IKN #874Premium

The IKN Weekly
Week 874, week of February 22nd 2026
Contents
This Week: In today’s edition, Dates for the diary, Familiarity breeds contempt.
Fundamental Analysis: Marimaca Copper (MARI.to): A liquidity event.
Stocks to Follow: Overview, Latin Metals (LMS.v), Tiernan Gold (TNGD.v), West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v),
Wesdome Gold (WDO.to), Minera Alamos (MAI.v), Orecap Inv (OCI.v), Amerigo Resources (ARG.to), Aurion
Resources (AU.v), Rio2 Ltd (RIO.to).
The Copper Basket: Overview, Andina Copper (ANDC.v), Faraday Copper (FDY.to), Aldebaran (ALDE.v),
Surge Copper (SURG.v), Metal Energy (MERG.v).
The Producer Basket: Overview, UPDATE MONDAY B2Gold (BTG) (BTO.to), Newmont (NEM) (and Barrick
(B)), B2Gold (BTG) (BTO.to), Eldorado Gold (EGO).
The TinyCaps Basket: Overview, Enduro Metals (ENDR.v), Precore Gold (PRCG.cn), Silver Wolf (SWLF.v).
Regional Politics: Argentina: Government extends RIGI, Mexico: Ebrard wants Canadian mining companies,
More Mexico: Mining activity drops, Ecuador: Noboa’s mining law passes its first reading, Peru: A new
President.
Market Watching: RPX Gold (RPX.v): The PEA is better than the reception it received.
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
 Between today’s intro “Familiarity breeds contempt” and the Producer Basket notes on B2Gold and
Eldorado Gold lies the main message of today’s edition. You don’t need a newsletter tipster or
bullboard support group to make serious money in this market, you just need to buy gold mining
stocks and wait until the world realizes the truth about their underlying metal.
 The news out on Marimaca Copper (MARI.to) this week saw the stock decline by 11.5% in an
otherwise benign backdrop for mining stocks. We take a look at this placement-plus-secondary
offering, look for monsters under beds, find none and come to a simple conclusion: Marimaca Copper
is now trading at a discount and those who’ve been sitting on the fence have their opportunity to buy.
 In the intro to last week’s edition, I mentioned in passing this time of year, with annual earnings
coming thick and fast with forward production guidance metrics to consider, is when I’d most like to
pay more attention and perhaps become a analyst of the bigger, Tier 1 and Tier 2 precious metals
mining stocks. This week I decided to indulge and as a result, Today’s Producer Basket notes are much
longer than normal.
 Mexico political risk has been hitting the headlines recently, both in and out of the mining sector.
Today’s Regional Politics section moves away from the heavily covered Vizsla mess, avoids talk of
Puerto Vallarta or Guadalajara army vs gang wars and takes in a couple of mining matters that shows
the current backdrop of the industry in Mexico, with businesspeople and some politicos trying to
promote mining while the results of the majority of lawmakers are beginning to show in macro data.
 I was suitably impressed by the RPX Gold (RPX.v, ex-Red Pine) PEA for itrs Wawa GHold project, but
not enough to buy back into the stock. Today’s Market Watching section lays out the pros. The cons
and what I’m looking for in order to get me back in again.
1

Dates for the diary
It’s not a big week for US macro data, but there are significant things going on:
 Running February 22nd to 25th, but the big days being today Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th, is the 35th
edition of one of the big fixtures in mining gigs, the BMO conference in Florida USA. With gold where it is
and the smell of M&A in the air, this may become one of the more consequential conferences of recent
years and while announcements don’t tend to happen immediately, this is where deals are often hatched
and thrashed out.
 Tomorrow Tuesday 24th we have The USA’s State of the Union address, when a bunch of old people sit
and refuse to applaud while another bunch just across the aisle spend their evenings standing up, sitting
down and clapping until their hands bleed. Politics, eh…
 PDAC 2026 in Toronto, Canada, which starts next Sunday March 1st and runs to Wednesday March 4th,
so by the time IKN875 shows up you’ll have read those 150 or so news releases from seniors, junior
producers, developers and explorecos alike.
 It’s my son Joe’s 4th birthday on Wednesday, there will be cake. And by sheer chance it’s also happens
to be Rio2 Ltd Chair Alex Black’s birthday on the same day, so many happy returns to one of the rare
examples of a mining executive that’s open, honest, trustworthy in his dealings and tends to make his
backers a lot of money in the process. I hope he gets some cake as well.
All that and the usual chaos from tariffs, wars, currency debasement, a world screaming that it’s running out
of copper even though stocks are at all-time highs, a silver squeeze that’s easily covered by inventories and
whatever else the market throws at us all. Have a nice week.
Familiarity breeds contempt
The 4q25 and Year-End earnings season is in full swing and the results so far have underscored the mistakes
made in a couple of widely-held preconceptions about this precious metals market. On the one hand, the
bulls and goldbugs have overestimated the effect of this earnings season might have on stock prices but on
the other, analysts and investors seem to be stuck in a mentality of a couple of years ago, one that may well
cost them dearly. Of the two, the mistake being made by the bulls in the near-term strikes this desk as minor
compared to the category error being supposed by big money generalists. That’s good for us.
First up, it’s time to put a goldbug preconception out of its misery, the one that goes “Ah well, when the
generalists see how much money gold miners are making they’re eyes will pop out of their sockets”. From
well before Christmas and all through the rocket rally of January, the mining commentariat pointed to
upcoming earnings as the reason to own the big producers. For sure gold’s run in 2025 propelled them to the
valuations we see today, but future valuations were (and are) the reason to hold these stocks, to buy more
and because of stooopid Wall St and their stooped analysts who were using regressive pricings in their
estimates, we were apparently going to see the next leg of the precious metals producer stocks take hold
once the reality of earnings hit. So here’s a price chart:
Here you see the last month of GDX compared to three high-visibility gold stocks, namely Newmont (NEM),
Barrick (B) and Kinross (KGC). All three of those reported at some point in the chart’s timeline and all of them
returned healthy beats with very strong net profits that got plenty of media coverage and to prove that last
2

point, on Saturday I stuck in the company names and along with “Q4” and “beat” and took three semi-
random screenshots of what Google spat back at me:
More beats than Dr. Dre, but despite the strong Q4 results and
upbeat coverage the three companies hardly registered a
murmur on earnings day (and beyond) and have under-
performed GDX in the last month.
So what’s going on? The simple answer, the market has taken
the new gold price into account, flies in the face of goldbug
expectations coming into this earnings season. Official beat or
not, the whisper numbers are out there (and easy enough to
calculate, just add the extra dollars per ounce) so if the
company in question doesn’t manage to impress with forward
guidance on production, costs or development pipeline, they’re
getting marked down. There’s a hint of that in the NEM
screenshot above, we’ve seen it in plenty of other places as well
and if the company has the temerity to announce a timeline
delay to a key growth project (e.g. B2Gold, Eldorado Gold and
see below in Producer Basket for more on those), down it goes, no ifs or buts.
However, there’s something else going on that the big firm analysts with their whisper numbers are not
picking up. The near-term effects of gold’s rise may be baked in (to the goldbugs’ chagrin), but there’s
increasing evidence that the long-term assumptions of the same crew of people are missing the changes in
our sector of focus by a wide margin. After due consideration, this desk believes that the average Wall St
fund manager and their team of quants fail to see the forest for the trees and their fixation on near-term
results means their missing the tidal change in the gold mining company valuations. The reason is the
widespread assumption in analyst circles that gold mining companies remain cyclicals and that when gold
goes up, it’s only a matter of time before it goes down again. We consider forward Price/Earnings (P/E) for
our example stocks above and go in market cap order:
 Newmont adjusted EPS U$2.52 1008
 Newmont PPS U$122.13
 Newmont forward P/E: 12.1X
 Barrick adjusted EPS U$1.04
 Barrick PPS U$47.97
 Barrick forward P/E: 11.5X
 Kinross adjusted EPS U$0.67 268
 Kinross PPS U$33.45
 Kinross forward P/E: 12.5X
3

Please note for the forward P/E, we’re extrapolating the 4q25 results on a straight line basis which means
we’re taking the best ever reported quarter for gold
miners. On the other hand, 1q25 is already set to be even
better than 4q25 and it’s easy to see another U$500/oz
being added to gold compared to Q4. That context in
place, our three “disappointing stocks” over the last month
compared to GDX are running a PE of around 12X, which
compares to the S&P500 average as seen in this chart
(right), currently 29X and has only dipped under 20X on
two brief occasions in the last 10 years.
Not only that, but if you’re long enough in the tooth and
remember how the world used to apply value multipliers
to the big gold mining companies before GLD and all its
friends came along and provided easier direct access to
bullion investment (around the time I made my second
foray into physical gold ownership, 2006 and U$593/oz) you’ll recall PE ratios of 18X, 20X and 25X in the
bullish moments. The market for gold miners went through a massive change post GFC, there’s nothing to
stop them going back to that level of fashion once again.
Especially if a most basic point comes to pass, one that Wall St’s suited and booted are still clearly ignoring
(you can tell by their price targets). Gold is our subject, the market for the monetary metal in 2025 changed
before our eyes last year in quite dramatic style and now, its price discovery is no longer driven by an
adjustment to the US base rates here, or the severity or otherwise of the India monsoon season. Instead
gold is back as a serious and increasingly popular reserve currency in Central Banks and personal households
around the world and that’s the single main reason it’s done what it’s done and what’s more, it’s managed to
consolidate at these heady U$5,000/oz levels instead of spiking and dropping. Our friends on Wall St. are still
waiting for that to happen, because “gold is cyclical” and “it’s a commodity” and “it doesn’t pay a coupon”
and “why get zero interest when you can hold Treasurys?”, etc. Here’s a question for those cubicle suits:
“Dear Wall St: What if gold doesn’t go down this time?”
By that, I don’t mean it isn’t allowed to ebb and flow in the way most financial devices to (e.g. every single
world currency), but that what we saw in 2025 and the first weeks of 2026 wasn’t a run up to a blow-off
spike, instead it’s a re-rating that will see gold stay at levels that allow the typical gold mining company
(Newmont, Barrick, Kinross, Alamos, B2Gold, Wesdome etc etc…yes, even Rio2) to run at fat profit margins
for quarter upon quarter upon quarter. Back in October and that first hype correction in gold, I wrote that (8)
“Gold can fiddle around the U$4,000/oz level for the next three years as far as I’m concerned. Make
something for 1.5 and sell it for 4 forever and ever” in direct allusion to what would happen to the valuations
and share prices of gold mining companies if we had a high price plateau for gold. Well $4k would still be just
fine, but $5k is even better and, if I believe, what we’re seeing truly is a sea-change in the way gold bullion is
viewed by the wide financial world, then that’s what the future holds for us.
Bottom line: This isn’t about industrial metals producers, it’s not even about silver or PGM producers. Instead
our focus is gold and the way that the market has changed toward the monetary metal. These days (and I
choose these words carefully) gold is back in fashion as an investment and safe haven, with the move for
various reasons looking to diversify away from saving its wealth in US Dollars. True for individuals and for
government Central Banks alike, the dynamics of the move in gold to where we are today cannot be
explained away by simple “Dollar Weakness”, the classic anti-dollar argument that held true from even before
the 2008 GFC but certainly ruled the roost for well over a decade. Our friends in the sell side houses may well
be able to predict and therefore control the near-term price action of gold producer stocks around key news
periods, such as production reports and quarterly earnings, via official-versus-whisper EPS estimates, but
they’re missing the forest for the trees when it comes to the long-term value propositions they now offer.
 This is why Newmont dropped 11.6% in the two days after its disappointing 3q25 earnings
report…to a close of U$78.63 (check its share price now).
 It’s why the same NEM dropped 4.8% at the opening bell last week when it offered another ho-
hum quarter, only to see the market buy and buy again. That drop is all-but recovered.
4

