IKN #734Premium

The IKN Weekly
Week 734, June 11th 2023
Contents
This Week: In Today’s Edition, Hop skip and jump on the gold trade.
Fundamental Analysis: Latin Metals (LMS.v): A formal introduction.
Stocks to Follow: ATAC Resources (ATC.v), Equinox Gold (EQX), Minera Alamos (MAI.v),
Faraday Copper (FDY.to), Aldebaran (ALDE.v), Contango ORE (CTGO), Amerigo Resources
(ARG.to), Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v), Minera IRL (MIRL.cse), QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v).
Copper Basket: Overview, Arizona Sonoran (ASCU.to), Libero Copper (LBC.v), Regulus
Resources (REG.v).
Producer Basket: Overview, Newmont (NEM), Wesdome Gold (WDOFF) (WDO.to).
TinyCaps Basket: Overview, South Star (STS.v), Nine Mile Metals (NINE.cse).
Regional Politics: Ecuador: The Presidential race and an anti-mining march, Peru: Mining
investment “with no conditions” and cracking down on protesters, Argentina’s mining
exploration boom has numbers, Colombia: Petro’s chilling effect on the mining sector, Chile:
The new Constitutional process begins.
Market Watching: Deferred.
I remind subscribers that no part of this newsletter can be copied, reproduced or
given to any third party without the express permission of the author.
This Week
In Today’s Edition
 Latin Metals (LMS.v) gets promoted to the Watch List of our main Stocks to Follow list
this week, after having followed its progress via The TinyCaps lists of 2022 and this
year 2023.
 After peaking in April, copper prices took a nosedive and retraced to uncomfortably low
levels in May, but the first two weeks of June have seen a slow but steady revival of the
red metal’s fortunes. We consider the fundies behind the rebound in The Copper
Basket, take in the newly constructive utterances coming from trading desks and point
to a most interesting spike in LME cancelled warrants, the type of data shift tha fits in
with strong Asia demand.
 Regional Politics takes a tour of South America, with the key Ecuador election now
taking shape and more evidence of the improvement in Argentina’s image among the
exploreco companies.
 We run the ruler over several covered companies in ‘Stocks to Follow’ and for what it’s
worth, I like the way in which companies such as Equinox (EQX), Amerigo (ARG.to) and
QC Copper (QCCU.v) have been trading in an otherwise difficult market. Signs of life
and insider buying at the Top Pick Minera Alamos (MAI.v), too. Also and updating on
last week’s longer note, more evidence of shady goings-on at Minera IRL (MIRL.cse).
1

Hop skip and jump on the gold trade
Lost my partner
What'll I do?
Lost my partner
What'll I do?
Lost my partner
What'll I do?
Skip to my lou, my darlin'
"Skip to My (The) Lou", popular
American song, 1840s.
The week ahead has plenty of gold price movement potential. As noted last weekend, the US
CPI number drops on Tuesday and the current
forecast is for another 4.9% reading, with core US Consumer Price Inflation (CPI)
inflation to remain slightly higher at 5.5% all
according to good old Calculated Risk, of course
(1). The data also comes on the first day of the
two day FOMC meeting, then PPI is released pre- bell Wednesday which means both CPI and PPI
get to be fresh data and an active part of the
Fed’s decision process. We get the Fed
statement 2pm ET Wednesday, this time
accompanied by FOMC Projections (aka The Dot
Plot) and then at 2:30pm the Jay Powell presser
and at the end of all that, we can expect no
change to rates and the word “skip” to be a new part of the increasingly inane vocabulary used
to keep us minions in check.
It’s difficult to come up with anything new to say about the next instalment of the FOMC circus
about to happen, so I’m going to keep today’s intro short as I’ve said my piece enough times
already. Gold continues to flatline in the way predicated since March, we await a catalyst to
send it higher and with the pause (sorry, the “skip”) now baked in, it’s going to take something
new to upset the financial applecart. We know that Gold’s Fear Trade attributes remain intact,
so perhaps seeing a bank or two get into trouble or Binance and Coinbase revealing their true
intrinsic value will make a difference. We continue to hold gold for the best possible reasons
and will look to the PM miners and their improving margins as inflation drops for our alpha.
2
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 0.5 9.4
9.4
5.3
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 tco von ced 32'naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced
source: U.S. BLS
6.80 GLD: Inventory/Price Ratio, 2022 to date
6.60
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 32/4/7 32/4/12 32/5/5 32/5/91 32/6/2
GLD gold holdings, 2022 to date (metric tonnes)
1120
1100
1080
1060
1040
1020
1000
980
960
940
920
Source: SPDR data, IKN calcs 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 32/4/7 32/4/12 32/5/5 32/5/91 32/6/2
mt
source: SPDR GLD data

Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
Latin Metals (LMS.v): A formal introduction
Preamble: Today’s main Fundies section looks under the hood of Latin Metals (LMS.v), a
“project generator” type junior exploreco with plenty of projects and properties on its books in
Argentina and Peru. We’ve followed LMS for a while, with the first real mention of Latin Metals
(LMS.v) on these pages back in IKN658, dated January 2nd 2022, when it first became a
member of the TinyCaps list. Then it was a 12c stock, then we watched its price get cut in half
before it began to stage a comeback starting in October. From there and through this year it’s
been decidedly perkier and for a while reached prices of 25c and above (before/around
PDAC’23) before settling back to where we find it today.
Your author’s attitude toward LMS has also changed over time. To illustrate, here’s the
introductory blurb we gave the stock back in IKN658 as it joined the TinyCaps list and below,
what has changed in our view:
Latin Metals (LMS.v): In one succinct phrase, “A Henk van Alphen area play” and that
means LMS could do anything. It also means the core shareholding isn’t something
you should consider with much trust. LMS has large, early stage concessions in Peru
and Argentina, put together from legacies of old HvA companies and trades and calls
itself a “prospect generator”, but has also brought in a reasonable director roster. Very
quiet in 2021 while setting up, we can expect LMS to start promoting itself as 2022 rolls
out. Not a company I’m keen on backing with my own money, but a good way to gauge
the traction that explorecos and prospect generators in LatAm might get from
aggressive marketing. LMS will try to JV out its projects and use OPM to push its share
price higher. There are worse models (12) and at least it’s better than the awful World
Copper.
That was then, this is now and there are two main changes to LMS optics to report. The first is
to note that Henk van Alphen has very little to do with the company these days and in my view,
that’s a clear positive. There’s a little more detail on the history below, but the upshot is that
these days HvA is not a director or part of the management team and only has a remnant
position with some options and a few shares. Secondly, back in 2022 I wasn’t keen on the
company as a personal investment. That’s obviously changed because as from next weekend
LMS will be on our ‘Stocks to Follow’ Watch List. At the time, the attraction was to have a
handle on the “land market” (for want of a better phrase) in the junior world in LatAm, but as
LMS has gone through its development cycle, it now has a good amount of live prospects that it
should be able to option out and get new partners on board. The last couple of years have also
been dilutive to its share count, but with the new projects (esp those in Peru) now either ready
or nearly ready for deals, we can expect the dilution to slow down and asset value to
increase…as long as the projects continue to progress, anyway.
And that’s our preamble done, now for some numbers and thoughts on the following subjects:
 Company structure, history, management and insiders
 Financials overview
 The most interesting projects
3

 Discussion on catalysts and potential upside
Then with those done, we’ll wrap up this analysis without any sort of buy recommendation or
price target. However, LMS will be a member of our Stocks to Follow list in the Watch List
section as from next weekend, as there’s a lot to like here and given the right price and
circumstances, I may become a shareholder at some point in the future.
Company structure, history, management and insiders
We start with our standard corporate structure topbox:
Shares out: 70.719m
Options: 6.35m
Warrants: 16.609m
Fully diluted: 93.678m
Current share price: C$0.15
Market Cap: C$10.61m
Approx cash per S/O: 0.02c
All prices are in Unites State Dollars unless stated. Forex U$0.75=CAD$1
A couple of notes on those numbers. Some 5m of those options are priced at 13c and nearly all
the other are also in the money. As for the warrants, 4.33m are priced at 25c and expire
October this year, the other 12.28m are priced at 20c and expire October 2025 (connected to
the recent placement. Finally, please note that all dollar values are in Canadian Dollars (CAD)
unless otherwise stated.
Now for a potted history of LMS and this company has been around for a long time under
different names and guises, one of the “permajunior” explorecos that gets re-vamped, re-
named and runs share rollbacks and refis when things don’t work out and the share price is
busted (that’s the Henk van Alphen influence for you). Way back in the noughties this
corporation was called Artha Resources and was ostensibly an uranium exploreco, first on
concessions in Wyoming USA, then in Argentina where it then plied its trade for around ten
year. In 2013 it pivoted to become a silver exploreco in Argentina, then by way of an RTO with
the Argentina end of Henk van Alphen’s mothership company Cardero Resources turned into a
silver, gold and copper exploreco, got a share rollback and refi and changed its name to
Centenera Mining Corporation. By then it was being headed up by the current LMS CEO Keith
Henderson, but was still very much a member of the Henk van Alphen “empire” (to stretch the
use of the term). During its Centenera years it picked up several of the properties now in LMS’s
current Argentina asset book (e.g. Esperanza) but things didn’t work out and after another
series of dilutive placements followed by disappointments, the stock was back in the pennies.
At that point (and without having all the details), there seems to have been something of a
mutiny against Henk van Alphen at LMS. In April 2019 the company re-vamped its board, HvA
stepped aside and the company ran another 4-for-1 share rollback while changing its name to
Latin Metals (LMS.v), its current iteration. Once the rollback and name change was done LMS
had 20.7m shares outstanding and here we are
LMS.v: Shares Out
today with a little over 70m, so it’s added a little
over 50m to the piles in four years.
The dilution typically comes from financings via
classic share placements. The last placement run in
4q22 saw the company raise just over $1.227m in
gross proceeds by selling 12.27m units priced at
10c, each with a full warrant priced at 20c. Insiders
stepped up to the plate and CFO Dani Palahanova
took 100,000 units, CEO Keith Henderson took
500,000 units and main corporate backer and
director Robert Kopple took 4,367,117 units (over a
third of the placement) to bring his holding to a little under 30m shares. Since then and to their
4
17.64 308.64 300.84 470.84
692.75 686.75 686.75 686.75 296.96 917.07 8.07 17 17
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source: company filings/IKN ests
serahs
fo
snoillim

