With lithium demandskyrocketing here are 5early-stage lithium juniorminers to watchWith lithium demand projected to increase 10-11 fold thisdecade, there is a huge opportunity for successful lithiumjunior miners to prosper. Last year Rio Tinto was quoted assaying that “filling the supply gap will require over 60 Jadarprojects”.

Then just last month Tesla CEO Elon Musk said (Tesla Q1 2022earnings call transcript): “…can more people please get intothe lithium business? Do you like minting money? Well, thelithium business is for you…” Musk also said on Twitter:“Price of lithium has gone to insane levels! Tesla mightactually have to get into the mining & refining directly atscale unless costs improve.“

Of course, industry experts have been warning of EV metalssupply deficits for some years, but it appears these warningsmostly fell on deaf ears. With this background in mind, todaywe take a look at some early-stage lithium junior companieswith the potential to help fill the lithium supply gap in thesecond half of this decade.

China lithium carbonate spot prices – up about 6x over thepast year due to lithium shortages

Source: Trading Economics

5 early-stage lithium junior miners towatch out for in 2022 (in no particularorder)

Essential Metals Limited (ASX: ESS)1.Green Technology Metals Limited (ASX: GT1)2.Metals Australia Ltd. (ASX: MLS)3.Lithium South Development Corporation (TSXV: LIS |4.OTCQB: LISMF)Winsome Resources Limited (ASX: WR1)5.

Essential Metals Limited (ASX: ESS)

Essential Metals is an Australian exploration company with 9projects (lithium, gold, gold JV, and nickel JV) all inWestern Australia (WA). Three of the projects are 100% ownedand 6 are JV’s with other companies, with ESS retaining a20-30% interest (see below).

Essential Metal’s flagship project is their 100% owned Pioneer

Dome Lithium Project in WA. The Project is located in a knownlithium corridor and the gold-rich Eastern Goldfields regionof WA, which contains the Mt Marion, Bald Hill and Buldanialithium mines/projects. The Project has a reasonable sizedJORC compliant Total Resource of 11.2Mt at 1.21% Li2O, stillwith exploration upside. The Resource starts from or nearsurface. Drill assay results from the recent campaign are dueout by the end of May 2022.

Essential Metals also has two other 100% owned gold projectsin WA, namely the Golden Ridge Project (100% owned), 20kmsfrom the Kalgoorlie super pit and the Juglah Dome Project,60km east-southeast of Kalgoorlie. In addition, the Companyhas numerous JV projects including Acra Gold Project JV (25%interest), Kangan Gold Project JV (30%), Balagundi GoldProject Farmin/JV (25%), Larkinville Gold Project Farmin/JV(25% gold interest) (hosts a JORC Resource of 19,700 t @ 3.02g/t for 11,600 oz. Au), Blair-Golden Ridge Nickel Farmin/JV(25% nickel interest) and Wattle Dam Nickel Joint Venture (20%nickel interest).

Essential Metals trades on a market cap of A$162 million.

Essential Metals summary showing the Pioneer Dome LithiumProject location near other successful lithium mines andprojects in WA

Source: Essential Metals company presentation

Green Technology Metals Limited (ASX: GT1)

Green Technology Metals (GT1) has multiple lithium projects(options to acquire, some at 80% interest others at 100%interest) spread over 39,982 hectares in Ontario, Canada.GT1’s most advanced project is the Seymour Lithium Projectwith a JORC Total Mineral Resource of 4.8Mt @ 1.25%. Withinthe Seymour Project, drill results include an impressive 40m @1.54% Li2O. When combining all GT1’s Ontario Lithium Projectsthe target resource is 50-60 MT @ 0.8-1.5% Li2O.

An updated resource estimate is targeted for Q2, 2022.Management is top tier and highly experienced.

Green Technology Metals trades on a market cap of A$212million.

GT1’s portfolio of multiple lithium projects in Ontario Canada

Source: GT1 website

Metals Australia Ltd. (ASX: MLS)

Metals Australia is an Australian junior miner with severalprojects. Their most advanced project is the Lac Rainy NordGraphite Project in Quebec, Canada with an Indicated andInferred Resource of 13.3Mt at 11.5% TGC for 1.529M tonnes ofcontained graphite.

With regards to lithium, Metals Australia 100% owns thepromising Manindi Lithium and Zinc Project in WA. The Projecthas several lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites spreadover a total 3km strike length. Individual pegmatites havestrike lengths of over 300m and widths of up to 25-30m. Pastdrilling includes intersections of 15m @ 1.2% Li2O, 117 Ta205from 34m. Drilling is ongoing notably at the Foundationpegmatite where consistently high grade lithium grab samples(1% Li2O and >0.4% Rb) have been detected over the entire 500m

strike length. Assay results are expected shortly. Manindialso has an existing JORC 2012 Resource estimate of 1.08Mt at6.52% Zn, 0.26% Cu and 3.19g/t Ag.

Metals Australia trades on a market cap of A$54 million.

Lithium South Development Corporation (TSXV: LIS | OTCQB:LISMF)

Lithium South Development Corporation (Lithium South) isalready quite advanced at their 100% owned Hombre Muerto NorthLithium Brine Project in Argentina. The Project lies nearseveral billion-dollar projects such as Livent’s lithium mine,Allkem’s Sal de Vida project, and POSCO’s quite new projectpurchased for US$280 million. Hombre Muerto is the premieresalar in Argentina, known for very high grade lithium and verylow impurities.