 This is why B2Gold rebounded the way it did last week (see Producer Basket)
 This is why private placements at discounts to the market are not stopping shares from running.
 We could continue.
If you, like me, firmly believe that gold’s move in the last 12 months or so signals the beginning of a new age
of financial reckoning then you’re buying up the producers hand over fist and ignoring the price targets being
offered by sell side. They’re backward-looking focus helps at certain moments and the earnings season shows
that, but they’re missing the bigger picture, they just don’t get it, not yet anyway because if they did, Barrick
and Kinross and Newmont would not be at a 12X PE multiple and priced as though gold’s high price deck is a
temporary phenomenon. They’d be priced the way large companies with predictable, long-term margins get
valued and for that, please return your eyes to the S&P500 ratio chart above. Gold in 2026 is a trade for the
forward-looking and forward thinking, be one of those people.
Fundamental Analysis of Mining Stocks
Marimaca Copper (MARI.to): A liquidity event
Last week saw our main copper developer play, Marimaca Copper (MARI.to) announce news that moved its
share price significantly. The first NR dropped on Tuesday February 17th (2) entitled “Marimaca Copper
Announces Global Offering of C$409 Million (~ A$423 Million)”, then a second one day later reported on the
good reception the news had, at least among instos and interested parties (3), under the headline “Marimaca
Copper Completes Bookbuild for C$409 Million (~ A$423 Million)”. However, the aforementioned share price
move was to the downside, rather than up:
So our job today is to understand why MARI took an 11.5% drop week-over-week, consider the structure of
this share offering/placement and put together the pieces from the actors involved. We begin with the terms
of the deal and for that, we’re going to lean on the bullet points offered at the top of the second NR last
week and while the bullets mention Aussie Dollars, once the copypaste is done we’ll stick with the Canadian
Dollar and equivalents for our script:
The global offering will be completed in two parts (together the “Global Offering”), comprising:
 Canadian Offering:
o Canadian Treasury Offering: C$136.5 million treasury offering of 13,650,000 common
shares of the Company (the “Common Shares”) priced at C$10.00 per Common Share (the
“Canadian Issue Price”); and
o Canadian Secondary Offering: C$120.5 million secondary offering of 12,049,087 existing
Common Shares at the Canadian Issue Price owned and controlled by Greenstone
Resources II L.P. and Greenstone Co-Investment No. 1 (Coro) L.P. (the “Greenstone
Group”).
 Australian Offering:
o Australian Secondary Offering: A$157 million secondary offering of CHESS Depositary
Interests of the Company (the “CDIs”) at a price of A$10.35 per CDI (the “Australian Offer
Price”) owned and controlled by Greenstone Resources II L.P. and other shareholders
(together with the Greenstone Group, the “Selling Shareholders”).
5

We’re studiously ignoring some of the technicalities of the deal, such as the way the offerings are split
between Canada and Australia (since 2025, MARI is dual-listed on these countries’ markets), so while the
CHESS Depositary Interests have a few extra wrinkles in them we’re essentially treating them as what they
are i.e. normal shares on a 1-for-1 basis. That said, the need-to-know is the offering consists of two parts:
 “Treasury Offering”: These are new shares being sold by MARI, 13.65m at C$10 apiece.
 “Secondary Offering”: These are existing shares owned by big MARI shareholder, Greenstone
Resources, at the same price (or equivalent in Aussie Dollars).
In other words, Greenstone Resources has decided to sell MARI.to Shares Out
most of its position in MARI and cash in its winnings. At
the same time, MARI has put together a round of funding
that brings the company gross proceeds of C$136.5m,
which with cash already held moves the company’s
treasury to well over C$200m. This tracking chart shows (right) where this new deal puts the MARI count, an IKN-
estimated 134.2m shares out.
The Greenstone position: At first sight, the decision by
Greenstone Resources L.P, the private equity fund and
long-term backer of Marimaca Copper, to sell the majority
of its holdings in MARI doesn’t have great optics, but we
know a few more things about Greenstone and it’s important to get the context they offer.
 It’s been involved since the Coro Mining days and was a strong proponent of the company’s strategy shift
to concentrate on the Marimaca project. As such, this trade represents a big win for the fund.
 Private equity partnerships such as Greenstone always have a limited shelf life and in this case, the fund
was created and managed to ride the current commodities cycle into this mature phase. We understand its
partners wanted to cash in, as such this decision to liquidate most of its holding in MARI is understandable
from its side. Indeed Greenstone has recently liquidated its position in Gunnison Copper, a lesser win but a
move in-line with this decision.
 Regarding its holdings in MARI, on January 9th 2025 (4) Greenstone told us that between its fully paid-up
shares, options RSUs it held 26,840,823 shares. Then on January 27th 2026 (5) it told us that after
transferring 4,099,888 shares of MARI “to certain of its limited partners by way of distribution” it held
22,304,285 shares, a number that fits very closely with the January 2025 total. That news from three
weeks ago also fits with the moves a fund makes as it winds down and partners cash out. Added to this,
20/20 hindsight and a few discreet inquiries tell this desk that Greenstone has had the intention of winding
up in 2026 no matter what (and it’s interesting how “wind down” and “wind up” mean the same thing). It’s
come at this moment, which is fair enough I suppose considering where copper trades right now, but it was
going to happen anyway.
 With that in mind, MARI and Greenstone have obviously consulted closely on the fund’s exit strategy and
along the way, came up with the plan revealed last week. They would have sounded out prospective block
buyers along the way, which is probably why so much of the offering went directly to Australia and why the
book build went so quickly and smoothly. Therefore, another reason to assuage nerves about Greenstone
cashing out is seeing the queue of customers ready and willing to pay C$10 for blocks of shares.
Summing this up, while I agree the optics aren’t great, it’s incorrect to read too much into Greenstone’s
majority exit from MARI. What’s more, the structure of this offering means MARI can show how interested
the world is in its stock at C$10, having quickly filled a book that includes new shares (with no warrants) that
add C$136.5m in gross proceeds to the company.
What happens next: We now know that MARI isn’t just playing fakey-fakey about developing the flagship
Marimaca Oxide Deposit (MOD) itself and taking it into production, instead it’s gearing up to do exactly that.
Overall that’s a good thing, as it doesn’t stop what we still believe to be the most likely exit, a third party
buyout of the company (or potentially just MOD), while at the same time it allows MARI to negotiate from a
stronger position.
6
853.46 853.46 853.46 853.46 146.37 737.78 39.78 39.78 820.88 811.88 622.88 622.88 622.88 622.88 32.88 288.29 709.29 662.39 662.49 20.101 20.101 71.101 94.601 37.411 6.021
2.431
160
140
120
100
80
60 40
20
0
91q4 02q1 02q2 02q3 02q4 12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 tse52q4 won
source: company filings

We also know plenty about MOD, what with the Feasibility Study delivered during 3q25. We covered the
project valuation in IKN850, August 31st 2025. That time we ran our numbers using U$4.50/lb copper (which
got a little pushback from some of you) but of course, since then copper’s gone higher still. I’m not going to
cover every step of the chartfest we ran in IKN850 here, but we can offer up a couple of visuals to show
what MOD is capable of delivering, starting with the revenues and projected Mine Operating Income we’d get
from U$5.00/lb copper:
Marimaca: Gross mining revenues and MOI
at U$5.00/lb avg Cu, per year
7
2.683
5.932
8.645
3.883
8.645
3.883
2.755
6.593
2.755
6.593
8.775
2.014
5.795
5.673
9.436
0.004
6.555
0.053
2.595
0.573 9.343
5.452 1.832
7.581 2.461 2.461
700 At U$4.50/lb
margin at U$4.50
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
source: IKN ests and calcs
Over the projected 13 year mine life (which would almost certainly extend as more resource is proven up),
MOI aggregates to over U$4.3Bn. Then a few steps on and with capex and all the financial extras added into
the model, this chart maps out the DCF returns over life of mine:
U$m Cumulative returns at various Cu prices over life of mine
3250
3000
2750
2500 At U$3.50/lb
2250 At U$4.00/lb
2000
At U$4.30/lb
1750
1500 At U$4.50/lb
1250 At U$5.00/lb
1000
750
500
250
0
-250
-500
-750
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
source: IKN ests and calcs year
At the same $5.00/lb, there’s no reason why we can’t use that number these days, MOD returns just over
U$3Bn net, or C$30.90 per share (post financing close). Suffice to say that Marimaca is a very robust
project, not least because the mining and processing circuit is as simple and straightforward as they come
(scoop, dump, process) with all inputs at hand (water, power, transport, skilled workforce etc).
However, these days MARI has another string to its bow and its treasury position of over C$200m would offer
a great start to any build-out, we can be sure it isn’t raising that maount of cash in 1q26 for its MODS plans.
Instead, the new cash is surely destined to drill and develop the new and exciting Pampa Medina project,
which became a big thing last year when the first promising drill holes shifted into full-scale big discovery
mode in August 2025 with the game-changing hole SMRD-16. We covered what that hole had hit and its
consequences in IKN848 dated Augst 17th 2025 and since then the MARI theory that they’d hit a stratiform
sediment hosted copper” (SSC) deposit at Pampa Medina has been confirmed by several other assay results,
most recently the January 26th 2026 drill assay results NR (5a) entitled “Pampa Medina Scout Drilling
Delivers Significant Oxide Extensions; Western Deep Sulphide Drilling Pending”. Last month’s NR added a
new dimension to Pampa Medina, the potential that aside from its lower laying SSC suphide mineralization,
the depsit could also contain a significant amount of oxide copper rock that could complement the MOD
resource and improve its economics furher (e.g. extend mine life). Please see the NR for full details, but
today we’ll meditate on the words of MARI VP Ex Sergio Rivera, the man who behind the Pampa Medina
discovery and the reason the company has found what it has found at both of its main assets.
“Our understanding of this unique deposit is constantly improving as we move into the Phase II
exploration program. In addition to the exciting sulphide target, there is a compelling opportunity to
expand the known oxide mineralization at Pampa. We expect these oxides to be highly

complementary to our existing resources at the Marimaca Oxide Deposit with clear potential for both
scale and mine life expansion.”
“The previous interpretation of the north-east areas of Pampa Medina indicated low potential for
mineralization given significant uplifting of the sedimentary sequences to the east. However, holes
SMR-29 and SMRD-30 demonstrate that uplifting may be localized in smaller fault blocks, leaving
intact mineralized sequence potential to the north-east.”
“In the west, our deep sulphide exploration in the high-grade section N7440800 is progressing well.
We are targeting the deep extensions of high-grade bornite-chalcopyrite dominant mineralization in
the host sediments and are looking forward to updating the market accordingly.”
Shorter Rivera: Plenty more to come and we’re going to be drilling this thing a lot. That’s why MARI has
raised money at this time and now, with Greenstone completing its cycle and MARi fully cashed up to do
anything short of building MOD from treasury, the company has essentially two projects with which to add
share price value: At MOD, we could see MARI put together its financing package and move forward with the
build, or perhaps sell the project while at Pampa Medina, its new strong treasury allows it to develop the
resource more quickly and considering the potential size, there’s going to be plenty to do (and newsflow to
match). As a reminder, SSC deposits are rare, tend to be very large and in IKN848, after taking the data into
consideration, assuming continued good drill results and then added plenty of conservative size criteria, we
scratched out a potential resource of over 20Bn lbs copper. So far at least, we’ve seen nothing from
subsequent NRs to contradict that ballpark calculation.
Discussion and conclusion: This two-year chart of Marimaca Copper (MARI.to) shows the way it went on a
slow burn through 2024 and the first part of 2025, before exploding into life when the double whammy of
Pampa Medina and the MOD feasibility study was released on the world. Even before that memorable period,
your author’s C$3.05 entry price made these shares easy to hold and nowadays it’s a very decently sized
200% winner in the portfolio. That said, we
must also recognize that since the explosive
period MARI has done little more than tread
water and plenty of other copper stocks have
out-performed this one in the last three months
or so (e..g my personal “one that got away”
Faraday Copper FDY.to, check out the notes on
that one in The Copper Basket today). When
added to last week’s drop from the C$11 line to
the C$10 line, it’s even possible to call MARI and
underperformer these days.
However, nothing has really changed at MARI.
The optics of Greenstone’s exit are much worse
than the reality and nobody should begrudge to
fund from winding down at this point in the commodities cycle. It was always their long-term plan and any
fund worth its salt knows that it’s crazy to attempt to time one’s exit from a position this size at the very top
of the market. Their brief was to deliver long-term returns to patience partners, they’ve done just that and
the eagerness of other instos to take up the position while adding to the MARI share count is testament that
Greenstone has done its job right.
What this liquidity event has done is allow larger player watching on the outside to get in at an advantageous
price. My personal nerves about the near-term future of copper is not a factor in their decision process, the
people buying over C$400m of shares in this company are not worried whether spot copper revisits the
U$5.00/lb line or not, they’re taking a position to benefit from a mine that’s a racing certainty to get built at
MOD, plus a Pampa Medina which could turn out to be a truly world-class copper deposit that changes
everything. The share price reaction to last week’s news was logical and we should expect the depressed
price at/under C$10 to continue until the deal closes, but it’s about then that this window of opportunity will
close and, as long as copper holds its ground, there’s more than enough in MOD alone to justify MARI shares
going higher. Add in Pampa Medina and the sky’s the limit, just like it was back in October last year. For sure
being in at my cost average and with a 200% winner makes this very easy to hold through what has been a
bit of a Doldrums period for MARI, but those of you who’ve been waiting for an opportunity to buy into a high
quality copper story at the right point in its development track at an exciting moment for its underlying metal
should wait no longer. Now’s the time and this is the price, once this offering is closed MARI will go higher.
8

