IKN #725Premium

The IKN Weekly
Week 725, April 9th 2023
Contents
This Week: Trade heads up, In Today’s Edition, I want to believe, Choose your landing.
Fundamental Analysis: Western Exploration Inc. (WEX.v): A buy and hold for 2023/2024.
Stocks to Follow: QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v), Faraday Copper (FDY.to), Goldshore
Resources (GSHR.v), AbraSilver Resource Corp (ABRA.v), Minera IRL (MIRL.cse), SolGold Plc
(SOLG.to) (SOLG.L), Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v), Amerigo Resources (ARG.to), Chesapeake
Gold (CKG.v), ATAC Resources (ATC.v).
Copper Basket: Overview, Kodiak Copper (KDK.v), Marimaca Copper (MARI.to), Oroco
Resources (OCO.v).
Producer Basket: Overview, Newmont (NEM) and Newcrest (NCM), Hecla (HL).
TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Palamina Corp (PA.v), South Star Battery Metals Corp (STS.v).
Regional Politics: A word on the proposed Mexico mining law reforms, The trials of Guillermo
Lasso.
Market Watching: Altiplano Metals (APV.v): The ghost of trades past.
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
Until I sell something, this will be my final purchase of the current cycle. As explained in today’s
main Fundamentals piece, I am looking to buy some Western Exploration (WEX.v) share in the
week ahead. It’s a thinly traded company with a tight float so it’s not going to be easy to buy a
big raft of shares anyway (good for me), but with the proposed financing e should see the stock
trade in a tight range around the present price and allow a reasonable entry point.
In Today’s Edition
 The opportunity offered by Western Exploration (WEX.v) at this stage of its
development track is exactly the type I like. Good management team and a highly
prospective project, right address, right metal at the right time, all in a package that is
guaranteed to be picked up by the great and good of the junior mining commentariat.
This is not a flip, it’s all about positioning now and being hands off later, one of those
“Remember where you heard it first” stories because this desk will not be part of its
promo push as the story rolls out.
 Today’s intro is a reminder of the thin line between success and failure. Or stupid and
clever. Or the way the future is yet to be written. It’s also about the price of gold and
my natural cynicism about the way bullion is now getting a reputation as a “no lose
trade”. That’s an intellectual leap from its real purpose of portfolio insurance and a
smart long-term investment.
 Today’s Regional Politics section has just two notes, but both are relevant and
potentially actionable. We explain why the world is worrying too much about the Mexico
Mining Law reform, then why the mining world needs to worry about the situation
facing President Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador.
 Other things, too. There are always other things.
1

Gold: I want to believe
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost, 1915
I do get it, it’s not that I’m trying to ignore the obvious:
 Gold is The Fear Trade.
 If the Fed pauses too early, inflation takes off again. Real interest rates climb and
as fear grips the market, gold catches its bid.
 If the Fed continues to hike rates, the tightening rates scenario causes more
financial sector failures as seen recently with US regional banks (SVB etc). Fear
grips the market and gold catches its bid.
 Therefore, if the Fed raises rates, gold goes up and if the Fed pauses (or dare we
even mention, cuts bps rates) gold goes up.
 Because gold is The Fear Trade.
It may turn out to be true in the longer-term, too. However, there are a couple of things
stopping me from believing in the latest version of “You Cannot Lose With Gold” thesis:
1) We’ve been here before. Hardly the first time the pro-gold community can only see
upside in the monetary metal
2) Bonds will still yield. The Fear Trade will need a large dose of fear to work, but what if
the Fear doesn’t materialize? What happens if our financial markets manage to
negotiate an admittedly sticky period without its creaking edifice crashing into a million
pieces? As one example, by simple trial and error the Fed has now recognized a weak
link in the shape of US regional banks, so what’s to stop them from keeping the
liquidity window open and making sure they don’t hit a cash crunch due to their
collective decision to take on term bonds positions? Yes for sure it would be called “QE
that isn’t QE” by its detractors, they may even call it “cheating”, but there’s no law
against the strategy. And as long as the world keeps its confidence in the US banking
system, its currency and therefore its interest-yielding paper will remain the primary
safe haven during a stress-laden recessionary period.
3) Black Swans are not easy bets. The current Fear Trade “Win-Win” thesis on gold is
essentially a very large tail risk bet, one that covers the US Dollar as much as anything
else. You are betting on things going wrong and that’s a reasonable way of building a
hedge position, not a primary investment. It all harks back to the basic reason to buy
and own gold; it’s the insurance policy, it’s your baseline and if it’s the top performing
asset in a balanced portfolio, it signals that other things are going wrong…bigtime. Or
as this desk has stated on too many occasions already, gold doesn’t make you rich, it’s
there to stop you from becoming poor.
Predicting higher prices for gold in the timeframe of your choice has suddenly become a
popular and alluring call. It’s what the audience wants to hear, it makes you friends and hey,
even if it goes wrong you can always blame “them” or “the banksters” or “the crooked system”.
After all, there’s more than just one no lose proposition in the precious metals world at the
moment. This desk’s scepticism remains intact and we’ll continue with sincere opinions be they
right or wrong, popular or unpopular. Now for the rest of today’s intro, in which we expand on
the reasons why I’m still good about my “gold floating around $2,000/oz” call of three weeks
ago for the time being.
2

Choose your landing
“During the 12.6-minute-long powered descent, there were a total of five unexpected computer alarms.
These alarms all indicated that Eagle’s computer system was overloaded, but in each case, Mission
Control concluded that it was safe to continue the landing. The last of these alarms occurred less than
three minutes before landing, when the crew was less than 500 meters above the surface. Because of the
navigation error, the computer was guiding the spacecraft towards an unsafe touchdown point in the
rugged, boulder-filled ejecta field surrounding West Crater. Armstrong took manual control and flew to a
safe landing spot beyond the crater. At 3:17 PM CDT, he announced their safe landing, “Houston,
Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed.” At the time of landing, Mission Control thought that the
spacecraft had just 17 seconds of fuel left in the descent stage. However, post mission analysis showed
that sloshing in the fuel tank during Armstrong’s search for a safe landing site caused the fuel gauge to
give an inaccurate reading. Eagle actually had about 45 seconds of fuel left when it touched down.”
Apollo 11, 1969, Mission Overview (1)
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.”
David St. Hubbins, This Is Spinal Tap, 1984
The main intro note to IKN722 dated March 19th, “The Confidence Man”, previewed the FOMC
due in the week to come and considered what effect Jay Powell and his merry crew might have
on the markets and, as is our normal wont and focus, on the price of gold (and other metals)
and our sub-sector of mining stocks. After rattling on for far too long, the note eventually got to
the point and here’s an excerpt:
“Will gold drop some or drift up a little now? I don’t know, both are perfectly
possible and if you put a gun to my head, I’d probably plump for something in
between and call for gold to break U$2,000/oz in the days ahead but not
break away from the line, remaining in a range around the 2-handle.”
That prediction came with apologies for those who like their commentators to be more rousing
and gold bullish, but also noted that the real reason to own gold isn’t to make you rich, instead
“…you own it to stop yourself from becoming poor.” However and more importantly, our
thoughts on the stocks that rely on the price of gold were more optimistic:
“If we truly are moving into an economic contraction and lower inflation, as
long as gold remains at-or-around U$2,000 mining company margins expand
accordingly and become popular alternatives for deep pocketed fund
managers looking for defensive plays.”
Cue Tuesday (2).
April 5 (Reuters) - Safe-haven gold touched its highest in one year on Wednesday as
recent U.S. economic data fanned fears of a slowdown and spurred bets the Federal
Reserve may ease up on rate hikes.
And…
Gold raced past the key $2,000 level on Tuesday after a sharp drop in U.S. job
openings in February, adding on to gains from earlier this week after an OPEC-led
spike in oil triggered worries of another run higher in inflation.
The drop in US Job openings to 9.931m when consensus revolved around 10.4m (3) was
enough to trigger the a new round of US recession fears. The USD dropped, as did Dr. Copper
to under U$4.00/lb spot, while gold spiked above that “psychologically important” U$2,000/oz
line as its safe haven characteristics came to the fore. Indeed, the same Reuters note above
included this short paragraph, which does as good a job as many a long-winded thesis on the
macro bull case for gold today:
Traders now see a 60% chance of U.S. rate hikes pausing in May, brightening the
outlook for zero-yield gold and its status as the preferred inflation hedge.
Gold spiked as the prospect of its perfect storm
scenario came into view, one that assumes the Fed
will stop its rate hikes in order to maintain the US
economy (and to ease pressure from those creaking
bank stocks, with a couple of blow-ups now in our
rear view mirror already), leaving inflation to go its
own way and cause a rush to the classic inflation
hedge. Indeed, Tuesday and Wednesday saw the
3

