Category Archives: Batteries
PDAC 2025 -Prospectors and Developers Association Annual Convention
It is that time again! A most important time of the year for investors in the thousands of companies involved in the mineral exploration and mining business globally.
With the many transitions in communications, finance, currencies, transportation and other crucial industries the spotlight on mineral discoveries has arguably never been more prominent than in 2025.
The 2025 Prospectors and Developers Association Convention (PDAC) is the landmark event for the global mineral exploration and mining industry, scheduled from March 2-5 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This 93rd annual convention, renowned as the world’s premier gathering of its kind, will host over 1,100 exhibitors and attract nearly 30,000 attendees from over 135 countries.
With cutting-edge programming, a world-class trade show, and unparalleled networking opportunities, PDAC 2025 aims to foster innovation, collaboration, and investment in the sector. This year’s convention promises to spotlight critical issues like sustainability, indigenous engagement, and emerging market trends.
The many hospitality suites generate lasting memories for geologists from around the world who may only get to see each other at annual events such as this. The size and scope of these events can indeed be a barometer of how well the industry is doing at the time.
So for many investors in these companies it is a chance to reconnect with management andwe expect this year to be no different, please enjoy safely!
Register before Feb 07, 2025 for discounted rates.
Editor,
The Canadian Junior Report
Gold and Silver Price Breakouts
It has finally happened, silver has broken out past the Feb 2021 high after a long pullback and consolidation. Gold has broken out weekly gold chart to new all time highs of course as everyone who follows the sector knows by now. This happened back in April 2024 and price per ounce has been appreciating ever since, much to the delight of gold bugs everywhere!
In fact Goldman Sachs just announced their new gold price estimate: Goldman Sachs raises gold price target to S$2,900/oz by early 2025 on sovereign buying, fund flows.
“We reiterate our long gold recommendation due to the gradual boost from lower global interest rates, structurally higher central bank demand and gold’s hedging benefits against geopolitical, financial, and recessionary risks,” the bank said in a note.
Silver on the other hand has just broken out albeit not to all time highs, but nevertheless it has broken out of a significant resistance area. Weekly silver chart.
Now the gold/silver price ratio is still at historically highs of about 82:1 whereas a healthy ratio some investors believe to be as low as 16:1! Therefore many people (experts??) are calling for much higher silver prices and have been doing so for a long time. So these are exciting times for silver buffs and we could see various events coming together for a long awaited bull market in silver and silver mining companies.
Hold on to your hats and lets see what bargains are out there. CJR has been following Mexican based silver producer Avino Silver and Gold Mines for many years. We are currently seeing a breakout above the price going way back to July 2021, with shares trading at $1.56 (cad). CJR does not currently own shares and Avino is not a client. However we may soon own shares since we see this well managed silver producer as a solid way to participate in what looks like a coming silver bull market.
Stay tuned for more info on these exciting breakouts…
Editor
CJR
Latest Video: Appia Rare Earths and Uranium Corp.
Appia has been very busy with 2 drill campaigns happening simultaneously currently in 2023.
ALCES LAKE SASKATCHEWAN:
One is the Alces Lake Rare Earth Project located in northwest Saskatchewan. This is the 2nd year of serious diamond drill exploration on the property and the company is about to start releasing results from the summer/fall drilling.
PCH PROJECT BRAZIL:
A very fortuitous gain of an ionic clay PCH Rare Earth Project in Goias Brazil has also been keeping the company busy drilling. Assay results are just beginning to be delivered from this property also and they are looking excellent. They have gone deeper and have been rewarded, and also plan to explore much more of the property.
Exciting times for the company and management who have been working diligently on developing rare earth prospects for some years now. Congratulations that the hard work is paying off.
Here is a link to the Latest Appia Video with CEO Tom Drivas, (Oct 24 202).
This video is over an hour long and provides a comprehesive view of the latest company updates.
Disclaimer: Editor holds shares in Appia and was an original investor in the 1st financing.
Mines and Money 2023
The annual Mines and Money conference could be considered the next significant mining event upcoming up in 2023. It is happening in London England as per usual, this year it takes place from Nov 28th to Nov 30th. Mines and Money/London website link
-Observing this conference can be a good way to “take the temperature” of the junior mining exploration. industry, especially as a precursor to the annual PDAC condference which happens early every March in Toronto.
-Keeping an eye on awards given out at Mines and Money, plus who is getting financed and which sectors are popular can give investors some valuable clues as to where the overall industry is heading.
We will be watching Mines and Money 2023 with a keen eye this year!
China Restricts Additional Rare Earth Metals
China is continuing on its path of restricting export access to certain metals.
As of August 01, 2023 germaniun and gallium have been added to the list. This is in addition
to restrictions on various rare earth metals which began as export quotas around 2010.
China controls around 90% of the supply of rare earth minerals as well as control of technologies surrounding the manufacture of products using these metals.
China has been enacting a policy of increasing restrictions on exporting these metals and technologies
causing western countries to scramble to put together their own supply chains. A large premium has been put upon getting production into place since these various metals are essential to western defense department This puts them in the category of national security resources. Not to mention the electric vehicle explosion requires these metals as well as many other technologies developed in recent years such as wind turbines, batteries, solar devices and so on.
