CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Leading Hotel Brands Look to Canadian AI for Better Stays, Operating Efficiency, and Incremental Revenue

Anyone who stays in hotels, be it on vacation or for business, knows one thing: the experience from one hotel to another is never the same. Multiple factors influence satisfaction for hotel guests, but oftentimes it’s little conveniences and the perception of a hotel team all pulling in the same direction that add up to a great stay.

Metaguest.AI (CSE:METG) Chief Executive Officer Tony Comparelli sees this dynamic from an insider’s perspective, as his company’s AI-based systems help hotels to operate more efficiently, enhance the guest experience, and maximize opportunities to generate revenue beyond room fees. The performance of their initial platform has won the confidence of some of the world’s top hotel brands, confirmed by a long list of new locations ready to come on board.

Comparelli spoke with Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine in early April about the technology behind Metaguest.AI’s rapid growth, his expectations for continued expansion, and how major hotels helped the young company refine its products early on.

Metaguest.AI uses advanced AI to improve the experience people have when staying at hotels. What aspects of the hotel industry guide the development of your products?

Through our journey of discovery in this industry, we learned that hotel operators face a number of issues. A combination of staffing challenges and finding appropriate team members so that you can operate efficiently is one.

But more importantly, hotels are pretty technology deficient. They use a variety of systems to run their operations, including different booking systems, property management systems, hospitality systems, and room service systems. Some are integrated but most are fragmented – they don’t talk to each other. It makes it difficult to operate efficiently.

What does Metaguest.AI do for hotels to make them run better?

Every business has a driver at the heart of what it does, and with hospitality the driver is always the guest. At the core of everything Metaguest.AI does is improving and enhancing the guest experience, from check-in to check-out. Ultimately, if a hotel continually delivers a positive guest experience, it influences booking rates and frequency.

Metaguest.AI installs an AI framework in every hotel we work with. It is unique to that hotel, and it learns the behaviour and habits of its guests, such as requests and responses and the things needed to make the guest’s stay more enjoyable.

As with any AI model, our technology self-learns and becomes more efficient in dealing with guest requests.

For example, I need towels in my room. What Metaguest.AI does for a hotel, using the platform at that level, is to take the request by answering the phone or through the guest interface. How many towels do you need, and what is your room number? The system will then communicate with the hotel inventory system and might determine that there are towels on the fifth floor. It will log the request, dispatch the housekeeper, and give them instructions, all without any human interaction.

It can also do everything from booking an event for you to booking a restaurant reservation and your transportation. It will connect all of the dots and as a guest you can interact with it in 31 languages. It will ask questions to learn about your request and then take care of it on your behalf.

Are you consistently improving the product? If so, how does that work? Is it in reaction to customer feedback?

When we install a framework in a hotel, we put in a language model that we call a “data set” that is unique to that hotel. We first have to monitor the system to make sure that it is not providing information that is not relevant to the hotel. We tweak the algorithms, and it will self-correct. In other words, every time there is an interaction with the system by a guest or employee, it will remember everything that happened – how it delivered and what the response was. And it will get better at doing things. It even generates code to fix the algorithm in order to be more efficient – it is that intelligent. There has not been an innovation in hospitality that is so game-changing since LodgeNet 25 years ago.

You have many partners using the product now. Can you share some names with us?

In 2022, we were looking for hotels that would pilot the technology and test the product. We went to Manhattan and identified eight properties, and these were brands that you would know within the Marriott and Hilton families that worked with us to refine it.

In April 2023, the platform was ready for general use. We spoke with groups in the Manhattan area and quickly were able to sign a number of hotels across all brands. Any brand you can think of, we have at least one property using our platform: Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Radisson – you name it.

We didn’t expect it, but our early expansion came through one hotel operator talking to another hotel operator, and it just started to spread. Currently, we don’t have an outbound hotel marketing team. We have 310 hotels on the platform right now and over 700 on the waitlist. So, it has been an amazing journey from eight hotels in the spring of 2024 to now 300 hotels. And we are looking to grow to 3,000 hotels by the end of 2026.

Of the 300 hotels we have, not one has come back and said our system was not for them. Attrition has been zero. We attribute that to working with hotels that are forward-thinking, want to innovate and want to provide the best service to the guest.

What is your model from a sales perspective? This sounds like a perfect business for generating recurring revenue.

We have a three-phase revenue approach. Phase 1 is what we are in today, and it is called Digital Concierge. All of the revenue is generated through businesses that are local to the hotel and generate revenue through the hotel. So, if a hotel does not have a gym, it has a partnership with a gym or a spa or restaurants in the area. We work with those local businesses, and the businesses pay to access the guests at the hotel during their stay. We share part of that revenue with our hotel partners.

Phase 2 is linked to automating the enterprise, where the hotel itself will pay a fee to automate within its environment. It ranges from $1 per room per month up to $20 per room per month, depending on all the enterprise systems they want to connect.

Phase 3 is the supply chain. We have 80 hotels in Manhattan right now, for example, and we will then allow the supply chain – the food companies, the linen companies, the service companies – to pay a fee to access information to make their operations more efficient.

Currently, we are generating about $6,000 per hotel per year based on the business subscribers that support their local hotels.

What does the future hold for Metaguest.AI?

The hospitality industry is not unique in the markets we go into. The U.S. market is no different from the Canadian market or the South American market or the global market for that matter. We see a global expansion strategy that allows us to license our technology in markets all over the world and become a major player in the hospitality industry.

In the next two years, our focus is to grow in the U.S. and have a dominant position in our markets, like we have in New York City and South Florida. Then we can look at expansion across the world. We already have hotel partners with international presence that are European or Dubai-based and are eager to welcome our technology to their markets.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Metaguest.AI at https://www.metaguest.ai/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

On the Front Line of the Quest to Enhance Healthcare System Efficiency

It depends on whom you ask, but healthcare in most countries feels, if not broken, then at the very least in critical condition. In Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and beyond, our medical ecosystems are strained by bureaucracy, old ways of working, inflation, workforce shortages, and ageing patient populations.

The promise of technology and artificial intelligence has loomed for years as a potential remedy. Social distancing measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst, accelerating the adoption of digital tools to keep patients out of emergency rooms.

There have been meaningful advances before and since, from virtual triage to AI-powered symptom checkers, but doctors and healthcare organizations remain hungry for tools that save time and resources.

Treatment.com AI (CSE:TRUE) is an emerging Canadian company that has developed an AI platform to do just this, and its scope is nothing if not impressive.

The Vancouver-based team believes it has built one of the most robust, clinically grounded diagnostic AI tools on the market, with clinically validated content and proprietary algorithms being the platform’s key differentiators.

Fuelling the company’s diagnostic engine is what Treatment.com AI calls the Global Library of Medicine (GLM), which was built over the course of more than seven years, drawing on more than 40,000 hours of clinical expertise and input from hundreds of doctors globally.

This means that unlike generic large language models (LLMs), which scrape unverified information from the internet, the Treatment.com AI engine is designed to minimize bias, making it a more reliable and adaptive tool for healthcare.

