• ChineseInvestors.com is the foremost financial information website for Chinese-speaking investors
• The company provides premier, real-time market commentary, analysis and educational services in the Chinese language
• ChineseInvestors.com’s wholly owned subsidiary is ChineseHempOil.com, Inc.

California-based ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) operates the foremost financial information website for Chinese-speaking investors. A fintech company, ChineseInvestors.com provides online financial information in Chinese language character sets. This includes traditional and simplified character sets. This financial information is for the Chinese population in the United States and around the world. The company’s subscriber base includes free as well as paying members, mainly located in the United States and Canada.

The emphasis today is on companies that can provide first-rate information that brings greater transparency to investors. The CFA Institute (http://ibn.fm/DdDTx) states that “the use of data and technology can result in a more effective and efficient overall financial reporting process in which investors… receive more transparent, better-quality information on a timely basis.”

ChineseInvestors.com works to provide better-quality information by focusing on making available premier, real-time market commentary, analysis and educational services in the Chinese language. A premier financial information company, its services are primarily delivered to U.S. public and private companies and U.S. residents and citizens. In addition, the company’s focus is on providing advertising and public relations-related support services, helping companies to better link to the large and growing Chinese community.

ChineseInvestors.com’s wholly owned subsidiary is ChineseHempOil.com, Inc., which offers CBD (cannabidiol) oil and hemp oil products. This subsidiary has expanded its domestic sales force and has appointed Nina Wang as its vice president of sales for its United States Consumer Retail/E-Commerce Division. This furthers the process to complete the spinoff of all of ChineseInvestors.com’s hemp-related assets. Wang joined ChineseHempOil.com in March of this year. Since then, she has hired a team of sales representatives centered on wholesale and consignment sales in the Los Angeles area.

In a news release, Warren Wang, ChineseInvestors.com’s chief executive officer, said, “With over 15 years sales and management experience, we look forward to the increased sales that will be generated through Mrs. Wang’s leadership as we are laying the groundwork to increase revenues in advance of the spin-off of all of the Company’s hemp related assets.”

Wang has more than 15 years’ sales experience in the financial services industry. She has over 10 years of experience as a merchant services sales manager at USA First Credit Card, Inc. Before that, she worked as a sales manager for Alliance Bank Card Services.

The spin-off of all of ChineseInvestors.com’s hemp-related assets was originally scheduled for May 31, 2018. The spin-off has been temporarily postponed as the company continues to develop its domestic sales channels.

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

• Feisty, competitive sports fan forum building mobile betting app platform
• U.S. High Court okays state-by-state legalization of sports betting
• Mobile gaming surpassed $50 billion mark during 2017, with e-sports comprising a burgeoning element of the industry

A new era of sports fan marketing opened when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on May 14 that found decades-old laws prohibiting gambling on athletics to be unconstitutional, and FANDOM SPORTS Media Corp. (CSE: FDM) (OTC: FDMSF) (FRANKFURT: TQ42) sees the decision as an opportunity to drive for the end zone with development of its own trademark wagering app on mobile devices.

FANDOM SPORTS is forming up behind its existing trash-talk-friendly fan platform available on the Google Play store for Android devices, which plays on sports audiences’ competitive passions by encouraging them to engage each other in a distinct social media arena that is uncensored and polarizing. The FANDOM SPORTS App is geared toward rewarding its users based on their ability to draw in other participants either in support of a fan favorite or in derision of their most hated opponents.

In addition to bragging rights based on players’ performance, the app’s FANCOIN virtual currency will allow users to pay for exclusive content, swag and other prizes. As the company works through the development challenges of its new wagering platform, it is creating an economy built on blockchain technology that will manage any operational risks related to the gaming transactions during peer-to-peer micro betting by its users.

