U.S. Economy Sinks More, Metals & Gold Higher

Stocks - CS, ECU, FTZ, BFG, GSPR, GBR

U.S. Economy Slinks More

A burst of optimism after Trump won the presidential election has evaporated. A survey of consumer sentiment fell to a 29-month low of 57.6 in March from 64.7 in the prior month, the University of Michigan said last Friday. Expectations for future inflation jumped to a 29-month high.

Spending at US retailers last month was much weaker than expected, in a troubling sign that the American shopper is tapping out. Retail sales rose 0.2% in February from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Monday, up from January’s downwardly revised 1.2% decline. That was much lower than the 0.7% increase economists projected in a FactSet poll.

Business activity dropped significantly in New York State in March, according to firms responding to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index fell twenty-six points to -20.0. New orders and shipments declined. Input prices increased at the fastest pace in more than two years, and selling price increases also continued to pick up.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes was 39 in March, down three points from February and the lowest level in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).

As I have been commenting, a U.S. recession will badly impact Canada. As the old saying goes, when the U.S. catches a cold, Canada gets pneumonia. For some betters news.

Metals and Gold Bull Market keeps Going.

On the above weekly chart, copper marched higher last week and is higher again Monday and Tuesday. A test of highs around $5.10 is just around the corner. That may provide some resistance and prices may not break above that right away. The near term wild card is if Trump imposes tariffs on copper, so far he has not, but that would push prices to record highs.

Capstone Copper - - - TSX:CS ASX:CSC - - - - Recent Price - $8.25

Entry Price - $5.90 — - - - - - Opinion - buy

Our pure copper producer, Capstone has been correcting since it's October 2024 high and I believe this correction is over and the stock will start moving back up.

Capstone reported record consolidated copper production in 2024 of 184,458 tonnes at C1 cash costs of approximately $2.75 to $2.80 per payable pound of copper.

2025 forecasted production volumes of 220,000 to 255,000 tonnes of copper are expected to increase by approximately 19% to 38%, while 2025 forecasted C1 cash costs of $2.20 to $2.50 per pound of copper are expected to decrease by approximately 10% to 20% compared to 2024.

Net income attributable to shareholders of $45.9 million, or $0.06 per share for Q4 2024 compared to net loss attributable to shareholders of $12.3 million, or $(0.02) per share for Q4 2023, primarily due to higher copper production and a higher realized copper price of $4.04/lb compared to $3.74/lb. Net income attributable to shareholders for the full year was $82.9 million or $0.11 per share.

In 2025 Capstone will have much higher production, lower costs and I predict higher copper prices as well. The stock will start to perform again and if you did not buy earlier, I think this is a good entry point. A close above $8.75 would be very bullish, a break above trend and a higher high.

Element 29 - - - TSXV: ECU, OTCQB: EMTRF - - - Recent Price - $0.41

Entry Price - 0.63 - - - - - - Opinion – buy

I had a good conversation with the CEO just a while ago. I believe the stock is not getting the respect it deserves with the last drill results and the advantages of their project. It has excellent infrastructure with road and power access and at a low elevation. Metallurgy is straight forward with no or little arsenic values usually found if gold in a deposit. Very important is a very low strip ratio of 0.74:1. There is a high grade starter pit but huge exploration potential with other zones not drilled.

News January 22, Drill hole ELID033 intersected 0.54% CuEq2 (0.39% Cu, 0.036% Mo, 2.96 g/t Ag) over 1039.6 m starting from bedrock surface to the end of the hole ("EOH") at 1109.6 m.

Drill hole ELID035 intersected 0.54% CuEq2 (.33% Cu, 0.045% Mo, 2.76 g/t Ag) over 922.4 m starting at bedrock surface to the EOH at 979.0 m.

Drill hole ELID033 extended the porphyry Cu-Mo-Ag mineralization with higher Cu grades than the existing pit-constrained Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate to a vertical depth of more than 1000 m along the western side of the Zone-1.

The Cu-Mo-Ag grades in ELID033 also increased significantly at depth with the last 310.1 m grading 0.71% CuEq2 (0.56% Cu, 0.040% Mo, 3.49 g/t Ag). This suggests the Cu-Mo-Ag mineralization is increasing at depth on the western side of Zone-1.

The slide above gives a good picture of all the upside by expanding Zone 1 and all the other zones that have not been drill tested. I think the mistake the company might have made was putting out a resource number too early. The resource is small so some investors may think the project size is limited. However at the time the market really sucked and it was thought that juniors with a resource got better value, but they were all sent to the grave anyway.

