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The IKN Weekly
Week 861, November 23rd 2025
Contents
This Week: In today’s edition, US Thanksgiving, Gold doesn’t care if the Fed cuts rates, Second call for 2025
Basket Cases.
Fundamental Analysis: West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v): The weak spot.
Stocks to Follow: Overview, Valkea Resources (OK.v), Arizona Metals Corp (AMC.to), Orecap Inv (OCI.v),
XXIX Metal Corp (XXIX.v), Marimaca Copper (MARI.to), Minera Alamos (MAI.v), Amerigo Resources (ARG.to),
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.to), Aurion Resources (AU.v), Electrum Discovery Corp (ELY.v).
The Copper Basket: Overview.
The Producer Basket: Overview, Wesdome Gold (WDO.to) (WDOFF), Barrick (B) (ABX.to).
The TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Radius Gold (RDU.v).
Regional Politics: Mexico: Exploration to accelerate in 2026, Chile: Kast the red hot favourite, Updating
“The Venezuela Question”, Argentina: Mendoza set to award San Jorge its permits.
Market Watching: Valkea Resources (OK.v) gets beaten up at market.
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
 Bitcoin had a mini-crisis, US stocks wobbled, silver speculators got their fingers burned and mining
stocks were all affected by the negative market backdrop, selling off and showing no signs of a Santa
Rally as yet. But gold didn’t care, its market remains rock solid at over U$4,000/oz and today’s intro
considers why that base is forming and what it might mean for 2026. Hint: Good things.
 I direct your eyes toward the top story in Regional Politics today, as Mexico’s Marcelo Ebrard is no run
of the mill spokesperson. He told a mining conference last week that permit awards for exploration
companies would ramp up in 2026 and if they do, we’ll be very happy buyers from a host of target
stocks. Definitely the most interesting political development in LatAm mining last week.
 Today’s main Fundies section takes another look at West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v) and marks your
card for its upcoming 3q25 financials filing. WRLG has been a laggard in our portfolio and with the
chequered history of the Madsen mine, there are a few nervous holders out there in retail world. The
point we make; this trade isn’t riskless and costs are a thing, but there are more than enough positive
signals coming from the company and its financial position looks solid.
 We’ve only mentioned the stock a couple of times this year, but it’s stayed in the corner of my eye and
as such, the news out of Valkea Resources (OK.v) on Friday evening didn’t come as a surprise. Its
share price has slid badly recently and the official abandonment of its placement means the stock is
now both cheap and vulnerable as Tax Loss Selling (TLS) season gets into gear. One of the four stocks
we identified as potential trades in Finland (the “What Will Agnico Do?” trade) that eventually got me
into Aurion Resources (AU.v), this price and location makes it an interesting minnow and potential
fliptrade. That’s in Market Watching and it also gets a quick line in the Stocks to Follow section,
because as from next weekend it’s going to be on our Watch List of potential trades.
 The Producer Basket stock notes are on Wesdome (WDO.to) (WDOFF) and Barrick (B) (ABX.to) for the
second week running, because they happen to be the most interesting companies in the sector
1

presently. Barrick has found an apparent breakthrough regarding its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali,.
While Wesdome is beginning to look too cheap for this desk to ignore.
 Other things as well, of course. There are always other things.
US Thanksgiving
A reminder that this coming Thursday is US Thanksgiving Day, its stock markets are closed for the day and
also close early on Friday at 1pm ET. For those of you in the USA liquidating stocks to buy discounted nice
things on Black Friday and/or Cybermonday, happy bargain hunting. As for other jurisdictions, please note
that Canadian markets are open for business as normal this coming week, though we typically see reduced
volume on days when TSX works but NYSE/Nasdaq doesn’t.
Gold doesn’t care if the Fed cuts rates
There’s a decent case for we mortals caring, but everything that gold has done recently points to it looking
beyond 2025. To begin, we now know that gold bears and those calling October 21st as a blow-off parabolic
top (mainly by pointing to lines of people outside of bullion shops in China and Australia) were wrong:
A top? Yes. Overbought correction? Yes. Temporary top? Yes. Over-extended moment when gold reached the
consciousness of normies on the street instead of being confined to the thoughts of weirdos like us? Yes
probably Mark stop labouring the point. But parabolic blow-off tops don’t act in the way we’ve seen gold
prices act in the month since that high, as seen on the chart right. Instead, consolidation has been the name
of the game and we’ve had ample evidence that the serious market players are willing to pay U$4,000/oz for
their next ounce of gold. Or tonne of the stuff.
There have been fluctuations in the spot gold and I won’t offer up a second, near-term chart to illustrate the
point; the above probably suffices and if not, I’m sure you have your own on hand. Gold still reacts to news
events, we’ve seen it as low as U$3,900/oz and as high as U$4,200/oz since that top as the financial world
factors in geopolitical and financial influences. All normal and one of those has been the recent debate on
whether the Fed will cut again at the December FOMC (scheduled for the 9th and 10th, two and a half weeks
from now). On that, we’ve gone from the near unanimous assumption after the October FOMC that
December would be another cut, to the market ruling out another cut, to the debate that sprung up when the
minutes were released last week (as previewed in IKN860, they weren’t the normal dry as dust read and set
the chattering classes off again), to the mood swinging back toward a December cut when this happened (1):
“John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, shook up the outlook for the
Fed's key interest rate Friday. He made comments indicating he was open to lowering the fed funds
rate at the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in December to help bolster the job
market.
His remarks made a rate cut seem far more likely: financial markets were pricing in a 73% chance of
a December rate cut on Friday morning following Williams's speech, up from 39% the day before,
according to…” (continues)
And yes, the market has reacted to each swing, and that affects the USD, and that nudges gold because it’s
same market as ever, turtles turtles turtles all the way down. However, at this point I’d humbly ask that you
re-direct your eyes to the two-year price chart for gold above because all the recent noise hasn’t made much
of a difference to the metal that underpins everything that happens in our focus sector of mining. Gold is
telling us not to fret, not to worry and to filter out the constant noise. Gold is telling us that rates are coming
2

down, it’s only a question of when. Gold is telling us that “Trump Gonna Run It Hot” as the fashionable
expression goes, we know this admin is willing to sacrifice inflation at the altar of growth and what’s more,
the combo of lower rates (lower debt servicing) and higher inflation that floats makes the seems to be part of
the broader plan to get its deficit under control. After all, if this is true for us mere mortals…
…it’s also true for a country in the hole for 38 trillion dollars (whatever that might look like stacked on
pallets).
Occasionally in the last three months, I’ve looked up from my spreadsheets and wondered if I’m being too
stupid by plugging in U$4,000/oz gold as a price assumption for earnings forecasts (Wesdome etc), or using
U$3,500/oz as a long-term price input for projects and development-stage assets ((Rio2 etc). After all, any
old fool can assume their fantasy price for gold or silver or copper a year from now and make the case that
stock XYZ is cheap (and there are plenty of those out there in junior land). But however much I try to get
contrarian with myself, there seems to be no escaping the conclusion that we, the mining and natural
resources investment people, will have to get used to the idea that U$4,000/oz isn’t a peak, instead it’s a
baseline on which we build future earnings. There are negatives to throw into the mix, for example I’m fairly
sure gold is a leading indicator for the inflationary environment we’re going to see in 2026 and beyond so we
need to watch those cost input items and not blithely assume a AISC of U$1,500/oz for gold today will be the
same tomorrow, but the baseline that gold is where it is today because it deserves to be…that’s difficult to
escape and as this desk posited in a recent intro rant, a year’s worth of earnings from the major gold miners
at U$4.000/oz is going to put a lot of money into their treasuries. A very, very lot.
Second call for 2025 Basket Cases
Its first appearance was last week, second call today, we’ll run this one more time next week (or perhaps the
week after) to make sure the message gets through. We repeat our annual call to you out there, esteemed
subscribers of The IKN Weekly, for nominations, suggestions, ideas and thoughts on the companies we
should include in the 2026 Copper Basket, the 2026 Producer Basket and the 2026 TinyCaps List. I received a
smattering of suggestions over the week, so thank you to those who made the effort, but there’s still time
and room for others on the long list. So thanks in advance for any mails arising from today’s segment, now
for an exact repeat of last week’s intro:
Every November/December, your author puts together a long list (then a short list) of stocks for our three
tracking baskets for the year to come, namely The Copper Basket, Producer Basket and TinyCaps Basket.
Year-end will see those lists refreshed, with companies leaving and being replaced by others and as usual,
my long-list is already in place for all three lists. However, every single year without exception, when I ask for
your ideas and suggestions I get ideas that are better than mine and the final make-up of the tracking
baskets is always an amalgam of brains. We therefore throw the subject out to the collective mind of
readership today, asking for suggestions and here’s the framework required for each category, as the baskets
are somewhat different in make-up:
 For The Copper Basket: We look for a group of 15 stocks that as a whole represent the junior copper
mining world. The maximum market cap is normally $1Bn but preferably, I like them lower to better
reflect our sector of interest. We welcome tinycaps, as a cross section is required. As we’re not trying
to beat the street and want a faithful reflection of the sector, always happy to include bad copper
companies or dog stocks if they bring something to the table (e.g. this year we deliberately included
CGNT.v, which did exactly what I expected it to do, yok yok).
 For The Producer Basket: There is no upper limit in market cap size, but we normally require a
minimum market cap of U$2Bn. For this list, I’m looking for suggestions for precious metals
producers that will out-perform in 2026, as we also try to beat the GDX benchmark. That’s a semi-
3

serious competition but, as The IKN Weekly has managed to out-perform the GDX in eight of the last
nine years, there’s pride at stake. Especially as this year looks to be heading into the losing column
and putting my record back to eight from ten.
 For The TinyCaps: First and foremost, for this list we try for a maximum market cap of $20m, as The
TinyCaps tracks market moves of the smallest companies. However, at this level of market cap there
are many broken stocks and dead companies with projects going nowhere. They are not interesting,
as although we cannot expect operational or managerial perfection at this level the company still
needs to “have a pulse” and be a reasonable trade or speculative alternative.
I normally look to change between three and five companies on each list, so if you have a good candidate for
the Producer, Copper or TinyCap list, be they companies you own or not (or if it’s a doggish type of idea,
perhaps “owned”) please drop a line the usual addresses. Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions
received and expect this intro note to run by way of a nagging reminder for the next two or three editions.
Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v): The weak spot
The task of the portfolio manager, even if the portfolio they’re running is a personal one, is to focus more on
the weak spots than the trades and companies that are doing well. That’s the case with West Red Lake Gold
(WRLG.v) and it’s not been lost on the readership of The IKN Weekly that this trade has, so far at least,
underperformed compared to both peers and my personal expectations, the mails and messages have been
arriving in a steady stream this month. How about that for a mouthful of words to say “my stock pick sucks”?
Therefore let’s address the company and its present situation but before that, a quick reminder of how ewe
got here and the main coverage and trade decisions made so far:_
 IKN844 dated July 20th: The main fundies note “Buying West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (WRLG.v)” which
started our formal coverage of the stock
 IKN846 dated August 3rd: The main fundies note “Adding West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v)” that announced
our second purchase.
 IKN849 dated August 24th; The main fundies note “Four purchases”, in which we added a third tranche of
WRLG.v (while also adding to the open trade in RPX.v and also buying XXIX.v and PAU.cse)
 IKN850 dated August 31st: The main fundies note “West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v) 2q25 financials” which
took a look at, yes you guessed it, the company’s 2q25 financials.
That was the flurry of activity during Q3, since then we’ve kept tabs on WRLG mostly in the notes section of
the Stocks to Follow list, including its raising of C$40.6m via a well timed 95c placement that’s filled its
coffers, so it’s not as if we’ve been ignoring its development and there is where we’ve watched its recent
weak price action. Rather than do a full blow-by-blow on every twist and turn, we can sum up matters by
noting that in IKN850 and the 2q25 financials it was a 97c stock. This weekend WRLG sits at 84c and all that
in a period when you’d think a gold stock should do well. This chart shows the situation and though my
added red ink is a bit busy, you can probably make out the point:
4

