?? Ivanhoe in the Spotlight

CEO.CA Presents the Chairman's Briefing - Dec.?22, 2022

“Never try to sell at the top. It isn't wise. Sell after a reaction if there is no rally”― Edwin Lefèvre, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator

?In Partnership With

Blue Star Gold Corp?(TSXV: BAU | OTCQB: BAUFF | FSE: 5WP0)

Landholdings total?270 square kilometres of highly prospective and underexplored mineral properties in Nunavut.

Metals/Crypto Prices

Some say the global economy is at an inflection point. Some say we're already in a recession... been there for several months. No matter, every analyst and their dog now believes we're facing economic weakness heading into 2023. But just how weak? Crystal ball that one.

Gold vs the Greenback

An aggressive Fed and a strong U.S. Dollar knee-capped the precious metals for a good part of 2022. But they appear to want higher.

After breaking substantially below its 50 SMA—a line we've discussed at length in these pages—recent trade in the Greenback may be setting the stage for further weakness, and firmer precious metals prices.

Though Gold continues to flirt with stiff resistance at $1825...

... we still haven't seen that price chart trajectory that'll prompt the party faithful to declare, "It's Go Time."

Recent Price Strength

A surprise tweak by the BOJ, a move that stunned financial markets when they raised their benchmark rate cap from 0.25% to 0.50%, is being blamed for the Dollar weakness and this recent flurry in the Gold arena—Precious metals rally as U.S. dollar extends losses.

High inflation, a menacing Fed, and slow economic growth (not to mention a delicate Dollar) could prove a potent cocktail for the metal as we plow into 2023.

Several weighty headlines crossed my screen in recent sessions...

Lithium Americas Likes Pastos Grandes

In a move designed to bulk up its exposure to the?Pastos Grandes Basin?in Argentina,?Lithium Americas?took out?Canadian?Arena Minerals?in a deal valued at $227 million (LAC already controlled a good chunk of AN's outstanding common)—Lithium Americas to Acquire Arena Minerals to Consolidate the Highly Prospective Pastos Grandes Basin.

LAC CEO Jonathan Evans: “The significant synergies between our two projects and a better understanding of the basin will enable us to advance development planning and maximize our growth pipeline in Argentina.”

Acknowledging the acquisition, one James Kwantes over at?CEO.CA...

With Lithium's supply / demand dynamics lopsided in the biggest way, you don't need top-shelf IQ digits to spot the potential in this arena, particularly in the juniors pushing high-quality Li assets along the resource/development curve. Got Lithium?

In Partnership With

Blue Star is a gold Company focused on exploration and development within Nunavut, Canada.??Blue Star’s landholdings total approximately 270 square kilometres of highly prospective and underexplored mineral properties in the High Lake Greenstone Belt, Nunavut.

The Company owns the Ulu Property lease, an advanced gold project, the Hood River Property that is contiguous to Ulu, and the Roma Project.

A significant high-grade gold resource exists at the Flood Zone deposit (Ulu lease), and numerous gold occurrences and priority targets occur throughout the Ulu, Hood River and Roma Projects.?

For information on the Company and its projects, please visit:?www.bluestargold.ca.

Forced Holiday for?Cobre Panama?

In the ongoing saga between the Panamanian government and Canada's?First Quantum Minerals?- after the latter missed a December 14 deadliner - Panama is now playing hardball (or hard to get) -?Panama orders First Quantum to halt copper mine operations.

?Signatures put to an agreement earlier this year apparently guaranteed the Central American country a fat minimum royalty of $375 million per year.

The dispute, which has seen an escalation in recent weeks, is lean on details. Even the?Panamanian chapter of Transparency International?is denouncing what it calls a 'lack of clarity' in the negotiations between the government of President Laurentino Cortizo and Minera Panamá, the local subsidiary of First Quantum—Transparency International denounces lack of clarity in Cobre Panamá's negotiations.