credit, both CEO Henderson and Robert Kopple have been buyers on the open market and
today own 3.213m (4.5% of S/O) and 29.83m shares (42.2% of S/O) respectively. As this share
evolution chart shows (right), we’re not expecting any further dilution in this financial year.
The above is also a roundabout way of highlighting the main backer of LMS, Robert Kopple, a
US lawyer into the junior sector and a long-term business partner in Henk van Alphen vehicles.
It’s good that LMS has a deep-pocketed sponsor and a backer happy to look to the long-term of
course, but Kopple also has a track record of making sure he gets a good deal when it comes to
pricings and benefits (as his dealings in another HvA company, World Copper (WCU.v),
demonstrate). Overall Kopple’s presence on the scene is a net benefit and I understand he has
a good working relationship with CEO Henderson, but we retail small fry must always be wary
when one person or entity holds such a dominant equity position.
Financials overview
We move to an overview of LMS’s financials and as with any project generator-type company,
what we want to see is a low burn rate and hopefully topped up with payments (cash, shares or
both) from partner companies optioning in on their projects. That’s what we get and as a
result, LMS’s books are simple and easy to read, with low amounts of money moving around.
The overview operating expenses table (i.e. the P+L) shows that under normal circumstances,
expenses run at around $200k to $400k per quarter. This fits in with the corporate narrative of
having a “$2m per year burn”, according to its latest presentation (2):
C$m other opex LMS.v: Operating expenses
recoveries
0.9 proj inv costs
0.8 office/G&A
0.7 IR/promo
salaries
0.6 prof fees
0.5 cons fees
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3 source: company filings
-0.4
1q21 2q21 3q21 4q21 1q22 2q22 3q22 4q22 1q23
The recoveries come as work is done on optioned properties by its option partners, for example
in 3q22 (end July 2022) as partner AngloGold Ashanti developed its assets in Salta. The only
other real anomaly on the chart came in the last quarter 1q23 (to end Jan’23) when the
company awarded $0.448m worth of options, a non-cash burden.
The overview assets and liabilities charts are boring, with flatlining quarterly results and a
couple of Y-axes that show the amounts being moved around are small indeed.
LMS.v: Assets, per qtr
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
One of the central points of a Project Generator is to offer potential investors a low burn rate,
thereby keeping dilution down. We noted above that the LMS share count has moved from 20m
to 70m in the four years of its current iteration and that’s quite a lot, but to its credit LMS has
5
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
$m LMS.v: Liabilities, per qtr
0.6
fixed 0.55
other current 0.5 0.45
cash 0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
source: company filings
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
LT liabs
current liabs

been feeding early stage projects into its pipeline and working on them with its small team, all
with a view to optioning them out to a larger partner who’ll then to the expensive drilling work
on their coin. That means this period has burned cash without so much coming in and the share
count has suffered as a result, so what we want in the future is less pressure on treasury. And
that’s what we expect:
2 LMS.v: Working Capital per qtr
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
There are some variables in play, for example the clock has now started ticking on cash
payments once partner company Libero Copper (LBC.v) even though it hasn’t received its drill
permit for the Esperanza project in San Juan Argentina (more on that below). LMS has also
recently received $400k from the ale of its lithium project area to the private capitals South
American Lithium (SALi), which plans to go public soon and as the second part of the total
$900k is paid in shares (as well as an underlying NSR) we wait to see whether LMS decides to
liquidate the equity when it has the opportunity. There are a couple of small option payments
coming from its partners Barrick and Anglo American as due dates are hit on the optioning
agreements and, of course, there’s always the potential for LMS to announce another deal and
get a new injection of cash. However and taking a best-fit approach to the financials, what we
see above is a company that should be able to run on the veritable shoestring for the rest of
2023 and as such, we don’t expect any further share placements or dilution for the moment.
The bottom line to the corporate financials: Easy to understand. We want to see LMS start
reaping the rewards from deals to option out and that has started to some extent, but the job it
now has is to move forward the Peru projects and get them in the hands of partners, thereby
created new revenue streams (be that cash, shares or whatever). For the moment it has the
cahs it needs and the corporate burn is low, but neither is it zero and at some point, probably
2024, LMS will either need to top up via another small share placement financing or to see
those current 20c warrants made whole. Preference would be for the latter because it implies a
higher share price, but either way it’s more dilution from a share count that has a tendency to
click higher.
The most interesting Argentina projects: There are three general phases to the asset book
held by LMS. First come its longer-held projects in Argentina, legacy of the Centenera Mining
days. They include the three optioning deals currently underway with AngloGold Ashanti,
Barrick and Libero Copper so here’s a quick once-over on those:
1) AngloGold Ashanti has a deal with LMS to option in on a suite of three gold exploration
targets in the Salta region of North Argentina. AngloGold can earn up to 80% of the Organullo,
Ana Maria and Trigal projects by adhering to this timetable of work and payments:
6
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source company filings/IKN ests
srallod
fo
snoillim
LMS.v: Cash treasury per qtr
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 tse32q2 tse32q3 tse32q4
source: company filings/IKN ests
srallod
fo
snoillim

During my meeting with LMS last week (see below), I was told that the two sides are in regular
and cordial contact and with the recent $100k payment made, it’s now up to Anglo to make
good on the next stage and complete $2m of exploration expenditures by this time next year, a
milestone that’s very likely to happen.
2) Barrick’s deal with LMS is on its Cerro Bayo suite of properties in the South Santa Cruz region
of Argentina and is again set up in standard fashion with staged payments, work commitments
and this time the opportunity to earn to up to 85% of the project. But unlike the relationship
with AngloGold, LMS hears absolutely nothing from its optioner. That’s standard practice for
Barrick, they talk to nobody outside their walls. This table shows the deal structure and
alongside these commitments, Barrick also picks up the staged payments to the underlying
owner as long as the JV is happening.
3) Libero Copper (LBC.v) has the other open option agreement with LMS at the moment, on the
company’s Esperanza copper project in San Juan, Argentina. That’s known as a good address
for copper exploration projects these days and indeed there’s plenty of promise around this
project, with previous drill work returning a best hole of 387m grading 0.57% copper and 0.27
g/t gold, the intersect running from surface. LMS is option holder and while the JV is open,
Libero has to pick up the underlying payments to the property owner as well as make staged
payments to LMS and complete a work budget, as seen in this table:
The problem here is that the drill permits have been delayed. The deal was pushed back a
couple of times because of the delay in receiving drill permits, but that’s now finished and the
owners (and LMS have deemed that payments must come as from end 2022, permit or no
permit. So far at least LMS has made good on those, but the problems continue and the
company that was making noises about the imminent receipt of drill permits in December last
year still hasn’t been given the green light.
The issue is social and revolves around the inhabitants of the local town of Jachal. This was the
town affected by the Veladero cyanide spill into the local water supply a few years ago and
since then, its militant anti-mining people have stopped several projects from moving forward
and they include Esperanza. The specific problem with Esperanza, according to locals, is that
the hill on which it is located (Cerro Huachi) is one of the sources for the local water supply that
runs directly to the town. Using that premise, the anti-mining group “Asamblea Jáchal No Se
Toca” (The “Don’t’ Touch Jáchal Assembly”) has been successful in blocking the project from
going forward on the grounds that it would pollute and/or disrupt the local water (3). We’ve
just seen a regional governor’s election in San Juan and the politicking that went on before the
vote may be the reason behind the extended delay for LBC’s drill permits. If so, they may
7