Stocks to Follow
The week’s portfolio performance was hobbled somewhat by the Marimaca price drop (see above), but aside
that and the non-move put in by Top Pick Rio2 Ltd (RIO.to) it turned into a better week than I expected. Ten
of our 15 open positions were winners (ARG.to, TNGD.v, GROY, MAI.v, WRLG.v, WDO.to, AU.v, LMS.v,
MFG.v, MENE.v), four were losers (RIO.to, MARI.to, SRL.v, OCI.v) and one remained unchanged (MIRL.cse),
with the only double figure shift that drop in Marimaca Copper (MARI.to down 11.5%), though it certainly
was pleasant to see Wesdome Gold (WDO.to up 8.2%) put in a good shift and out-perform the GDX/J ETFs.
There are fifteen companies left on our Stocks to Follow list, five under our self-imposed maximum. Just two
of those are in the red, the others are in the green and quite a few of them are up multiples. That’s good.
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$3.30 312.5% New C$6.84 tgt Feb'26
RECOMMENDED STOCKS
Amerigo Res ARG.to BUY C$1.54 28-Jul-24 C$5.95 286.4% Core copper position
Tiernan Gold TNGD.v STR BUY C$7.80 29-Dec-25 C$9.39 20.4% new Chile gold jr, adding
Marimaca Copper MARI.to STR BUY C$3.05 14-Jan-24 C$9.97 226.9% Quality Cu dev, M&A tgt
Gold Royalty Co GROY hold/buy U$1.40 9-Mar-25 U$4.47 219.3% 2nd tgt U$5 hit, hold for buyout
Minera Alamos MAI.v hold/sell C$2.10 13-Oct-19 C$5.82 177.1% $7.00 tgt, 25% of trade left
West Red Lake WRLG.v STR BUY C$0.88 20-Jul-25 C$1.21 37.5% re-rate trade, $1.44 tgt close
Wesdome Gold WDO.to STR BUY C$22.42 30-Nov-25 C$25.68 14.5% 2026 M&A tgt trade
Aurion Res AU.v BUY C$1.07 21-Sep-25 C$1.72 60.7% Agnico will buy more Finland
Salazar Res SRL.v BUY C$0.08 5-Jan-25 C$0.205 156.3% Ecuador buyout trade
Latin Metals LMS.v BUY C$0.19 10-Jun-25 C$0.29 52.6% proj.generator, Organullo spec
Orecap Inv OCI.v BUY C$0.06 4-May-24 C$0.10 66.7% 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
Mayfair Gold MFG.v WATCH C$5.32 11-Jan-26 C$5.72 7.5% Canada gold project, watching
LONG-TERM NON-MINING HOLD
Mene Inc. MENE.v adding C$0.45 6-Dec-20 C$0.185 -58.9% LT bet, adding slowly
CLOSED TRADES IN 2025 date closed close price
American Eagle AE.v Jan'26 C$0.495 14-Dec-25 C$0.61 27.3% TLS trade, modest, successful
Electrum Disc ELY.v Jan'26 C$0.075 9-Nov-25 C$0.10 33.3% took quick profit on buyout
Amerigo Res ARG.to Jan'26 C$1.54 28-Jul-24 C$5.46 254.5% partial profit-take on port mgmt
XXIX Metal XXIX.v Jan'26 C$0.11 27-Aug-25 C$0.125 13.6% spec copper trade, bad result
Valkea Res OZ.v Jan'26 C$0.36 29-Dec-25 C$0.48 33.3% took NT profit TLS trade
Arizona Metals AMC.to Feb'26 C0.69 5-Oct-25 C$0.66 -4.3% sold to rebalance port, Feb'26
Red Pine Expl RPX.v Feb'26 C$0.12 8-Sep-24 C$0.195 62.5% sold to rebalance port, Feb'26
Minera Alamos MAI.v Feb'26 C$2.10 13-Oct-19 C$6.22 196.2% 75% of trade sold Q1
Blue Moon MOON.v Feb'26 C$4.18 30-Nov-25 C$5.84 39.7% sold to rebalance port, Feb'26
2015 to 2025 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Now for notes on some of our covered stocks:
Latin Metals (LMS.v): Free shares for you. On Wednesday February 18th LMS announced (6) the closing of
the spin-out transaction to create Latin Explore, which should quote on the TSXV under the ticker LXE.v soon.
Current holders of LMS.v get their spinco shares at a slightly odd ratio that ends up with LMS shareholders
owning 25% of the new LXE.v, or in precise terms 10.944m of the 43.68m outstanding. Most of the newco
shares come from the funding transaction, with 30m units sold at 10c to raise an initial treasury of C$3m. A
reasonable amount. As for retail holders of LMS wondering what happens now (e.g. me), we should get the
9

new shares landing in our portfolios in the next few days (mine haven’t arrived yet) at a ratio of 100 LXE
shares for every 1,250 LMS.v shares owned. Or in cash terms, if we take the benchmarks for LMS.v shares at
the C$0.285 close of transaction day (Feb 18th) and LXE at the 10c funding price, for every C$356 worth of
LMS shares you own, you get C$10 worth of free LXE shares. Not a king’s ransom, but gift horses and
mouths etc.
In other news and probably more important for our trade success or otherwise, the day before the above, on
Tuesday February 17th LMS announced (7) that its new partner at the Cerro Bayo project in Santa Cruz
province, Argentina, had started its Phase One drill program consisting of 22 holes for a total of 1,500m over
a total of ten targets. That averages out at 68m a hole, so Daura is clearly aiming for open-pittable
mineralization. We remind readers that Cerro Bayo is a
very large concession with multiple areas of interesting LMS.v: Shares Out
geology, presumably Daura has picked what it considers
the most likely (or most typical) to get a decent idea of
what it’s optioned from LMS at an early stage. As far as
this desk is concerned, Cerro Bayo has always been one of
the main reasons to like LMS and its prospect generator
model, even after Barrick handed back, and we’ll be eager
to see what the drills return in a few weeks’ time (shallow
holes are more about assay lab turnarounds time than
anything else).
Finally, LMS also updated on its share count with the 5m
warrants priced at 15c and due Feb 6th all exercised. That
added $750,000 to the LMS treasury and means it doesn’t need to raise at market, while the shares out count
now goes to an IKN-calculated total of just over 138m (chart right). At this weekend’s closing price of
C$0.285, that puts the LMS market cap at $39.33m.
Tiernan Gold (TNGD.v): ADDED. I bought a few more and the personal cost average clicked up a few
more pennies. This is now a chunky-sized position and on its way to becoming big. Be clear, if you’re not on
yet you are still not too late, the asset value alone is enough to float this stock to C$15 and from there, we’ll
see what it delivers in development news.
West Red Lake Gold (WRLG.v): Another slightly-disappointing-when-will-this-run? week for WRLG, which
started Monday by dropping straight off a cliff to C$1.12, spent the next four days underwater and then, late
Friday, decided to put in a small spurt to finish up exactly one shiny penny week-over-week. The marketing is
non-stop and WRLG is unafraid of paying up to get airtime on the pay-to-play high traffic channels, but so far
they haven’t created the momentum. At this stage, my best guess is that we won’t see the stock out-perform
peers until we have a set of solid numbers from its 1q25 period, so look to early April and a production report
along with that promised 2026 guidance for the catalyst. Or put another way, I’m guessing you have a month
to position to your heart’s content before this stock puts in the move we’re all waiting for and if so, that’s fine
by me.
Wesdome Gold (WDO.to): Long past due perhaps, but it’s still good to see WDO showing some pep
compared to the market median:
10
308.64 300.84 470.84 692.75 686.75 686.75 686.75
296.96 917.07 674.17 674.17 674.17 674.17
674.18 674.18
7.901 7.901 28.901
49.221 10.331 831 831 831
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
12q1 12q2 12q3 12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 tse52q4 tse62q1 tse62q2 tse62q3
source: company filings/IKN ests
serahs
fo
snoillim

Perhaps and maybe, the market is finally beginning to twig that the amount of cash being generated by Tier
1 players will have to go somewhere and that WDO presents a real prize for an eventual buyer: High grade,
prime jurisdiction gold mines with established operations and one of the very few independently owned
names out there, the right recipe for a major to fold Eagle and Kiena into their operations and enjoy the asset
kick they’d get from higher multiples. And if you think I’m living in my own private fantasy about WDO being
a prime takeover target, at least you can’t criticize me for not putting money where mouth is, that’s the prime
reason I currently own this stock. A reminder that we have a while to wait for the Wesdome Q4 and year-end
financials, as it’s one of the tail-end reports that shows up post-close on Wednesday March 11th. But before
then, we have the dealmaker-fest at BMO Florida this
coming week, plus PDAC now less than two weeks away
(but with worse weather).
Minera Alamos (MAI.v): A decent enough week, with
MAI.v rallying in-line with GDXJ as the buyers came back
Thursday and Friday. That’s not bad, as we’ve seen MAI
under-perform in rallies far too many times in the last 12
months and seeing it go with the flow is refreshing. The
personal plan remains as stated, 75% of my trade has
now been sold and unless gold caves on us completely, I’ll
wait for the prices nearer C$7 before making that 100%.
Orecap Inv (OCI.v): The holding that OCI decided to sell in the last few weeks, Awalé (ARIC.v), is the one
that did the most to prop up the liquid-ish asset value of the company. So go figure:
OCI.v: Marketable Secs, Investments in Assocs, Cash
value
ticker shares owned(m) PPS C$m Cents/share
AE.v 10.72 0.69 7.40 3.0
ARIC.v 7.39 0.89 6.58 2.6
ARIC warrant 4.17 0.69 2.88 1.2
XXIX.v 23.637 0.115 2.72 1.1
AUME.v 42.75 0.08 3.42 1.4
MERG.v 1.025 0.92 0.94 0.4
MERG warrant 0.5125 0.47 0.24 0.1
ZIGY.cse 4.942 0.39 1.90 0.8
KLDC.v 40.040 0.25 10.01 4.0
subtotal 36.08 14.5
Est.cash 0.70 0.3
Total 36.78 14.8
At 248.332 S/O
A bit of slippage in the value of its biggest shareholding, Kirkland Lake Discovery (KLDC.v), didn’t help its
cause. Still, the gap between the portfolio value and the share price is wide, so with OCI now having all the
cash it needs to do its things in the near and medium-term, the attraction continues to be obvious. Low
downside risk with decent upside potential is what you want from your pennycrapper junior.
Amerigo Resources (ARG.to): Final reminder to expect an ARG blowout quarter as reported this coming
week. In trading, ARG moved as though it’s about to impress the market with its numbers and the C$5.95
close means that once again, ARG out-performed the COPX copper ETF benchmark on the week.
Aurion Resources (AU.v): Our “WWAD” (What Would Agnico Do) Finland play continues to be as off-radar
as a C$330m junior can be, though we did get some news from interested neighbours last week. In the
B2Gold YE MD&A, we were told the company had earmarked “…approximately $9 million in 2025 for its
grassroots exploration programs, including Finland and Cote d’Ivoire”, which isn’t a great deal for the BTG/AU
JV program but it is something. Meanwhile and more interestingly, Rupert Resources (RUP.to) announced (8)
that it had commissioned Ausenco to produce a Feasibility Study for its Ikkari project, which would likely
present as a standalone but we all know that economics improve significantly once RUP has access to the
concessions and resource ounces controlled by AU.v literally next door to the Ikkari project. Whether or not a
FS provides the catalyst for an eventual deal between RUP and AU remains to be seen, but it’s interesting
11

RUP feels the need to push forward on a FS that would become essentially redundant under any sort of deal
to consolidate the zone and build the mine that Ikkari could be once the AU land were involved, with or
without Agnico involved.
As noted previously, AU is one of those “nothing happens for a long time and then we win” type of trades (if
it goes well), though being in at C$1.07 sure makes the waiting process easier.
Rio2 Ltd (RIO.to): It might not be notable to you that RIO.to is presenting at BMO and will be at PDAC this
year, but it is to me (9):
VANCOUVER, BC – Rio2 Limited (“Rio2” or the “Company”) (TSX: RIO; OTCQX: RIOFF; BVL: RIO)
is pleased to announce that its executive team lead by Alex Black, Executive Chairman of the Board,
and Andrew Cox, President & CEO, will attend BMO’s 35th Global Metals, Mining, and Critical
Minerals Conference next week in Hollywood, Florida, to discuss its future growth plans for the Fenix
Gold Mine and the newly acquired Condestable Mine. Rio2 is set to present on Wednesday, February
25, 2026, at 9:00 AM in Ballroom C.
Please note that the BMO Conference is by invitation only. The presentation will be webcast (Live &
On-Demand) through the following link https://app.webinar.net/JWR323Xo9g1
Additionally, Rio2 will be participating in this year’s PDAC. Andrew Cox is scheduled to present during
Peru Day on March 2 at 10:10 AM at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre #107 Room - North
Building.
Why so? For one, even though RIO.to is a C$1Bn+ market cap these days the BMO gig isn’t normally for this
size of company, so maybe the fact that it’s now a copper producer helped open the door. For another, I
know for a plain fact that Alex Black has actively avoided the PDAC circus, so Andrew Cox must have a
decent reason or three to present the company there. Meanwhile and in other news, the consolidation of
Condestable into the RIO.to structure is now complete and as a result, the company has seen immediate
positive cash flow hit its book. The cash position was already healthy but we hear Condestable added a
around U$25m out the gate and treasury is now pushing towards U$150m. More than enough and with Fenix
producing and just a couple of months from going free cash flow positive in its own right, the company is
sitting sweetly for 2026.
The Copper Basket
After seven weeks of 2026, The Copper Basket shows a gain of 22.89% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/26 Shares out m Market Cap current pps gain/loss%
1 Faraday Copper FDY.to 2.73 252.88 1067.15 4.22 54.6%
2 Aldebaran Res. ALDE.v 3.67 185.34 576.41 3.11 -15.3%
3 Los Andes Copper LA.v 9.20 29.56 396.10 13.40 45.7%
4 Pecoy Copper PCU.v 1.32 213.1 394.24 1.85 40.2%
5 Hot Chili HCH.v 1.33 190.772 293.79 1.54 15.8%
6 Andina Copper ANDC.v 0.56 263.7 241.29 0.915 63.4%
7 Surge Copper SURG.v 0.475 385.41 231.25 0.60 26.3%
8 Hercules Metals BIG.v 0.74 289.41 214.16 0.74 0.0%
9 Element 29 Res ECU.v 1.20 155.51 169.51 1.09 -9.2%
10 Fitzroy Min FTZ.v 0.48 282.294 138.32 0.49 2.1%
11 Copper Giant CGNT.v 0.49 188.635 137.70 0.73 49.0%
12 American Eagle AE.v 0.56 172.877 119.29 0.69 23.2%
13 Metal Energy MERG.v 0.64 36.03 33.15 0.92 43.8%
14 Algo Grande Copper ALGR.v 0.53 39.64 30.92 0.78 47.2%
15 Kobrea Exp KBX.cse 0.51 35.622 18.88 0.53 3.9%
NB: All stocks in CAD$ Portfolio avg 22.89%
The basket average added 0.97% on the week, with the seven winners (FDY.to, PCU.v, BIG.v, SURG.v,
ANDC.v, AE.v, ALGR.v) just about outgunning the eight losers (ALDE.v, LA.v, HCH.v, ECU.v, FTZ.v, CGNT.v,
MERG.v, KBX.cn) despite the raw headcount slightly against progress. The main difference was Faraday
12