“The GLM has the ability to ‘think like a doctor’ and diagnose and ask questions in the most logical and necessary way regarding more than 1,000 diseases among the most common ones you’d see in a clinic or a hospital,” says Treatment.com AI Chief Executive Officer Dr. Essam Hamza, a family doctor turned technology entrepreneur who joined the company in late 2023. Hamza adds that the GLM knowledge base encompasses “over 15,000 symptoms and risk factors.”

One application of the platform that the company believes will be attractive for clinics and hospitals is an AI assistant (either through voice or text) that takes calls from patients and guides them through a structured diagnostic conversation. Triaging symptoms, suggesting assessments, and assisting with diagnosis are all parts of the process, as well as signalling possible red flags early. It can take a medical note and, where necessary, communicate with electronic medical record systems. 

The GLM is designed to complement, rather than replace, healthcare professionals. It does not issue its diagnosis to the patient but rather conveys the information to a licensed practitioner, which makes follow-up quicker and minimizes risk and associated potential liability as compared to a consumer-facing-only product.

Interestingly, Hamza originally got to know the company as an investor. “I really loved the technology, but the commercial side was missing, and I could see the potential,” he explains.

Under his lead, Treatment.com AI has moved away from its early direct-to-consumer model and is now focused on embedding its technology in hospitals, health systems, and insurers in more of a “B2B2C” model.

Other changes included adding Chief Financial Officer David Worner, who brings technology industry and M&A experience, and Chief Operating Officer Richard Atkins, who spearheaded sales for CloudMD and before that was at Health Navigator, which Amazon acquired to launch Amazon Care.

Even with these enhancements, Hamza acknowledges that Treatment.com AI is not the only entity betting that AI can help solve inefficiencies in the global healthcare ecosystem. He is thus making acquisitions to provide proof that the company’s AI performs in the real world and also to broaden the company’s commercial footprint.

The first addition, announced in January of this year, was Alea Health, which has a proprietary online therapy platform that leverages AI-driven tools to address mental health challenges. The platform incorporates conversational AI and voice technology to optimize patient intake and follow-up processes, thereby reducing administrative burdens and enhancing patient engagement. The technology and skills within the team will be utilized across the Treatment.com AI group.

The latest addition to Treatment.com AI, coming aboard in April, is Rocket Doctor, a fast-growing platform for patients to access care and MDs to launch their own practices largely virtually, now with hybridized in-person models across North America.

Founded by Toronto-based emergency physician Dr. William Cherniak, Rocket Doctor has helped empower over 300 MDs to provide care to over 600,000 patient visits across North America. Cherniak calls it a “Shopify for doctors” and says it caters to both urban and underserved rural patients in Canada and the U.S.

“We’re not just a virtual walk-in clinic,” says Cherniak. “We’re leveraging the most advanced technology to empower physicians to practice independently, integrating family medicine, primary, specialty, as well as urgent care, keeping hundreds of thousands of people out of hospital.”

For Hamza, Rocket Doctor was both a strategic fit and one generating revenue. “We’re treating Rocket Doctor almost as a customer. It’s a proof of concept for our AI,” Hamza says. “It allows us to optimize performance at scale and also help improve the bottom line.”

It also aligns with Treatment.com AI’s commercial approach. “We don’t go door to door to sell to individual doctors,” says Hamza. “We’re at the point now where we’re ready and looking to sign contracts with healthcare organizations, insurers – anyone with thousands of doctors or millions of patients. Having built a robust cloud-based solution and graduating as one of only two Canadian start-ups in Google’s Inaugural AI First Accelerator, Rocket Doctor has the infrastructure and customer base that can use our AI technology and show it works.”

Rocket Doctor has contracts with individual physicians and hospitals across Canada, as well as in California, New York, and Maryland, working with managed care plans and independent physician associations. In January, it executed a contract to go in-network with a 450,000-member managed care plan of Medicaid in California. In March, it was awarded a new clinical contract with its partner EngageWell IPA for a US$1 million five-year CVS Health Foundation grant, providing care to seniors for cardiovascular, cognitive, and mental health.

“Rocket Doctor is not just for proof of concept. I like them as a company, and they’re growing well independently and have a great brand,” says Hamza. “We’re not changing that platform at all. We’re going to add fuel to the fire of that growth, make some introductions to improve the top line, and use our technology to try and help the bottom line too.” 

Treatment.com AI is also building out a suite of complementary products using its core AI engine. These include a pharmacy triage system and a medical education tool, which is already in use at the University of Minnesota.

“We’re not a tech roll-up,” Hamza says. “We’ll only acquire companies that truly complement our strategy. If we buy something, it’s because we believe it adds a critical piece we don’t already have.”

Rocket Doctor is rapidly growing meaningful software as a service (SaaS) revenue, with gross margins near the high end of the 80% range, according to Hamza, who notes a path to doubling revenue in the first year, building on its 88% year-on-year increase in 2024. Revenue recognition for Treatment.com AI from the Rocket Doctor subsidiary is expected to begin in the second quarter, ending August 31.

“We’re moving like we’re a $100 million Annual Recurring Review (ARR) company and growing rapidly into those clothes,” he says.

If Treatment.com AI can continue its progress and keep turning clinical credibility into commercial contracts, the company will deliver on its mission to improve access for patients, reduce administrative overhead for healthcare professionals, and enable providers to deliver more efficient and profitable healthcare systems.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Treatment.com AI at https://www.treatment.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

A Mission to Make Cancer Treatment More Effective With Fewer Side Effects

Cancer is an oftentimes fatal condition that has touched most people’s lives directly or indirectly. And while there are treatments available, depending on the type of cancer in question and how advanced it is, much of the time they do not work.

Traditional treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are well understood. When administered in a timely manner for an amenable form of the disease, they perform credibly. But they can be tough on the body and leave lingering side effects.

Beyond this, efficacy can be patchy. Take immunotherapy, now seen as the gold standard for cancer treatment – response rates range between 15% and 35%, depending on the drug and tumour type. Toxicity is also a problem in around 20% of patients.

The broader research into drug efficacy paints a similar picture across different classes of treatment. The problem is not with medication per se. It lies with the nature of cancer itself and the patient’s immune system.

Cancer is not a single defined disease, but a cluster of them that have learned how to fool the human immune system. Even within cancers of a similar type, presentation can vary in ways almost as unique as the DNA that defines us.

As researchers have deepened their understanding of cancer, the idea of a silver bullet treatment has faded. Instead, physicians now favour a more nuanced approach, although we have yet to see truly personalized cancer medicine to date.

Halifax-based Sona Nanotech (CSE:SONA) believes it may have uncovered a nanotech-based approach that could have broader application than many current frontline treatments, working across a range of solid tumours to kill them by leveraging the immune system’s natural defences.

It is also highly targeted in its administration, avoiding the collateral damage that traditional chemotherapies and radiotherapies inflict on healthy tissue.

Sona Nanotech’s advance emerged from an idea conceived by Dr. Kulbir Singh and Dr. Gerrard Marangoni of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. It centres on gold nanorods, a technology ripe with potential but historically fraught with drawbacks.

A key impediment has been overcome through extensive R&D work at Sona, led by Singh, which now forms the core intellectual property of the business: the nanorods have been rendered biocompatible, which makes them a very promising candidate for in-human use.

