Mugglehead Magazine’s Top 10 Stories of 2023

From mergers to investments, acquisitions to technology, it’s been a busy year for the industries Mugglehead Magazine covers.

Each day, we seek out the most important stories in lithium, gold, uranium, cannabis, psychedelics and more to bring to our virtual pages. As such, we’ve collected – literally – more than 1,500 stories this year.

To end 2023, we’ve collected our selections for the year’s Top 10 Mugglehead stories. We present them here, in no particular order, and we look forward to expanding our coverage even more in 2024. Thanks for reading.

Calibre Mining merger with Marathon Gold

This one is recent, but no less important. Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX: CXB) (OTCQX: CXBMF) expects to close its merger with Marathon Gold Corp. (TSX: MOZ) next month, Rowan Dunne reported . Calibre corporate development manager Ryan King called the deal a “tremendous opportunity” in an interview with Commodity-TV.

The combined company will become a half million ounce per year producer once the Newfoundland site is fully developed. Valentine will become Atlantic Canada’s largest gold mine. The mill will have a capacity of 4 million tonnes per annum.

“It’s getting through that process of completion, mill commissioning next year and then being in position to be pouring gold in the first half of 2025,” King said in the interview.

Read the full story: Calibre Mining’s merger with Marathon Gold deemed ‘tremendous opportunity’

Environmental risk

Australian gold miner St. Barbara, Joseph Morton wrote last February, ceased production after exhausting the gold at the Touquoy mine in Moose River, Nova Scotia. The mine was set for care and maintenance mode, holding it in limbo.

However, the consequences could include environmental contamination. Karen McKendry, the wilderness outreach coordinator with environmental charity, Ecology Action Centre, called for better regulation of such mines.

Read the full story: Mine reclamation loophole creates environmental risk

ATHA Energy’s major acquisitions

ATHA Energy Corp. (CSE: SASK) (FRA: X5U) (OTCQB: SASKF) announced the acquisition of two uranium companies, Latitude Uranium Inc. (CSE: LUR) (OTCQB: LURAF) and Australia-based 92 Energy Limited (ASX: 92E) (OTCQX: NTELF). The combined company will have 7.1 million acres of uranium exploration territory in Canada’s top jurisdictions: the Athabasca Basin, Nunavut and Labrador, Dunne reported.

The approximately $14 million financing will be partly funded by two investors: IsoEnergy Ltd. (TSX‐V: ISO) and Mega Uranium (TSX: MGA).

Read the full story: ATHA Energy to acquire Latitude Uranium and 92 Energy, creating industry’s largest uranium portfolio

Investing in gold

In March, Morton interviewed NevGold Corp.’s (TSXV:NAU) (OTCQX:NAUFF) (Frankfurt:5E50) CEO Brandon Bonifacio. He told Mugglehead he was bullish on gold, calling it still the best hedge against inflation.

“Gold as a commodity is performing exactly how it would be expected in times like these,” Bonifacio said.

He also spoke on inflationary pressures, deglobalization and upheavals in the finance world.

Read the full story: Gold is still the best hedge against inflation: NevGold CEO

Major mining conference

The long-established Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC) returned for the 25th time in January. It brought a vast array of mining companies to the city’s convention centre, and Mugglehead Magazine was there.

An assortment of individuals with different roles and interests were there between January 29-30. Mining companies in attendance were involved with everything from gold, silver, copper and nickel to lithium and uranium.

Read the full story: Major mining industry players gather at Vancouver Resource Investment Conference

Surveillance technology in classrooms

Education technology (EdTech) companies are making money on the backs of American children, the American Civil Liberties Union declared in October. The union released a report called “Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying What the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling” which delved into the booming multi-billion-dollar EdTech surveillance industry, Morton wrote.

The report highlighted the harmful impacts these invasive and largely ineffective products have on students. It also examined the deceptive marketing claims made by popular EdTech surveillance companies and dissected how they falsely convince schools that their products are needed to keep students safe. The report found companies accomplish this by exploiting educators’ fears and making unsubstantiated efficacy claims.

Read the full story here: Surveillance technology in classrooms causes more harm than good, ACLU report finds

A potentially groundbreaking topical treatment for PTSD and depression

Psycheceutical Bioscience Inc (OTC: BWVI) reported in June it had developed a ketamine topical that provides therapeutic benefits of the psychedelic without complications when administered in other ways. The topical is also much more affordable than ketamine infusions, Dunne reported. The cost was quoted at about US$120 for a month’s supply that can be simply applied to the back of the neck at home without supervision.

Psycheceutical’s Chief Visionary Officer Zappy Zapolin said in an interview with Mugglehead that the Founder of the prominent psychedelics research organization MAPS, Rick Doblin, tried the product at the company’s lab and was very enthusiastic about it.

Read the full story here: Psycheceutical Bioscience develops non-psychoactive ketamine topical for PTSD and depression

Effects of change in Argentina

In November, Morton dug into the ramifications of Argentinians electing economist and populist politician Javier Milei to be the country’s new president – and what it might mean for mining there. Milei has proposed radical economic changes, Morton wrote, such as eliminating the Central Bank and using the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s official currency. These changes also involve promoting more free trade.

Encouraging external investment in the wake of its economic crisis has been a recent challenge for the country, but some industry participants believed that Milei’s election could potentially reverse this trend.

“More mining-friendly policy from Milei may increase investment,” Duncan Hobbes, head of research at metals-trading firm Concord Resources, said.

Read the full story: Will Argentina’s new president open free trade talks with Washington?

Image via Atha Energy.

Atha Energy’s historic EM survey

In October, Mugglehead reported on the 2023 electromagnetic (EM) survey by ATHA Energy Corp. (CSE: SASK) (FRA: X5U) (OTCQB: SASKF). The survey verified that the East Vista Project in the Athabasca Region supports conditions for the discovery of basement-hosted uranium mineralization.

It was the largest multi-platform EM survey in the history of the Athabasca Basin. The survey was designed to de-risk and test ATHA’s dominant land package, the largest reported land package in the history of the basin.

“The results of the Mobile MT survey identified three areas within the East Vista property with structural complexity coincident with conductivity,” Doug Adams, vice president of exploration, said.

Read the full story: ATHA Energy performs largest multi-platform EM survey in the history of the Athabasca Basin

Cannabis industry conference in Vancouver

In January, Mugglehead’s Dunne attended the Lift Vancouver 2023 cannabis conference. The conference featured programming, guest speakers and vendors, bringing the industry in Canada together, including industry leaders, consumers, budtenders, CEOs and various others.

Noteworthy speakers included Kala Sanmartin and Shan Mei Young Tai, the founder of The Cannabis Nurses; George Smitherman from the Cannabis Council of Canada, and Phillipe Lucas, President of the psychedelic therapy company SABI Mind.

Presentation topics included prevailing market trends in the industry and the value of solventless extraction.

Read the full story: Lift Vancouver kicks off 2023 with upbeat post-pandemic cannabis industry gathering

Calibre Mining and Atha Energy are sponsors of Mugglehead’s coverage.

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The post Mugglehead Magazine’s Top 10 Stories of 2023 appeared first on Mugglehead Magazine.

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