• Investment analysts recommend a share price of $0.30, more than double last week’s rate
• Sugarmade poised to supply equipment to burgeoning numbers of cannabis cultivators
• Company has expanded into the European market

Independent research firm SeeThruEquity has commenced coverage of Sugarmade, Inc. (OTC: SGMD), a hydroponics supply company. In its initial report, SeeThruEquity (http://ibn.fm/qsInW) noted, “Sugarmade appears well-positioned to target the large and growing opportunity to supply hydroponics equipment and supplies to the cannabis cultivation market in the United States through its master marketing agreement with BizRight.”

In the report, SeeThruEquity recommends a target share price of $0.30 for Sugarmade, which is more than double last week’s price of $0.13. The report continues, “Sugarmade is differentiated from many companies in the cannabis space in that it is generating revenues, which are expected to surpass $30mn in FY2019. If achieved, the target of $0.30 represents potential upside of 130.8 percent from the recent price of $0.13 on September 3, 2018.”

The report highlights several of Sugarmade’s growing revenue streams. The company has expanded its hydroponics supply business into the European market and has entered a marketing and distribution arrangement with BizRight Hydroponics Inc. aimed at creating the world’s largest publicly traded cannabis supply company. In addition, Sugarmade last month announced that it is moving into the hemp industry through a $1 million investment in Hempistry, a company producing ultra-high cannabidiol hemp.

Through its BudLife brand, Sugarmade has developed a storage and packaging system for marijuana that preserves potency, prevents contamination, protects against pathogens and increases the shelf life of products. The system works without refrigeration, since cold temperatures can degrade the active ingredients in marijuana.

Sugarmade CEO Jimmy Chan said that the SeeThruEquity coverage is very important to the company’s management team. He explained that, over the past couple of years, the company underwent a vast restructuring process during which it has managed to enter one of the fastest growing economic sectors, reduce debt, expand personnel, move quarters and position itself for substantial growth.

“Based on our growth rates, we now believe our $30 million revenue guidance for next year is very conservative. We welcome SeeThruEquity’s research coverage and look forward to supplying its analyst a steady stream of news on high quality developments regarding our progress,” Chan said in a news release.

He added that Sugarmade shares SeeThruEquity’s view of its chosen marketplace and sees continued growth in the states that have already opened up to cannabis legalization, with additional growth opportunities as the remaining states and Europe relax regulations.

Sugarmade’s subsidiaries include ZenHydro.com, an online shop that sells hydroponic equipment for domestic and commercial marijuana cultivation. The retailer’s products include grow lights, bulbs, nutrients and pest control supplies.

In addition to its ancillary services to the marijuana industry, Sugarmade supplies food and drinks containers for fast service restaurants through its CarryOutSupplies subsidiary. CarryOutSupplies produces a wide range of generic and branded products, including cups for hot and cold beverages, ice cream and yogurt, spoons and soup products. The company has a share of between 30 and 40 percent of this market.

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

• Company fills the cash-free gap left by banks and financial institutions reluctant to work with the medical marijuana industry
• Provides complete compliance to federal anti-money laundering laws and laws regulating financial crimes
• 60 million transactions processed monthly and over 100 applications already received from state-sanctioned medical marijuana establishments

Financial technology company Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) announced, in a recent press release (http://ibn.fm/pQTeD), that it is accepting applications for depository accounts for any state-sanctioned medical marijuana establishment. While most banks and financial institutions are still reluctant to work with those in the medical marijuana industry, this company is excited to fill the gap. With end-to-end management, REFG is solving the fragmentation problem by identifying tools that are important to dispensaries and customizing those tools to the industry. These depository accounts represent one more step toward meeting the challenges faced in a once cash-only industry.

The difficulty lies in maintaining compliance with laws regulating federal money laundering and financial crimes. REFG provides a complete banking solution that documents every stage of transactions. In a news release, Jeremy Roberts, CEO of REFG, stated, “We’re making all of the federally required disclosures, the accounts are insured and deposited in a licensed institution, we’re doing exactly what the federal and state governments have directed. We believe compliance is best.” The company has found a way to do what most traditional banks and financial industries have been unable to do for the industry.

