Do rising tides truly lift all ships? We are in the midst of a strong earnings season and U.S. markets have reacted in kind.
Strong earnings growth pushed Wall Street indices towards fresh record highs this past week. While activity moved lower earlier on, the belief is the economy will continue to recover as the year progresses on the back of monetary policy support.
Volatility still seems likely in the near-term and during the early months of the year, we have been focusing on stock prices in Buzz on the Bullboards, but it is important to remember that price is more of a useful indication for investors to see where the trends are, but it is not a market fundamental.
However, when you have data on the current winners, it makes it easier to identify sectors (or niches) where valuations are generally rising. For bargain-hunters on the other hand, getting data on stocks that are trending lower and lower can be a head-start on due diligence.
Tilray Brands’ (TSX:TLRY, Forum) subsidiary Manitoba Harvest is partnering with a bioactives company to deliver a new health food product.
Manitoba Harvest is a producer of branded hemp-based foods with a product portfolio of hemp hearts (shelled hemp seed), hemp protein, hemp protein blends, hemp wellness bars, hemp granola, and hemp oil. Its products are sold globally and in around 17,000 retail stores across North America.
The company has partnered with bioactives operation Brightseed to bring this new product, Manitoba Harvest Bioactive Fibre, to the functional foods market. Combined with Brightseed’s Bio Gut Fibre, a novel ingredient made from the outer shells of hemp seeds, it is now exclusively available at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide.
The team conducted AI-led research that identified these outer shells as an untapped source of dietary fibre that could be beneficial for gut health.
Source: Tilray Brands, Inc.
“With the debut of Manitoba Harvest Bioactive Fibre, we’re not just introducing a product; we’re rediscovering the nutritional capacity of hemp after nearly 70 years in the dark,” Jared Simon, president of Manitoba Harvest and Tilray Wellness, said in a news release. “Bioactives are gaining huge strides in nutrition science but are largely undiscovered and remain underutilized in health foods. At Manitoba Harvest, we’re on a mission to harness the wellness potential of hemp with simple health solutions that contribute to a sustainable future.”
PyroGenesis Canada (TSX:PYR, Forum) made big news this week on news it had reached a new milestone for its pilot plant development with HPQ Silicon (TSXV:HPQ).
The fumed silica reactor (FSR) technology project is being worked on with HPQ’s wholly owned subsidiary Silica Polvere Inc. With the engineering design having concluded, major fabrication ending, and all additional peripheral materials having been ordered, the 50 tonnes per year FSR pilot plant is now entering the construction phase.
The FSR pilot plant will be constructed inside PyroGenesis’ facilities, with a custom-designed infrastructure that meets the pilot plant’s unique ventilation, safety and access requirements. A 370-square-metre facility with a 9-metre height allowance has been allocated to house the pilot plant, which itself has an approximate layout footprint of 15 metres by 9 metres.
The FSR converts quartz into fumed silica (also known as pyrogenic silica) in a single step while eliminating the use of harmful chemicals generated by conventional methods.
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Fumed silica is a moisture-absorbing white microstructure powder with high surface area and low bulk density. It is most often used as a thickening agent, anti-caking agent and stabilizer to improve the texture and consistency of products. The commercial applications of fumed silica can be found in many industries across thousands of product lines, including personal care, powdered food, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, adhesives, paints, sealants, construction, batteries and automotive.
If successful, the team said the FSR could provide a groundbreaking contribution to the repatriation of silica production to North America.
The pilot plant’s construction has begun with commissioning anticipated by Q2 2024.
“This development milestone initiates the construction phase of what we believe to be a truly innovative approach to producing one of industry’s most in-demand materials,” P. Peter Pascali, PyroGenesis’ president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Conventional fumed silica processes, which rely on silicon metal (Si) as raw material, not only have a significant carbon footprint of around 9.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of fumed silica, but also present complex process challenges which include, but are not limited to, using hazardous materials. The technology developed by PyroGenesis for HPQ Polvere is designed to offer significant economic and environmental advantages over conventional manufacturers – improving profitability, but also reducing the environmental footprint and reducing the harmful chemicals associated with traditional fumed silica production.”
Finally, we have New Found Gold (TSXV:NFG, Forum), which recently reported results from 29 diamond drill holes that were completed as part of a program designed to expand on the recently discovered K2 Zone in its district-scale Queensway Project in Newfoundland and Labrador.
K2 is a gold mineralized system made up of multiple structures and crosscutting vein orientations that now spans a mineralized footprint of 490 metres long by 395 metres wide. The gold mineralization begins at surface and has been drill-defined down to a maximum vertical depth of 250 metres, where it remains open and untested.
In a media release on this news, the company’s VP of exploration, Melissa Render, stated, “As we continue to expand and target specific areas within the K2 fault network with the drill bit, the results have strengthened, and we have identified multiple domains of high-grade gold in addition to broad intersections of gold mineralization. Located 2.2 km north of Keats on the west side of the Appleton Fault Zone, K2 and other significant zones such as Keats West and Monte Carlo demonstrate the strong prospectivity of this package of rocks. Characterized by high-grade gold mineralization starting at surface with a shallow dip, this zone is accessible to explore at depth with minimal metres as it remains open and continues to deliver encouraging results.”
The Queensway Project comprises a 1,662 square km area, accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway, 15 km west of Gander. New Found Gold is conducting a 650,000-metre drill program at the project and approximately 7,000 metres of core is currently pending assay results.
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