZ has plenty of exposure to Brazil in
copper and iron ore and even gold. The OZ deal also got the thumbs-up from the host BHP
analysts, who see it as a quick and meaningful way for the company to bolt on copper
exposure.
 In the case of NCM, we’ve seen the departure of CEO Sandeep Biswas, the move from NEM
to buy it out (that may keep the NCM board and its interim CEO too busy to worry about a
half billion dollar deal in Ecuador. And on the subject of Ecuador, it was interesting to note
that last week’s bonus dividend payment of 15c, instead of the 11c expected (see Producer
Basket below) was apparently funded by the windfall NCM got from its Ecuador investments.
Now that’s almost certainly LUG, but it’s interesting that NCM is happy to pull money out
from its Ecuador arm and distribute it to shareholders when under other circumstances it
may be looking to fund a purchase in that very same country.
I’m not ruling out either BHP or NCM from the sales process (in fact, it would be great if they
got involved, see below) but there’s reasons to imagine them cooling off on the idea of running
a large Ecuador project, eventually a mine for three or four decades, without even mentioning
the extensive exploration stage concessions of SOLG and CGP in Ecuador. Howeverr, with
Maxit romancing China and bringing Jingxai in, the obvious alternative is already set up.
The bottom line: SOLG is now up for sale
Bob Sangha of Maxit Capital has made no secret of his stance, take for example this quote from
this report (6) written just after Cuzzubbo had been fired:
It now seems far more likely that SolGold will sell part or all of Cascabel and use the
proceeds to return to its core competency; greenfields exploration.
“We are going to do what we should have done six years ago; monetise this in
whatever way maximises value for shareholders,” said Sangha.
SOLG is still under strategic review (led by Citi and, yes indeed, Maxit Capital) and once the
CGP fusion closes, Team Maxit/Mather will be free to move forward. How exactly all this plays
out in 2023 is to be discovered and I’m not fool enough to try to predict the exact avenue
Mather/Sangha take to bring their plan to fruition, but it’s not difficult to get to enough of the
truth to be interested in owning SOLG at this time and current price.
We can, however, envisage some general scenarios and all involve guessing on what Team
BHP/NCM will do. If we assume that either Cascabel or the whole of SOLG comes under offer
from Jiangxi (or some other Chinese entity), the ball will be in the Australians’ court to either
compete with, allow or try to block the deal from happening.
 If BHP/NCM decided to compete, SOLG shares are going to move not just higher, but MUCH
higher.
 If BHP/NCM decided to step back and allow the SOLG to be sold to the Chinese entity, it
would then be up to other SOLG shareholders to decide whether the offer price were fair. We
known Jiangxi was willing to pay U$0.20/share for its recent entry and that alone would offer
a 28% upside to this weekend, but there are plenty of other holders in at higher prices.
9

 If BHP/NCM decided to actively block the deal, it would then be up to the Chinese to either up
the bid or fail. But even in the event of the deal falling through, we’d get a period in which
SOLG traded at a significant premium to the current share price and that would be enough for
a reasonable win.
Personally, I wouldn’t rule out any of these scenarios but the most likely is that Team BHP/NCM
would either put in their own bid or try to stop the deal from happening at any price. Thatb
would have been easy under the old count of even one year ago, but the moves made in late
2022 by Tema Maxit/Mather have changed the company structure significantly and I doubt any
blocking tactic could even stop a 66% vote target from happening. In my opinion, the heavy
beating that SOLG has been taking in the current period as we await the CGP merger to close is
a prelude for more share price fireworks to come, but the direction of trading will change the
moment Team Maxit/Mather play their next card and announce the friendly sale of either
Cascabel or the whole company to Chinese capitals. The way the stock has been beaten down
is a big bonus and provides an excellent entry point, but the main reason to SOLG in the next
few days is for a quick turnaround win on its M&A activity in 2023.
Stocks to Follow
A week that sees gold drop by more than 1% and GDX by 4.1% isn’t going to be healthy for
any mining portfolio, but somehow I managed to come away from the mess with a week-ov er-
week paper profit thanks to three of the four weekly winners (ARG.to, QCCU.v, ABRA.v, ATC.v)
held in the larger spots, as well as UNCH results from three others (MAI.v, NCAU.v, ORX.v)
including the top pick. That leaves seven losers on the week (WRN.to, RIO.v, CKG.v, ALDE.v,
MIRL.cse, CTGO, MENE.v), but most were the small (or watch list) positions and I even took
advantage of the continued weakness in MENE to add a few at these low-low prices. There
were two big percentage moves, one up in ATAC Resources (ATC.v up 46.1%) and one down in
Minera IRL (MIRL.cse down 27.3%).
A small reminder, mostly for new subscribers to the service: There is a colour code:
TOP PICKS
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
SPECULATIVE TRADES
WATCHLIST STOCKS
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
We currently have 15 stocks on the table, 12 of them personally owned, five below our self-
imposed maximum of 20. Six are in the green, eight are in the red, one is UNCH. SolGold will
be on the list this time next week, it will be in the Speculative Trades section but, as long as I
get the amount I’m looking for, will sit at the top of the pile.
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$0.39 85.7% $0.75 first tgt, #1 idea
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Amerigo Res ARG.to STR BUY C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.45 6.6% Main Cu trade, top fundies
Western Copper WRN.to BUY C$2.02 13-Nov-22 C$2.09 3.5% M&A potential in FY23
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v SPEC BUY C$0.275 25-Apr-21 C$0.15 -45.5% MRE now due 2q23, annoying
AbraSilver Res. ABRA.v STR BUY C$0.37 4-Dec-22 C$0.315 -14.9% Added end Jan, v cheap
Newcore Gold NCAU.v BUY C$0.21 23-Oct-22 C$0.24 14.3% Cheap now, MRE any moment
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v HOLD C$0.83 22-Apr-18 C$0.205 -75.3% Cheap on permit probs, appeal
10

SPECULATIVE TRADES
Orefinders ORX.v.v SPEC BUY C$0.04 23-Oct-22 C$0.045 12.5% build position at 4c
Chesapeake Gold CKG.v SPEC BUY C$3.07 20-Feb-22 C$2.00 -34.9% Au leverage, small trade so far
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v BUY C$0.72 16-May-21 C$0.90 25.0% drill assays from March'23
Minera IRL MIRL.cse avoid C$0.195 22-Jul-12 C$0.04 -79.5% run into ground byCEO, AVOID
A WATCHLIST OF POTENTIAL TRADES. NB: I DO NOT OWN
ATAC Res ATC.v WATCH C$0.095 11-Sep-22 C$0.095 0.0% Cheap Yukon neighbour play
Contango Ore CTGO WATCH U$23.25 2-Dec-22 U$22.56 -3.0% watching for financinf package
Anacortes Mining XYZ.v WATCH C$0.49 22-Jul-22 C$0.375 -23.5% may drop from watchlist
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.63 6-Dec-20 C$0.375 -40.5% LT bet, adding slowly
CLOSED TRADES IN 2023 date closed close price
Altiplano Metals APN.v jan'23 C$0.31 17-Sep-21 C$0.17 -45.2% delayed and will dilute soon
2015 to 2022 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Now for some brief notes on some of the covered companies, but in a quiet week for newsflow
from our covered companies, there’s not so much to say.
Mene Inc (MENE.v): ADDED A FEW: There seems to be a seller of MENE out there and
though it may be simple coincidence, it comes just after the closure of its production facility
expansion deal which saw MENE pay $1m in shares. I took advantage and added another thin
slice and at 38c, managed to drop my cost average by 2c.
ATAC Resources (ATC.v): Fun and games between ATC and fellow Yukon Canada mining
company, the producer with the Dublin Gulch gold mine Victoria Gold (VGCX.to). On the
morning of Monday Feb 13th and from out of the blue for the general public VGCX announced
that it’s proposal to buy out ATC (which we knew nothing about) would expire at the end of the
week. VGCX then gave a few details on the offer in the following style (7):
Whitehorse, YT / February 13, 2023 / Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX-VGCX) (“Victoria” or
the “Company”) is providing notice that its proposed offer to ATAC Resources Ltd.
(“ATAC”) will expire at the close of business on February 17, 2023.
On January 12, 2023, Victoria submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire 100% of
the issued share capital of ATAC. Victoria proposed to offer C$0.12 per ATAC share,
payable in Victoria shares.
On January 17, 2023, ATAC declined Victoria’s proposal. Following subsequent
discussions between ATAC and Victoria and their respective advisors, ATAC formally
confirmed its rejection of Victoria’s proposal on February 7, 2023.
Victoria believes its offer is fair and generous consideration for ATAC shareholders.
Victoria’s offer implies a premium of 85 percent to ATAC’s closing share price on
February 10, 2023.
ATC didn’t waste time in responding, with this NR (8) out that same evening and here’s their
main point:
After a thorough review, ATAC responded on January 19, 2023, that it did not believe
the Offer fully captured the significant value of ATAC, including the district-scale
precious and critical metals potential of its Rackla Gold Property ("Rackla") and
ATAC's other properties in the Yukon and British Columbia. ATAC indicated that it was
willing to engage in further discussions with Victoria related to a transaction that more
fairly valued ATAC, including the significant investments made to-date at Rackla, the
resources present at both the Osiris and Tiger gold deposits, exploration and other tax
credits, the project's future upside and the potential of its portfolio of discovery-stage
copper-gold projects in Yukon and British Columbia.
To round off, the next day VGCX went with another brief release with a couple of corporate-
catty remarks on ATC’s response and finished by stating that (9) “…its Proposal is open for
acceptance until 5:00 pm (Vancouver time) on Friday, February 17, 2023. Following this,
Victoria’s Proposal to ATAC will expire.”
11