The Hombre Muerto North Project has an M&I Resource of571,000t contained LCE, with an excellent grade of 756mg/L,and a very low Mg/Li ratio of 2.6:1. Drilling is about tobegin at their Alba Sabrina claim with results to follow mostlikely later in Q2, 2022. The Resource has potential to growsignificantly from here.

Lithium South trades on a market cap of only C$68 million.

Winsome Resources Limited (ASX: WR1)

Winsome Resources is a lithium explorer focused on their 4,100% owned, projects spread over 50,000 Ha in Quebec, Canada.The Projects are Cancet, Adina, Sirmac-Clappier, and Decelles(option to acquire 100%).

The flagship Cancet Lithium Project has had outstandingprevious drilling success and boasts a JORC Exploration Targetof 15-25Mt @ 1-2% Li2O + 100-250ppm Ta2O5. The past drillingincludes 59 holes for 5,216m averaging ~70m drill depthdefining a shallow high-grade lithium deposit. Drilling will

continue in 2022 with a substantial maiden Resource estimatedexpected later this year.

Winsome Resources trades on a market cap of A$66 million.

Summary of Winsome Resources 4 lithium projects in Quebec,Canada

Source: Winsome Resources company presentation

Closing remarks

Investing in early-stage lithium juniors carries higher riskand reward.

Of the 5 companies discussed in this article three (EssentialMetals, Green Technology Metals, Lithium South DevelopmentCorp.) already have a lithium resource, one (WinsomeResources) has defined a lithium deposit with a resourceestimate due later in 2022, and the other (Metals Australia)has a graphite and a zinc-copper-silver resource with anexciting lithium project with drill results out soon.

I could also include Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL| OTCQB: AVLNF) in this group, but I already wrote on themrecently here, discussing their lithium projects, lithiumresource, and plans for a JV lithium refinery in Thunder Bay

which were given a huge boost recently as you can read here.

Finally to answer Elon’s question: “Can more people please getinto the lithium business?” The problem is it takes at least5-10 years to build a lithium mine from scratch. I will finishwith two key quotes last month from lithium market experts:

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence was quoted stating:“Battery capacity is currently growing at twice thespeed of lithium raw material supply.“Mr. Lithium, Joe Lowry was quoted stating: “I believethere will be a day in the future when lithium is inoversupply, but it won’t be in this decade…..You canbuild a battery factory in two years, but it takes up toa decade to bring on a lithium project.”

Disclosure: The author is long ALL the lithium companiesmentioned in this article and intends to hold long term.

Assay results to guideAzincourt Energy discoveriesat its East Preston uraniumprojectAzincourt Energy Corp. (TSX: AAZ | OTCQB: AZURF) (Azincourt)is a junior miner focused on uranium in the world-renownedAthabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada. They also have someuranium and lithium projects in Peru which they recentlyagreed to option out to Oberon Uranium Corp.

Azincourt has recently completed a 5,004m 19 drill hole winter

program at their East Preston Project, in the Athabasca Basin,Saskatchewan, Canada. Assay results are expected from April toJune, 2022. Azincourt stated in their news release: “With thediscovery of at least 1,700 meters of extensive hydrothermalalteration and elevated radioactivity, the Company considersthe results of this program to be highly significant.” On thenorth-south trending K-Zone a “zone of localized elevatedradioactivity more than 10 times background values wasidentified in EP0035 from both handheld scintillometers and adownhole gamma probe.”

Azincourt President and CEO, Alex Klenman, stated: “Thediscovery of these alteration zones, both along the sametrend, covering almost two kilometers of ground within thesetwo separate zones, is a very important development… With5,000 meters of drilling we were able to establish 1,700meters of alteration, that’s a pretty good ratio. We know thatalteration is associated with uranium deposition, acting as ahalo proximal to deposition. The area in and around thesezones is now a clear priority for continued drilling. Theassay results will give us a really good idea of what we’reinto and we’re eager to see what comes back from the lab.”

Azincourt VP, Exploration, Trevor Perkins, stated: “Theresults from the winter drilling program are very encouraging…The extensive alteration zones and elevated radioactivity aresignificant signs that we are on the right track. Alterationand structure continue to be the key features to guide ustowards discovery…”

Translated for those investors not so familiar with miningterminology, the drill results at the East Preston Project arevery promising and point toward the potential discovery ofuranium; however, we won’t know for sure until we get theassay results from April to June, 2022.

Location map showing Azincourt’s tenements at the East PrestonProject and nearby projects and mines (including Cameco) in

Canada’s renowned high grade uranium Athabasca Basin

Source: Azincourt Energy Corp.

$5.1 million Private Placement and 2.5-to-1 ShareConsolidation

In what appears to be another positive indicator forAzincourt, not long after completing their East Preston drillprogram, they were able to raise C$5,101,000 in a non-brokeredprivate placement with institutional investors. Azincourt alsocompleted a 2.5-for-1 share consolidation.

More about Azicourt Energy and their 3 projects

Azincourt’s projects include:

East Preston Project (72% interest) – A uranium projectin the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada.Hatchet Lake Uranium Project (earning into a 75%interest) – A uranium project in the Wollaston–MudjatikTransition Zone area of Saskatchewan, Canada. Somedetails here.Escalera Group Project (100% owned, LOI to option out toOberon Uranium Corp.) – A uranium and lithium group ofprojects (Lituania, Condorlit, Escalera) in Puno, Peru.