growing market cries for the Fed to pause and as things stand today, gold would likely climb
higher than today’s $2k-and-bits and get a relative boost compared to US Treasurys/Bonds if
that came to pass. Assuming of course inflation remained stickier than the Fed would like.
However, assuming that Fed pause may be a mistake. Three reasons:
 Fed Head Jay Powell’s position hasn’t changed much since his “War Against Inflation” began a
little over a year ago. He has made plain his position as a student of the inflation spike of the
late 70s and early 80s, he wears his “Student of Volcker” hat with pride and quickly reminds
any audience that asks how the Fed paused too early as the presidency switched from Carter
to Reagan.
 Loretta Mester’s name has come up on these pages previously. She is a non-voting member in
the current FOMC cycle but she’s part of the committee and she’s known to have views that
closely match those of Powell, which is why she gets asked on biz TV shows and gives
speeches people listen to. On Tuesday during a Bloomie interview (4), she first shocked
nobody by saying the Fed would be data dependent (shocker) for its upcoming rates decisions
but, in all likelihood rates would go a “little bit higher”, then hold for a prolonged period.
 Last Friday’s US BLS Jobs numbers. Published after the market close for the week (Good
Friday and all that which were a long way from confirming a sudden slowdown in hiring.
Instead and according to the US BLS the country added 235,000 NFP jobs and its headline
unemployment rate stuck at 3.5%. Here’s how the inimitable Bill McBride at Calculated Risk
put it on Friday morning (5):
The headline monthly jobs number was close to expectations; however, employment
for the previous two months was revised down by 17,000, combined. The headline
unemployment rate decreased to 3.5%. Overall, this was a solid employment report.
There was little in Friday numbers for those demanding the Fed pause immediately, which
when combined with Jay Powell’s determination not to make the same mistake as Volcker and
Ms. Mester’s message adds up to the continuation of Fed hikes. The wrinkle in the story and the
big data point that might tip the balance one way or the other comes this Wednesday, the US
US Consumer Price Inflation (CPI)
CPI reading that is currently running a consensus forecast +5.2% this weekend (chart right). As
The Fed wants inflation to exit 2023 at or around the +3.5% range in order to target 2% come
2025 (again, Mester dixit Tuesday) but we can argue the toss about those longer-term
projections another day. What matters now is sentiment for the next few weeks, not years, and unless CPI drops more than expected, the market will swing again toward at least one more Fed rate hike and the soft landing fantasies for the US economy will be out the window again.
And yes, all that will be bad for gold. So for the
time being I’m happy about sticking with the
same call for gold as seen in IKN722, one that’s
worked for three weeks and counting. We see
gold sticking around the U$2,000/oz price, not breaking away, instead remaining in a range
around the 2-handle and our ongoing coverage of GLD inventory data still signals the
unpopularity of gold as a trade among the thousand dollar suits of Wall St….or should that be
“thousand dollar shoes and ten thousand dollar suits” these days?
4
4.1 7.1
6.2
2.4 0.5 4.5 4.5 3.5 4.5 2.6 8.6 0.7 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 0.6
2.5
10.0
9.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0
1.0
0.0
12'naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced 22'naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes 22'tco von ced 32'naj bef TSEram
source: U.S. BLS
GLD gold holdings, 2022 to date (metric tonnes)
1120
1100
1080
1060
1040
1020
1000
980
960
940
920
900
880
860
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 32/2/42 32/3/01 32/3/42
mt 6.80 GLD: Inventory/Price Ratio, 2022 to date
6.60
source: SPDR GLD data
6.40
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 32/2/42 32/3/01 32/3/42
Source: SPDR data, IKN calcs

GLD inventory holdings have crawled back to just over 930 metric tonnes, still a mile away from
the levels previously seen with gold at-or-around the $2k/oz price point. Instead, safe haven
money is still reaching for yield and the rally in the 10 year Treasury paper shows that clearly.
The above chart shows the how the yield curve is coming back or, if you prefer, there are the
words of Ed Yardeni on Bloomie last week (6), “The bond market is also expressing confidence
that inflation will be moderating. They wouldn’t be buying bonds at 3.5% if they didn’t think
inflation were coming down.” That ten year paper is priced at 3.29% this weekend. If the Fed
gets newly restrictive as the “data drive” them consider further hikes we gold bulls need to
recognize that, in the near-term at least, that will be positive for the US Dollar and have the
inverse effect on the USD gold price. In other words, unless CPI comes in particularly low there
is no reason to expect gold to break higher in the near term. The Apollo 11 moon landing was
one of the great triumphs of humanity and a moment that will have its place in every history
book of the 20th century, but few remember how close it got to total disaster. That’s the things
about catastrophes, if they don’t happen nobody cares. As always with gold, patience is
required.
Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
Western Exploration Inc. (WEX.v): A buy and hold for 2023/2024
The “least worst” method that drives the stock coverage of The IKN Weekly is that we feature
and cover stocks I personally own or am about to purchase and as noted above, this proposed
trade marks the bottom of the personal money barrel for the time being and until some other
position is liquidated. But it’s one I’m keen on opening and, as long as things go to plan,
building upon in the weeks and months to come because there’s a lot to like about Western
Exploration Inc. (TSX.v: WEX.v) (US OTC: WEXPF) at this point in its development. Here’s a list:
 Management: Trustworthy and competent C-suite with a track record of success, with a
CEO that can choose where he’d like to work. He’s chosen this project.
 Main Backers: The money behind this company is of the serious type, people not into
scalping quick wins at market.
 Project: The Aura project has a lot to like, with easily mined early production potential and
an open pit oxide heap leach that could be up and running as early as next year. But the
real potential is underground in the sulphides, with plenty of drill targets for high grade
mineralization
 Location: With political risk and jurisdiction becoming more important by the year, Aura
enjoys an optimal location in an infrastructure-rich, mining friendly corner of a mining
friendly State of The USA. It even has a logical potential buyer for the project nearby.
 Ownership roster: Along with its major backers, WEX has attracted the type of roster that
guarantees plenty of market exposure.
 Trade timing: Though incorporated in early 2022, WEX was kept largely under wraps last
year and its stock traded thinly. That’s about to change and an upcoming financing round
should make the stock more accessible on the open market. Also and for those interested,
there’s the opportunity to participate in the upcoming financing (contact details provided).
All that and more. Time for details and to keep things concise we now combine a few off those
categories.
Management and major shareholders
WEX is led up by CEO Darcy Marud who previously worked at both Yamana Gold (AUY) (YRI.to)
and the company AUY bought to move into Argentina, Meridian Gold. Brought in to WEX in
2018 while still a privco, CEO Marud was the major backers’ choice to head up the company
and this desk has heard nothing but good about him and his team, the C-suite comes with high
level recommendation from people I fully trust.
The main backers of WEX and its Aura project are the Schlumbergers. The oil services company
5

run by the eponymous family secured this property and currently own over 60% of shares. We
expect that will drop to around 53% once the next stage of financing is done. Aside from the
Schlumbergers there are plenty of other high quality shareholder on the ledger. Most of the
Schlumberger money comes via its fund entity, Coral Reef Capital which uses a subco called
Golkonda LLC to manage the Aura funds, but other players inside Coral Reef/Golkonda include a
couple of Saudi energy big hitters as well as Spencer Abraham, the US oil and gas magnate
(and Energy Secretary in the Bush administration). Away from the 61% or so inside Coral
Reef/Golkonda, shareholders are headed by 17% participation of Agnico Eagle (AEM), nother
large tight hand that cuts the free float significantly. The next name to mention is Auramet, the
gold trading company that doesn’t have a big history of being equity backers of development
companies, but in this case has a long-term relationship with the Meridian side of the company
and we have learned it has done plenty of technical investigation on the project. Before going
on, I’ll mention on a personal level that when I saw Auramet had taken down all the C$1.14m
placement run by WEX in December 2022, it immediately pricked up my ears as Auramet
doesn’t go into deals without doing deep DD on its counterparties. Coral Reef Capital also has
well-known names from the insto and brokerage world on its roster, such as Eight Capital,
Stifel, PI Fincorp (Echelon), Canaccord, Laurentian and Canadian VC company Kilcona Capital.
We’ll make mention of that final name later, but for the meanwhile let us suffice by stating that
the insto roster involved makes market spotlight on this project and company as it rolls out
near-guaranteed and we’re bound to get plenty of talk and coverage in 2023 and 2024. Last
but not least, though unconfirmed we understand that some high profile names are looking to
get in on this project in the upcoming round of financing and while it’s best not to name-drop
those that are not yet officially on board, I’m going to bend the rule slightly by pointing out that
considering the timing and the past history of its management team, it wouldn’t be much of a
surprise to hear that ex-Yamana head Peter Marrone and his vaunted new fund were involved
as WEX develops.
That’s an impressive roster by any standard,
however it comes with the obvious
disadvantage of thin trading on the open
market. With a little over 31m shares out, a
tight structure becomes very tight and we
see the consequences here (right). WEX
rarely trades over 10k shares in a day and
recently, even 5k daily has been the
exception to the rule. That’s an obvious issue
for a retail player such as me, as well as the
audience for The IKN Weekly, but that
should soon change.
The upcoming financing
A key trigger for this trade is the likelihood that WEX become a tradable stock that we, your
average retail player in the junior space, will be able to accumulate and trade going forward.
We understand that soon, perhaps as soon as this coming week, WEX will announce a round of
financing for around C$10m. The placement is likely to be units including a share plus half
warrant (possibly full warrant), the unit price should be around or about the current open
market price ($1.70 or so) and the attached warrants price in the low $2s (maybe $2.10 or
$2.20). For example, if units come in at $1.70 and WEX raises exactly C$10m that would add
5.88m shares to the count (and 2.94 warrants if they go for ½ warrant to the unit). However,
there are two key details to note (please pay attention):
1) As the financing will run from a shelf announcement, the sold shares will go free trading
immediately (instead of the normal 121 days in escrow, as per the normal Canadian placement
terms). This means the placement should help free up trading in the company in the near term.
2) Your author will NOT participate in the placement (for the standard moral reasons, we don’t
go there to avoid all conflicts of interest). Also, your author will NOT get any sort of finder’s fee
6

