• Net Element stock skyrocketed after the company announced the launch of a fully compliant payment solution for the legal cannabis industry
• Shares grew 63 percent, with volume eventually increasing to 9.5 million shares from previous full-day averages of 81,000 shares
• The payment solution enables entry into a lucrative field that’s forecast to grow beyond $22 billion by 2022

On October 22, global technology and value-added solutions group Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) announced the launch of a fully-compliant payment solution for the legal cannabis industry. The payment processing solution is designed to provide a smooth transaction between merchants and consumers as the popularity of cannabidiol-based products grows (http://ibn.fm/Y09oi).

Shortly after the company announced the launch of the payment solution through subsidiary Unified Payments, Net Element shares rocketed 63 percent, with volume growing to 9.5 million shares in comparison to the earlier average of 81,000 shares.

The new payment solution is complex, as it has to overcome several legal industry challenges. The legal cannabis market is dependent on state laws, because it hasn’t been allowed federally as of yet. Unified Payments had to overcome this issue through the creation of a single, unified and fully compliant product.

Previously, CBD products were mainly available in head shops. Today, they have spread to food and natural stores, beauty boutiques and even cafés. This increasing availability drives a high need for the provision of a reliable, unified payment solution.

Net Element President of Integrated Payments Vlad Sadovskiy said in a news release that the company is excited to create a legal cannabis payment acceptance solution that meets the needs of merchants across the market. Net Element works closely with numerous vendors to ensure that they’re getting access to state-of-the-art payment solutions.

The American cannabis industry is expected to grow significantly, and it will most likely reach $20 billion by the end of the year, while the hemp CBD market alone is likely to surge to $22 billion by 2022, according to cannabis and CBD research firm Brightfield Group (http://ibn.fm/B0gfM).

From 2017 to 2018, the CBD market in the U.S. nearly doubled in size, analysis suggests (http://ibn.fm/VABuF). The five-year growth projection is now dramatically higher than what experts forecast just one year previously. The prospects of full legalization of CBD products are more favorable than ever before due to the recent Hemp Farming Act of 2018 proposal aimed at removing hemp from Schedule I controlled substances and making it an agricultural commodity.

Net Element is a global financial technology and value-added solutions provider. The company supports electronic payments in an omni-channel environment. It operates a payment-as-a-service transactional model for small and medium-sized companies across the U.S. and emerging markets. The aim of the company is to utilize the model for the purpose of delivering flexible payment solutions to markets with diverse regulatory, demographic and financial transaction conditions. Net Element was ranked as one of the fastest growing North American companies on Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com

• New premium toolkit, which can also be installed on any website, is designed to drive website traffic, then convert visitors into customers for merchants
• Carter Chalmers, MKTDF director of sales and business development, says that the company’s new features include draw prize sweepstakes and 12 premium games for social media campaigns
• MKTDF’s gamification strategy uses surveys and games to turn unknown social media followers into identified email subscribers/paying customers and drive them to websites

DeepMarkit Corp. (TSX.V: MKT) (OTCQB: MKTDF) is taking its gamification marketing strategy to a higher level by introducing a premium toolkit laden with new features, such as social media campaigns that brand merchant clients. The conversion of that website traffic into paying customers is the goal of MKTDF’s marketing solution (http://ibn.fm/GDtPh).

“We have taken the feedback from our customers and responded with a ton of significant new features built into one premium toolkit, giving our customers a complete marketing solution for one low monthly subscription price,” Chalmers of MKTDF said in a news release.

The new toolkit is available on sites such as BigCommerce, Weebly, WordPress and Shopify, Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) (TSX: SHOP) and may also be installed on any website directly from MKTDF. The toolkit includes draw prize sweepstakes and email collection displays in the form of pop-ups, banners and full-page displays. Premium social media games are also included in the gamification strategy.

Gamification marries entertaining and engaging game-like features to a non-game platform that collects consumer data. The result is the application of real-time information and analytics created to enable retailer clients to better understand their customer bases (http://ibn.fm/iNlqQ).