And that was that, but it did cause the ATC share price to bounce 46.1% from its recent
oversold levels to 9.5c by the end of the week on renewed buying interest that eventually faded
on Friday as the market. So what we learned is that VGCX thinks ATC is cheap and ATC thinks
ATC is cheap (And hey, we think ATAC is undervalued as well, it wouldn’t be on the Watch List
if we didn’t). But we also learned that VGCX has been trying to pick up this undervalued stock
and the ATC board were having none of it, so John McConnell of VGCX decided to go public
with the failed offer and try to make a point.
So here’s the thing: If McConnell thinks that going public on a failed offer would breathe new
life into the deal’s prospects at a price at which ATC was trading less then six months ago
would be viewed as anything other than opportunistic, he’s an idiot. He’s also an idiot if he
thinks he’s going to become some sort of retail hero by pointing to an entrenched attitude at
ATC and trying to shame the company back to the table.
This is, of course, the very same John McConnell who entertained offers from major companies
for VGCX in 2021 and early 2022, demanded $25/share and when the majors (including Barrick)
didn’t bite, refused to budge an inch on the price. But he’s never gone public with the details of
that negotiation and it only takes a look at the share price performance of his company to
understand why:
McConnell is a person that should either go into deal talks with the right attitude, or stick to his
own knitting and devote his time to improving his own company. As for ATC, though they’re
bound to get stick from minnow holders and speculators for not entertaining the VGCX offer,
they’re right to ignore the current depressed share price and focus on the underlying value of
the company’s assets. They don’t need a buyer and have more than enough ammo to repel
quasi-hostile offers of this sort, particularly from people with no idea on how to do business.
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): A final reminder that ARG is due to report its 4q22 and YE
financials on Feb 22nd, i.e. this Wednesday. Also, as from Feb 23rd the company will be out of its
blackout period and able to re-start its share buyback activity, something I fully expect it to do
as from Thursday at this current price deck. ARG was happy to pay an average of c$1.57 in
January.
12

Newcore Gold (NCAU.v): We continue to wait for the MRE, as does the rest of the market.
Thin and uninteresting trading last week.
Western Copper & Gold (WRN.to): The SEDI filing under the name Paul West-Sells that
dropped on Friday was a real kick in the face:
The same CEO going around telling the world how cheap WRN shares are in January and
February this year decided to take the opportunity to sell 254,000 of his already small holding.
What’s more, the first sale of 100,000 shares happened at $2.39 on February 3rd and West-Sells
deliberately waited until the last day of his reporting window to tell the rest of us.
I left the write-up of this note to Sunday in order to have time for the news to settle in, but it’s
no good and I’m still hopping mad about this. If there’s one thing that gets my goat, it’s a CEO
who says one thing and does another. This is a despicable turn of events and no better
signpost for “No Deal With RTZ Forthcoming” is possible, so it’s almost certainly the reason
WRN shares sold off the way they did a couple of weeks ago (West Sells’ brokers would have
taken the same line as this desk, the only difference being they would also act on this inside
info without a second thought).
It’s obviously too late to act in the way that others could and WRN at $2.09 is back to cheap
and oversold, no matter what its backsliding CEO says or does in the meantime. Therefore and
for the time being I’m not a seller of this stock but even a slight rebound from today’s levels
would have me seriously thinking about cashing in and moving on. I have better things to do
with my money than funding the lifestyles of two-faced mining executives.
Minera Alamos (MAI.v): Sometimes, boring is
good.
That’s all I have on our Top Pick this week, we
should get newsflow from the company during the
upcoming conference season.
13

QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v): This weekend sees the publication of a 44-minute interview
with QCCU Chair/CEO Stephen Stewart on Crux Investor, “QC Copper & Gold (QCCU) -
Redefining Canadian Copper at Opemieska (sic)” (10), in which he began by confirming that the
company has put around 60,000m into Opemiska since its maiden resource estimate and that
we’d get the eagerly awaited (and delayed) resource update (MRE) by June this year. The
interview covered all the bases of the company story, including what QCCU has been doing and
what it expects from the upcoming MRE, CEO Stewart also made the point to the interviewer
(who didn’t know the story very well) that the recently completed “infill drilling” wasn’t just a
case of confirmation drilling of the known resource to move it in the standard way from inferred
to M+Í, instead the infill drills at Opemiska would also add tonnage as the company moved
“waste to ore”. However and once again, I don’t think this key point came across very well and
in the view of this desk, it’s going to take the publication of the MRE for the market to begin to
grasp the advantages QCCU is building into its new model. Lower overall grade, but big
increases in tonnage and more robustly economic copper and gold to mine.
However, the earlier section of the Q&A that dealt with social license issues (which centre
around “Gonna move the town?”) came over better. On that, CEO Stewart explained that the
town of Chapais is a mining town, understands the industry and while it’s been over 20 years
since the mine operated and there’s always going to be basic concerns from locals if some or
even all the local town needs to physically move, the social contact and interaction is good and
constructive. He was also keen on underscoring that as well as at the most important local
level, QCCU has received strong support from regional governmental levels.
Overall a good interview and for those new to the story, plenty of information to chew on.
The Copper Basket
After seven weeks of 2023, The Copper Basket shows a gain of 1.49% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Solaris Res SLS.to 6.44 114.56 701.11 6.12 -5.0%
2 Western Copper WRN.to 2.41 151.597 316.84 2.09 -13.3%
3 Marimaca Cop MARI.to 3.22 88.028 315.14 3.58 11.2%
4 Arizona Sonoran ASCU.to 1.92 105.96 199.20 1.88 -2.1%
5 Oroco Res OCO.v 0.91 207.034 167.70 0.81 -11.0%
6 Faraday Copper FDY.to 0.54 166.137 129.59 0.78 44.4%
7 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 0.78 139.007 125.11 0.90 15.4%
8 Regulus Res. REG.v 1.10 124.509 105.83 0.85 -22.7%
9 Hot Chili HCH.v 0.78 119.455 96.76 0.81 3.8%
10 Pan Global Res PGZ.v 0.46 212.145 84.86 0.40 -13.0%
11 Kodiak Copper KDK.v 1.12 55.6 53.38 0.96 -14.3%
12 QC Copper QCCU.v 0.165 150.736 22.61 0.15 -9.1%
13 Libero Copper LBC.v 0.155 93.869 16.43 0.175 12.9%
14 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.16 86.966 13.91 0.16 0.0%
15 Atacama Copper ACOP.v 0.16 34.373 6.87 0.20 25.0%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg 1.49%
With six week-over-week winners (MARI.to,
10% The Copper Basket 2023, weekly evolution
OCO.v, REG.v, KDK.v, QCCU.v, ACOP.v), one 9%
unchanged stock (LBC.v) and eight losers 8%
(SLS.to, WRN.to, ASCU.to, HCH.v, PGZ.v, FDY.to, 7%
6%
ECU.v) it was a mildly negative week for the
5%
copper juniors subsector, but not by much and 4%
the overall basket average only dropped by 3%
2%
0.04% thanks to the pop we saw in the only
1%
14 0%
Jan1st Jan8th 15th 22nd 29th feb5th 12th 19th
source: IKN calcs