Copper (FDY.to up 24.9%), which had a Friday to remember on the back of the news of its likely deal with
BHP (see below). The only other double figure
percentage change was to the downside at Metal Energy 35% The Copper Basket 2026, weekly evolution
(MERG.v down 11.5%).
30%
25%
The action in the copper explorecos closely matched that
20%
copper-the-metal, with weakness early week and then a
rally on Friday to scrape an overall positive week-over- 15%
week result. However, while perusing the copper price 10%
charts this weekend it’s notable how copper’s sideways 5%
action is beginning to show clearly. Granted the range is 0%
fairly wide (my added red box is U$5.70 to U$6.15/lb) Jan1st Jan4th 11th 18th 25th feb1st 8th 15th 22nd
source: IKN calcs
but with just one exception, that famous overbought
spike at the end of last month, copper has been an
reasonably orderly market since Christmas. The most likely cause is seasonal, as mentioned on many
occasions on these pages we’re in the low buyer demand season and the world is waiting to see whether
Chinese buyers step up and are willing to re-stock at this price level. I’m on the record as having serious
doubts about that. Also for the record, as of this weekend we use the HGK Comex May’26 contract for our
regular chart as the March contract is now in delivery and key trading has rolled over to May.
Moving on, this week’s carefully curated copper comment is a reflection of the wait’n’see world out there,
offering two snippets of two wire comment reports out of Bloomie, Thursday and Friday morning (10) (11),
just before that broad based commodities rally caused by the Supreme Court ruling and ensuing USD
weakness:
LME copper ticked down on Thursday, having gained more than 2% in the last session, as the US dollar hit a
more than one-week high and rising inventories with muted China demand weighed on prices of the red metal.
Benchmark copper on the LME edged 0.2% down to $12,879.50 a metric ton as of 0344 GMT after rising 2.3% on
Wednesday.
Trading is thin with the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed for the Lunar New Year holidays till February 23.
And:
LME copper eased on Friday, set for a third week of decline, with the markets in top consumer China on the Lunar
New Year break with rising inventories and a firmer US dollar weighing on the red metal.
In other words, no great insight with copper moving in near-direct relation with the USD, rather than doing
anything on its own accord. That’s the way it is at the moment, sometimes the mundane and obvious is the
only thing worth reporting. Now for the regular world copper inventories update, data from Cochilco.
 As from last week we’re above one million metric tonnes (mt), this week we’re motoring quickly
toward the 1.1m line by adding another 37,340mt to reach 1,049,405mt. It’s now Lunar New
Year, Shanghai will add stock as from IKN876.
 In Shanghai, the SHFE copper inventory remained unchanged at 272,475mt as China went on
vacay for the Year of the Horse (Fire Horse) celebrations, so kung hei fat choi for all who
celebrate.
13

 Another substantial add to LME stocks last week, the total up 23,300mt to close Friday at
235,150mt.
 The small adds continue at Comex, so we still got another record but the 6,065mt added was
relatively compared to the total of 541,780.
For the sake of continuity we’ll tip our hat to the unchanged total in the dedicated SHFE chart. Pretty colours,
at least.
SHFE copper inventory levels, 2018 to 2025
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
14
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 2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
source: Cochilco data
Now for notes on some of the basket component stocks:
Andina Copper (ANDC.v): Another exploreco making hay while the sun shines and filling up treasury. First
on Tuesday ANDC announced (12) assays from its second hole cut into the Cobrasco project, South
Colombia. Here’s the headline…
Andina Copper Reports 620 m @ 0.45% Cu, 79 ppm Mo
from 62 m, including 146 m @ 0.76% Cu, 107 ppm Mo
…and that’s another decent result. This doesn’t come as a surprise to this desk, as Cobrasco’s rocks have
always appealed as a prime target for porphyry copper exploration. Then on Friday morning announced (13)
a C$20m placement, with half under LIFE terms (the main difference being they’re not under escrow) and the
other half under regular non-brokered rules. To its credit, the placement is share-only and no warrants
required to shift this paper. As for the C$0.80 price of the offering (i.e. 25m shares), that didn’t stop the
market from bidding up ANDC on Friday to a close of 91.5c, within 10% of its recent late January high price.
ANDC has ticked all the boxes required for a speculative copper exploreco since the start of 2025 and to its
credit, it’s gone in a managed to put drills into the highly prospective but socially/politically difficult Cobrasco
project, something Rugby Mining never managed to do. Lucky timing in the copper price has been a big help
as well of course, but we should note that this rapid development has come with significant paper dilution
and the space of five quarters, the shares count has moved from 83.16m to a pro forma 263.7m or so
(including the Monday update). That’s a lot of paper and at this new price level, there’s more downside risk
than before. Worth keeping in mind, now that the initial results from Cobrasco, plus its main Piuquenes
Argentina gig (plus Mantau in Chile I suppose), have made its projects known quantities to a wider audience.
UPDATE Monday: No surprises, ANDC has upsized the placement to C$27.5m and will print a total of
34.375m new shares (14).
Faraday Copper (FDY.to): This publication’s obvious interest in Marimaca Copper aside (see above), FDY
gave the copper story of the week and once again, has me sighing and wistful about The One That Got
Away. Long-term readers of (this section of) the Weekly will know my good eye toward this company and the
way they’ve gone about their job and for a couple of quarters in 2023 I even owned some stock for a
speculative trade, closing the trade for a small loss (that timing thing again) but for my own sweet reasons, I
never bought a real position or went in with the right attitude, despite approving of just about everything
they did. And now it’s a $4 stock, the five-bagger has run without me and I’m reminded of my own stupidity
once again. Anyway, this isn’t about me (or certainly shouldn’t be), this is about the news delivered by FDY
on Friday [EDIT, and today Monday] and the reason the stock price did what it did (chart below). Here’s the
link (15) and here’s how it starts:

February 20, 2026 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Faraday Copper Corp. (“Faraday”) (TSX:FDY)
(OTCQX:CPPKF) is pleased to announce it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (“LOI”) with
a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP Group Limited (“BHP”) in respect of a proposed transaction
whereby Faraday would acquire from BHP the San Manuel property (“San Manuel”), adjacent to
Faraday's Copper Creek project (“Copper Creek”), located in Arizona, USA (Figure 1).
Under the terms of the LOI, Faraday and BHP will negotiate and, subject to obtaining all necessary
approvals, enter into a definitive purchase and sale agreement containing customary terms and
conditions for a transaction of this nature, whereby Faraday would acquire 100% of San Manuel (the
“Proposed Transaction”). As consideration for the Proposed Transaction, Faraday would issue to
BHP common shares of Faraday (the “Consideration”) equivalent to a 30% interest in the issued and
outstanding common shares on a fully diluted basis as of the date of closing. In addition, BHP will be
granted customary investor rights provided it maintains a minimum shareholding requirement. Closing
of the Proposed Transaction will be governed by the terms of the definitive purchase and sale
agreement and is expected by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
There’s more in the NR and it’s worth a full read, but highlights include:
 Although only at non-binding letter of intent (LOI) stage, this is big news for FDY. A company the size of
BHP doesn’t put its name toward a deal just to spoof the market so even though nothing is set in stone
yet, we on the outside should consider this as highly likely to happen.
 Though big for FDY, it’s a minor deal for BHP as it finds a use for a property that’s little more than a
rounding error on its massive balance sheet. Using the San Miguel property to link up with FDY and
create a project with the size required by a major to move its dial is a clear win-win-win, BHP gets to use
something that was laying fallow in its books and, potentially at least, bolt it on to a company that will
now do the development and heavy lifting.
 One of the most important factors is the right BHP has taken to have a board member at FDY. This isn’t a
simple property sale, this is a company that’s interested in the fate of Copper [EDIT: an opinion franked
by the news Monday, see below]. This is clearly NOT about BHP getting rid of a non-core asset, but more
about BHP looking to the future and a potential deal to operate a mine where Copper Creek / San Miguel
currently sit.
The importance and potential consequences of this move was not lost on the market:
Up a cool 23.8% on the day, a whole new set of eyes are now on this company. Once again, we need to
underscore the importance of the Lundins as although not the most central piece in the Lundin Group of
companies, they have taken a big enough percentage of FDY to allow it to benefit from the moniker and the
influence of the name. The non-binding letter of intent deal, in the circumstances more than good enough to
be serious, is the type that only happens when a big enough entity knocks on BHP’s door. Someone,
somewhere between these three companies looked at Copper Creek, looked at the property next door,
looked at the growing relationship between Lundin Mining and BHP at Vicuña, put two and two together and
started the ball rolling.I’d then wager good money that some time later one of the Lundins floated the idea to
one of the higher management at BHP and the momentum began.
UPDATE Monday: The news that dropped Monday morning (16) underscores the new relationship between
Lundin-backed FDY and BHP:
15

Faraday Copper Announces up to C$100 Million Private Placement with Participation by the Lundin
Family Trust and BHP
Under the terms of the Offering, the Company intends to issue up to 23,810,000 common shares (the
“Common Shares”) at a price of C$4.20 per Common Share for aggregate gross proceeds of
C$100,002,000.
Again, check that link for the full NR as details matter but to quote Elon Musk, “four twenty, funding
secured”. If anyone doubted the seriousness of BHP’s position due to a simple LOI, they will stop now. We’re
witnessing the deepening of the relationship between the Lundin group and Australia’s mining behemoth, one
that started at Vicuña and now looks as though its ready to develop and build in The USA. Good for them, I’ll
let out another wistful sigh about the one that got
away.
Aldebaran (ALDE.v): Last week, ALDE closed the
concurrent placement connected to the recent
C$40m bought deal, with long-term backer Route
One exercising its top-up rights to keep its
shareholding to the same level as before. That
added 1.528m shares to the total, as seen in the
table above. In other news, I’m slightly surprised
ALDE has been weak recently (see ALDE vs COPX
chart, right), especially considering the good news
on RIGI last week. See Regional Politics below for
more on that.
Surge Copper (SURG.v): Friday afternoon saw SURG deliver this news to market (17), the first short
paragraph capturing the essence of the news:
February 20, 2026 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Surge Copper Corp. (TSXV: SURG) (OTCQB:
SRGXF) (Frankfurt: G6D2) (“Surge” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the British Columbia
government’s acceptance of the Berg Project into the Critical Minerals Office (“CMO”).
If you check out the BC CMO website (18), you learn its job is to facilitate and promote the production of
critical metals (e.g. copper) in the province, with plenty of wording that suggests easier and quicker
permitting passages and coordinated work with stakeholders (First Nations etc). This news is a good rebuttal
for SURG when it comes up against the classic argument against projects in BC, that they take forever to get
permitted these days. However, once you read both NR and the CMO mission statements, there’s not that
much in the way of concrete promises and there are far more vague happy positive words than anything else.
I don’t want to knock this too hard, but the proof of the CMO pudding will be in the tasting and if it can start
to offer clear time advantages to a new project such as Berg/Ootsa, then fair enough, but it’s going to need
more than words and another layer of public bureaucracy to convince cynics. And I’m a cynic.
By the way, this news is almost certainly connected to the NR dated January 12th (19) that one Jennifer
Anthony has joined the SURG board. Here’s the potted bio as offered that day:
Ms. Anthony brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in British Columbia’s public sector, with
deep expertise in environmental assessment, regulatory permitting, and Indigenous and community engagement
across the Province’s natural resource sector. Most recently, she served as Assistant Deputy Minister, Permitting
Transformation, with the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, where she led province-wide
regulatory reform initiatives; built and scaled large, multidisciplinary teams; supported multiple major mining
projects through permitting and environmental assessment regulatory processes; led provincial negotiations on
significant mine developments, including the Blackwater Mine; and directed complex government-to-government
engagement involving Indigenous Nations, federal agencies, and industry. Ms. Anthony holds a Bachelor of
Science in Physical Geography from the University of Calgary.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the arrival of Ms Anthony allow SURG the open the door to the
CMO? Did the idea to join come from her? Would it have happened without her arrival? All these things and
more, but I will say that the SURG way has always impressed me the CEO Nilsson is one of those forward
thinking types that is always looking for the bottleneck and how to address it. Getting a smart and connected
public servant onto the board is the way serious companies go about their permitting tracks.
16

