The Coal Trader

BREAKING: Processed Critical Minerals Declared a National Security Risk $MP $UURAF $UUUU $MTMCF $AREC The new Section 232 proclamation escalates U.S. policy: for the first time, processed critical minerals and their downstream products , including rare earth magnets, refined battery metals, and defense alloys are officially deemed a national security threat. The President has directed negotiations with trading partners under a 180-day timeline, and if those talks fail, tariffs, import restrictions, and price floors could be imposed. This shifts the focus from raw mining to processing and downstream production, targeting foreign-dominated supply chains (China implicitly in focus). Domestic mining alone isn’t enough… dependence on overseas processing leaves defense, aerospace, EV, and high-tech industries exposed. The legal framework is now fully in place, signaling a potential reshaping of global critical mineral trade, with winners among domestic processors and risks for import-dependent companies. whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…

Some thoughts on TNR Gold $TNR.V $TRRXF, a Canadian microcap (MCap: C$19.5 million) royalty company: Among other assets, TNR holds a 0.36% NSR royalty on $MUX's Los Azules copper project in Argentina. Los Azules is massive. If it becomes a mine, the lifetime cash flow from that royalty at $5/lb copper is $156 million. That's the base case, assuming only 1/3rds of the current resource gets mined. The optionality value is another 3x. MUX acquired Los Azules in 2012 and the project had been more or less dead until 2021. Now, on the heels of the blockbuster Filo Mining deal (C$4 billion) by $BHP and Lundin Mining $LUG.TO, and Javier Milei making Argentina great again, Los Azules is hot. It logically follows that TNR Gold should be a hot stock, but it is not. For one thing, the management team is London-based. For another, they are of Russian origin. What does that have to do with anything? It means TNR isn't as well connected to the big boys in Vancouver and Toronto. New York doesn't care because TNR is a micro cap. Until recently, the stock had a market cap of under US$9 million and hardly traded. Insiders own 14%. The stock caught the fancy of an activist shareholder. But the activist had a problem. He needed to buy at least 5% of the company to make his voice heard. With ~200 mn shares outstanding, he needed at least 10 million shares. More, accounting for dilution from stock options and warrants. But the average daily volume was under 100k shares. It would have taken a year to accumulate shares by stealth, without showing his hand. The typical resource investor, when he come across such a situation, contacts the company and asks to participate in a financing. The company cashes up its treasury, the investor gets his shares, other shareholders love the positive news and endorsement, and everyone is happy. This particular individual targeting TNR Gold was no average Joe. He had a secret weapon: an anonymous account on X that goes by the handle @YellowLabLife, nicknamed the Koala. The Koala decided it would be a lot more fun to publicly bully the company on X, while privately hoovering up shares on the open market. The Koala hoped his "activist" campaign would bring more shares on the market, enabling him to get his 5% without tipping his hand. Spot the Koala in action. Volume traded by day: May 30: 2,631 shares June 2: 85,920 shares June 3: 25,000 shares June 4: 50,000 shares June 5: 3,361,500 shares (67x prior day volume) June 6: 3,494,336 shares On June 6, the Koala posts a cryptic warning. "This is going to be a fun new double secret project Only question the koala has is this, will they choose the easy way or the hard way? Got the dropbear warming up just in case he is going to be required" Who is this anon Koala? The Koala is none other than Jon Christian Evensen, the founder of a company providing advisory services to institutional/ HNWI clients. On June 7, Jon, using his anonymous account, goes from cryptic to overt, launching an activist campaign against current management and urging shareholders to vote "Withhold" on the Director slate at the June 24th AGM. In a regular proxy fight, the dissenting shareholders acquire a block of shares and build a platform to get their voice heard. Shareholders who own shares before the cut-off date get to vote on the slate of Directors nominated by both the incumbent management and the hostile shareholders. Jon the Koala had different ideas. He thought he was too smart by half, and could sneak in an attack without going through the legal procedure. Having acquired shares after the record (cut-off) date, he couldn't legally get his nominees on the slate. But with 24.7k followers on X, he could influence public opinion. And let's face it: it is cheaper to bully a company on X than to actually wrest for control in an ugly proxy fight. So Jon the Koala took the easy way. Privately, he was buying shares in the open market without revealing his hand. Publicly, he was trashing the company in order to induce existing shareholders to sell. (Unknown: were his clients in on it?) Legal? I don't know. Scammy AF? Absolutely. Jon likely has experience in this sort of campaign. Unfortunately for TNR Gold shareholders, @kirillklip took the bait and started engaging with Jon's secret identity. This gave the Koala a bigger megaphone, which he amplified with his bot army of unverified X accounts to play the X algo to his advantage. His rants were the usual guff: high executive pay, insider sales, CEO made a profit, company is terribly run, etc. #mintwit took him seriously because he has built an ill-deserved reputation on the platform. Besides, who has the time to listen to a Russian CEO with a clunky blogspot website when a slick New Yorker with all the polish of Bernie Madoff scamming housewives is talking the other side. With apologies, Mr. Klip had a serious PR handicap in this situation and it showed in the Court of Public Opinion. I had never heard of TNR Gold until I came across the cyber bullying campaign by Jon and @Mark_IKN on X. I don't own shares in the company. I have never interacted with Mr. Klip personally. I'm writing this as a counter to the bullies and I hope TNR Gold files a formal complaint with the provincial regulator and asks for an investigation into the suspected market manipulation starting June 5th. Trash talk is free speech, market manipulation is a financial crime. I wish all resource investors and miners a good day, except Mark and Jon Christian Evensen.

IRGC’s Ali Akbar Ahmadian: “For years, we've been awaiting the Americans' entry into the designated points, and for over two decades, we've been training with the #asymmetric_warfare strategy for this very moment. Now, we have just one message for the American soldiers: Come closer.”