The lithium miners are making a comeback as the EV boom begins - InvestorIntel

The lithium miners are making
a comeback as the EV boom
begins
The lithium miners are making a comeback and investors are
again flocking to the sector with most lithium stock prices
recovering sharply the past month. As a result today I review
the lithium sector and briefly cover 5 of the most promising
lithium miners.

A series of recent events has lifted sentiment and stock
prices for the lithium miners. These are:

     Lithium prices appear to have finally bottomed as supply
     stalls and demand picks up again.
     Lithium demand forecasts continue to increase. Benchmark
     Mineral Intelligence is forecasting a more than 6x
     increase in lithium demand this decade. My model
     suggests we may see a 9.9x increase this decade,
     assuming electric car sales hit 70% market share by
     2030.
     Lithium supply continues to decrease in 2020. The past 3
     year lithium bear market has reduced lithium supply with
     several lithium producers going bankrupt (Tawana
     Resources (later Alita Resources), Nemaska Lithium,
     Altura Mining) and most reducing production and scaling
     back CapEx for future expansion.
     EV sales are surging globally. Record global electric
     car sales were reported for Sept. 2020, up 91% YoY, with
     4.9% market share (3.4% YTD). In Sept. 2020, Europe
     sales surged 166% YoY reaching 12% market share. For
     Oct. 2020, China electric car sales rose 120% YoY. Also
     in Oct, 2020, Germany electric car sales hit a record
     and reached a staggering 18% market share.
     UBS recently forecast that electric cars’ market share

would reach 17% by 2025 and 40% by 2030. My models are
     forecasting 20% by 2025 and 70% by 2030.
     The UK ban on new gasoline and diesel cars and vans from
     2030 was announced last month.
     In the US President Biden was elected with his pro-green
     (including EVs) plan for the USA. Biden wants to ensure
     the U.S. has a carbon pollution-free power sector by
     2035, which means Li-ion energy storage should do very
     well as solar and wind require energy storage.
     In the USA a new trade group called Zero Emission
     Transportation Association (ZETA) is calling for reduced
     emissions and 100% EVs by 2030 in the USA.
     Tesla (TSLA) plans to rapidly accelerate production and
     is currently building/expanding 3 new factories in 3
     countries (USA, China, Germany) with plans to produce 20
     million EVs pa by 2030. That would be a 54x increase on
     2019, or a 40x increase on the 2020 target.

Lithium deficits are forecast         from   2022/23   growing
significantly towards 2030

Source

5 pure play lithium miners with potential to do well this
decade as lithium demand booms

1) Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium [SHE: 002460] [HK: 1772] (GNENF)

Ganfeng Lithium is in the top 3 global lithium producers.

Ganfeng is the most vertically integrated lithium producer
with JVs in lithium mines, lithium conversion and chemical
production, some battery products (including solid state
batteries), and battery recycling. No other lithium company
globally has expanded their lithium assets portfolio and off-
take/equity agreements as much as Ganfeng has the past 5
years. Examples of this include JVs and off-take deals with
Mineral Resources, Pilbara Minerals, Lithium Americas,
Bacanora Lithium, International Lithium as well as local
sources in China. Ganfeng will most likely become the new
lithium super power this decade.

2) Galaxy Resources [ASX: GXY] (OTCPK: GALXF)

Galaxy Resources is an Australian pure play lithium miner with
3 lithium projects globally – Mt Cattlin (Australia), Sal de
Vida (Argentina), and James Bay (Canada). Mt Cattlin is
already producing lithium spodumene and the later two projects
are still under development with SDV being quite advanced.
This means Galaxy Resources has enormous potential to expand
lithium production this decade.

3) Pilbara Minerals [ASX: PLS] (OTCPK: PILBF)

Pilbara Minerals owns the massive Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalum
producing mine in Western Australia. The mine is only
operating at Stage 1 capacity, but there are plans for Stage 2
and eventually Stage 3 expansions. Pilbara Minerals has top
notch off-take and/or equity partners. These include General
Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium, Great Wall Motors, POSCO, CATL and
Yibin Tianyi. Finally, it is looking possible that Pilbara
Minerals may swoop up the Altura Mining asset next door as
part of a liquidation deal.