Metal Energy (MERG.v): We thought the news last week that new CEO Greig was a bit of a non-event,
despite it apparently propelling the stock higher. Sure enough, most of the gain was duly unwound this week
and we’re back to where we were. MERG has still done very well since coming out the traps, though.
The Producer Basket
After seven weeks of 2026, the Producer Basket shows a gain of 24.06% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/26 Shares out MktCap(U$Bn) current pps gain/loss%
1 Newmont NEM 99.85 1108 135.32 122.13 22.3%
2 Agnico Eagle AEM 169.53 502.579 114.72 228.26 34.6%
3 Barrick B 43.55 1705.994 81.84 47.97 10.1%
4 Wheaton PM WPM 117.52 454.02 68.28 150.38 28.0%
5 Alamos Gold AGI 38.58 420.68 20.13 47.84 24.0%
6 Lundin Gold LUG.to 114.02 241.433 19.06 108.16 -5.1%
7 IAMGOLD IAG 16.49 594 13.19 22.20 34.6%
8 Eldorado Gold EGO 35.92 201.275 8.65 43.00 19.7%
9 B2Gold Corp BTG 4.51 1330.134 7.17 5.39 19.5%
10 Americas G & S USAS 5.11 318.26 2.49 7.81 52.8%
All prices and stock quotes in U$, except share price of LUG (in CAD$) Port. avg 24.06%
A mixed week for the Producer Basket as several of our component stocks reported their Q4s and the results,
along with the news generated for others, saw stocks move this way and that. Six were week-over-week
winners (AEM, B, WPM, AGI, IAG, USAS) and four were losers (NEM, LUG.to, EGO, BTG), with a wide range
of move among our ten, with the best from Alamos Gold (AGI up 5.7%) and Agnico Eagle (AEM up 5.4%)
and the worst Eldorado Gold (EGO down 9.2%). When it was all done and dusted, our basket average added
0.89%, which was decidedly less than the GDX benchmark (GDX +2.2%) and in fact, we didn’t even manage
to beat bullion (GLD +1.3% week-over-week) and as a result, our lead has been cut to just 0.17%. Still early
days in 2026 and stupid me for trusting Eldorado Gold to deliver Skouries…again.
The 2026 Producer Basket: Weekly performance and The 2026 Producer Basket: Percentage diff. Between
comparative to GDX control GDX benchmark & basket (negative = IKN ahead)
30% 4%
26%
3%
22% ikn
gdx control 2%
18%
1%
14%
0%
10%
-1%
6%
source: IKN calcs -2% source: IKN calcs
2%
-2% -3%
Jan1st Jan4th 11th 18th 25th feb1st 8th 15th 22nd
Jan1stJan4th 11th 18th 25th feb1st 8th 15th 22nd
UPDATE MONDAY B2Gold (BTG) (BTO.to): As well as the note on BTG below, it would be remiss not to
make mention of the news that dropped this Monday morning (20):
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO,
NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) (“B2Gold” or the “Company”) today announced that as part of
the Company’s leadership succession planning, Mr. Clive Johnson has decided to retire from his role
as President, Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Director of the Company at the Annual General
Meeting of the Company scheduled to be held on June 4, 2026. The Board of Directors has named
Mike Cinnamond, Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of B2Gold, to succeed
Mr. Johnson as President and CEO. Mr. Cinnamond will also replace Mr. Johnson on the Board of
Directors.
17

I’m genuinely happy he’s made that decision. Back in IKN853 and the “four reasons to buy B2Gold” note, one
of those four points was the notable decline in the physical presence of its CEO, here’s that section as a
reminder).
The Clive Johnson of 2025 is not a CEO looking to be the aggressor in an M&A process, instead that’s
the aspect and physical profile of a man ready to sell to the highest bidder and get out the game. Of
course no person is irreplaceable in a company and BTG as an
entity could survive and thrive without Johnson at the helm,
but in real terms this company is his fiefdom and kingdom,
BTG isn’t going to move forward without him. I have no
special insight into his physical health, we also know the
serious family issues he went through a couple of years ago
(because Johnson was open and public about the matter) and
those may have taken their toll. But for whatever reason, he
looked old and tired to the bone at Denver last week, the
image of a seller and not a buyer (and if that strikes you as
unfair, intrusive and too personal, sorry but he heads up a
public company and weaknesses in any story are best considered for what they are; capitalism sucks
sometimes). Also please note, “holding off M&A until 2026” may sound like a long way in the future, in
reality it’s less than 100 days from now.
Today’s news means I’m wrong about that “fiefdom and kingdom” observation, it also suggests BTG is less
likely to be sold to the highest bidder in the near-term (or perhaps it gets to negotiate from a position of
strength now…time will tell) but this is less about the company and more about Clive Johnson. Whatever you
may think of him, he’s a proven successful mining executive and has nothing to prove to anyone in this
business. He’s right to retire, to kick back and I sincerely hopes he enjoys a long and healthy retirement.
More on B2Gold in the note prepared over the weekend, below.
Newmont (NEM) (and Barrick (B)): The big news in the mining week was the NEM earnings report,
which included all the all-time record numbers we'd expected from this quarter and here are a few:
 Record average realized gold price: U$4,216/oz
 Record adjusted net income: U$2.753Bn
 Record EBITDA: U$4.545Bn
 Record cash from ops: U$3.56Bn
 Record free cash flow: U$2.813Bn
The list goes on, we'd expected highly impressive profits from the world's #1 gold miner in this price
environment and we got exactly that (for what it's worth, colour me impressed with the free cash flow
number; in a single quarter it got to within U$103m of the total for all of 2024). However, it wasn’t all
sweetness and roses, for example the 4q25 production number of 1.45m oz gold, though a small
improvement from Q3, was slightly light compared to market estimates.
NEM: Attibutable gold production, per qtr
18
26.1 43.1 5.1 94.1 36.1 72.1 42.1 92.1 47.1 86.1 16.1 76.1 9.1 45.1 84.1 24.1 54.1
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1 0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
12q4 22q1 22q2 22q3 22q4 32q1 32q2 32q3 32q4 42q1 42q2 42q3 42q4 52q1 52q2 52q3 52q4
Moz Au
source: company filings
Mote importantly, guidance for 2026 didn’t impress anyone as NEM estimated mid-point production at 5.26M
oz gold and AISC at U$1,680/oz. Of the two, seeing AISC rise isn’t the biggest shock and is certainly more
open than the “Yes we’ll reduce AISC” claims of previous years that never materialize. However, that gold
production guidance is notably lighter than previous years and while NEM says it expects production to
resume growth in 2027 onward, the market gave that part a clear thumbs-down.

Newmont: Annual average AISC/oz Au
Along with the numbers came political fun, as buried on page 23 of the Annual Report there’s this (author
adds bold type):
On January 26, 2026, we informed Barrick and the NGM Board of Managers that we had identified evidence
of mismanagement at NGM, including diversion of resources from NGM to the benefit of Barrick’s wholly-
owned property Fourmile and Barrick, and that we were exercising our contractual inspection and audit rights.
On February 3, 2026, we sent Barrick a notice of default under the Nevada JV Agreement related to
this conduct. Although we continue to work with Barrick to improve the performance of NGM and will take
appropriate steps to address this matter, any such disagreements could have a material adverse effect on our
interest in NGM, the business of NGM or the portion of our growth strategy related to NGM.
Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) is the JV owned by Barrick (61.5%) and Newmont (38.5%) covering the many of
the two companies’ Carlin Trend operations, but notably not all of them and indeed, the 100% Barrick-owned
Fourmile is the apparent bone of contention. We don’t know the sums of money involved, but we do know
Fourmile is Barrick’s biggest and best new hope (remember the September 2025 hype when ex-CEO Bristow
got the B share price flying during the Denver Gold Show?) and it’s also an integral part of B’s plans to split
into two companies and offer “Safe North America Barrick” and “Wild and Risky Africa/Pakistan Barrick”
options to the investment community. Of the two entities, B probably has more to lose over a legal fight than
NEM and this Bloomie article (21) included a couple of relevant quotes. First this one from (interim) CEO and
Thornton lackey, Mark Hill:
“While we disagree with Newmont’s claims, we are limited by the terms of the joint venture agreement in what we
can say,” Barrick President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Hill said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “We
are committed to constructive engagement and to working together with Newmont to deliver shareholder value.”
Then this one, from the Citi analyst with the B/NEM brief:
“The terms for resolving such disputes are laid out in the JV agreement,” Citigroup Inc. analyst Alexander
Hacking said in a note. “But we believe this will likely be viewed by investors as part of ongoing
negotiation/positioning over the future of NGM.”
The Bloomie note goes on to say…
Newmont’s actions may complicate Barrick’s plans to separate its North American assets and sell a 10% to 15%
stake in the new company later this year. A spinoff would include its interest in the Nevada venture known as
NGM — of which Barrick owns 61.5% and Newmont 38.5% — along with the Fourmile project and a mine in the
Dominican Republic, another collaboration with Newmont.
…and that’s the most important takeaway of this (probably). It’s now understood B is looking to float a
minority of “North American Barrick” and a fight over default clauses would make the spinco toxic, it’s also
possible NEM is thinking about the potential to make a move on the entire package and really ruin John
Thornton’s lunch.
B2Gold (BTG) (BTO.to): Four weeks ago in IKN 870, dated January 25th 2026 we added this as a small
warning on the upcoming B2Gold (BTG) (BTO.to) Q4 earnings:
“So fair warning required, as despite the strong +15.5% week-over-week move there are strong
rumours going around that its still having glitchy problems at Goose, despite its passing the official
Commercial Production milestone in 4q25. We’re going to have to wait three more weeks to find
out how true these rumours are, but I’ve heard them from two separate sources and one of those
is someone I’ve learned to trust.”
19
1121 4441 6151 9061 0861
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000 800
600
400
200
0
2202 3202 4202 5202 tse6202
U$/oz NEM Attributable gold production, annual
source: company filings
69.5 45.5
68.6
98.5 62.5
Moz Au
8
7
6
5 4
3
2
1
0
2022 2023 2024 2025 2026est
source: company filings

Last week the earnings dropped and those decently-sourced rumours turned out to be well-founded. We
quote from the BTG filings and add some bold type:
The Goose Mine crushing circuit is currently being supplemented with a mobile crusher. Production
during the fourth quarter of 2025 was impacted by unseasonably low temperatures, which impacted
the performance of the mobile crushing unit. The mobile crushing unit is not enclosed and is
susceptible to operational interruptions in extreme cold. Initial modifications to improve performance
of the crushing circuit in the near-term, including the addition of a run-of-mine bin and apron feeder,
which were ordered in late 2025, are scheduled to be implemented in the second half of 2026, at
which point, use of the mobile crusher will cease to be necessary full time. The Company estimates
that the Goose Mine crushing circuit will be able to operate at an average daily capacity of
approximately 3,200 tpd once these initial modifications are implemented. Additionally, the
Company is studying more comprehensive crushing circuit improvements to increase design capacity
of the existing crushing circuit to enable it to run at an average rate of 4,000 tpd. These studies will be
finalized in the first half of 2026, at which point the Company will determine the optimal scope and
timing of additional crushing circuit improvements.
That is a big delay and it results in a big drop from the last time BTG talked about Goose numbers in public,
the day it announced commercial production at the mine in early October (22). Back then we were told this:
“The Company reiterates the near-term and long-term gold production estimates at the Goose Mine, which
includes 80,000 to 110,000 ounces of gold production in 2025, approximately 250,000 ounces of gold production
in 2026, approximately 330,000 ounces of gold production in 2027, and average annual gold production for the
initial full six years of operations (2026 to 2031 inclusive) of approximately 300,000 ounces per year, based only
on existing Mineral Reserves.”
But as that literally translated Spanish saying goes, the reality is other. Here’s what’s changed between late
2025 and early 2026:
 Goose 2025: Was 80k to 110k oz gold production, the result was 53,170 oz, including pre-commercial
production and the 38,616 oz from the first official production quarter of 4q25.
 Goose 2026: Was 250k oz gold production, new estimate 170k – 230k oz production and for what it’s
worth I’d bet heavily on the lower end of that range. In other words, very similar to 4q25.
 Goose 2027: Was 330k oz gold production, new estimate a fudgy “we exceed a 300k run rate starting
at some point in the first half of the year”, in other words 2027 won’t make 300k oz.
Even if we’re generous, that’s a production
shortfall of around 130,000 oz gold and to
add insult to injury, there’s another U$202m
added to the Goose capex bill for this year.
So much for a nice, easy definition of the
phrase “commercial production”. The market
reaction to all this was interesting indeed:
Predictably, the stock dropped hard at the
bell Thursday morning, down 11.3% at its
lowest tick but then an impressive recovery
kicked in and, as the chart right shows, an
extra kick on Friday morning and then
sustained buying saw BTG finish the week
basically in-line with the GDX benchmark. Yes
it was a slight loser week-over-week but it
could have been a lot worse.
What to make of this? Here are some ideas:
 Aside Goose, BTG had a decent quarter with Fekola in particular putting in a great quarter.
 The company managed to cushion the negatives around Goose with enough wordifying to make it
sound better than it is.
 The market is ready to forgive mediocre performance in this gold price environment.
For me, the rebound is probably a mix of those three but above all, the third element and that bodes
particularly well for other mining companies that miss in this earnings period. And on that subject, we now
turn to another interestingly disappointing Q4 earnings report out last week, that of Eldorado Gold.
20