MKTDF is a Calgary, Alberta-based technology company focused on the monetization of gamification. It seeks, through the prizes and discounts offered by gaming apps, to convert site visitors into loyal customers who confirm their identities as they participate. MKTDF’s revenue comes from paid gamification campaigns, as noted in MKTDF’s June 2018 investor presentation (http://ibn.fm/Nub0L).

The company’s strategy is to convert players into leads and leads into customers. Darold Parken, president and CEO of MKTDF, said in a corporate YouTube video (http://ibn.fm/upzSs), “Businesses need a way to stand out from the crowd. DeepMarkit’s gamification platform gives customers that way to stand out. And it’s a way that they can afford. That’s the strength of our platform.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.DeepMarkit.com

• ChineseInvestors.com reports a total year-over-year revenue increase of 70 percent for the first fiscal quarter of 2019
• The company’s current assets have nearly doubled, and its share price touched $0.90 per share as of October 17, 2018
• The agreement entered between CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Tmall is likely to boost industrial hemp CBD sales
• With products on Tmall, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd is positioned to cash in on Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) recorded impressive first quarter financial results for its fiscal year 2019. Its total revenue, comprising product sales revenue and subscription revenue, is on the uptrend.

According to Chief Executive Officer Warren Wang, cannabidiol (CBD) hemp sales in China are a major contributor to the growth in the product revenue. On the subscription services front, the company recorded a revenue increase of close to 100 percent. The steady revenues are expected to continue, buoyed by the company’s newly-introduced cryptocurrency market educational services.

In terms of liquidity, the company reported a two-fold increase in cash and cash equivalents from $1.4 million to $3 million. This pushed up the company’s total current assets to $5.5 million. On the equity side, the closing market value of common stock as of October 17, 2018, was $0.90 per share.

The outlook according to Wang is positive, thanks to the evolving business, regulatory and political landscapes of the Chinese industrial hemp CBD market. The company plans to increase its product distribution in both the U.S. and Chinese markets.

To widen the distribution network for its industrial hemp CBD products, ChineseInvestors.com, through subsidiary CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd., signed an agreement with Alibaba Group’s Tmall. This will see the subsidiary leverage Tmall’s e-commerce marketplace to reach a wider market.

Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) has a total of 500 million registered customers across Tmall and Taobao. By listing its CBD skincare products on the Tmall platform, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. will automatically expand its footprint.

The move comes at just the right time to take advantage of Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals, which take place between November and December. During this period, China records the highest volume of sales through online retailers. In 2017, the Double 11 shopping festival recorded a hopping 168.2 billion RMB ($24.2 billion) in sales in a single day.

While CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. isn’t the only company that produces and markets CBD skincare products in the Chinese market, it is the first to enter Tmall. The main target market for the CBD skincare products is the cosmetics industry, which is coming up strongly in China.

To further boost sales and strengthen its brand influence, the company plans to spend 2.5 million RMB ($360,000) in advertising and online marketing. This will cover all of its CBD skincare product lines.

Tmall is regarded highly as an e-commerce platform, and hundreds of companies are always applying to be authorized. Therefore, CBD Biotechnology Co. Ltd. considers itself successful for getting this opportunity. The company’s projections for total sales from October 2018 to September 2019 is 12 million RMB ($1.7 million).

ChineseInvestors.com is a financial news media platform, with headquarters in San Gabriel, California, catering to the Chinese-speaking community, not just in China, but in the United States, Canada and other parts of the world. Leveraging the platform, the company is regularly introducing other products and services such as industrial hemp CBD that are of benefit to its target market. It is also the first publicly traded company in the United States that promotes hemp-derived CBD products for the Chinese market.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChineseInvestors.com

• The two new patents are related to certain cannabinoid-infused beverage compositions using LXRP’s DehydraTECH technology
• Globally, LXRP has filed some 50 patent applications as the company expands its IP portfolio; LXRP hopes to receive two more granted patents from Australia by year end, giving it 12 in total
• LXRP out-licenses its technology, which promotes healthier and faster ingestion; the company seeks accelerated patent application examinations in Australia based on the U.S. patents

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP) has been granted two new U.S. patents based on cannabinoid-infused beverage compositions using its DehydraTECH ingestion technology platform. The company is building its strategic intellectual property (IP) portfolio with over 50 applications worldwide and is seeking expedited examination for two more patents in Australia based on the U.S. patents it received. It hopes to be granted two new corresponding Australian patents by year’s end (http://ibn.fm/JOlXg).