“Lots of people make nanoparticles, and lots of people make nanorods. We’re the only ones who make nanorods at scale that are biocompatible, so they’re ideally suited to what we want to do with them,” says Sona Nanotech Chief Executive Officer David Regan.

As part of a process called targeted hyperthermia therapy (THT), a solution containing hundreds of billions of these tiny particles, undetectable under a regular lab microscope, is injected directly into a solid tumour.

A near-infrared light (NIR) source then activates the particles, heating the tumour from within. Due to its non-ionizing nature, NIR light is harmless to human tissue and can penetrate the skin. For example, an oximeter that is pressed to the finger for oxygen testing uses NIR light.

The precision and temperature control are such that only the malignant area is affected, sparing surrounding healthy tissue.

“Our current ways of killing cancer are brutish in terms you, and even I, can’t comprehend,” says Regan. “Chemo is, of course, but even radiation does a lot of damage, and surgery has huge risks.”

“The idea behind this is we heat the tumour gently from the inside out, and we control the temperature very carefully at around 45°C, in which case you’re only harming cancer cells, not healthy cells, because cancer cells have a lower tolerance for the heat they can withstand.”

In animal models, this approach not only shrinks tumours and kills cancer cells but also stimulates the immune system by presenting tumour antigens (distress-signalling biomolecules) to the patient’s immune system, which otherwise would be kept hidden by the cancer tumour.

This opens the door to treating so-called “cold” tumours that are not recognized by the body’s disease-fighting T cells.

These cold tumours are also where all current immunotherapies, such as Merck’s blockbuster Keytruda, struggle.

Another potential strength of Sona’s technology is its ability to carry immunotherapy drug molecules on the tiny nanoparticles. This raises the prospect of further enhancement of the technology.

This approach fits with one of the current trends in cancer research: antibody-drug conjugates that bring together therapies to create more effective treatments.

Regan also points to its potential use as a neoadjuvant therapy, a treatment given before a primary treatment that enhances the efficacy of drugs.

All of this is promising in theory. But how far along the research and development curve has Sona progressed?

The company is on the cusp of a first-in-human feasibility study, which may bring it to the attention of the industry’s key opinion leaders.

Before reaching this point, significant research was conducted, testing the therapy on melanoma, breast, and colorectal cancers. Mice were given a single injection of gold nanorods, which were then heated using a near-infrared laser. This gentle heat destroyed cancer cells and exposed hidden markers that triggered an immune response.

In colorectal and breast cancer models, combining THT with leading immunotherapy drugs led to near-complete tumour elimination, whereas the drugs alone had little effect. In the melanoma model, THT produced a rare abscopal effect: even tumours not directly treated began to shrink.

Gene activity tests confirmed that THT strongly activated the immune system, but without the toxicity often associated with other treatments.

The next step is a first-in-human deployment of the technology in around 10 people with advanced melanoma that has resisted traditional treatment. The aim is to demonstrate safety and immune-activating potential. Skin tumours are to be chosen partly for practical reasons, as they are accessible for injection and imaging.

While melanoma is typically immunogenically “hot” and responsive to immunotherapy, some late-stage melanomas can become “cold” due to immune evasion mechanisms, leading to poor responses to current drugs.

The study’s primary endpoint is safety. Researchers will monitor how well patients tolerate two applications of THT delivered a week apart. Secondary and exploratory endpoints will assess tumour size and immune system activity, including changes in immune cell populations and cytokine levels.

Top-line results could emerge as early as mid to late summer, according to Regan. In the meantime, Sona will present a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago. Additional peer-reviewed papers will follow its debut publication in the journal “Frontiers in Immunology,” which has already drawn interest from researchers and clinicians.

Regan and his team are also looking to expand the pipeline of uses for the biocompatible gold nanorod platform. This will not only boost Sona’s research reputation but also enhance its appeal to potential collaboration partners.

There is also the issue of regulatory pathway. Traditional drugs undergo a three-stage approval process that is both onerous and expensive, often requiring funding from a large pharmaceutical partner.

Given that Sona’s technology is a medical device, it remains to be seen whether it will be eligible for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) route, a potentially expedited and cost-effective path to market. That decision point will not come until feasibility study results are available and there is clarity on whether the approach qualifies as a device.

In a field where new cancer treatments can cost hundreds of millions of development dollars only to fail at an intermediate hurdle, Sona has so far progressed on a relative shoestring. It is expected that the $3.1 million friends-and-family funding round completed in the fall of 2024 will carry the company through its feasibility study.

If successful, that could provide a platform to attract further investment. The next step would be a pilot study. “We’re already well down the road on setting that up, and we think that would be very well received,” says Regan.

“People think of clinical trials as being tens of millions of dollars. We have a path that is a fraction of that, which we think could be very exciting. And most importantly, we’re looking to accelerate this process.”

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Sona Nanotech at https://www.sonanano.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Early Cancer Detection Using Biomarkers Could Save Lives and Healthcare System Resources

Early detection is critical to improving survival rates and treatment outcomes for cancer patients, but traditional approaches such as mammograms, low-dose CT scans, and biopsies, while effective, come with challenges. High costs, accessibility, invasiveness, and the potential for false positives are some of the factors that can lead to delays in diagnosis or unnecessary treatments.

To help overcome these hurdles, BioMark Diagnostics (CSE:BUX) is exploring metabolomics leveraging AI and other complementary technologies with the potential to revolutionize early cancer detection.

Metabolomics studies the byproducts of metabolic processes in the body. Its application in cancer research means a non-invasive and highly sensitive method of early detection could be on the horizon. By identifying the distinct metabolic fingerprints left behind by cancer cells, this technology can detect the disease at much earlier stages, even before physical symptoms emerge.

As BioMark Chief Executive Officer Rashid Bux explained recently to Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, the company’s innovative work could pave the way to a future where early cancer detection is reliable, economical, accessible, and patient-friendly.

The idea of detecting cancer early using a simple fluid test sounds like a holy grail. What set BioMark on this path?

For me, it was a deeply personal journey. My sister was diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer, and she passed away two years later. I found a technology that was based on using a drug approved for Parkinson’s and influenza to regulate an enzyme called spermidine/spermine N-1-acetyltransferase (SSAT), which is highly expressed in certain cancers. The idea of repurposing this drug to regulate this enzyme for cancer detection was novel and had never been explored before.

When I discovered the potential of this technology, it resonated with me emotionally. I had just lost my sister, and this was an innovative solution being developed right here in Canada. I licensed the technology 14 years ago.

Over the years, we’ve adapted this technology to track tumour burden, including brain cancer. We’ve focused a lot of effort on glioblastoma (GBM), where patients typically only survive for about 15 months once diagnosed. Over the past four years, we received $1.5 million in funding from the Government of Canada’s Canadian Institutes of Health Research Program and Research Manitoba to explore tumour activity in the brain and potential therapeutic targets that can be helpful in treating GBM patients.

How did you come to focus on liquid biopsy as a tool for early cancer detection?

In 2015 to 2016, while studying lung cancer, we found that we could identify cancer signatures, both of late- and early-stage cancer, using metabolomics. We presented strong data at the Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society which led us to assess it for clinical applications.