Eldorado Gold (EGO): On Thursday February 19th EGO reported its 4q25 and Year-End financials as well
as its new three-year guidance framework via the normal RegFs and these two NRs (23) (24):
“Eldorado Gold Delivers Strong 2025 Full Year and Fourth Quarter Financial and
Operational Results; Significant Free Cash Flow Excluding Skouries and Increased Cash
Generated From Operating Activities”
“Eldorado Gold Provides 2026 Guidance; Three-Year Outlook Targets 40% Gold
Production Growth; Skouries Construction Update”
You may have noticed how the word “Skouries” crops up in both headlines and not some sort of chance
occurrence, because the news from EGO’s main development project cast a shadow over everything else in
those NRs. So if we take the two NRs as one and distill the information offered, here’s the menu of items
things that moved the share price:
 The starter course: EGO produced less gold in 2025 than it did in 2024. While that had been expected and
guided by the company, particularly in the updated 2025 guidance numbers that removed the previous
upper end target, it's still a sub-optimal situation.
 The main plate: The big hit taken to 2026 guidance compared to all expectations from last year. That's
mainly Skouries, which was slated to produce 145Koz gold this year in the updated 2025 guidance but has
now been dropped to between 60K and 100k giving us a median of 80,000 oz. The new consolidated
median is 540,000 oz, but even if EGO hits the upper limit of guidance that 590k oz is below both medians
given last year.
 Dessert, coffee and after-dinner mints: Estimates for 2027 has been throttled back for the third time in as
many updates, with the median moving from 705k oz this time last year to 690k oz in the 2026 update to
the new 670,000 oz gold estimate. It's not until the (newly added) 2028 guidance that we get a 690k oz
median again, though with the track record EGO has built I think we should roundly ignore anything it
predicts for three years down the line.
EGO:Annual production & updated 3-year guidance
Or put another way, if we take the median numbers
offered by EGO this time last year for the years 2025,
2026 and 2027, then subtract the numbers now offered
in February 2026, the difference is 154,480 oz gold. And
at a rough average of U$5,000/oz, that’s over U$772m
and I don’t know about you, but where I’m from that’s a
lot of money. A very lot.
Now for some extra focus on Skouries and the RGO
literature told these two things among others:
“Construction project capital of $175 to $185 million
(including an additional $50 million related to the delay in first concentrate production)”
“First concentrate production is slightly delayed and is now expected in early Q3 2026 and
commercial production in Q4 2026. The delay is estimated to have an approximately $50 million
impact on the construction capital.”
At the start of the process in 2023, EGO told us it would deliver Skouries with first production in "mid-2025"
for a capex of U$845m. By the start of 2024, that became production in 3q25 and capex of U$920m. We
know the mining industry went through a cost inflation bubble from 2023 to 2025 so learning that capex had
inflated to U$1.214Bn this time last year didn't come as a
massive surprise (if you add in something they call
"accelerated operational capital prior to commercial
production", a mouthful of words designed to hide the capex
increase and you can be 100% sure the CFO will capitalize
it, no matter what cute title it's given), but the delay to first
production to 1q26 was a tougher pill to swallow and
readers may recall the dump EGO took last year on the news
(I certainly do, as I owned shares). Which brings us to the
21
119574 519354 461584 392025 072884 000045
000076 000096
Oz Au
800000 2025 guidance
700000 updated 2025 guidance
600000 2026 guidance
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
0
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026e 2027e 2028e
source: company filings
EGO: Skouries capex
548 029
4121
5231
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2023 2024 2025 2026

news Skouries would now cost a total of U$1.325Bn, with first production now slated for 3q26, i.e. five
quarters late from the original plan and perhaps more impressively, a year later than the guidance given two
years ago...you'd expect a board of directors to know the difference between two years and three years. As
the cherry on top of this corporate cake, EGO referred to Skouries experiencing a slight delay to first
concentrate and commercial production. Such fun.
The bottom line: You’ve just heard me slate non-stop for five paragraphs and 715 words (yes, I counted
them), but now we change tack and explain why EGO now shapes as a vehicle for traders to go long in this
bull gold market. Admittedly EGO has not been a happy hunting ground for your author, it’s one of those
situations where I’ve called the general corporate development correctly but got the timing of my trades
wrong. In other words, I’ve been stupid about Eldorado Gold, buying when I should have been selling and
vice versa. With that stated clearly as a caveat to make it easier to dismiss what’s below, now looks like the
time to buy EGO. While it’s never apples-to-apples and circumstances are different, there’s enough similarity
between B2Gold and Eldorado to point to both stocks at the same time today; both are focused on their
expensive and company-changing new mines that have turned out to be glitchy, more expensive and more
time-consuming than planned. Both have changed their goalposts on numerous occasions, both are guiding
for a sub-standard 2026, both are pleading the “we’ll get it right down the line” defence but of the two, only
BTG saw buyers step up and buy the dip caused by the disappointing earnings last week.
As such, the set-up looks good for the type of move we already got from BTG last week. The market has
changed from even 12 months ago, when a set of rear-viewing numbers such as a mediocre quarterly
earnings or production report would set a stock price back for a long period. These days, the knee-jerk
reaction is swiftly followed by the forward-lookers moving in and buying the stock, taking advantage of the
bad news to get in on stocks that have guaranteed higher top-line revenues and earnings getting baked in by
the gold price. Add that to the potential of PEs that start to multiply thanks when the world realizes gold isn’t
going to spike and drop this time, instead it consolidates at these new high levels (see intro) and the
opportunities offered by a temporary dip in a gold producer’s stock price, be the reason fundamentally
warranted or not, are too obvious to ignore. Or if that was too many words try “buy this dip, EGO will
rebound”.
The TinyCaps List
After six weeks of 2026, the TinyCaps show a gain of 12.41% to level stakes:
company ticker price 1/1/26 Shares out Mkt Cap current pps gain/loss%
Auriginal Min AUME.v 0.07 264.51 21.16 0.08 14.3%
Canex Metals CANX.v 0.215 166.95 45.08 0.27 25.6%
Sranan Gold SRAN.cn 0.30 60.42 14.50 0.24 -20.0%
Enduro Metals ENDR.v 0.155 76.04 15.21 0.20 29.0%
Latin Metals LMS.v 0.21 138 40.02 0.29 38.1%
Precore Gold PRCG.cn 0.26 32.003 7.84 0.245 -5.8%
Radius Gold RDU.v 0.14 115.7 17.36 0.15 7.1%
Silver Wolf SWLF.v 0.135 62.18 10.57 0.17 25.9%
Trifecta Gold TG.v 0.195 47.7 11.93 0.25 28.2%
Viva Gold VAU.v 0.19 171.677 26.61 0.155 -18.4%
Prices in CAD$, data from TSXV basket avg 12.41%
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 one 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.
22

 Likelihood of meaningful newsflow in 2026. This connects to the company’s “unbroken” status, as we
want news and potential catalysts from companies with projects that can work.
 Decent management if possible. When you are down among the little guys it doesn’t pay to be too choosy, but still I
preferred companies that have teams or people with good peer
reputations.
TinyCaps, 2026 weekly tracker
25%
The TinyCaps basket saw a modest 1.3% add to its
20%
average last week thanks to five winners (ENDR.v, LMS.v,
15%
PRCG.cn, SWLF.v, TG.v) just about beating out the five
losers (AUME.v, CANX.v, SRAN.cn, RDU.v, VAU.v) on 10%
movement size. Top of the pops this week was Precore 5%
(PRCG.cn up 22.5%), while the biggest loser was Auriginal
0%
(AUME.v down 15.8%).
Enduro Metals (ENDR.v): While it’s not quite as manic out there as it was a month ago, there’s still
enough momentum in the market and people feeling good about exploration stories to move tinycaps on the
back of grab/chip sampling results, something that simply doesn’t happen in a flat market no matter how
good the assays. In this case, ENDR added 11.1% on the back of this NR (25) entitled “Enduro Metals
Identifies New Gold Skarn in Bedrock, Expands 5.5 km Gold-Copper Target at October Dome Project, BC” and
with these as the bullet point highlights:
 Gold skarn identified in bedrock for the first time
 Float and bedrock samples returned values ranging from background to 0.54 g/t gold over a 600 metre trend
 Soil samples from the same area defined a 450 metre gold anomaly ranging from 74 ppb to 912 ppb gold,
with copper values up to 0.13%
 Overall gold/copper target area now spans 5.5 kilometres.
Which is fair enough. From here the company is “…evaluating follow-up exploration, including additional
surface work and drill targeting along the expanded skarn corridor.” Or if you prefer, it’s darned cold and
there’s snow everywhere, we’ll be working in the summer.
Precore Gold (PRCG.cn): On the plus side, some small and steady buying early week brought PRCG back
from 20c to 24c and 25c by Thursday. On the
minus side, there’s still no news on its main
Arekipay copper project in Peru and Friday saw
just one trade of 3,000 shares all day, so it’s
hardly the most robust rebound.
If I weren’t such a coward, I’d buy some now and
see what happens when the company starts its
marketing spiel (probably on the other side of its
AGM, that’s set for March 9th). However, I’m also
aware that even a small publication with limited
reach such as The IKN Weekly can bend this type
of small share price with ratty volume way out of
shape and the signal/noise ratio wouldn’t be
great.
Silver Wolf (SWLF.v): It lost 21.1% the week before last and with silver’s recovery last week, immediately
bounced back and covered most of that with a 13.3% gain. We mentioned SWLF last week as a possible
fliptrade vehicle for those of you looking to play the volatile high risk end of the silver market, that seems to
be the case. It’s not for me, it might be for you.
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.
23
ts1naJ ht4naJ ht11 ht81 ht52 ts1bef ht8 ht51 dn22
source: IKN calcs, TSX data

Regional politics
Argentina: Government extends RIGI
To the surprise of nobody, last Thursday February 19th the Milei government in Argentina extended the
deadline date for entry into its RIGI investment program (RIGI = Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes
Inversiones, which shouldn’t tax your Spanish too heavily) from the current mid-2026 date to July 8th 2027
(26). The move was always part of the plan from the early days of RIGI, as the type of large-scale capex
initiatives it attracts often need years of organization and planning before the money shows up, something
we reading these words know is particularly true for mining projects. Then, when the Milei government
received its mandate on the back of last year’s resounding success in the Argentina mid-term elections, it was
merely a matter of time before RIGI were extended.
This extension is an obvious fillip for the mining industry in Argentina, it will also allow more companies and
projects to enter into the RIGI umbrella, an example of which being the Altar project operated by Aldebaran
(ALDE.v), which was never going to make the original deadline but could now make the new extension if it
gets its act together and produces a FS in time. The other side of this move is how it offers more flexibility to
projects that were expected to make the original mid-2026 RIGI deadline but were rushing to do so, e.g.
AbraSilver (ABRA.to) at Diablillos. As for the future, while there’s no guarantee it wouldn’t be a massive
surprise to learn that as the new deadline approached, RIGi gets a further extension. But that’s for another
day and before that happens, we’re likely to get the first concrete results from RIGI as projects such as
Josemaria (Lundin/BHP) go into full construction.
Mexico: Ebrard wants Canadian mining companies
The USMCA trade agreement between Canada, The USA and Mexico was briefly headline news last week
when President Trump mentioned the deal may fall apart soon (it’s up for review in July this year), which got
Mexico’s FinMin (official title Secretary of the Economy) Marcelo Ebrard replying to media by saying that the
deal may be adapted but it won’t end. Meanwhile last week two of the three members, Mexico and Canada,
met for multi-day talks on business co-operation and deals in Mexico City in a trade mission event organized
by Canada and here’s how this report (27) on what happened kicked off:
Mexico and Canada are accelerating the strengthening of their economic and political relationship
ahead of the review of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States, and Canada (USMCA),
scheduled for the middle of this year, in a context marked by the tariff policy of US president Donald
Trump, who has imposed tariffs even on partners in the regional agreement.
During a Canadian trade mission held in Mexico City through February 20, led by the secretary of
economy, Marcelo Ebrard, and Canada’s minister responsible for trade, Dominic LeBlanc, around
400 business leaders and 240 organizations are taking part in more than 2,000 business meetings,
according to the Mexican government.
That’s a lot of people with suits and according to those present, mining was high on the agenda. Indeed,
during a press conference at the event, FinMin Ebrard said that as from the second half of 2026, Mexico and
Canada would present a joint plan of action (i.e. no USA) to boost production of critical minerals and
refineries (oil and metals), investment in ports and as a topical subject (VZLA and all that) new plans to add
security to supply chains, something that Ebrard called “healthy” and “intelligent” (28) as Mexico is faced with
the rise of narcotrafficking gangs.
How exactly all this plays out is unknown and if the plans are for an announcement after the USMCA review
mid-year, that doesn’t come across as a massively urgent matter. But at least Mexico and Canada are talking
and if so, Canada will be able to lobby for what it needs most of all, permit flow from the government.
More Mexico: Mining activity drops
Mexico’s main governmental beancounter people (29), the Nacional Institute of Statistics and Geography (El
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, normally known as Inegi), last week reported (30) on the state
of the country’s mining industry in this report that ignores the dollar values of mining products and focuses
on production amounts. Here’s a chart from the report, your author translates the title lines and adds a little
red ink to help the eye:
24