happen soon and that would provide LMS with a free ride of 30% on the discovery phase as
LBC drills its target. However, the doubts remain as to whether these permits will ever arrive.
Therefore it’s best not to rely too heavily on the potential upside to LMS from this project. With
those permits, seeing will be believing.
4) Other Argentina: The most recent concessions picked up by LMS are also in the North of the
country, as the team has spotted the opportunity to move in on the same type of sediment
hosted copper rocks hat have become popular exploration targets in other parts of South
America, e.g. what Hannan is looking for in the North of Peru. These are new and early stage
and the company is now putting together its work program on the concessions that will happen
as 2023 rolls out. While these new projects won’t be ready to farm out to an optioner for a
while, they show LMS is moving to fill its pipeline of projects and is looking to the long-term.
The most interesting Peru Projects: These were the main subject of conversation at my
meeting last week with Eduardo Leon, the company’s highly experienced Exploration Manager
based in Peru. As from this weekend he’s in the field and leading the team’s exploration
expedition to it Tillo project in Central Peru, so iot was good to catch him before he left. We
talked over the suite of properties and getting his view and opinion was a useful exercise. He
kept to the corporate script when saying that the most advanced projects were Lachsha,
Auquis, Para and Tillo, though it was telling that he put Para in front of Tillo in the pecking
order of advancement (unlike the official corporate position as seen in the latest presentation.
Here are a few words on each:
1) Lachsha: As with all the LMS Peru properties, Lachsha is located in the coastal batholith
formation and not in the interior. This is a deliberate decision by the company, as local
communities are more in tune with mining in this more coastal zone and there is typically less
flora and fauna to deal with when permitting a project. In the case of Lachsha, it’s a
copper/moly target that has returned good chip sampling results and surface geochemistry runs
have identified a large target area. The company has recently received its drill permits from the
government and in the opinion of LMS it’s now ready to be drilled. All that’s missing is a partner
company, as LMS is keeping strictly to the Project Generator model and will not spend its own
money on the expensive part of resource discovery. Eduardo Leon told me last week that they
are close to closing a deal to option Lachsha and with drill permits now in-hand, that should
happen soon.
2) Auquis: Located in the Southern batholith, Auqis is the project that caught my eye the most
last year and this as it moved from a grassroots property with little work done to a fully fledged
and highly interesting copper/gold target, with a series of NRs from the company in 2022 and
2023 marking its progress. Auquis has moved up the LMS scale and is now its #2 project in
Peru behind the slightly more advanced Lachsha, so once that has found its JV partner we can
look forward to a deal being struck here. Señor Leon told me last week that the team plans
about a month’s worth of new work at Auquis in the near future, after which they’ll make a
strategic call on what to do with it and to whom to market the opportunity. The original
discovery zone here is a porphyry, but latest work has uncovered the likelihood of an associated
skarn, probably created during a separate geological event, that has the team particularly
interested.
3) Para: The meeting with Eduardo Leon brought Para to my closer attention, as up until this
week I’d paid scant attention to this project while the LMS team obviously thinks very highly of
its potential. Located in the coastal batholith South of the capital Lima, LMS recently staked
another 1,300 ha around this copper/moly target due to the apparent prospectivity of the zone.
Still early stages compared to the above projects, but development this year and next should
bring it to the point where it can find a JV partner.
4) Tillo: In the same general region as Para but a little further inland, Tillo is the other project
we talked over and be it in 3rd or 4th spot on LMS’s Peru development track, it’s still one with
merit. Another copper/moly target and at the same stage of development as Para, the LMS
8

team will spend time on the project later this year and then again in 2024 before finding its JV
partner.
Along with its other early stage projects (Yanba, Jacha, Loli, etc) this makes up the current
package and gives plenty of work for the small team, headed by Leon. We then spent time
talking about community relations and the company’s strategy on what can be a thorny issue in
Peru (as many know) and I came away from that with all the right impressions. This team has
deep experience in Andean South America and Peru and know what is required of them. All
good.
Catalysts and potential upside: The Prospect Generator model keeps costs low and that’s a
good thing, but the reason to buy any equity is the same. It has to offer upside and in the case
of juniors, we’re looking for stocks that can return multiples on original investments rather than
a percentage per year. In the case of LMS, the deals with AngloGold and Barrick will keep them
in staged payments for a while and Anglo may even find something that jumps their queue of
live prospects, but chances are the catalyst to higher LMS share prices isn’t going to come from
either of those JVs, not for the moment anyway. On the other hand, if Libero Copper (LBC.v)
can secure its drill permit and hit something good at Esperanza, the 30% virtual free ride
enjotyed by LMS could become valuable quickly.
That’s also true for any of the copper targets now being moved forward in Peru. They all need
JV partners of course, but in the case of Lachsha its drill-permitted status is bound to appeal
and it wouldn’t take more than a winning discovery hole to add real value to the project and its
carried partner.
As for the size of the potential prize on offer at LMS, you need look no further than our Copper
Basket table and a few of the names with this market caps to get an idea of the potential. It
only takes one of the projects to be a winner and if so, we see the market valuations assigned
to large-scale copper resources these days:
 Oroco (OCO.v): C$164.35m for 85% of Santo Tomas
 Aldebaran (ALDE.v): C$140.1m for 70% of Altar
 Faraday (FDY.to): C$126m for 100% of Copper Creek
 Regulus (REG.v): C$112.1m for 40% of AntaKori (or 100% of its wholly owned areas)
 Hot Chili (HCH.v): C$107.5m for 100% of the Costa complex
All those and more. Now for sure those valuations come after several annual cycles of
development and anything started from LMS would have to go through the valuations seen at
companies such as Element 29 (ECU.v $15m mkt cap) first, but those and many other examples
of copper exploreco market caps (Atex in Chile, for example) show the prizes on offer and 20%
or 30% free carry of any of those market caps would make LMS’s current C$10.6m market cap
look small indeed.
Discussion and conclusion
The investment thesis behind the Project Generator model is straightforward:
 Get exposure to multiple exploration-stage projects
 Reduce costs by getting JV partners to cover the drilling and maintenance expenditures
 Receive modest income each of the option deals, eventually creating a company with
multiple small streams of income that becomes self-sustaining
 Keep share dilution to a minimum, thereby allowing share prices to benefit from any
significant discovery
 Leave the company open to a bonanza payout from a big new discovery at the hands of its
partners.
Latin Mines (LMS.v)At LMS, the only potential weak point in the structure is its share count.
With major backer Robert Kopple likely to become a long-term sponsor and cover between 40%
and 50% of any future placement, it’s always going to be tempting for LMS to sell shares and
raise capital because its major back won’t mind taking some near-term dilution as long as his
9

participation remains at the same level; that way, the prize remains as big as ever. It’s an issue
for us retail though, so it’s one of the two weak spots identified at LMS.
The other is the traded volume, which is patchy at best and can dry up badly for extended
periods. Having 50% of shares locked up by insiders is a good thing in some respects (skin in
game, etc) but it doesn’t help the float and liquidity can be a problem for LMS. When the
market decided it liked the stock in February everything was good, but the 2,498 shares traded
last Friday is a long way from the days back then. This also makes the market price rather
volatile and we saw LMS spike yet again to 20c on only moderate buying last week before
finally settling at 15c. Until there’s real news on a significant drill result from a company at a
partner project, I see no reason to chase up this share price and as such, it’s going to be
difficult to buy in any great volume. For the moment, at least.
Those two reasons are enough to keep me away from buying any Latin Metals for the time
being, but it’s being incorporated into the Stocks to Follow Watch List as from next week for
good reasons and if it trades back down at 12c and 13c again, that’s an entry point we can
watch for more closely. There’s a lot to like about LMS, including its low market cap, tight
structure and strong team that knows both Argentina and Peru well and is focused on projects
in the safest zones of the countries. But most of all, LMS these days is a great way to get plenty
of exposure to large scale copper project for a low outlay. With copper set to become a real
story in the years to come, LMS is well
positioned to take advantage of the wave. In
the near-term we need to watch out for
potentially excessive share count dilution,
that’s the only real concern left.
With LMS on our Watch List, I’ll be in the
position to pull the trigger and open a real
trade at any given moment during 2023.
You may want to beat me to it and if so,
you’ll be getting a long-term bargain.
Stocks to Follow
You could argue that the week was a positive one for the list, what with seven companies on
our ‘Stocks to Follow’ list being winners on the week (MAI.v, SOLG.to, QCCU.v, RIO.v, ALDE.v,
MARI.to, CTGO), a full seven unchanged (EQX, NCAU.v, MIRL.cse, ATC.v, RUG.v, GSHR.v,
MENE.v) and just five in the losing column (ARG.to, FDY.to, ABRA.v, WEX.v, OCI.v), but in
reality it was more of a wash. Most of the moves in either direction were small and just three
exceptions to that, with the larger loser Faraday (FDY.to down 12.2%) and the larger winners
Aldebaran (ALDE.v up 13.8%) and Contango (CTGO up 11.0%).
We have 19 open positions, 14 of those owned personally and that’s one below the self-
imposed maximum number of covered stocks. Nine stocks are in the green, ten are in the red.
10