Metabolomics involves studying small molecules that are byproducts of metabolic reactions. Cancer reprograms the body’s metabolic pathways, leaving behind distinct signatures that can appear early on. This approach is effective because, like an income statement for your cells, it gives us a snapshot of pathological cell functioning, allowing for early cancer detection, which is crucial for survival.

You’ve flipped the script on traditional cancer diagnostics by targeting metabolites instead of imaging. Why is metabolomics the future of cancer detection?

One key advantage is that metabolomics only requires a small sample size – around 20 milligrams of blood – making the process less invasive. Take lung cancer as an example. Current detection methods, such as mammograms for breast cancer or CT scans for lung cancer, are expensive and have limitations. The result is a cumbersome, complex diagnostic process. Our approach complements existing methods such as these.

Our goal is to offer a test with high sensitivity and accuracy that can act as a risk predictor. For instance, the test could flag individuals at high risk, directing them to undergo a CT scan. This could reduce unnecessary tests and make diagnoses more efficient for radiologists, who often see benign nodules in CT scans but can’t differentiate them from malignant ones. By identifying benign nodules with confidence, we would help avoid unnecessary biopsies. 

How is your approach to metabolomics being integrated into current clinical practices? Where is it being applied, and could you share some notable success stories or key findings from your recent studies?

Currently, there hasn’t been a large-scale clinical trial in this area, but we recently completed one of the largest metabolomics trials, involving 6,000 patients. Supported by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec (IUCPQ), this trial began in April 2022. We successfully completed the trial in two years across seven hospitals in Québec.

We’re now analyzing the data from these patients, and we’ve already received results from one group whose diagnoses have been confirmed. The second group includes about 3,000 prospective patients who will be monitored over the next one to two years. The effects of screening programs take time to show, as it involves following up with patients using CT scans and other methods.

This trial is significant because we are combining metabolomics with other technologies, including genomics (which studies genetic mutations) and polygenic risk scores (which assess cancer risk based on family history). We’re also integrating radiomics, which uses imaging data and AI. By blending these technologies, we’re creating a versatile diagnostic platform.

In addition, we’ve conducted retrospective studies from 2019 to 2021, validating a panel of biomarkers for lung cancer. These studies produced promising results and piqued AstraZeneca’s interest, leading to the expansion of our study from 260 to 900 patients. We even included patients with other lung diseases, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and COVID-19, because these conditions share many pathways with lung cancer. Our test was able to distinguish between lung disease and lung cancer, which we presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

We’ve maintained a sensitivity of 91% to -92% in our assay for early-stage lung cancer, although specificity dropped slightly, which is expected, when including both lung diseases and cancers. Nonetheless, the data remains strong.

You’ve mentioned democratizing cancer detection and putting these tools in the hands of those who can help make early diagnoses and improve infrastructure. What does that look like in practical terms, especially regarding licensing and commercialization?

We are focusing on collaborating with key opinion leaders and patient advocates to accelerate the adoption of this technology. A crucial part of this journey is patient navigation. Early detection is only effective if patients have access to further diagnostic steps and treatment. Many communities lack access to advanced cancer detection tools, so we’re partnering with National Cancer Institute-designated centres of excellence, which have active screening programs across the U.S. There are 33 such centres of excellence.

We’re collaborating with major centres like the James Cancer Center in Columbus, which services around 90 community hospitals. By collaborating with these institutions, we can help absorb the demand for cancer detection, especially in areas lacking infrastructure.

We’re also working internationally with European key opinion leaders to raise awareness and have been in discussions with biopharma companies to see how our technology can complement their early cancer detection efforts. This is a complex process, but we’re making progress.

How far are we from seeing this technology in everyday use, particularly in the lab?

We are focused on getting our lab certified. We’ve built significant infrastructure in Québec City, collaborating with IUCPQ, which is one of the top centres for lung disease and cardiology. By August of this year, we expect our lab to be ISO 15189 certified, which would allow us to accept samples from around the world. We’re also working toward obtaining Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification for lab-developed tests for the U.S. market.

Our strategy for entering the U.S. market is to acquire a lab, partner with existing centres, or license our technology. However, our primary goal is to establish our own labs, as the U.S. market holds immense potential. With 16 million patients requiring annual screening and a current market penetration of just 5%, even capturing a small share of this market would generate substantial revenue.

With its scalable design, high throughput capacity, and rapid turnaround, our soon-to-be-operational lab is poised for rapid growth to meet market demand. BioMark’s versatile technology platform offers promising solutions for breast cancer, including early detection and key biomarker assessment (subtype, receptor status) vital for clinical decisions. These results have been presented at several leading breast cancer symposiums.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about BioMark Diagnostics at https://www.biomarkdiagnostics.com/.

Magazine

Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine: The Technology Issue – Now Live!

Welcome to the latest issue of Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, your source for in-depth stories of entrepreneurs from a wealth of different industries.

Businesses are facing an operating landscape marked by mounting political tensions, rapidly shifting climate and trading realities around the world, and continuously evolving technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) – driving an unprecedented velocity and scale of change. However, despite the enormous challenges currently confronting business and capital markets leaders, we are also witnessing the tremendous resilience, ingenuity, and leadership from companies on the Exchange and across the Canadian economy more broadly. 

In this issue of Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, we feature six CSE listed technology companies leveraging AI and nanotech to transform everyday systems that improve our health, well-being, and livelihoods.

The CSE listed companies featured in this issue include:

Check out the Technology Issue of Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine here:

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Patience Pays off With a Portfolio of Assets in One of the World’s Premier Mining Jurisdictions

Forte Minerals (CSE:CUAU) is walking an exciting path in copper-gold exploration with a focus on prolific mineralized districts in Peru, a country known for rich deposits that attract exploration and mining companies from around the world.

The company was formed through the spinout of gold and copper-molybdenum assets originally worked on by Globetrotters Resource Group, which put in over a decade of strategic groundwork to piece together a prospective resource pipeline for major and mid-tier producers.

In a recent interview with Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine, Forte Chief Executive Officer Patrick Elliott discussed the company’s strategy, key projects and exploration plans for 2025.

How does Forte approach identifying, and then prioritizing, projects for exploration and development?

Our strategy is to develop pipeline projects for major and mid-tier producers. We have about 16 years of generative effort that was the treadmill for building this portfolio through Globetrotters Resource. And interest is building. The majors and mid-tier producers are starving for a pipeline of future development projects. They’re starting to look earlier in exploration.

Our projects were acquired through strategic staking opportunities where we were very patient over the years. They were targeted, they were prioritized and they were well-known.

We often have to wait a full mining cycle to make these acquisitions at low cost or no cost. A big part of our strategy is to pick up these assets for nothing and create a tremendous amount of value by driving them through surface exploration, geophysics, drill permitting, drilling and, subsequently, resource definition and sale.

What are the highlights of Forte’s project portfolio and what makes them stand out?

We picked the top four properties held by Globetrotters Resource and spun them out into Forte. Three-quarters of our projects are drill-permitted with a Declaración de Impacto Ambiental (DIA) drill permit from Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Of these four, two are high-sulphidation gold projects that were sought after by other mining companies, exploration companies and majors. Our flagship project is the Alto Ruri project. It was discovered in 1997 with an exceptional first drill hole of 131 metres of 2.55 grams per ton of gold from the surface and the top 55 metres ran 5.4 grams per ton. This is unique in that the rest of the deposit hasn’t been properly drill tested.