or payment from anyone for what you’re about to read (I don’t do these things). However, we
understand that Kilcona Capital LLC will get an allocation of the placement (i.e. they will likely
get a finders’ fee) and there may repeat MAY, be shares available for accredited investors
reading these words. I have exchanged with Kilcona Capital about this deal (in fact they gave
me the heads-up on WEX) however, I have no business relationship with the company so if
you’re interested in getting a part of the upcoming placement, you’re probably best to get in
touch directly with them directly. You can do that easily via the Twitter account @KilconaVC,
the CEOca address ceo.ca/@kilconavc or its associate real world business Cap Clean Energy
(website www.capclean.com). If you prefer, drop me a line and I can pass on your expression
of interest (but be clear, I’m just a go-between and any further dialogue you may/may not have
is none of my concern). I cannot guarantee, repeat I cannot guarantee you get any or all the
units you might want and my participation is strictly that of unpaid messenger, so as long as
you understand that and if you the accredited investor are still interested, you now have a few
ways of putting your name forward for a chunk of the placement.
Financials overview
With the upcoming placement in mind, we now run a few of our basic coverage charts with
plenty of projection for future quarters in order to get a handle on the financial background of
WEX. But before diving in, it’s worth mentioned that we may see another significant round of
financing in the late quarters of 2023 once the company has developed its plans to move into
early stage production and has shown the development potential of the deeper sulphide
mineralization. However and for our purposes, we’re just pricing in the upcoming because the
plan is to keep things simple. And the good news is, this section won’t take long because the
WEX financials are as straightforward as they come.
The assets and liabilities charts assume a $10m addition to treasury this month. We don’t’
expect liabilities to grow much, we may see accounts payable expand a little as the company
moves into its next drilling program, but as the absolute numbers are small I’ve just made a
blanket assumption based on the last three quarters.
WEX.v: Assets
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
As liabilities are tiny, working cap is basically cash treasury. We assume WEX won’t do any
heavy capex lifting for the oxide heap leach production until late this year or perhaps early
2024, so these charts reflect the expected burn for the drilling program we expect for the
current year. The cash raised should be enough for the rest of the year.
7
12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
$m WEX.v: Liabilities per qtr
5
fixed 4.5
other current 4
cash
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
source: company filings
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
LT liabs
current liabs
10 WEX.v: Working Capital per qtr
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
WEX.v: Cash treasury per qtr
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim

The share count is currently an unofficial 31.5m shares out, according to the latest corporate
presentation. We assume a $10m financing
at/around the current market price will add to the
count by end 2q23 and then the warrants from the
placement get sprung and added to the count for
3q23 (or the end of the year, but we’ll keep this
simple). Therefore and before any funding round
for 2024, we’re around 41m shares out.
Our final chart on this quick overview of WEX
financials is the rough’n’dirty on what it spends its
cash on. The 2q22 G&A included just over $1m in
stock based compensation and we may see WEX
run another batch of incentive options in 2023, but
I haven’t priced those in. As for the rest, the main expense going forward will be the drillbit.
WEX.v: Expenditures per qtr
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
8
22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
WEX.v: Shares Out
$m
G&A
other exp
Land
Geological
drilling
source: company filings, IKN ests
The bottom line: The forward projections may change significantly if WEX decides to expedite
the first stage of operations and the oxide open pit mining, but if we assume 2023 is for
development and drilling only, the upcoming $10m+or-so financing round will be enough to
fund the company and any drill program for this year. WEX is currently a simple story 8and long
may it stay that way) and its tight share structure is an issue when it comes to trade volume,
but that’s the way the main backers want it because they are looking to get paid via equity as
well, that’s in-line with our desires. We assume the share count goes to around 41m by the end
of the year and as long as the company delivers on news and project plans that the market
appreciates, this could see the share price rise quickly. That’s enough on the financials, now for
the meat of this story.
The Aura Gold-Silver Project
But what do we get for the money? All the management and treasury in
the world means naught if your junior mining company doesn’t have a
project of worth on its books, so it’s time for the overview of Aura.
These visuals come from the current corporate presentation, dated
March 2023 and available on the company website here (7). The Aura
project in North Elko County, Nevada USA, is 100% owned by WEX. It’s
located some 60 miles North of the mining town par excellence, Elko
NV, and 20 miles from the Jerritt Canyon mine, currently owned by First
Majestic (AG) (FR.to) and recently put on care and maintenance due to
persistently high costs due mainly to a lack of high grade feed for its
production facility.
Aura is a low-sulphidation, sediment-hosted, “Carlin-style” system
(typical of the North Nevada region= and location of a historic gold
mining operation that comes with a small silver kicker. The current 43-
101 resource includes both low grade oxide gold amenable to open pit
heap leaching and higher grading sulphide for underground mining. The
534.03 406.03 766.03 766.03 0.13 5.13 9.73
0.14
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3
source: company filings
serahs
fo
snoillim

mine location benefits from an excellent infrastructure background, including water, access to
power (grid lines 10km from the site) and labour from the highly skilled and experienced local
work pool. There are plenty of targets on the 61km2 property but at present, there are three
identified deposits at Aura named Doby George, Gravel Creek, and Wood Gulch. There’s a
current 43-101 resource for the three deposits at Aura dated last 2021, here’s the table:
That’s not particularly big, not at the moment anyway, but there are two distinct mineralization
styles on display:
 At Doby George and Wood Gulch nearly all ounces are either oxide or transition material and
are at/near surface, which makes the 600k oz total amenable to a low cost open pit heap
leach mining using a U$1,800/oz gold price.
 Importantly and as a major advantage to this development story, WEX has grandfathered
permits for operation of the open pit mining zones, with the major permits in-hand from the
US Forestry Service. These permits include the key Plan of Operations, are valid until 2028
and are renewable. This will allow WEX to ramp up stage one production quickly and, in
theoretical terms, would allow WEX to pay for development of their underground
mineralization potential organically.
 Meanwhile, Gravel Creek is higher grade underground sulphide mineralization. Here’s a
second table that shows those ounces at two different cut-off assumptions
However and as the following visuals (from the corporate presentation) show, those
underground Gravel Creek high
grading ounces are the veritable tip of
the iceberg. His map shows seven
identified drill targets at the
concession, all earmarked for deeper
drill programs, and while all seven are
interesting the ones on the right of the
map (1, 2, 3 and 4) are in the Wood
Gulch/Gravel Creek zone including
deep zones that have already shown
excellent high grade drill assays, plus
a “gap zone” between the two
identified 43-101 resource zones and
an area North East of the Gravel Creek
that could open up new areas for
mineral discovery.
9