The pull back in the stock, down to support is an excellent entry level.

Giant Mining - - - - CSE:BFG - - - - - Recent Price - $0.41

Entry Price - $0.45 - - - - - - Opinion - buy

BFG has finalized its drill targets for the 2025 drill program commencing next week at the Majuba Hill porphyry copper-silver-gold deposit, located in Pershing county, Nevada.

The 2025 core program is designed to follow up on high-grade copper mineralization intersected in breccias from the 2024 core holes MHB-30 and MHB-31 and extend the high-grade copper zones below the historic underground workings. The primary goal of the drilling is to extend known copper mineralization in order that the company may work toward a mineral resource estimate (MRE).

The 2025 drill program is planned for 4,400 feet (1,340 metres) of core drilling. A minimum of 2,600 feet (792 metres) will be completed and the contract does not have a maximum drilling requirement, allowing for flexibility in the execution of the project. Planned drill holes are shown in Table 1. Four of the planned drill holes are follow-up and extension holes to the 2024 drilling. A fifth hole has been added to the program to drill test the high-potential southern resistivity anomaly.

The chart has formed a wedge pattern. With drilling about to start, I expect the break out to the up side with first resistance around $0.55. This pull back and pattern provides a very good entry point.

GSP Resource - - - - - TSXV:GSPR - - - - Recent Price - $0.105

Entry Price - $0.15 - - - - - - - Opinion - buy

GSPR is nearing completion of a draft five-year multiyear area-based (MYAB) permit application in preparation for submission to the British Columbia Ministry of Mining and Critical Metals (B.C. MMCM) and review by relevant first nation groups with respect to the Mer property in the Highland Valley copper camp of British Columbia.

The Mer property comprises 185 hectares in the Kamloops mining division, located approximately 1.5 kilometres northwest of GSP's Alwin mine project and are surrounded by Teck Resources Ltd.'s Highland Valley copper claim group directly west and south of the Highland Valley Copper Mine's active operations. The Mer property hosts a copper exploration target zone, located northwest of the company's Alwin mine high-grade copper-silver-gold target zone. The permit application is expected to describe the details of an initial Year 1 diamond drilling program, followed by permitting of sufficient surface disturbance to support anticipated expansion diamond drilling within the following four years of the permit. The property is well accessed through existing logging roads that traverse the proposed drilling area where prior logging activities and excavator trenching has exposed a zone of copper mineralization at surface.

The stock is in a quiet period and they are doing a $400,000 financing at $0.10. It is a good time to accumulate

FITZROY - - TSXV: FTZ, OTCQB: FTZFF - - -Recent Price - $0.275

Entry Price - $0.15 - - - - - - Opinion – hold, buy on break out

Back on February 10th Fitzroy announced that a drill hole completed to a downhole depth of 350 m at the Caballos Copper Project, Chile has intersected wide intervals of sulphide mineralization. The drill hole crossed the Pocuro Fault Zone (“ PFZ ”), targeting the down-dip continuation of a copper-molybdenum anomaly mapped at surface. The hole intersected 251.0 m of tectonic and hydrothermal breccias with minor felsic intrusions, consistent with the previously mapped geology.

The stock has been edging higher and is pretty much up to resistance around $0.28. Drill results from Caballos could be out anytime now and could determine the next move in the stock. For now, I would hold and see if it breaks resistance. I would than be a buyer on a break out higher.

The financing is fully subscribed and the stock has been moving up on lower volume.

Greenbriar - - - - TSXV:GBR - - - - - - Recent Price - $0.51

Entry Price - $0.77 - - - - - - Opinion - buy

The stock jumped on news yesterday that GBR reached a binding agreement with Ronnie Strasser to buy 115 acre-feet of adjudicated and deeded water rights for $1.25-million (U.S.). With this agreement, the company now has under its control 282 acre-feet of adjudicated pumping rights for Sage Ranch. The payment for this agreement will be made from the proceeds from the Voya construction loan. Mr. Strasser will be joining the company's real estate advisory board, effective March 17, 2025. The previous agreement GBR had expired the end of 2024.

This is very good news because Under the city commissioned WSA (Water Supply Assessment), the independent professional engineers who wrote the report state that the project will consume a total of 350 Acre Feet when fully built. So GBR almost has the total amount of water needed without the municipality. The little bit more required is no big deal. Construction start is getting close.

The technical s on the chart look very strong. We have a triple bottom and with yesterday's action, a morning doji star reversal pattern. This is the strongest and most reliable bottom pattern I know of.

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