double figure mover of the week, Atacama Copper (ACOP.v up 11.1%).
So a neutral week, which was driven by a largely neutral performance in copper-the-metal, as
this March’23 futures chart shows (and as from next week, we’ll move to the May contract as
the rollovers begin in earnest). Copper held the 4-line fairly well and come the end of the week
was threatening to break back higher, that’s not what the orthodox playbook expected from
The Good Doctor as recession talk grew and inflation data remained stickily high.
To go with the mainstream flow, Reuters found yet another person wearing a suit to tell us (11)
that copper might go down, but then it will probably go up later. Because China. And stuff:
Credit being pumped into China’s economy should boost growth and copper
consumption, said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metals Trading.
He said copper supply and demand should accelerate and the market should see a
deficit of around 200,000 tonnes this year, predicting prices above $10,000 by the end
of June.
“I think we’re going to go lower in the next few days,” he said. “(But) I’m bullish from a
3-6 month perspective.”
There seems to be a never-ending line of these anal ysts out there and I want Dan Smith’s job.
To underscore the silliness of the raft of recent
“copper going lower near-term” predictions,
without exception predicated on the standard
playbook of “dollar up/recession looming = copper
down”, here’s a ten-day comparative chart of
copper versus squiggly lines covering the US
Dollar (DXY), spot gold bullion (GC00) and spot
silver bullion (SI00) that shows how copper hasn’t
merely out-performed the supposed safe havens
of the precious metals world, but has done better
than the USD as well.
Moving on, we come to our regular weekly update
on the world copper inventories, with data from
Cochilco:
 The overall net inflows continued, but for the second week running the moves were
light and not the type of serious stock-building that will last the cycle. Overall copper
inventories in world’s three official systems rose by 7,658 metric tonnes (mt), much the
same as the week before, with Friday’s close at 334,682mt.
 The SHFE added 7,589mt to its copper inventory to close at 249,598mt. The rapid
increase weeks now seem behind us, we now get to see where the number tops out..
 The LME added 1,725mt to its meagre stocks and got it’s total to 64,825mt by the end
of the week. This is as close to “stocked out” as the LME comes, in real terms.
15

 And Comex continue to run lower, down another 1,656mt to close the week at
20,259mt. The USA’s lack of recession showing in these data as well.
The first of the long-term dedicated SHFE tracking charts shows how the 2023 re-stock dropped
away from the fastest rhythm and may now be flattening out, somewhere between here and
300kmt, perhaps.
SHFE copper inventory levels, 2018 to 2023
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
16
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 01 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 02 12 22 32 42 52 62 72 82 92 03 13 23 33 43 53 63 73 83 93 04 14 24 34 44 54 64 74 84 94 05 15 25
MT Cu 2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
source: Cochilco data
Shanghai Futures Exchange Warehouse Stocks, 2014 to date
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
31'13ceD dr32 ht51 ht7 ht03 dn22 ht71 ht9 ts1von ht42 ht71 ht01 dn2tcO 7102ts1naJ ht62 ht81 ht01 dr3ced ht52 102ht72rpa ht91 ht11 9102
dr3bef
102ht82rpa ts12 ht31 0202ht5naj 202ht92ram ts12 ht31 0202ht6ced ht82 dr32 ht51 ht7 202ht03naj ht42 ht71 ht9 3202
naJ
Mt Cu
|
source: Cochilco
However, the second shows that the current 250kmt is better than anytime since the Covid
crisis. Now for notes on some basket component stocks:
Libero Copper (LBC.v): In two tranches and with its strategic partner, Anglo Asian Mining
Plc, using its right to top up and retain its 19.9% holding, LBC last week (12) closed its $2.5m
financing by selling 3.2 units at 15c apiece, with each unit a share and a full warrant struck at
22c. The share count is up to 93.86m and the proceeds will be earmarked for the drill program
that will never happen at Mocoa. Later, expect LBC to use the funds to drill its Esperanza
project in Argentina. Or maybe blow it all on G&A.
Arizona Sonoran (ASCU.v): Another placement closed last week here (13), the $30m bought
deal that sold 15m shares at $2 apiece (no warrants). ASCU now trades at a discount to the
insto money that came in (and there will be a small increase in funds once Rio Tinto via Nuton
tops up to retain its 7.2% position), so in theory at least we should see it drift back toward the
placement price.
Regulus Resources (REG.v): As noted on the blog last week (14), I don’t mind expressing
my surprise about the news out of REG on Feb 15th:
February 15, 2023 (Vancouver, BC) – Regulus Resources Inc. (“Regulus” or the “Company”,
TSX-V: REG, OTCQX: RGLSF) is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 70% interest in the
Colquirrumi claims. The Colquirrumi claims will be held by a joint-venture with 70% belonging to
Regulus and 30% belonging to Compañía Minera Colquirrumi S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Buenaventura (“Buenaventura”). Regulus will be the operator of the joint venture.
That was also one week before the time limit on BVN’s decision to either pay U$9m and take

70% of Colquirrumi or go the way they did, so the decision came early as well. The stock sold
off at the bell on the news but as REG volume tends to be thin, it only takes one or two people
not to understand it’s the positive significance of this news and buyers then came to bid the
stock up modestly on the week. Overall the reaction was in-line with the news, i.e. good but
without becoming a near-term slam dunk catalyst.
Be clear: Of the two options, getting the land is by far the better one for REG as it can now
improve its strategic standing with both BVN and its strategic partners. We know that the drill
numbers out of the Coloquirrumi land position haven’t been as good as the ones from AntaKori
to date, but this is more about regional control than what’s under the ground and, as the
company has mentioned on several occasions already, it has enough proof of concept for the
resource size and tonnage to interest larger companies in what it’s doing and where it’s
working.
However (and with this company there’s always a but), to answer a couple of correspondents
here in public this isn’t enough to make REG a buy again and for two reasons. Firstly and unlike
SolGold (see today’s main fundies section) REG still has a long way to go to show the economic
potential of its project. There’s drilling to do and 43-101 compliant resource updates to make,
either with or without the help of its collaborator Coimolache.
Second, the decision by BVN to give REG the land control rather than the money is more
collaborative and befitting of a company looking to work with its neighbour and we should take
that at face value, but I want more concrete signals from BVN/Coimolache before jumping to
conclusions and there are two clear ones they can give between now and the end of the year:
1) REG CEO John Black in his “can’t tell you this, but…” hint-dropping webinar two weeks
ago made it clear that they would like to get together with Coimolache and publish a
joint-level 43-101 resource and/or economic report (presumably a PEA) that would
incorporate the mineral on Coimolache ground and would be able to show the real
economics of an eventual large pit, instead of being restricted to only REG mineral
tonnage. If BVN/Coimolache decide to go ahead with this enhancement of the current
collaborative agreement, it would be a strong positive.
2) BVN is due to deliver its own PFS for its “Coimolache Sulfides” project around the
middle of this year. On that day, we’ll get to know a lot more about BVN’s true plans
and intentions because, theoretically, there’s still nothing to stop REG’s neighbour from
ignoring what’s been going on at AntaKori and developing its own sulphide project on
its own land with its own production facility and infrastructure. BVN can, in essence,
still decide to ignore REG and allow it to wither on the vine.
So yes, it was a surprise to see BVN ceding land
position to REG and it’s good news for the strategic
position REG can take in future negotiations. But it’s
not the major green light on a JV deal and until truly
shows it’s willing to play ball there’s no reason to jump
back in here. Also, and it must be said, the painfully
slow progress made by REG in drilling AntaKori doesn’t
help its cause it’s and another reason we don’t yet
good handle on the project size and scale. They have
2023 to put drills into the “donut” of AntaKori to try
and make the property irresistible.
Atacama Copper (ACOP.v): Maybe the best thing to do in this market is nothing, as we
haven’t had a peep out of ACOP in 2023 to date and in fact, its last NR came on August 15th
(15) when announcing the arrival of Tim Warman to the team (he of Fiore Gold, of course).
Indeed, its last published corporate presentation is dated August 2022, as well. However, the
17