Until the Supreme Court’s ruling, sports betting was legal only in Nevada – not that federal law prevented a huge number of sports fans from placing friendly wagers on the outcome of a given event or season. A recent Chicago Tribune report (http://ibn.fm/SMbQI) estimates that close to 60 million people in the United States and Canada are already involved in fantasy sports leagues, many of which involve money bets. Media outlets debate the amount of money that changes hands, but agree that it figures in the billions (http://ibn.fm/ifk9v).

Gambling was once a risqué subject that figured in the province of underworld criminals and closed, smoke-filled rooms, but, in recent decades, acceptable financial risk promotion has come to signify not only stock market investment but lottery tickets, office pools, local fantasy leagues and online gaming with international connections. Casinos now are legal in 40 states, and lotteries are welcome in 44. The Chicago Tribune story reports that about half of all American adults acknowledge having bought lottery tickets during the past year, and some 81 million people patronized casinos last year.

Mobile device users approached a benchmark 50 percent of the total worldwide gaming market’s devotees last year, showing the “anywhere you are” sports following’s clout as smartphones, in particular, become nearly ubiquitous in society (http://ibn.fm/2MwXv).

“Exactly 10 years ago, the launch of the iPhone ignited a revolution in games, creating a new market segment that is this year worth around $50 billion,” a November article in Newzoo states (http://ibn.fm/u3T5u). “The past years have seen the rise of esports, taking the already popular activity of viewing game video content to a professional level.”

While hosts of companies are rushing the field to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling and look for ways to monetize it, the fact remains that the ruling simply left states in charge of establishing the legal framework for sports betting within their geography. Companies hoping to set up headquarters for gambling operations will still have to negotiate a patchwork of licensing laws and standards that will likely differ from one state to the next. States, for their part, will have to decide how to regulate mobile betting if it becomes as simple as playing a compulsive phone game courtside or at home during a competition.

“We won’t have a 50-state sports betting market in our lifetime,” Chris Grove, the managing director for research and consulting firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, predicts (http://ibn.fm/nrzgd).

Still, just as lotteries and casinos spread throughout the nation, a number of states have already enacted laws intended to regulate sports betting within their confines, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut and Mississippi. Massachusetts and Hawaii are studying sports betting legislation, and more than a dozen states from California to Rhode Island have seen bills to legalize sports betting introduced (http://ibn.fm/L6Vlk).

FANDOM SPORTS is betting that there’s an open lane ahead for people who want to celebrate the triumph of their champions, make fun of their rivals’ defeat and, maybe, make a little money in the process.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.FANDOMSPORTS.net

• Online state-of-the-art financial service serving the medical cannabis and banking industries is growing
• Company has now acquired Colorado-licensed SpeedyGrow and organic soil accelerator SpeedyVeg
• REFG has also acquired two marijuana strains from the strains’ creator, with plans for more growth

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) is a state-of-the-art financial services company serving the medical cannabis and banking industries. The company brought to market the first and only comprehensive card processing operation of its kind. This innovative system tracks sales and tax collection, eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions, offers online enrollment and empowers businesses with an advanced client management system. Once focused solely on Green, its comprehensive financial program for state-legalized cannabis markets, the company is now in the process of accelerating its growth.

In May, REFG announced its acquisition of SpeedyGrow, a Wyoming corporation licensed to grow and process hemp in Colorado, and SpeedyVeg, a proprietary formula to grow healthy plants and maximize yield. In a news release, Jeremy Roberts, CEO of REFG, stated, “We weren’t initially anticipating entering this space. But after careful consideration, the opportunity to expand our footprint in the state-sanctioned cannabis space was too good of an opportunity for our shareholders to pass up.” While the company’s energies will remain centered on providing best in class payment processing and banking services, this acquisition provides another revenue stream for REFG investors (http://ibn.fm/6uIfi).