The corporate presentation shows several angles on the technical and geological work done to
date that have generated targets, for
example one we’re not going to feature
in this overview are is this soil samples
work done that has their technical team
excited. Instead, we sketch the most
obvious upside potential Aura has to
offer, which is most probably the deep
zones and Gravel Creek. This schematic
of the area from Wood Gulch (at
surface open pit oxides shows the
location of those same 1, 2, 3 and 4
targets in plan form and what the
company believes they will be able to
find in each area. As it happens, the
conjecture about the 1 Gap zone is less
certain but we already know quite a lot
about the depths of Gravel Creek and
the company is targeting lower levels
for an upcoming drill program.
And this below shows why. Previous historic operations at Wood Gulch mined grades as seen in
the top half of this table, so the company expects it will be able to improve on the strike area of
the deeper hits already returned in the mirror zone of Gravel Creek (and hopefully join them up
via drilling in Gap Zone) and at the type of grades you see in that red box, below. Near 1oz
gold will get the market’s attention.
The investment thesis
The dual nature of mineralization, plus the advantages of holding grandfathered permits and
working for backers looking to the long term, makes for an interesting combination at WEX. As
we now expect the stock is about to come out of deep freeze and start to make waves in the
open and retail markets, beginning with a potential $10m round of funding that should provide
the development capital it needs as well as put it under a news spotlight, now is a good time to
take an early position in this story. We would expect development to run roughly as follows:
 A $10m funding placement at perhaps $1.70 per share adding a little under 6m shares
10

to the count
 A company plan to move forward on development on the 400k oz of indicated oxide
resource at Doby George, perhaps to PFS stage, by 2024 followed by a construction
decision on a mine that produces around 10,000oz per quarter (capex U$30m to
U450m, depending on sophistication).
 A concurrent drill program on the deeper sulphide targets at Gravel Creek (And Wood
Gulch and Gap) that, if things go well, generate high expectations of a second stage of
mining at Aura that could be funded organically by the low cost open pit oxide ounces.
 Positive free cash flow from open pit oxides by 2025
 Development of underground by 2028
There are of course a dozen variants on that thumbnail, for example WEX might decide to being
forward open pit development (a positive) or not find as much underground tonnage as
expected (a negative) or hit real paydirt in multiple areas and decide to fund and expand
exploration in multiple zones (a positive) or….a dozen others. But as a general roadmap, the
above works and with the tight share structure and backers keen to see the value reflect in the
equity price, there’s a lot to like about WEX at C$1.70 today. Even after the expected upcoming
cash raise we assume WEX to have a market cap of around C$65m, or under U$50m at today’s
forex. That gives plenty of leverage to a company that could, theoretically at least, bootstrap
itself into a high grade underground gold mine operation in Nevada USA in the space of only a
few years. Then of course, we should also consider its proximity to the now shuttered Jerritt
Canyon mine because if WEX can price up enough high grade underground material, it would
become a natural add-on to this problematic asset for First Majestic and could turn its White
Elephant into a profitable operation (at last). Though that’s more conjecture than a true trade
thesis, if WEX starts hitting high grade sulphide gold at depth in mid to late 2023, the market
wouldn’t take long to join the obvious dots and potentially bake in buyout prices for the
company.
Up to now, the missing link to the WEX story has been the lack of market visibility and trade
liquidity. With that now about to be addressed and the high likelihood of the company getting
plenty of investor spotlight going forward, its combination of potential near-term open pit
operations, high likelihood of strong assays from a 2023 drill program and the strengths of the
company in management and address, this is one to position in before word gets out. We will
wait until the placement is announced before buying but, when it shows, I expect to buy my
first shares in WEX.v at or around the current C$1.70 market price. It’s an early stage story and
the attractive is more the narrative than any spreadsheet model of cash flows we’ve come up
with so far, so the high risk should be obvious to this experienced audience. However, if things
go well this is the type of junior that can leave a U$50m market cap far behind it as it goes
through the development stages and as such I’m a buyer. WEX will feature in the Stocks to
Follow list as from next weekend.
Stocks to Follow
If it weren’t for the Thursday takedown of Top Pick Minera Alamos (MAI.v) it would have been
a great week for the Stocks to Follow portfolio, the portfolio and the personal back pocket, what
with just three losers (MAI.v, NCAU.v, MIRL.cse) and one unchanged stock (ORX.v) from the 17
open positions. So 13 winners and we’re not listing them all, instead we doff our cap to the
biggest percentage improvements as seen in Chesapeake (CKG.v up 16.5%), ATAC (ATC.v up
14.8%), Mene (MENE.v up 14.1%), Goldshore (GSHR.v up 12.5%), QC Copper (QCCU.v up
11.5%).
We currently have 17 open positions covered, three below the self-imposed max. Eleven of
those are in the green on their cost averages and six are in the red. I still expect Newcore to
put in a move and make the 12th line of green ink.
11

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$1.69 24.3% Main Cu trade, top fundies
SolGold SOLG.to STR BUY C$0.265 19-Feb-23 C$0.315 18.9% Cu in Ecuador, M&A tgt
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v SPEC BUY C$0.265 25-Apr-21 C$0.145 -45.3% MRE now due 2q23, annoying
Faraday Copper FDY.to BUY C$0.79 19-Feb-23 C$0.87 10.1% Latest Cu exploreco, IKN723
AbraSilver Res. ABRA.v BUY C$0.36 4-Dec-22 C$0.42 16.7% added for last time Mar'23
Newcore Gold NCAU.v BUY C$0.205 23-Oct-22 C$0.18 -12.2% MRE better than it looked.
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v SPEC BUY C$0.83 22-Apr-18 C$0.155 -81.3% Cheap on permit probs, appeal
SPECULATIVE TRADES
Orefinders ORX.v.v SPEC BUY C$0.04 20-Nov-22 C$0.045 12.5% build position at 4c
Chesapeake Gold CKG.v SPEC BUY C$3.07 20-Feb-22 C$2.76 -10.1% Au leverage, small trade so far
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v BUY C$0.72 16-May-21 C$0.94 30.6% drill assays now coming
Minera IRL MIRL.cse avoid C$0.195 22-Jul-12 C$0.025 -87.2% 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$0.155 63.2% Cheap Yukon neighbour play
Rugby Resources RUG.v WATCH C$0.06 26-Mar-23 C$0.065 8.3% new on watchlist, Cu in Col
Goldshore Res GSHR.v WATCH C$0.165 26-Mar-23 C$0.18 9.1% return to list, possible flip
Contango Ore CTGO WATCH U$23.25 2-Dec-22 U$29.25 25.8% Manh Choh finance happening
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.63 6-Dec-20 C$0.365 -42.1% 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
Western Copper WRN.to mar'23 C$2.02 13-Nov-22 C$2.32 14.9% sold on reduced M&A prob.
2015 to 2022 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Now for notes on some of the covered companies:
QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v): ADDED. According to feedback received, last weekend’s main
feature, “QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v): The laggard” went down well enough and I thank you
for the correspondence (you know who you are). The stock did well at the start of the week
too, trading at new 52 week volume records on Monday and Tuesday, but sadly that volume
spike dropped off a cliff for the final two days of the trading week. Yet another reminder that
without real catalyst news from a company these days, there’s no need to chase a price.
FWIW I did as threatened and added a few, bringing down my cost price by a penny or so.
12

Faraday Copper (FDY.to): We expect the action month for FDY to be May, so getting an
early lift from the stock is good if you’re like me and bought in (though this thing is still cheap, I
hasten to add). Meanwhile, if you want a six minute guided whiz through the current corporate
presentation, company CFO Graham Richardson (who often doubles as corporate
spokesperson) does that right here on this YouTube video published on Tuesday (8). A useful
reference point for the company and its achievements to date, the only thing we don’t get is
any clue that May is set to be a busy news month, with that deep hole assay from the breccia
and the updated Mineral Resource Estimate and eventually the PEA on the way.
Goldshore Resources (GSHR.v): As gold broke through U$2.000/oz on Tuesday GSHR did
what we’d want it to do if it’s going to provide leverage and a speculative vehicle to a new bull
run in the metal. Its management then did the cynical thing and on Wednesday morning,
upsized its placement from $5m to $6m on the same terms (9). we then got a reminder of 1)
how heavily this stock is promo’d among retail and 2) how many bagholders there are when the
stock popped into the open on this news and ran to 20c before sellers arrived and whatever
momentum was attempted fizzled out.
Still, it was a better performance from GSHR this week and the upsized placement means they’ll
have 2023 covered, even if a modest drill program is added. I’d expect another round of full
pumpo once the placement closes, with the date currently slated as April 12th (i.e. this coming
Wednesday).
AbraSilver Resource Corp (ABRA.v): Another good recovery week for ABRA and it’s good to
see the stock back with a 4-handle, though our trade has a long way to go before it starts to
bear the fruit I believe it can offer. We have an update on the expected share count going
forward and rather than wait for the YE numbers, here are the latest S/O count estimates:
ABRA.v: Shares Out
13
957.942 957.942 957.472
799.993 482.904 570.724 87.154 247.854 20.574 333.084 453.784 912.594 172.525 825 075 075
600
550
500
450
400
350
300 250
200
150
100
50
0
81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 tse22q4 tse32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3
source: company filings
serahs
fo
snoillim
We now know from the latest corporate presentation that the current share count is around
528m, slightly higher than our previous estimate. We also know that 21.45m warrants with a
strike price of 27c are due on April 26th and another 16.78m priced at 15c on May 14th, so with
all those now deeply in-the-money we assume they exercise and as a result, we now
guesstimate the end-2q23 share count at 570m shares out. Also if fully exercised, those