An interesting chart, as it negates the effects of the metals prices and shows that mining in Mexico is starting
to feel the effects of the ambivalent attitude of the ruling Morena party towards the industry, mainly due to
ex-President AMLO’s de facto permitting ban but it has to be said, current President Sheinbaum has dragged
her feet on the promises made to re-start the permitting process with only a few permits awarded in the near
year and a half since she took office.
Indeed, this report published (31) last week on an analysis run by one Abel González Vargas, president of the
Zacatecas regional branch of the Association of Mining Engineers, points the finger directly at the permit
bottleneck. While his analysis is restricted to Zacatecas State only, that’s still one of the biggest mining
regions in the country and it so happens that the 7.2% Year-Over-Year drop in mining activity reported by
Inegi at a national level is exactly matched by the Zacatecas number, also down 7.2% YoY. Here’s a
translation of one segment:
Zacatecas occupies a strategic position in the country's mining sector as one of the leading States in
minig activity. This means that any sector contraction will have a proportionally greater effect on the
regional economy, both in terms of job creation and economic impact.
According to the diagnosis presented by Sr. Vargas, the decline is not an isolated or recent
phenomenon, but rather the result of inertia built up over the last three or four years, a period in which
investment in exploration and production expansion has experienced a steady decrease.
One of the key factors identified is the lack of certainty for investing companies. Currently, he
indicated, more than U$4Bn are tied up due to the lack of permits, a figure that some estimates
suggest could reach between U$4Bn and U$5Bn in Zacatecas alone.
So now you know.
Ecuador: Noboa’s mining law passes its first reading
On Friday (32), Ecuador’s assembly (i.e. parliament) ran its first debate on the Noboa law project aiming to
improve the country for FDI wishing to enter its mining sector. The main opposition bloc (the Rafael Correa
alliance) plus CONAIE couldn’t get together enough votes to stop the project from moving to the next stage
of process and now it goes to committee for revision/adjustments (the time earmarks and deals and pork
barrel politics) before getting presented for the final debate and up/down vote. We don’t have a date for that
yet, but as the Noboa executive classified the project as “urgent”, it’s likely to happen soon. There’s no
guarantee that it passes the second reading but if so, we’d expect Noboa to sign it into law as soon as
possible.
We’ve done this in previous editions but by way of reminder, the law package is mostly aimed at speeding up
the processes required for exploration work and then the eventual permitting track to production and includes
non-controversial measures such as creating Mining Cluster zones that get fast-track permits due to being in
an area where mining activity is common. It would also standardize the State royalties into a single applicable
formula, instead of the current law that sees each company/project negotiate its royalty deal with the State.
However, the most controversial part of the package is the decision to allow exploration stage activity without
the need for an environmental permit, which opponents say would open to door to all types of bad practices
and cause friction with local communities.
25

Peru: A new President
Last week’s note on the likelihood that (now-Ex) President José Jerí be impeached got it right, Tuesday saw
him and his cabinet kicked out of the Presidential Palace. Then after 24 hours in which Peru had no President,
Vice-President, Second-Vice or head of Congress and nobody noticed, the void was filled when Congress on
Wednesday voted José María Balcazar to become the next head of Congress and that automatically put him
as the Head of a State. He was duly sworn in as President of the clown show of a country and, assuming he
lasts a little longer than José Jerí, will hand over to the elected President at the end of July.
He’s quite a piece of work in his own right, our Señor Balcazar. Among other pearls we could offer (unrelated
to mining), he’s an ally of the jailed ex-President Pedro Castillo and from his Left Wing Perú Libre party, he’s
previously said that Castillo should get a Presidential pardon (and is now in the position to give exactly that),
a couple of years ago during a Congressional debate he (in)famously defended the tradition of marriages
between adult males and females as young as eight years old in his Amazon basin constituency, he’s also
currently facing prosecution and potential jail time for embezzling funds from his regions Lawyer’s Society,
something that allegedly happened during his time as head of the society in 2019 and 2020. How he got to
where he is today would be a mystery to anyone outside of Peru but for that country it’s not much more than
par for the course. He’s likely (not certain) to remain until the July handing over of power to the next elected
President and while he may cause this-or-that minor scandal along the way, history will record him in the
footnotes.
Meanwhile, a couple of new voter intention polls this week (one official from the Datum pollsters, one
privately commissioned for a financial entity that became an open secret), has my tip from last week as the
possible dark horse in this process, Alfonso López-Chau, showing signs of coming out the pack to challenge
the two frontrunners, Porky and Keiko. While López-Chau is still in third spot, it’s also notable how several
well-known and high traffic political voices/influencers were quick to point to the small gains and promote his
cause and López-Chau seems to have the intellectual left/centre-left wings of Peru politics supporting his
cause. The field now seems set for a three horse race.
Market Watching
RPX Gold (RPX.v): The PEA is better than the reception it received
On February 18th, what was until recently Red Pine Exploration but now re-branded as RPX Gold published a
NR announcing the arrival of its PEA for its Wawa Gold project, Ontario, Canada (33). As expected, the PEA
envisages a two stage mining operation with the first
three years followed by an underground mining
operation that starts in Year Three and runs for six year,
with a remnant mining in Year Nine of the plan. This
chart from the NR shows the estimated gold production
per year (right).
Our last close look at RPX.v came in IKN851 dated
September 7th 2025 in that week’s main fundies section,
when we ran some numbers on the mooted Stage One
open pit project for Wawa, came up with a 31c target
price and duly added to our already open trade. By the
time a second add happened in October (see IKN854
dated October 5th) our cost average had moved from
10c to 11.5c to 12c, which is where it stayed until the
decision to sell and reduce exposure to the increasingly
volatile market for juniors, as announced in IKN871 dated February 1st. As for the reception to last week’s
news, this RPX 2026 YTD chart with four red numbers gives necessary context:
26

1) Mid-January, when RPX finally broke out from a long-standing ceiling price around 15c
2) The height of the mania
3) Your author’s decision to take profits on RPX as part of a new strategy to reduce
exposure to the market
4) The reaction to last week’s PEA announcement
It’s fair to say that overall, the market sniffed at the PEA and decided that while reasonable, it wasn’t enough
to move a company with 370m shares outstanding higher than its current 20c-or-so price. This table from the
NR gives some of the criteria for the plan and in ballpark terms, the numbers aren’t far away from those we
used to justify our purchases in September and October last year.
There are differences, however, such as the way RPX runs the Phase One open pit at 2,000 tonnes per days
rather than our best guess 1,500 tpd (which means the open pit material runs out in just three years, rather
than our five year guess), the grade at 2.5 g/t is higher than our 2.0 g/t guesstimate, and their 88% recovery
rate is slightly lower than our 90% guesstimate. However, the biggest difference was in costs, as RPX in its
Pea has elected to assume it would be able to source a toll milling operation in its vicinity and pay a third
party to run its ore. That cuts down significantly on upfront capital costs (they say they can put this into
production for just $51m), but means opex increases significantly.
The final big change between our September 2025 model as seen in IKN851 is the gold price assumption, as
back then we ran our numbers on U$3,500/oz and to its credit, RPX is using that same level for its base case
today. However and for as much of a like-for-like update to our model as possible, it now makes sense for a
grunt like me to assume U$4,500/oz gold (because if gold drops back to U$4,000/oz all junior exploreco
share prices are going down, like it or not). So after tinkering with the model and sticking with the same
Proof-Of-Concept model using the open pit mine only (because if that doesn’t happen, neither does the UG)
here’s how the adjusted model target box comes out:
27

Sales & earnings model U$/oz Au prices Target price & valuation data for RPX based on
Ag spot (U$) stress base current bluesky stage one model year economics
Sales (U$m) 116.5 133.1 149.7 166.4 12-month target $0.41 based on 4x FCF
Upside to target 100% and U$4500/oz Au
-
EPS 0.008 0.015 0.037 0.060 Mkt cap (C$m) $76 Enterprise value $68
FCF 0.028 0.051 0.073 0.096 P/sales (stress) 0.57 EV/sales (stress) 0.51
P/E (stress) -27.3 EV/EBITDA (stress) 10.4
P/E (base) 13.8 EV/EBITDA (base) 3.0
P/E (current) 5.5 EV/EBITDA (current) 1.7
That 41c target price is 10c higher than in September, but to be crystal clear that target drops to 28c if we
use a U$4,000/oz gold assumption. In other words, even though we’re still only at conceptual stage any any
economic projection for the Wawa gold project is ballpark at best (even the company’s as I’m sure CEO
Michaud would quickly agree), the plan to open the project up via an open pit mine and then use that cash
flow to go underground looks reasonable and thanks to the higher gold prices, the eventual target price is
now slightly higher, enough to warrant owning the stock at this current 20c-or-abouts price. However there
are some weak points in this story, three in particular stand out at this stage:
1) Reliance on toll milling. This works at a conceptual PEA level, it may even pass muster at PFS, but when
push comes to shove and you’re looking to raise capex and get permits for your mine, putting the fate of
your company’s start-up in the hands of third parties (and indeed, potential competitors for brains trust etc)
isn’t a solid foundation. There is an implied “Yeah well at some point Alamos or Wesdome or even Hemlo will
buy us” buried somewhere between the lines, but while it can work for retail grunts running for junior stocks
speculation trades, hope is not a valid investment thesis.
2) The resource estimate: Here’s the updated resource, as presented in last week’s NR and underneath
comes the good, the bad and the ugly on the numbers:
 The good: Total indicated has increased from the previous 842k oz to 1.244m oz, up 402,000oz
 The bad: The company can’t do this addition due to the rules but we can, and the Indicated + Inferred
resource has increased only slightly to 1.753m oz, up just 68,000 oz.
 The ugly: It’s not that big. The problem with Wawa from here and the reason people aren’t falling over
themselves to buy the stock is that at under 2m oz, there’s not enough to make it immediately
attractive to companies shopping around, looking for the next deal to move their dial and increase their
production footprint and yes, I’m talking abut Alamos Gold and Wesdome again. Considering the
drilling done since the 2024 resource update, that’s not enough upside to float the boat so what RPX
needs to do is get drilling and impress people with a new round of results that can increase first its
inferred resource, then get the ounces into the M+I column. Wawa is a big and highly prospective
property and this Pea, based on the Surluga and Minto zones in one of its corners, is a good start. But
to attract a major and get the market cap up from where it is today RPX needs to generate interest and
to do that, it’s resource has to improve.
3) Treasury position: Anyone following the company knows it’s getting short of cash.
28

12 RPX.v: Cash treasury per qtr
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
29
81yluJ 81.tcO 91.naJ 91.rpA 91yluJ 91.tcO 02.naJ 02.rpA 02yluJ 02.tcO 12.naJ 12.rpA 12.yluJ 12.tcO 22.naJ 22.rpA 22yluJ 22.tcO 32.naJ 32.rpA 32.yluJ 32.tcO 42.naJ 42.rpA 42yluJ 42.tcO 52.naJ 52.rpA 52.yluJ 52.tcO tse62.naj se62.rpa
source: company filings
srallod
fo
snoillim
Our April 2026 projection of C$2.5m cash (and C$1.5m working cap) ceteris paribus may be out by a bit
either side, but it won’t be by much and as the world knows this, there’s no point in piling in at these current
levels until the company goes to market, pays financiers their cut and tops up treasury. On the bright side,
the current financing Market is buoyant and we should expect RPX.v to be able to raise the capital is desires
at this stage, but until the financing announcement comes it will be a drag on the share price. Once done, the
company may want to consider jumping on the latest fashion bandwagon and rolling back the share count, as
40m or 50m shares at C$2.00 will make more appeal to the wider world than 400m or 500m at 20c.
The bottom line: I’m not buying back into RPX Gold (RPX.v) on the back of this Pea announcement, even
thought the economic metrics are good and the project makes sense at this stage, thanks largely to the
possibility of adding U$1,000/oz onto every ounce of gold it produces in the Excel model. Before anything
else happens I want to see the company go to market and add the necessary working capital for its next
stages of development, then it needs to tell me it’s going to drill baby drill and look for ounces to add to the
current resource. Once those two pieces are in place, it may be able to generate new momentum and attract
a retail grunt like me back to the stock, depending on the price at that time (of course). The bargain 10c
prices are long gone and the improvement we’ve seen since September ully justifies my previous trade, even
if I sold slightly under 20c instead of slightly over. If I still owned today I’d been torn between holding and
selling to find another, more dynamic option for my money, but being outside and looking in makes this an
easier call. I like RPX Gold (RPX.v), I like the serious management and the way Michaud has turned this
company around. I like the moves it’s made to get Wawa to this PEA stage and given the right set of
circumstances, would buy back in and own again but before that occurs, things have to happen. Watching
with interest.
Conclusion
IKN874 is done, we end with bullet points:
 This edition has topped out at over 20,000 words, so I’m not going to add many more with a long
conclusion.
 The Marimaca Copper (MARI.to) news may have sent a shiver down the spine of some people, but
don’t let them put you off what’s still one of the highest quality copper stories in LatAm in MOD, plus
the sky’s-the-limit potential of the exciting Pampa Medina. This liquidity event is the opportunity to buy
in size at a discount and those following in the insto money will not regret the purchase.
 Gold and the way producers such as BTG and NEM traded last week are sending a clear message to the
world. We’re in a new paradigm for the metal and those applying the old rules to these companies’
valuations will realize their mistake later. Get on while the PEs are still under half the S&P500 average.
I wish you good trading fortune, ladies and gentlemen.
Best wishes, Mark.