It was a project that got shelved. We staked this in 2013 when a major company dropped it in competition with another major and just recently were able to secure 100% interest.

Our other two projects are porphyry copper projects. These two projects were 10 to 12 years in the making to take them from staking to advanced drill targets. Porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits in southern Peru are some of the largest on the planet. Cerro Verde, run by Freeport-McMoRan, is the fifth largest copper mine in the world and there are several others along that southern copper belt that have given Peru its notoriety for copper production.

What else makes Peru such an attractive location for Forte’s copper and gold exploration projects?

Peru is the number two producer of copper. There are many occurrences of potassic and phyllic alteration that make up these porphyry copper-molybdenum anomalies that are so highly sought after by copper explorers and copper producers.

We’re also seeing major gold companies look for porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum anomalies and deposits for acquisition these days because of their long mine life and positive economics. They have the ability to not only thrive in good metals markets but also survive a downturn. We’re typically talking 40 to 50 years of mine life for these billion-plus ton deposits.

We love Peru and the potential there. It’s underexplored. It had a late start compared to Chile and some of the other countries in the Americas and you can still find occurrences at surface. It’s a good address to be in.

How does your recent acquisition of the Miscanthus project from Sumitomo Metal Mining fit into Forte’s long-term strategy for creating value?

We were lucky to have this fall into our project generator portfolio. Sumitomo Metal Mining spent five years advancing Miscanthus by developing drill targets, surface geology mapping, soil sampling, rock sampling, IP geophysics and other work. They developed some tremendous high-sulphidation targets up higher in the system and overprinted two large, coherent telescope porphyry anomalies. And they had a community agreement in place.

This was the most favourable out of the group of projects Globetrotters Resource acquired from Sumitomo Metal Mining and we subsequently spun it out into Forte. It is highly de-risked geologically but also in terms of permitting. It is a fully drill-permitted project which adds a lot of value because this process is fairly comprehensive and lengthy. Historically, it can take two to three years to acquire these DIA drill permits in Peru. So, it was fortunate for us that we were able to acquire this project at a very low cost and it can be drilled in 2025.

What are your exploration plans for 2025?

We look forward to drilling our three permitted projects in the next 12 to 18 months. We’ll start with our gold project Pucarini in March. We look to make a subsurface discovery. We anticipate it going down at least 300 metres, judging by resistivity and chargeability anomalies that complement a 2 kilometre by half-kilometre soil geochemistry gold anomaly on surface.

We are excited to get in there and drill the first four holes to test that system. Then we will move on to one of our porphyry copper projects, either Esperanza or Miscanthus.

With demand for copper and gold increasing, how is Forte preparing to take advantage of these trends?

We recognize that copper is a critical metal of the future. That has been well forecasted. There haven’t been enough large porphyries found in the last two decades. Looking to future demand, we should benefit from a high price of copper for a long period of time.

Timing is everything. You work for a decade or a decade and a half throughout the entire mining cycle to acquire these high-profile copper and gold projects. We’re at the forefront of what we see as a very long base metal and precious metal cycle driven by copper. We’re well positioned with porphyry copper and high-sulphidation gold assets that we are now moving forward into drilling and resource expansion.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Forte Minerals at https://www.forteminerals.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Natural Hydrogen Is Gaining Traction and This Canadian Company Is Looking to Get a Head Start

Electric vehicles have for years now been extremely popular with consumers who want to do their part to reduce CO2 emissions. Every major vehicle manufacturer is in the game to some extent, and companies such as Tesla and Rivian make nothing but vehicles that run on electricity.

But there is also a completely different energy source that can power vehicles in equally clean fashion. Automotive heavyweights such as Toyota and Honda are pouring money into related research.

Establishing these new drivetrains as mainstream would represent somewhat of a holy grail on the clean technology front, in part because one of the ways to obtain this fuel is to let it flow out of the ground from a renewable source.

That fuel is hydrogen and it has caught the imagination of engineers across the world because it burns without emitting CO2. This early in the game it is more costly on a per-kilometre basis than gasoline or electricity, but technologies tend to start that way, with costs coming down in line with technological progress and economies of scale.

One might wonder why we do not see a plethora of natural hydrogen exploration companies or producers listed on stock exchanges around the world. One reason might be that the science behind discovering natural hydrogen is still developing, and without an edge in that department, it’s difficult to get far.

Quebec Innovative Materials (CSE:QIMC) ticks the technology box plus others that observers may deem important when assessing a company in the sector.

The company’s share price is up 380% year to date at the time of writing and had been up by over 1,500% at its high, before profit-taking arrived to begin turning over some of the shareholder base.

Quebec Innovative Materials’ flagship property is Ville Marie, located 15 kilometres north of the Québec town bearing the same name and only hours by car from major northeast metropolitan areas.

In a little over five months since exploration began, the company has reported soil showings of hydrogen that indicate a source lies deep beneath the surface. The questions now are how much is there, how pure is it and can it be extracted in economically feasible volumes?

“We started Quebec Innovative Materials six years ago with a vision of clean, natural hydrogen, and that vision was from Professor LaFlèche and the team at INRS,” says Quebec Innovative Materials Chief Executive Officer John Karagiannidis, referring to the Québec government’s Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), and Professor Marc Richer-LaFlèche, Scientific Head of the institution’s Applied Geoscience Laboratory.

“Some years ago, a number of papers came out of Australia regarding natural hydrogen and related exploration techniques. Professor LaFlèche used the models and applied them in Canada, which led us to stake in the Ville Marie and Lac Saint-Jean areas.”

Hydrogen can be obtained both from natural sources and through industrial processes. In industry terminology, “white” or “natural” hydrogen refers to naturally occurring hydrogen, while “grey” and “green” hydrogen denote hydrogen produced through industrial methods.

The potential for a regenerative dynamic to come into play makes the discussion of defining the economics of a natural hydrogen project particularly interesting. Whereas oil and gas deposits take millions of years to form and then ultimately deplete as humans tap them, natural hydrogen is generated continuously when water reacts with iron minerals deep underground.

“We don’t look at it as a resource,” says Karagiannidis. “We look at it in terms of flow. What is the renewal rate and what is the commercial flow out of the main conduits. You can’t look at it as a static system where you have a resource. You are not looking for a reservoir but rather for a renewal rate and what is the commercial flow.”

Given this explanation, resource investors would be right to think that Ville Marie resembles an oil and gas project as well as a mining project. And this is what led to the involvement of one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs in both the oil and gas and mining sectors: Sheldon Inwentash.

Currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Toronto-based ThreeD Capital, Inwentash is not only adept at putting companies together but a famed portfolio manager, perhaps best known for his 22-plus years leading Pinetree Capital, which made investments in hundreds of junior mining companies.

In the early years of his career, Inwentash did a lot of work with oil and gas. “I have a background in the oil and gas industry and especially building companies in the 1980s,” Inwentash explains. “And I was involved in the gas tight shale projects being explored in Québec about 15 years ago and realized how gas-rich the province is.”