Even before gold topped out in October week three, WRLG was struggling to keep up with its field. When the
sector sold off WRLG went down with them all, but instead of drawing a line under the drop and staying flat
along with U$4k gold, it’s lost some more. So what’s going on? Here are some thoughts, starting with the two
latest production-focused NRs. The first (2) came on October 7th entitled “West Red Lake Gold Reports Third
Quarter Operations Update for Madsen Mine Ramp-Up” in which we learned plenty (and reported it in Stocks
to Follow at the time, but the pay dirt lines were these:
In Q3 the Madsen Mine produced 35,700 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 5.4 grams per tonne
gold. The mill poured 7,055 ounces of gold. Note that mined and poured ounces do not align because
of factors including month end timings and gold in circuit. Those ounces were sold at an average
price of US$3,456 per ounce for gross proceeds of CAD$33 million.
Then most recently on November 18th , i.e. last week, we got “West Red Lake Gold Reports Mid-Q4 Madsen
Mine Update” (3) in which we weren’t given as much
hard data, but were at least told that “mined ore
production increased 24% compared to the month
prior.” That NR went on to highlight new hires in key
roles and once again, CEO Shane Williams and his
team made a point of talking about the gradual and
incremental ramp-up at Madsen that was going
largely according to plan. So first the data harvested
and once we do the calculation using that 24%,
then make some reasonable estimates for the next
three months as the mine moves toward its target
run rate of 800tpd, we get this chart (right) and that
looks achievable. We also know production figures
for 3q25 because the company told us, so if my
guesstimates for mined tonnages holds up,, grade comes in on the average and recoveries stay at the
standard 95% for this mine (one of the more reliable inputs, even when it was in Pure Gold’s hands), we can
put in a guesstimate for the current quarter:
WRLG: GEO production, per quarter
5
894
0625
5507
0089
00011
00521
WRLG: Mined ore per month
Oz Au
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1q25 2q25 3q25 4q25est 1q26est 2q26est
source: company filings, IKN ests and calcs
That 9,800 oz for 4q25 may turn out to be a bit ambitious and a lot depends on how WRLG runs its mill
during this pre-commercial period. The company has the right to down tools and refine the circuit at any
given moment and if there’s a big discrepancy, I’m not going to sweat it much. Please note that the other
guesses added for 1q26 and 2q26 assume the gradual run to full production continues and the company
turns free cash flow positive during Q2 of next year.
Returning to 3q25, we’re now going to frame the Q3 financials due to drop at the end of this month, starting
with a number we know as WRLG pre-announced it had sold C$33m of gold during the quarter:
9.9 01
9.51
4.8
5.31 9.31 2.71 02 12
42
mmt
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan'26
source: WRLG filings, IKN ests
C$m WRLG: Mine ops
40
Revs 33
35
COGS
30
Mine Op Inc 24.315
25 20
20 15.297
15 12
8.568
10
5 2.1071.2860.788
0
1q25 2q25 3q25est
source: company filings

This chart also tries to make a best guess at costs, but at this point it is literally that, a guess. This opens on
one of the potential reasons as to why WRLG has traded poorly recently as the world know costs have risen
in the Canadian mining patch and we also note how the company has recently hired talent to run its
operations. All that doesn’t come for free, so the C$20m noted above is less a forecast, more a frame of what
would be an acceptable level. If COGS comes in higher than that it will be time to ask questions about the
margins expected from the company in future quarters.
As for the 3q25 financials (and a guess or two for Q4), we’re looking to see balance sheet expansion from
three angles, with the $40m placement closed before the end of the quarter, the pre-commercial gold sales
and capitalization from the continued build out of the mine in this pre-commercial production period. As the
main sources of cash are the placement and the bullion sales (the gold may be left in the receivables column,
we’ll see) there’s more change expect on the assets side of the ledger than that of the liabilities.
WRLG: Assets breakdown
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Again, these are ballpark estimates on what to expect and if the numbers come in differently, that could well
be acceptable depending on exactly what WRLG has done to spend its money in the period and how the cash
inflows are booked. However, we’re not expecting any big changes to the gold notes and credit facility items
and we fully agree with the company that its recent placement should provide all the money it needs to get
to that important positive cash flow (FCF+) moment. This chart (below left) is our liquidity monitor and while
we have to make educated guesses on the capital spend in the next couple of quarters, the grand total isn’t
going to be far out and what it suggests is that WRLG has C$40m worth of cushion to start 2026, more than
enough to go FCF+ without further dilution. On that score, we’re cognizant of the warrants and options
waiting in the wings and if WRLG delivers on its promise, those could add upwards of 150m extra shares to
the count but, for the time being, the September placement puts us at just over 390m shares out and
That’s the framework for a 3q25 financial report that should drop soon. The important bits from the Q3 filings
will be (in this order):
 Guidance for Q4 and when the company expects to declare commercial production
 Costs, which may come in hotter than expected
 Balance sheet liquidity, which now seems to be guaranteed as long as the final stages of
the ramp-up go to plan
6
22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 tse52q3 tse52q4
C$m WRLG: Liabilities breakdown
160
cash&eq inventories
other current min prop/plant/equip 140
other fixed 120
100
80
60
40
20
0
source: company filings, IKN ests
22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 tse52q3 tse52q4
C$m
other LT liab
credit facility
gold notes
current liab
source: company filings, IKN ests
WRLG: Shares out (m)
868.41 20.25 744.65 851.481 371.512 641.322 532.962 83.172 878.813 74.343 10.843 50.093 293
500
450
400
350
300
250 200 150
100
50
0
22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 tse52q3 tse52q4
WRLG: Cash treasury & working cap
source: company financials, IKN ests
146.1 753.4 580.72 29.61 903.61 848.3
407.74
698.52 88.63 822.81 796.32 84 04
50
45
40
35
30
25 20 15 10
5
0
-5
22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 tse52q3 tse52q4
C$m
cash&eq
working cap
source: company filings, IKN ests

To date, CEO Williams has made every effort to cultivate the image of a serious, studious, step-by-step
company that’s aware of the past failings and mistakes made at the Madsen mine and wants to take every
opportunity to reassure the world that the project is going to plan. That, for me at least, is exactly the right
tack in this case and the space devoted to the new appointments in the November 18th NR is testament to
that; It’s all “Look people, we’re attracting top talent, the type of mining brains that don’t sign up to any old
project”. Along with a good level of transparency on the development process, the aim is to put the investor
at ease and show this machine will work once at full speed in 2026. So why is the share price lagging? It may
be due to this clear communication, they’re not trying to throw sequins in anyone’s eyes and the focus is on
building the mine and getting it running right, not appeasing the market at every turn. However, it may also
be to rising costs that will crimp margins, so the Q3 numbers will be a key moment for that. Madsen is a high
cash cost operation and while U$4,000/oz gold allows plenty of leeway, bad new on costs is going to cause
adjustments to all financial models, including my own that will still err to the side of caution. However, the
nagging thought in my mind is how the price action in WRLG is very similar to that of Fiore Gold back in the
2019 to 2020 period, as Fiore was also Giustra play, also ramped up a small-ish mine and also seemed to
spend plenty of quarters at undervalued levels before finally getting the recognition it deserved. Fiore and its
Pan mine were eventually taken out by Calibre, which was swallowed by Equinox at the start of this year and
has now spat Pan out for Minera Alamos’s benefit (so the world turns), but the success of that mine is all
about Fiore and what CEO Tim Warman did to make it work. And here we are in another part of the world,
another CEO looking to make a name, another mine with a troubled mine getting turned around and another
share price that’s lagging compared to where it should be at the current gold price deck.
The bottom line: Having bought three times I’m already full of WRLG shares, but the current 80c price is a
tempting opportunity and I’d encourage anyone not yet in (or fully in) to take advantage of this window.
There are risks involved and one of those is about to happen, as the company files its Q3 report and we
wonder about its costs profile as well as the timing of its move to full production status. However, the recent
placement has ensured its financial wellbeing in all but the very worst of cases, the updates show a company
delivering on its plan to turn up the volume slowly but surely and with gold trading where it is, even a high
cash cost operation is going to make serious coin. On that score and presuming we don’t need to make any
wholesale changes to the cost profile, here’s a remind of what we can expect from the WRLG share price
once Madsen is running to order, the table that laid out our target range from IKN844:
WRLG: DCF price target at a range of discount rates and gold prices
7
27.0 95.0 25.0 73.0 60.1 88.0 97.0 95.0 82.1 80.1 79.0 47.0 26.1 83.1 42.1 79.0
58.1
95.1 34.1 21.1
14.2
70.2 88.1
94.1
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2500 2800 3000 3300 3500 4000
U$/oz Au
)$C(
tgt
ecirP
5% 8% 10% 15%
Back then we hummed and hawed about whether U$3,500/oz was too optimistic, these days that looks
lowball and if we assume gold trades at U$4k/oz going forward, even a 15% discount gives us a C$1.49
share price target.
Ultimately there are only three decisions for any retail investor to make about a stock, buy/hold/sell, and in
this case selling is the most obvious mistake to make. On the cusp of commercial production, financially
secure and with a team that’s gone about its ramp-up in serious and exemplary fashion, the missing piece is
market confidence and assuming the final push goes well and the company reaches positive free cash flow
and operating profits on time, the ramp up (and thoughts that turn to the Rowan project) should bring its
price re-rate and WRLG shares finally do what Fiore Gold did back in 2020…zoom higher in one go. Therefore
and after due consideration, I’m still comfortable with the risk/reward balance offered by West red Lake Gold
(WRLG.v) and reiterate the house price target of c$1.44, which offers an upside of 71.4% to this weekend’s
closing price.