lack of market noise hasn’t stopped ACOP from adding
25% this year with 11 or those points coming last week,
though admittedly the volume was slight. We assume
we’ll get some sort of news or update from the company
eventually.
The Producer Basket
After 7 weeks of 2023, the Producer Basket shows a loss of 3.70% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 47.20 799 36.29 45.42 -3.8%
2 Barrick GOLD 17.18 1761.54 29.49 16.74 -2.6%
3 Agnico Eagle AEM 51.99 488.9 22.60 46.23 -11.1%
4 Wheaton PM WPM 39.08 451.963 19.11 42.28 8.2%
5 Kinross Gold KGC 4.09 1256.1 4.85 3.86 -5.6%
6 Alamos Gold AGI 10.11 393.1 4.07 10.35 2.4%
7 B2Gold BTG 3.57 1074.567 3.57 3.32 -7.0%
8 Hecla Mining GFI 5.56 603.86 3.12 5.17 -7.0%
9 Eldorado Gold EGO 8.36 185.73 1.62 8.72 4.3%
10 Wesdome Gold WDOFF 5.53 142.287 0.67 4.71 14.8%
All prices and stock quotes in U$ Port. avg -3.70%
The party’s over. The zippy and impressive gains registered in the PM sector in the first weeks
of January are now a distant memory and as of this week, our tracking chart shows both our
basket average and the GDX benchmark in negative territory for the year, driven down by a
combo of macro outlook, lacklustre Q4 earnings from some key players and M&A activity that
saw the larger aggressor’s share price drop and, as things so happen, we have both the
headline bigfish from last week on our list of ten.
The 2023 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and The 2023 Producer Basket: Percentage difference
comparative to GDX control between GDX benchmark & basket (negative = IKN ahead)
16% 4.0%
14% 3.5%
ikn
12%
gdx control 3.0%
10%
2.5%
8%
6% 2.0%
4% 1.5%
2% 1.0%
0%
0.5%
-2% source: NYSE, IKN calcs
0.0%
-4%
-6% Jan1st Jan8th 15th 22nd 29th feb5th 12th 19th
Jan1st Jan8th 15th 22nd 29th feb5th 12th 19th source: IKN calcs, NYSE data
Newmont (NEM) and Newcrest (NCM): After making its move and getting Newcrest (NCM)
to make a public acknowledgement of the 0.38-shares-for-1-share offer, the ball is now firmly
back in Newmont’s (NEM) court after a week of newsflow that went against the deal. First and
as expected, NCM insto holders formed and orderly queue and each took their turn to say that
NEM’s offer was lowball. You wouldn’t expect anything else, of course, Then on Thursday as
part of its December period earnings report, NCM surprised shareholders by upping its interim
dividend to U$0.15 from the expected U$0.11, citing windfalls from its Lundin Gold (LUG.to)
investment as the source but clearly making the dividend payment a show of strength. Finally,
the company offered NEM limited access to non-public material under an NDA if they were
interested in taking the conversation further, a polite way of saying “you’re not getting into our
data room, but we will show you why your offer needs to be a lot bigger.” In the words of
18

interim CEO Sherry Duhe, who appeared on Bloomie (16) and showed very well,
“This is really offering, if Newmont is open to that, just having a private conversation
with some very limited non-public information just to help them better understand what
we see as the true value of our company. The nature of that would just be something
we would need to discuss and agree if they want to accept that offer. We haven’t
specified exactly what that would be, it would just be a discussion of some limited data
that we see is very important and in particular as you can imagine around our growth
projects.”
Bottom line: Without a sweetener, this NEM move on NCM is going nowhere
One week and four (five) big losers: A section in which your author tries to roll up multiple
stories in one place:
No fewer than five of the ten stocks in our 2023 basket brought news to market that hit their
shares prices, and all for their own sweet reasons. Due to my own interest in the stock I’ve
taken extra time on the Hecla (HL) 4q22 numbers and, along with a couple of charts, we
consider those in the space the ‘Market Watching’ section provides, below. Here above are the
other four of the five whacked stocks last week and
Kinross (KGC): Down when its maiden resource at Great Bear (Dixie) of 5m oz Au all-
categories failed to impress the market, failed to impress me and its cool reception was wholly
deserved. Defenders of Special K are right, of course, to point out that Great Bear as a
development project is only in its infancy and what we saw last week was the archetype
“snapshot in time” on its resource, but there was enough in this early pass to cast doubt on the
price K paid for the project. Our post on the open blog that morning, “Whistling Dixie”, pointed
to the most glaring issue (17):
“…Special K holders should also be concerned about the indicated grade of
2.57g/t, as we were told by all and sundry that its open pit would be a 3g to 4g
operation. How can they get the targeted number for inferred, but come up
short on the indicated?”
19

I’ll now answer my own question. It’s highly likely that K under-estimated the effect of mine
dilution on the famously twisty-turny veins and shear zones typical of the Archean Greenstone
host rock in those parts (some of the oldest remaining rock formations on the planet, by the
way). So adding together…
1) K’s insistence on using 3.56 g/t for the less reliable inferred resource to date
2) The 200k of diamond drilling and around 40k of RC drilling that’s only managed to
move 2.7m oz into indicated so far
3) The decision by K to use a U$1,400/oz gold price, when its own corporate protocol is to
use U$1,200/oz
4) The way the grand total juuuust managed to broach the 5m oz line
…all suggests to me that K was reaching, and reaching hard, to justify its initial pass MRE on
Great Bear and present some numbers that wouldn’t look as bad as they might. Overall, an
unimpressive debut for what’s an important, nay vital project at for the future of Kinross as
even at this early stage, its purchase price represents around 30% of the current market cap.
We also got KGC’s 4q22 and YE financials on Thursday and while I’m not going to dwell on
those, I will show one of the tracking charts from the house Excel:
Kinross: Book value per share
20
03.5 73.5 64.5 73.5
51.6
71.5 29.4 58.4 18.4
U$
6.5
6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3 2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
4q20 1q21 2q21 3q21 4q21 1q22 2q22 3q22 4q22
source: company data
Book value is not supposed to go down. Time to move on.
Barrick (GOLD): Barrick got over its 4q22 and YE financials without wowing the market and
sold off slightly and its 2023 guidance was in the same vein and reasonable, but nothing to set
the world alight. CEO Bristow duly did the media rounds and I watched a couple of the
segments, in which he was pressed for comment on whether GOLD would join in the
consolidation rounds that seem to be picking up. He tried to say “no” and probably got quoted
too literally when wires said he’d be interested in buying the minority of Nevada Gold Mines
owned by Newmont (it sounded to me like some sort of ironic joke, why on earth would NEM
want to downsize one of its jewels while trying to buy Newcrest?).
Agnico Eagle (AEM): Aside the hit taken by Hecla on Wednesday (see Market Watching),
Perhaps the biggest surprise of them all as AEM came out with a crimped 2023 production
guidance for its star turn Fosterville mine in Australia for 2023. Previously expected to produce
around 375,000oz this year, that’s been throttled back to around 295k-305k oz due to
environmental restrictions place don the operation by local authorise, as night-time mining
activities have been created too much low frequency noise in the zone.
Though overall production is set to rise from the 2022 total of 3.135m oz Au to a guidance
midpoint of 3.34m oz Au, the difference is mainly due to AEM’s new 100% ownership of
Canadian Malartic, set to close soon. So while Fosterville is only around 10% of consolidated
production, its ultra-low cash cost (U$338/oz in FY22) means those ounces shaved off due to
noise concerned will be missed.
B2Gold (BTG): Not being a current holder of BTG, the only real question I had about its
announcement to pay a headline price of c$1.1Bn for Sabina Gold & Silver (SBB.to) last week
was whether there’s room for a third party to move in and start a bidding war. The answer