The company offers ‘Green’, the first and only comprehensive card processing operations of its kind that tracks sales and tax collection, eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions and empowers businesses with an advanced client management system. Patients are able to purchase cannabis with funds accessed directly from their bank accounts, while dispensaries can handle payroll and payments to vendors without cash on hand.

REFG keeps client in compliance with FinCEN and retains the necessary records when called upon to prove it. While most banks are sitting by waiting for the federal government to catch up with laws for the growing industry, 60 million transactions are being processed monthly through the Green platform.

Any state-sanctioned marijuana establishment wishing to apply for the company’s services can now do so at www.Take.Green. To date, REFG has already received over 100 applications, and the Green platform is anticipated to find widespread application.

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

• Clients can search for preferred cannabis brands and find where to buy them
• NUGL’s platform’s new brand search filter is unique to industry
• Legal cannabis industry currently worth $9 billion, expected to reach $47.3 billion by 2027

The marijuana industry is maturing at a rapid pace, and an increasingly wide range of consumers are using cannabis in a growing variety of ways. As more and more products and services become available, technology company NUGL Inc. (OTC: NUGL) has created a platform to allow consumers to more easily locate suppliers. The company announced recently that it has made it even easier for customers to tailor their searches for the exact products they require (http://ibn.fm/eYlbR).

In addition to recreational users, some customers are discovering the health benefits of various cannabis-based brands, including medical products, functional beverages and food supplements. Many more dispensing and delivery options are available.

NUGL has added a brand search filter to its marijuana industry directory service, which will allow customers to find out who sells their preferred brands. Added to the existing geographical location functionality, this will let customers see exactly where they have to go to get their products.

NUGL believes that this functionality puts its platform ahead of other operators who are attempting to provide cannabis industry directory services.

“We have an edge over the competition. Everyone is fighting over the dispensaries and charging large sums of money for a simple listing,” Ryan Bartlette, CMO of NUGL, stated in a news release. “We have a much broader client base by expanding profiles far beyond dispensaries to include brands and services. The industry is growing and relatively untapped, so we will market to all of it.”

NUGL CTO Jeff Odle added that this was one of the core competencies of why NUGL was built and that the brand search is a truly unique feature and the only one of its type in this fast-growing market. The legal cannabis industry made an estimated $9 billion in sales last year. This is expected to explode to $47.3 billion by 2027 (http://ibn.fm/jFa3E).

NUGL’s directory services app, available for mobile and online platforms, allows consumers to locate and connect with providers of goods and services. Additionally, the platform lets businesses proactively create profiles and raise their visibility toward potential clients. Since the platform is dedicated to the marijuana industry, clients are able to market to their target consumers. The platform also allows business to business connections, making it easier for companies to find relevant ancillary services.

In addition to making it easier for customers to find relevant products and services, NUGL allows consumers to leave unbiased reviews, meaning that the information available is more accurate and useful.

NUGL has a global reach, allowing consumers and businesses from all over the world to benefit from its services. The company’s stated aim is to build the world’s most user-friendly cannabis industry app, and, to that end, it actively encourages users to send comments and suggestions of what functionality they would like to have included.

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

• LXRP receives three new Australian patents and two new notices of allowance from the U.S.  patent office; the company expects to receive corresponding patents by year-end 2018
• If issued in both Australia and the U.S., LXRP would then hold 12 issued patents within its first patent family, and it continues to pursue pending application claims in this patent family globally
• The company, which has filed more than 50 patent applications globally, out-licenses its technology that promotes healthier and faster ingestion methods and lower overall dosing

Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (CSE: LXX) (OTCQX: LXRP), which owns the patented DehydraTECH (trademarked) ingestion technology platform, is building its strategic intellectual property (IP) portfolio with three more patents in Australia and two Notices of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). LXRP expects to receive corresponding patents in the U.S. prior to year-end 2018 and also expects two more new patents in Australia to be received prior to year-end (http://ibn.fm/vhvlY).