warrants made whole would bring some C$7.66m in cash to treasury, a very useful number for
the company.
Minera IRL (MIRL.cse): Utterly shameful, I’m afraid to say. Two news items from MIRL last
week, neither of them good. Firstly the company announced a Management Cease Trade Order
due to an inability to file its YE financials as they failed to pass its auditors’ check. The company
estimates that they will be able “…to file the Annual Filings on or before May 1, 2023” at which
time the MTCO will be lifted, but it goes without saying this is a major black mark against the
name of this company and its executive. The second piece of news came on Thursday
afternoon when MIRL filed its March Progress Report to the CSE (10) and the March gold
shipments of 1,231oz mean total sales from 1q23 are as seen here:
IRL: Corihuarmi quarterly sales
14
2225 2165 7895 1326 9494 4075 5146 6095 5915 0294 7465 1386 5785 3106 9526 0776 7605 9425 6025 1445
2693
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000 3000
2000
1000
0
81q1 81q2 81q3 81q4 91q1 91q2 91q3 91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1
Oz Au
source: IRL filings
The 3,962oz gold is the lowest quarterly total for many years and a big drop from guidance and
expectations. Unsurprisingly, the news MIRL would late file its annuals dragged the share price
down even further to a new historic low of 2.5c. The news on the poor Q1 may see it drop even
further. The wheels are now coming off.
SolGold Plc (SOLG.to) (SOLG.L): Despite the pressure felt by copper last week, SOLG
traded well and spent most of the week above the 19p line in main London trading. The other
thing to notice about recent action in SOLG shares is how volume through its second string
Canadian ticker has picked up as seen in this chart:
We’re at 31.5c now and with the stock threatening to break higher if its gets past the 20p level,
there may be near-term gains to be had if copper rallies back to the $4.10/lb $4.20/lb range.
Aldebaran Resources (ALDE.v): If you have 41 minutes to spare and want a good overview
of what ALDE is up to this year at Altar, this video interview of Kevin Heather does a good job
of putting all that geological stuff into layman’s language. We now also know that as of this
coming week, ALDE will have four drills turning at Altar and is going to get as many metres
sunk between now and the end of the drilling season (some time in June, most probably).
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): On Monday, the regularly updated ARG website (a good
thing) announced (11) the number of shares bought back by the company in March and here’s

the screenshot:
That shows the number of shares bought back to March 31st, last week we mentioned that as
per the 2023 MIC and as at March 23rd, ARG had shares outstanding. How one number jives
exactly with the other will show in its 1q23 financials but by then, we can confidently expect
ARG to have bought back another million or so shares, maybe something closer to 2m.
Chesapeake Gold (CKG.v): We mentioned last weekend in IKN724 that it wouldn’t take
much for CKG to show the type of optionality (or leverage, or whatever) to gold that its
relatively small market cap (and large treasury position) can bring compared to the 21m oz of
gold held under 43-101 compliance. Speaking price-wise, there were already hints last weekend
that CKG was waking up. Just five trading days ago it was still a C$2.15 stock and after a small
buyer showed up at the end of the previous week, here’s how I put it in IKN724 last weekend:
“…it wouldn’t take much more than one or two speculators to decide to play the
risk/reward game on CKG and buy now for the stock to move up rapidly and re-take
the $3 line. The low volume typical to the stock is a double-edged sword and while I’d
prefer it to be more popular, it also means it’s likely to shoot higher on low volume
before sellers appear and allow new money an entrance.”
Now for a price chart:
The volume still isn’t massive, but the numbers as scribbled for the last few days of this ten-day
chart are so much better than the 1k and 3k days we’ve drudged through in 2023 and the first
quarter of 2023. As for that resource, here’s the current 43-101 compliant table…
…and while we’re first to agree that the combo of the issues with refractory ore, rock hardness,
15

and the low grade (especially in the “non-starter pit” zones outside the central breccia) means
we’re not going to see all those ounces turned into bullion bars, it’s still a lot of gold and at
67.367m shares out and C$2.65, works out at around U$4.90/oz in situ. That number could
double and the market wouldn’t bat an eyelid, even before we get those long-anticipated met
results and plan to move forward.
ATAC Resources (ATC.v): We’ll let Mining Dot Com explain why this stock added 14.8% on
the week (12):
Further to the letter of intent signed in February, Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL)
has now entered a definitive agreement to acquire ATAC Resources (TSXV: ATC) for
an implied value of C$39 million ($29m). The consideration is payable in shares of
Hecla and shares of a new spin-out company called Cascadia Minerals, in which Hecla
plans to invest C$2 million for a 19.99% interest.
The deal with the spinco makes it a more attractive to holders and aside from the original offer,
ATC is 14.8c in the last month. That makes for happy arbitrageurs.
The Copper Basket
After fourteen weeks of 2023, The Copper Basket shows a gain of % to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Solaris Res SLS.to 6.44 114.56 727.46 6.35 -1.4%
2 Marimaca Cop MARI.to 3.22 88.028 374.12 4.25 32.0%
3 Western Copper WRN.to 2.41 151.597 369.90 2.44 1.2%
4 Arizona Sonoran ASCU.to 1.92 105.96 191.79 1.81 -5.7%
5 Oroco Res OCO.v 0.91 207.034 161.49 0.78 -14.3%
6 Faraday Copper FDY.to 0.54 175.2 152.42 0.87 61.1%
7 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 0.78 139.007 130.67 0.94 20.5%
8 Regulus Res. REG.v 1.10 124.509 109.57 0.88 -20.0%
9 Hot Chili HCH.v 0.78 119.455 107.51 0.90 15.4%
10 Pan Global Res PGZ.v 0.46 212.145 74.25 0.35 -23.9%
11 Kodiak Copper KDK.v 1.12 55.6 45.04 0.81 -27.7%
12 QC Copper QCCU.v 0.165 150.736 21.86 0.145 -12.1%
13 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.16 86.966 20.00 0.23 43.8%
14 Libero Copper LBC.v 0.155 93.869 11.73 0.125 -19.4%
15 Atacama Copper ACOP.v 0.16 34.373 5.33 0.155 -3.1%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg 3.86%
The basket average added 1.02% last week,
even as the basic headcount made things a tie. 10% The Copper Basket 2023, weekly evolution
9%
We saw seven winners (MARI.to, ALDE.v, 8%
7%
HCH.v, REG.v, FDY.to, QCCU.v, LBC.v), one 6%
5%
unchanged stock (PGZ.c) and seven losers 4%
3%
(SLS.to, WRN.to, OCO.v, ASCU.v, KDK.v, ECU.v, 2%
1%
ACOP.v) but the better quality of winners, 0%
-1%
headed by the moves in Marimaca (MARI.to up -2%
12.7%), QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v up 11.5%) -3%
and Hot Chili (HCH.v up 10.0%), compared to
the losers headed by Kodiak (KDK.v down
14.7%) and Oroco (OCO.v down 7.1%).
As for copper-the-metal, its performance was also marked by the Tuesday data out of the USA
indicating fewer job vacancies, one of the early signs of economic slowdown in the world’s
16
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9
source: IKN calcs

biggest economy. Those data were challenged on Friday by another strong US Jobs report (see
today’s intro) and while the markets were closed by then, we’d already seen copper recovery
quickly from the lows of Tuesday and pop back above the “psychologically important” U$4.00/lb
line once again. Copper buyers will not be denied.
This second chart maps spot copper against
spot gold over the last two trading weeks and
they made for quite the mirror image, as Gold
benefited from the Fear Trade of US recession
but couldn’t follow through, while copper did
the opposite and found buoyancy.
We’ve waxed on and on about the bull case
for copper in the last few weeks and nothing
substantive changed last week, so I’m going
to cut myself a break for one edition and
make this section as brief as possible. Now for
the inventory numbers with data from
Cochilco and, as there wasn’t much change in
these, we’ll keep the chatter down for once as
well.
 The overall aggregate of the three world systems comes to 238,509 metric tonnes (mt)
this weekend, up 2,441mt on the week.
 The SHFE stocks were unchanged at 156,576mt
 This LME up 700mt to close 65,425mt
 The Comex added 1,741mt to close at 16,508mt.
Here are the dedicated SHFE charts, with no changes on the week.
SHFE copper inventory levels, 2018 to 2023
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
17
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
18
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
ht62
Mt Cu
|
source: Cochilco
Now for some notes on some of our basket component stocks:
Kodiak Copper (KDK.v): Tuesday post-close saw KDK announce (13) a C$6.5m financing in a
complicated deal, mostly a bought deal financing led up by Cormark and partially a non-
brokered private placement made up of tranches at different prices:
 1.5m bought deal charity flow-through units (unit = share + ½ warrant) priced at C$1.32
(Gross proceeds C$1.98m)
 3.7m bought deal non-flow-through units (unit = share + ½ warrant) priced at C$0.81
(Gross proceeds C$2.997m)
 0.833m non-brokered charity flow-through units priced at C$1.32 and 0.4185m non-
brokered flow-through units (unit = share + ½ warrant) priced at C$0.96 for gross
proceeds of $1.5m.
All the warrants in those units “entitle the holder to purchase one non-flow-through Common
Share at an exercise price of $1.10 for a period of 24 months following the closing date”, with a
few early trigger clauses if the share price rockets. That’s a lot of pernickety details for a
C$6.5m placement, which then got upsized to 7.5m shares on Thursday (14) when the final
part of that three-parter was raised to 1.2m non-brokered charity flow-thru units and 1m flow-
thru units. And while all those new shares were being printed, the open market re-priced KDK
to take this placement into consideration. Below left the ten-day share price action, below right
the way in which KDK has fared against the main copper producer ETF COPX:
This price now looks extremely cheap to me and if I had some sidebar bet cash available, I’d be
a buyer of a few KDK at 81c with a view to selling them 30% higher when (not if) they break
back over $1.00.
Marimaca Copper (MARI.to): As noted in other places, it doesn’t take much to move a low-
volume junior. The high percentage of shares locked away from the market by long-term insto
holders makes MARI a low volume proposition most of the time and patience is required from
anyone who wants in at the prevailing market price. The alternative is to pile in and run