seem to be “No” and what’s more, seeing large SBB holder Orion dump around 27.7m of its
73m shares on the announcement went a long way to gauging the expectations of the inner
circle at SBB. The break-up fee at $37m approx isn’t too onerous but there simply aren’t many
obvious alternatives to BTG at this time, for one there aren’t many companies with the
necessary skill set that are also willing to allot the years required to bring Goose (Back River)
online, outside of China at least. And this deal is politically acceptable to Canada, as it sidelines
SBB 7.4% strategic holder Zhaojin Mining Industry. The world has moved on since the days
when Chinese companies were welcome investors in Canadian domiciled projects and it makes
the pool of potential buyers that much smaller.
I think BTG is getting a great deal in buying Sabina (SBB.to), but its benefits are for the long-
term and it’s wholly logical to see BTG sell off on the news. Not only is it a lot of paper, but we
also now know shareholders won’t get the benefit of higher dividends as BTO deploys its
treasury to build out Goose.
The bottom line: Sometimes I wish I had more time and remit to cover the larger cap stocks,
this is one of those weeks. These brief notes try to sum up a busy week for Tier 1 and Tier 2
PM companies, with plenty of news on earnings and dealflow and plenty of rumours and
hearsay to report as well, which is good (I suppose). Rounding up, AEM and HL had poor
earnings reports, GOLD and KGC came in okay-at-best but we haven’t seen a miner truly
sparkle with its earnings yet so perhaps Alamos Gold (AGI) or Wesdome (WDSOFF) (WDO.tro)
can do the honours on Wednesday, as both are set to report on the same day (AGI post-
close). However, the trend of higher than expected costs is now clear and seems to be affecting
Canadian addressed mines more than most. Meanwhile, Newmont will have to act in order to
add momentum to its bid for Newcrest, as so far the market simply isn’t buying the proposal.
Kinross suffered from its own deal last week when Dixie failed to impress on its first pass MRE
and the market now assumes Special K overpaid for an asset…again. So once all it done and
dusted, the laurels go to B2Gold this week as even though the stock dropped on the news of its
buyout of SBB, for my money BTG is getting a good asset at what may turn out to be a market
low price and the bidding competition for Back River is conspicuous by its absence.
The TinyCaps List
After 7 weeks of 2023, the TinyCaps show a gain of 28.11% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out Mkt Cap current pps gain/loss%
Aurelius Min AUL.v 0.07 49.787 2.99 0.06 -14.3%
Coast Copper COCO.v 0.045 64.001 3.84 0.06 33.3%
District Metals DMX.v 0.075 86.891 13.03 0.15 100.0%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.13 69.962 19.24 0.275 111.5%
Manitou Gold MTU.v 0.02 344.568 8.61 0.025 25.0%
Nine Mile Metals NINE.cse 0.29 57.025 16.25 0.285 -1.7%
Palamina Corp PA.v 0.08 65.285 7.18 0.11 37.5%
Precipitate Gold PRG.v 0.075 130.367 9.13 0.07 -6.7%
South Star STS.v 0.55 32.755 17.36 0.53 -3.6%
Viva Gold VAU.v 0.14 91.608 12.83 0.14 0.0%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 28.11%
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.
21

 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 2023. 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.
Our TinyCaps had their first losing week of 2023, TinyCaps, 2023 weekly tracker
40%
down a couple of percentage points on the back of 35%
three winners (COCO.v, DMX.v, PA.v), one unchanged 30%
25%
stock (MTU.v) and six losers (AUL.v, LMS.v, NINE.cse, 20%
PRG.v, STS.v, VAU.v). Most of the moves in either 15%
10%
direction were small, the exceptions were the drops in
5%
Precipitate (PRG.v down 17.7%) and Aurelius (AUL.v 0%
down 14.3%).
Latin Metals (LMS.v): The live webinar on Thursday by LMS (18) came and went and was
informative and a good show, but it also marked the top of the stock’s recent run. Maybe the
world was expecting some new catalyst or announcement
of a deal, instead LMS’s Keith Henderson carefully walked
viewers through the company business model, explained
why their Prospect Generator model had long-term
advantages, highlighted the low cash burn of the
corporate structure, pointed to the deals done and how
they might bear fruits further down the line and then
mentioned its Lacsha project as the next in line to find a
JV partner. One item that did strike me was Henderson’s
insistence that, unlike many other Prospect Generators
that will sometimes go the route, LMS was not about to
start holding back some-or-other prime project or target
and drill it themselves. Instead LMS will stick strictly to the
classic model and always get OPM to do the drilling for them, in return for a free carry.
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
Another negative signal from Burkina Faso
In exactly the same way as “Burkina Faso: France out Russia in”, as featured in IKN715 dated
January 29th, I begin by stating that this isn’t a LatAm, it’s not your author’s stomping ground
and I’d strongly suggest you find someone with more expertise on the region to talk this over
with before coming to any active decision, but there’s no shying away from the negative optic
thrown on Burkina Faso’s mining sector by this story last week:
OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Endeavour Mining (EDV.L) has sold 200
kilograms (7054.79 oz) of gold from its Mana mine in Burkina Faso to the West African
country's government, the company told Reuters on Wednesday.
The UK-headquartered multinational is the biggest gold miner in Burkina Faso, which
is funding a battle against a rampant jihadist insurgency that spurred two military coups
last year.
Gold is a universal means of purchasing foreign currency to shore up reserves.
Burkina Faso's energy and mines ministry issued a statement on Tuesday saying it
had "commandeered" 200 kilograms of gold from the Mana mine for "public necessity".
The company will be compensated for its value, the statement added without providing
22
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

further detail.
The government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
"Endeavour confirms that it has signed a sales contract for 200kg (approximately 7,000
ounces) of gold to the Burkina Faso government at current market prices, from its
Mana mine," the company told Reuters in an emailed response on Wednesday.
I also read Canadian brokerages trying to calm the market by stating that the news was a
Neutral” for EDV and apparently there’s nothing to worry about. So, a military regime that took
power six months ago makes a mandatory purchase of gold from one of the mines in its
country, promising to pay the bill of course, in order to pay down its own bills (most likely fuel
oil) and the market doesn’t bat an eyelid? I’m sorry, is this a dream world? If the military
regime pay up promptly and don’t try this again then I’d agree, but the likelihood of them
tapping the same source more than once as soon as money gets tight again is high indeed.
Also, if they drag heels on payment due to a lack of Euros (BF’s currency is nominally Euro-
backed) what happens then? They start printing more to pay down their USD debt? That’s one
slippery slope that won’t stop with mining companies being exposed to extra levels of political
risk. Quite seriously, imagine the uproar if any Americas country tried to force this type of deal
on a foreign mining company it hosted.
Ecuador: The Lasso government now under severe pressure
On Friday, President Guillermo Lasso fell and broke his fibula leg bone and the break was bad
enough to warrant corrective surgery on Saturday. The operation reportedly went well and we
wish him a speedy recovery, but it’s the least of his problems at the moment. On top of the
serious reversal suffered by his party in the regional governor elections of two Sundays ago and
the failure (against all poll predictions) to gain approval for any of his eight referendum
questions that same day, Lasso last week came under direct suspicion of corruption when a
leaked report connected two people close to him, namely his Agriculture Minister and his own
brother-in-law, to kingpin drug dealer from Albania who has been under police investigation in
Ecuador for some time. The police report dates from a couple of years ago and its contents
weren’t enough to bring charges against the Lasso people, but it was enough to see the Agro
Minister resign immediately and for Lasso to skip a scheduled event at Ecuador’s Congress on
Monday, else face questions he would not want to answer.
His opponents, starting with exiled opposition leader and ex-President Rafael Correa, were
already calling for early elections and are now baying for his blood and what’s more, they may
get it. Ecuador’s Congress is likely to run another motion of No Confidence against Lasso and
though the same move last year came up short by nine votes, if its passes with enough votes
this time it would mean the removal of the President and new elections called. The other
possible exit for Lasso is the so-called “muerte cruzado” (perhaps translated for gist as
“crossfire death” or “mutually assured destruction”), the executive power held by the President
to dissolve Congress and rule by decree for six months, after which Presidential elections must
be called in a maximum of six months. In other words, Lasso would cut short his own
Presidency and Ecuador would get new elections for President and Congress inside 12 months.
That decree is reportedly “in his desk at all times” and waiting for a signature according to
Bloomie last week (19), though the final option for Lasso is to try and rough it out and remain
as President. If he goes the stubborn route, political pundits in the country now fully expect a
new round of social protests and marches akin to the ones we saw last year from CONAIE and
other indigenous pressure groups that brought the country to a halt.
Lasso’s position is under greater pressure as the weeks go on, without an effective form of
government after trying and failing to by-pass Congress by using the direct referendum route,
as well as seeing his governor candidates soundly beaten and those of Rafael Correa voted in.
Correa is now favourite for any snap called election and his arrival would signal the return of
Left wing government to the country, albeit one that’s also in conflict with indigenous groups
such as CONAIE (it’s complicated).
Peru’s crisis goes international
None of the items covering the ongoing social crisis in Peru this weekare directly related to
mining, but taken as a whole they point to how quickly Peru has moved from “Lefty Paradise”
23