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. All new Australian patents are projected to expire on June 10, 2035, it said.

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. Based in British Columbia, Canada, LXRP is a biotechnology company that has developed technology that has shown faster and more effective delivery of cannabinoids and nicotine. Its IP portfolio already includes a patent for oral delivery of all cannabinoids.

LXRP has now filed a total of more than 50 patent applications across nine current patent families. It is preparing applications for at least seven 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, it said. It anticipates numerous patents to be granted within each of these families.

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

• U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that about 50 percent of total U.S. crude oil production in 2017 was produced directly from tight oil or oil embedded in low-permeable shale, sandstone and carbonate rock formations
• Petroteq’s patented clean technology extracts heavy oil from oil sands, oil shale deposits and shallow oil deposits in environmentally safe and sustainable method
• Advanced technologies and efficiencies for extraction of oil and gas from liquid-rich shale credited with moving U.S. back to top of global energy sector
• Petroteq preparing to produce 1,000 barrels of oil per day, with 8,000 bpd target
• Continuity testing complete as Petroteq plans to begin extraction during Q3 2018

A shale boom has helped send U.S. crude oil production surging above 10 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time since the 1970s, according to a monthly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a Reuters article states (http://ibn.fm/6JU36). The EIA estimates that, in 2017, about 4.67 million barrels per day of crude oil – or 50 percent of total U.S. crude oil production – were produced directly from tight oil resources in the United States. Tight oil is oil embedded in low-permeable shale, sandstone and carbonate rock formations

Petroteq Energy Inc. (TSX.V: PQE) (OTC: PQEFF) (FSE: PQCF), a fully integrated oil and gas company focused on the development and implementation of a new, proprietary technology for oil extraction, is in a prime location for contributing to the booming U.S. shale oil market as it makes final arrangements for continuous operations at its Asphalt Ridge facility in northeastern Utah. Petroteq’s closed-loop extraction process uses no water, produces zero greenhouse gas, zero waste and requires no high temperatures. Its aim is to extract commercial amounts of crude oil from Utah’s desert tar sand rock through a crushing and recyclable solvent distilling operation.

Petroteq recently completed continuity testing at Asphalt Ridge as it builds up to full capacity extraction of 1,000 barrels of oil per day utilizing its disruptive, environmentally friendly technology, a company news release states (http://ibn.fm/7OKRI). The Utah site is a 2,541-acre mineral lease with an expected yield of about 87.5 million barrels over the project’s lifespan. As operations get up to full speed, the company is optimistic that it can increase its output to 8,000 barrels per day by late 2020 or early 2021 (http://ibn.fm/O9UFd).

“We continue to focus on becoming the first environmentally friendly oil sands mining facility,” company President Jerry Bailey stated in a news release. “I am extremely impressed with the work completed by our site operations team. As I review all 14 operating processes that comprise the ten stages of our facility, I have to mention the dedication and experience of our field team.”

Petroteq also recently announced that it has engaged MetzOhanian, a software engineering firm in Austin, Texas, that will help develop applications for the company’s PetroBLOQ platform. MetzOhanian specializes in blockchain engineering, supply chain management software development and digital security consulting. MetzOhanian will be working with PetroBLOQ to develop blockchain applications aimed at increasing supply chain transparency and efficiency in the oil and gas sector, according to a company news release (http://ibn.fm/Xz04o).

“While we believe we are in the early days of blockchain application in the energy industry, the potential for PetroBLOQ’s blockchain principles to create a technology consortia’s for remediation, and reclamation projects is equally as compelling,” David Sealock, CEO of Petroteq, stated in the release. “We anticipate that as interest grows in leveraging Petroteq’s proprietary technology for surface oil sands mining, the remediation and cleaning of contaminated sites and oil waste reclamation will come to the forefront. We expect that the integration of technologies provides the possibility of creating long term investments in the profit potential of something as game changing as blockchain.”