Closing remarks

Azincourt has put in the work to identify and now drillnumerous positive uranium targets at their 72% JV East PrestonUranium Project. The Athabasca Basin region is known to havethe highest grade uranium in the world. This means if acompany can find significant high-grade uranium in the regionit can be a company making event.

Azincourt Energy Corp. trades on a market cap of only C$34million. Fingers crossed as we await assay results expectedvery soon.

Fjordland Exploration looksto ride nickel surge with 4projects in CanadaThe nickel market has been red hot in 2022 as Russian supplychain risks intensified. Russia is a major nickel exporter.

The huge spike in the chart was caused by a short-sellersqueeze that resulted in the London Metals Exchange having tohalt nickel trading.

Nickel one year price chart showing nickel’s steady rise onstrong demand and constrained supply, particularly withconcerns over Russian supply

Source: Trading Economics

Nickel miners have naturally benefited from higher nickelprices over the past year. The nickel miners that tend to dobest are those with growing nickel sulphide projects in safejurisdictions. Today’s company has 4 projects (nickel sulfideand copper-gold) in the safe jurisdiction of Canada.

Fjordland Exploration Inc. (TSXV: FEX) (Fjordland) is anexploration stage miner with a focus on nickel, copper, andgold in Canada.

Fjordland’s four projects in Canada include:

South Voisey’s Bay Project (currently owns 75% with anoption to earn-in to a 100% interest). 29,400 hectares(29.4 Sq.Km) prospective for nickel, copper and cobalt.Note: Ivanhoe Electric is a private company led byRobert Friedland, which has the right to earn 65% of theproject from Fjordland once Ivanhoe Electric has spent$5 million.Renzy Nickel-Copper Project (option to earn-in to a 100%interest). 86 km2 property with the past producing RenzyMine and a Historical NI-43-101 Resource estimate(indicated 51,000 tonnes 0.79% Ni and 0.72% Cu) not yetto be relied upon. Past drilling included 10.8 m of 1.3%nickel and 1.8% copper.Milligan West Project (43% JV partner with NorthwestCopper Corp). Copper-gold porphyry potential. TheProject lies immediately west of Centerra’s Mt. MilliganMine.Witch Project (100% interest) – 100 km2 property about35kms from the Milligan West Project. Copper-goldporphyry potential.

A summary and location map showing Fjordland’s fourexploration projects in Canada

Source: Fjordland Exploration Inc. company presentation

Next steps for Fjordland

In 2022 Fjordland will be reviewing data from their WitchProject acquisition. They also expect to receive projectfunding from Ivanhoe Electric as part of their agreement atthe South Voisey’s Bay Project. Fjordland is also currentlydrilling at their Renzy Nickel Copper Project with a $1million fully funded program which is expected to be completedby the end of Q2 2022. Results to follow.

Closing remarks

For investors, key attractions of Fjordland are the currentlow market cap of just C$7 million and the potentialexploration upside in some of the best land positions inCanada. Voisey’s Bay is world renowned for nickel with theworld’s largest nickel producer Vale operating there.Fjordland has four well-located Canadian projects withpotential for nickel, copper, cobalt, and gold.

As of March 2022, management and insider ownership (includesFriedland’s Ivanhoe Electric) is an impressive 45%.

Due to the early stage investors will need plenty of patiencewhile we wait to see what exploration success Fjordland has.Drill results from the Renzy Nickel Copper Project are a keypotential stock catalyst in the coming months. Risk istherefore higher due to the early stage, however so is thepotential reward. Stay tuned.

Ucore targets to fill theprocessing gap in a Westernrare earths supply chain by2024As most investors familiar with the critical materials sectorknow, China currently dominates the space, especially indownstream critical materials ‘processing’. This leaves theWestern world very vulnerable to supply chain interruptionsthat can threaten the supply of end-user products such aselectrical and electronic components, electric vehicles, windturbines, solar panels, and/or military systems.

Today’s company, Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (TSXV: UCU | OTCQX:UURAF) (Ucore), is working to bridge that gap, domestically,and become a USA ‘processor’ first of the rare earths, andultimately of other key critical materials. They also plan tobe a vertically integrated individual, separated, heavy rareearths producer.

Ucore is focused on initially developing an Alaska-basedStrategic Metals Complex (SMC) rare earths’ central processingfacility with commissioning targeted for 2024. After thatUcore plans to develop its own magnet rare earths’ deposit

located on Bokan Mountain on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.The ultimate plan for Ucore is to have their Bokan-DotsonRidge REE Project – containing the heavy rare earths’Dysprosium (Dy), Terbium (Tb) & Yttrium (Y) – feed theirfirst, Alaska located, SMC processing facility. The underlyingtechnology for this and other planned SMCs is the RapidSX™ REEseparation technology platform, which will be operated byUcore’s wholly owned subsidiary, Innovation Metals Corp.(IMC).

Ucore plans to fill the processing gap in creation of aWestern rare earths supply chain with their SMC facilities

Source: Ucore news January 2022

A key part of getting the Alaskan SMC processing facility upand running is to secure material supply agreements. Thefacility will have an initial 2,000 tpa total rare earth oxide(TREO) separation and purification capacity, ramping to atleast 5,000t/year TREO by 2026.