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$0.335 59.5% $0.75 first tgt, #1 idea
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Amerigo Res ARG.to STR BUY C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.49 9.6% Main Cu trade, top fundies
SolGold SOLG.to STR BUY C$0.265 19-Feb-23 C$0.29 9.4% Cu in Ecuador, M&A tgt
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v SPEC BUY C$0.265 25-Apr-21 C$0.165 -37.7% MRE due June 23
Equinox Gold EQX BUY U$4.46 30-May-23 U$4.78 7.2% Au leverage trade
Faraday Copper FDY.to HOLD C$0.79 26-Mar-23 C$0.72 8.9% Latest Cu exploreco, IKN723
AbraSilver Res. ABRA.v BUY C$0.36 4-Dec-22 C$0.30 -16.7% added for last time Mar'23
Western Explor. WEX.v BUY C$1.87 9-Apr-23 C$1.43 -23.5% Au spec in NV USA
Newcore Gold NCAU.v SPEC BUY C$0.205 23-Oct-22 C$0.16 -22.0% MRE better than it looked.
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v SPEC BUY C$0.83 22-Apr-18 C$0.205 -75.3% Cheap on permit probs, appeal
SPECULATIVE TRADES
Orecap inv OCI.v SPEC BUY C$0.04 20-Nov-22 C$0.035 -12.5% corp revamp, new strategy
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v Hold C$0.72 16-May-21 C$0.91 26.4% now in drill assay season
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
Marimaca Copper MARI.to WATCH C$3.65 26-May-23 C$4.03 10.4% Likely purchase soon
ATAC Res ATC.v dropping C$0.095 11-Sep-22 C$0.14 47.4% Dropping from watch list
Rugby Resources RUG.v WATCH C$0.06 26-Mar-23 C$0.055 -8.3% new on watchlist, Cu in Col
Goldshore Res GSHR.v WATCH C$0.165 26-Mar-23 C$0.195 18.2% return to list, possible flip
Contango Ore CTGO WATCH U$23.25 2-Dec-22 U$31.50 35.5% Manh Choh finance now closed
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.63 6-Dec-20 C$0.30 -52.4% 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.
Chesapeake Gold CKG.v may'23 C$3.07 20-Feb-22 C$1.75 -43.0% Closing on legal action news
Amerigo Res ARG.to may'23 C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.48 8.8% sold 20% to raise cash
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:
ATAC Resources (ATC.v): DROPPING FROM WATCH LIST. With the deal now done with
Hecla (HL) bar the details, there’s no real reason to keep ATC on the Watch List and the arb is
gone as well, it’s now akin to putting HL on the Watch List. So as from next week we’ll drop
ATC from our list, to make room for Latin Metals (LMS.v)
Equinox Gold (EQX): In a world under pressure from the nervousness in the gold market, it
was good to see EQX continue its good recent
form and finish the week unchanged on its
main US ticker and extending its lead over the
GDX as seen in thjis ten-day chart (right). Both
of those squiggly lines are obviously behest to
the price of gold (GLD, also featured) and we
should recall that the reason to own EQX over
others at the moment is its stronger leverage
to gold in the current range (high cash costs
and all that).
11

Minera Alamos (MAI.v): With the filing of YE22 and then 1q23 financials, we also see the
return of MAI insider purchases as company President added 100,000 shares to his pile at
prices up to 34c, thereby lowering his cost average. He now owns 8,893,200 of MAI and they
have all been purchased on the open market. Nobody can fault the C-suite’s alignment to
shareholders at this company. We may be used to seeing these insider buys from Ramshaw but
do not let familiarity breed contempt and underestimate their importance.
Faraday Copper (FDY.to): This time last week in IKN733 we suspected that the late move to
an 82c closed the week before last was tape painting ands so its proved, FDY didn’t have any
sort of support and spent the week back in the 70s. Which sucks.
In hindsight, the mistake is obvious. FDY made it clear to anyone listening that its PEA last
month would be one of those classic “snapshot in time” resources. They made no secret that it
wouldn’t incorporate the latest drilling results and would already be out of date once published.
The problem is that they told that to anyone who was listening beforehand and most of the
market only paid attention to the resource once the new number dropped, with a headline NPV
of $713m that didn’t impress compared to the apparent capex outlay (4). this highlights table
from the NR (right) didn’t do the optics any favours
either, with an IRR of an okay-not-great 15.6% using
U$3.80/lb copper and the combined capex/sustaining
capex closing in on $2.5Bn. People didn’t look much
further than those numbers and didn’t bother noticing
that the sustaining capex comes way down the line
when the proposed underground operations are a
factor. Those have already become a lot better, again
thanks to those recent drill successes.
And when I write, “In hindsight, the mistake is obvious”
I’m not blaming the company, it should read “MY
mistake is obvious”. It sounded sensible and logical
enough to accept the strategy put forward by FDY,
allow them to report a low sounding resource update
with the proviso that better things were certainly in the
pipeline. But logic gets set aside in the world of juniors
and while FDY make have the steak, its decision to go
this path means it’s lost the sizzle. Momentum has dried
up and the market went looking in other places of its next big copper thing. Along with the
downturn in copper sentiment last month, it’s done for the stock price.
Meanwhile, I’ve come to a decision on what to do with this trade, will stick with the
consequences of my fundies-based approach and like FDY enough to hold through at these
prices. Also, with copper regaining the U$3.80/lb last week I now feel less pressure or
inclination to liquidate copper positions and go to cash. So I’ll hold through for the time being,
but the lack of personal funds means I cannot take advantage of these new lower prices. Which
also sucks if you’re me, but you are you and may be in a better portfolio position, looking for
those cheapie copper stocks. FDY at these prices fits the bill.
Aldebaran (ALDE.v): It’s good to see ALDE back in the range we saw earlier this year (YTD
chart right) and it’s also good to see that, within reason, we had a continuation of the modest
but welcome volume trading in the company (with the 117k on Friday the most welcome of all).
We also got another drill assay NR, published June 7th, with headline hole Hole ALD-23-228
returning 565.6m of 0.60% CuEq, including 329.60 m of 0.80% CuEq. Again, around 90% of
that CuEq is straight copper. That’s another great hole from ALDE, as much for its location
between Altar East and Altar Central, in a zone they’re now calling Altar United (as it is looking
to unite the previously defined East and Central zones, not because there’s a football team up
there. Along with the NR we got another explanatory webinar, the link to that is here (8) and
12

it’s well worth your time.
Though drilling is now wrapping up for the season as the Andean winter closes in, we should
get plenty more newsflow from the four holes left to report. And for what it’s worth ALDE said
during the webinar that they may be in a position to offer an initial resource update by the end
of this year, but to get a better handle on the project and its dimensions they’ll need at least
one more full season of exploration and drilling. So, we may get one of those “snapshot in
time” resources by the end of this year, but a more reasonable timeline is to the end of 2024.
That may be too long for your (my) retail tastes, but that’s just how long big systems need for
definition, even to an initial inferred stage.
Contango ORE (CTGO): Another good week for CTGO, as seen in the YTD chart here.
However, even though volumes have improved somewhat recently, the company plans to raise
around $10m at market dwarf the daily volume amounts and could make for a sharp retrace
once announced. I’ll continue to track CTGO for the moment, there’s no need to make a hasty
decision or buy in at the top of its range. It’s not a suitable stock for flipping or trading in near-
term timescales (we have EQX for that).
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): The most notable period of this comparative chart of ARG.to
vs the main copper producer ETF (COPX) vs spot copper (HG00) is in the last three months, as
we’ve seen some interesting positive divergence appearing. This longer time period starts at the
point which ARG reinstated its dividend returns policy and NCIB share buyback program (after
recently completing a Substantial Issuer Buyback,
when buying 7.1m shares from investor-cum-
director Michael Luzich) and if we include the
upcoming June 20th payment, brings the total
dividend payout to C$0.20 since the policy was
reinstated and has made holding ARG a lot easier.
The return over what is essentially 18 months isn’t
one to make headlines, but 10% over COPX isn’t
to be sniffed at, either. If we add in 20c of divis,
it’s more like 25% above the sector median and
with 2023 showing relative strength, the inference
is that ARG’s policy (and perhaps its marketing of
the policy) is finally gaining the traction and
market radar it deserves.
Meanwhile we have updated data on the current share buyback program, currently open and
running to December 1st. This year ARG can re-purchase and subsequently extinguish up to
11.08m shares in the NCIB and as the company’s dedicated page to buybacks does a good job
of keeping an eye on progress (5), we know that as at end May it had re-purchased a total of
2,281,187 shares. That’s behind the pace needed to use the full facility and ARG has plenty of
slack left to take up if it wants to buy back another 8.8m shares and use it all. Effectively, the
six months to end November can average up to 1.5m shares per month or 70,000 to 75,000
shares per trading day, give or take.
13

Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v): It’s now June and the time window slated for the all-important Comite de
Ministros appeal hearing on the Fenix project in Chile, so I caught up with company Chair Alex
Black and asked if they’d heard anything on timing.
The answer: Zero, zip nada, not even a whisper or a rumour. So it’s worth stressing that when
RIO.v said earlier this year “maybe mid year, June or July” there’s was an educated guess and
they have no input or influence over the exact timing of the appeals hearing. It’d 100% in the
hands of the Boric government to set the agenda and dates, so until they say something we’re
all in the same boat.
Minera IRL (MIRL.cse): Following on from our extended note last week on the tribulations
and continued negative news out of MIRL, both financially and operationally, last week saw the
company file another sub-standard month of shipments to the CSE with just 1,559oz sold:
MIRL: 2020/22 Corihuarmi gold shipments, per month
14
8981 3191 6521 6521
3782
0211 1691 5502 0911 8271 3212 0951 7971
439
1321 3461 9551
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
22naj bef ram rpa yam nuj luj gua pes tco von ced 32naj bef ram rpa yam
Oz Au
contained oz
shipments
source: MIRL filings
Despite this, the company remains virtually rudderless and we understand the CEO didn’t even
show up at the office until Friday last week, remaining AWOL and without giving explanations
for where he was or what he was doing. We can also reveal that, further to last week’s sudden
and obviously acrimonious departure of the company CFO, there have been other departures of
officers from the company recently. Late last year the community relations officer resigned from
their post and earlier this year, the person first brought in as Vice President of Projects also left
the company. The former worked at the company for over ten years, so the timing of their
departure raises its own eyebrows. The latter is the more interesting case, however. This was
one of the “world-class team of seasoned leaders with broad operational experience and
expertise” (quote from NR (6) brought in to advance the Ollachea project but according to our
sources, on leaving Peru on business he was refused re-entry into the country as the Peruvian
authorities discovered he had been working for over a year and a half on a tourist’s visa! In
other words, this “world class team” was made up of illegals, working for a company happy to
turn a blind eye to the correct employment procedures for foreign nationals. That may be your
idea of “world class”, this desk disagrees. As both of these recent departures were not officially
C-suite level the company decided not to make the information known to its shareholders. It’s
only now that we get to hear about the depth of issues at MIRL. We’re left with a hollowed-out
company with a lack of brains trust at officer level and we should also note that the person
taking over temporary CFO duties is the same one that does the “internal” books for the
companies held out of sight of the public, the wholly-owned subsidiaries where we don’t know
what goes on with the books and the auditors seem to be happy to turn a blind eye.
SolGold (SOLG.to) (SOLG.l): The stock got something of a boost on Thursday when a
rumour was spread a UK financial website “Betaville”. Here’s the text of the Betaville post:
SolGold, a London and Toronto-listed copper and gold mining development group, is at
the centre of takeover rumours. People following the situation have heard SolGold,
which is developing copper and gold projects in Ecuador, has attracted takeover
interest from a company backed by a Chinese group. Some people following the
situation suggested that bidder is CRCC-Tongguan, a joint venture between the
Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. Ltd and China Railway Construction
Corporation Limited. CRCC-Tongguan already has copper and gold mining projects in
Ecuador. People following the situation said several other parties may also be
pursuing SolGold. These people following the situation have heard talk Vale, the
Brazilian mining giant, and another China-backed firm, possibly Jiangxi Copper, are

the suitors involved a strategic review process. There is also talk of mystery north
American bidder eyeing SolGold, said these people following the situation. Last year
SolGold announced a merger with Cornerstone Capital Resources to get 100pc of
control of the Cascabel project in Ecuador.
You can draw your own conclusions on that, for me it doesn’t pass the smell test. For one,
Betaville isn’t a dedicated mining website, it covers the generalist stock market and wouldn’t
know that its “rumours” are nothing particularly new for those who watch more closely. For
another, sources are vague and things like
“mystery North American bidder” sounds like
padding a thin story, more than adding genuine
intel. But most of all, I see no reason why
anyone, Chinese or otherwise, would want to
commit the type of money needed to buy out
SOLF and secure Alpala/Cascabel before we have
definition on the Ecuador Presidential election.
The best rumours are those that have at least
some grains of truth and there’s not doubt that
1) SOLG is being marketed to the highest bidder
2) Chinese capitals are the most likely winner of
the prize and 3) if the deal gets done, SOLG
shares will go a lot higher. But the market reaction on Friday is probably the right one, this
rumour may have legs but the timing looks rather suspect and smacks of some wiseguy trying
to scalp a quick win.
QC Copper & Gold (QCCU.v): The widespread forest fires in the Quebec region have been a
bit of a crapshoot, with some areas affected and others untouched. According to QCCU CEO
late last week, the town of Chapais and therefore the QCCU Opemiska project has so far been
on the lucky side and while fires burn in other areas around it (e.g. Chiboumagau has been
affected), so far at least they have no issues to report. Let’s hope it stays that way.
The Copper Basket
After twenty-three weeks of 2023, The Copper Basket shows a loss of 4.31% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Solaris Res SLS.to 6.44 146.599 862.00 5.88 -8.7%
2 Marimaca Cop MARI.to 3.22 88.226 355.55 4.03 25.2%
3 Western Copper WRN.to 2.41 151.597 325.93 2.15 -10.8%
4 Arizona Sonoran ASCU.to 1.92 105.96 181.19 1.71 -10.9%
5 Oroco Res OCO.v 0.91 213.438 164.35 0.77 -15.4%
6 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 0.78 153.96 140.10 0.91 16.7%
7 Faraday Copper FDY.to 0.54 175.2 126.14 0.72 33.3%
8 Regulus Res. REG.v 1.10 124.509 112.06 0.90 -18.2%
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 72.13 0.34 -26.1%
11 Kodiak Copper KDK.v 1.12 56.2 40.46 0.72 -35.7%
12 QC Copper QCCU.v 0.165 162.815 26.86 0.165 0.0%
13 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.16 86.966 15.65 0.18 12.5%
14 Libero Copper LBC.v 0.155 93.869 8.92 0.095 -38.7%
15 Atacama Copper ACOP.v 0.16 34.373 5.33 0.155 -3.1%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg -4.31%
A quiet week for The Copper Basket, with a small overall loss on the basket average coming
from six losers (SLS.to, OCO.v, ASCU.to, PGZ.v, FDY.to, ACOP.v) versus four winners (MARI.to,
15

The Copper Basket 2023, weekly evolution
12%
10%
8%
ALDE.v, REG.v, QCCU.v), with no fewer than five
6%
unchanged stocks on the week (WRN.to, HCH.v, 4%
2%
KDK.v, ECU.v, LBC.v). Two biggish winners to
0%
report in the shape of the sister companies -2%
Aldebaran (ALDE.v up 13.8%) and Regulus -4%
-6%
(REG.v up 9.8%), while the two biggish losers -8%
were Faraday (FDY.to down 12.2%) and
Atacama Copper (ACOP.v down 8.8%).
The moderate, slightly negative action didn’t reflect the decent price action in copper-the-metal,
however. Friday saw a little weakness but the day before, the metal returned to the U$3.80/lb
level and the continued bullish price action is what you want to see when a commodity is
returning to a solid baseline.
This ten-day chart of the main copper producers’ ETF (COPX) versus spot copper (HG00) shows
the improvement in both squiggly lines since the
bottoming out in late May. All good.
Moving to our curated copper selection for the
week, we had some fun with the June 7th Bloomie
headline “Copper price slump will give way to
record buying spree, Citi says” by noting on
Twitter (7) that “…if lower prices are bullish,
imagine how bullish higher prices will be.” Natch.
The article itself (8) is a classic piece of Bloomie,
with plenty of bluster and hype (“buying frenzy”,
“flood in” etc) as the interviewee, Max Layton,
Citi’s managing director for commodities research,
laid on the adjectives.
“…copper is fast emerging as the go-to commodity for investors looking for exposure to
the energy transition, and they’re likely to pile in quickly as soon as the gloomy global
growth outlook starts to improve.”
And…
“If you want to put on a decarbonization trade in commodities, the only truly liquid
commodity is copper, and it’s the most liquid by a country mile,” Layton said by phone
from London. “Copper’s unique characteristics mean that it could make oil’s 2008 bull
run look like child’s play.”
However, further down Layton/Citi make a better point with the trade advice and this sounds
right to this desk:
The bank is advising investors and consumers to start purchasing soon while a weak
16
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht7yam ht41 ts12 ht82 ht4nuj ht11
source: IKN calcs