through the asks, that’s what seems to have happened last Wednesday and Thursday with a
new raft of buying action that popped the stock to C$4.50 before backing off. The three-year
chart shows that we’ve been here before.
Oroco Resources (OCO.v): OCO had another soft week but this YTD chart shows the real
issue, a lack of interest in the story. It fell out the gates at the start of the year and, so far in
2023, hasn’t managed to build any sort of
momentum. It has to be said, that’s a typical
situation for an exploreco in one of the “heavy lifting”
years of its development, as the company drills with
a view to its maiden PEA.
However, we again need to underscore how this
stock was pumped on another narrative to a group
people who became one of those “true believer”
groups but weren’t particularly experienced about
the ways of exploration mining. Yes, it’s true that
some explorecos get sold to developers before the
43-101 chains begin (in fact, it’s unusual to get a
sale before the PFS stage). The fact that I now think
OCO is somewhat undervalued on a fundamental basis is neither here nor there is it cannot win
out against negative sentiment, which is even tougher to fight is some of the negativity comes
from holders looking for a price at which they can liquidate some/all of their holdings. What
goes around comes around.
The Producer Basket
After 14 weeks of 2023, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 18.02% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 47.20 799 41.59 52.05 10.3%
2 Barrick GOLD 17.18 1761.54 34.76 19.73 14.8%
3 Agnico Eagle AEM 51.99 488.9 27.64 56.54 8.8%
4 Wheaton PM WPM 39.08 451.963 22.40 49.57 26.8%
5 Kinross Gold KGC 4.09 1256.1 6.33 5.04 23.2%
6 Alamos Gold AGI 10.11 393.1 5.10 12.97 28.3%
7 B2Gold BTG 3.57 1074.567 4.49 4.18 17.1%
8 Hecla Mining GFI 5.56 603.86 3.87 6.41 15.3%
9 Eldorado Gold EGO 8.36 185.73 2.01 10.82 29.4%
10 Wesdome Gold WDOFF 5.53 142.287 0.84 5.87 6.1%
All prices and stock quotes in U$ Port. avg 18.02%
The fourth winning week in a row for the large scale PM producers, it’s not often we can write
that line. All ten of the basket components went up but unlike last week, there was a wide
19

range of performances from least best Hecla (HL up 1.3%) and see below on that one, to #1
performer last week Agnico Eagle (AEM up 10.9%) that played catch-up after a couple of leaner
weeks. You may also note that there’s no red ink on the table above and all ten stocks are
positive for the year, we haven’t seen that since early January.
The 2023 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and
comparative to GDX control
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
We’re now into the period where the large producers will often pre-announce Q1 production,
sometimes sales and on occasion some limited extra data on the quarter just gone at its mines
(e.g. B2Gold tends to be more generous in its early disclosure). We’ve already seen the
traditional early announcement from Sandstorm (SAND) (SSL.to), not a member of out list this
year. Personally, I’ll be watching out for the Barrick (GOLD) production and sales numbers as
they give plenty of mine-by-mine breakdown and that also allows insight to Newmont (NEM),
which doesn’t pre-announce but does share production with Barrick in both Nevada USA and
Dominican Republic. Then there are the Wesdome (WDOFF) (WDO.to) numbers, as they tend
to announce in the second week after quarter close.
Newmont (NEM) and Newcrest (NCM): Newmont shares had a good week, up 6.2% to
close at U$52.05 and, under the terms of the current deal (0.38 shares of NEM for every NCM),
that implies a price of U$19.78. That’s a 4.65% arb to Newcrest’s US OTC close of U$18.90 last
week and that’s not enough, so if NEM wants to win the prize it will have to offer more and to
do that, the board will have to convince its long-term insto investors that there’s enough value
to be had.
And there’s the rub. The limited access NCM has given NEM to its data room recently may be
enough for the NEM board to get backing for a richer offer, but from the start we’ve heard from
behind the NEM scenes that they are already at the upper range of what they can offer, , at
least according to its major shareholders who tend to rein in the potential excesses of the NEM
C-Suite.
Hecla (HL): Compared to its peers on the list, HL had two obvious headwinds that combined
to keep its week-over-week gains low:
 Gold stocks did better than silver stocks last week
 HL formalized its deal to buy ATAC Resources (ATC.v) (see above or here (15)) with the
C$29m deal roughly 1% of current
market cap.
These show against GDX and SIL as seen in
this chart (right). Overall, HL was probably
slightly hard done-by in the market last week
and I’d look for it to re-gain its lag in the
days to come.
20
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9
The 2023 Producer Basket: Percentage difference
between GDX benchmark & basket (negative = IKN ahead)
4.0%
ikn 3.5%
gdx control 3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
source: NYSE, IKN calcs ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9
source: IKN calcs, NYSE data

The TinyCaps List
After 14 weeks of 2023, the TinyCaps show a gain of 28.61% 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 3.49 0.07 0.0%
Coast Copper COCO.v 0.045 64.001 3.20 0.05 11.1%
District Metals DMX.v 0.075 86.891 8.69 0.10 33.3%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.13 69.962 15.04 0.215 65.4%
Manitou Gold MTU.v 0.02 344.568 18.95 0.055 175.0%
Nine Mile Metals NINE.cse 0.29 57.025 16.54 0.29 0.0%
Palamina Corp PA.v 0.08 65.285 7.18 0.11 37.5%
Precipitate Gold PRG.v 0.075 130.367 8.47 0.065 -13.3%
South Star STS.v 0.55 32.755 12.61 0.385 -30.0%
Viva Gold VAU.v 0.14 91.608 13.74 0.15 7.1%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 28.61%
This section attempts to track the tinycap mining sub-sector of the market, our ten companies
chosen under the following criteria to put together a list representing the state of play in the
sub-sector of tinycap exploration company stocks. At least, that’s the plan.
 Market capitalization of under $20m. They have to be tiny. In two cases I’ve stretched the window a
little and allowed sub-U$20m market capper in that are just over the C$20m level, but the spirit is unaltered.
 A “non broken” stock price and project story. There are literally hundreds of tinycap juniors of the right
size, but it was a particularly depressing exercise to trawl through the whole of the TSXV and find companies
that are small enough, but with life in them. The vast majority of sub-$20m stocks are broken stocks, either
traded to death on the exchange or with projects that are a bust or with entrenched management more
interested in their monthly paycheck than anything else.
 Likelihood of meaningful newsflow in 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.
A reasonably positive week down at the micro end of
TinyCaps, 2023 weekly tracker
the mining sector, with out TinyCaps list improving a 50%
few clicks thanks to a score of four winners from our 45%
40%
ten charges (AUL.v, LMS.v, PA.v, VAU.v), three 35%
unchanged stocks (COCO.v, DMX.v, MTU.v) and three 30%
25%
losers (NINE.cse, PRG.v, STS.v). The only 20%+ move 20%
came from Palamina (PA.v up 22.2%) and for real 15%
10%
reasons, too. Worst loser was the mysteriously poor
5%
South Star (STS.v down 13.5%). And so begins 2q23. 0%
Palamina Corp (PA.v): The biggest mover on our list
this week got good news when announcing (16) that it
had received its drill permits for its main Usicayos project in the Puno Orogenic belt, South
Peru. Another of the many victims of the molasses-like Peruvian permitting bureaucracy, PA will
now be able to get its drill rig out of mothballs (still on site), construct the access roads it
requires and then get back to work on the enlarged project zone, including high priority
generated targets known as Sol de Oro and Cayos. Once the tail end of the rainy season is
done, we can expect a “drills turning” NR in May and subsequent assay newsflow.
So far, Usicayos has returned interesting but spotty drill results, but this will be the first time PA
can drill its most interesting locations. As usual the truth machine will have the last word, but I
signed on to PA (and bought a small foothold position that I later closed at a loss) because of
the prospectivity on the wider expanse of its Orogenic belt. One to keep an eye on in 2q23.
South Star Battery Metals Corp (STS.v): Brought in to the list this year to provide a pulse
on the hot battery metals sector and to see whether tinycappers could emulate the larger
players, so far at least STS has been dead weight. Supposedly building out its Santa Cruz
21
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