Feedstock agreements are progressing well for Ucore’s plannedAlaskan SMC processing facility

In October 2021 Ucore signed a non-binding Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with Vital Metals Limited (ASX: VML |OTCQB: VTMXF) for the supply of a mixed rare earth carbonate,

beginning H1 2024. The deal is for “Vital to sell to Ucore aminimum of 500t REO (ex-cerium)/year, commencing H1 2024.Vital to expand production to support a minimum of 50% ofUcore’s envisioned 5,000t TREO/yr processing capability by2026.”

It also was announced last week on April 20, 2022, that Ucoreand Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Materials Trading had executed afeedstock supply MOU for the Alaska SMC. Under the MOU“ThyssenKrupp Materials Trading is expected to begin thesupply of a minimum of 1,000 tpa of mixed rare earth carbonateto Ucore in 2024 for ten years.” The announcement also statesthat the non-binding MOU allows for increasing quantities insubsequent years and that the two parties will work towards a10-year binding contract.

The above MOU is a great achievement and positive endorsementfor Ucore, as ThyssenKrupp Materials Services is the biggestmill-independent materials distributor and services providerin the Western world with around 380 locations, in more than30 countries.

The loud and clear message for investors is that Ucore isputting together a North American individual rare earthssupply chain from mixed rare earths carbonate (concentrate)all the way to the final product of separated individual rareearth oxides, used to make rare earth metal alloys (includingmagnets) such as those required for many critical and greenenergy products. It will be a key initial step for the USA togain rare earths processing independence from China, whichcurrently dominates the sector.

Ucore is also developing processing technology for othercritical metals in Ontario

As announced on April 19, 2022 Ucore is improving themanagement and technical team for their Ontario RapidSX™Commercialization and Development Facility (CDF). The

demonstration plant construction is ongoing and is scheduledfor commissioning in mid-2022.

What I find most interesting is that Ucore is also working onnickel laterite ore processing technologies as well aslithium-ion battery recycling, including working with clientssuch as Li-Cycle Holdings Corp.

Full details on Ucore’s 2022 plans can be read here andinclude:

A commercial demonstration plant for their RapidSX™technology in Ontario.Development of the Alaska SMC Project.Exploring the potential of developing an SMC in Canada.Accelerating the development of the Bokan Project as avital US supply chain component to provide a long-termsecure source of HREEs; the most expensive and scarceinputs of the permanent magnet alloys.

Ucore’s business summary – Includes a target for constructionof the Alaska SMC by 2023, subject to finance

Source: Ucore Rare Metals Inc. website – Alaska 2023

Closing remarks

The Western world needs to develop its own complete end-to-endsupply chains for critical strategic metals. In the case ofrare earths, Ucore is advancing well and steadily moving

towards becoming a U.S. individual separated rare earthsproducer by 2024, all going to plan. Of course, investorsshould remember these dates are the best guide from thecompany only and are subject to variables such as successfulfunding.

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. trades on a market cap of C$37 million.Ucore still has a long way to go with several hurdles andrisks ahead, partially explaining the very low market cap.Still, if they succeed the potential reward could besignificant.

NuRAN Wireless fills hugegaps in untapped Africancellular and internet networkmarketsWorldwide internet penetration is now at about 60% of theglobal population, but what about the other 40%? Some are tooyoung or too old, but many are living in remote rural areasand have no access, especially in Africa where as many as 300million people have no mobile phone coverage. Today’s companyis looking to fill the gap for those that currently have nowireless mobile or internet access available.

NuRAN Wireless Inc. (CSE: NUR) is a specialisttelecommunications company that meets the growing demand forwireless network coverage in regions with limited or nocoverage. NuRAN offers the world’s most affordable, lowestpower consumption and easiest to deploy wireless solutions.

NuRAN’s mission is to “connect billions of people in rural andremote regions to a fast, reliable and scalable wirelessnetwork through innovative and affordable solutions.” NuRAN isfocused on Africa, a huge untapped market with over 1.2billion people.

NuRAN Wireless is working to develop affordable wirelessnetwork coverage in remote regions, especially in developingAfrican countries

Source

NuRAN’s method is to ‘build and operate rural cellulartowers’, and therefore monetize the assets through revenuestreams paid by the mobile network operators. The latter paysa service fee, either a revenue-share or fixed-opex model withguaranteed minimums set to cover in-country operating costs.NuRAN makes it easy by doing all the wireless network set up,including using solar power operated towers as well as thenetwork ongoing management and maintenance.

Essentially NuRAN builds the infrastructure and then collectsrecurring revenue from contracts with the wireless mobileoperators.

NuRAN has been achieving revenue, winning an award and has anew agreement

In January 2022, NuRAN reported: “NuRAN currently has 2,492Network as a Service (NaaS) sites under contract with OrangeCameroon, Orange Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) andMTN South Sudan. Based on a minimum guaranteed revenuestipulated within the contracts, NuRAN estimates that it wouldgenerate approximately C$3,000,000 per month once all sitesare deployed. The current trend outlined above suggestsrevenue could reach approximately C$5,800,000 per monthassuming above-mentioned run rate. NuRAN is currentlytargeting a minimum of 10,000 sites under contract by 2026…..”

In March 2022, it was announced that NuRAN was awarded as thewinner of the 2022 Mobile World Live Pitch 2Pitch contest atthe Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain with over 60,000attendees.

In early April NuRAN announced they had won an over US$60million Agreement for a minimum of 150 sites within 24 monthswith MTN Namibia.