It was the work by INRS that piqued Inwentash’s interest as well. “In reading the technical reports INRS had done, it occurred to me that geological hydrogen, which is a new phenomenon, is sort of at the intersection of how oil and gas is discovered, and how mining is affected in that same ecosystem. Because ostensibly the rocks create gases – it’s sort of like a live system. You almost have to have some knowledge of both of those disciplines.”

And as Karagiannidis explains, the capital market capabilities that ThreeD brought to the table were just as valuable. “On the capital markets side, we have Sheldon and Jakson Inwentash and the whole team at ThreeD, our largest shareholders and our initial funders when we launched our hydrogen projects.” 

In its formative years, Quebec Innovative Materials worked on a different set of projects containing silica, and these are still part of the portfolio. “We have press released that we are looking to proceed with bulk samples and we have buyers, so we are at the bulk sampling stage with the silica,” says Karagiannidis.

But hydrogen is the company’s main focus, with preparatory work at Ville Marie leading toward the commencement of hydrogen exploration this past summer, starting with a hydrogen soil-gas sampling program carried out by INRS.

The first two hydrogen anomalies announced were each observed over a length of 500 metres, with concentrations in the first zone ranging from 311 ppm to 388 ppm (parts per million), and 157 ppm to 346 ppm in the second.

Soon after, the company said it had extended a line of significant anomalous natural hydrogen soil gas findings to 9 kilometres. A subsequent announcement revealed that hydrogen soil samples with concentrations exceeding 1,000 ppm had been collected. “We are thrilled to announce this transformative discovery outlining a highly charged 70 square kilometre hydrogen area within our 250 square kilometre Ville Marie property,” Karagiannidis stated at the time.

Most recently, Quebec Innovative Materials announced the launch of winter monitoring to measure natural hydrogen gas flow rates in identified hot zones in the project’s St-Bruno-de-Guigues region.

“It is a two-stage approach,” says Karagiannidis. “We are focusing on geophysics from a terrestrial perspective, going from east to west to specifically identify the primary conduits underground. We are also starting our specific hydrogen sampling but this time on the lake itself, so we are going to drill through the ice and put in a proprietary gas-measuring probe to measure at different levels.” 

It is painstaking work but moving along smoothly, and all designed to set the team up for a significant drill program come summer. It is also aimed at further establishing Quebec Innovative Materials as a leader in hydrogen exploration.

“We are the most advanced natural hydrogen pure play in Canada, and I would say top two in North America,” Karagiannidis concludes. “We are really at the forefront of a nascent natural hydrogen industry.”

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Quebec Innovative Materials at https://www.qimaterials.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

The Right Blend of Production and Exploration Brings a Peruvian Mine Back to Life

When the founders of Kuya Silver (CSE:KUYA) first came across the Bethania Mine in the Peruvian Andes, the idle site brought to mind assets that some of the world’s top silver companies had put into production when they were small and growing.

One of those founders, now Kuya President and Chief Executive Officer David Stein, saw the potential right away, drawing on nine years of experience as a Bay Street mining analyst and seven years in private equity.

Knowledge of what investors want to see in a successful company gave Stein the confidence to make the acquisition of Bethania in 2017 and build assets around the flagship project to achieve an attractive corporate profile.

Bethania was on care and maintenance when Stein and Christian Aramayo, Kuya Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, first encountered it. At the time, the mine was owned by a Peruvian family and had just two shareholders.

“What I liked about Bethania was that it really reminded me of the early days of some of the big silver mining companies, like First Majestic, which started in Mexico with a single mine,” says Stein, who recalls being the first analyst to cover First Majestic in the early 2000s. 

“So, I knew what kind of business model and value could be created with a high-grade silver mine like this. And you had all the hallmarks of a great mine, including good grades, which mean your costs are going to be low, and tremendous exploration potential. The previous owners did not do any real exploration – they were just following veins that are very obviously open.”

Stein and Aramayo sensed that modern exploration techniques had a high chance of proving up a significant deposit at the property and that the exploration could take place in tandem with production. 

“In my view, the best junior mining companies give the market two things: production growth and resource growth, at the same time ideally,” says Stein. “Those are the companies that will outperform their peers, and I felt like Bethania had the opportunity to do that by starting up production and then growing it incrementally, with exploration potentially offering huge resource upside.”

A lot of the needed infrastructure was already in place. And Peru, of course, is a country where many of the world’s top mining companies run successful operations.

Following an initial investment and earn-in deal as a private company, funded mainly by Stein, Kuya went public and raised enough money to buy all of the shares of Bethania’s Peruvian owners at the end of 2020, giving Kuya 100% ownership.

The company added to its local land position soon after, with the project eventually reaching a total of 4,300 hectares. The mine itself sits on about 15 hectares, says Stein. “It’s only a tiny portion of this huge land package that has not been explored by drilling.”

Under Kuya’s control, Bethania has transitioned from sitting dormant to once again being in production, with operations restarted in May of this year and the first sale of silver-lead concentrate completed in October.

While Kuya is leveraging a toll milling model to process its ore, it has all the permits it needs to establish its own mill. A company-owned mill will likely have to wait until 2027, though, as Kuya first intends to build up its production rate and operating cash flow.

As an initial target, Stein and Aramayo aim to increase throughput to 350 tonnes per day.

Stein expects that current all-in sustaining costs will be around US$15 per ounce factoring in the cost for toll milling. This is higher than the sub-$10 estimate in Bethania’s preliminary economic assessment (PEA), but with silver prices north of $30, there’s plenty of headroom.

“When we hit our target run rate, you’re looking at 1.5 million ounces of silver production per year and some pretty meaningful cash flow,” says Stein. “It’s looking in the order of almost US$2 million a month at current silver prices.”

Plans call for allocating cash flow from mining sales to growing the deposit via exploration.

In addition to the 4,000-plus hectare site in the Andes, Kuya has also been building a potential district-size asset in Northern Ontario, which it calls the Silver Kings Project.

Here, the company has 13,000 hectares located in one of Ontario’s most prolific silver mining camps, near the historic mining town of Cobalt.

“My experience when I was an analyst was that the market is always looking for growth,” says Stein. “And if you don’t have it now, you have to buy it later and usually pay more for it. Silver Kings is an attractive risk-return for us in that sense.”

Exploration remains central to Kuya’s growth story with so little of Bethania explored to date, and Silver Kings being an earlier stage project.

While the market is not attributing significant value to the Ontario asset yet, the team made the acquisition and has consolidated more land because they see high-grade silver potential.

Geologically, Silver Kings is very different from Bethania, right down to the by-products, which in Ontario would include cobalt.

The district has seen little to no silver exploration for over 40 years, but Kuya’s geologists have identified dozens of targets.

And because it is in Canada, Kuya can minimize dilution by taking advantage of flow-through financing to fund exploration.

“I feel like it’s always a good idea to line up a company’s next growth opportunity,” says Stein. 

“As we grow in Peru with Bethania for the next five years, people will start to wonder what’s next, and the nice thing is we already have the next thing potentially with the Ontario project.”