Graphite Project in the Southern Bahia in Brazil and starting Phase 1 production in 4q23, its
recent price action suggests problems and we may see that timeline put back (or more funding
required. Another lesser date for the diary comes in one month’s time, when its January 10th
placement shares come out of escrow.
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
A word on the proposed Mexico mining law reforms
I decided to ignore the news in last weekend’s note because there was too much fuss being
made about too little at the time, but that was a mistake as this desk has received a steady
stream of questions, queries and comments about the AMLO-sponsored mining law reform
package sent to Mexico’s Congress on March 28th. So here’s a note on the issue, starting with a
lean on this Reuters note dated March 29th (17):
MEXICO CITY, March 29 (Reuters) - The Mexican government's proposed overhaul of
mining laws, including shorter concessions and tighter rules for permits, drew a quick
warning from industry leaders who fear it could undermine the sector's growth
prospects.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador offered the draft reform on Tuesday to
lawmakers in the lower house of Congress, which would sharply reduce the length of
mining concessions to 15 from 50 years.
Mexico, a major mining country for decades, is the world's top primary silver producer,
as well as a top 10 gold and copper miner.
The initiative, which still must pass various legislative steps before it could be enacted,
would also add new requirements to obtain mining and water permits, establish a new
obligation to disclose mining impacts, and require miners to give back at least 10% of
the profits to communities.
If you’d like a full list of the reforms in useful table form, including references to any of the
current laws that the reform clauses would adapt or replace, this Spanish language link (18)
does a good job. We’re going to sum up by saying there are a total of 23 reforms to the current
mining law covering areas and issues such as water, environment and legal requirements for
concession holders. It also places new restrictions on the granting of concessions and new
reasons to annul concessions, including law clauses to prevent “concession squatting”,
“concession flipping” and environmental abuses. However, the two that have grabbed most
attention are the ones mentioned at the top of that Reuters note, so…
 The reduction of concession periods: The current Mexico law is to grant concessions for a
period of 50 years. That’s way longer than the norm around the globe and the proposal to
reduce new concessions to 15 years, which can be prolonged by another 15 years on
application, would align the country with most other nations.
 The “10% of profits to communities” plan got the telephone game treatment on social media
and quickly became “an extra 10% tax on production” or some such. Most formal mining
companies (e.g. the public listed companies we care about) already offer a range of benefits
to communities as well as profit sharing schemes for workers. What this law bill would do is
formalize the amount and while it’s possible we may see a few mining companies need to
boost their ESG/CSR budgets, the overall effect would be minimal on most operations.
As for timing on the passage of this bill, the first reading and vote could happen as quickly as
this month and while I don’t want to discard the potential of a fast passage, a more likely
timeline has the bill reaching a vote during 2023’s second legislative period between September
and December. Assuming passage, AMLO would be able to sign it into law quickly and it would
become part of the legal framework in 2024. BUT, and this is a big but, there are many legal
experts in Mexico questioning the constitutionality of some of the law bill and even if all its
parts make passage, those mining companies affected would be able to suspend its application
22

via legal challenges in the courtrooms that could take several years to resolve. As for a practical
visual on the effects of this reform bill, this
ten-day chart considers the big publicly
traded Mexican silver play Fresnillo (FRES.L)
versus industry benchmarks for the silver
sector (SIL) and the big PM operators (GDX).
As there’s no more exposed miner to the
potential woes of this bill, FRS gives a
reasonable pulse on its potential effects and
while there was a negative reaction when
the news was announced, it didn’t take long
for FRES to shake it off and play catch-up.
The bottom line: Most of the clauses in
Mexico’s mining law reform are not
particularly controversial and are more about
bringing the country’s statute up to date and in line with the rest of the World. We’ve seen
vocal pushback on the proposals to shorten periods for new concessions to 15 year (renewable
for another 15) and that 10% of profits for locals” plan, but the reality is nowhere near as
problematic for foreign mining companies than is being made out in the open airwaves. Frankly,
AMLO could have made things a lot worse than this bill. Let the prophets of doom make their
noises, you will never be able to stop them, but save your concerns over the future of the
mining industry for issues that matter.
The trials of Guillermo Lasso
After taking a week off from covering the whacko world of Ecuador politics as affects President
Guillermo Lasso (and therefore its mining industry), we need to get up to speed because the
country seems to be reaching an inflection point and the President’s hold on power is looking
even more tenuous than before. To begin, let’s get up to speed via this report (19) published
last Monday from a news site I’d never heard of previously, The World (dot org). This is
succinct, accurate and covers all the basics in a more eloquent way than I could achieve:
He's accused of allowing embezzlement to continue under his watch in Ecuador’s oil
shipping company, Flopec. According to evidence, he was advised of the corruption
even before taking the presidency, but did not move to stop it. This is one of several
accusations against him, including bribery and abuse of power.
The Ecuadorian outlet La Posta has recently accused Lasso's brother-in-law and
business associate Danilo Carrera of being at the center of a web of corruption,
including involvement in false energy contracts and a cash-for-appointment bribery
scheme.
However, the embezzlement charge was the only one approved by the Constitutional
Court to be considered for the National Assembly's impeachment proceedings.
“I am innocent,” Lasso said during a televised address to the nation the day after the
court ruling. “In my personal, professional and public life, I have always acted with
clear intention. And that’s why I denounce this impeachment trial, which smells very
bad.”
If the case gets to Congress and the National Assembly, they will need 92 votes of the total 137
in order to pass the impeachment ruling and oust Lasso from the Presidency. According to the
head of the special impeachment commission, the blocs ready to vote him out count up to at
least 96 votes and potentially 104 votes and that means the only thing between Lasso and the
ouster is the current stage of the process, the hearing at the Constitutional Court (CC).
That began on Monday and the day before, last Sunday evening, President Lasso gave a TV
interview on national TV (Ecuavisa’s Sunday evening politics show) to vigorously defend his
position, claim innocence on all charges and also confirm he would appear before the CC to
defend his position because (translated), “…it is my obligation to show my face to the
population.” In the same interview he also said he wouldn’t use the so-called “Muerte Cruzada”
mechanism to avoid the process. We’ve translated this previously on these pages as “Crossfire
Death” and as explained in IKN722 three weeks ago, the Constitution… “…gives the President
23

