Off topic but of interest.............................
Power Nickel follows through on short-selling complaint
2023-12-12 09:07 ET - News Release
Mr. Terry Lynch reports
POWER NICKEL FILES COMPLAINT ON WIDESPREAD POTENTIAL ILLEGAL SHORT SELLING OF ITS SHARES
Together with its advisers, Power Nickel Inc. has filed an official complaint detailing significant and persistent position imbalances for its stock. This troubling imbalance is defined as a broker having an insufficient number of shares in its depository account compared with the number of beneficially owned shares for its customers. This can indicate potential naked short selling and other manipulative actions designed to artificially drive down share prices. Power Nickel is bringing this to the attention of all Canadian investors to make them aware of the non-market factors that have led to the terrible performance of the TSX Venture Exchange despite this being, on the whole, a robust commodity market.
TSX-V index performance since inception
"As founder of Save Canadian Mining, we have been at the forefront of trying to bring industry and investor attention to this problem and to create evidence to compel regulators, exchanges, securities commissions and government to act to prevent the continued destruction of the Canadian capital markets, which for a very long time made us the centre of the mining world," stated Power Nickel chief executive officer Terry Lynch. "We have now delivered the complaint and evidence to the regulators; we also are providing it to our industry association, PDAC [Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada], as there is widespread unhappiness from many mining companies who are experiencing the same issues Power Nickel has faced. We are the first to deliver the evidence, but we certainly won't be the last. Recent legal rulings now make banks responsible for providing oversight on their clients who are doing computerized algorithmic trading and engaging in illegal activity, such as spoofing or naked short selling. Should they be found to fail to provide their oversight, they could potentially be liable for the damages created. Our industry is waking up. Solving this problem could unlock the biggest mining boom of our lifetime. It boggles the mind to believe that these forces will continue to short these capital markets when liability is now a big issue and evidence is growing. Far better we think that the regulators choose to fix the problem and restore order and faith in this market."
The evidence provided to the regulators by Power Nickel shows a negative imbalance that started collectively around three million shares and now stands at well over nine million shares on the 80 per cent of the float of Power Nickel's stock that information can be obtained on.
With Power Nickel's permission, CDS (Canadian Depository for Securities), DTC (Depository Trust Company), Broadridge, the company's transfer agent, and others provided Power Nickel data to ShareIntel-Shareholder Intelligence Services LLC, which through its patented DRIL-Down process gathers actionable intelligence on behalf of publicly traded companies that engage its services, in an effort to uncover suspicious stock-trading activity. Over the past 16 weeks alone, more than nine million excess shares of Power Nickel were traded beyond what was likely delivered. According to Wes Christian, the top attorney in this area of expertise, the remaining approximately 20 per cent of the float not captured can historically contain even larger imbalances. This persistent gap is costing investors and sabotaging Canada's critical-minerals sector.
About Power Nickel Inc.
Power Nickel is a Canadian junior exploration company focusing on high-potential copper, gold and battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile.
On Feb. 1, 2021, Power Nickel (then called Chilean Metals) completed the acquisition of its option to acquire up to 80 per cent of the Nisk project from Critical Elements Lithium Corp.
The Nisk property comprises a large land position (20 kilometres of strike length) with numerous high-grade intercepts. Power Nickel is focused on confirming and expanding its current high-grade nickel-copper-PGE (platinum group element) historical resource by preparing a new mineral resource estimate in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, identifying additional high-grade mineralization, and developing a process to potentially produce nickel sulphates responsibly for batteries to be used in the electric-vehicle industry.
Power Nickel confirmed on June 8, 2021, that an agreement has been made to complete the 100-per-cent acquisition of its Golden Ivan project in the heart of the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle has reported mineral resources (past production and current resources) in total of 67 million ounces of gold, 569 million ounces of silver and 27 billion pounds of copper. This property hosts two known mineral showings (gold ore and magee) and a portion of the past-producing Silverado mine, which was reportedly exploited between 1921 and 1939. These mineral showings are described to be polymetallic veins that contain quantities of silver, lead and zinc (plus/minus gold and plus/minus copper).
Power Nickel is the 100-per-cent owner of five properties comprising over 50,000 acres strategically located in the prolific iron-oxide-copper-gold belt of northern Chile. It also owns a 3-per-cent net smelter return royalty interest on any future production from the Copaquire copper-molybdenum deposit, recently sold to a subsidiary of Teck Resources Inc. Under the terms of the sale agreement, Teck has the right to acquire one-third of the 3-per-cent NSR for $3-million at any time. The Copaquire property borders Teck's producing Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile's Region 1.
We seek Safe Harbor.