4) Lithium Americas [TSX: LAC] (LAC)

Lithium Americas is likely to be the next significant lithium
brine producer. Partnered with industry leader Ganfeng Lithium
(51% share) at their Caucharí-Olaroz Project in Argentina

construction is fully funded and well underway with lithium
production forecast to begin by early 2022. Added to this is
their 100% owned Thacker Pass lithium clay project in Nevada,
USA.

5) Neo Lithium Corp. [TSX: NLC] [GR: NE2] (OTCQX: NTTHF)

Neo Lithium looks set to possibly be the next major lithium
brine producer following Lithium Americas. Neo Lithium 100%
own their Tres Quebradas (“3Q Project”) lithium project in
Argentina. The 3Q Project is widely regarded as one of the
best, if not the best, undeveloped lithium projects globally.
This is because the lithium grade is very high and the
impurities very low, and they own 100% of a very large salar.
Management is top tier and Neo Lithium look well placed with
their strategic equity partner CATL (the world’s largest Li-
ion battery manufacturer) to make it to production by late
2022 or 2023. You can read more in my very recent article on
Neo Lithium here.

The above 5 lithium miners are set to do well, but in a market
where lithium demand increases 3-9 fold in a decade all the
quality lithium miners can do very well indeed. This includes
the leading diversified chemicals companies that sell lithium
(Albemarle (ALB) and SQM), US lithium producer Livent (LTHM),
and a list of other lithium miners as well as the lithium
junior miners yet to make it to production.

A booming Li-ion battery market from the booming electric
vehicle (EV) and energy storage (ES) markets should create an
incredible tailwind for lithium stocks this decade.

Electric vehicles sales are forecast to surge from end 2022 as
purchase price parity with conventional cars kicks in

Source

Closing remarks

Assuming the EV boom continues to take off and we get rapid
adoption of EVs and/or lithium-ion based energy storage, then
the demand for lithium will increase several fold this decade.
This will more than likely cause lithium prices to rise and
huge opportunities for existing lithium miners to expand
production as well as lithium juniors to succeed to be the
next wave of producers needed from 2025 to 2030.

After the past 3 year lithium bear market (due to short term
lithium oversupply and a trade war/Covid-19 induced EV sales
slowdown) it is understandable that investors remain a bit
cautious; however just imagine any mining sector facing a
3x-9x surge in demand in only a decade. This is what we call a
mining super-cycle.

Hold on to your lithium miners and enjoy the ride as the EV
boom begins!

The age of digital gold and
how to master the key.

The why, the what and the how every
investor may gain access to bitcoin
Special thanks to contributing editor, Julia Hyman — The
InvestorIntel community has a passion for investing in gold
and precious metals, a tried and true investment that has
stood the test of time.

In our modern age, a new digital form of gold has taken center
stage in the way of Bitcoin. Due to Bitcoin’s outstanding and
consistent performance, we wanted to take some time to explain
and outline the value of Bitcoin and other digital currencies
to help educate you about the future of your investing.

First things first, what is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin (BTC), often referred to as “digital gold,” is the
first and world’s largest digital currency that uses
blockchain technology to manage a decentralized, immutable
ledger. Bitcoin is not controlled by any central authority,
giving you complete control over your money, and has a shared
record of every transaction ever made.

Since Bitcoin is on a public ledger, anyone can view the
transactions and balances taking place at any time, but they
cannot tell who is behind them. In other words, you are unable
to tell who is sending what to whom. The Bitcoin Network is
secured by miners who verify transactions, and in turn, they
are rewarded for their time, computing power, and effort with
newly generated Bitcoins. Bitcoin has never been hacked and

has been available and online without interruption since its
inception.

There is no need to go through a bank or clearinghouse, which
means lower fees, no frozen accounts, can be accessed in every
country, and there are no pre-requisite or arbitrary limits.
Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to enable instant
payments 24 hours a day, and you can hold your coins in a
digital wallet on your mobile device or computer. The price of
a Bitcoin is determined by supply and demand. When the demand
for Bitcoins increases, the price increases, and when demand
falls, the price falls.

With Bitcoin’s discovery and success, many other projects,
altcoins, and stablecoins emerged, taking advantage of
blockchain technology. With that in mind, let’s take a look at
how Bitcoin compares to gold.

Bitcoin vs. Gold

It’s no surprise that since gold is a physical object and
Bitcoin is a digital currency, it’s challenging to ascertain
Bitcoin’s value and why investors are paying as much as
$18,500 for a single Bitcoin.