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

• SinglePoint’s investment allows social betting platform StakeHaul to develop payment solution
• Payment option and marketing strategy put in place to catch start of fall sports season
• StakeHaul’s membership and betting volume experiencing strong growth

Technology investment company SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) has injected more funds into an innovative peer to peer betting app, in time for the start of the fall sports season, according to a company press release (http://ibn.fm/wsKc8).

StakeHaul is a mobile platform that allows users to carry out social betting. SinglePoint president Wil Ralston said that the investment has allowed StakeHaul to develop a payment solution and fund a marketing strategy in time to capture traffic from sports fans who wish to make wagers with their friends and family. Speaking to MoneyTV (http://ibn.fm/nBHtz), Ralston said, “You could bet on anything you want to between you and your peers.”

“We’re really excited, especially because we’ve been able to implement a payments option, which really gives StakeHaul a path towards monetization: being able to take a percentage of every transaction, which we here at SinglePoint have deep experience in because of all the credit card experience and processing knowledge we have in that arena,” Ralston added.

The SinglePoint president explained that his company invested additional funding into StakeHaul to help it get to a level where it is “actually able to take credit card processing, be able to dabble in a little bit of cryptocurrency so that users can actually bet between themselves and then pay up on those bets.”

StakeHaul, available for both Android and Apple devices, has been downloaded over 70,000 times since its launch and has experienced strong, double-digit growth in user numbers and betting volumes. The app is developing the capacity to allow betting transactions using cryptocurrency, which would make it the first platform of its kind with such functionality.

With the sports betting industry worth an estimated $150 billion and a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year paving the way for legalized betting (http://ibn.fm/jQ0Cb), StakeHaul is in a position to capitalize significantly on the industry. It’s estimated that at least one third of Americans place a bet on at least one sports event per year, and 97 percent of these people place their bets outside of casinos, according to the American Gaming Association (http://ibn.fm/erzTJ).

In a news release, StakeHaul founder Jeffrey Lippert said, “All in all, our unique features, our ease of use, and the legal momentum behind betting in the U.S. makes our opportunity not just a home run, but a grand slam.”

Investing in StakeHaul is part of SinglePoint’s strategy of acquiring companies that need capital investment and technology integration to boost its own growth. The company’s portfolio currently includes mobile payments, ancillary cannabis services and blockchain solutions.

“Everything that we do, we try to wrap in ‘how can this fit into SinglePoint’s model?’ Whether it’s an acquisition, what kind of technology can we supply to make it more efficient? Can we bring in more payment systems to make it more efficient? So, really, everything SinglePoint does, it comes back to our backbone of payments and technology development,” Ralston said.

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

• Revenue up by C$1.2 million in Q2 and by overall C$4 million in the first six months of the year
• Company secures 12-month extraction deals with two leading brands
• Sunniva takes strides toward increasing vertical integration

Sunniva Inc. (CSE: SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF), a company that cultivates, processes and distributes cannabis, has announced its second quarter financial results, detailing milestones and achievements both for the second quarter and the first half of 2018 (http://ibn.fm/fYMqF). Recapping the company’s developments over the past six months, CEO Dr. Anthony Holler said that Sunniva has moved closer toward its goal of full vertical integration, which is a key company strategy.

“We made great progress in Q2 2018 towards our goal of becoming a vertically integrated cannabis company in the U.S. In California, construction progressed at our phase one 325,000 square foot state-of-the-art Sunniva California Campus with completion targeted by the end of this year and first harvest expected in Q1 2019,” Holler stated in a news release. “Our extraction facility began generating revenue this quarter. We continue to secure new contracts and are excited about the future revenue opportunities in this and other vertical channels that maximize the synergies with our Full-Scale Distributors device business.”

In June of this year, Sunniva entered 12-month extraction services agreements with two leading California brands for its Sun-Oil Facility. Under the agreements, wholly owned subsidiary CP Logistics LLC will provide distilled oil products for Farmacy Phactory, a producer of high-terpene strains of cannabis. CP Logistics will also produce high quality distilled oil products for Cali Gold, a legacy California cannabis brand specializing in high-end chocolates. The distilled products are to be used in vaporization cartridges.