Soon after acquiring SpeedyGrow and SpeedyVeg, REFG announced its acquisition of two marijuana strains, GrapeApe and Birthday Cake, from the strains’ creator. GrapeApe is an indica strain tested at approximately 33 percent THC by volume, while Birthday Cake is a sativa strain tested at approximately 15 percent THC and 15 percent CBD by volume. These two highly successful strains position REFG to grow, market, acquire additional licenses for marijuana cultivation and develop licensing agreements with other state-sanctioned cannabis establishments. Additional cultivation licenses will be sought via the newly acquired SpeedyGrow (http://ibn.fm/vxsOk).

“This is just the beginning,” David Schenk, president of SpeedyGrow, added. “We are making great progress and expanding our reach into the state-sanctioned marijuana space.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Take.Green

• ETST issues new audio press release regarding its audits, Form 10, financing plans and fully reporting status
• ETST has started 2017 fiscal year audit, which is required, along with the approved Form 10, to uplist to the OTCQB Venture Market
• Biotech company is focused on developing medical devices for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields and marketing its high-grade line of hemp cannabidiol (CBD)

Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTC: ETST) recently released an audio press release discussing its future financial plans and its previously announced completion of audits and Form 10 submission, which could lead to an uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market (http://ibn.fm/JEWaC).

ETST has completed its audit for FY2015 and FY2016 and submitted its Form 10 to be fully reporting (http://ibn.fm/HDpTq), and it is currently conducting its audit for FY2017. That audit and the approved Form 10 submission, together, are needed for an uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market.

ETST, a biotech company based in Doral, Florida, has repositioned its line of full-spectrum cannabidiol products. It also conducts R&D for low cost, non-invasive medical devices, as it concentrates on manufacturing, marketing and distributing its cannabinoid products to the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets.

Dr. Michel Aube, CEO and chief science officer of ETST, said that transparency is a key tool in the expansion of the company’s business and maintaining the confidence of investors. In a news release, he added, “Since all of our amazing projects are ongoing with our partners, investor confidence will grow, and we will be able to complete our first big round of financing.”

Nickolas Tabraue, director and president of ETST, said, “Thanks to our passionate, likeminded team, the transition should be smooth as we continue growing. I look forward to sharing updates on the full reporting process as it progresses.”

ETST holds four wholly owned subsidiaries. Cannabis Therapeutics is an emerging biotechnology company. KannaBidioiD manufactures and distributes in the recreational sector. Earth Science Foundation, Inc. is becoming a non-profit to accept grants and donations for conducting additional studies. Earth Science Pharmaceutical develops medical diagnostic tools and vaccines.

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

• Cannabis cultivation plagued by legal peril and price volatility
• Demand for non-psychotropic cannabinoids is growing rapidly
• GHG hemp cultivation projects now underway in the U.S. and Canada

In California, Oregon, and Washington State, cannabis farmers (growing mainly for THC content) are now suffering from the unwelcome truth in economics – prices of almost everything seesaw perennially. In the case of cannabis, wholesale prices have entered a freefall, motivating farmers to cultivate hemp for CBD extraction in place of cannabis. As a result, Global Hemp Group, Inc. (CSE: GHG) (FRANKFURT: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) and Marijuana Company of America (OTC: MCOA) are teaming up to grow CBD-rich hemp in Oregon. Demand for CBD and other cannabinoids is increasing as their application in health-enhancing products gains steam.

The oversupply problem is particularly acute in Oregon. Three years after the legalization of recreational marijuana, the state is buried under a mountain of weed. In February, Oregon State records showed 1.1 million pounds of cannabis flower had been registered. That’s about three times annual consumption. In 2017, ‘Oregonians smoked, vaped or otherwise consumed just under 340,000 pounds of legal bud’, according to one report (http://ibn.fm/hqiYM).

Despite this surplus, output is expected to climb as more growers are licensed. By April 1, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) had issued 963 licenses to recreational cannabis growers, with another 910 applications pending. The OLCC says it cannot legally put a limit on the number of licenses it issues; if an applicant qualifies, withholding a license would constitute a violation of due process. Naturally, the excess supply has resulted in much, much lower revenues for producers, who are switching from growing cannabis for its THC content to hemp for CBD.