As for growing Bethania, the initial focus is enlarging the resource. There has only ever been drilling to a depth of about 200 metres from surface, and veins are open both at depth and along strike.

Exploration drilling will initially focus on three nearby zones with historical mining activity.

“We feel these have the potential to add significant tonnage in the future,” the CEO says, adding that Kuya could conduct US$20 million to US$30 million in exploration in the district over the next several years “and really show that there’s a much bigger project there.” 

If current plans come to fruition, there should be enough money in the bank to start exploration in the second quarter of 2025.

“Once we start, the drills will never stop. We’ll keep drilling and exploring these various targets for many years to come,” explains Stein.

And building a mill in a few years would lower costs and risk, improve recoveries and allow expansion beyond 350 tonnes per day.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices will also be incorporated in Bethania’s expansion.

As an underground mine, Stein says Bethania’s environmental footprint is relatively small, while the mill has been designed to recycle water and comes with plans to connect to Peru’s hydroelectric grid for clean energy.

On the social side, Kuya maintains strong ties with the local community, providing jobs and sharing economic benefits. “The community has been very supportive,” Stein notes.

With silver prices showing upward momentum, rising from US$23 per ounce at the start of 2024 to around US$30 lately, Kuya could benefit from market dynamics as well as its own actions. 

“If silver prices rise to $50 or $60, the upside is enormous,” Stein concludes.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Kuya Silver at https://www.kuyasilver.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

Uniquely Positioned With the Only U.S. Mine Permitted to Produce the Critical Mineral Fluorspar

Most people have never heard of a mineral called fluorspar, but they’ve most definitely benefited from it. We all have, in fact, as some of the electronic devices so ubiquitous in our daily lives would not exist in their current forms without it.

Fluorspar is an important commercial source for a chemical element called fluorine, the lightest of the halogens and thus in a league of its own for a variety of industrial applications. Fluorspar is also found in things such as cement and steel, not to mention camera lenses and other optical products. It is classified as a critical mineral in the United States.

James Walker understands that part of his role as Chief Executive Officer of Ares Strategic Mining (CSE:ARS) is to educate the public about the case for fluorspar, especially as Ares is currently the only U.S.-based fluorspar company with a permitted mine.

“It’s no surprise if you haven’t heard of fluorspar – honestly, most people haven’t,” Walker says candidly during a mid-November interview with Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

The U.S. once had a thriving fluorspar sector, but this was years ago before China grew its presence and flooded the market with cheap product. As a result, the U.S. fluorspar industry has been virtually nonexistent for decades.

That could change if Ares is successful in producing fluorspar from its Lost Sheep Mine in Utah.

The company went on a search some years ago for projects that it could bring into production quickly, required modest capital spending and contained something for which there was clear customer demand. Fluorspar wasn’t on Walker’s radar at first, but one day his team came across artisanal miners in Utah who were digging it out of the ground, bagging it and selling it directly to steel mills. Walker was intrigued, to say the least.

Lost Sheep was a lucky find, according to the CEO. “One of the geologists I was working with at the time had experience with fluorspar, having worked on Europe’s largest fluorspar mine. When he brought it to my attention, my first reaction was the same as most people’s: What’s fluorspar? But from there, everything started to fall into place.”

With a relatively low capital outlay, Ares seized the chance to build a modern, efficient industrial process to produce significant amounts of fluorspar domestically. The team viewed Lost Sheep as an opportunity to revive the U.S. fluorspar industry and claim significant market share. “With this fluorspar project, the material coming out of the ground was already about 50% of the final product, so the processing required was minimal,” Walker explains.

Ares inherited Lost Sheep’s permits with the purchase of the mine. Even more compelling was that the Lost Sheep Mine was part of a much larger fluorspar anomaly, stretching around 16 kilometres along an area in Utah called Spor Mountain. Fluorspar was everywhere, with showings breaking through to the surface and pipes in multiple locations. “It was fascinating,” says Walker.

Lost Sheep had never been professionally developed so Ares started by conducting geophysics, including LiDAR and electromagnetic surveys, to pinpoint where the anomalies were. From there, the Ares team began drilling, collected samples and conducted metallurgical testing.

Ares also engaged international partners to design the infrastructure for processing the fluorspar. With their help, the company designed plant layouts and, thanks to fluorspar’s critical mineral status, secured federal support in the form of a United States Department of Agriculture loan. This enabled Ares to purchase a 50-acre industrial site with existing infrastructure, including buildings that could be used for a processing plant.

A three-storey lumps plant is already on site, and Ares is now working to construct a flotation plant with support from the state of Utah. The facility is designed to produce higher-grade fluorspar for chemical manufacturers and defence contractors. There is critical infrastructure, including a rail spur for efficient transportation of the fluorspar, heavy mining equipment and an advanced ramp system to access the ore bodies.

Geologically, Lost Sheep is a pipe system that consists of non-contiguous pipes clustered together. This structure allows Ares to install a ramp system – a corkscrew-like framework – that intersects multiple ore bodies. Based on this setup, Ares reports that it should be able to extract around 130,000 tons to 140,000 tons of earth annually, which could translate into around 50,000 tons of final product per year for sale.

“When we first ran our estimates, we based them on a high-grade flotation product priced at about $500 per ton, which would result in roughly US$30 million in annual revenue,” Walker says. “However, given the upward trend in fluorspar prices, those numbers could be higher.”

Another advantage is relatively low operating expenses. Unlike many mining operations, Lost Sheep doesn’t require a large workforce.

Ares has agreements lined up with end users of fluorspar and has been forging partnerships with entities such as the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, which are actively seeking domestic supply sources.

For example, the U.S. produces around 80 million tons of steel annually, requiring about 20 pounds of fluorspar per ton. And with aluminum production using about 60 pounds of fluorspar per ton, these two industries alone create a significant domestic requirement.

That growing demand isn’t limited to traditional industries like steel and aluminum, however. The rise of lithium-ion batteries is set to become a major driver of fluorspar consumption, reshaping the market’s dynamics.

And this brings us to acid-grade fluorspar, or acid spar, which undergoes additional chemical refining to achieve a purity level of 97% calcium fluoride (CaF2). Currently, there is no operation in the U.S. producing acid spar, marking a substantial opportunity for producers.

“If we have our plant up and running, we’ll be able to serve about two-thirds of the U.S. fluorspar market,” Walker explains. “By producing acid spar, we can cater to a much larger portion of the U.S. fluorspar market and meet the needs of these key industries.”

International demand for fluorspar is increasing too, as China’s fluorspar reserve has suffered due to excessive mining. The Chinese government tightened its control over the material, leading to a decline in fluorspar exports. Official customs data reveals a steady drop in China’s fluorspar exports over the years, accompanied by a surge in imports, particularly in 2023. Now that China is facing these challenges, the pressure they once placed on the market is gone. This creates an opportunity for other countries to step in.

These factors mean it is a good time to be transitioning from exploration to production. But shifting from a junior mining company to a manufacturing company brings challenges from both operational and financial standpoints.

Walker is counting on his experience in nuclear engineering and project management to lead the company into its next phase. In the past, the Ares CEO has helped to build large manufacturing facilities such as for reactor cores for submarines – billion-dollar projects that required hundreds of personnel.