Holler explained that the company’s main focus in California and the U.S. is to leverage its cultivation and extraction facilities to aggressively pursue upstream distribution and retail opportunities with the purpose of achieving full vertical integration from seed to sale. This will include the launch of Sunniva-branded product lines in various categories, such as flower, extracted products, vaporizers and beverages.

Speaking of the company’s operations north of the border, Holler added, “In Canada, we received our Confirmation of Readiness letter for a license from Health Canada and broke ground and commenced construction on the 759,000 square foot Sunniva Canada Campus in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia. Our Natural Health Services’ clinics reported another strong quarter of revenue generation and together with the future production from the Sunniva Canada Campus, provide a solid foundation for future Canadian growth opportunities.”

In addition, Natural Health Services (NHS), another wholly owned Sunniva subsidiary, opened its seventh clinic in Windsor, Ontario. NHS is Canada’s largest referral network of cannabis-related clinics and trained health professionals. NHS revenues contributed C$5.8 million to the company’s revenue in the six months ended June 30, 2018.

During this period, the company’s total revenue amounted to C$9.6 million, against a net loss of C$11.2 million, compared to a C$11.7 million loss in the same period last year.

The company’s expansion over the past months contributed to increased administration and general expenses, which went up by C$5.9 million in the six months ended June 30. Advisory expenses and costs related to the company’s publicly-listed status also added to the raised administration costs.

Other highlights mentioned in the company’s Q2 2018 press release include an additional 12-month extraction services agreement CP Logistics sealed with Pure Applied Sciences, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC: NUGS), for the extraction facility in California, and construction progress at the Sunniva California Campus. The cGMP-compliant greenhouse facility in Cathedral City is set to commence phase one operations – extraction of 50,000 kg per year – in Q4 2018, with the first harvest expected in Q1 2019. The facility is designed to eventually reach an estimated annual output of 60,000 kg of dry cannabis at capacity.

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

• Demand for cobalt in vehicle battery materials expected to grow more than 40 percent in 2018
• Prices for cobalt metal hit their highest levels in 10 years in the first half of 2018, reaching over $90,000 per ton on the London Metal Exchange
• First Cobalt acquired 100 percent ownership of promising Idaho Iron Creek property, brought in additional drilling rigs
• Results expected soon from preliminary metallurgical work and maiden resource estimate from broad zones of cobalt-copper mineralization at Iron Creek Project

A tightening market and projected shortages of cobalt – a key battery metal used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, electronics and defense systems – is generating concern around the world, industry analysts report. Cobalt prices have tripled over the past two years, posing a threat to how quickly the electric vehicle market can grow in the near future, as noted in an article published by Bloomberg (http://ibn.fm/X90oc). Additionally, concerns over the methods being used by the politically unstable Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 60 percent of the world’s cobalt is produced, remain a factor for many of the world’s largest consumers of cobalt.

Vertically integrated pure-play cobalt company First Cobalt Corp. (TSX.V: FCC) (OTCQX: FTSSF) (ASX: FCC) has consciously and strategically placed its efforts into its North American assets such as the Iron Creek Project in Idaho and the Greater Cobalt Project in the Canadian Cobalt Camp, which holds more than 50 past producing mines. The company also owns the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials. First Cobalt recently announced that it has acquired 100 percent ownership of the Iron Creek property, where a maiden mineral resource estimate is anticipated any day.

First Cobalt president and CEO Trent Mell notes that a $9 million investment into Iron Creek has allowed the company to accelerate its drilling program there. In fact, First Cobalt is fully funded to complete its work programs in the U.S. and in Canada beyond the end of this year and into 2019, a company news release states (http://ibn.fm/tSPfb). Iron Creek’s promising potential includes results from recent drilling that indicate two broad zones of cobalt-copper mineralization that extend well beyond the limits of the historic resource.