to right to dissolve Congress and rule by decree for six months, as long as the President then
also resigns by a fixed date and new national elections are held within 12 months.” If he
triggers “Muerte Cruzada” he’d therefore avoid the final part of the impeachment process, that
of the Congressional debate and vote, so there’s plenty of speculation in Ecuador on the subject
and here’s what Lasso said on Sunday (translated):
“I couldn’t enact the “muerte cruzada” and leave doubts about what truly might have
happened in this political trial because I am a democrat, because I expose my chest to
the bullets in all aspects of my life.”
All rather florid. However, his position may “adjust” if things don’t go as well as he imagines at
the CC and with that in mind, here’s the slated timeline (20):
 Last Monday, the clock starter ticking on the 10 working day process at the CC, with lawyers
for both sides presenting their cases.
 As from end this week, the CC has ten working days to evaluate the evidence presented,
That’s another two weeks (plus a couple of days due to the Easter week public holidays).
 After that, the CC has a final ten day period to write its report, which gives us an approximate
time limit of the first week in May.
 If CC report recommends that the impeachment process continues, the case is then handed to
the President of the National Assembly (Congress) who has a maximum of three days to
publish the report and then a maximum of seven calendar days to call the Congress
debate/vote.
As you may appreciate, one thing to say “no muerte cruzada” for the TV while the case is still in
front of the CC, but quite another if it gets past this stage and the CC then hands it on to the
National Assembly (i.e. Congress) for what would almost certainly be the vote that ousts Lasso.
He’d have plenty of time to hit that big red button, dissolve Congress and run the country by
executive decree. Theoretically at least, because the protests in light of such a move would be
immediate and big, with Ecuador spiralling into a chaos that would put last year’s marches to
shame. Meanwhile, Lasso’s enemies are now circling for the kill and on Sunday, he called the
main players “The Triumvirate of Conspiracy” (he’s eloquent, I’ll give him that). They are 1) his
most direct enemy Rafael Correa and his party. They were the big winners in the recent
regional and municipal elections and Correa (or his dauphin) would be highly likely to become
the next President were new elections called. Then 2) the indigenous umbrella group CONAIE
and its leader, the increasingly powerful Leonidas Iza. It was CONAIE and Iza that ran last
year’s protest marches and he/they would be front and centre if social protests began again.
Finally we have 3) Jaime Nebot, the ex-mayor of Ecuador’s richest city Guayaquil and leader of
his own right wing political party. Nebot was a supporter of Lasso’s but has turned against the
President and has made plenty of public criticisms and attacks recently. He would have designs
on capturing the right wing vote in any eventual presidential race (and has made no secret of
his desire for the top job, although he’d have an uphill task against Correa and his party this
time around). This “Triumvirate of Conspiracy” are not natural political bedfellows and only truly
align when the subject is Lasso, but the highly anti-mining position taken by CONAIE is
important under present circumstances because it’s one of the main issues that has weakened
Lasso in the last 12 months and would almost certainly be one that the other two would want
to respect in order to gain votes in an election. That, in a nutshell, is the current political power
and leverage of CONAIE and the anti-miners in Ecuador today. CONAIE (or its formal political
party Pachakutik) don’t have the national reach to win an election for their own candidate but
they can play kingmaker and, knowing Correa, he’d happily make concessions to indigenous
locals on the subject of hard rock mining in order to win the presidency (as long as current oil
production weren’t affected, the major source of USD income).
And that’s where we stand today. There’s a lot riding on this court decision and even if they
decide not to recommend Lasso for censure in Congress, it won’t be the end of the story by a
long way. There are nuances and variants for sure, but your three basic scenarios as from
around next month are:
 Lasso’s impeachment case is recommended to continue by the CC. The process goes to
24

Congress, the debate and vote happens, he is almost certainly impeached and voted out of
office.
 Lasso’s impeachment case is recommended to continue by the CC. Before the Congress
debate starts Lasso invokes the called Muerte Cruzada/Crossfire Death mechanism and
rules by decree for six months, with national presidential and congressional elections
brought forward to this time next year
 Lasso’s impeachment case is NOT recommended to continue by the CC. This would spark
immediate protests across the country in the style outlined last week, with a first set of
national marches followed by a second and larger protest at some point, with enormous
pressure put on Lasso to resign.
The only obvious win for Lasso would be the unlikely potential that he allows the process to go
to congressional vote and wins out when the vote count for impeachment falls short of the 92
required. As things stand today, that’s highly unlikely and as such, Ecuador’s political risk looks
set for a leg down in the weeks ahead. Further out, be clear that mining will be a hot button
topic for any election process.
Market Watching
Altiplano Metals (APV.v): The ghost of trades past
The main fundies note of IKN715, dated January 29th 2023 was “Altiplano Metals (APV.v):
Giving up the ghost” in which we decided to fold our hand on the small copper producer stock
based in Chile. That weekend it was a 17.5c stock and we managed to exit for 17c in the days
after. Here’s a 12 month price chart since then:
Hardly this publication’s most glorious moment. It was a painful ride down for me, it would
have been worse if it weren’t for the fold and while the stock has recently bounced from its 9.5c
low (9c intraday) to close at 13c this weekend, this NR out on Thursday evening after markets
had closed for the long Easter weekend sets it up for another leg down (21):
EDMONTON, April 6th, 2023 – Altiplano Metals Inc. (TSXV: APN) (WKN: A2JNFG)
(“Altiplano” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has arranged a non-
brokered private placement (the "Offering") of up to 10,000,000 units (the "Units") at
C$0.10 per Unit to raise up to C$1,000,000 in gross proceeds. Each Unit will consist
of one (1) common share and one (1) non-transferable share purchase warrant (the
"Warrants") of the Company. Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one (1)
additional common share for two years from the closing date of the Offering at a price
of C$0.12 per share.
We’d identified its lack of cash as an issue back in IKN715 and it was the trigger to leave when
we did. The basic problem has been the delays suffered at APN in getting its El Peñon mill up
and running because if they’d stuck to the original timeline, the operation would have turned
free cash flow positive by now (in fact, at some point in mid-2022). Instead, the delays drained
an already thin treasury and the result is this dilutive financing. Here’s how we put it in the
conclusion section to IKN715:
25

If APN had El Peñon up and running on schedule in 2022 this tight treasury situation
would not have happened (and the share price would likely be higher); Even if it were
about to go free cash flow positive in our current quarter it wouldn’t be a large leap of
faith to think it could muddle through and get to the point where suppliers were paid
and treasury started to increase from better market prices, but having to wait at least
two more quarters (and perhaps three) means that APN is either going to hit a cash
crunch or, more likely, top up treasury via a financing.
With 116.7m shares out and a share price this weekend of C$0.175, APN runs a
market cap of C$20.42m and while that’s a small number in absolute terms, its market
cap is around double book value and that leaves plenty of room for the share price to
slip lower. With the likely prospect of a dilutive financing coming up and the further
announced delays to the El Peñon expansion, after due consideration I think it wiser to
leave now, in the wake of a positive market week for the stock and while the company
has some positive sentiment on its side, because if/when it runs a placement it’s
almost certain to come at a discount to open market and with some blocking warrants,
to boot. If APN had kept to its timeline and promises it wouldn’t be in the place it were
today and I may well be guilty of leaving too late, but leave I will all the same. I am
selling my small position in Altiplano Metals (APN.v), taking my loss and moving on.
One too many delay and a tight balance sheet decides the fate of this trade.
That extended excerpt isn’t some sort of humblebrag for finally getting a call right on a losing
trade, instead it’s the prelude for the real message today in IKN725. The placement allows a
potential trade window into APN at a low price (those accredited among you may even consider
the 10c unit placement with those 12c full warrants) but the problem isn’t the money, it’s the
continued lack of clarity on when its expanded operations will bring the company to self-
sustaining status. This would be a better purchase once there’s clear evidence, not just vague
promises, of positive free cash flow and a company that won’t need extra financings behind this
one. So it’s easy enough to remain on the sidelines at APN, this placement is not for me.
Conclusion
IKN725 is done, we end with bullet points:
 Western Exploration (WEX.v) is an under the radar stock that isn’t going to stay
undiscovered by the market for much longer. Don’t rush in with a fat finger if you’re
interested, the upcoming placement will mark the price and once it has closed, the
volume will come. I’m looking for a foothold position (as I don’t have that much cash
available), no need to go crazy.
 Ecuador’s political risk is moving higher quickly, April is the prelude. But don’t over-
worry on Mexico, it isn’t about to become an anti-mining nation.
 As for gold and the general metals price deck, I see no reason to abandon the current
assumption of a holding pattern around the U$2,000/oz price line (or U$4.00/lb copper
for the industrials).
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
26

Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_11/
(2) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-hovers-near-2020-record-highs-softer-dollar-weak-us-data-2023-
04-05/
(3) https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/job-offers
(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUfICmjiXOU
(5) https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2023/04/comments-on-march-employment-report.html
(6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUfICmjiXOU&feature=youtu.be
(7) https://www.westernexploration.com/investors/presentation/default.aspx
(8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqPjKVC1wYk
(9) https://goldshoreresources.com/goldshore-resources-announces-upsized-6-million-private-placement/
(10) https://webfiles.thecse.com/MIRL-CSE_Form_7-Monthly_Progress_Report-March-
2023.pdf?7TsbksakcqW0udVBaVkFZOaSgPo2TJSL
(11) https://amerigoresources.com//investors/share-buybacks/
(12) https://www.mining.com/hecla-firms-up-deal-to-acquire-atac-resources/
(13) https://mailchi.mp/kodiakcoppercorp/kodiak-copper-announces-private-placement?e=ae6ed7a3a8
(14) https://kodiakcoppercorp.com/news/news-releases/kodiak-copper-upsizes-private-placement-to-7.5-million/
(15) https://atacresources.com/news/news-releases/atac-resources-ltd-announces-signing-of-definitive-agreement-with-
hecla-mining-company
(16) https://www.palamina.com/news/2023/4/5/palamina-receives-approval-to-drill-in-the-sol-de-oro-and-cayos-zones-
at-the-usicayos-gold-project-in-peru
(17) https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-president-proposes-tougher-mining-laws-shorter-concessions-
2023-03-29/
(18) https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=84975026-6f76-44d9-8369-d4dd73601870
(19) https://theworld.org/stories/2023-04-03/impeachment-trial-begins-against-ecuadors-president-lasso
(20) https://www.pagina12.com.ar/537508-lasso-a-juicio-politico
(21) https://apnmetals.com/news/altiplano-announces-proposed-private-placement-4/
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
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
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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
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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
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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.
30