Firstly, both are actually very rare resources. Like gold,
there is a limited amount of Bitcoin available, and neither
are issued by a central bank or federal government.
Additionally, both have very liquid markets where fiat money
can be exchanged for them.

With a secure and established system in place for weighing and
tracking gold, it’s very hard for one to steal, corrupt, or
pass it off as fake. In comparison, Bitcoin has an encrypted,
decentralized system with complex algorithms that make it
difficult to corrupt.

There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin ever minted in its
entire existence. Currently, over 90% of Bitcoin is already in

circulation, as there is 18.5 million Bitcoin actively in
circulation, with an estimated several hundred thousand lost
in the ethers forever. Bitcoin has a very limited supply,
considering the global access to the decentralized currency.
For perspective, there are over 45 million millionaires in the
world, not enough for each one to own one Bitcoin.

Now looking at baseline value for gold, historically, there
have been many uses – from luxury items to specialized
applications in electronics, medicine, and more. Bitcoin also
has tremendous baseline value, but not just because it was the
first to introduce blockchain technology. There are billions
of people all over the world without access to traditional
means of finance and banking. With Bitcoin, funds and value
can be sent around the world with little to no fee. Bitcoin is
changing peoples’ lives.

Unlike gold, Bitcoin has an array of use cases and is already
being used across the globe. Its price also acts independently
from other asset classes, proving it a solid hedge against
traditional stock holdings, especially because it’s
deflationary by design. Both the current and maximum supply of
Bitcoin are known entities, while it’s unknown when all the
gold in the world will be mined from the earth.

Now that you are well-educated on the similarities and
differences between Bitcoin and gold, let’s move on to USDC,
which is basically the digital version of the U.S. dollar.

What is USDC?

USD Coin (USDC) is a fully collateralized US dollar
stablecoin. It is a token issued on the Ethereum blockchain
and is the brainchild of Circle, an open source project. USDC
is issued by regulated and licensed financial institutions
that maintain full reserves of the equivalent fiat currency in
a 1 USDC to 1 USD ratio.

Stablecoins have value because they allow institutions, market

makers, and retail investors to send, receive, borrow, and
exchange billions of dollars on the blockchain, with no
banking intermediaries, and for these transactions to take
place within minutes, not hours or days.

With our dedicated partner, Voyager, there’s no cost to swap
your USD to USDC, and you can even earn up to 8.5% interest
APR on your USDC! Let us share more below.

What is Voyager?

Voyager is the #1 crypto broker & altcoin destination in the
U.S., working on expanding internationally in early 2021. As a
publicly traded, regulated, and audited company, Voyager gives
you full transparency and is a crypto broker you can trust.

The Voyager app connects to multiple exchanges, offering
investors unmatched access to the crypto market, competitive
prices on trades with enhanced price discovery, access to
liquidity, and fast reliable execution through our smart order
router technology – all in one convenient place. The Voyager
app is supported on both the Apple App Store & Google Play
Store.

Why Voyager?

The Voyager app makes it easy and simple to buy and trade
Bitcoin & 50+ crypto, commission-free. Voyager also gives you
the ability to earn 8.5% interest APR on your USDC & 5.5% on
your Bitcoin – all you have to do is hold it in your
Portfolio.

Did you know banks earn 14% to 19% interest on every dollar
you deposit, but are now only paying on average less than
0.5%?

Voyager has partnerships with a variety of billion-dollar
market makers and lending platforms to generate the interest
it shares with its customers. Because crypto has a

decentralized lending ecosystem, it is not burdened by the
limitations of traditional finance, and we share at minimum
85% of our interest earnings with our customers.

To participate in our interest program, users must maintain a
monthly average balance of each coin. There are no lock-ups
and no limits. Rates are subject to change and will be
announced monthly. Terms and conditions apply.

Getting started on Voyager is easy! Sign up for Voyager in
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trade crypto, it’s that simple!

As a member of the InvestorIntel
community, you are eligible to receive
$25 in FREE BTC when you use code INTEL
when signing up for Voyager.
How to Get Started with Voyager in Less Than 3 minutes:

   1. Download the Voyager app from the Apple App Store or
      Google Play Store.
   2. Create your account     by   submitting   your   personal
     information. We are required to collect this information
     for regulatory reasons, but your information is always
      safe with us!
   3. Link your bank: Connect your bank account by navigating
      to the User Icon on your Market Screen. On your account
      page, tap “Bank Accounts” and add your bank.
   4. Fund your account: To deposit USD, go to your account
     page and tap “Transfer Cash or Crypto” & tap “Deposit to
     Voyager Account” and select USD. Then enter the amount
      of USD you’d like to transfer and “Slide to Deposit
      USD.” Now you can trade instantly!
   5. Trade: On the “Market Screen” pick any digital asset you
      would like to purchase by tapping on its name. Tap buy
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 That’s it! We hope this article was helpful to you.