Stocks to Follow
Even though eleven of the 17 stocks on the list were week-over-week losers (not listing them all), with just
four winners (MAI.v, AU.v, LMS.v, PGDC.v) and two unchanged stocks (MIRL.cse, ELY.v) on considering the
mess that last week’s market made of equities large and small, in my considered opinion the Stocks to Follow
held up reasonably well. There were two stocks that dropped by double figure percentages, namely XXIX
Metal (XXIX.v down 12.0%) and Marimaca Copper (MARI.to down 11.4%), but even those drops were still
inside recent trading ranges and overall the moves tended to be a penny or so the downside, nothing that
can’t be repaired by a single day of optimism next week.
There are currently 17 open positions on the list, three under the self-imposed maximum. Eleven are in the
green, one is unchanged, five are in the red.
company Ticker this week Avg Price Reco date Current PPS Gain/Loss% Notes
TOP PICKS
Rio2 Ltd. RIO.v STR BUY C$0.80 22-Apr-18 C$2.16 170.0% Re-rated to new $4.13 tgt
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Minera Alamos MAI.v HOLD C$0.21 13-Oct-19 C$0.38 88.1% $0.70 tgt, selling early 2026
Amerigo Res ARG.to BUY C$1.54 28-Jul-24 C$3.23 109.7% Core copper position
Marimaca Copper MARI.to STR BUY C$3.05 14-Jan-24 C$10.54 245.6% Quality Cu dev, FS due
Gold Royalty Co GROY STR BUY U$1.40 9-Mar-25 U$3.48 148.6% 2nd target U$5 in 2026
West Red Lake WRLG.v STR BUY C$0.88 20-Jul-25 C$0.84 -4.5% re-rate trade, $1.44tgt
Aurion Res AU.v BUY C$1.07 21-Sep-25 C$1.02 -4.7% Agnico will buy more Finland
Arizona Metals AMC.to HOLD C0.66 5-Oct-25 C$0.53 -19.7% hold to end xmas may then add
Red Pine Expl RPX.v STR BUY C$0.12 8-Sep-24 C$0.145 20.8% Added more Sep & Oct'25
Salazar Res SRL.v BUY C$0.08 5-Jan-25 C$0.14 75.0% Ecuador buyout trade
Latin Metals LMS.v BUY C$0.19 10-Jun-25 C$0.21 10.5% proj.generator, Organullo spec
XXIX Metal XXIX.v STR BUY C$0.11 27-Aug-25 C$0.11 0.0% v good PEA Oct'25
Orecap Inv OCI.v BUY C$0.06 4-May-24 C$0.09 50.0% top fundy value, illiquid
SPECULATIVE TRADES
Minera IRL MIRL.cse avoid C$0.195 22-Jul-12 C$0.015 -92.3% leaving list soon (good)
A WATCHLIST OF POTENTIAL TRADES. NB: I DO NOT OWN
Patagonia Gold PGDC.v WATCH C$0.02 4-Aug-24 C$0.19 850.0% Rio Negro gold developer
Electrum Disc ELY.v WATCH C$0.055 9-Nov-25 C$0.06 9.1% dirt cheap Serbia exploreco
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.45 6-Dec-20 C$0.18 -60.0% LT bet, adding slowly
CLOSED TRADES IN 2025 date closed close price
Arizona Sonoran ASCU.to Jan'25 C$1.39 22-Dec-24 C$1.68 20.9% nice NT trade, took profit
Libero Copper LBC.v Jan'25 C$0.34 20-Oct-24 C$0.245 -30.0% small spec loser
Barrick Gold GOLD Feb'25 U$15.70 22-Dec-24 U$18.26 16.3% taking profit on NT trade
Ero Copper ERO Mar'25 C$19.37 22-Dec-24 C$17.64 -8.9% closed badly timed trade
IMPACT Silver IPT.v Apr'25 C$0.30 14-Apr-24 C$0.195 -35.0% closed small Ag trade fail
Pan Global Res PGZ.v Apr'25 C$0.19 19-Feb-24 C$0.11 -42.1% closed sm Cu on -ve mkt turn
Aftermath Silver AAG.v Jun'25 $0.425 22-Dec-24 C$0.64 50.6% took profits, decent result
Lumina Gold LUM.v Jun'25 C$0.78 23-Feb-25 C$1.25 60.3% successful buyout trade.
Eldorado Gold EGO Aug'25 U$15.93 11-Aug-24 U$21.73 36.4% took profit, underperf'd peers
AbraSilver ABRA.to Aug'25 C$2.73 26-Jan-25 C$5.67 107.7% took profit, good result
Minera Alamos MAI.v Aug'25 C$0.21 13-Oct-19 C$0.345 64.3% lightened overweight position
Surge Copper SURG.v Sep'25 $0.105 22-Dec-24 C$0.215 104.8% took profits, good result
Provenance Gold PAU.cse Oct'25 C$0.15 27-Aug-25 C$0.265 76.7% took profits, good result
2015 to 2024 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Now for notes on some of the covered stocks:
8

Valkea Resources (OK.v): ADDING TO WATCH LIST NEXT WEEK. As seen in today’s Market Watching
section, we’re going to keep a closer eye on this lesser cousin of Aurion Resources (AU.v) for the next few
weeks, as its recent sell-off may have opened the door for a profitable fliptrade as 2025 becomes 2026. Full
details below.
Arizona Metals Corp (AMC.to): The extended notes on AMC in last weekend’s Market Watching set the
negative scene, so while the trading last week was negative it’s difficult to call it a surprise. Last week’s note
also laid out my personal position, that of grinning and bearing through what may become a painful TLS
season but if that happens, come the end of December I’m ready and willing to double down on this trade for
2026 and buy up the deep cheap stocks…if they’re available after Christmas.
Orecap Inv (OCI.v): The liquid-ish assets table…
OCI.v: Marketable Secs, Investments in Assocs, Cash
value
ticker shares owned(m) PPS C$m Cents/share
AE.v 10.72 0.49 5.25 2.1
ARIC.v 7.39 0.55 4.06 1.6
ARIC warrant 4.17 0.35 1.46 0.6
XXIX.v 23.637 0.11 2.60 1.0
KTR.v 42.75 0.07 2.99 1.2
MERG.v 1.025 0.465 0.48 0.2
MERG warrant 0.5125 0.065 0.03 0.0
ZIGY.cse 4.942 0.325 1.61 0.6
subtotal 18.48 7.4
Est.cash 0.03 0.0
Total 18.51 7.5
At 248.332 S/O
…shows another leg down in the ORX per share backbone, though 7.5c/share is still a decent starting point
for a suite of assets like this. We also had a big change in the book, as Ore Group announced it is flipping out
its most interesting McGarry project into what was previously called Mistango (MIS.cse) and is now called
Stardust Metal (ZIGY.cse) and whatever you might think of that ticker symbol, at least it’s memorable. The
reworked ZIGY also comes with a 5-for-1 share rollback and the terms of the deal (see here (4)) imply that
it’s going to raise capital in a placement sooner, rather than later. When that happens, I’d expect OCI to
participate in the placement. This deal makes a lot of sense and ZIGY may even be a decent spec trade in its
own right. I’ll be watching carefully to see who decided to take a piece of any upcoming financing, for
example if the Gold Candle people decide it’s a good idea, the green light could not shine brighter.
XXIX Metal Corp (XXIX.v): Down 12.0% on thin trading and it has me wondering whether I’ve value
trapped myself again. But no, this was more about XXIX moving with the general market sentiment toward
copper trades last week and though 11c is a drop, it’s still inside the recent trading range.
Marimaca Copper (MARI.to): Another that dropped in the negative market sentiment, another that’s not
going to make my hair turn grey (because it’s far too
late for that).
Minera Alamos (MAI.v): This move on Friday, in
which MAI moved against the tide of its peers for the
first time in a long time, was particularly eye-catching
given the news out of Acapulco on Thursday. See below
in Market Watching for that, but I don’t think the stealth
buying that quietly took the ask all day was a
coincidence. We’ll probably find out tomorrow Monday.
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): While plenty of other
established copper stocks had a rough week, ARG
dropped by a paltry 3c and did what it’s supposed to do
9

in my portfolio. Rock solid and with the record date for the upsized 4c dividend coming this Friday (Nov
28th), expect the same in the days to come.
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.to): I’m slightly late to this, as RIO.to filed its 3q25 financials on November 10th (I forgot it’s
Dot Tee Oh and has to file a couple of weeks earlier), but as the corporate financials are particularly vital at
the moment it’s okay. It’s worth checking on them however, so we’ll just go with the basic balance sheet
tracking charts and be done.
Assets show how the company is quickly expanding, with cash added at one end (by Wheaton etc) and the
company capitalizing it into the assets you see on those regular video update segments (see the Rio2 X
account, the last one came on Thursday). We’ve added our guesstimates for Q4 to take into account the
recent U$50m final forward payment from WPM.
RIO.v:Assets, per qtr
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Liabilities also demonstrate the corporate expansion you’d expect from a company moving out of its
development stage and into production. Current liabilities are starting to show, that to date is the 8,000 oz of
gold RIO.to needs to deliver to WPM in 2026. As a reminder of that schedule, here are the basic numbers for
the annual obligation:
2026: 8,000 oz
2027: 14,000 oz
2028: 15,000 oz
2029: 15,000 oz
2030: 15,000 oz
2031: 15,000 oz
2032: 13,000 oz
There are details missed from that basic count, as the deliveries are scheduled to be monthly and RIO.to has
the option to make early pre-payments. But that above is the 95,00gold0 oz of RIO.to owes to WPM and
even though WPM pays 20% spot for each ounce, it gives a good idea of how good a gig they have going on.
Here’s a quick line of math assuming gold stays at U$4,000/oz and we back out the 20% spot paid:
(4,000 x 0.8) x 95,000 = U$342m
Not bad money for lending out U$150m. Anyway, back to RIO.to and we’ll run just two more charts today,
the first (below left) showing how RIO.to has managed liquidity and retained positive working capital. We
may see that dip to zero (or even into the negative) during 1q25 in the period when gold repayments have
stacked up and the company is in the typical lag period between producing gold and receiving payments from
10
02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 52q4
U$m RIO.v: Liabilities overview
250
fixed
other current 200
cash+ST
150
100
50
0
source: company filings
02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 52q4
U$m
LT liab
current liab
source: company filings
RIO.v: Working capital
69.31 92.9 19.9 64.1 60.3 80.0- 68.22 54.91 63.52 11.11 78.0 97.3 16.3 11.7 21.5 62.4 34.2 72.61 97.31
47.53 74.43
95.81
02.21
00.02
50
45
40
35
30
25 20 15 10
5
0
02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 52q4
U$m RIO.v: Shares out
source: company filings
34.181 83.281 71.091 17.091 95.991 78.991 43.452 43.452 96.652 15.752 15.752 65.752 46.752 83.852 57.852 32.952 75.952 6.813 6.813 73.624 95.624 85.724 78.924 034
500
450
400
350
300
250 200 150 100
50
0
02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 52q4
M s/o
source: company filings

