The
2015 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, hosted by Cambridge House International, is a regional event that attracts junior from a variety of resource sectors to network, promote and exchange experience in an exciting environment rife with investors, analysts and media.
In past years, this event has been the premier meeting ground for the elite, the hopefuls and the pundits involved in the resource markets, so it was an honour to be approached by
Jay Martin, President of Cambridge House International, with a request that I become a part of this year’s conference that took place at the
Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre.
My duties involved conducting interviews at the conference’s main broadcast centre and as a result I talked to a few individuals that I think are worthy of mentioning again in this article. But first, let’s discuss the conference itself.
It’s no secret that
junior miners have been taking it in the teeth due to falling commodity prices and oil companies are feeling the heat as ‘black gold’ becomes ‘black copper’. This industry pressure manifested itself in declining numbers of exhibitors this year as companies continue to batten down the hatches in an adverse economic environment while others struggle just to keep their head above water.
Regardless of downward market trends, the conference was relatively up-beat and hosted a diverse group of resource ventures ranging from medical marijuana to mining. When I spoke with Jeremy Martin, Executive Producer of Cambridge Live TV, regarding the conference, he was excited by the cross-section of exhibitors as they opened the demographic of attendees while allowing Cambridge House the opportunity to explore new market areas not traditionally hosted at the conference. For the hands-on set, there was also a panning for gold booth, workshops with expert speakers and multiple broadcast centres.
Speaking of which, I was at the helm of a segment of programming at the Cambridge House’s main broadcast centre
where I conducted a series of interviews for the camera with a collection of representatives from companies wishing to extoll their virtues and investment potentials. Of which, here are a few that I think are worth another mention.
Robix Alternative Fuels (
CSE: RZX,
Stock Forum). Although for some reason I had trouble with the name, the company has an interesting offering which involves marine-based oil spill clean-up. The whole process is
based on patented technology involving contra-rotating metal drums utilizing the Bernoulli Effect and the basic affinity between oil and metal.
The science sounds complicated but in reality it’s pretty simple; two drums rotating in opposite directions, suck up the oil/water mixture and the oil sticks to the drums which are then squeegeed separating the oil into containers while the clean water returns to the source.
The rubber has hit the road on this one, as Brian Gusko, company director explained, stating that a 40ft version mounted in a nautically stable catamaran called a
Clean Ocean Vessel (“COV”) was expected to be ready for use in January and a 10ft version which was announced to be constructed back in December. Besides the build and sell platform, the company has plans for recurring revenue from consultation and environmental programs. Considering the dangers of marine-bound oil spills, their increasing frequency and present technology’s inability to adequately clean fouled locations,
Robix’s COV has a fair amount of potential.
Supreme Pharmaceuticals (
CSE: SL,
Stock Forum) came on with both guns firing. This company is one of a handful of Medical Marijuana grower hopefuls left standing after the MMJ hype bubble burst and investors began expecting actual performance for their money. I spoke with their IR & Corporate Finance representative, Zachary Stadnyk, who matched the energy and fervour of the company’s promises.
Supreme is still waiting on their MMPR approval, but they are ready for inspection and back in December sent of a letter to Health Canada, notifying them they can come by any time for a look-see at their facility in Kincardine, Ontario.
Speaking of facilities, the
Supreme Greenhouse is nothing short of gargantuan, covering a sprawling 342,000 square feet which Zachary was proud to explain utilized a hybrid paradigm which took advantage of greenhouse lighting during off-season growing and leading-edge feeding technologies while using the broad spectrum benefits of natural sunlight. Size does matter, especially when Supreme states they’re going to sell their
high-grade product at Walmart prices of approximately $5/gram. They are also committed to programs to assist qualifying patients on limited income to access their products as well as producing product lines using shake and clippings. It will be interesting to see, once they have their MMPR, how Supreme delivers on their promise on an economically accessible sea of green.
What I found interesting about
Lomiko Metals (
TSX: V.LMR,
Stock Forum) was its diversification. Paul Gill, company CEO, explained that in light of the recently announced location of Tesla’s gigafactory outside of Reno with its proposed 500,000 battery pack per year production presented an incredible opportunity for graphite producers that are able to position themselves for high-end, large-flake graphite used in the production of lithium ion batteries. But production isn’t enough in today’s market where resources and technology are beginning to merge.
So on top of their highly prospective Quatre Miles Graphite property in Quebec,
Lomiko, with Paul at the helm, has established a healthy multi-pronged approach which saw the company create Graphene 3D Lab last year to take advantage of Graphite’s newest disruptive form, Graphene, as it pertains to the explosive 3D printing space. With Graphene’s almost limitless potential, Lomiko seeks to spin off two new technology plays this year,
Graphene ESD and Lomiko Technologies.