 Don’t forget to use code INTEL to receive $25 in FREE Bitcoin
when you download and sign up for Voyager today!

 A special thank you to investopedia.com for being a great
resource for this article.

Sources…

     Investopedia > Bitcoin Defined
     Bitcoin > Bitcoin’s Website
     YouTube > “What is Bitcoin?
     Investopedia > “Should you buy gold or bitcoin?”

The Go/Stop Decision for Take
Off Lingers in Bombardier’s
Past
Innovation is a word long associated with Canadian business.
Wherever you go in the world, you will likely find a Canadian
(company) doing something few others have done, being
somewhere that others fear to tread. I have a strong sense of
personal and national pride having been a part of that
movement and also witnessing it first-hand.

I was sitting in a business school classroom studying a case
on the success of the Bombardier Challenger widebody business
jet when the professor mentioned that he had just had a
conversation with the company. They were asking about the

potential market for a regional passenger jet based on the
Challenger business jet design. Huh – in 1989, a new and
innovative market segment was born and Bombardier, with their
Regional Jet series, has been the world leader (according to
the company).

However, all is not well and Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD.B &
TSX: BBD.A) has become a mere shadow of its former self. Call
it what you will – bad markets, poor management decisions,
lousy execution or increased global competition – the fact of
the matter is that the company with a combined share count of
approximately 2.4 billion and a combined market capitalization
of just over $1.0 billion is trading at a share price lower
than any time in the past 25 years and is currently at only
1/10th the share price it was trading at in 2018.

Founded by an innovator and inventor in the 1930s, the company
pioneered track-based (winter) vehicles (not tanks), created
the market segment for personal snowmobiles in the 1950s (Ski-
Doo) and personal watercraft in the 1980s (Sea-Doo). Since the
acquisition of Canadair (and the very successful Challenger
executive jet) almost 40 years ago, the company also
successfully consolidated in the small-medium size aircraft
manufacturing space through acquisition of Lear Jet and
DeHavilland and grew their regional jet and corporate jet
offerings as well.

A shining light for Bombardier would have been the development
of their first commercial passenger aircraft (the 100-150
passenger C-Series). Announced in 2008 to much fanfare, the
project was years late and billions of dollars over budget
(estimated final development costs of ~$6 billion). So much so
that in 2015, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy, the
Government of Quebec invested $1 billion in the C-Series
program and the company successfully looted the Quebec pension
plan (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) to the tune of
$1.5 billion for a 30% interest in the other division of the
company (trains). It wasn’t enough and fast forward – the C-

Series was partially sold to Airbus Industries in 2018 (and
rebranded the A220) with Bombardier fully exiting that
business through the sale of their remaining interest in the
A220 program in early 2020.

The dismemberment of       this once-great company was also
highlighted by the sale   of the turboprop airplane business as
well as the sale of the   regional jet business in 2019 and the
sale of the much-touted   rail division in 2020. Deconsolidation
complete.

While Bombardier now touts itself as a “pure-play” business
aircraft company, the sins of the past don’t (and should not)
go away nor be ignored by the market. As reported on November
5, 2020, the UK Serious Fraud Office has an active
investigation over “suspected bribery and corruption”
involving the company’s dealings with airline Garuda Indonesia
stemming back to 2012. And so it continues.

Also reported the same day, the company’s Q3-2020 financial
results estimate pro-forma liquidity of ~ $3.0 billion,
including $1.9 billion of cash on hand and $275 million from
the recently closed sale of aerostructures business. The
company also reported long-term debt of US$9.2 billion before
estimated receipt of $4.0 billion from the sale of the rail
business.

As an investor, you might remark that the stock has great
liquidity and trades surprisingly well but is quite volatile.
You can literally almost day trade this stock – not something
you would expect of a billion dollar market capitalization
stock or an industry-leading company with a multi-billion
dollar enterprise value and a manufacturing leader of some of
the best business aircraft in the world.