macroeconomic backdrop keeps prices at around $8,300 a ton. Citi said copper may
dip further in the short term, but should begin rallying within six to 12 months, topping
out at about $15,000 in 2025 under the most bullish scenario.
There’s nothing really new in this sentiment, but it’s good to see a large financial house pick up
on it. We got the same message from the April CRU/CESCO conference in Chile, where
attendees talked about Chinese buyers stepping up at the U$3.70/lb mark but stepping away at
prices over U$4.00/lb. The U$8,300/t number in the above note is U%3.76/lb and fits with the
current narrative. As for the longer-term, we have no end of quotes from industry players this
year about the “long-term supply deficit”, let’s take for example Vandita Pant, chief commercial
officer of miner BHP, back in March this year (9):
"We think that a quarter of a trillion dollars of capex may be needed between now and
2030," the BHP CCO said in a panel on mining for the energy transition. But whether
sufficient investments are made would depend on copper prices being high enough,
she added.
And…
"For the next two-three few years there will be surplus in copper markets because
there are a lot of projects coming in, but then the wedge starts opening up in the last
third of this decade and the durable inducement price will have to be higher," Pant
said.
That’s one of many we could quote, of course. The message, that of copper equilibrium/surplus
in 2023 and 2024 followed by a yawning supply gap to 2030, is the reason we’re all excited
about the copper space today. The questions remain for the near-term, so seeing instos
positioning clients at current prices, warning them about the potential for near-term chop and
making sure they are buying with the right view of the long term is my idea of good
advice…and bullish for the weeks to come, as well.
Now for another reason why I’m back with a more bullish view of the market then the last few
weeks. The regular weekly segment on copper inventories has a new bullish signal to offer us:
 An interesting week for world copper stocks in the three official world systems, with the
headline change a 10,710 metric tonne (mt) drop to close at 199,744m and under to
200kmt line again.
 At the SHFE, stocks resumed their drawndown trend after a week’s rest and 10,175mt
left inventory on the week. That’s a chunky drop and brings to total down to 76,473mt,
we’re now moving back toward emergency level lows (50kmt or less, let’s say).
 Though the headline change at the LME was a relatively modest gain of 1,025mt to see
copper inventories close the week at 97,650mt, the secondary data makes the week
somewhere between price supportive and very bullish. For one, the 1kmt drop comes
after several weeks of steady gains and there was no sign of SHFE arbitrage this time,
either. Secondly and potentially more importantly, the cancelled warrant total moved
from a low 9,350mt to a big 54,075mt on the week, which suggests that over 50% of
the copper currently stored in LME warehouses is about to physically leave and find
end-users. Cancelled warrants are
often used as pawns in the larger LME: 12 months of Cu tonnage under cancelled warrant
100000
chess game by funds looking to 90000
80000
signal their preferred direction for 70000
prices and whether or not all (or 60000
50000
even some) of that 54kmt actually 40000
leaves LME is up for debate. But 30000
20000
we do know that LME stocks in its 10000
0
Asia warehouses have climbed to
nearly 60kmt as of this weekend,
so theoretically at least the
warrants could be executed and
the copper taken away. The cancelled warrant tracking chart (right) shows the speed of
the change and we haven’t see these levels since October and November last year.
17
ht42 ht8 dn22 ht5nuj ht91 dr3yluj ht71 ts13 ht41 ht82 ht11 ht52 ht9 dr32 ht6von ht02 ht4ced ht81 3202
naJ
ht51 02ts1naJ ht21 ht62 ht21 ht62 ht9 dr32 ht7yaM ts12 ht4nuJ
mt Cu
source: LME/Cochilco

That last cancelled warrants spike coincided with the move in copper prices from
around U$3.40/lb to over U$4.00/lb, you may recall, so while there’s no guarantee (and
it may turn out to be trading desks having “fun”, ostensibly at least this sharp rise in
cancelled warrants on the LME is bullish.
 Finally we come to Comex, which bucked the trend of its larger brethren and added
490mt to stocks on the week, closing at 25,621mt. No biggie.
The dedicated SHFE charts indicate the continued drop. I’m still not totally convinced that china
is going into a blind panic about copper supply to its manufacturing base, but if this continues
the mining beat reports will start noticing and commenting.
SHFE copper inventory levels, 2018 to 2023
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
18
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 01 11 21 31 41 51 61 71 81 91 02 12 22 32 42 52 62 72 82 92 03 13 23 33 43 53 63 73 83 93 04 14 24 34 44 54 64 74 84 94 05 15 25
MT Cu 2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
source: Cochilco data
Shanghai Futures Exchange Warehouse Stocks, 2014 to date
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
31'13ceD dr32 ht51 ht7 ht03 dn22 ht71 ht9 ts1von ht42 ht71 ht01 dn2tcO 7102ts1naJ ht62 ht81 ht01 dr3ced ht52 102ht72rpa ht91 ht11 9102
dr3bef
102ht82rpa ts12 ht31 0202ht5naj 202ht92ram ts12 ht31 0202ht6ced ht82 dr32 ht51 ht7 202ht03naj ht42 ht71 ht9 3202
naJ
ht62
Mt Cu
|
source: Cochilco
Now for notes on a couple of our basket stocks:
Arizona Sonoran (ASCU.to): Two NRs from ASCU last week but despite the newsflow, the
stock didn’t manage to climb out from its recent funk. The second NR first, as ASCU announced
a shake-up at operational level by replacing its COO with an import for SolGold (recall they
recently went through a staff culling in Ecuador) and adding a Chief Geologist to support its VP
Exploration (10).
The first NR on Monday (11) was more interesting, as ASCU reported the first publicly known
results from a junior partnering Rio Tinto in its Nuton project. ASCU was one of the several
companies chosen by RTZ for field development of Nuton, its proprietary mix of gunk that in
theory will allow better recoveries of primary sulphides from straight heap leaching. If
successful, Nuton could open up lower grading sulphide resources to mining as they wouldn’t
need to go through a mill and processing facility and be economically viable at lower cut-
offs…or at least that’s the idea. Anyway, ASCU on Monday released preliminary findings and
you need to read the whole NR, graphs and tables and all, to get the full picture so please do
that. Here we’ll excerpt this small snippet to give the idea:
Primary sulphide extraction ranges from 61% to 82% based on 5 columns, including 2

early cycle columns returning 83% and 61%, 2 mid-cycle columns above 70% and 1
with lower extraction based on biotite content.
As for the corporate reaction, here’s what ASCU CEO Ogilvy had to say:
“We are extremely encouraged that the initial column testing is consistent with the
initial modelling presented by the Nuton team. While our onsite teams remain focused
on delivering a robust PFS based on our oxides and enriched material, Rio Tinto’s
NutonTM technologies present ASCU with future optionality for continued scaling of
our assets from our currently excluded primary resource. We look forward to continuing
to explore the leaching opportunity with Nuton, which would utilize a traditional SX/EW
plant for the primary sulfides, and has a cleaner footprint than a concentrator, lower
GHG emissions and reduced water
consumption requirements.”
Reading between the lines and taking in the
information provided by the whole NR, this desk
considers Nuton at ASCU to be a work in progress
but on the other hand, anything Nuton could
bring the project would be bonus prize material
and they don’t need it to produce a robust
economic study, As for RTZ, they probably
consider the data they are gathering in this field
trial for future development of Nuton as more
important.
Libero Copper (LBC.v): We commented on the 9.5c close
of last weekend and floated the idea of LBC becoming a
potential high-risk trade idea, so a brief update is in order.
As the chart shows, last week saw LBC bumping around at
this new level between 9c and 10c, closing UNCH.
LBC gets a sidebar mention in today’s main fundies section
on Latin Metals (LMS.v) and I much prefer that stock as
you’ll also get exposure to the eventual drill program at
Esperanza but with much lower downside risk if the holes
turn out to be dusters.
Regulus Resources (REG.v): With the moves made by its sister company ALDE along with
its regular stream of drill assay NRs (see above),
thoughts turned to REG last week and its
comparative quiet. The price action was good
enough and the move last week brought the stock’s
bets close since the end of January, but 5c of that
was a tapey-painty Friday on just 13,000 shares
traded, so it’s still a bit fragile.
The Black/Heather team has been pushing notably
on ALDE and it’s notable that the last NR from REG is
dated March 23rd and the corporate presentation
hasn’t been updated since March, either.
The Producer Basket
After 23 weeks of 2023, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 5.91% to level stakes:
19

company ticker price 1/1/23 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 47.20 799 33.13 41.46 -12.2%
2 Barrick GOLD 17.18 1761.54 29.95 17.00 -1.0%
3 Agnico Eagle AEM 51.99 488.9 24.92 50.97 -2.0%
4 Wheaton PM WPM 39.08 451.963 20.28 44.86 14.8%
5 Kinross Gold KGC 4.09 1256.1 6.09 4.85 18.6%
6 Alamos Gold AGI 10.11 393.1 4.86 12.36 22.3%
7 B2Gold BTG 3.57 1074.567 4.10 3.82 7.0%
8 Hecla Mining GFI 5.56 610.491 3.26 5.34 -4.0%
9 Eldorado Gold EGO 8.36 185.73 1.81 9.77 16.9%
10 Wesdome Gold WDOFF 5.53 147.526 0.81 5.46 -1.3%
All prices and stock quotes in U$ Port. avg 5.91%
Another negative week for the big cap producers, with six of our representative list losing
ground (NEM, GOLD, AEM, WPM, HL, WDOFF), one remaining unchanged to the penny (KGC)
and three small winners (AGI, BTG, EGO). Nearly all the moves were small, the outlier being
the 5.2% drop suffered by Wesdome (WDO.tro) WDOFF) and the overall result was very much
in-line with the GDX benchmark. We remain behind our competition for the year by about
2.5%, that’s too distant to be comfortable.
The 2023 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and
comparative to GDX control
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
Wesdome Gold (WDOFF) (WDO.to): A setback for the smallest market capper on our list
this year and one of the stocks we’re watching closely as a potential trade (though admittedly I
missed the buy-in point at its early year lows). WDO hasn’t had an easy 2023 to date and last
week added to the issues, but this time through no fault of its own. Instead and in response the
the Quebex government’s decision to play it safe faced with the very large forest fires raging
through the region at the moment (New York air quality and all that, though Toronto is
reportedly worse), WDO suspended operations at its Kiena mine (12):
TORONTO, June 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX:
WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”) today announces that the Company has
temporarily suspended underground activities and surface exploration activities at the
Kiena Mine in Val d’Or, Quebec.
The company stressed that the decision was done proactively to avoid possible issues and that
the fires weren’t currently threatening the zone
around Kiena. So they did the right thing, but as the
chart shows (right) the market began discounting the
stock due to the potential delays to the Kiena ramp-
up as well as any revenue shortfalls this Q2.
The timing was unfortunate too, as the Kiena
suspension overshadowed the other news out of
WDO earlier last week (13):
TORONTO, June 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)
20
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht7yam ht41 ts12 ht82 ht4nuj ht11
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 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht7yam ht41 ts12 ht82 ht4nuj ht11
source: IKN calcs, NYSE data

-- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (“Wesdome” or the “Company”) is pleased
to announce the appointment of Anthea Bath as President and Chief Executive Officer
effective July 1, 2023. Warwick Morley-Jepson, Board Chair and Interim CEO, will
continue his role as Interim CEO until Ms. Bath commences employment with the
Company, and thereafter will resume his role as Independent Board Chair.
The hunt to replace Middlemiss took six months and the first thing to say, so let’s get it out the
way, it’s great to see another woman at CEO level in mining and hopefully we’ll see this early
trend continue. Secondly, Ms Bath looks like a good pick, having come from the COO’s job at
the highly successful Ero Copper (ERO.to) in Brazil where she has a track record of strong
delivery. We wish Ms Bath every success in her new role, with her first clear milestone being
the delivery of a fully functioning Kiena by the start of 2024.
Newmont (NEM): On Wednesday June 7th, the main union at Newmont’s Peñasquito mine in
Mexico announced it was going on strike, claiming the company was not in compliance with the
collective work agreement signed by both sides in 2022. In its official communiqué (copy here
(14)) it claims four clauses of the deal have not been adhered to by the company, as well as
short pay for overtime on specific dates. It also complains that the company has rejected the
union nominations for representatives.
In response, on Thursday afternoon June 8th the company announced the suspension of all
operations at the mine, which was more a gesture than anything else as the picket lines had
already been set up and workers were not crossing them (at 17 access points around the mine,
according to the strike organizers (15)). NEM in its NR also asked the unions to adhere to the
agreement made and claimed the union was trying
to re-negotiate its 10% worker’s profit sharing deal
and wanted to make it 20%.
As for the market it doesn’t seem to care and
frankly, I think that’s the right call. NEM might
come in for criticism on this work stoppage, but this
is more about the Napo led union trying to strong-
arm a better deal and in the long run, NEM is better
off allowing the strike action to run, even if it’s for
more than a few days, than give in at the first sign
of conflict. This strike will blow over and the
disruption to NEM will be minimal. It has enough on
its plate with NCM and the poor reception its share price has had to the deal’s virtual
acceptance to worry about this issue for too long.
The TinyCaps List
After 23 weeks of 2023, the TinyCaps show a gain of 15.14% 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 1.00 0.02 -71.4%
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 10.49 0.15 15.4%
Manitou Gold MTU.v 0.02 344.568 18.95 0.055 175.0%
Nine Mile Metals NINE.cse 0.29 57.025 6.84 0.12 -58.6%
Palamina Corp PA.v 0.08 65.285 6.85 0.105 31.3%
Precipitate Gold PRG.v 0.075 130.367 6.52 0.05 -33.3%
South Star STS.v 0.55 32.755 22.93 0.70 27.3%
Viva Gold VAU.v 0.14 91.608 15.57 0.17 21.4%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 15.14%
21

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.
TinyCaps, 2023 weekly tracker
50%
A slight recovery in our basket average last week, 45%
40%
thanks to five winners (COCO.v, LMS.v, NINE.cse,
35%
PRG.v, STS.v) versus just two losers (DMX.v, VAU.v) 30%
with the other three unchanged (AUL.v, MTU.v, PA.v)- 25%
20%
The biggest move came from Nine Mile (NINE.cse up 15%
20.0%) as that put in a bit of a dead cat bounce after 10%
5%
its recent losses. 0%
South Star (STS.v): Another good week for STS
which might have been even better, when a buyer
showed up midweek with what might have been a fat finger, but the volume spike shows that
you’ll need to pay up to get in at any size.
Nine Mile Metals (NINE.cse): The dead cat bounce look of NINE trading last week was
pimped slightly by this NR (16) dated June 6th and entitled “Nine Mile Metals Announces XRF
High-Grade Results Up to 9.8% Copper and 22.85%
Combined Lead-Zinc From Historic Wedge Mine,
Bathurst, New Brunswick”. This is the kind of news
that raises red flags, as not only is the company using
the same “Look At Our XRF Numbers” tactic they tried
in 2022 to pimp the stock price, but it’s done at an old
mine working on what’s little more than grab samples.
Put simply, if you can’t cherrypick a few nice pieces of
massive sulphide from an old mine working, you can’t
do it anywhere. The idea to include this company on
the TinyCaps list in 2023 was to monitor its promo
activity, this week underscores its “For Suckers Only”
label.
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.
22
ts1naJ ht8naJ ht51 dn22 ht92 ht5bef ht21 ht91 ht62 ht5raM ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2rpA ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht7yam ht41 ts12 ht82 ht4nuj ht11
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

Regional politics
Ecuador: The Presidential race and an anti-mining march
A big change in the pre-election playing field happened between Friday and yesterday Saturday.
On Friday ex-Vice President Jorge Glas, aka Rafael Correa’s closest political ally who was
sentenced to six years jail for corruption in the Odebrecht “Car Wash” corruption scandal that
spread from Brazil to all parts of LatAm, had his political credentials re-instated by a courtroom
in Ecuador. That means he could run for political office having served five years of his sentence
(which he continues to insist was a political witch hunt and he is innocent of all charges). The
very next day, yesterday Saturday, he was first named by
Rafael Correa and his ”Citizen’s Revolution” party (or UNES
political alliance) as the party’s candidate for the August
20th election (17), with Luisa González, a member of the
recently dissolved National Assembly (Congress), as his
Veep on the ticket (we remind readers that the ticket in
Ecuador must be 50/50 male/female). The news that Glas
would be the nomination was even broadcast by Rafael
Correa on his Twitter account yesterday Saturday
lunchtime (18) (right). But then, in what was either a
complete surprise for Correa and his party or a heavily
staged dramatic turn designed to get attention on Correa’s
real choice, Glas refused the nomination! Instead, the
party ticket went to Luisa González (19), with ex-candidate
Andrés Arauz as her Veep on the ticket. Jorge Glas will
instead be their campaign manager. Luisa González is now
favourite to be the next President of Ecuador according to
the polls, but this is not a normal election and Ecuador is nobody’s idea of a normal country. It
may be a shorter campaign than usual and she/her party start with a polling lead, but she’s no
lock and we’ll have to see how things develop through July.
There are eight tickets running for the Presidency and they will become official once the teams
present the documentation and credentials, they have until this Tuesday to do that. We’ll have
a clear idea of the race by this time next weekend.
Meanwhile on Friday, an anti-mining alliance headed by CONAIE announced protests against
the mining industry to happen this coming Tuesday, June 13th, with marches and meetings
planned for every region of the country (20). Also and to follow-up from last week, the The
Quito anti-mining referendum has now been confirmed for August 20th, the same day as the
Presidential first round vote. The referendum question got plenty of airtime at the CONAIE
presser last week and its leader, Leonidas Iza, said that they would push hard to see that vote
go their way.
Peru: Mining investment “with no conditions” and cracking down on protesters
Last week President Dina Boluarte gave a speech to mark her six months in office and
highlighted how “In these six months we have preserved democratic order and the rule of law.”
Well yes, but both she and her government remain highly unpopular (particularly in the
provinces) and she personally is under some sort of delusion that the population like her,
blaming “the media” for the negative press and ignoring the plethora of polls that demonstrate
the disdain for her government.
There are also signs that she/her government is about to double down against protests against
mining projects and move to a more hardline stance against anti-mining groups. In IKN730
dated May 14th and the note “Peru: four legs good two legs better”, we reported on how Peru
was about to green light the Teck Zafranal project despite plenty of local opposition and was
also making noises about re-starting the nearby Tia Maria project, owned by Southern Copper.
Here’s how that IKN730 note finished:
23