If all are issued, LXRP will then hold 12 issued patents within its first patent family, “Food and Beverage Compositions Infused With Lipophilic Active Agents and Methods of Use Thereof.” It would strengthen LXRP’s IP claims in both countries. The two new U.S. patents granted are numbers 10,103,225 and 10,084,044.

Based in British Columbia, Canada, LXRP is a biotechnology company that has developed technology which has proven faster and more effective delivery of cannabinoids in human clinical studies and nicotine in animal laboratory studies. Its IP portfolio already includes patents for oral delivery of all cannabinoids. The newest patents are to protect LXRP’s cannabinoid-infused beverage compositions. The compositions use both non-psychoactive cannabinoids, such as CBD, and also psychoactive cannabinoids, such as THC.

LXRP has a growing IP portfolio and will license in any of the countries worldwide where its technology already has a patent or is patent-pending. DehydraTECH is its proprietary absorption technology platform.

LXRP has now filed a total of more than 50 patent applications across 10 current patent families. It is preparing applications for at least six more patents that will each form the basis for a separate patent family. It expects to file them before the end of this year, giving it management over a total of 16 patent families. The company anticipates that numerous patents will be granted within each of these families (http://ibn.fm/NMrUd).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.LexariaBioscience.com

• Bankcard fraud to cross $6 billion in 2018
• TrustGateway blockchain technology uses biometrics to block fraud
• System under consideration by two major U.S. commercial banks

The maturation of ecommerce has been a boon to consumers everywhere, turning the world into one global marketplace. Now, though you live in America, you can order goods from China; you can shop on Amazon even though you live in the Himalayas (http://ibn.fm/M0seX). Naturally, such trade involves customer-not-present (CNP) transacting, which is providing great opportunity for fraud. CNP fraud accounts for 70 percent of card fraud (http://ibn.fm/kvPPx). For 2018, it is projected to reach $6.4 billion in the U.S. alone, which, perhaps, is why two major U.S. commercial banks and one of the largest payment infrastructural platforms in the country are taking a look at a novel solution offered by GreenBox POS, LLC (OTC: GRBX). The company has developed a payment gateway – TrustGateway – that blocks CNP fraud with blockchain technology. The gateway is a major component of the company’s QuickCard payment system and is proving to be highly efficient in preventing fraud on the GreenBox payment platform.

Buying online with a bankcard is generally a smooth, seamless process, but behind the scenes, there’s a lot going on, some of which involves a “payment gateway.” After a purchaser submits his or her debit or credit card information to a merchant online, the payment gateway sends that information, together with the amount to be charged, to the credit card payment network for processing. At present, the three largest are Visa, MasterCard and Chase. Naturally, the payment gateway is not a one-way conduit. It transmits the response from the card network back to the merchant, typically with a cryptic “approved” or “declined” message.

Such gateways are no match for someone using a stolen card or card information that has been filched, but GreenBox’s TrustGateway may just be, since it uses a number of authenticating factors. These include internet protocol (IP) correlations, location data and biometrics. To succeed in penetrating TrustGateway, a malefactor would need to take on the cardholder’s personality. GreenBox is able to provide a system with greater security since it owns all the parts that make the blockchain payment system – from TrustKeys to ledger and gateway. TrustGateway also takes part in load balancing. It maximizes system uptime and can be integrated into the QuickCard payment system and GreenBox platform.

The GreenBox POS (point-of-sale) platform is the foundation for the entire GreenBox product line, including LOOPZ and QuickCard. LOOPZ is a delivery software solution, which has three essential elements: a back-end dispatcher and two mobile apps, one for drivers and one for consumers. The LOOPZ standalone back-end dispatcher is the backbone of the system. It controls functions like accepting orders, managing drivers, setting payments, tracking deliveries and much more. The dispatching works through an SAAS engine, so there is no installation, backup or data restoration required. All of the software is supported by table and phone apps, making it easy for management on the go. With the app, drivers have access to the built-in advanced dashboard that ensures that every delivery is completed smoothly. On the consumer side, customers connect directly to merchants and are updated in real-time, guaranteeing peace of mind.