With demand across most major end-use applications set to increase and the battery sector alone expected to enjoy double-digit growth over the coming decade, the market is gearing itself up for a sustained period of unprecedented consumption growth, according to metals and minerals research firm Roskill (http://ibn.fm/fJJwN). Some companies, such as Apple, BMW and Volkswagen, are reportedly negotiating to secure cobalt supplies directly from producers in an effort to safeguard their own supplies for future use, as detailed by CNBC (http://ibn.fm/mixih).

First Cobalt is actively working to create a North American solution to many of the problems facing cobalt consumers now and in the future. The company’s strategy of exploring, developing and refining material in North America for sale back into the American battery market is well underway. As such, First Cobalt is strategically positioned to be at the forefront of the cobalt-driven battery movement in the coming years.

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

• Initial core-sampling assays at Marifil’s San Roque property show gold and silver among four drill holes, with lead and zinc assays pending
• The company believes that the site has more than 100 million metric tons of mineralized earth with significant levels of gold, silver, indium, lead and zinc
• Company is continuing to build assets in world-famous ‘Lithium Triangle’ in hopes of supplying key strategic metal

Canada-based Marifil Mines Ltd. (TSX.V: MFM) (OTCQB: MFMLF) has released the initial results of its latest core-sampling campaign at an Argentine exploration site believed to contain significant quantities of gold and silver.

“The drilling at our flagship asset at San Roque has been highly anticipated by the Company and its stakeholders for many years. Positive results at San Roque have the ability to significantly increase the fundamental value of the Company and bring the Property one step closer to being considered an economic minerals deposit,” Marifil President and CEO Robert Abenante stated in a June news release (http://ibn.fm/Meln9).

The preliminary assay results for its diamond core drilling program used four HQ-size core holes totaling 846 meters (2,776 feet) to explore the company’s project area in the Province of Rio Negro, near the Atlantic coast. They bring the company’s exploration total to 112 holes through 16,683 meters (54,734 feet) at the San Roque site, and every one of the drill holes has intercepted some degree of mineralization, indicating an extensive system of mineralization over several square kilometers. Mineralization is open in all directions and at depth, or, in other words, its endpoint hasn’t yet been found, although some of the drill holes have been well below the company’s established cut-off grade.

According to Marifil’s September 11 report on the four latest drill holes numbered MF-DDH 56 through MF-DDH 59, holes 56, 58 and 59 were drilled as step-outs from previous holes drilled in 2011, and returned results that add significantly to the prospectiveness of the two zones in play. Hole MF-DDH 57 was an exploratory step-out along a linear geophysical anomaly that the drilling found to be caused by pyrite-rich rock of no economic value, however the first 50 meters (164 feet) intersected “noteworthy zinc mineralization” that justifies a follow-up exploratory drill hole, according to the company (http://ibn.fm/34Xtr).

The report describes MF-DDH 58 as showing lead and zinc mineralization in all 148 meters (486 feet) of the drill cores but notes that complete lead and zinc assays are still pending. Its assays for gold show an average of half gram per metric ton throughout two intercepts which total 83 meters (272 feet). The report says this mineralization is still open in several directions.

Holes MF-DDH 56 and MF-DDH 59 are in a separate area about 1.5 km south of MF-DDH 58, where drilling intercepted 35 meters of 2.27 grams per metric ton of gold and 42.6 grams per metric ton of silver in 2011, and the new assay runs show correlative gold mineralization, according to the company.

Alex Stewart Argentina S.A. in Mendoza, Argentina, is providing the certified assay results for the 582 drill core samples.

Marifil has arranged a new round of non-brokered private placement funding of up to 10 million units for gross proceeds of up to $1 million, subject to government approval. Each unit will consist of one common share and one warrant for a future share purchase.

The San Roque property does not yet have a reportable Canadian NI 43-101-compliant resource. However, based on findings of the extensive drilling cited above, the company believes that more than 100 million metric tons of mineralized earth underlies the property. This mineralized material contains a low level percentage of zinc and lead sulfides carrying potentially economic values in gold, silver and indium.