As mentioned above, NuRAN plans to develop 10,000 mobiletelecom sites in Africa over the next 5 years, which isexpected to bring in around $220 million in annual revenues.The business is intended to be funded mostly through asset-based project financing or similar debt-oriented facilities.

Closing remarks

NuRAN is meeting a strong need for wireless cellular services,particularly in remote and underdeveloped locations indeveloping countries, especially in Africa. Early success withrecurring ‘network as a service’ revenues is helping tofurther support the business growth.

NuRAN Wireless trades on a market cap of C$28 million. One towatch closely.

NEO Battery Materials fasttracks their silicon anode EVbattery material plant inKoreaNEO Battery Materials Ltd. (TSXV: NBM | OTCQB: NBMFF) (“NEO”)is advancing at full speed with their recent announcement thatthey have “completed a contract for the Commercial Plant’sconstruction, design, and permits with an architectural firm”.The plant will be located in Gyeonggi Province’s OseongInternational Investment Zone in South Korea, near majorbattery manufacturers LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI.

As a brief reminder for new investors, NEO has developed high-performance silicon anode materials to replace parts of thegraphite used by anode and battery manufacturers in theirbattery anodes. Their leading product is NBMSiDE™, a siliconanode material for EV lithium-ion batteries. NBMSiDE™ ismanufactured through the Company’s proprietary nanocoatingtechnology, achieving a high specific capacity of >2,500mAh/g. This essentially means the NEO silicon anode materialhelps improve the all-important battery energy holdingcapacity and ultimately the charging speed of the EV.

As NEO states: “Through a mix of treatments and nanocoatingmaterials, NEO utilizes pure metallurgical-grade siliconparticles, which provide a 40-70% higher initial specificenergy or capacity compared to current competitors that employSiOx, SiC, or other composite silicon materials.”

South Korea anode plant design progressing with an increasedproduction target

Regarding the new anode materials plant, the final siteapproval has now been granted. Due to the land site being in aForeign Investment Zone, NEO will receive a range of benefitsincluding a 99% reduced lease rate and tax incentives. NEO mayalso access Provincial financial support for equipmentpurchases, employment subsidies, and education/trainingsubsidies.

Additionally, NEO recently stated that the “Company will nowadvance to the detailed process design for the productionlines and will proceed with early orders of components thathave long lead times for the commercial plant. Through astructured execution plan of performing procurement andconstruction processes one after another, NEO expects toachieve the initial commission of the Commercial Plant by thefirst half of next year… We are currently working on pursuingstrategic investments and communicating with the respectivecompanies and investors to finance the construction of thecommercial plant.”

In another very interesting development from NEO, the Companyhas increased their anode material production targets again.The original pilot plant capacity was 10 tons, which last yearwas increased 12 fold to a commercial scale of 120 tons pa.This was recently increased to 240 tons pa. Even moreimpressive is the longer term target of the full facilitycapacity after installing the maximum number of mass-production lines through expansion, of 2,000 tons of NBMSiDE™anode material pa.

NEO Battery Materials is fast tracking towardscommercialization of their silicon anode material (‘NBMSiDE™’)for the EV industry

Source: NEO Battery Materials company presentation

NEO has also been busy sending NBMSiDE™ product samples toseveral potential off-take companies for testing. If thisstage goes well then usually off-take agreements follow, whichthen typically helps the project financing process.

“The first refined sample of NBMSiDE™ has been provided to aEurope-based battery materials company,” NEO recently stated, “and a second delivery is planned in April. NEO isadditionally conducting sample tests with several Asia-basedand European battery manufacturers.”

NEO has also recently internally developed NBMSiDE™ pouch-typefull cells which have been manufactured to evaluate productperformance, viability, and durability in genuine batterycharging conditions.

In an April 5, 2022 news release NEO stated that: “NEO BatteryMaterials will commence construction in June 2022 and willfollow stringent timelines and protocols to aim completion inJune 2023.” I would assume this is subject to projectfinancing.

Summary of NEO’s plans and targets for their new silicon anodematerials plant

Source: NEO Battery Materials company presentation

Closing remarks

NEO is making great progress with their silicon-anode materialcommercialization plans, with the excellent advantage oflocating their manufacturing facility in the OseongInternational Investment Zone in South Korea.

Investors should understand that the next stages of productevaluation and testing, off-take deals, financing, and projectconstruction all carry risks and the possibility of delay.Nonetheless, NEO is certainly making all the right moves andlooks to be very well connected to the major Korean batterymanufacturers.

NEO Battery Materials trades on a market cap of C$52 million.

Hemostemix’s stem celltherapy pursues ‘YourFountain of Youth’What’s a company worth to investors that could improvenumerous medical conditions related to ischemia (lack of bloodflow) and tissue damage, and potentially improve the qualityof life? It would be hard to put a price on such a company ifthey could successfully commercialize or license their productor technology.

Today’s company, Hemostemix Inc. (TSXV: HEM | OTCQB: HMTXF |FSE: 2VFO), is having remarkable success, yet due to its earlystage has a market cap of only C$19 million. That company isdeveloping methods that use our own bodies’ stem cells to healcertain diseases. The key diseases of focus for now are thoserevolving around ischemia, such as heart disease, stroke, anddiabetic vascular disease and its complications such as limbloss. Over the next year, there will also be a lot of workdone on nerve cell regeneration.

Hemostemix Inc. is developing ‘stem cell therapy’ for thetreatment of ischemic disease and several other diseases.Hemostemix owns 91 patents across five patent families titled:Regulating Stem Cells, In Vitro Techniques for use with StemCells, Production from Blood of Cells of Neural Lineage, andAutomated Cell Therapy.