to its current image of hard right controlled authoritarian state and as those tend to be popular
among investors, you may feel inclined to strip morality from the equation and consider it a
place in which one can invest again. So in no particular order:
Colombian President had already made several comments in support of jailed ex-President
Pedro Castillo and against the current government, but after the images last weekend when the
government decided to put on a show and parade 10,000 police officers in formation in the
centre of Lima (seriously, 10k) in response to the latest protest (a few hundred gathered and
then quickly dispersed, Petro added the scene to the 60-odd protesters who had been shot
dead by police and army personnel to date and said to a meeting in Colombia, “In Peru they
march like Nazis against their own people, tearing up the Americas Convention of Human
Rights.” In response to this, Peru’s Congress passed a motion to declare the President Colombia
persona non grata, the second major political figure to get the same treatment from Peru’s
Congress this year after doing the same for ex-President of Bolivia Evo Morales (20).
In Mexico, President AMLO has already taken a strong anti-new government stance and
supports ex-President Pedro Castillo, taking in his family as political refugees and telling the
Summit of the Americas in January Castillo had been unjustly jailed. This week, he announced
that Mexico, as pro tempore holder of the presidency of the Pacific Alliance group of countries,
would refuse to hand over the pro tempore presidency to Peru next month when it was time to
do so (what would normally be a standard protocol event of no great import). AMLO said (21):
“I will give instructions to the Secretary of Foreign Relations (i.e. Mexico’s foreign minister) to
notify the Rio Group on what we should do, because I do not want to hand over (the
presidency of the Pacific Alliance) to a government I consider spurious. Let the members of the
group decide. If they decide that we should hand over the presidency, we will do so. But I will
consult them first as I do not want to legitimize a coup d’etat. It is against liberty, human rights
and is anti-democratic.”
So the local pressure from left wing LatAm government builds against an increasingly isolated
Peru (only Ecuador has voiced its support for the Boluarte government, though its debatable
how long Lasso will last now), but perhaps most telling was the publication of a report from
Amnesty International on Thursday. Its working group had been in Peru for two weeks
gathering information regarding the suppression techniques used against protester, then met
with President Boluarte on Thursday morning, then in a presser later that day published its
findings and this time, you get excerpts from an English language report (22) out of CNN:
The human rights group accuses security forces of using firearms with lethal
ammunition “as one of their primary methods of dispersing demonstrations, even when
there was no apparent risk to the lives of others” – a violation of international human
rights standards.
Amnesty says it documented 12 fatalities in which “all the victims appeared to have
been shot in the chest, torso or head, which could indicate, in some cases, the
intentional use of lethal force.”
There have also been instances of violence by some demonstrators, with the use of
stones, fireworks and homemade slingshots. CNN has previously reported on the
death of a policeman who was burned to death by protesters. Citing Health Ministry
figures, Amnesty found that “more than 1,200 people have been injured in the context
of protests and 580 police officers have been wounded.”
But overall, police and army have responded disproportionately, firing “bullets
indiscriminately and in some cases at specific targets, killing or injuring bystanders,
protesters and those providing first aid to injured people,” Amnesty said.
The Amnesty International press release and full report is here (23). One of the reasons the
above excerpt is from an English language news service is that it would take you a long time to
find news of this damning report in any Peruvian mainstream media channel. Social media has
been having a field day, but the roaring silence from all major media services in the country is
eye-opening and shows just how quickly the country has moved its political line since Castillo
was ousted. And for what it’s worth, I still fully agree that Castillo’s attempt to “auto-coup”
himself and close Congress was a fool’s move and he deserves to be where he is at the
24

moment, but the authoritarian crackdown under Boluarte has done far more harm than good
and merely fuels resentment divisions. The government is still relying on “protester fatigue” and
the process, as reported last weekend, has continued to show. However, it’s only created a
temporary calm and with the much-hated Congress now having shown its hand and blocking
any early election, further protests and violent clashes are likely.
First Quantum and Panama’s government continue to play chicken
The dispute over the Cobre Panama mine and what it should pay to the government of Panama
by way of taxes and royalties drags on and we may be at an inflection point in the fight. Up to
this week the mine has continued to operate as per, but for the last three weeks the company
has not been able to ship its copper concentrate product because the government found a
sneaky way to play hardball. Here’s Reuters from last Thursday (24):
Feb 16 (Reuters) - First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FM.TO) has warned employees it may
have to shutter operations in Panama if the government does not allow its copper
exports to resume by next week, according to a memo sent to staff and seen by
Reuters.
A long-running contract dispute between the Canadian miner and Panama officials
centers on disagreements over tax rates and royalties at the Cobre Panama mine.
In the latest twist, Panama's maritime authority last month ordered First Quantum to
suspend copper concentrate loading operations at a major port, essentially blocking
the company from shipping and selling its copper.
The Vancouver-based company said the maritime authority had told it that the
suspension was due to the scale it was using not being properly calibrated.
Alan Delaney, the mine's general manager, in a Thursday memo to employees
described the suspension as an "unprecedented and totally surprising action," and said
the scale was measuring accurately.
"If concentrate is not shipped by next week, these technical frustrations may force
Cobre Panama to enter care and maintenance or suspend operations," he said.
The report continues with Reuters trying and failing to get a comment out of Panama’s port
authorities, but in an update this weekend Panama’s Spanish language newspaper La Estrella
reports (25) that a memo has gone out to Cobre Panama staff, saying that if the company is
not allow to ship out of its facility by Thursday it will have to suspend operations, as there’s no
room left to store concentrate safely.
Layoffs at Cobre Panama will make national and international news, as the mine contributes an
estimated 5% of national GDP while overseas (i.e. China) its concentrate is badly needed by
customers in these times of tight supply. Another reminder that resource nationalism is here to
stay, ladies and gents.
Market Watching
Hecla (HL) 4q22 financials
Back in IKN 711 dated January 1st announcing Hecla Mining (HL) as one of the new
components of this year’s Producer Basket, we cited three reasons why it got the nod over peer
silver stocks:
1) Geography and political risk. With most of its assets and ops in North America, it’s more
attractive than Fortuna, First Majestic or similar in this new age of political risk
2) The balance sheet. It’s in decent financial shape, certainly better than just a couple of years
ago.
3) Its purchase of Alexco. HL got a great deal on AXU and by paying down the Wheaton (WPM)
stream, basically lien free. What KHSD always needed was money to build out the project
and and skilled manpower on site, Alexco couldn’t deliver those but HL can.
Up to this last week, HL had done relatively well compared to the peers we named in that
IKN711 note. Here they are (with the silver miners’ ETF, SIL, added to the mix) and to last
weekend, HL had kept its nose head of them all and was level pegging with Coeur (CDE) in the
2023 race. Then Wednesday hit and our thesis took a whacking:
25

The reason wasn’t any of the above, instead it was a good old-fashioned disappointing quarter.
HL had pre-announced its 4q22 production back on January 11th so those numbers were baked
in, the issue was with costs as this chart should make clear:
HL: Sales and costs
26
529.631 989.151 553.661 408.551 307.991 881.361 98.881 419.351 258.012 328.961 389.712 148.881 65.391 231.202 870.581 752.361 994.681 147.171 242.191 35.381 933.641 897.171 253.491 472.402
U$m
total sales
240 total costs
220
200
180
160
140
120 100
80
60
40
20
0
1q20 2q20 3q20 4q20 1q21 2q21 3q21 4q21 1q22 2q22 3q22 4q22
source: company filings
At HL, there are a lot of deductions to make from the gross revenues from sales of silver, gold
and base metals (zinc and lead). In fact and to stay with 4q22 as our topical example, the
U$194.352m “total sales” number you see quoted above isn’t even the gross number. That’s
U$207.848m and before we get “total sales”, some U$13.496m is deducted in refinery & related
charges. Therefore, the costs total you see above of U$204.274m doesn’t include refinery,
instead it includes these major items (plus “other”):
HL: Costs breakdown, per qtr
788.58 358.29 520.301 898.001 283.69 23.011 245.211 536.89 277.501 709.511 9.401
232.231
U$m other
Expl & pre dev
220 G&A
200 DD&A
COGS
180
160
140
120
100
80 60
40
20
0
1q20 2q20 3q20 4q20 1q21 2q21 3q21 4q21 1q22 2q22 3q22 4q22
source: company filings
The big one is COGS and as you can see, that’s where the big bloat occurred in Q4 and
U#132.232m is a new high for costs. To continue with Q4, DD&A at U$37.576m was in-line, but
G&A (U$14.295m) also came in heavy, according to HL due to the incorporation of extra staff
as part of the Alexco merger (which is strange, as redundancy payments would have been a
better reason…why bloat the roster?). The result is seen in this chart, which shows how HL still