“The case of Minera Panamá is a clear example of the lack of transparency displayed by several administrations, including the current one,” TI’s media statement reads.

Cobre Panama currently accounts for 3.5% of Panama's gross domestic product.

IAMGOLD is Suddenly Flush

IAMGOLD?announced an agreement to amend its JV agreement with Japan’s?Sumitomo Metal Mining?to secure funding for its?C?té Gold Project?in northeastern Ontario—Japanese partner throws IAMGOLD a lifeline to finish Gogama mine project.

When the calendar flips over to 2023, Sumitomo will fork out $340 million in exchange for a 10% interest in the project. With the company coffers now totally stoked, C?té is set to begin producing in early 2024 (the project holds >19 million ounces of gold in all resource categories at a modest sub-one gram grade).

Maryse Bélanger, interim CEO of IAMGOLD: “The financial support of Sumitomo demonstrates to all of our stakeholders the strong validation of the C?té gold project from our partner and our alignment to complete construction and commence production.”

Friedland's Ivanhoe Mines Headline Flurry

On Dec. 15, the Globe and Mail reported that the RCMP, armed with a search warrant, was rummaging through?Ivanhoe Mines'?Vancouver office. Suspicions are that Ivanhoe violated Canada's Criminal Code and Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, where its Congolese mining operations are concerned—RCMP searches Ivanhoe Mines Vancouver office in hunt for documents on Swiss bank account transfers.

Ivanhoe has interests in three projects in the Congo, including the?Kamoa-Kakula Complex?(a JV with Zijin Mining Group and the Government of the DRC), the?Kipushi Project?(a JV with state-owned Gécamines), and the?Western Foreland Exploration Project.

According to the Globe and Mail,?some of the documents authorized for seizure were related to three bank transfers from Ivanhoe to the Swiss bank account of a company called Stucky Technologies from 2015 to 2018.

A retort followed several days when Robert Friedland, the serially successful mining legend, said that the Globe and Mail report included "incomplete, selective and speculative content pertaining to Ivanhoe Mines’ business activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and mineral exploration investments on its Western Foreland Exploration Project”—?Ivanhoe Mines Responds to The Sentry Report and Globe and Mail Article Impugning Ivanhoe's Business Conduct in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The plot thickened when Ivanhoe went on to confirm that it had a business relationship with a DRC presidential aide, one Vidiye Tshimanga, who has since been arrested on corruption charges—Ivanhoe Mines Confirms Link to Congo Aide in Copper Corruption Case.

According to Bloomberg:?Ivanhoe struck a deal last year with Vidiye Tshimanga, a top aide to Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, the firm said in a statement on Dec. 14. He was arrested in September after a series of secretly-taped videos appeared to show him offering political protection for an unnamed mining deal in exchange for a stake in the venture.

In the videos, Tshimanga alleged he’d made a similar deal with Ivanhoe. Tshimanga, who is currently on trial in Congo for passive corruption and influence peddling, told Bloomberg in a message on Dec. 15 he would respond to Ivanhoe’s statement but has yet to do so.

Moving along...

Nevada Greenlights Rhyolite Ridge

Ioneer?may soon join the (enviable) lithium producer ranks after the US Bureau of Land Management waved in the company's flagship?Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project?for a further push along the permitting curve—Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project advances into final stage of permitting.

The plan is the foundational permitting document for the project and will become the basis for compliance during operations and closure. Ioneer commenced work on the plan almost four years ago. The latest revised plan was submitted to the BLM in July 2022. Under the revised plan, there are no project-related direct impacts to any of the subpopulations of Tiehm’s buckwheat.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service listed Tiehm’s Buckwheat as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and has designated 910 acres in the region to serve as a protected?Buckwheat?zone.

Rhyolite Ridge, hailed as the most advanced Li project in the US, is expected to produce ~24,000 tons of Lithium Carbonate /Hydroxide and ~192,000 tons of Boric Acid per year.