Results to date have been outstanding, as shown in the imagebelow.

Before and 47 days after Hemostemix’s ACP-01 treatment

Source: Hemostemix company presentation

Hemostemix summary of the business and ACP-01

ACP-01 is Hemostemix’s pioneering first stem cell treatmentcalled angiogenic cell precursor (“ACP”). Hemostemix states:“ACP-01 has been used to treat over 300 patients, and it isthe subject of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blindtrial of its safety and efficacy in patients with advancedcritical limb ischemia who have exhausted all other options tosave their limb from amputation. On October 21, 2019, theCompany announced the results from its Phase II CLI trialabstract presentation entitled “Autologous Stem Cell Treatmentfor CLI Patients with No Revascularization Options: An Updateof the Hemostemix ACP-01 Trial With 4.5 Year Follow-up” whichnoted healing of ulcers and resolution of ischemic rest painoccurred in 83% of patients, with outcomes maintained for upto 4.5 years.”

Note: Bold emphasis by the author.

Hemostemix business model summary

Source: Hemostemix company presentation

With such stunning success, it is little wonder thatHemostemix is very keen to protect their intellectualproperty.

On February 14, 2022 Hemostemix announced that they had “beengranted International Trademark Registration No. 1624069 forYour Fountain of Youth, a registration that is valid for aperiod of 10 years.” Hemostemix further announced on March23, 2022 that it had resolved outstanding litigation with asettlement agreement that requires the other parties to returnall data and intellectual property in relation to ACP-01 intheir possession to Hemostemix.

This is a great outcome for Hemostemix and good news toinvestors, as the Company believes their ACP-01 intellectualproperty is incredibly valuable.

Hemostemix has previously published numerous other studiesproving the benefit of ACP-01, notably in the treatment of

ischemia in various parts of the body. Some examples includeimproving ischemic cardiomyopathy patients and limb ischemiapatients.

Hemostemix’s strong product pipeline and applicable diseases

Source: Hemostemix company presentation

Note: NCP stands for Nerve Cell Precursor. CCP stands forCardiac Cell Precursor. These are cultivated from thepatient’s own stem cells using Hemostemix’s patentedtechnologies.

What’s next for Hemostemix?

Apart from further studies, Hemostemix is now looking towardsautomating production, partnering and commercialization. Thegoal of improving stem cell production will help lower costsand potentially expand the business. Hemostemix also intendsto advance their business development plans including possiblelicensing of their technology.

To help fund the above, Hemostemix recently announced a$2,750,000 Convertible Debenture offering.

Closing remarks

Hemostemix’s longer-term goal is to support a higher quality

of life for all of us, a veritable “fountain of youth”, wherewe could boost our health yearly with our own stem cells tohelp repair our bodies.

Hemostemix trades on a market cap of C$19 million. Riskremains high due to the early stage, however there is trulyblue sky potential if the Company can successfully license orcommercialize their products in future years.

The Bald Eagle Gold teamfocuses on a $BIG.V quest forSilver in Idaho

Bald Eagle Gold plans to drill test a‘very promising 600m geophysical and soilanomaly’ in their search for Silver inIdahoAs inflation rages in the U.S. with an 8.5% CPI reading forMarch 2022, real assets continue to perform very well. Silveris not only a precious metal asset that hedges againstinflation, it is also an industrial commodity with many uses,including in the green energy sector. This means silver can dowell at many stages of the cycle. Silver also tends to followgold, another key real asset known as a hedge againstinflation.

Bald Eagle quote: “Solar panel, electric vehicle and 5G chipsalone are anticipated to require an incremental 150 millionounces of silver supply/year over the next 10 years.”

Today’s company is a junior miner exploring for silver inIdaho, USA.

Silver has hit a 4 week high on U.S. inflation concerns, whichmore than offset expectations of higher Federal Reserveinterest rates and higher Treasury yields

Source: Trading Economics

Bald Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV: BIG) (Bald Eagle) is a juniorminer focused on the exploration and development of their 100%owned Hercules Silver Project, located in northwest ofCambridge, Idaho, USA. The Project lies mostly on State land,with grandfathered mining, milling and exploration rights.Idaho is a very mining friendly state, ranked 1st in the worldfor its mining regulations, taxation regime and permittingpolicy.

The Hercules Silver Project

The Hercules Silver Project lies on a 4,246 acres property

located in Washington County, Idaho, just 2.5 hours northwestof Boise International Airport by Highway. The Property has ahistory of exploration with over 300 drill holes completedbetween 1965 and 1988. Historical drilling along strike hasreturned significant Ag-Pb-Zn-Mn (Cu) intercepts. One of thebest historical intercepts (not yet to be relied upon) was atHole 80-1 which intersected 30.48m of 335.6 g/t Ag, 0.17% Pb,0.54% Zn starting from 73.15m.

Two key mineralized areas (Hercules Adit and Fishpond zones)are exposed on surface and have been defined by historicaldrilling and remain open for expansion, with anomalousgeophysics and soil samples along strike. There is alsosignificant mineralization in 4 other targets areas. BaldEagle states: “The best intercepts occur within the higher-grade cores of the Hercules Adit and Fishpond zones, which aresurrounded by lower grade halos.”