“…the Boluarte government this week made “we gotta build it” noises about the
infamous Tia Maria project (not a million miles away from Zafranal), the project that
never seems to go away. While on a visit to Arequipa, Mining Minister Óscar Vera said
(13) that the Tia Maria project should be re-activated and its benefits explained to the
local communities, despite those same people having rejected the project on no end of
occasions. On the back of the Minister’s words to the press, the local government rep
in the Islay zone around Tia Maria was asked for comment and didn’t mess around,
“The project is not going to happen, ever.”
Boluarte may be ready to pick her next fight.
We may have called that one right. Last week a court room in Arequipa handed down a guilty
verdict against one Jesús Cornejo, the local leader of protests against Tía Maria, for roadblocks
during the latest round of protests. The case was rushed through the courts, he was sentenced
to season to seven years in jail without even being present at the trial, then picked up on an
arrest warrant Thursday evening and taken straight to prison to start his term. This kangaroo
court move, coming at the same time as the Zafranal EIA approval and the pro-Tia Maria
comments from the Boluarte mining minister, all point in the same direction. The history of Tia
Maria and its opposition is long and complicated, but the reader should understand the locals’
hardline “never under any circumstances” position that continues to this day is due to the way
the government crackdown on protesters that left several locals dead. We’re on track for history
to repeat, sadly.
Then in an interview with the EFE newswire on Friday, Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mining
said that the country would welcome Foreign Investment in its mining industry “with no
conditions” set by the country. He made special mention of the critical/battery/transition metals
such as lithium and said in so many words that Peru would bend over backwards to
accommodate new investment in the mining industry and would help calm any social protests.
Argentina’s mining exploration boom has numbers
“Mining Exploration: Study Series for Mining Development” is the title of a survey commissioned
by Argentina’s Secretary (ministry) of mining and compiled by S&P Capital (21) (22). It counts
up the budgets dedicated by mining companies to countries and here’s how the 2022 league
table looks for South American destinations:
 Chile: U$713.2m
 Peru: U$533m
 Argentina: U$385.4m
 Brazil: U$339.9m
 Ecuador: U$280.3m
 Colombia: U$131.6m
 Bolivia: U$42m
So Argentina made it to third place last year. For context, compared to 2015 exploration
budgets for #1 placed Chile are down by 14.5%, and #2 Peru is down 11.4%, whereas budgets
assigned for mining exploration in Argentina are up by 95%. To pardon a pun, if we drill down
into the Argentina data we learn there are currently 92 exploration stage projects, split into
30% gold, 30% lithium, 20% silver, 14% copper, 6% other. Around 62% of budgets come from
junior mining companies with the lion’s share of the rest from major operators.
As for the provincial destinations of the Argentina FDI in mining exploration, Salta was the
prime beneficiary with 32.8% of the money going there, followed by San Juan (25.5), Santa
Cruz (24.4%), Catamarca (10.5) and Jujuy (5.4%). Those five provinces therefore cover 98.6%
of the cash invested in mining exploration in Argentina and that makes a useful shopping list for
the rest of us on the outside looking in. If your prospective junior trade isn’t located in those
five provinces, the company has some questions to answer.
Colombia: Petro’s chilling effect on the mining sector
You can find the original, Spanish language version that hasn’t had its words changed into
24

English by this desk here (23).
What you see above is the results of the 2023
“Brujula Minera” (mining compass) survey, an
annual report published by The Colombian
Mining Association (La Asociación Colombiana
de Minería (ACM)). This year 7,852 people
were interviewed, of which a sub-set of 267
were directors/managers of mining
companies. Those 267 form the basis for the
above question, as one of the standard
questions every year is to ask whether their
company plans to expand, maintain or reduce
operations over the next five years.
The change in attitude between the 2022 and
2023 surveys is abrupt and alarming for those
in the Colombian mining sector, with the number replying “expand” dropping from 51% to 16%
and those replaying “reduce” going from 12% to 46%, in a single year. Rocket scientists are
not required to work out why this might be, as the Petro government’s chilling effect on the
mining sector gets its natural and logical reaction.
Chile: The new Constitutional process begins
A brief note on the political happening of the week in Chile in order to make a single
observation. On Wednesday, the “Consejo Constitucional” (Constitutional Council) that will
prepare the next attempt at a draft Constitutional for the country was inaugurated. This is the
council that was filled by right wing/far right wing members via the referendum vote last
month, the one that clipped President Boric’s wings in definitive manner and caused the most
recent cabinet re-shuffle, moving his government further away from the left wing. President
Boric attended the opening and the most telling moment was his scheduled speech, as instead
of one of his (in)famously long discourses he kept himself to just seven minutes. The content
was a world away from the fiery speeches of 2022 as well, with calls for intelligent debate and
that the Council arrives at draft that is amenable to the majority of Chileans.
If there were any doubts previously that Boric is a dead duck President, they were put to rest
on Wednesday. Boric was bland and diplomatic to a fault, while facing a Council that can vote
through all its preferred right wing agenda without the need to appease the Left for majority.
His speech got a good reception, but expect his wishes for compromise to be largely ignored
once the council starts the serious work. They have until the end of the year to produce the
draft, with the national referendum on its approval set for December.
Market Watching
Deferred
It’s been a very quiet week. I’m amazed I found enough to write about in the above sections.
Conclusion
IKN734 is done, we end with bullet points:
 Latin Metals (LMS.v) is a valid addition to our Stocks to Follow list, even though it’s
going to begin there on the Watch List and without any of my personal cash. It would
only take one of its many projects, particularly those copper assets in Peru, to see this
company’s share price run fast.
 And on the subject of copper, there’s a return to the bullish sentiment out there as the
metal makes it back ton U$3.80/lb. At this price, I hope Amerigo (ARG.to) gets back to
aggressively buying its shares again.
25

 Peru and Chile have always been good place to go mining, Argentina is joining them on
the top table. This is something we predicted way back when, so it’s good to see it
come to fruition.
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
Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2023/06/schedule-for-week-of-june-11-2023.html
(2) https://latin-metals.com/site/assets/files/6867/v2_latin_metals_corporate_presentation_04112023_final.pdf
(3) https://libresdelsur.org.ar/noticias/un-nuevo-emprendimiento-minero-alerta-al-pueblo-de-jachal/
(4) https://faradaycopper.com/news-releases/faraday-copper-announces-pea-for-copper-creek-with-5420/
(5) https://amerigoresources.com/investors/share-buybacks/
(6) https://minera-irl.com/site/assets/files/8294/minera-irl-announces-executive-appointments.pdf
(7) https://twitter.com/Mark_IKN/status/1666585046063411200
(8) https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/032123-meeting-energy-
transition-demand-may-need-copper-mines-capex-of-250-bil-to-2030-bhp
(9) https://www.mining.com/web/copper-price-slump-will-give-way-to-record-buying-spree-citi-says/
(10) https://arizonasonoran.com/news-releases/arizona-sonoran-appoints-bernie-loyer-as-senior-vp-projects-and-
christopher-white-as-chief-geologist/
(11) https://arizonasonoran.com/news-releases/arizona-sonoran-reports-positive-nutontm-technologies-extraction-rates-
on-cactus-primary-sulphides/
(12) https://www.wesdome.com/English/investors/latest-news/news-details/2023/Wesdome-Provides-Update-on-
Operations-Amidst-Forest-Fires-in-Quebec-and-Ontario/default.aspx
(13) https://www.wesdome.com/English/investors/latest-news/news-details/2023/Wesdome-Gold-Mines-Announces-
Appointment-of-Anthea-Bath-as-President-and-CEO/default.aspx
(14) https://www.elsoldezacatecas.com.mx/finanzas/gomez-urrutia-inicia-huelga-en-penasquito-10184652.html
(15) https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2023/06/08/estados/estalla-la-huelga-en-la-minera-penasquito/
(16) https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/06/06/2682757/0/en/Nine-Mile-Metals-Announces-XRF-High-
Grade-Results-Up-to-9-8-Copper-and-22-85-Combined-Lead-Zinc-From-Historic-Wedge-Mine-Bathurst-New-
Brunswick.html
(17) https://confirmado.net/2023/06/10/jorge-glas-sera-el-candidato-a-la-presidencia-de-la-republica-luisa-gonzalez-a-la-
vicepresidencia/
(18) https://twitter.com/MashiRafael/status/1667592633236045824
(19) https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/ecuador-elecciones_el-movimiento-corre%C3%ADsta-designa-a-luisa-
gonz%C3%A1lez-como-candidata-a-presidenta-de-ecuador/48581846
(20) https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/economia/conaie-frente-antiminero-marchas/
(21) https://economis.com.ar/argentina-es-la-tercera-en-la-region-en-el-ranking-de-inversion-en-exploracion-
minera/#gsc.tab=0
(22) https://econojournal.com.ar/2023/06/argentina-ocupa-el-tercer-lugar-en-el-ranking-de-inversiones-en-exploracion-
minera-de-la-region/
(23) https://www.elcolombiano.com/negocios/brujula-minera-2023-directivos-mineras-colombia-mas-pesimistas-
BN21681312
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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
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
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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
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
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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
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.
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