the smelter of choice in Switzerland (PAMP, most probably) but overall, we know the project is on-budget and
the financial planning has always been about getting to positive free cash flow in mid-2026, not just getting
to first pour at the start of 2026. By the time the Q4 financials are filed it’ll probably be too late to forecast,
but here at 3q25 all seems to be on target and the re’s every reason to expect the share count to remain
at/around 430m. There are 6m or so options prices at 65c that expire between now and early 2027, then
further out there’s another 15m or so priced at higher levels, but there are no warrants outstanding so this
count is unlikely to go over 450m, even in the longer term. At RIO.to, what you see is what you get.
Aurion Resources (AU.v): Up two cents on the week, AU has been sticky around the Loonie line and there
are very few sellers. This is the place to accumulate, if that’s your plan.
Electrum Discovery Corp (ELY.v): For those with the patience and desire, there’s all the 6c you can eat
out there. I’ll continue to watch for the time being, but it’s one of the stocks earmarked for a post-TLs spec
purchase that will hopefully pay for the festive season treats.
The Copper Basket
After forty-seven weeks of 2025, The Copper Basket shows a gain of 72.94% to level stakes:
Shares out
company ticker price 1/1/25 (m) Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 SolGold (GBP) SOLG.l 6.92 3001.11 601.72 20.05 189.7%
2 Trilogy Metals TMQ.to 1.65 164.1 986.24 6.01 264.2%
3 Atex Resources ATX.v 1.43 279.21 631.01 2.26 58.0%
4 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 1.90 169.914 621.89 3.66 92.6%
5 Arizona Sonoran ASCU.to 1.47 174.6 612.85 3.51 138.8%
6 Faraday Copper FDY.to 0.74 250.605 481.16 1.92 159.5%
7 Regulus Resources REG.v 2.05 124.659 425.09 3.41 66.3%
8 Hercules Metals BIG.v 0.55 289.289 153.32 0.53 -3.6%
9 Element 29 Res ECU.v 0.63 136.924 135.55 0.99 57.1%
10 Hot Chili HCH.v 0.67 175.07 134.80 0.77 14.9%
11 American Eagle AE.v 0.69 173.377 84.95 0.49 -29.0%
12 Andina Copper ANDC.cse 0.16 211.085 82.32 0.39 143.8%
13 XXIX Metal XXIX.v 0.11 304.79 33.53 0.11 0.0%
14 Copper Giant CGNT.v 0.315 143.08 30.05 0.21 -33.3%
15 Kobrea Exploration KBX.cse 0.60 35.622 16.03 0.45 -25.0%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ except SolGold in GBP Portfolio avg 72.94%
It wasn’t by much a 1.07% increase and thanks mainly
to one of the most volatile names in the 2025 basket,
The Copper Basket 2025, weekly evolution
but The Copper Basket finally snapped its five week 100%
90%
losing streak, even though five winners (SOLG.l, ALDE.v, 80%
70%
TMQ.to, ASCU.to, CGNT.v) are easily outnumbered by 60%
the nine losers (ATX.v, REG.v, FDY.to, BIG.v, AE.v, 50%
40%
HCH.v, XXIX.v, KBX.cse, ANDC.cse), with one unchanged 30%
20%
stock making up the count (ECU.v). The reason we 10%
0%
sneaked a win was Trilogy (TMQ.to up 21.9%) which has
-10%
been bananas volatile all year and lived up to its -20%
reputation last week. to the downside, the only big move
was XXIX Metal (XXIX.v down 12.0%). When the dust
settled, the handful of winners was just enough and the
week is in the win column.
As for copper, a late Friday mini-rally saved the week and while it’s down slightly from last weekend, the
difference was small. But that doesn’t speak of the negative vibes that started to show during the week, or
the clear price sags that accompanied the selling. The Comex futures chart this week (we’ve shifted to the
11
ts1naJ ht5naJ ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2bef ht9 ht61 dr32 dn2raM ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6rpA ht31 ht02 ht72 ht4yam ht11 ht81 ht52 ts1nuj ht8 ht51 dn22 ht92 ht6luj ht31 ht02 ht72 dr3gua ht01 ht71 ht42 ts13 ht7peS ht41 ts12 ht82 ht5tco ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2von ht9 ht61 dr32
source: IKN calcs

March 2026 contract, as the December contract is
coming due and open interest has rolled over) shows
the converging pattern that’s been building for the last
month, with a hard baseline at U$5.00/lb and lower
highs. There’s a moment of truth coming, it seems.
Last week’s op-ed on the state of the copper market
started with…
“I remain a bull on copper for the medium-term
and I remain leery about its near-term prospects,
with those concerns growing every time another
data set of hard numbers comes in and
contradicts the prevalent narrative.”
…and then ranted, along the way offering screenshots of the type of bullish copper headlines being offered to
the world by the bizwires, finishing with…
“…while I remain bullish on copper’s prospects for 2026, you can count me out of the crowd that’s
now expecting copper to explode higher and with that, your natural-born contrarian has said his
piece.”
...and with that in place, we offer a Week-Is-A-Long-Time-In-Politics curated copper report this weekend,
courtesy of Bloomie (5):
Chinese Copper Demand Sags in Busy Season After Prices Surge
As the busy period for Chinese manufacturing draws to a close, copper consumption has largely
disappointed, with run rates at fabricators plumbing multiyear lows for the season.
It’s another instance of how quickly demand in the world’s biggest consumer can evaporate when the
market rises too sharply. International prices surged to a record at the end of last month following
mine disruptions around the world.
…and…
Industrial activity in China’s highly seasonal economy usually picks up in the autumn, lifting orders for
the fabricators that shape metal into wire, tubes and foil. That’s hardly happened this year, and
Chinese smelters have instead turned to exports to soak up supply.
“Demand is a total mess, partly due to copper prices being too high,” said Nicole Ni, vice general
manager at Eagle Metal International Pte, a trading company that sells copper to fabricators. Some
customers aren’t making much money and have little incentive to produce as annual targets have
already been met, she said.
…all of which is on-point with the signals we’ve noted in SHFE inventory data in the last few weeks. For a
little more depth on the subject, this report from Australia’s Discovery Alert (6) offers data on the October
mini-slump in Chinese manufacturing activity. Here’s a snippet:
The confluence of multiple economic pressures has created an environment where copper fabricators
operate at dramatically reduced capacity levels. Rod makers, which account for approximately half of
China's copper product manufacturing, operated at just 61% capacity utilisation in October 2025. This
represents a steep decline from 69% in October 2024 and the lowest seasonal performance since
February 2025.
Similarly, other fabrication segments demonstrate widespread weakness:
 Tube fabricators: 62% capacity utilisation
 Plate and strip producers: 65% capacity utilisation
 These figures represent the lowest October operating rates in approximately a
decade of data collection
The weakness stems from the property sector and the lack of demand isn’t just a figment of the imagination
this time, it seems. We do need to recognize the point we’ve made on many previous occasions that China,
as the world #1 user of copper and obliged to import most of that. It’s in its own interest to pay as little as
possible for its inputs and will try to keep a lid on copper prices in any way it can. Jawboning is one of its
methods and this could be a case of that, but with the inventory numbers from reliable beancounters having
told the same story for weeks, there’s substance to this style as well. And on the subject of the reliable
counting of beans, here’s our regular look at the copper inventory scene, data from Cochilco, that adds more
fuel to the lax Chinese demand fire:
12

 The aggregate of the three official world copper futures systems last week took a significant leg
higher, with 36,115 metric tonnes (mt) added in total to being a Friday close total of 627,153mt.
That’s the first time we’ve been over 600k since February this year, a month when we nearly
always see inventory build up due to the proximity of the Chinese New Year.
 The Shanghai SHFE stocks continue to languish at a high level for the time of year, with 1,196mt
added and a total of 110,603mt. The visual effect in the chart below is better than any words
here.
 After a long string of weeks during which LME copper inventory dropped in slow-but-steady
fashion, last week saw nearly all the metal added back to its warehouses. LME stocks jumped by
a cool 19,300mt, with nearly all that stock landing in its Asia warehouses (18,250mt). This is
what happens when China exports. This isn’t bullish either, people. Be clear on that.
 Finally, we’re used to seeing Comex stocks increase but not by this much, a full 15,619mt were
added to bring the total to 361,525mt. Everything we’ve written about the surfeit of copper in
The USA and the reasons for the continued flow into the country is reiterated and underscored
by last week’s data. Again, this is distinctly unbullish.
Our dedicated SHFE chart shows how the thick black line for 2025 has basically run UNCH since May. That
didn’t make waves during Q2 and Q3, but here in Q4 it’s notable how its level is now at the upper end of
recent years, when in the Northern summer that flatlining put it at the low end. The signal we’ve been
banging on about is now getting picked up by sector reports and unless we see a significant draw down in
stocks between now and the end of the year, 2026 is going to start with more copper in China than the
country requires.
SHFE copper inventory levels, 2018 to 2025
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
13
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 2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
source: Cochilco data
The Producer Basket
After 47 weeks of 2025, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 107.89% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/25 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 37.22 1108 92.51 83.49 124.3%
2 Agnico Eagle AEM 78.21 502.579 80.41 160.00 104.6%
3 Barrick B 15.50 1705.994 62.35 36.55 135.8%
4 Franco-Nevada FNV 117.59 192.119 36.75 191.30 62.7%
5 Eldorado Gold EGO 14.87 201.275 5.46 27.14 82.5%
6 New Gold NGD 2.49 791.7 5.34 6.75 172.2%
7 OceanaGold OGC.to 11.94 231.127 5.24 31.94 167.5%
8 B2Gold Corp BTG 2.44 1330.134 5.07 3.81 56.1%
9 Sandstorm SAND 5.58 296.844 3.60 12.12 117.2%
10 Wesdome Gold WDOFF 8.98 149.891 2.10 14.01 56.0%
All prices and stock quotes in U$, except share price of OGC (in CAD$) Port. avg 107.89%