“I have had extensive exposure to large-scale project management, cost control and the implementation of manufacturing and processing operations, which has been invaluable in how I approach managing new manufacturing operations at Ares, overseeing processing and organizing the team,” Walker says.

Fluorspar demand is expected to grow by 2.76% annually over the next five years, according to Mordor Intelligence. Given this outlook, Walker sees a lot of potential. In five years, the CEO is looking beyond the Utah operation toward untapped potential across the entire continent.

“There used to be a thriving fluorspar industry in the U.S. before it moved overseas, and effectively, we’re working to bring it back.”

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Ares Strategic Mining at https://www.aresmining.com/.

CSE Issuer Stories, Magazine

A Model of Balance as Production in Colombia Designed to Support Exploration in the Yukon

For junior mining companies, the path to generating revenue, let alone achieving profitability, is often a long and winding road. But if Forge Resources (CSE:FRG) continues to reach the objectives it has set for its flagship assets, it might just become a member of that exclusive club.

The assets in question include a Yukon gold project named Alotta, located near Western Copper and Gold’s renowned Casino deposit, and the La Estrella coal project in Colombia, a fully permitted asset poised for revenue generation (Forge holds a 40% interest and can acquire up to 60%).

Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine spoke with Forge Chief Executive Officer PJ Murphy and Chief Operating Officer Cole McClay in early December to learn more about the company’s goals and how Forge has positioned itself to build value and minimize dilution at the same time.

It is rare to see a junior resource company on the cusp of funding its own exploration. Can you tell us how this all came together?

Cole McClay (CM): We initially acquired the Alotta project after stepping away from our previous exploration efforts in Mexico. After evaluating several prospects, Alotta stood out due to its strategic location just 40 kilometres from Western Copper and Gold’s Casino deposit, within the same geological setting.

In November 2023, we negotiated an option agreement with Strategic Metals to acquire 60% of the project and commenced our maiden drill program. The property was previously undrilled, and our first hole revealed 211 metres of 0.46 grams per tonne gold near surface, which was very promising. Following that, we drilled two holes in late 2023 and another four between May and July 2024, all of which showed near-surface porphyry-style mineralization.

While still in the exploratory phase, we’re gaining a clearer understanding of the project’s structure. Our next phase of drilling is planned for May 2025, once weather conditions in the Yukon are favourable.

As for the La Estrella coal project, it came to us through a colleague in Colombia. The project was already fully licensed, with production and environmental permits in place, which made it an attractive opportunity. We negotiated an option to acquire and have since obtained the surface rights and conducted additional drilling to update the 43-101 report. Currently, we’re conducting underground bulk sampling to further refine our understanding of the resource.

It sounds like you’ve got a busy year ahead in 2025. PJ, could you share the strategic focus for the company over the next three to six months?

PJ Murphy (PJM): Right now, our primary focus is on Colombia. Cole, a few team members and I just returned from overseeing construction of the portal and the start of underground operations at the La Estrella property. It’s an exciting stage for Forge. 

To get into production at La Estrella, initially we don’t have to go very deep, only about 50 metres underground to reach our first cross-cut, which allows access to six of the eight large coal seams. We’re moving forward with a bulk sampling program, and we have an offtake partner for that coal.

The bulk sample alone is expected to be revenue-generating, which is a crucial step toward full production. The property is fully permitted for 180,000 tonnes of coal production annually with the potential to scale up to 360,000 tonnes per year. According to a historical SRK Consulting NI 43-101, we are sitting on an estimated 22.5 million tonnes of coal – measured, indicated and inferred – in the ground and a mine life of about 45 years. The project has significant potential.

For now, our focus is on advancing the Colombia asset to a revenue-generating stage, which would help us to self-finance our exploration work in the Yukon. For a junior mining company, reaching a point of profitability and positive cash flow is rare. It’s even more uncommon to be able to self-fund exploration, but that’s exactly what we’re aiming to do with the Yukon project.

Speaking of the Yukon, we’ve already drilled six holes there and hit mineralization in every one. As Cole mentioned, we’ve identified where the next drill holes should go for the upcoming season. If La Estrella is revenue-generating as anticipated, we’ll be well positioned to fund a more extensive drill program and further define the resource.

We’ve reviewed the initial six drill results and the property’s geological signature. With that information, we can strategically target shallow drill holes to maximize value and further prove the Yukon asset’s potential. Though it might seem unconventional to have both a gold-copper project in the Yukon and a coal project in Colombia, there’s real synergy between the two.

Profitability is a term we don’t often hear in the junior mining space. Could you walk us through Forge’s path to profitability?

PJM: Our immediate focus is on developing the underground infrastructure for a bulk sampling program. Initially, we estimate that we can extract 20,000 tonnes of high-grade coal for sampling and analysis. The key here is that we can also sell the coal we extract for analysis purposes. We already have an offtake partner lined up, ready to take that coal Free on Truck. This bulk sampling program is a significant step toward generating revenue and moving closer to profitability.

There’s talk of the world moving away from coal, but demand, particularly from Asia, India and Europe, tells a different story. Could you explain where the demand is coming from and why Colombia is positioned to help meet it?

CM: The demand for both thermal and metallurgical coal has never been higher, and I think global demand will remain strong for decades.

As long as the world needs concrete and steel, metallurgical coal will be essential. Similarly, thermal coal will continue to be required as long as countries build coal-powered electricity plants. What’s particularly advantageous about this project is that we have access to both high-grade thermal coal and metallurgical coal at depth, positioning us to meet a wide range of global demand.

PJM: Globally, coal demand remains strong, especially in Southeast Asia, where up to 43% of electricity is coal-derived. Despite this, rolling brownouts and blackouts persist due to insufficient power generation, highlighting the ongoing need for coal.

Colombia, with coal as its top resource export, provides a favourable regulatory environment and access to world-class coal miners and engineers. At La Estrella, we’re progressing toward our bulk sampling phase, where we anticipate extracting coal at a total cost that we expect will help us to maintain favourable margins. We’re noting that metallurgical coal currently commands a strong spot price, and assuming that remains the case, it gives us reason to be optimistic.

Moving to Canada, there seem to be similarities between the Alotta property and the Casino deposit. Can you talk about these and how that might be shaping your next steps?

PJM: The Alotta property shows striking similarities to the Casino deposit, which is incredibly encouraging. We’re just 40 kilometres away and based on what we’ve staked and the geological signature at Alotta, we’re very encouraged. The initial results from our first six drill holes have been very promising and are driving us to move forward with more extensive exploration to truly prove out the asset.

Finally, what makes Forge a unique proposition at this stage?

PJM: When you look at Forge Resources as a small-cap junior mining company, we are on a unique path moving toward potential revenue generation through a bulk sample program, progressing to full production, and potentially self-financing our drilling exploration in the Yukon. This combination is incredibly rare.

Forge has consistently set clear goals and benchmarks, and we have delivered on what we’ve promised every step of the way. This track record not only cements our credibility but also sets us apart in the industry. It’s an exciting journey for both us and our shareholders, and we are committed to continuing to deliver value.

This story was featured in Canadian Securities Exchange Magazine.

Learn more about Force Resources at https://www.forgeresourcescorp.com/.