CBD is turning out to be not only a best seller in consumer markets but also a bonus crop for farmers, who can earn more than $100,000 an acre growing hemp plants to produce it, according to the Associated Press (http://ibn.fm/1ETSk). A number like that makes the joint venture between Global Hemp Group and Marijuana Company of America look decidedly attractive. In May, the two companies acquired a 109-acre agricultural property in the fertile Willamette Valley approximately 70 miles south of Portland, Oregon, to grow CBD-rich hemp (http://ibn.fm/cT4Hg).

The project includes five greenhouses with a canopy extending to nearly 20,000 square feet. This marks the second collaboration between Global Hemp Group and Marijuana Company of America. The two companies are also working together on an industrial hemp project in New Brunswick, Canada. Results of the 2017 season there were encouraging, and the partners are now planting 125 acres of hemp for 2018. Over the following three years, grow area is planned to rise to 1,000 acres (http://ibn.fm/KYnhM).

Recently, the partners provided an update on the New Brunswick project, announcing that Joan Parker-Duivenvoorden has joined the enterprise as project agrologist and field manager. Parker-Duivenvoorden, a graduate of Guelph University, earned a BSc (Agr) majoring in plant protection in 1981. She has garnered over 15 years’ experience with the Nova Scotia Dept. of Agriculture and with the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association (NBSCIA).

As legal perils and economic vicissitudes continue to plague the cannabis industry, hemp cultivated to produce CBD is looking good to grow. This is exactly what Global Hemp Group plans to do. The company is executing a multi-phased strategy to build a strong presence in the industrial hemp industry in Canada and the United States. The first phase of this strategy, already underway, is hemp cultivation to extract cannabinoids (CBD, CBG, CBN and CBC). This is expected to create a short-term revenue stream that will allow the company to expand and develop successive phases of the strategy. The second phase of the plan will focus on the development of value-added industrial products utilizing the processing of the whole hemp plant, as envisioned in the company’s Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone (HAIZ) strategy.

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

• Biologics offer novel ways of treating degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s
• Biologics are one of the fastest-growing drug categories
• PreEMT™ technology improves quality, reduces cost of biologic manufacture

When we think of drugs, an image of potions in round-bottom flasks conjured up in labs comes to mind, or perhaps pills of one sort or another ingested with a sip of water, for about 90 percent of drugs currently in use have that profile. However, discovering that the human body will act as its own physician by dispensing protective proteins called antibodies to fight the toxins that bring on diseases has spurred efforts, naturally enough, to develop those proteins synthetically. This new class of biotherapeutic protein drugs, or biologics, tends to be more effective at combating pathological conditions with less side effects, since they mimic endogenously produced proteins, which target highly specific parts of the invader (antigens). Unfortunately, the production of biologics is easier said than done; it typically requires hundreds of process steps to assemble one of these complex biotherapeutic proteins. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the PreEMT™ platform recently acquired by Pressure BioSciences Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) is a welcome addition to biologic development.

The company recently announced the signing of an agreement with an international biopharmaceutical company to assess the potential of the PreEMT™ technology as the basis for a unique manufacturing process and as an enhancement to the quality of a key protein-based drug currently under development (http://ibn.fm/X3R0O).

Many currently available drugs are synthesized chemically, with molecular structures that are “well defined and relatively simple” (http://ibn.fm/wL3eC). Their simplicity makes them easy to produce and easy for the human body to assimilate. A good example is acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), the active ingredient in aspirin, which has a molecular weight of about 180 grams per mole. Generally, such drugs are swallowed in pill or liquid form before entering the gastrointestinal system and blood stream by diffusion through the intestinal wall. Once in the blood, they have access to the entire body, their tiny size allowing them to penetrate cell membranes easily.