Footnotes, appendices, references, disclaimer
(1) https://x.com/i/status/1985699546903552388
(2) https://marimaca.com/marimaca-copper-announces-global-offering-of-c409-million-a423-million/
(3) https://marimaca.com/marimaca-copper-completes-bookbuild-for-c409-million-a423-million/
(4) https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/09/3007186/0/en/Greenstone-Provides-Update-on-Holdings-of-Marimaca-
Copper-Corp.html
(5) https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/27/3226385/0/en/Greenstone-Distributes-Shares-of-Marimaca-Copper-
Corp.html
(5a) https://marimaca.com/pampa-medina-scout-drilling-delivers-significant-oxide-extensions-western-deep-sulphide-drilling-pending/
(6) https://latin-metals.com/news-releases/latin-metals-and-latin-explore-announce-closing-of-spin-out-arrangement/
(7) https://latin-metals.com/news-releases/latin-metals-option-partner-commences-drilling-at-cerro-bayo-gold-silver-project-argentina/
(8) https://rupertresources.com/ausenco-selected-to-lead-feasibility-study-ikkari-project-update/
(9) https://rio2.com/so/29PnxPMq9?languageTag=en&cid=d65dc1b2-26ea-4539-9769-9308fe30cf5e
(10) https://www.brecorder.com/news/40408046
(11) https://www.brecorder.com/news/amp/40408192
(12) https://andinacopper.com/news/news-2026/andina-copper-reports-620-m--045-cu-79-ppm-mo-from-62-m2026-02-17-030002
(13) https://andinacopper.com/news/news-2026/andina-copper-announces-life-offering-and-concurrent-financi2026-02-20-033004
(14) https://andinacopper.com/news/news-2026/andina-copper-upsizes-life-offering-and-concurrent-financing2026-02-23-140503
(15) https://faradaycopper.com/news-releases/faraday-copper-signs-letter-of-intent-to-acquire-bhps-san-manuel-property-in-arizona-
creating-a-multi-asset-copper-district-in/
(16) https://faradaycopper.com/news-releases/faraday-copper-announces-up-to-c-100-million-private-placement-with-participation-by-the-
lundin-family-trust-and-bhp/
(17) https://surgecopper.com/news-releases/surge-copper-announces-berg-project-acceptance-into-bc-critical-minerals-office/
(18) https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/mineral-exploration-mining/criticalminerals/critical-minerals-office
(19) https://surgecopper.com/news-releases/surge-copper-appoints-jennifer-anthony-as-vice-president-environment-and-regulatory-
affairs/
(20) https://www.b2gold.com/news-media/news-releases/news-details/2026/B2Gold-Announces-Leadership-Transition/default.aspx
(21) https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/newmont-spars-with-barrick-nevada-venture
(22) https://www.b2gold.com/news-media/news-releases/news-details/2025/B2Gold-Achieves-Commercial-Production-at-the-Goose-
Mine/default.aspx
(23) https://www.eldoradogold.com/investors/news-releases/eldorado-gold-delivers-strong-2025-full-year-and-fourth-quarter-financial
(24) https://www.eldoradogold.com/investors/news-releases/eldorado-gold-provides-2026-guidance-three-year-outlook-targets-40-gold
(25) https://endurometals.com/enduro-metals-identifies-new-gold-skarn-in-bedrock-expands-5-5-km-gold-copper-target-at-october-dome-
project-bc/
(26) https://www.eltribuno.com/mineria/2026-2-22-0-0-0-como-impactara-la-extension-del-rigi
(27) https://lasillarota.com/negocios/2026/2/16/ebrard-anuncia-plan-mexico-canada-en-mineria-infraestructura-586065.html
(28) https://www.bnamericas.com/en/features/mexico-and-canada-safeguard-relationship-ahead-of-usmca-review
(29) https://www.inegi.org.mx/app/saladeprensa/
(30) https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2026/indminero/indminero2026_02.pdf
(31) https://ljz.mx/21/02/2026/falta-de-permisos-frena-inversiones-en-mineria/
(32) https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/negocios/asamblea-debate-ley-urgente-mineria-energia-medio-cuestionamientos-
ambientales/?source=Internal&ref=Single+Content+Link
30

(33) https://www.rpxgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Press-Release-February-18-RPX-Gold-FINALV1.pdf
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2025
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
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
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Closed in 2022 date closed close price
Great Bear Res GBR.v Jan'22 C$15.83 26-Aug-20 C$28.58 80.5% Bought out by Kinross, print
Copper Mountain CMMC.to Jan'22 C$3.40 18-Jun-21 C$3.78 15.9% Sold 1/2 position in rebalance
Copper Mountain CMMC.to Feb'22 C$3.40 18-Jun-21 C$3.70 8.8% Sold rest on FY22 guidance
Trilogy Metals TMQ Mar'22 U$1.84 15-Sep-19 U$1.04 -41.3% killed by US permit reversal
McEwen Mining MUX Apr'22 U$0.89 2-Jan-22 U$0.82 -7.9% No 2022 turnaround, cut loss
Abrasilver Res. ABRA.v May'22 C$0.42 24-Apr-22 C$0.33 -21.4% sold to reduce Ag exposure
Strategic Metals SMD.v May'22 C$0.42 31-Jan-21 C$0.30 -28.6% trade flatlined 1.5 years
Discovery Silver DSV.v Jun'22 C$1.77 24-Oct-21 C$1.39 -21.5% Cutting Ag exp.& raising cash
Element 29 ECU.v Jul'22 C$0.58 6-Mar-22 C$0.30 -48.3% sold to cut Cu exposure
Superior Gold SGI.v Oct'22 C$0.95 3-Apr-22 C$0.24 -74.7% Q3 prod fail was last straw
Goldshore Res GSHR.v Nov'22 C$0.18 23-Oct-22 C$0.34 88.9% Quick profit taken
Palamina Corp PA.v Dec'22 C$0.295 21-Nov-21 C$0.08 -72.9% Clear-out of underperformer
Pure Gold PGM.h Dec'22 C$0.14 26-Sep-22 C$0.015 -89.3% tiny trade on vh risk, went Ch11
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2021
Closed in 2021 closed close price
Fiore Gold F.v jan'21 C$0.98 21-May-20 C$1.17 19.4% closed as part of rebalance
Norsemont Min NOM.cse feb'21 C$1.55 6-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
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Integra Resources ITR.v Aug'20 C$2.23 13-Aug-18 C$5.40 142.2% Profit taken, good trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Aug'20 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$14.82 525.3% last 1/2 of big win closed
INV Metals INV.to Sep'20 C$0.40 17-May-20 C$0.45 12.5% Cut all Ecuador exposure
Cartier Resources ECR.v Nov'20 C$0.155 3-Aug-18 C$0.25 67.7% Exact close price TBA
Tinka Res TK.v Dec'20 C$0.195 19-Apr-16 C$0.195 0.0% Closed on a round trip fail
2015 to 2019 annual closed positions in appendices below, 2009 to 2014 closed positions in editions IKN553 or earlier
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2019
Closed in 2019 closed close price
Atico Mining ATY.v jan'19 C$0.55 24-Jul-16 C$0.32 41.8% patience ran out, made room
Candente Copper DNT.to jan'19 C$0.075 3-Aug-18 C$0.05 -33.3% tiny trade, made room for new
B2Gold BTO.to feb'19 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$4.05 91.9% Took 1/2 profits, reduce size
Western Copper WRN.to mar'19 C$0.80 20-Jan-19 C$0.81 1.3% Spec trade that didn't work
B2Gold BTO.to mar'19 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$4.15 96.7% Took rest of profit.
GT Gold GTT.v mar'19 C$1.17 10-Oct-18 C$0.90 -23.1% Took loss. Story changed
NovaGold NG apr'19 U$3.84 13-Jan-19 U$4.15 -8.1% Short that didn't work, sm loss
Zinc One Z.v jun'19 C$0.47 14-Sep-17 C$0.025 -94.7% clearing out dead trade
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jun'19 C$0.24 22-Aug-18 C$0.20 -16.7% clearing out dead trade
New Gold NGD aug'19 U$1.44 31-Jul-19 U$1.23 14.6% ST short win thru Q2 earnings
IMPACT Silver IPT.v aug'19 C$0.39 21-Jul-19 C$0.46 18.0% took a quick profit
Fiore Gold F.v aug'19 C$0.34 26-May-19 C$0.56 64.7% Took profit, 2q19 avg
Chakana Copper PERU.v oct'19 C$0.84 22-Mar-18 C$0.16 -81.0% Exploreco trade fail. Want space
Wesdome Gold WDO.to oct'19 C$2.37 14-Oct-17 C$7.57 219.4% Sold half, profit taking
Superior Gold SGI.v oct'19 C$1.46 8-Apr-18 C$0.47 -67.8% Failed sm spec on Au. Moved on
Amerigo Res ARG.to nov'19 C$0.91 23-Sep-18 C$0.50 -45.1% worst trade of year, hefty loss
Guyana Goldfields GUY.to dec'19 C$0.94 14-Apr-19 C$0.56 -40.4% taking the loss, financials weak
Tethyan Res TETH.v dec'19 C$0.30 8-Sep-19 C$0.16 -46.7% tiny trade, word of probs in co
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2018
Closed in 2018 closed close price
Amarillo Gold AGC.v jan'18 C$0.38 24-Mar-17 C$0.31 -18.4% Cut away losing trade
Riverside Res RRI.v jan'18 C$0.39 27-Jun-16 C$0.31 -20.5% Cut away losing trade
Eros Res ERC.v jan'18 C$0.175 1-Mar-17 C$0.16 -8.6% CEO sudden exit, not good
Excellon Res EXN.to jan'18 C$1.54 9-Oct-16 C$1.66 7.8% 4q17 poor, one too many bad qtrs
Wesdome Gold WDO.to jan'18 C$1.68 15-Dec-17 C$2.06 22.6% Near-term trade block, took profit
Sabina G&S SBB.to apr'18 C$2.06 17-Dec-17 C$1.77 -14.1% Near-term trade, bad timing, small
B2Gold BTO.to May'18 C$2.11 12-Sep-14 C$3.67 73.9% sold 25% to reduce exposure
Lara Expl. LRA.v May'18 C$0.65 11-Feb-18 C$0.58 -13.8% Spec on Brazil didn't work
Solitario XPL June'18 U$0.72 19-Mar-17 U$0.41 -43.1% Failed trade, may return in 4q18
SolGold plc SOLG.to July'18 C$0.475 19-Nov-17 C$0.415 -12.6% cut, trade didn't perform
Pan American PAAS July'18 U$17.90 1-Jun-18 U$16.30 8.9% modest win on short position
NGEx Res NGQ.to Sep'18 C$1.01 22-Oct-17 C$1.00 -1.0% Closed to reduce Argentina exp
Sandstorm Gold SAND Oct'18 U$3.73 17-Apr-16 U$4.13 10.7% partial sale to raise cash for GTT
Aldebaran Res ALDE.v Nov'18 n/a n/a n/a n/a liquidate spin out of REG
Stocks To Follow Closed Positions 2017
Closed in 2017 closed close price
Continental Gold CNL.to Jan'17 C$2.68 22-May-16 C$4.17 55.6% trade closed, profit taken
Focus Ventures FCV.v Jan'17 C$0.23 1-Jul-12 C$0.05 -78.3% Give up, a disaster trade
Wesdome Gold WDO.to Feb'17 C$1.72 28-Aug-16 C$3.00 74.4% Target hit, sold, good trade
Belo Sun BSX.to Mar'17 C$0.90 30-Jan-17 C$0.90 0.0% failed near-term flip trade
Lara Expl. LRA.v Mar'17 C$1.15 8-Apr-12 C$1.05 -8.7% cut to make room for new trade
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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
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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