The switchback ride continues, with the nine active winners reported last weekend becoming nine out of nine
losers this week, the least worst of our bunch Barrick (B down 1.3%) and the biggest hits taken by
OceanaGold (OGC.to down 7.2%) and the Q4 piñata stock B2Gold (BTG down 7.1%). It was a notable “Rick
Off” week for the complex, as PM mining stocks of all flavours dropped a lot more than gold bullion (GLD
down 0.4%), that vehicle holding up very well compared to the mess we saw in crypto. Did a lot better than
silver, too. This audience knows that only gold is gold, accept no substitutes. Anyway, the overall hit taken by
our Producer Basket was greater than that of either the GDX (down 3.3%) or GDXJ (down 3.6%) and that
means the gap between the two has grown again, now 9.30% and the biggest deficit of the year. In other
words, this one is all over bar the shouting with just five weeks to go and from now on, I’ll stop moaning and
kvetching about my poor picks until we get to the final post-mortem edition of 2025.
The 2025 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and
140% comparative to GDX control
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Wesdome Gold (WDO.to) (WDOFF): After my foray into Eldorado Gold (EGO) was closed out for a
modest but disappointing profit, you may well remember how I vowed on all the holy books not to get
involved again with the larger cap companies or buy
them for the Stocks to Follow list. But man oh man,
WDO is sorely tempting me now. It was already
lagging the field in Q4, as noted in our IKN859 main
Fundamental Analysis note “Wesdome Gold
(WDO.to) (WDOFF) is ripe for the picking” and since
then, the gap to GDX has got another 6% wider.
The opinion we voiced in IKN859, that “…Wesdome
in its current corporate incarnation is unlikely to last
through 2026 and is one of the most obvious M&A
candidates in our sector today” hasn’t changed a jot
in the two weeks since then, we’re still in the same
high gold price environment and at WDO, all signs
are for a strong Q4 production as Kiena finally
straightens out.
We still forecast operating earnings per share of C$1.10 for 4q25 (and more that that in 2025, see chart
right) as per our IKN859 analysis and to stay in Loonies to make the ratios easier, the current share price of
C$19.79n (market cap of C$2.98Bn) implies a forward
price/operating earnings ratio of under 4.5X. Assuming
WDO delivers on Q4 production, expect analysts to
sharpen their pencils and predict great things for this
company in 2026 and around that time, we think Alamos
(or other) will move in but even if WDO isn’t bought out in
the current phase of sector consolidation, it looks cheap
on forward earnings and set to move higher once the Q4
numbers are in. Which also means there’s plenty of width
to make a friendly offer for WDO at these levels, so I’m
wondering why I’m not long today, C$3Bn market cap or
not. It would take a complete reversal of gold, or a failure
14
ts1naJ ht5naJ ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2bef ht9 ht61 dr32 dn2raM ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6rpA ht31 ht02 ht72 ht4yam ht11 ht81 ht52 ts1nuj ht8 ht51 dn22 ht92 ht6luj ht31 ht02 ht72 dr3gua ht01 ht71 ht42 ts13 ht7peS ht41 ts12 ht82 ht5tco ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2von ht9 ht61 dr32
The 2025 Producer Basket: Percentage diff. between
10% GDX benchmark & basket (negative= IKN ahead)
8%
ikn 6%
gdx control
4%
2%
0%
source: IKN calcs -2%
-4%
ts1naJ ht5naJ ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2bef ht9 ht61 dr32 dn2raM ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6rpA ht31 ht02 ht72 ht4yam ht11 ht81 ht52 ts1nuj ht8 ht51 dn22 ht92 ht6luj ht31 ht02 ht72 dr3gua ht01 ht71 ht42 ts13 ht7peS ht41 ts12 ht82 ht5tco ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2von ht9 ht61 dr32
source: IKN calcs, NYSE data
WDO.to: operating earnings per share
11.0
03.0
93.0
75.0 26.0 55.0
58.0
01.1
03.1 13.1 13.1 23.1 1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 tse52q4 tse62q1 tse62q2 tse62q3 tse62q4
$
source: company financials/IKN calcs

at one of its mines, to move WDO away from my conservatively pitched earnings framework and with
company CEO Bath now confident of operations at Eagle and the improvements now showing at Kiena, the
known unknown risk looks low. Somebody talk me out of this trade, please? Or into it?
Barrick (B) (ABX.to): Last week’s best performer may turn out to be next week’s best performer as well,
with this news broken on Friday evening by Reuters regarding its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali (7):
Barrick Mining, Mali agree in principle to resolve dispute over giant gold mine
Barrick Mining (B) and Mali's government have reached a verbal agreement in principle to resolve
their dispute over the massive Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex, Reuters reported after-hours
Friday.
The two sides reportedly met for talks on Friday, a week after Barrick's (B) interim CEO Mark Hill
wrote a letter to Mali's administration asking to restart negotiations.
A Mali mining ministry spokesperson told Bloomberg that progress toward an agreement is "very
promising."
The talks addressed a renewal of Barrick's (B) mine license, which expires in February 2026, for an
additional 10 years, the release of four Barrick employees arrested in Mali, the return of gold that had
been seized by Mali officials, and the dropping of arbitration proceedings initiated by Barrick against
Mali, according to Reuters.
Barrick suspended operations at Loulo-Gounkoto in January, a Mali court in June appointed a
provisional administrator to restart operations, which occurred in October.
Barrick has become a dynamic market mover since Mark Bristow was fired. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve
seen a good Q3, an interim CEO (basically a Thornton proxy) announcing a new focus on North America,
another set of jungle drums about the company potentially splitting in two (as reported last week), and now
the arrival of Elliott Investment Management (8), the fund run by Paul Singer that specializes in activist
trades in special situations:
Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has built a large stake in Barrick Mining, according to people familiar with
the matter, after the world’s second-largest gold producer struggled to capitalise on a blistering bullion rally.
…
Elliott’s stake puts it among Barrick’s 10 largest investors, the people said. That would mean the hedge fund’s
holding is worth at least $700mn (C$1bn).
We’ve even had Mick Hill (he of the funds that raise money then don’t buy anythi…sorry! That should be “the
successful mining executive”) apparently “throwing his hat in the ring” for the job as the new permanent CEO
of the company. Whoever gets that job, we can be sure John Thornton will run the interviews and pick
someone who won’t “do a Bristow” on him. Rarely has the reputation of a top mining industry star fallen so
far and so quickly. As for the week just gone, B was still a loser but its 1.3% drop was well ahead of the
sector median. A loss isn’t a loss when it’s relative strength, or so they tell me.
The TinyCaps List
After 47 weeks of 2024, the TinyCaps show a gain of 33.70% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/25 Shares out Mkt Cap current pps gain/loss%
Barksdale Res BRO.v 0.17 135.557 10.17 0.075 -55.9%
Condor Res CN.v 0.145 149.913 24.74 0.165 13.8%
Electrum Disc ELY.v 0.13 98.995 5.94 0.06 -53.8%
Endurance Gold EDG.v 0.145 176.296 45.84 0.26 79.3%
Kodiak Copper KDK.v 0.39 95.1 62.77 0.66 69.2%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.08 121.915 25.60 0.21 162.5%
Mogotes Metals MOG.v 0.13 374.759 104.93 0.28 115.4%
Radius Gold RDU.v 0.085 107.554 13.44 0.125 47.1%
South Star STS.v 0.55 69.2 10.38 0.15 -72.7%
Viva Gold VAU.v 0.14 145.53 26.92 0.185 32.1%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 33.70%
15

This section attempts to track the tinycap mining sub-sector of the market, our ten companies chosen under
the following criteria to put together a list representing the state of play in the sub-sector of tinycap
exploration company stocks. At least, that’s the plan.
 Market capitalization of under $25m They have to be tiny. In a couple of cases I’ve stretched the window a little and
allowed sub-U$25m market capper in, but the spirit is unaltered.
 A “non broken” stock price and project story. There are literally hundreds of tinycap juniors of the right size, our task is
to trawl through the TSXV and find companies that are small but with life in them. The vast majority of tinycap stocks are
broken stories, 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 2025. 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.
The TinyCaps List has hit full exhaustion mode, with an
increase of just 0.32% and a headcount of four winners 60% TinyCaps, 2025 weekly tracker
(KDK.v, LMS.v, MOG.v, VAU.v), three losers (BRO.v, CN.v, 50%
RDU.v) and three unchanged stocks (ELY.v, EDG.v, STS.v) 40%
and no move in the double figure percentage range in either 30%
direction. Feel the apathy. 20%
10%
I spent a while thinking about something interesting to write 0%
about one of these ten stocks and failed. It’s the end of the -10%
year, the tinycaps are not the focus, their movements are
down to minor shifts and there are better things going on.
}
NB: Please be clear that The TinyCaps list is NOT a list of recommended tinycap stocks. It is a list of companies with market caps of
under $25m offering a reasonable representation of the wider tinycaps market. It’s possible in the future I may buy shares in one or
several of these stocks, at the moment both my opinion and wallet are strictly neutral.
Regional politics
Mexico: Exploration to accelerate in 2026
Normally considered the top mining event in Mexico, the biannual International Mining Convention held its
36th edition in Acapulco this week (you may remember the last renewal in 2023, as it was hit by Hurricane
Otis, with hairy images of power cuts, attendees sleeping in the conference hall, hotel doors flying off,
windows blown in etc). While it was on this desk’s radar, I wasn’t expecting much from the event this year as
most of the State governors had decided to stay away, it seemed to have devolved into a glorified trade fair.
It turns out I was wrong, because Mexico’s Finance Secretary (Minister), Marcelo Ebrard, made a keynote
speech at the event on Thursday and told those present that the Sheinbaum government was looking to
boost the mining exploration industry in 2026. Here’s your first quote, from this report (9):
Speaking to industry representatives, Ebrard emphasized that mineral exploration is not optional if
Mexico seeks to guarantee its economic competitiveness and supply chain security. In an
increasingly unstable international environment, secure access to strategic minerals is a priority for
countries with industrial ambitions.
“Exploration must be reactivated on a larger scale starting next year,” the Secretary stated, explaining
that the recently granted permits are just the beginning of a process aimed at repositioning Mexico
among the leading destinations for mining investment in Latin America. According to the official, the
issuance of environmental permits reflects a shift in institutional policy regarding the stagnation in
granting new permits seen in recent years.
We as close observers know that it’s true we’ve seen some “recently granted permits”, but they’ve been few
and far between so far. Therefore, it’s one thing to hear a government official stand up in front of a crowd of
mining people and tell them what they want to hear, it’s another to deliver a meaningful change. This op-ed
(10) from the regular column on mining that appears in El Sol de Mexico (one of the better ways to keep your
finger on the pulse of the Mexico mining scene) gets the analysis correct in my view. After noting that the
16
ts1naJ ht5naJ ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2bef ht9 ht61 dr32 dn2raM ht9 ht61 dr32 ht03 ht6rpA ht31 ht02 ht72 ht4yam ht11 ht81 ht52 ts1nuj ht8 ht51 dn22 ht92 ht6luj ht31 ht02 ht72 dr3gua ht01 ht71 ht42 ts13 ht7peS ht41 ts12 ht82 ht5tco ht21 ht91 ht62 dn2von ht9 ht61 dr32
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