Graphene ESD deals with energy storage devices and is a relative no-brainer as Graphene is set to turn the “ESD” market on its ear with hitherto unknown storage capacity and nearly-instant charging. Lomiko is a bit harder to explain, but suffice it to say the new entity will have secured the rights to manufacture and sell three power convertor system designs along with the pending supply contract for an existing customer, Megahertz Power Systems.
This presents a robust economic atmosphere for the company and Gill has met the challenges of spreading the company’s wings with aplomb. I think
Lomiko is an entity to consider for portfolio adoption.
International banking is finally getting reined in after the fallout of the Great Recession (read Depression) resulting from the banking crisis of 2007. With the impending implementation of both the Basel and Dodd-Frank regulations, international banks are scrambling to insure they are actually following the upcoming capital requirements and compliance regulations.
BlackIce Enterprises (
CSE: BIS,
Stock Forum) hopes to help these behemoth institutions guide themselves back from the financial shenanigans that dropped the world in the economic crapper.
This isn’t an easy task as company Vice President, Dale Paruk, explained. First you have the internal departmental workings of these massive institutions to deal with, whom according to banking executives, have a reputation of bumping heads rather than cooperation. Then you have a sea of big data seemingly unrelated streaming in from a multitude of locations across time zones and banking jurisdictions. With
regulators pushing banks to comply with these new rules well before the official implementation target of 2017, the financial community is at its wits end to bring together this unruly monster.
Through almost a decade of expert consultation and development,
BlackIce has produced a platform that brings all of this data together, interpolates it and allows those responsible to gauge compliance at almost a glance for not only countries and regions but right down to a specific banking branch.
Again the rubber has hit the road on this one, as the company’s reporting
products are complete, leaving a healthy profit margin of 50%+ with ongoing costs and research making a -20% hit on revenue with fees received for installation, maintenance product upgrades. BlackIce already is working on a cloud-based version with the help of IBM and is targeting a major expansion into the U.S. With a possible U.S. licensing agreement in the works with Ernst & Young, a big 5 auditor, BlackIce is developing the relationships necessary to become the dominant service provider in this potentially immense sector.
The next one gets a mention because it confused me.
Geo Novus Minerals (
CSE: GNM,
Stock Forum) found itself unable to fund its Uruguayan weed efforts in December when along came Nick Brusatore who is at the centre of a legal battle between Affinor Growers (
CSE: AFI,
Stock Forum) and Abbatis Bioceuticals (
CSE: ATT,
Stock Forum). Nick saw the flaming ship and suggested a radical change in tact for the failing enterprise – entertainment.
The company announced the acquisition of Greenstock Publishing, a Canada music publisher, for ten million Geo Novus shares in December and brought Greenstock CEO, Joe Wowk onto its board of directors. It then terminated its agreements in Uruguay and appointed “Tour Manager to the Stars”, Martin Kramer to its Advisory Board.
Now according to Colin Weibe, company spokesperson and Canadian musician of relative renown,
Geo Novus is heading full-tilt into film production with two star-attached projects in the works. But wait, it doesn’t stop there, they’re going to capture the web media market as well. You see, apparently
it’s all about access, and Geo Novus with its one executive producer, Tim Marlowe, who won an Oscar for a documentary short, is supposed to have the necessary reach to propel the company into entertainment
dominance in both classically produced film and the emerging web media market.
Truth be known, I have been involved intimately in the film and entertainment industry for almost thirty years in myriad of roles from production to performance. What Colin and Geo Novus are peddling is an age-old story of triumph which usually fizzles in disaster.
If I had a dime for every potential producing success story of ‘this film is the most important piece to grace the screen this century’ or ‘this company will change the face of entertainment’, I would be a billionaire. What’s more, I’ve heard this story from individuals far more qualified than the aforementioned individuals with projects that truly were gems and yet they ended in failure.
By all means do your own due diligence, you can check out
Tim Marlowe’s IMDB page and I found the
company’s new website online. They may produce a couple of made-for-TV films starring some people who were famous in the eighties, but I would be surprised if they built themselves into an entertainment empire. But that’s just
my opinion.
Finally
Biomark Diagnostics (
CSE: BUX,
Stock Forum) has a
cancer detection platform that shows some tremendous potential and if its price point can be brought down, I see it dominating the market in emerging economic regions. I spoke with Rashid Bux, company CEO, and was impressed with his drive, and candour. He is personally attached to the technology that provides early detection of cancer through identifying the metabolized result of Amantadine given to patients prior to measurement. Yes,
you can discover the probability of having cancer through peeing in a cup.
The procedure is non-invasive and the administered Amantadine safely eliminates from the patient after the testing procedure. With 90% of cancers being curable if caught early, Biomarks ABA products
can determine the potential presence of cancer before the earliest CT scans are able to identify cancerous growths at 2 mm in size. I like the tech, I like the people behind it, I like the potential and I’ve seen a sample product. It will be interesting to see how this company develops over the next 24 months.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Supreme Pharmaceuticals is a Stockhouse Publishing client.