Here is a link to an article about the latest restrictions of germanium and gallium written by the publication TheHill.com.
TheHill.com article
PDAC Conference 2023 on March 5-8 in Toronto
Prospectors and Developers Association Convention (PDAC).
It is time again for Toronto’s world renowned mining conference to take place for 2023!
Last year (2022) as society in general was still battling the pandemic, the conference was postponed from the usual date and held in the middle of June. Thankfully we are able to attend in March this year, the usual time slot over the years.
Therefore we are able to relay to our readers that the official PDAC date is March 05-08, 2023.
Fortunately for the industry as noted in a recent article on the Canadian Junior Report, the sector seems to have risen from a low in collective market cap/share price since October 2022.
This has certainly cheered on investors and spurred even more intense exploration efforts from participants. Especially important since there seems to be no end to the demand for traditional metals plus a need for various ‘new’ minerals used in the technological society of the modern world.
With the usual blend of exploration companies, service providers, equipment manufacturers and financiers, we expect this years PDAC to be as busy as any previous years with much business transacted.
There will be many talks, meetings, educational events, awards and a refreshing beverage or two will be shared as participants from all over the globe congregate.
We hope to see you there!
The official address is the Metro Convention Center, North Building location located at 255 Front Street West, two blocks west of York Street.
The South Building entrance is located at 222 Bremner Boulevard, one block north of Lakeshore Boulevard, west of York Street.
Canadian Junior Report
Junior Exploration Companies 2023 Update
After experiencing what appears to be a bottoming phase in market cap/share prices prices in October 2023, it appears that the worst may be over for investors in the junior company exploration sector.
The market caps of many of the companies on the junior exchanges have risen 20% to 100% or more and many have held their gains – much to the relief of battered investors.
There are various reasons for the cyclical nature of this sector, some easier to identify than others.
The demand for traditional as well as more exotic minerals is not going away anytime soon it appears. In fact there is incredible demand for some metals and minerals in our current technological society.
-For example the demand for lithium hydroxide seems to know very few bounds and the price has soared to $79,000.00 per ton (U.S).
Lithium Chart- Feb 01, 2023
Lithium is used in batteries for the electric vehicle market and this has spurred a major amount of exploration activity for new lithium deposits around the globe.
-Demand for copper is reportedly going to reach unheard of numbers in the near future as well, although price has not really reflected that as of yet. As seen on the internet, a report from S&P Global forecasts that “global demand for the metal could double by 2035, from 25 million metric tons to 50 million metric tons.”
The report also stated that “by 2030, supply from both existing and projected copper mining activities will meet just 80% of our needs.”
Copper Charts from Kitco.com
-In fact all of the minerals used in electric vehicles such as copper, aluminum, manganese, indium, rare earth elements, helium, cobalt, graphite and potash are apparently much needed in our society moving ahead.
-This is not even mentioning the uranium sector which is really a great solution for a lot of our energy problems according to many experts in the field, as the carbon generation is virtually non-existent with nuclear energy.
-So in speaking for weary investors, we say let the good times return to this sector, it has been a long wait!!
Global Lithium demand continues to Dazzle
LITHIUM! The new oil?
One of the biggest commodity stories of 2021 is the enormous demand for lithium to supply batteries for electric vehicles. Electric vehicle production has grown at a staggering pace for anyone aware that not that long ago all the electric cars made were taken out into the desert and destroyed! Now I wonder who was behind those shenanigans?
At any rate we have a new consciousness which declares that electric vehicles are going to save the planet from overheating and we need them to replace ICE vehicles as soon as yesterday.
For this to occur we need batteries and lots of them! Those batteries take lithium to construct, hence the lithium price has soared to all time highs of approximately $30,000.00/ton U.S. as companies and countries move aggressively to obtain reliable supplies.
Further, according to data from the website MarketsandMarkets.com, (Article Link)the demand by 2025 will increase by more than double:
The lithium compounds market is projected to grow from USD 5.3 billion in 2020 to USD 13.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 20.6% from 2020 to 2025.
A junior exploration company which we own shares in largely because of faith in management is Infinite Ore Corp. (ILI.V OTCQB-ARXRF)
Jackpot Lithium deposit is the name of their established lithium deposit near Thunder Bay Ontario which is high grade although is rather small at present and needs to be expanded by more exploration. Jackpot is approximately 2 million tones of over 1% lithium which is considered high grade.
ILI has very recently closed a financing for approximately $8 million (cad) to expand their lithium holdings although it is unclear at this point where they will focus their spending.
We await further guidance from management, and the prospect has not gone unnoticed as the company valuation has basically doubled recently on the news of financing. The financing was done around 100% below where the share price was trading so that tells you something positive is happening in the sector and the company as well/
Stay tuned for updates and “GO Lithium!”
Disclosure: Editor owns shares of Infinite Ore Corp. and may buy or sell at any time. Infinite Ore Corp. is
-
not
a paid client.