Ebrard speech was important and positive due to its commitment to boost mining exploration and grantmore
permits, the author goes on to say (translated):
Most important of all, and what most interested those present, was Ebrard’s commitment to resuming
large-scale mining exploration in Mexico by 2026: "We've already begun the work," he (Ebrard) said.
The truth is that the mining sector has been pushed to its limits and it is an essential part of Plan
Mexico, which was supposedly prepared before the current administration took office. (Ebrard also
said) "As has always been the case, access minerals and their processing will largely determine not
only our competitiveness, but also the security of our supply chain."
What has prompted the government to take action? The already noticeable effects on supply chain
security, the decline in investment, the lack of development, and the growing and the serious
disadvantages for mining in Mexico (compared to other countries).
Ebrard’s position inside the Sheinbaum cabinet is also an interesting one: Formerly a rival for the MORENA
party nomination during which they exchanges some sharp barbs, since President Shienbuam’s victory and
decision to offer Ebrard one of the most powerful jobs in the government they’ve reportedly grown closer and
these days, he’s part of her inner circle. His politics are more to the right than those of the President and he
operates on standard orthodox economic theories, he’s also done a good job in the first year and a half (or
so). We do, of course, run the risk that he was telling room of 8,500 or so people what they wanted to hear
and next year won’t pan out so perfectly, but the analyst quoted above points to the real world issues now
facing Mexico and it’s the job of a FinMin to recognize and tackle bottlenecks as they appear. His words
would not have been empty, what remains to be seen is whether his stance is the one taken up by the
Sheinbaum admin.
Personally, I’m quietly optimistic about this development. Yes, we’ve seen them talk the talk without anything
much happening before but even when taking into consideration the venue, Ebrard didn’t need to say what
he said and could have fallen back on standard pleasantries in his keynote address. It was a surprise, and a
pleasant one at that, to get positives on permits in Mexico mining (and specifically exploration permits) from
such a high ranking individual and we, as investors, would be wise to pay attention. Obviously my exposure
to Minera Alamos (MAI.v) will benefit from this news, be that a near-term pop or a real rally if things do start
to happen next year. However, I still plan to offload my MAI.v once it gets its Pan cash flow re-rate and
what’s more, as noted in previous issues the presence of Darren Blasutti in the reorganized team may turn
out to be poison for permits at that specific company. However, there are more ways to play a revival in
Mexico exploreco fortunes than MAI.v and if we get some confirmation the country is coming out of the
permitting deep freeze, there are plenty of options.
Chile: Kast the red hot favourite
A quick return to the result of the first round Presidential election in Chile as seen last week in IKN860 and to
remind readers of this desk’s position, here below is our call on the election in IKN847, dated August 10th:
“We’re still three-and-a-bit months away from the round one election on November 16th and as this is
LatAm, anything can happen. However and at this point it’s difficult to get away from assuming that it will
be Jara versus Kast in a second round, then Kast wins the December. I’m not usually this confident about
a LatAm election call, this time I am.”
Last week confirmed the first part and on December 14th it is indeed Jara versus Kast. As for what will
happen, the Chile TV channel RTVE published a poll-of-polls (11) for the round two vote and forecast
Jeannette Jara at 39.4%, José Antonio Kast at 50.5% of the total vote. That would indicate a valid vote result
of around 56% to 44%, which is very much in line with our previous expectations.
As for the business world’s reaction to the results,
this ten-day chart plotting the main Chile index
(ECH) to the S&P500 shows a pop on the news, but
nothing euphoric and the effects soon wore off,
which is in-line with expectations as well. We now
get four weeks of campaign, but note that Chilean
law means we only have until the end of this month
for voter intention polls as there’s a two week
embargo before vote day. No surprises expected
and Kast now looks set for victory.
17

Updating “The Venezuela Question”
We stay away from this subject , not least because the country offers very little in the way of mining
investment opportunities as stands, with our only mention of the rising tensions between The USA and
Venezuela in IKN854 dated October 5th and the brief note entitled “The Venezuela Question”, in which I laid
out my opinion that (to quote myself) “The USA will not attack Venezuela”. Here’s a segment of that day’s
script:
“We’ll see the rhetoric continue and may see a ratcheting up of the media-friendly assaults on narco
boats offshore from Venezuela, along with the ensuing verbal jousting, but a full scale “attack on
Meduro” to “Liberate Venezuela” isn’t going to happen.”
With the arrival of a US aircraft carrier fleet off the shores of Venezuela, the heightened media attention and
now The USA’s warning regarding aircraft using the Venezuela maritime airspace zone being taken seriously
by several airline companies, with Reuters reporting (12) that, “Brazil's Gol, Colombia's Avianca and TAP Air
Portugal canceled their flights departing from Caracas on Saturday, according to Flightradar24 and the official
website of Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport”, I need to change my opinion. So here goes:
The USA will probably not attack Venezuela.
A subtle difference. It would still be a large-scale political hot potato and cause all types of mayhem in the
region, but the Gerald Ford fleet isn’t parked there for nothing and while the developments are prima facie
about pressuring Maduro to step down or make some sort of deal, there is clearly the potential for some sort
of physical attack if “further encouragement” were required (channeling my inner Voltaire). At this point, the
highest probability is for political/psychological pressure without any physical attack (let’s say 80%) but now,
there’s also the obvious potential for a limited bombing/missile attack on some strategic assets in order that
The USA makes its point. Examples would include oil refinery complexes and or military aircraft bases, but for
me the most likely is a precise attack on the aforementioned Maiquetia airport, i.e. the only international
airport in the country and the only with the runway required by large scale passenger/military/heavy cargo
aircraft. It’s also a very large target with enough areas away from places where people work (terminals etc)
to ensure an attack would knock out infrastructure without loss of human life. Another potential target would
be the trunk road that connects the airport to the Capital city of Caracas around 30km away and reports this
weekend are that Maduro has militarized that roadway and has troops patrolling in order to maintain its
integrity. Today I’d put the odds of some sort of limited missile/bomb attack on Venezuela at 19%, i.e. still
unlikely but 19% more than I thought a couple of months ago. As for the remaining 1%, that’s confined to
the highly unlikely scenario of a boots-on-ground operation though to reiterate a point made in IKN 854, the
mercenary attack option made by soldiers of fortune looking to claim the U$50m bounty on Maduro’s head.
isn’t out of the question, particularly if The USA bumps up the bounty again.
However, what I will say with more certainty is that the moves we’re witnessing are less about convincing
Maduro and his entourage, more about communicating with the people who keep him in power. We can take
“The Army Generals” as a collective bunch, as they are the key to the whole story in Venezuela today. As
long as Maduro maintains the loyalty of the military, he stays in power and that’s true even if the bombs
drop. The collective generals have become very, but very rich under the regimes of Chávez and now Maduro
but that corruption also gives them a vested interest to remain loyal (or else, from either the current or any
incoming rulers). It’s far more likely that the USA (via its military) cut a deal with “The Generals” and if they
turn against Maduro, his regime will fall in an instant. Therefore and whatever line The USA takes in its
program of increasing pressure against Maduro and his cohorts (one name to keep in mind is Diosdado
Cabello, probably the most powerful man in the country), filter it through the lens of an ongoing
communication with the Generals that keep Maduro in power. Right now, we have the USA sending overt
“Want to be on the winning side or the losing side, gents?” messages to that select group and I’d expect
there are more covert messages getting to their ears as well.
For us sitting on the outside, you may have a vested political or social reason to want regime change in
Venezuela and that’s fair enough, but The IKN Weekly is only really interested in FDI opportunities in the
mining sector if they arise, so there’s nothing to lose from sitting back and watching developments as they
unfold. On a personal note, the fact your author and his family live about 3km from Maiquetia airport as the
crow flies makes it potentially interesting for other reasons, but that’s another story for another day.
18

Argentina: Mendoza set to award San Jorge its permits
Keep an eye on the Provincial parliament of Mendoza this coming week, as on Tuesday it is scheduled to
debate and vote on whether to award the main Environmental Impact permit (known as DIA down those
parts) to the San Jorge copper project (13). This is the same project that, when owned by Coro Mining (now
Marimaca Copper) had its application rejected by the Mendoza parliament back in 2011 and 2012. Now
owned by Russian capitals, San Jorge looks set to get its approval which would mark a big before/after
moment for the mining sector in Mendoza, which up until recently was ambivalent/hostile toward mining but
since the arrival of Milei as national head has embraced the idea of mining.
This is Argentine politics and just because a debate is scheduled doesn’t mean it happens, there’s also the
chance of a surprise rejection of the permit application. However, as things stand this weekend San Jorge is
set to de-bottleneck one of the most promising mining jurisdictions in Argentina.
Market Watching
Valkea Resources (OK.v) gets beaten up at market
In IKN848 dated August 17th 2025, the main Fundamental Analysis note that day included the first mention
of the “What Will Agnico Do” (WWAD) trade idea, which on due consideration became the baseline thought
behind our current trade in Aurion Resources (AU.v). That day we considered four options as WWAD trades:
 Rupert Resources (RUP.to): That day a C$5.19 share price (with a market cap of C$1.22Bn)
 Aurion Resources (AU.v): That day a C$0.82 share price (with a market cap of C$132.5m)
 Valkea Resources (OZ.v): That day a C$0.49 share price (with a market cap of C$23.8m)
 Firefox Gold Resources (FFOX.v): That day a C$0.57 share price (with a market cap of C$21.6m)
Here’s how they’ve got on since that, in chart form with AEM added as proxy:
From that exact date, Aurion (AU.v +24%) has done best, just behind the nice performance in Agnico
(+20%). Some behind is Rupert Resources (+4%) and while Firefox Gold (FFOX.v) has had a rough couple of
weeks, until recently it was doing okay. However, none of them have had it rough like Valkea (OZ.v), down
47% in the period and this next chart, isolating that company’s price action, points to the problem:
19