returns a modest gross profit but, once BTL items are added in, the company is left working for
the taxman and refiners, leaving nothing for its shareholders.
U$m HL: Gross margin, income from ops, net profit
gross profit
80
income from ops
70 pre tax income
60 net income
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40 source: company filings
1q20 2q20 3q20 4q20 1q21 2q21 3q21 4q21 1q22 2q22 3q22 4q22
HL will of course point to its positive free cash flow, but backing out DD&A is a myopic in the
mining world and means your company, based on a non-renewable resource, is headed for
eventual bankruptcy. HL put a brave face on the numbers, pointing us to the obvious future
benefits of Keno Hill’s ramp-up and Casa Bernardi in the medium term, but HL President and
CEO Phillips S. Baker Jr. will only get so far with catchy phrases such, “Hecla is the world’s
fastest growing established silver company, as seen in the accompanying NR. It reminded this
desk of the old adage “the longer the job title, the less important the job”, so while HL has
added significant assets to its books recently and it has the balance sheet to support their
growth, the company must, by definition, also deliver efficient and profitable production and its
Q4 does not do that. Cost inflation isn’t confined to HL and we know its effects on other miners,
but that’s no excuse for seeing ALL that decent gross revenues total for Q4 eaten away by line
items. HL cannot continue to live off free cash flow and ignore DD&A, that’s robbing Peter to
pay Paul.
A reminder to juniors that pay dividends
Keep paying them, or else:
NYSE-listed Gold Resource Corp (GORO) has never been a favoured company on these pages,
indeed it was once a successful short when a bunch of foolish newsletter writers fell for a
company-generated breathless pump on the stock that pushed it up to well over U$20 on talk
of massive margins and endless dividends. That was a long time ago, since then it’s only been
in the corner of your author’s eye as a marginal producer with creaky financials and somewhat
erratic production from its Don David mine in Oaxaca, Mexico (which despite its corporate title
gets around 40% of its revenues from zinc and only 35% from gold, the rest coming from
silver, copper and lead). Over the years, it’s also run foul of poor community relations and its
safety record for employees has left a lot to be desired, as well. However and in all that time, it
has at least managed to keep paying a regular quarterly dividend and while it was slowly cut
over the years, in the time you see on the chart above it was still managing to pay U$0.01 per
27

quarter to its shareholders. That is until last week, when GORO published its NR (26) entitled
“Gold Resource Corporation Issues 2023 Guidance and Suspension of Dividend Program.” The
NR tried to point the reader into the medium-term future and its growth projects but to be
honest, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that many GORO shareholders to that point didn’t
even bother to open the NR before hitting the big red sell button.
The reason is simple: Once you’re a “dividend play”, the fact you’re a mining company as well
becomes less important. You attract a different type of shareholder, not necessarily involved
with or an observer of the mining industry and those will often include more passive funds that
hold for long periods and cream off the divi, no matter the equity price at the end of any given
quarter. Up to last week GORO was a $1.60-or-so stock and while 4c only implies a 2.5% gross
yield, that’s enough to keep instos with dividend-only portfolios on-board. However, the title
line we saw from GORO on Monday is all the excuse fund managers need to liquidate a low-end
performer and allocate to a different place.
In its NR, President and CEO Allan Palmiere ended his spiel by saying “…we will suspend the
quarterly dividend until such time that it may become practicable to reinstate”, trying hard to
give the impression this move were temporary in nature and was all about getting the company
over a tight financial period. That’s hogwash, no CFO in their right mind would sign off on a
dividend suspension unless they absolutely had to, knowing full well what would happen to the
stock piece when they did. So a stock priced at U$1.63 last weekend is now 38% lower at
U$1.01 and in the process, they stencil “We Have Serious Money Problems” on their corporate
foreheads.
The moral of this story is obvious; if you own a dividend play, make sure it’s going to pay you
the dividend. Companies such as Amerigo Resources (ARG.to) do things the right way by not
over-promising on this baseline attribute and making sure their business model can easily
handle the promised payments over long periods, even if the company goes through several
lean quarters for reasons outside their control. Instead, good years see extra payments and
that’s a win-win, attractive to the long-term holder. I do not sweat on ARG.to as a holder, but
even in that strong and well-run company I still keep an eye on its balance sheet and count the
quarters down the line if copper prices drop and those of you in mining companies that pay you
dividends should do the same. There are a lot of worse companies out there that pay divis and
while chronic weakness of the type seen at GORO can be papered over for a while, dividend
payments can become unsustainable and share prices can take the same type of bath. Looking
right atcha, Gold Royalty Corp (GROY), you guys can’t boot that debt down the road forever.
Conclusion
IKN718 is done and as usual, we end with just one bullet point:
 SolGold (SOLG.to) (SOLG.L) is the right metal at the right time in the right corporate
background for deals. It even has the right sort of buyer, now that the Australians have
been blown off the saddle and the company can decide its own fate. Buying for a trade
and it will be on the Stocks to Follow list as from next weekend. Another copper
company joins the throng, quite right too.
I thank you in advance for any feedback. Our Top Pick stock is Minera Alamos (MAI.v). Flash
updates will be sent if required by events.
I wish you good trading fortune, ladies and gentlemen.
Best wishes, Mark
28

Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/feds-mester-says-more-rate-hikes-needed-combat-inflation-2023-02-
16/
(2) https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/10/07/2530048/0/en/SolGold-Cornerstone-Announce-
Friendly-Merger-Transaction.html
(3) https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/11/07/2549502/0/en/Osisko-to-Acquire-Royalty-on-SolGold-
s-Cascabel-Project.html
(4) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/solgold-plc-announces-issue-shares-072000264.html?
(5) http://ir.q4europe.com/Tools/newsArticleHTML.aspx?solutionID=3676&customerKey=Solgold&storyID=15695899
(6) https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/how-bhp-newcrest-may-lose-their-copper-prize-to-a-scrappy-crew-of-
minnows-20221114-p5bxxy
(7) https://vgcx.com/news/victoria-gold-notice-of-expiry-of-offer-for-atac-resources/
(8) https://atacresources.com/news/news-releases/atac-acknowledges-receipt-of-offer-from-victoria-gold-corp/
(9) https://vgcx.com/news/victoria-gold-response-to-atac-resources/
(10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGIoqUs4BAA
(11) https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/copper-ekes-out-weekly-gain-on-hopes-for-chinese-demand/
(12) https://www.liberocopper.com/_resources/news/nr-20230217.pdf
(13) https://arizonasonoran.com/news-releases/arizona-sonoran-closes-c-30-000-000-bought-deal-financing/
(14) https://regulusresources.com/news/2023/regulus-acquires-70-interest-in-colquirrumi-claims/
(15) https://atacamacopper.ca/news/atacama-copper-appoints-tim-warman-as-ceo-and-director/
(16) https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/newcrest-rejects-newmont-bid-opens-dividend-floodgates-20230216-p5ckxt
(17) https://iknnews.com/kinross-kgck-to-whistling-dixie/
(18) https://latin-metals.com/investors#media-videos
(19) https://www.bloomberglinea.com/latinoamerica/ecuador/muerte-cruzada-en-ecuador-lasso-mantiene-el-decreto-en-
su-escritorio/
(20) https://www.infobae.com/peru/2023/02/18/gustavo-petro-presidente-colombia-congreso-de-la-republica-lo-declara-
persona-non-grata/
(21) https://www.france24.com/es/am%C3%A9rica-latina/20230218-amlo-niega-la-presidencia-de-la-alianza-del-
pac%C3%ADfico-a-per%C3%BA-por-considerar-espurio-a-su-gobierno
(22) https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/16/americas/peru-protests-indigenous-amnesty-report-intl-latam/index.html
(23) https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/peru-lethal-state-repression/
(24) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/first-quantum-warns-employees-that-panama-mine-may-close-if-
dispute-is-not-2023-02-17/
(25) https://www.laestrella.com.pa/economia/230218/cobre-panama-ve-obligado-suspender-operaciones-
procesamiento-mineral-proximo-jueves
(26) https://goldresourcecorp.com/news-releases/gold-resource-corporation-issues-2023-guidance-and-4955/
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2022
Closed 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
McEwen Mining MUX Apr'22 U$0.89 2-Jan-22 U$0.82 -7.9% No 2022 turnaround, cut loss
Abrasilver Res. ABRA.v May'22 C$0.42 24-Apr-22 C$0.33 -21.4% sold to reduce Ag exposure
29