The QuickCard payment system consists of an app, an e-wallet and a kiosk. The QuickCard app allows a customer to load currency onto his or her e-wallet from a credit card or linked bank account. Customers can also link to a QuickCard kiosk installed by a merchant, which allows them to shop at that retail outlet, online or anywhere that accepts e-wallet transactions. Purchasing goods is easy with QuickCard. The customer simply enters the transaction amount and with a single click, QuickCard generates a QR code. The code is scanned by the merchant, and the funds are transferred immediately and securely, with a record being stored on the app. With TrustGateway integrated into the QuickCard payment system, consumers and merchants will have the assurance of safer transacting.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.GreenBoxPOS.com

• SeeThruEquity revised its initial price target for American Premium Water on the basis of new company developments and strategic market positioning
• The launch of LALPINA Hydro CBD and the subsequent distribution of the product will enable the company to enter the rapidly-growing CBD market
• New research report suggests that CBD market could grow to an astounding $22 billion by 2022

American Premium Water Corp. (OTC: HIPH) announced on October 10, 2018, that independent equity research firm SeeThruEquity has revised its initial price target upward. The revision corrected the original $0.15 target to $0.30, the company said in a press release (http://ibn.fm/W5F0G). According to the SeeThruEquity report, one of the main reasons behind the price target revision is the launch of LALPINA Hydro CBD, a technically superior cannabidiol-infused beverage, which will enable the company to target large consumer opportunities.

The subsequent distribution of the CBD beverage, as well as the strategic American Premium Water deals aimed at expanding the company’s presence on the luxury markets, have also been quoted as reasons for the target revision.

According to American Premium Water CEO Ryan Fishoff, the revised target validates all of the company’s strategic efforts. Over the past year, the company has entered one of the most rapidly evolving American economic sectors – the CBD market. As a result, the company has managed to significantly reduce debt, enter substantial distribution agreements and position itself for sustainable growth in the future.

The launch of the CBD beverage enables the company to participate in a fast-growing market that is anticipated to outpace the cannabis industry within the next few years. While Greenwave Advisors estimates that the CBD market will reach $3 billion by 2021 and The Hemp Journal anticipates the increase to slightly exceed $2 billion (http://ibn.fm/rjBWD), a new report by the Brightfield Group forecasts significantly higher growth, estimating that the hemp-CBD market alone could hit $22 billion by 2022 (http://ibn.fm/B3c1v).

The revised SeeThruEquity initial price target represents a potential upside of 471.4 percent from HIPH’s recent price of $0.0525 per share, reported a day before the announcement, on October 9, 2018.

The report further highlights the fact that the company will also potentially benefit from a recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) action that removes CBD as a Schedule 1 drug whenever the trace amount of THC remains below 0.1 percent. In such instances, the product will be classified as a Schedule 5 drug, following FDA approval. This change may enable additional growth in the field of pharmacology.

LALPINA Hydro CBD contains no detectable amounts of THC, which means that American Premium Water Corp. could now be able to explore the medical potential of the formulation via partnerships with industry representatives.

LALPINA Hydro CBD mixes hydro with nanotechnology to deliver hydro-infused CBD water to consumers. The company started offering the new product via its website on August 27, 2018. The nanotechnology in LALPINA Hydro CBD enables a quicker absorption rate in comparison to other CBD-infused waters. On October 17, the company announced that it had developed a prototype THC-infused beverage utilizing the same technology.

The product ensures proper hydration, and it could also be utilized by active individuals to ensure muscle relief. CBD is an excellent choice for quick workout recovery due to its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasm and neuroprotective properties.