Biologics, by contrast, are much larger compounds that mimic the complex endogenous proteins produced by the immune system. They are generally composed of hundreds of amino acids and may carry a weight as high as 150,000 grams per mole. Biologics will bind to the specific cell receptors associated with a particular disease. For example, monoclonal antibodies are adept at recognizing very specific structures on the surface of cells. This specificity means that healthy cells are not adversely affected, resulting in less side effects. This is one reason that treatment by biologics can be superior to regimens developed with traditional combinatorial chemistries.

Because of their complexity, the manufacture of biotherapeutic proteins is prone to errors, very often falling prey to aggregation and misfolding. Misfolding occurs when the normal, three-dimensional structure of a protein becomes distorted, which may lead the protein to aggregate, a result that is quite the opposite of the benign outcomes intended in the manufacture of biologics. Many pathological conditions occur naturally by misfolded proteins. The list includes Alzheimer’s disease, which affects about 10 percent of the adult population over 65 years old in North America, as well as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. However, PBIO’s PreEMT patented technology could reduce the incidence of misfolding in manufacture.

“PreEMT results in the dissolution of protein aggregates, which may have a significant impact on the quality of protein drugs by improving protein activity, homogeneity, and stability, as well as by reducing undesirable immunogenic properties”, Dr. Alexander Lazarev, PBIO’s vice president of R&D, stated in a news release.

Richard T. Schumacher, president and CEO of PBIO, added “Importantly, should the PreEMT technology result in more efficient production of high quality protein-based therapeutics for any biopharmaceutical company developing new protein-based therapeutics, manufacturing-scale licenses have the potential to generate millions of dollars in annual royalty revenue for PBIO.”

The technology is likely to find application across a wide range of proteins in reducing aggregation levels in bulk or final formulations, thereby improving product safety. PreEMT is scalable, and it is expected to significantly reduce manufacturing costs.

The acquisition of the PreEMT technology gives PBIO a footprint in the very large and growing biologics contract research services sector. The company is also busily developing its recently patented Ultra Shear Technology (UST) platform. The scalable, pressure-based UST technology creates stable nanoemulsions of otherwise immiscible fluids. It can be used to extend the shelf life of homogenized dairy products without refrigeration, for example. All the while, PBIO continues its focus on its core product line that generated $2.2 million in 2017 revenue: the development of pressure cycling technology (PCT)-based products for biomarker and target discovery, drug design and development, biotherapeutics characterization and quality control, soil and plant biology, forensics and counter-bioterror applications.

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

• Rising EV output fueling lithium demand from battery makers
• Chinese battery manufacturers hold dominant market position
• Lithium Chile output offers competitive balance to North American battery makers

Lithium Chile Inc. (TSX.V: LITH) (OTC: LTMCF) may be based in the Americas, but its eyes are cast to the East, where, according to Andrew Bowering, a director of the company, “China is ‘building battery manufacturing plants in anticipation of supplying batteries to what drives everything these days… from lawnmowers, to cell phones, to cars… now to buses, to 18-wheel trucks for Tesla.” (http://ibn.fm/48Soi). Chinese companies, already major players in lithium mining, are set to dominate the global electric-vehicle battery industry.

Planned battery plant production in China (approximately 130 GWh) is about three times the rest of the world combined. To stay in the game, battery manufacturers in the West are going to need outfits like Lithium Chile to secure supply. The company has the largest land package of any private lithium miner, with some of the highest sample grades recorded in Chile. Flush with cash and run by a highly experienced management team, Lithium Chile may help North American battery makers stay competitive despite China’s accelerating drive to lead the EV pack.

Reuters recently highlighted observations made by Bowering, founder of Millennial Lithium (TSX.V: ML) and director of Lithium Chile, with a report that “an unheralded maker of electric-vehicle batteries is planning a $1.3 billion factory with enough capacity to surpass the output of Tesla and dwarf the suppliers for battery-powered cars by GM, Nissan and Audi” (http://ibn.fm/V81OZ). The story was referring to Chinese manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (“CATL”), which already sells the most batteries to the biggest electric-vehicle makers in the world’s biggest EV market, China. The facility would make CATL “the world’s largest electric-vehicle battery cell manufacturer, ahead of Tesla, Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co. in China and South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd.”