Past geophysics results show “strong chargeability values(>35ms) underlie the best silver-in-soil anomaly on theProperty in an area which has never been drill tested.” Thearea of potential is between Grade Creek and Hercules Ridge(red area in the chart below) which has not yet been drilltested.

The red area between Grade Creek and Hercules Ridge showsstrong chargeability suggesting potential mineralization

Source: Bald Eagle Gold Corp. company presentation

Also supporting the geophysics results above were recentlyannounced soil samples, showing the highest values matching upwith the areas of positive geophysics results. Summary pointsof the news were:

“High-grade silver-in-soil up to 305 ppm (8.9 ounces pershort ton)Consolidation of district through the acquisition andstaking of an additional 2,116 acres, bringing totalcontiguous land position up to 4,256 acres.New soil sampling verifies historically reported soilsurvey values of silver, lead and zinc.New high-grade zone discovered below cover increasestotal strike length to over 5.5 kilometers.Largest and highest-grade soil anomalies remain untestedat Belmont South and Grade Creek; Future drill programsto test these targets.”

Bald Eagle CEO and Director, Chris Paul, stated on March 24,2022: “A 600 meter long coincident IP geophysical and soilanomaly between Hercules Ridge and Grade Creek currently

represents the largest untested soil anomaly on the Property,with values consistently exceeding 1 ounce per ton silver (35ppm). Finally, the new high-grade soil discovery 2.6kilometers southeast of Belmont brings the total target strikelength on the Property to 5.5 kilometers and demonstrates thesignificant scale of silver mineralization at Hercules.”

Investors can also view a recently announced GoldspotDiscoveries Corp. 3D geological model for the Hercules SilverProject here.

The next step for Bald Eagle is to conduct a 3,000m 2022 drillprogram (June-August) to potentially discover new silvermineralization, notably at the strong geophysics targetdiscussed above. The goal is to achieve a maiden inferredmineral resource estimate. Additionally, Bald Eagle plans tocomplete metallurgical test work and bulk density testing in2022.

Images of Bald Eagle Gold Corp.s Hercules Silver Project inIdaho, USA

Source: Bald Eagle Gold Corp. company presentation

Closing remarks

Bald Eagle has BIG plans to match their TSXV ticker “BIG”. Thekey event in 2022 is the drilling campaign from June-August totest some large geophysics anomalies. All going well by late2022 a maiden resource will be delivered.

Meanwhile, real assets such as silver and gold are looking tobe very worthwhile investments at times when inflation isreducing your cash value by as much as 8.5%pa.

Bald Eagle Gold Corp. trades on a market cap of just C$8.5million. One to watch.

Focused on the potentiallygreater rewards providedthrough the investment inemerging countries, VolcanicGold Mines is in GuatemalaWith gold prices verging on US$2,000/oz, currentlyUS$1,970/oz, it is not surprising that gold mining companiesare circling the earth for gold. Today’s company is looking atunlocking the potential in Guatemala, a country in CentralAmerica just south of Mexico.

Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: VG) (“Volcanic”) is a gold andsilver explorer focused on building multi-million-ounce goldand silver resources in under-explored countries. Volcanic’scurrent focus is in Eastern Guatemala where the Company has an

option to earn a 60% interest from JV partner Radius Gold Inc.in the Holly and Banderas Projects (and other areas inGuatemala) by spending the cumulative amount of US$7.0 millionon exploration. In addition, Volcanic has acquired ageochemical database that has been generated over 20 years ofexploration in the region and has an exclusive right toacquire any mineral projects generated from the database.

The Holly Project

The Holly Project is located in eastern Guatemala in a regionwhere there are world-class gold and silver mines/deposits.The Project is 50km by paved road to Bluestone’s gold depositwhich is under development. The Project has multiple high-grade quartz veins similar to the ‘Escobal’ and ‘Cerro Blanco’deposits. In 2007 Goldcorp made the Escobal world-class silverdiscovery just 20 km away from the Holly Project. The CerroBlanco discovery grew to ~3.5 million oz gold.

Previous shallow drilling intersected encouraging resultsincluding 4.58m @ 79.84 g/t gold and 5,053 g/t silver. TheProject is at an early stage of drilling with a goal toconfirm the depth and strike extent of La Pena vein toestablish a high-grade maiden resource.

The Holly Project showing the various high grade veinsincluding La Pena

Source: Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. company presentation

On March 31, 2022, Volcanic stated: “The gold and silverdiscovery we have made at Holly is significant. It is a high-grade vein deposit that could be mined from underground,causing very little surface disruption. It will not require aprocessing plant as in the near future there will likely betwo mills in operation within trucking distance. We are in theprocess of concluding an inferred resource calculation andfrom that we will generate an approximate value of the depositthat has been discovered to date. Further, the deposit is openin all directions……”

The Holly Project showing La Pena and drill results

Source: Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. company presentation

Guatemala has a new pro-mining government in place. Theprevious period led to mining closures as the past governmentwas against mining. This still leaves some issues today forVolcanic; however Volcanic recently stated in an update that:“…..it is clear that the Central government and Departmentalgovernment of Chiquimula support the Holly project and willwork with Volcanic to regain the social license. Volcaniclooks forward to a resolution of the issues and a resumptionof work at the project and corresponding news flow.”

The Banderas Project and other areas under the Radius Gold JVagreement

Volcanic recently updated investors that they are “activelyreviewing the land position it optioned when we signed theagreement with Radius Gold Inc. on June 1st 2020. Several ofthe areas have been reviewed, some have been rejected and the

concession applications canceled. To date, three have shownsignificant promise and the Company is going through theprocess of getting these concessions granted. There are manymore areas to review and the work is ongoing.”