American Premium Water Corporation is a California-based company that maintains a portfolio of subsidiaries catering to the health and luxury goods markets. The company’s two primary pillars are the development of health and beauty biotechnology for the purpose of unlocking the full potential of hydrogen and nanotechnologies, in combination with CBD.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.AmericanPremiumWater.com

• Sharing Services reports Q1 net sales of $12.9 million; this is an increase of more than 35 percent compared to the last quarter of the previous year
• The impressive sales numbers can be attributed to the line of products the company launched in December 2017 and its aggressive Blue Ocean Strategy
• The company has a targeted expansion strategy and acquisitions of interests in diverse industries including health, energy and technology

Sharing Services, Inc. (OTCQB: SHRV) has been making headlines in the direct selling market with product launches and record sales numbers. The company’s fiscal year runs from May 1 to April 30. In the first quarter ended July 31, 2018, the company reported revenues of $12.9 million. Compared to its fourth quarter revenues of $8.3 million, this result marked a 36 percent jump in sales (http://ibn.fm/tqj13).

On December 13, 2017, the company launched several wellness products under its Elevacity Global health-and-wellness division. The products, which include Elier Mud, an anti-aging product, and Timeless, a line of skincare products for both men and women, have made a huge contribution to the company’s earnings.

The contribution of its Elepreneurs marketing team has also been significant, especially relating to its execution of the Blue Ocean Strategy and the direct-to-market approach.

According to John ‘JT’ Thatch, the company’s CEO, customers are pleased with the launched products, because they are seeing great results. In terms of numbers, SHRV has reported over $20 million in sales since these products were introduced.

The $12.9 million Q1 result represents a milestone for the company, and management is impressed with the pace at which the company is exceeding its goals.

Being a direct marketing company, the major operating expense item is selling and marketing, which accounted for slightly under 50 percent of the reported Q1 net sales. Apart from the revenue growth, the asset base for the company has also scaled up from $5.9 million at the end of the last financial year to $8.4 million in the first quarter 2018. This is according to the 10-Q reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Top decision makers in the direct selling industry looking to manage and grow their businesses can leverage the expertise of Direct Selling News. Operating from Plano, Texas, this platform serves the information needs of executives who seek to understand the dynamics of the industry.

Sharing Services, Inc. is a Plano, Texas-based holding company with a diversified portfolio in the direct selling industry. The company is progressively gaining traction in the industry mainly by owning, operating or controlling companies at different levels within the direct-selling sector. To date, the company has interests in health and wellness, technology, energy, training, insurance services, media and travel benefits. Sharing Services has a keen interest in home-based entrepreneurs through its direct-selling support offerings.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SHRVinc.com

• Robust user activity of more than 76,000 orders noted using pre-purchase app available on newly acquired subsidiary, Where’s Weed
• Monetary value of orders placed via app online with Where’s Weed and its mobile cannabis service hub surges past $12.6 million
• Consumer demand for cannabidiol (CBD) products could generate market worth $22 billion by 2022
• Wholly owned subsidiary Pura Vida Vitamins offers hemp and CBD-related products in addition to other health and wellness products

Golden Developing Solutions, Inc. (OTC: DVLP), an emerging leader in the rapidly expanding cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) marketplace, offers consumers an important, intuitive option when it comes to purchasing a favored brand or product line from a licensed retailer or medical dispensary. The company’s “Pre-Purchase App,” available through newly acquired subsidiary Where’s Weed (WheresWeed.com), focuses on providing customers with a secure, efficient way to locate and purchase cannabis in both the recreational and medical cannabis markets of the United States and Canada.

Data culled from user activity since the app’s launch in January 2018 shows an overwhelmingly positive response from cannabis consumers, as noted by DVLP CEO Stavros Triant. As of early October, more than 76,000 separate orders were placed with dispensaries by customers using the app, which translates to a monetary value of $12.6 million.

“We aren’t surprised in the least to see booming activity on this App so far this year,” Triant said in a news release (http://ibn.fm/gRNqE). “The technology is seamless and offers a highly intuitive path connecting customers with vendors through a complete order-entry interface.”

Overall user activity and new user adoption of the app is expected to accelerate exponentially over the next year as both organic network effect dynamics and overall growth in the cannabis market continue to blossom.