Strategic Metals SMD.v May'22 C$0.42 31-Jan-21 C$0.30 -28.6% trade flatlined 1.5 years
Discovery Silver DSV.v Jun'22 C$1.77 24-Oct-21 C$1.39 -21.5% Cutting Ag exp.& raising cash
Element 29 ECU.v Jul'22 C$0.58 6-Mar-22 C$0.30 -48.3% sold to cut Cu exposure
Superior Gold SGI.v Oct'22 C$0.95 3-Apr-22 C$0.24 -74.7% Q3 prod fail was last straw
Goldshore Res GSHR.v Nov'22 C$0.18 23-Oct-22 C$0.34 88.9% Quick profit taken
Palamina Corp PA.v Dec'22 C$0.295 21-Nov-21 C$0.08 -72.9% Clear-out of underperformer
Pure Gold PGM.h Dec'22 C$0.14 26-Sep-22 C$0.015 -89.3% tiny trade on vh risk, went Ch11
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-Apr-21 C$0.19 -36.7% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Cartier Res ECR.v sep'21 C$0.32 21-Mar-21 C$0.235 -26.6% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Amarillo Gold AGC.v sep'21 C$0.31 30-May-21 C$0.30 -3.2% Capex story changed: Out
Excelsior Mining MIN.to oct'21 C$0.93 10-Mar-19 C$0.53 -43.0% May return in 2022
Royal Road Min. RYR.v nov'21 C$0.155 17-Mar-19 C$0.275 77.4% Closed on Nica pol risk
Aurelius Min. AUL.v dec'21 C$0.75 28-Jun-20 0.24 -68.0% cut end 2021, failed trade
Argonaut Gold AR.to dec'21 C$2.95 25-Jun-21 C$2.15 -27.1% cut on capex blowout
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2020
Closed in 2020 closed close price
TMAC Resources TMR.to Jan'20 C$3.41 20-Dec-19 C$3.61 5.9% TLS flip play, sold new year
Regulus Res REG.v Jan'20 C$1.10 20-Dec-19 C$1.30 18.2% TLS flip play, profit taken
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jan'20 C$1.90 9-Dec-19 C$1.66 -12.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
McEwen Mining MUX Jan'20 U$1.12 2-Dec-19 U$1.18 5.4% TLS flip play, profit taken
Core Gold CGLD.v Jan'20 C$0.255 7-Apr-19 C$0.305 19.6% arb trade, profit taken
HudBay Min HBM Jan'20 U$3.56 9-Dec-19 U$3.36 -5.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
Midas Gold MAX.to Feb'20 C$0.71 5-Jan-20 C$0.57 -19.7% sm & silly trade
Warrior Gold WAR.v Feb'20 C$0.08 3-Aug-18 C$0.05 -31.3% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Contact Gold C.v Feb'20 C$0.40 19-Aug-18 C$0.18 -55.0% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Sandstorm Gold SAND Feb'20 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$7.21 93.3% Sold during port rebalance
NexGen Energy NXE Feb'20 U$1.20 2-Dec-19 U$1.06 -11.7% TLS flip play, loss taken
MAG Silver MAG Apr'20 U$8.95 1-Mar-20 U$10.07 12.5% Sold to cut silver exposure
Alexco Res AXU Apr'20 U$1.69 7-Sep-17 U$1.69 0.0% sold to close Ag exp. in FY20
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jun'20 C$1.62 2-Feb-20 C$1.10 -32.1% under-performer cash moved
Regulus Res REG.v Jun'20 C$0.64 6-Apr-15 C$0.79 23.4% moved $ TMQ/MIN & Au stocks
Great Panther GPR.to Aug'20 C$0.60 21-Jun-20 C$1.10 83.3% Profit taken, good trade
Jaguar Mining JAG.v Aug'20 C$0.42 21-Jun-20 C$0.65 54.8% Profit taken, good trade
Sandstorm Gold SAND Aug'20 U$7.76 10-May-20 U$9.37 20.7% Profit taken, good trade
Integra Resources ITR.v Aug'20 C$2.23 13-Aug-18 C$5.40 142.2% Profit taken, good trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Aug'20 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$14.82 525.3% last 1/2 of big win closed
INV Metals INV.to Sep'20 C$0.40 17-May-20 C$0.45 12.5% Cut all Ecuador exposure
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
30

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-Aug-18 C$0.05 -33.3% tiny trade, made room for new
B2Gold BTO.to feb'19 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$4.05 91.9% Took 1/2 profits, reduce size
Western Copper WRN.to mar'19 C$0.80 20-Jan-19 C$0.81 1.3% Spec trade that didn't work
B2Gold BTO.to mar'19 C$2.11 12-Sep-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-Jan-19 U$4.15 -8.1% Short that didn't work, sm loss
Zinc One Z.v jun'19 C$0.47 14-Sep-17 C$0.025 -94.7% clearing out dead trade
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jun'19 C$0.24 22-Aug-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-Apr-18 C$0.47 -67.8% Failed sm spec on Au. Moved on
Amerigo Res ARG.to nov'19 C$0.91 23-Sep-18 C$0.50 -45.1% worst trade of year, hefty loss
Guyana Goldfields GUY.to dec'19 C$0.94 14-Apr-19 C$0.56 -40.4% taking the loss, financials weak
Tethyan Res TETH.v dec'19 C$0.30 8-Sep-19 C$0.16 -46.7% tiny trade, word of probs in co
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2018
Closed in 2018 closed close price
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jan'18 C$0.38 24-Mar-17 C$0.31 -18.4% Cut away losing trade
Riverside Res RRI.v jan'18 C$0.39 27-Jun-16 C$0.31 -20.5% Cut away losing trade
Eros Res ERC.v jan'18 C$0.175 1-Mar-17 C$0.16 -8.6% CEO sudden exit, not good
Excellon Res EXN.to jan'18 C$1.54 9-Oct-16 C$1.66 7.8% 4q17 poor, one too many bad qtrs
Wesdome Gold WDO.to jan'18 C$1.68 15-Dec-17 C$2.06 22.6% Near-term trade block, took profit
Sabina G&S SBB.to apr'18 C$2.06 17-Dec-17 C$1.77 -14.1% Near-term trade, bad timing, small
B2Gold BTO.to May'18 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.67 73.9% sold 25% to reduce exposure
Lara Expl. LRA.v May'18 C$0.65 11-Feb-18 C$0.58 -13.8% Spec on Brazil didn't work
Solitario XPL June'18 U$0.72 19-Mar-17 U$0.41 -43.1% Failed trade, may return in 4q18
SolGold plc SOLG.to July'18 C$0.475 19-Nov-17 C$0.415 -12.6% cut, trade didn't perform
Pan American PAAS July'18 U$17.90 1-Jun-18 U$16.30 8.9% modest win on short position
NGEx Res NGQ.to Sep'18 C$1.01 22-Oct-17 C$1.00 -1.0% Closed to reduce Argentina exp
Sandstorm Gold SAND Oct'18 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$4.13 10.7% partial sale to raise cash for GTT
Aldebaran Res ALDE.v Nov'18 n/a n/a n/a n/a liquidate spin out of REG
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2017
Closed in 2017 closed close price
Continental Gold CNL.to Jan'17 C$2.68 22-May-16 C$4.17 55.6% trade closed, profit taken
Focus Ventures FCV.v Jan'17 C$0.23 1-Jul-12 C$0.05 -78.3% Give up, a disaster trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Feb'17 C$1.72 28-Aug-16 C$3.00 74.4% Target hit, sold, good trade
Belo Sun BSX.to Mar'17 C$0.90 30-Jan-17 C$0.90 0.0% failed near-term flip trade
Lara Expl. LRA.v Mar'17 C$1.15 8-Apr-12 C$1.05 -8.7% cut to make room for new trade
Rye Patch Gold RPM.v Apr'17 C$0.31 2-Sep-16 C$0.32 3.2% cut for doubts & new stock
Cordoba Min. CDB.v Jun'17 C$0.75 15-Sep-16 C$0.63 -16.0% closed
Constantine Metal CEM.v Aug'17 C$0.135 9-Apr-17 C$0.28 107.4% spec trade closed, good win
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
31

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-aug-15 C$0.25 38.9% okay trade, sold on pol risk
McEwen Mining MUX jan16 U$1.09 25-jan-15 U$1.20 10.1% sold due to lack of value
Lake Shore Gold LSG.to feb-16 C$1.10 07-apr-15 C$1.69 53.6% bot out, sold early in process
Atacama Pacific ATM.v feb-16 C$0.19 26-apr-15 C$0.40 110.5% sold for a double on big pop
New Gold NGD feb-16 U$2.06 24-jan-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-jan-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-apr-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-apr-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.
32