No Investment Pays off more than Education

(Image via Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.)

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
- Wayne Gretzky (or Michael Scott)

It has been a busy week for markets and investors alike, with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, US election sanctity in peril (what is left of it), and global issues dominating headlines. Each new twist has sent currencies and commodities bouncing up and down, and no one can figure out where the middle ground lies.

But the motion of individual companies is easier to get a grasp on, and the Bullboards have been alive debating some of the biggest names and movers over the past week. It is important for an investor to spend some time outside of their own head and gauge where their peers are at. As always, Stockhouse users have been taking advantage of the chance to connect.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX: IVN, Forum) noted this week that underground development at its Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen its ramped-up commissioning of Phase 1, 3.8 million-tonne-per-annum (Mtpa) concentrator plant quickly progress toward nameplate capacity. Kamoa-Kakula's initial copper concentrate was produced on May 25th.

This was positive news for IVN as it responded to media reports regarding the export of copper and cobalt concentrate from the DRC.



Miners in the DRC received an order that banned the export of copper and cobalt concentrated from the country.

The order was issued to customs officials by the provincial director of customs and excise in the Katanga province of the DRC. However, Ivanhoe Mines is also aware of a subsequent letter confirming that companies with a derogation, or exemption letter from the Minister of Mines will be allowed to export concentrates.

Brushing off the concentrate export ban, Ivanhoe Mines President and CFO Marna Cloete commented that this is not a new thing, however, the rules now recognize that a derogation may be justified for a number of reasons.

“Kamoa Copper has filed the necessary application materials and we have had constructive discussions with the Minister of Mines on obtaining a derogation for Kamoa-Kakula given current limitations on smelting capacity in-country.”

This is not the only resource company facing controversy. Last week, we told you about embattled junior Canadian oil and gas company Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (TSX-V: RECO, Forum) who tried to gaslight an exposé from National Geographic that accused RECO of carrying out illegal activities in Namibia.

Since then, Governor Bonifasius Wakudumo of East Kavango released a statement published by RECO calling it a reputable and trustworthy company.

This comes as investigations continue to pile up against Recon Energy over possible securities fraud committed by the company, the latest of which is Pomerantz LLP, who is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Intrusion Inc. (NASDAQ: INTZ).

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Sokoman Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: SIC, Forum) announced that, together with Benton Resources Inc. (TSX-V: BEX), it has established a joint acquisition of the 324 claim (8,100 hectare) Grey River Gold Project in southern Newfoundland.

The Property includes 11 claim units (275 hectares) optioned from local interests under letter agreements. The Grey River acquisition is consistent with the newly formed Sokoman / Benton Alliance, which is targeting district-scale gold opportunities in Newfoundland. Sokoman is now one of the largest land holders in Newfoundland with direct ownership or co-ownership of over 150,000 hectares (more than 6,000 claims) and is sufficiently funded to advance its portfolio of properties.

Gold grades reported from historic grab samples and channel samples from the property range from less than 1 g/t to over 225 g/t Au, locally with 200-300 g/t Ag.

SIC intends to release more details in the coming weeks.



Big news from HEXO Corp. (TSX: HEXO, Forum) this week. The licensed cannabis producer has acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Zenabis Global Inc (TSX: ZENA).

HEXO CEO and co-founder Sebastien St-Louis called it a great day for his company.

“With the acquisition of Zenabis, we are actively positioning HEXO for future expansion in Canada, Europe and beyond. This deal will strengthen our domestic brands, offer a foothold in Europe and provide significant accretive synergies as we continue towards our goal of becoming EPS positive and a top-three global cannabis products company.”

Each former Zenabis shareholder will receive 0.01772 of a common share in the capital of HEXO for each Zenabis share.
Therma Bright Inc. (TSX-V: THRM, Forum) recently provided an update on the Brazilian clinical study of its 15- minute COVID-19 antigen saliva test.

Following last week’s announcement on securing K-One MediTech as the Asia-based manufacturer, Therma Bright has finalized the AcuVid test kit specifications and is initiating a clinical evaluation study of the product. Therma Bright anticipates a full update on the progress from its Brazilian partners at Federal University of Minas Gerais within the next 8 to 12 days.