“This has become a win-win for both consumer and vendor. It’s a hit. And we fully expect it will continue to be an unequivocal success because it simplifies life for cannabis consumers through a highly effective and intuitive One-Stop-Shop shopping experience,” Triant added. “We have big plans for monetizing this traffic, which is really just one minor component of the diverse and thriving Where’s Weed website, community, and network. The results thus far powerfully underscore our convictions in approaching this asset as a strategic target.”

Multiple reports describing the cannabis industry and its projected growth pattern include revenues in the billions of dollars. A report issued by Statista estimates U.S. consumer sales of CBD products alone will total around $1.15 billion by 2020 and reach $1.8 billion by 2022 (http://ibn.fm/V2foe). An even more optimistic opinion is reached by cannabis industry analysts at the Brightfield Group, which estimates that the hemp-CBD market could skyrocket to $22 billion by 2022 now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the sale of a cannabidiol drug for childhood epilepsy, possibly soon giving rise to further changes in CBD’s legal status nationwide, as detailed in an article published by Rolling Stone (http://ibn.fm/h1MaL).

Triant points out that quality and branding continue to be driving factors in DVLP’s strategic decision-making process. The company’s wholly owned Pura Vida Vitamins, LLC subsidiary, which recently launched a direct-to-consumer website (www.PuraVidaVitamins.com), is a perfect example of this philosophy. Pura Vida branded merchandise is geared toward the fitness and sports industry. Pura Vida products include hemp- and CBD-related products and other products focusing on health and lifestyle, which are available through established wholesale and distribution channels. In addition, a line of CBD pet supplements and other products are in development.

For more information, visit the company’s websites at www.PuraVidaVitamins.com and www.WheresWeed.com

• Demand for lithium is expected to triple by 2025
• QMC is in the process of expanding the historic reported resource estimate of 1.2 million tons prior to initiating production
• Recent sample returned over 4.15 percent Li2O
• Companies continue to report new lithium supply contracts
• Innovations such as 3D-printing of Li-ion batteries in virtually any shape continue to drive demand

Lithium-ion batteries, the worldwide mainstay of the electrical industry for powering computerized products that range from wrist-worn devices to electric cars and trucks, have been the subject of intense scrutiny by hundreds of research and development efforts attempting to improve existing technology. Innovation does take time and is likely to present itself as a new wrinkle on an old way of doing things, which is good news for junior miners exploring the profit potential of Earth’s lithium resources. The Irgon Mine Project is one of these lithium resources; located in southeastern Manitoba, it is a large spodumene-bearing pegmatite dike currently being developed by QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ).

At the first-ever S&P Global Platts Battery Metals Conference held in New York on October 16, a discussion on a wide variety of potential new battery chemistries led Roman Kramarchuk, the head of technology policy and energy analytics for S&P Global Platts, to argue (http://ibn.fm/1iWJt) that developments in battery technology “are not necessarily a quick process. It can take 10 years to go from introduction to full development. These are the technologies of the future, but they will not sneak up on us.”

In the meantime, the lithium market is enjoying a robust forecast in an active supply chain. Lithium pricing has weakened slightly this year amid concerns about oversupply of the metal, but Lithium Investing News’ third quarter assessment, also published October 16 (http://ibn.fm/vhSOe), predicted that demand for the metal will triple by 2025 as businesses increase their push for lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide for use as Li-ion battery cathodes. It also noted a number of new supply contracts and the introduction of new spodumene concentrate supplies from Australia and Brazil.

“This escalation in downstream interest shows that lithium supply remains a key concern throughout the battery supply chain,” Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Senior Analyst Andrew Miller told the agency.

An ACS Applied Energy Materials report notes that researchers have developed a new method to 3D-print lithium-ion batteries in virtually any shape – an advance that may also help manufacturers streamline production efficiency of their materials (http://ibn.fm/Ci2X7).

QMC continues to aggressively bet on the lithium market’s potential. The company is working toward establishing a new North American source of the metal by breathing new life into the Irgon Lithium Mine operation in the Cat Lake-Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field of southeastern Manitoba.