The company is focused on exploring for gold, lithium and cobalt — metals with significant commercial potential. Earlier this year, Marifil inked a definitive agreement with Argentine company Minera Esperanza S.A. to advance a five-year exploration plan at two lithium-bearing properties in the country’s Catamarca province, far to the north of San Roque, which would allow Marifil to purchase the properties if it finds them viable and thus expand its portfolio within the prolific “Lithium Triangle” centered in the border region between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia (http://ibn.fm/L2cGZ).

Lithium has obtained a status as a key strategic metal because of its role in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and other in-demand computerized technology.

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

• Hybrid-aeroponic agriculture approach pioneered by NASA ensures quality with controlled environment
• Cultivation IP that delivers higher yields, reduced costs and superior product
• In fast-developing cannabis market, effective branding is the key to success and profits

“A farmer has to be an optimist, or he wouldn’t be a farmer,” Will Rogers once quipped – a wry comment that might have been a reference to the vagaries of the weather. Erratic meteorological conditions are the farmer’s bane, unless, like Green Hygienics Holdings Inc. (OTC: GRYN), he’s employing space technology. Green Hygienics is a company that is targeting the high-end medical and adult-use recreational market with cannabis grown by an enhanced hybrid aeroponic method. It plans to generate revenues from the sales of the premium grade cannabis thus produced, as well as from the development and licensing of valuable IP from acquisitions and the creation of trusted global consumer brands.

Aeroponics is space-age agriculture. It’s a way to grow plants, without using soil, by suspending their root structures in air and regularly spraying them with a nutrient and water solution. The plants are hung in a manner that allows them to grow freely. The roots are enclosed and regularly sprayed with a mix of nutrients. Because the roots are in a closed loop system, the nutrient-water mix is used more efficiently by the plants, and less water is needed for them to grow and thrive.

The system has proven its effectiveness. NASA was able to grow Asian bean seedlings using an aeroponic system in the zero gravity environment of the Mir space station (http://ibn.fm/PVROb). The agency has been sponsoring such technologies since at least the 1990s, a major benefit of which is the capability to control the environment and exclude pathogens and other harmful agents.

Using its hybrid-aeroponic system, Green Hygienics creates a sterile growing environment that produces consistent, high-quality product while maintaining the lowest possible carbon footprint. The state-of-the-art, quality-controlled commercial cultivation methodology assures production of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis at much higher yields and greatly reduced costs. The technology produces quality cannabis faster than traditional methods since it requires no natural sunlight, eliminating the limitations imposed by day/night cycles. In addition, since the plants receive water and nutrients directly to their roots through a fine mist in a controlled environment, spoilage is reduced, and no unhealthy pesticides need be used because the environment is pest-free, keeping the product organic.

Precise control is maintained over every aspect of the cultivation process, which allows Green Hygienics to conserve natural resources. The plants are given the exact amount of nutrients and moisture required, as scientifically determined. As a result, the technology not only requires no pesticides or fungicides but also uses 90-95 percent less water. Moreover, the company’s state-of-the-art engineered, controlled environments include electrical, mechanical and HVAC designs that meet mandatory fire and energy codes while significantly improving energy efficiency. Development of the technology has resulted in IP assets that include proprietary systems and apparatus, software, algorithms, custom-engineered hardware and a variety of premium brands.

In a cannabis market that’s likely to be flooded with a plethora of products, branding is going to play an important role in separating the sheep from the goats. Presently, Green Hygienics is launching several leading brands. Among them are ‘The Bridge Coffee House’ and ‘The Bridge Lounge’; ‘Vital’, a line of health and wellness products; and, of course, its ‘Green Hygienics Urban Agriculture’. With a mission of developing and establishing winning brands that promote healthy living at a time when pharmaceuticals and the food supply adversely affect our collective health, Green Hygienics aims to establish itself as a leader in the advancement of science-driven cannabis cultivation systems while providing its medical and recreational consumers with the best possible product and experience.

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