Rob Fia, Therma Bright’s CEO said that this key clinical study requires that each tested participant take our AcuVid COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Saliva Test as well as a 24-hour RT-PCR test which will be used as the gold-standard comparator test.

“In order to ensure success in our FDA-EUA (USA), HC (Canada), ANVISA (Brazil) and INVIMA (Colombia) approval and certification, the clinical evaluations for our COVID-19 antigen test must use natural clinical specimens, in order to confirm the performance of our assay. It also requires our test solution to achieve a minimum of 30 positive and 30 negative specimens in the study. We are being vigilant and focused at exceeding these minimum requirements.”

This brings us to our weekly Investor Pulse Poll question. Last week, we asked your thoughts on whether the rollout of these COVID-19 solutions, both on the vaccine front, but from tests such as this, is improving your confidence to a pre-pandemic norm. It turns out that half of you are willing to take some time before admitting that the storm has passed, while the other two thirds of those who responded were split on whether or not your expectations are being met here and now.



This week’s Buzz on the Bullboards comes to you roughly halfway through the calendar year and we want to know which sector are you most bullish on to perform best for the second half of 2021? Let us know your thoughts by clicking the image below.


(Click image to vote.)

Its earnings season and Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX: WEED, Forum) released its financial results for Q4 2021 and Fiscal Year 2021 this week. The cannabis and cannabinoid-based consumer product company reported 37% revenue growth in FY 2021 with strong double-digit growth across both cannabis and other consumer products businesses, as well as continued top spot market share of the total flower category in Canada.



Earnings are coming in from other sectors as well, such as tech and Datametrex AI Ltd. (TSX-V: DM, Forum) reported a record revenue achievement in Q1 FY2021 - thanks to growth across its COVID-19 sales and its related services with the film and production industry and uptake in its health technology business.

Revenue clocked in at $19,045,888 (CAD) and net earnings of $9,560,351. Adjusted EBITDA also improved significantly to $10,684,254 in Q1 2021. The adjusted EBITDA reflects the company's operations, not including non-cash items. Datametrex also improved its cash balance by 17,044% from Q1 2020.

As the company continues to build an integrated health technology company, Marshall Gunter, CEO of Datametrex said that these Q1 results reflect another record period of strong execution.

The company’s chairman, Andrew Ryu added that having entered 2021 coming off a record 2020 year in revenue, this trend is expected to continue to improve quarter over quarter as the team focuses on increasing its revenue channel with strategic funding of our sales and operations teams to drive business.

“Additionally, any future acquisitions in the pipeline will accelerate the development of our health technology business steering expansion efforts that will help accelerate our ability to continue to increase our revenue.”

In 2020, Datametrex recorded revenue of $12,378,024 (CAD), a 264% increase from 2019, and significantly improved its cash balance, up 1,648% from 2019.

A leader in smart buildings and cities through IoT, cloud, and SaaS technology, Kontrol Energy Corp. (CSE: KNR, Forum) also released its financial results for Q1 2021.

This included revenues of $3.3 million (CAD), up 20% over the same quarter in the prior year. Cash flows from operating activities were $592,153 for the three months ended March 31st, 2021 ; an improvement of $610,964 over the same quarter in the prior year.

After receiving a $700,000 (CAD) grant from Sustainable Development Technology Canada for a novel production process to transform quartz into fumed silica using a plasma reactor, PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (TSX-V.PYR, Forum) announced this week that Nannette Ramsey has joined its Board of Directors and Ben Simo has been named the new CFO.

Ramsey brings manufacturing experience from Caterpillar Tractor Company, JI Case and more recently as Site Manager and Associate Director of Engineering for Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.

Her expertise includes strategic planning, budgeting, engineering support and testing, quality assurance and information technology solutions.

Simo has more than 20 years of experience in finance with manufacturing and high-tech Canadian companies. His extensive knowledge base includes corporate finance, operational finance, accounting, taxation, and financial reporting.
Following a shortened week on account of the long weekend in the US, next week should bring a return to normalcy.

Unfortunately, with new twists affecting the markets left, right, and centre, something will always come up that throws a wrench in things. The best place to make sense of it, and to see who is making money, is diving into the Stockhouse Bullboards. For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards: click here.

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FULL DISCLOSURE: Therma Bright Inc., Datametrex AI Ltd., and PyroGenesis Canada Inc are clients of Stockhouse Publishing.