Since 2015, China has been the world’s biggest market for electric cars. Sales of new-energy vehicles, including battery-powered, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell units, were 777,000 in 2017, and market sales are expected to reach one million units in 2018. Although there have been no official prescriptions, Chinese battery manufacturers are expected to purchase their lithium from Chinese-owned sources, according to Reuters. There’s no doubt that North American and European battery producers will have some catching up to do.

Like China, they will turn to the Lithium Triangle, an area in South America that includes parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. The Lithium Triangle has 70 percent of the world’s lithium, with Chile alone being home to 52 percent of the global supply. Bolivia does not allow any foreign ownership, and Argentina’s lithium grades and reserves are significantly lower than Chile’s, which results in less opportunity, says Bowering. All told, Chile is the place to be, and that’s where Lithium Chile has its extensive portfolio of properties.

The company’s land package extends over approximately 152,000 hectares (586 square miles), the largest held by any private pure-play lithium operator. Moreover, the claims were purchased at approximately $3 per hectare, a steal of a deal compared to current prices of $1,500-$2,000 per hectare. In addition, soil samples have been consistently reported above the 1,000 mg per liter of lithium mark. This compares very favorably with production grade in the U.S., which is typically just 190-200 mg per liter of lithium.

Lithium Chile’s properties encompass 14 salars, or mineral salt flats, and one laguna complex. The portfolio includes 66 square kilometers on Chile’s largest mineral salt flat, the Salar de Atacama, which is currently the source of about 35 percent of the world’s lithium production and hosts the world’s highest concentration of lithium brines. The projects at Atacama, Coipasa, Helados, Ollague Turi and Talar have taken center stage because of their promise. For example, at the 2,200 hectare Ollague, the water table is just 40-50 cm deep, with at least one sample returning around 1,400 mg per liter of lithium.

Naturally, such high concentrations at such shallow depths reduce production costs. “Lithium brine production in Chile is the cheapest in the world and it’s less than half of our nearest competitors. Brine production here (is) in the order of $1,500-$1,800 per ton, while hard rock mining costs $5,000 per ton,” Terry Walker, VP Exploration and Chief Geologist, stated in a news release. The company has also identified an area of 58 square kilometers, at Coipasa, as a high-priority target (http://ibn.fm/pyJVu).

Operating in Chile, where infrastructure is already in place, and with a very experienced management team at the reins, Lithium Chile seems to be holding a good hand. “We flew beneath the radar screen to amass the land position we have,” added Steve Cochrane, President and CEO, “but now we’re about to let everybody know that we’re to be taken seriously”.

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://ibn.fm/LTMCF

• U.S. meetings and events industry generates more than $330 billion annually in direct spending and more than $845 billion in business sales
• Unified Payments’ solution significantly streamlines and simplifies event processing
• Solution enhances existing acceptance services with intelligent integration for point-of-sale systems, self-order kiosks, chargeback protection and multi-channel payment acceptance

In the United States, the meetings and events industry is continually expanding across all segments and is a driving force that supports almost six million jobs and pumps hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation’s economy. Recent data from the Events Industry Council indicates that this industry currently generates more than $330 billion in direct spending and over $845 billion in business sales annually.

Leading global technology and value-added solutions group Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is establishing a foothold in this robust market with the launch of a brand new intelligent payment solution created specifically for the events industry.

Unified Payments, a subsidiary of Net Element, now offers a complete solution for event processing that enables merchants to maximize their sales, shorten their ticket lines and enhance the overall customer experience. The company’s unique solutions go into action the instant that ticket sales commence for an event, and the robust package offered by Unified Payments transforms event processing and makes it significantly simpler overall.