Anywhere else, maybe. Any other company, possibly. But as we
know, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”.

‘Nuff said….

Console Wars: Holiday Season
2020
Special   InvestorIntel feature, written by contributing
editors Ben Feferman and Nate Trewin

PlayStation 5 vs. Xbox Series X/S vs
Oculus Quest 2
Who doesn’t love a good old fashion console war. Every time
there’s a new console, the war picks up against and this
holiday season we have two stalwarts in the industry going
head-to-head with a third party candidate, picking up
momentum.

Most pollsters, (and we know they are never accurate) will
tell you, PlayStation 5 is the runaway favorite, even with a
higher price point and supply shortages. But the Xbox Series X
and the Oculus Quest 2, should give our frontrunner a good
fight. Here’s the breakdown on the current candidates:

PlayStation 5 – Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE)

Sony’s PlayStation 5 was officially released on November 12.
There are two versions that are able to be purchased. There
the standard PS5 at $500 USD ($629 CAD) or there is the new
digital edition at USD$400 (CAD$499). The main difference
between these two systems is that the standard version
includes a disk drive and supports physical copies of games.
Whereas, the digital version does not have a disk drives and
is only compatible with games purchased through the
PlayStation store. Looking at the specs of the PS5, it
possesses as 8-core 3.5 Ghz AMD Zen2 CPU, a 10.3 teraflop AMD

RDNA 2 GPU, has 16 GB GDDR6 RAM, has 825 GB of custom SSD. It
can support up to 8k in resolution, a blue ray drive (on the
standard version only) and up to 120 FPS on certain games.
Regarding the looks of the PS5, its main colour has switched
from the tradition all black to white with black accents. Each
system comes with the one DualSense wireless controller. If
you are looking to buy an extra controller that will be an
additional USD$69 or (CAD$89).

Now that we have looked at the specs, let’s look at the
reasons to buy a PS5. If you have been a PlayStation fan, from
previous generations you expect much of the same. Another
reason besides the consistency on the PlayStation is the great
exclusive games that are available. Some of these key
exclusive games include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon II:
Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7. Another reason to purchase the
PS5 is the backwards compatibility. For the first time, almost
all PS4 games, as well as optimized PS4 Pro games are able to
be played on the PS5. This means that you don’t have to sell
all of those old PS4 games as they can be enjoyed for years to
come.

Xbox Series X/S – Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Looking at the new Xbox, there again is two new models, as
with the PS5. There is the Xbox series X which is their
flagship, and there is the series S. Similar to the PS5, both
the Series X and S consoles have backwards compatibility.
This means that you can play you all of your past favourite
games on the present generation. Xbox also has their own line
of exciting exclusive games. Such games include Halo Infinite,
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Forza Motorsport 8, State of Decay
3. As well there is the new Xbox controller which comes in
three different colourways (Robot white, Shock Blue and Carbon
Black). Both the series X and the S come with one controller
and additional controllers are USD$60 (CAD$74.99).

The new Series X is priced at USD$499 (CAD$599).
Aesthetically, the Series X comes in one colour (black), and
it is a rectangular box that won’t take up too much room. The
specs for the series X are 8-core, 3.8 GHz AMD Zen 2 CPU, 12.0
teraflop AMD RDNA 2. GPU, 16 GB GDDR6 of RAM, 1 TB custom NVMe
SSD. Similar to the PlayStation, it can support up to 8k in
resolution, and up to 120 FPS on certain games. This system
serves as direct competition to both PS5 systems.

There is also the new Series S which is priced at a
surprisingly at USD$299 (CAD$379). Aesthetically, the Series S
comes in a smaller form factor but remains the box shape, but
this time is white. This console is the less powerful little
brother of the Series X. The Series S has the same processor
as its big brother, but it will have slower loading times, a
less powerful GPU and has only 10GB of Ram compared to 16GB.
The Series S targets 1440p gamers rather than the Series X
which is at 4k gamer. It will run some games at 120 FPS, but
it does not possess as much storage. This console has a 512GB
SSD and is digital storage only. However, it does support the
ability to add extra Seagate SSD (but this comes at an
expensive additional cost).