It's All Greek to ELD

Eldorado Gold?approved a move to restart construction activities at its?Skouries Au-Cu Project?in northern Greece after permitting delays and local opposition sidelined the project for five years—Eldorado Gold Announces €680 Million Project Financing and Board Approval for the Skouries Project.

Boasting reserves of 3.7 million ounces of Gold and 1.7 billion pounds of Copper, the project has found a whole new gear now that a €680 million project financing facility is in place.

George Burns, CEO: “The participation of Greek lenders in the Project provides aligned strategic partners as we advance Skouries towards commercial production. The Term Facility covers 80% of the expected remaining future funding required to complete the Project. The Company is able to fund the remaining 20% from its current balance sheet, future cash flow from existing operations and will receive a credit for its actual expenditures during the pre-construction phase in 2022, all of which fully addresses the Project funding requirement.”

Mining Colossus Gets the All Clear for a Colossal Build-Out?

After gaining all the necessary all-clear's from Pakistan's Supreme Court, Barrick is commencing construction at the (truly) colossal?Reko Diq Project?in Pakistan—Massive Reko Diq Project Gets All Clear, Barrick Starts Updating Plans.

With a $7B price tag, Barrick is targeting 2024 for an updated feasibility study and 2028 for first production.

(Reko Diq is owned 50% by Barrick, 25% by three federal state-owned enterprises, 15% by the Province of Balochistan on a fully funded basis, and 10% by the Province of Balochistan on a free carried basis)

Mark Bristow, CEO: “With its unique combination of large scale, low strip and good grade, Reko Diq is expected to have a life of at least 40 years. We envisage a truck-and-shovel open pit operation with processing facilities producing a high-quality copper-gold concentrate. We expect it to be constructed in two phases with a combined process capacity of 80 million tonnes per annum.”

Reko Diq is expected to create 7,500 jobs during peak construction, 4,000 of which will be long-term.

Last Word to Schiff

Chairman Powell n Co hopes to engineer a soft landing with their current rate hike incursion. A soft landing? (For the uninitiated, ZIRP = zero interest rate policy)

Hits of the Week

Elon Musk has said he will resign as Twitter's chief executive officer when he finds someone "foolish enough to take the job" -?Elon Musk to quit as Twitter CEO when replacement found

The Dresden incident was one of a number of heists carried out at German museums in recent years. In November, thieves broke into a museum in Bavaria and made off with nearly 500 ancient gold coins worth several million euros -?Stolen Dresden Diamonds Recovered in Berlin Police Raid

As much as 98% of the gold sold from areas surrounding indigenous lands in Brazil between 2018 and 2020 has indications of irregularity, according to sustainability organization Instituto Escolhas -?Most Brazil Gold Mined Near Amazon May Be Illegal, Study Shows

If an asteroid were hurling through space, making a beeline straight to Earth, how would humans prevent it from doing what it did to the dinosaurs? -?DART: The Impacts Of Slamming A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid

It turns out that Santa might actually *not* be coming to town. Or, at least, it may be harder to book him than it was in Christmases past -?Inflation has reached the North Pole as a Santa shortage looms

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CEO.CA Chairman’s Briefing content and associated news and securities are for educational and illustrative purposes only.?This content should never be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security or other asset. The source of any third-party content, in which CEO.CA Technologies Ltd. may receive compensation, is clearly and notably identified here as “Sponsored by” or “Sponsored” or “In Partnership With”. The information may not be complete or accurate and is subject to change without notice. CEO.CA Technologies Ltd., its affiliates and clients of CEO.CA Technologies Ltd. or its affiliates may currently have long or short positions in the securities of the companies mentioned herein, or may have such a position in the future (and therefore may profit from fluctuations in the trading price of the securities). To the extent such persons do have such positions, there is no guarantee that such persons will maintain such positions. Information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical, are not guaranteed for accuracy or completeness, do not reflect actual investment results and are not assurances of future results. All investments involve risk, and the past performance of a security, industry, sector, market, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions. Thank you for reading the Chairman’s Briefing.