So OZ.v enjoyed the bump up caused by gold’s run in August and September, but then managed to time this
news (14)…
Vancouver, British Columbia – October 21, 2025– Valkea Resources Corp. (the “Company” or “Valkea”) (TSX.V:
OZ) (OTCQB: OZBKF) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of
up to C$3,000,000 (the “Private Placement”). The Private Placement will consist of up to 6,000,000 units of the
Company (the “Units”) at a price of C$0.50 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to C$3,000,000.
…to the exact end of the gold megabull run, publishing on the very day gold dumped U$250/oz from its ATH
and I’m sure you remember the fun we all had that Tuesday (and for the record, the OK.v unit = share + ½
warrant priced at 65c, plus a couple of details). That bad timing left the stock wide open and weak and in
fact, it’s a bit of a mystery why the company decided to wait as long as it did before publishing the NR out
this Friday evening (15):
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 21, 2025) - Valkea Resources Corp. (TSXV:
OZ) (OTCQB: OZBKF) (the "Company" or "Valkea") announces that, further to its news release dated October 21,
2025, it will no longer be proceeding with the previously announced non-brokered private placement pursuant to
the Listed Issuer Financing exemption under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions.
About Valkea Resources
That’s all you got, a terse four and a half lines. However, I’m not feeling sorry for Valkea, as a look at its corporate
history quickly shows what kind of operation we’re dealing with.
That’s the sound of an exploreco saying that they’d made a big mistake, however, if we provide some history
and context to OK.v it’s hardly out of character for this outfit. Some bullet points:
 Born in 2019 as “Skarb Exploration” to develop concessions in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt (16)
 Then in 2020 changed its name to Outback Goldfields to explore concessions around the Fosterville
gold mine in Australia (hence its ticker, which they didn’t bother to change). These concessions were
subsequently dropped, with a $17m impairment taken on the escapade
 Then around this time last year changed its name to Valkea, spent $8m to set itself up with the current
suite of projects and now focuses on Finland
Indeed, this is a classic nearology play, one of those ambulance chasing juniors that latches on to the success
of others and tries to benefit from being in the right place. Add in the corporate background which includes
some names from the Vancouver Usual Suspects list and the package is complete. Therefore, watching it fail
from running an opportunistic financing and then seeing the plans turn to dust when the red hot market
suddenly turned is simply the flipside of the company’s own strategy; those who live by opportunism, die by
opportunism.
As for what it has, feel free to check out the website
(notably, they haven’t bothered to update the corporate
presentation since September, despite deciding to run that
placement in October) but this map from its literature is
the play in a nutshell (right). Stare at it for a while and
you’ll see it’s a neighbour play on the larger players in the
region, mostly Agnico and its Kittila mine, Rupert
Resources and its Ikkari project, plus larger land holding
entities such as my preferred play to date, Aurion (AU.v).
Valkea has picked up some strategically located
concession areas and that’s fine, but its hanger-on aspect
is clear.
So far I’ve been my normal cynical self about OK.v,
pointing out its scheme to raise a wedge of cash at the
top of a red hot market, its failure due to bad timing, its
share price collapse, its history of name changes and
skipping round the globe as a nearology ambulance
chaser, then its current Finland concessions that are in the
right place but second fiddle to the main regional players. That all said, I think there may be a trade on OK.v
and as such, the news this weekend is enough to put it on the Watch List as from next weekend.
20

First and foremost, it’s the market cap. At C$12.6m, OK.v is one of the few gold-focused tinycap stocks out
there at the moment with a depressed market valuation and that’s mostly to do with the basic corporate
errors in the last couple of months. The placement, born of greed, was a bad idea but even worse was
leaving it open for a month after watching what happened in the days after the announcement. Maybe they
thought gold would bounce straight back to U$4,300/oz and the game would be back on, but even if it did it
would have been unlikely to pull back a tinycap that dropped 30% in the last week of October trading.
That compounded corporate error also comes at a bad time and, as noted with the wholly separate trade in
Arizona Metals Corp (AMC.to) last week, leaves OK.v wide open to the effects of the Canadian tax loss selling
(TLS) season. The stock started this year in the 30c to 40c range so it’s already down on those numbers, but
it’s really down on the only occasions it ran serious volume, March and July this year, as noted in the red
boxes of this 2025 YT chart (right). In other words, it has the bagholders required and selling pressure is
likely to continue in the next four weeks, not simply go away because management decided to cancel the
placement. Valkea has cash in treasury (a reported C$4.08m as at end June, its latest quarterly filing is also
its end-year) and burned around C$3.4m during the year in exploration activities, of which C$1.6m was
covered by share-based payments. All that is a long-winded way of saying that Valkea’s current treasury
position is enough to tide it over for the next few quarters if it decides to batten down the hatches (and as a
sidebar, underscores the opportunistic nature of that October placement). It’s surely going to try to raise
capital at some point, but it’s not under duress to do so at these new and depressed levels, that’s a key point
for us. Therefore, a combination of factors point to OK.v as a potential flip trade, one that suits our taste for
bargain hunting once the TLS season is done:
 The right address: If our “WWAD” trade thesis is correct (and I’m betting on it via the position in AU.v),
then OK.v should see a rebound at some point once eyes return and focus on what Agnico is doing in
Finland.
 The right price: The corporate-level blunder made by OK.v in the last six weeks, i.e. running a poorly
conceived placement and then leaving it open to do more damage, means we have a new and
interesting entry point. The company’s treasury position means it won’t need to dilute at these low
levels and can wait for better times in 2026.
 The right timing: With the TLS season now kicking off, there may be even more downside to come.
It’s not the best and highest quality exploreco out there, but then again when we’re working with pennystock
explorecos you are never going to get a hairless company. They all have their weaknesses and reasons to
reject, in this case they’ve been exposed and the
market has duly punished that. As such, this feels like
a bottom-or-thereabouts for OK.v and offers a good
risk/reward trade window, particularly as further TLS-
fueled selling could push it lower (or at least makes
sure it remains at these prices while volume increases,
allowing entry bandwidth). Put all those pieces
together and I’m suitably interested, enough to put
Valkea Resources (OK.v) on the Stocks to Follow
Watch List as from next weekend, with a view to
running a near-term fliptrade as 2025 draws to a close
and 2026 brings a new aspect to this stock and,
potentially, the entire Central Lapland Greenstone Belt
(CLGB), location of our established trade on Aurion
Resources (AU.v).
Conclusion
IKN861 is done, we end with bullet points:
 West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v) has lagged and underperformed compared to my personal expectations,
of that there’s no doubt. It’s still worth giving it the time and leeway it needs to complete its ramp up and
from the signals gathered, if costs are the only issue then the new gold price deck more than covers that
compared to my own target price. Having witnessed the way that other Giustra play Fiore lagged and
21