Oculus Quest 2 – Facebook (NASDAQ: FB)

The last item to look at is Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2. This is
the newest Virtual Reality (VR) system. Starting at USD$299
(CAD$399) for the 65 GB and USD$399 (CAD$549) for the 256GB,
these systems allow you to experience VR in the comfort of
your own home. Although these devices require a Facebook
account to log in (hello big brother), they have a ton of
options for use. You can get the best seat in the house to
live concerts, ground-breaking films, exclusive events, and
more from the comfort of your own home. The Quest 2 is also
backwards compatible, so you explore all past titles from
previous models. Now is probably one of the best times to
explore the world of VR. With the coronavirus pandemic and
looming global lockdowns incoming this means not leaving your

house. So instead of watching more regular YouTube, fire up
the Quest and check out YouTube’s their vast 3D and 360 video
catalogue.

The Verdict:

If you’re a hard-core gamer you’re likely not even in this
discussion because you have or are buying a PC. But for
everyone else, there may be enough to convince some Xbox
loyalists to make the move to PS5 but likely it’s a case
preference with the entire ecosystem. Neither are so
revolutionary that they could steal the others fan base to
make the move. If this is your first console, well, my vote
would be for the PS5.

Oculus is ‘wear’ it gets interesting. It really doesn’t
compete with a traditional console and provides a completely
different experience. Given that we maybe at home for longer
than expected and a long winter ahead, might be worth it to
splurge and pick one up as well.

Rare    earths   player   MP
Materials returns, riding on
the back of a SPAC
A great capital markets creation in Canada 30-odd years ago
was the blind pool, originally called Junior Capital Pools
(JCPs). The program morphed to Capital Pool Companies (CPCs)
with some minor changes to the JCP program, but the program
was effective and continues to be so to this day.

In the US, the capital markets did one better, creating

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), whereby the
blind pools could raise capital through an initial public
offering for the purpose of acquiring an existing company.
They have also been around for years, but the usage has
recently seen a resurgence, with more than 50 SPACs in 2020
raising approximately US$ 21.5 billion (to the beginning of
August).

The problem is, SPACs (like CPCs) are technically a “blind
pool”, so as an investor, you don’t really know if you are
buying a pig-in-a-poke, a mine or if you are getting the
shaft! Yes, there was always the nudge-nudge, wink-wink
project for use of proceeds, but there (technically) was no
certainty.

One of the more interesting SPACs to emerge as a “real
company” is a mining project. Or the reincarnation of “the
rare earths mining project” in California, just across the
Nevada border. Welcome back Mountain Pass mine (and your
storied history)! Or rather MP Materials Corp. (NYSE: MP),
which recently closed a business combination with Fortress
Value Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: FVAC) to create a $675 million
market capitalization rare earths producer. MP Materials began
trading on the NYSE on November 18, 2020.

MP Materials used $345 million of FVAC’s cash-in-trust plus an
additional $200 million PIPE from institutional investors to
capitalize the company with net cash of $525 million
(estimated by management) on close of the transaction. The
stated objective of the merger was to fund MP Materials’
Mountain Pass mine Stage II optimization plan, whereby the
company “expects to become a fully integrated provider of
separated rare earth oxides, with a focus on Neodymium-
Praseodymium, one of the most crucial inputs for magnetics, by
2022.”

What does that all mean? Those of you with long memories might
remember flurry in the rare earths space about 10 years ago

that ultimately saw prices for rare earths crushed by the
predominant producer – China Incorporated, as Jack Lifton
likes to call them.

But that was then and this is now and rare earths have never
been more important. Mountain Pass is the only rare earths
mining and processing site of scale in the Western Hemisphere
and currently produces approximately 15% of global rare earth
content according to MP Materials. The mine has been in
production off and on since 1952, but was restarted in 2017.
There is substantial mining and processing infrastructure in
place at Mountain Pass with a comprehensive plan developed to
even become a downstream magnet producer (Stage III, 2025-
ish).

At one time the United States was a significant producer of
rare earths. Now however, approximately 80% of the world’s
rare earths are produced by China, despite the country being a
significantly smaller source of the mining resources. There is
tremendous US government support to reinvigorate the domestic
industry – partly out of strategic concerns, but significantly
towards a future world where electronics, magnets, electric
vehicles etc. will become as ubiquitous as the kitchen sink.
All of which require rare earths to function.

About the future of MP Materials? The company just announced
on November 18, that the company has been awarded a Defense
Production Act Title III technology investment agreement to
establish domestic processing for separated light rare earth
elements. Under the TIA, the US Department of Defense will
contribute $9.6 million towards MP Materials’ Stage II
optimization efforts.

