Tocvan Ventures, BASF, BYD - These companies are set to scale up

Tocvan Ventures agrees on bulk sample analysis with neighboring mining company

Mexico's gold and silver mines are considered lucrative. The Canadian explorer company Tocvan Ventures has two projects in the country. In the federal state of Sonora are sites of the "Pilar Gold Project" and "El Picacho". Over 22,000 meters have been drilled at the Pilar Gold Project, with convincing results: the preliminary gold recovery from bottle and column leaching is over 85%. The on-site team from Tocvan Ventures has defined and extended gold-silver mineralization from surface along a 600m trend. Specifically, drilling has highlighted 116.9 m at 1.2 g/t Au, including 10.2 m at 12 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag.

In order to further advance progress, Tocvan Ventures has now entered into an agreement with a neighboring mining company. A bulk sample of approximately 1,000t of material will be assayed at the mining operation 25km away for expected ore grade and associated gold recovery percentages.

The total time required to process and analyze the bulk sample is expected to be three to four months. The information obtained from the sample will be used to plan and coordinate the permitting process for the full-scale mining and processing facilities at Pilar. For interested investors, the team is providing a video summary on YouTube.

BASF - Fresh gas from Norway thanks to Wintershall Dea

Europe faces a future without Russian gas as the war in Ukraine drags on into winter. This continues to pose challenges for industrial companies like BASF AG to keep sites in Europe economically cost-efficient, especially in Germany.

The good news, however, in terms of energy supply comes from the Scandinavian countries. In Norway, Wintershall Dea is going into natural gas production. BASF owns 72.7% of the shares in the Company, which specializes in the exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil.

The so-called Njord field has started production again after six years, creating a new oil and gas center in the Norwegian Sea. "The Njord field is an important part of our portfolio in Norway, as it brings us even closer to our production target of 200,000 BOE/day on the Norwegian shelf," says Michael Zechner, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea Norge.

The gas will be exported via a 40km pipeline connected to the Åsgard transport system (ÅTS) and from there to the terminal in Kårstø.
In detail, the Njord licensees are Wintershall Dea Norge AS (50%), Equinor Energy AS (27.5%, operator) and Neptune Energy Norge AS (22.5%).

BYD - Apple pushes for joint venture in India

China is expected to experience a tragic peak on January 13, 2023, when the number of Corona deaths will rise to 25,000 victims out of about 3.7 million infected people. According to UK-based research firm Airfinity, that could be the first peak, with modeling based on data from China's regional provinces. Car and battery giant BYD served major operational losses due to China's Zero-COVID strategy and related lockdowns.

CNBC-TV18 reported Friday, citing government sources, that the Indian government is reconsidering its stance on Chinese investment to help global companies looking to set up shop in India. BYD is getting support for this from none other than Apple. BYD is already a supplier in its battery segment to the California-based company, which is looking to expand its Indian operations.

Apple wants BYD to also enter into a joint venture with an Indian company to move iPad production to the country. Apple already asked its suppliers to stockpile iPhone parts during the Corona pandemic, as the Shanghai lockdowns exacerbated logistics problems.

Vietnam was initially earmarked for production, but production processes in India have since become more expeditiously established for Apple, allowing it to scale up more quickly. A typical iPhone contains about 0.034 g of gold, 0.34 g of silver, 0.015 g of palladium and less than one-thousandth of a g of platinum. It also contains aluminum (25 g) and copper (about 15 g).

Following the most serious border dispute between India and China since 1962 in June 2020, relations between the two countries have become strained. According to a recent report, the Indian government will allow joint ventures with Chinese companies in sectors where India does not have technical expertise. BYD would be a hot candidate on Apple's recommendation. Since the conflict, India has barred neighbor China from participating in government tenders and forced Chinese investors to seek approvals for their projects. Some good news for BASF - gas will soon be flowing again to German production sites. Subsidiary Wintershall Dea has resumed production in the Norwegian Sea and is again supplying its participants with natural gas. Commodities are in demand as never before at the beginning of the year, so Tocvan Ventures can also rejoice. Thanks to promising drilling, the next stage of their explorer project, "Pilar", is now igniting - with a neighboring mining company a large drill sample is being analyzed for the percentage of gold. Gold is a key ingredient in the telecom industry. If Apple scales up in India with partner BYD, the demand for gold will increase immensely.