Unified Payments’ solution boosts existing acceptance services with intelligent integration for point-of-sale systems, self-order kiosks, chargeback protection and multi-channel payment acceptance. Program options like Fast Pass Funding, same-day funding, Zero Pay and the Complimentary Equipment Placement Program are offered to all events industry merchants throughout North America.

The Zero Pay program enables merchants to collect 100 percent of the sales revenue for their event through a cash payment discount for customers who pay by check, credit or debit card. This program includes free equipment rental, mobile point-of-sale, an optional e-commerce platform, same-day funding, an onsite technician and an analytics platform.

The Standard Plan offered to event merchants allows them to accept payments regardless of where a customer is located or how they are paying. With this plan, merchants can unify all payments and optimize the payment acceptance process. The Standard Plan includes free equipment rental, mobile point-of-sale, self-order kiosks, an optional e-commerce platform, an onsite technician, same-day funding and an analytics platform.

The feature-rich payment acceptance solutions now made available for event managers and merchants through Net Element and Unified Payments have the potential to revolutionize the way event transactions are processed. Additional information can be found at http://ibn.fm/6j5zR.

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

• Company receives final geological review of the Juina claims, a key element of the application process
• Environmental control plan and associated fees submitted to the local authorities in view of obtaining a preliminary environmental license
• Maxtech Ventures has four claims totaling 40,000 hectares in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Canadian-based Maxtech Ventures Inc. (CSE: MVT) (OTC: MTEHF) (FRANKFURT: M1N), a diversified industries corporation with a focus on manganese mineral assets, has moved one step closer to commencing initial mining operations at its flagship properties in Juina, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The company recently announced that it has received a final geological review for its Brasnorte Project in Juina, a key element of the trial mining license application process, also known as the Guia process, of the Brazilian mining authority. The review, conducted by SGS Geosol Laboratorios LTDA., Belo Horizonte, Brazil, showed values of 51.4 percent to 55.9 percent manganese metal at these claims.

The Guia application has already been filed, and associated fees have been lodged with the country’s mining department, Departamento Nacional de Produção Mineral (DNPM), Maxtech Ventures announced in a company update (http://ibn.fm/dL8aF). Additionally, the company completed and submitted an environmental control plan (Plano de Controle Ambiental – PCA) in view of obtaining a preliminary environmental license for the four claims. The PCA has been submitted to the Mato Grosso State Environmental Agency (SEMA) for review. The company’s Brazil team has also filed an operations license in Cuiaba with the State Environmental Agency so as to speed up the Guia process. Once all of the documentation is reviewed, state authorities will notify Maxtech of government agent visits to vet the trial mining application for final approval.

“We are very close to obtaining final approval to commence initial mining operations in Mato Grosso, where we currently have four claims totaling 40,000 hectares,” Maxtech Ventures CEO Peter Wilson said in a news release. “These claims contain numerous manganese occurrences, discovered through reconnaissance prospecting, and we are progressing well within the timeframe we have set to ramp up a full mining plan.” In conjunction with its strategic partner in the area, Grupo Maringá – one of the largest manganese ferroalloy producers in South America, Maxtech has begun a due diligence phase at additional claims with high-grade potential.

To fast-track the application process for trial mining licenses at its Brasnorte Project claims, Maxtech is working together with the University of Brasilia and the Instituto de Geosciencias to use state-of-the-art technology for data acquisition, geological mapping and identification of field anomalies at the project. The collaboration allows for the creation of masters and doctorate jobs for students as part of Maxtech’s commitment to supporting the efforts of Brazilian universities, as well as geological institutes. The company plans to expand its Brazilian operations into other states, including Rondonia and Goias, and it has already signed a letter of interest with a Goias-based manganese mining operation.

Separate operations have been kicked off in Central Province, Zambia, where the company has engaged geological and exploration consultants GeoQuest to oversee ground operations. Via dedicated subsidiary Maxtech Mining Zambia Limited, the company has filed for two large scale exploration licenses for manganese in the African country. The division will mostly focus on the uses of manganese for the battery manufacturing industry, with plans to supply large markets such as India and China.