So investors – did you get a mine or are you going to get the
shaft? It certainly looks promising this time around, but hang
on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride….

The Astrologers Fund’s Henry
Weingarten    on  the   Biden
market winners – copper, gold
and critical materials win.
In a recent InvestorIntel Interview, Tracy Weslosky speaks
with Henry Weingarten, Fund Director of The Astrologers Fund,
Inc., about the current market trends and the likely triggers
for the market to be up.

In this InvestorIntel interview, which may also be viewed on
YouTube (click here to subscribe to the InvestorIntel
Channel), Henry went on to say, “If you own copper stocks you
should stick with them.” He also said that gold is doing well
and added, “we are on our way to $2,000 by the year end.” He
also expressed his positive sentiments for oil and said that
critical materials like rare earths and lithium are very good
long term investment.

To access the complete interview, click here

They’re   coming  for   your
money, so why not try crypto

on for size?
It’s beyond me why in this day and age of really smart
technology companies, equipped with blockchain products, it
took almost a week to determine the winner of the US
Presidential election – and it still isn’t over… Hand counting
ballots is so 2000…..well, maybe by 2024….?

Fortunately, blockchain technology is alive and well and is
supporting the cryptocurrency markets. Voyager Digital Ltd.
(CSE: VYGR | OTCQB: VYGVF) is one of the up and coming crypto-
asset brokers based in New York City and just reported
impressive Fiscal 2020 results.

But that is only a backward look at the company – looking
ahead, there are a lot of reasons to pay attention to Voyager,
including the fact that it is publicly traded. But also if you
are interested in trading cryptos, the company has an app
available for its more-than 250,000 users in the US (available
for Android and Apple). Plus, in early October 2020, Voyager
announced it has added a new institutional offering to the
Voyager Platform, expanding its reach to corporate treasury
desks and institutional accounts, while also launching an OTC
desk to add institutional accounts to the platform.

While adding to the institutional market takes this brokerage
platform to a new level, that is but another milestone in the
company’s growth. The company also announced in October the
merger of Voyager’s European operations with French-regulated
company LGO giving it direct control over this licensed
European entity. This will allow the company to expedite its
European strategy for expansion – just another step in the
target of going global.

And finally, the company just announced that the Assets Under
Management (AUM) have grown 20 times since the end of December
2019 and are now in excess of $100 million.     “Voyager’s
offering of over 50 digital assets, including 22 interest-
bearing assets, is winning over investors. As we increase our
marketing reach, investors are gravitating to Voyager’s
commission-free, easy to use platform” said CEO Stephen
Ehrlich.

He added “Our industry-leading interest product allowing
customers to earn interest on a compounding basis has
propelled Voyager to being the preferred agency brokerage for

trading, earning, and investing in digital assets. With the
recent addition of NBA Hall of Famer, Tracy McGrady, our team
will continue to bring products to the market, including a
debit card and more traditional bank products, allowing easy
adoption of these assets.”

What does this mean as an investor? During the month of
October, the stock was relatively range-bound, with a share
price fluctuating between CAD$0.72-$0.78. With the
announcement in early November of AUM growth plus the other
October news flow, investors paid much more attention – the
share price closed at CAD$1.23 on November 6.

Timing is everything and on November 10, 2020, Gerard Hanshe,
Chief Operating Officer of Voyager, will be a featured
panelist at the upcoming Benzinga Global FinTech Awards event.
His panel – focused on trading tools – begins at 3:40 p.m.
EST. CEO Steve Ehrlich will be speaking at 5:15 p.m. EST to
discuss Voyager’s growth and future prospects (click here to
register).

Voyager Digital is relatively new and is publicly listed in
Canada and is intent on international expansion as noted above
with Canada still to come. As we all learn more about crypto,
Voyager is one company that provides an extensive (and
growing) list of currencies to access, offers no-commission
trading plus security for your assets. But if owning or
trading cryptocurrency keeps you awake at night, there is an
opportunity to still benefit from the Voyager model through
the public listing.

Note from the Publisher: Thank you for the review of Voyager
Digital Ltd. (CSE: VYGR | OTCQB: VYGVF). And in full
disclosure, we have just joined the Voyager Ambassador and
Partner Program. Not available in Canada yet, if you’re in the
USA and you want to check it out, you can get $25 in free
Bitcoin when you sign-up & invest your first $100 — click here
to find out more, and type in the promo code: INTEL