Closing remarks

As expected emerging countries come with greater risk andpotentially greater reward. In the case of Guatemala, Volcanicis hoping to make a significant discovery and announce a high-grade maiden resource at the Holly Project in 2022. There isalso further potential for discovery at the Banderas Projectand three other concessions (not yet granted). Noting theseall fall under the Radius Gold Inc. JV agreement. Volcanic iswell-financed with about C$7.5 million in cash.

CEO Simon Ridgway has excellent in-country experience as youcan learn more in this InvestorIntel interview here, where hediscusses Volcanic intent on building a multi-million ouncegold and silver resource.

Volcanic Gold Mines Inc. trades on a market cap of C$15million, which leaves plenty of potential upside if things gowell in 2022. Stay tuned.

Capitalizing on the free-to-play mobile games audience,East Side Games Group ramps

up the acquisitions, theawards and rolls out recordrevenues…Ask anyone who has children if they play free-to-play mobilegames. In about 95% of cases the answer will be ‘yes’. Such isthe popularity of mobile games today.

According to Statista, worldwide revenue from mobile games is“is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2026) of8.73%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$174,586mby 2026.” And “the average revenue per user (ARPU) in theMobile Games segment is projected to amount to US$64.66 in2022.”

Looking at the above statistics, this is an enormous marketopportunity for those that can be successful in the mobilegaming segment. Today’s Company is already Canada’s leadingfree-to-play mobile game group.

East Side Games Group Inc. (TSX: EAGR | OTCQB: EAGRF) not onlyowns and creates games, they also license their proprietaryGame Kit software platform that enables professional gamedevelopers to create games. East Side Games Group has adiverse portfolio of original and licensed IP mobile gamesthat include: Archer: Danger Phone, Bud Farm Idle Tycoon,Cheech & Chong Bud Farm, The Goldbergs: Back to the 80s, It’sAlways Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile and Trailer Park BoysGrea$y Money, RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar and The Office:Somehow We Manage.

A sample of just some of East Side Games Group’s free-to-playmobile games

Source: East Side Games Group website

East Side Games Group has been very busy in 2022 withacquisitions, new games announced (including “Star Trek”), astrong financial performance, and various award nominations

In January East Side Games Group announced that they hadacquired 100% of N3TWORK Inc.’s interest in the ‘Funko Pop!Blitz’ mobile game. The game currently features charactersfrom a variety of franchises including Jurassic World and Backto the Future, The Office, Shrek, Trolls, and Masters of theUniverse.

Also in January the Company announced that they had enteredinto a multi-year partnership with BBC Studios for theworldwide release of a mobile title based on the Doctor Whofranchise.

In February, the Company announced that it has entered into amulti-year partnership with ViacomCBS Consumer Products forthe worldwide release of a Star Trek: Lower Decks-themed

mobile game on iOS and Android. Regarding Star Trek, Wikipediastates: “Star Trek since its original debut in 1966 has beenone of the most successful television series in sciencefiction television history and has been considered by many tohave had a large influence in popular culture as a result.” Orput another way, Star Trek is wildly popular and has a cultfollowing. The announcement also highlighted the magnitude ofthis deal stating: “The Star Trek franchise has had anunmistakable influence on adults and children alike for over50 years. Being able to bring such a storied franchise tomobile in our trademark idle-game style is an honor for ushere at ESGG,” said Darcy Taylor, Chief Executive Officer ofESGG. “We’re looking forward to sharing this new experience inthe Star Trek franchise with everyone from new audiencesto Star Trek super fans. This new mobile game is another toptier IP franchise that will only add to an already excitinglaunch slate in 2022.”

In March, East Side Games Group reported their Q4 earningsresults which included record Q4 and FY2021 revenues up 49%YoY and 37% YoY respectively. They also announced record Q4monthly average users (MAU) of 1.5 million, up 53% YoY.

Record Q4 2021 and FY 2021 results were announced on March 10,2022

Source: East Side Games Q4 2021 and FY 2021 financialspresentation

Finally capping off a brilliant quarter, in mid-March EastSide Games announced that they had been nominated for multipleawards, including Pocket Gamer People’s Choice and CanadianGame Awards Best Mobile Game.

East Side Games Group quotes 5 core reasons to invest in thecompany

Market Growth in terms of quantitative and qualitativevisibility in the largest and fastest growingentertainment market.Proven Portfolio – Proven game portfolio with recurringrevenue stream and deep product pipeline.Revenue Diversification – Game Kit(s) technologyPlatform SaaS revenue model complements organic growthand enhances scalability.Successful & Accelerating M&A – Successful &Accelerating M&A Agenda to attract world class talent,teams and IP.Scale Benefits – Reduced cost of capital and scale

benefits operational synergies and profitability.

Source: East Side Games Group website

Summary of progress and growth strategy of East Side GamesGroup

Source

Closing remarks

The global mobile gaming industry continues to enjoy verysolid growth, with user penetration expected to hit 29.3% by2026, East Side Games Group is aiming to grab some of thisaudience. The Company is rapidly growing their portfolio offree-to-play mobile games as well as their revenues, withFY2021 revenues up 37% accelerating in Q4 2021 up 49% YoY.

East Side Games Group has a market cap of C$203 million. Oneto watch in 2022.