Maxtech is focused on three key markets with high demand for manganese: agriculture – where it is used in fertilizer for higher yields and greener crops; industrial – where it is a critical component in steel production; and technology – where high-grade manganese is a key element of rechargeable power cells and in the manufacturing of lithium manganese dioxide (LMD) batteries, which have a higher capacity, higher energy density and overall longer lifecycles. LMD batteries are already used to power several types of electric vehicles.

With the electric vehicle market expected to continue its rapid growth to reach more than 50 million EVs by 2021, and with China being the world’s largest consumer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, Maxtech Ventures will be uniquely positioned to become a leading provider of manganese and a driving force in the green energy revolution surrounding the growing use of rechargeable LMD batteries. The company’s long-term strategy is to grow into an international industrial minerals producer that will provide manganese in both ore and processed form to global markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Maxtech-Ventures.com

• Gerald Bailey says events in Middle East and Venezuela may push oil prices higher
• Two years ago, Bailey accurately predicted the start of an upward oil price trend
• Petroteq’s unique technology can extract oil from sand at a cost of $25 per barrel

The director and president of Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTCQX: PQEFF) has said that oil prices could reach $80 per barrel this year and rise further up to $100 in the near future. Dr. R. Gerald Bailey was appearing in an interview with Fox Business on May 23, two years after he made another prediction of oil price trends, which proved to be accurate (http://ibn.fm/YUqri).

Bailey told Stuart Varney on Varney & Co. that prices could reach $80 a barrel this year and go higher still. “Let’s not frighten people and think it’s going to be $100, but don’t be surprised. It reached that two and a half, three years ago, so it’s not out of the picture,” he said.

With over 50 years in the industry, Bailey bases his analysis on the political climate in key oil-producing regions. “My case is the volatility is so crazy in the oil business. It’s typically now in the oil casino, you might say. And there’s so many geo-political things going on, happening in the world… Iran, Venezuela, and then the Middle East is always bubbling as usual.” Trouble in the Middle East or a disruption in the oil supply from Venezuela might send prices soaring even higher, Bailey said.

As a guest on the same television program two years ago, Bailey made what turned out to be an accurate forecast of oil prices. Speaking about that prediction, he said, “You know, I was on your show two years ago and I called the bottom that day at $29. And you asked me, ‘How do you know this?’ I said, ‘I’ve been in this business a long time.’ I walked out of your studio that day and prices have been going up ever since.”

With oil prices at their highest level in four years and still rising, Bailey said that Petroteq will be another source of energy for the country. The company’s environmentally-friendly oil extraction technology can reclaim oil from sand at a cost of about $25 per barrel, he said, which means that Petroteq’s process will remain profitable, even when oil prices go down. “It’ll make money and it’s good for the country,” he said.

The Petroteq president also spoke of the company’s heavy oil extraction plant in Asphalt Ridge, Utah, where it holds a mineral lease that covers more than 3,000 acres with oil sands reserves estimated at 87 million barrels of oil equivalent. Petroteq has recently expanded the production capacity of its plant from 250 to 1,000 barrels per day and has the capability to further increase the capacity in the future. Utah contains about 55 percent of the total oil sand deposits in the U.S., which hold an oil resource of over 30 billion barrels.

Unlike other extraction technologies, Bailey said, Petroteq’s methods will not leave behind the tailing ponds that blight other oil sand extraction sites. “It’s not this stuff like in Canada that gives you a lot of water sludge and terrible tailing ponds. Ours is a waterless, environmentally-friendly process.” He added, “We will take the sand, treat it with our secret sauce, clean it up, put it back on the ground and, as I say, you could grow tomatoes in it when you’re finished.”

Petroteq’s proprietary solution is cost effective, produces no greenhouse gases, leaves no waste and provides significantly better economies of scale through modular expansion. The company’s oil sands extraction technology has been so far awarded two patents in the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Petroteq.energy