lagged before finally catching fire, I’m willing to apply patience as long as the serious and solid
communications continues
 Valkea (OK.v) is a another type of play, high risk but at this new beaten down level, the potential to offer
multi-bagger returns if Finland becomes one of the centres of Agnico’s attention. Now on the Watch List,
I’d like to buy if tax loss selling season allows.
 It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a permitting false dawn in the Mexico mining world, but the Ebrard
speech was surprisingly upbeat and promises a better 2026. }Let’s see how the stocks react.
 For the record, I’m not in any danger. You know your way round your barrio, I know mine and there’s no
point in being hardcore LatAm with almost three decades of experience in this crazy continent without
putting it to use. But one thing’s for sure, if there is a regime change in Venezuela I’d have bought this
house well.
 Good to get this edition out on the right day. Assuming it happens next weekend, the habit would be
easier to cultivate. Thanks for all your mails, particularly those who suggested I take a break. In fact as
regular readers know, the editions around Christmas Week tend to be “bare bones only” and afford all of
us some downtime. This year, the means the edition for Sunday December 28th and January 4th, but we’ll
cross those bridges when we come to them.
I thank you in advance for any feedback. Our Top Pick stock is Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v). Flash updates will be sent if
required by events.
I wish you good trading fortune, ladies and gentlemen. Best wishes, Mark.
Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://www.investopedia.com/december-rate-cut-seems-likelier-after-fed-officials-comments-11854375
(2) https://westredlakegold.com/west-red-lake-gold-reports-third-quarter-operations-update-for-madsen-mine-ramp-up/
(3) https://westredlakegold.com/west-red-lake-gold-reports-mid-q4-madsen-mine-update/
(4) https://mistango.com/news/mistango-announces-major-corporate-transformation-rebranding-as-stardust-metal-and-strategic-
acquisition-of-mcgarry-project/
(5) https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/chinese-copper-demand-sags-in-busy-season-after-prices-surge
(6) https://discoveryalert.com.au/chinas-copper-demand-decline-2025-economic-context/
(7) https://seekingalpha.com/news/4525124-barrick-mining-mali-agree-in-principle-to-resolve-dispute-over-giant-gold-mine-reuters
(8) https://www.ft.com/content/9dd79826-ad8b-4e54-b9b2-05f5288534d6
(9) https://mineriaenlinea.com/2025/11/mexico-reactivara-la-exploracion-minera-a-gran-escala-en-2026-ebrard/
(10) https://oem.com.mx/elsoldemexico/analisis/aguas-profundas-el-compromiso-minero-de-ebrard-26889650
(11) https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20251121/encuestas-elecciones-presidenciales-chile/16823852.shtml
(12) https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/several-international-airlines-cancel-their-flights-venezuela-after-us-warning-2025-11-22/
(13) https://eleditormendoza.com.ar/politica/se-vota-san-jorge-la-legislatura-la-apuesta-cornejo-destrabar-definitivamente-la-
megamineria-n5378032
(14) https://wp-valkea-2025.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/media/2025/10/2025-10-21-Valkea_NR_Financing-LIFE_FINAL.pdf
(15) https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2025-11-22:newsml_NFC6W1lrq:0-valkea-cancels-non-brokered-private-placement/
(16) https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42902/CSE-New-Listing-Skarb-Exploration-Corp-Commences-Trading-on-the-Canadian-
Securities-Exchange-Video-News-Alert-on-Investmentpitch
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Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2024
CLOSED TRADES IN 2024 date closed close price
Amerigo Res ARG.to Jan'24 C$1.36 12-Dec-21 C$1.34 -1.5% reduced Cu exposure
Fortuna Silver FSM Jan'24 U$2.92 13-Aug-23 U$3.09 3.4% Time ran out on NT trade
Argonaut Gold AR.to Jan'24 C$0.42 17-Dec-23 C$0.395 -6.0% NT specflip closed on poor Q4
Equinox Gold EQX May'24 U$4.42 30-May-23 U$5.57 26.0% Took sm.profit, disappointing
Adventus Mining ADZN.v May'24 C$0.305 7-Jan-24 C$0.445 45.9% bot out, nice win
SolGold SOLG.to May'24 C$0.22 19-Feb-23 C$0.165 -25.0% ran out of patience
Western Copper WRN.to July'24 C$1.57 26-Feb-24 C$1.53 -2.5% Sold on regional risk
Contango Ore CTGO Sep'24 U$18.70 30-Jul-23 U$20.23 8.2% Port rebalance sale
Florida Can. Gold FCGV.v Oct'24 C$0.63 21-Jul-24 C$0.71 12.7% failed trade with a lucky win
Bear Creek Min BCM.v Oct'24 C$0.35 10-Jun-24 C$0.67 91.4% took profits on spec trade
American Eagle AE.v Oct'24 C$0.43 25-Aug-24 C$0.69 69.8% taking profit on NT flip
SilverCrest Met SILV Nov'24 U$6.90 31-Mar-24 U$9.76 41.4% sold on CDE buyout
Newcore Gold NCAU.v Nov'24 C$0.205 23-Oct-22 C$0.32 56.1% sold on advisor appt
Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v Dec'24 C$0.72 16-May-21 C$2.11 193.1% closed trade, took profits
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2023
CLOSED TRADES IN 2023 date closed close price
Altiplano Metals APN.v jan'23 C$0.31 17-Set-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-Dic-21 C$1.48 8.8% sold 20% to raise cash
Amerigo Res ARG.to oct'23 C$1.36 12-Dic-21 C$1.21 -11.0% sold 10% raise to cash
QC Copper&Gold QCCU.v oct'23 C$0.265 25-Abr-21 C$0.12 -54.7% sold raise to cash
Faraday Copper FDY.to oct'23 C$0.79 26-Mar-23 C$0.68 -11.4% sold raise to cash
AbraSilver Res. ABRA.v oct'23 C$0.36 4-Dic-22 C$0.28 -22.2% sold raise to cash
Orecap inv OCI.v oct'23 C$0.04 20-Nov-22 C$0.03 -25.0% sold raise to cash
Western Explor. WEX.v nov'23 C$1.87 9-Abr-23 C$0.60 -67.9% poor trade, cutting loss
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
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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-Sep-20 C$0.70 -54.8% Cut loser to reduce Au exp.
Element 29 Res ECU.v feb'21 C$0.49 7-Feb-21 C$0.54 10.2% Cut Peru exposure
Kuya Silver KUYA.cse feb'21 C$1.66 8-Nov-20 C$2.51 51.2% Cut Peru exposure
Pucara Gold TORO.v apr'21 C$0.65 4-Oct-20 C$0.26 -60.0% Cut loser, Peru risk call
Copper Mountain CMMC.to apr'21 C$1.40 22-Nov-20 C$4.18 198.6% tgt hit, profit taken
New Gold NGD may'21 U$0.76 9-Feb-20 U$2.14 181.6% Sold to buy AGC, nice win
Orezone Gold ORE.v jun'21 C$0.79 21-Jun-20 C$1.61 103.8% sold on pop, leaky boat
Wolfden Res. WLF.v sep'21 C$0.30 11-Apr-21 C$0.19 -36.7% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Cartier Res ECR.v sep'21 C$0.32 21-Mar-21 C$0.235 -26.6% Failed spec trade, cut loss
Amarillo Gold AGC.v sep'21 C$0.31 30-May-21 C$0.30 -3.2% Capex story changed: Out
Excelsior Mining MIN.to oct'21 C$0.93 10-Mar-19 C$0.53 -43.0% May return in 2022
Royal Road Min. RYR.v nov'21 C$0.155 17-Mar-19 C$0.275 77.4% Closed on Nica pol risk
Aurelius Min. AUL.v dec'21 C$0.75 28-Jun-20 0.24 -68.0% cut end 2021, failed trade
Argonaut Gold AR.to dec'21 C$2.95 25-Jun-21 C$2.15 -27.1% cut on capex blowout
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2020
Closed in 2020 closed close price
TMAC Resources TMR.to Jan'20 C$3.41 20-Dec-19 C$3.61 5.9% TLS flip play, sold new year
Regulus Res REG.v Jan'20 C$1.10 20-Dec-19 C$1.30 18.2% TLS flip play, profit taken
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jan'20 C$1.90 9-Dec-19 C$1.66 -12.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
McEwen Mining MUX Jan'20 U$1.12 2-Dec-19 U$1.18 5.4% TLS flip play, profit taken
Core Gold CGLD.v Jan'20 C$0.255 7-Apr-19 C$0.305 19.6% arb trade, profit taken
HudBay Min HBM Jan'20 U$3.56 9-Dec-19 U$3.36 -5.6% TLS flip play, loss taken
Midas Gold MAX.to Feb'20 C$0.71 5-Jan-20 C$0.57 -19.7% sm & silly trade
Warrior Gold WAR.v Feb'20 C$0.08 3-Aug-18 C$0.05 -31.3% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Contact Gold C.v Feb'20 C$0.40 19-Aug-18 C$0.18 -55.0% clean out non-perf sm stocks
Sandstorm Gold SAND Feb'20 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$7.21 93.3% Sold during port rebalance
NexGen Energy NXE Feb'20 U$1.20 2-Dec-19 U$1.06 -11.7% TLS flip play, loss taken
MAG Silver MAG Apr'20 U$8.95 1-Mar-20 U$10.07 12.5% Sold to cut silver exposure
Alexco Res AXU Apr'20 U$1.69 7-Sep-17 U$1.69 0.0% sold to close Ag exp. in FY20
Bonterra Res BTR.v Jun'20 C$1.62 2-Feb-20 C$1.10 -32.1% under-performer cash moved
Regulus Res REG.v Jun'20 C$0.64 6-Apr-15 C$0.79 23.4% moved $ TMQ/MIN & Au stocks
Great Panther GPR.to Aug'20 C$0.60 21-Jun-20 C$1.10 83.3% Profit taken, good trade
Jaguar Mining JAG.v Aug'20 C$0.42 21-Jun-20 C$0.65 54.8% Profit taken, good trade
Sandstorm Gold SAND Aug'20 U$7.76 10-May-20 U$9.37 20.7% Profit taken, good trade
Integra Resources ITR.v Aug'20 C$2.23 13-Aug-18 C$5.40 142.2% Profit taken, good trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Aug'20 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$14.82 525.3% last 1/2 of big win closed
INV Metals INV.to Sep'20 C$0.40 17-May-20 C$0.45 12.5% Cut all Ecuador exposure
Cartier Resources ECR.v Nov'20 C$0.155 3-Aug-18 C$0.25 67.7% Exact close price TBA
Tinka Res TK.v Dec'20 C$0.195 19-Apr-16 C$0.195 0.0% Closed on a round trip fail
2015 to 2019 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
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
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Zinc One Z.v jun'19 C$0.47 14-Sep-17 C$0.025 -94.7% clearing out dead trade
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jun'19 C$0.24 22-Aug-18 C$0.20 -16.7% clearing out dead trade
New Gold NGD aug'19 U$1.44 31-Jul-19 U$1.23 14.6% ST short win thru Q2 earnings
IMPACT Silver IPT.v aug'19 C$0.39 21-Jul-19 C$0.46 18.0% took a quick profit
Fiore Gold F.v aug'19 C$0.34 26-May-19 C$0.56 64.7% Took profit, 2q19 avg
Chakana Copper PERU.v oct'19 C$0.84 22-Mar-18 C$0.16 -81.0% Exploreco trade fail. Want space
Wesdome Gold WDO.to oct'19 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$7.57 219.4% Sold half, profit taking
Superior Gold SGI.v oct'19 C$1.46 8-Apr-18 C$0.47 -67.8% Failed sm spec on Au. Moved on
Amerigo Res ARG.to nov'19 C$0.91 23-Sep-18 C$0.50 -45.1% worst trade of year, hefty loss
Guyana Goldfields GUY.to dec'19 C$0.94 14-Apr-19 C$0.56 -40.4% taking the loss, financials weak
Tethyan Res TETH.v dec'19 C$0.30 8-Sep-19 C$0.16 -46.7% tiny trade, word of probs in co
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2018
Closed in 2018 closed close price
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jan'18 C$0.38 24-Mar-17 C$0.31 -18.4% Cut away losing trade
Riverside Res RRI.v jan'18 C$0.39 27-Jun-16 C$0.31 -20.5% Cut away losing trade
Eros Res ERC.v jan'18 C$0.175 1-Mar-17 C$0.16 -8.6% CEO sudden exit, not good
Excellon Res EXN.to jan'18 C$1.54 9-Oct-16 C$1.66 7.8% 4q17 poor, one too many bad qtrs
Wesdome Gold WDO.to jan'18 C$1.68 15-Dec-17 C$2.06 22.6% Near-term trade block, took profit
Sabina G&S SBB.to apr'18 C$2.06 17-Dec-17 C$1.77 -14.1% Near-term trade, bad timing, small
B2Gold BTO.to May'18 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.67 73.9% sold 25% to reduce exposure
Lara Expl. LRA.v May'18 C$0.65 11-Feb-18 C$0.58 -13.8% Spec on Brazil didn't work
Solitario XPL June'18 U$0.72 19-Mar-17 U$0.41 -43.1% Failed trade, may return in 4q18
SolGold plc SOLG.to July'18 C$0.475 19-Nov-17 C$0.415 -12.6% cut, trade didn't perform
Pan American PAAS July'18 U$17.90 1-Jun-18 U$16.30 8.9% modest win on short position
NGEx Res NGQ.to Sep'18 C$1.01 22-Oct-17 C$1.00 -1.0% Closed to reduce Argentina exp
Sandstorm Gold SAND Oct'18 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$4.13 10.7% partial sale to raise cash for GTT
Aldebaran Res ALDE.v Nov'18 n/a n/a n/a n/a liquidate spin out of REG
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2017
Closed in 2017 closed close price
Continental Gold CNL.to Jan'17 C$2.68 22-May-16 C$4.17 55.6% trade closed, profit taken
Focus Ventures FCV.v Jan'17 C$0.23 1-Jul-12 C$0.05 -78.3% Give up, a disaster trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Feb'17 C$1.72 28-Aug-16 C$3.00 74.4% Target hit, sold, good trade
Belo Sun BSX.to Mar'17 C$0.90 30-Jan-17 C$0.90 0.0% failed near-term flip trade
Lara Expl. LRA.v Mar'17 C$1.15 8-Apr-12 C$1.05 -8.7% cut to make room for new trade
Rye Patch Gold RPM.v Apr'17 C$0.31 2-Sep-16 C$0.32 3.2% cut for doubts & new stock
Cordoba Min. CDB.v Jun'17 C$0.75 15-Sep-16 C$0.63 -16.0% closed
Constantine Metal CEM.v Aug'17 C$0.135 9-Apr-17 C$0.28 107.4% spec trade closed, good win
Red Eagle Min. R.to Sep'17 C$0.67 13-Dec-16 C$0.27 -59.7% IKN's biggest failure in years
Starcore Intl SAM.to Sep'17 C$0.61 10-Jan-15 C$0.31 -49.2% Patience ran out
B2Gold BTO.to Dec'17 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.39 60.7% sold small portion for liquidity
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
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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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