A NetworkNewsAudio production released earlier this month states, “QMC’s flagship project, the Irgon Lithium Mine, is directly centered on a site rich with lithium-indicated resources. In the 1950s, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Ltd. drilled 25 holes into the Irgon Dike and reported a historical resource estimate of 1.2 million tons grading 1.51 percent Li2O over a strike length of 365 meters and to a depth of 213 meters… An interactive 3D model displaying historical data derived from past drilling and underground work shows that exploration and underground development has taken place only on the central portion of the dike, which means there’s a significant opportunity to quickly increase tonnage along strike.”

QMC is in the process of bringing the historical resource data up to date to meet current NI 43-101 reporting standards by undertaking a drill program and analyzing detailed channel samples to confirm the historical results. QMC has invested two years of work in the project already, and analytical results of the channel sampling on the dike are very positive, having returned results of 1.73 percent lithium-oxide over 14 meters. Sampling of other dikes known within the property have produced chip sampling results with concentrations over 1.90 percent lithium oxide, including one that returned over 4.15 percent Li2O.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.QMCMinerals.com

• Zenergy’s Zero Cost Program makes it possible to reduce utility consumption by 20 to 60 percent
• Green-certified homes in Texas sold for eight percent more than comparable properties
• Energy efficiency improvements slowed energy demand worldwide by 12 percent
• Zenergy’s customized, energy conservation-related services help reduce carbon footprint and energy consumption

A new report on its way from the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based energy watchdog, suggests that global demand for fuels of all kinds continued to grow in 2017 despite stronger calls for energy conservation, a Bloomberg article states (http://ibn.fm/qK0Ey). While the bulk of the increasing demand for energy comes from emerging economies such as China and India, the message of energy conservation continues to be a central goal of many governments and industries.

Next-generation energy and technology company Zenergy Brands, Inc. (OTC: ZNGY) aspires to be the industry leader and facilitator of change by leading small and medium-sized customers toward sustainable energy efficiency and conservation goals (http://ibn.fm/FqehA).

Zenergy, headquartered in Texas, operates in the emerging smart energy, conservation and utility industries, providing a suite of conservation-based products and services. Clients achieve sustainability goals, reduce carbon emissions, improve their bottom lines and reduce utility consumption by 20 to 60 percent when paired with Zenergy’s cutting-edge Zero Cost Program (http://ibn.fm/n3rZe). “Sustainability as a Service” and “Energy Conservation as a Service” are two phrases embraced by Zenergy CEO Alex Rodriguez, who said they “best describe the nature of our Zero Cost Program,” because it represents a true value proposition for the customer (http://ibn.fm/xfNhC).

The program is designed to help customers reduce electricity, natural gas and water consumption. With every Zero Cost Contract initiated, Zenergy performs an industry best practices analysis to help customers realize how they can reach their sustainability goals and lessen their carbon footprint. The Zero Cost Program utilizes proven conservation technologies such as smart controls, building automation, LED lighting solutions, refrigeration optimization, efficient water systems, EC motor controls, demand-size management and load factor correction (http://ibn.fm/BKf1F).

Zero Cost Program customers pay a portion of their utility expense savings to Zenergy over the term of the agreement, projected at a five-year minimum, while the company handles upfront costs associated with the necessary conservation equipment. The company recently closed a Zero Cost contract with a Texas-based franchisee of a recognized fast food chain, which Jeff Bay-Anderson, Zenergy vice president of business development, said is a deal worth nearly $400,000 (http://ibn.fm/4xVB0).

For residential customers, there’s another attractive reason to invest in conservation efforts provided by Zenergy. Recent studies in the California and Texas real estate markets show that green-certified homes are bringing in higher prices than comparable homes with minimal or no green features. In Texas, green certified homes sold for eight percent more than homes without energy conservation and other green improvements, according to an article in the Washington Post (http://ibn.fm/wXVbK). Up to two-thirds of those building a new home say they are willing to pay more for homes with significant green features such as energy-efficient appliances, heavy-duty insulation, water conservation, healthy indoor air quality and other tested energy conservation measures.

Driving down energy consumption today means employing improving energy conservation technologies and being more mindful of the planet’s limited resources. Zenergy’s aims to enrich businesses through responsible energy use and management, increase the enterprise value and bottom line for its customers and significantly reduce the carbon footprint and demand on the nation’s energy grid and water supply.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ZenergyBrands.com