• Canada-based Marifil Mines is preparing to commission an NI 43-101 report by the end of the year on its Argentina exploration
• San Roque site has a total of 112 drill holes, all of which have intercepted some degree of mineralization
• Finalized assay reports indicate that San Roque site “continues to be a first class gold exploration project”

Canadian metals explorer Marifil Mines Ltd. (TSX.V: MFM) (OTCQB: MFMLF) has received the final assay results for diamond drill core-sampling test holes explored this summer at its flagship Argentina site in the Province of Rio Negro, known as the San Roque property, which is held in a partnership by Marifil Mines (51 percent) and NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE: NG) (TSX: NG), a subsidiary of NovaGold Argentina Inc. (49 percent).

Marifil’s recent announcement (http://ibn.fm/ivtyY) reinforces its statement last month (http://ibn.fm/tcVNK) about the initial results of its search for an expanded zone of base metals in an advanced-stage exploration property, where significant finds for gold and silver have been made by the partnership, adding that the partnership intends to commission an NI 43-101 report on the site before the end of the year.

“San Roque continues to be a first class gold exploration project,” Marifil CEO Robert Abenante stated in the company’s news release about the final assay reports.

Drilling in 2011 returned findings of 35 meters of 2.27 grams-per-metric-ton of gold and 42.6 grams-per-metric-ton of silver. This year’s return to drilling exploration was conducted as step-outs from that and other previous drill holes, and also as an initial test of a kilometer long linear geophysical anomaly far afield from any previous drill holes. The gold mineralization found in holes 56, 58 and 59 is correlative with that of the older holes about 50 meters (164 feet) away. The assay for hole 58, in particular, shows six intercepts with a combined weighted average of 83 meters (272.3 feet) at 0.49 grams-per-metric-ton of gold and 5.0 grams-per-metric-ton of silver, with 0.22 percent concentrations of lead and 0.46 percent concentrations of zinc, based on a cut-off grade of 1.5 meters at 0.30 grams-per-metric-ton of gold.

Holes 56 and 59 are in a different zone nearly a kilometer away from hole 58, and were successful in expanding the range of the aforementioned 2011 mineralization. Hole 56 has eight mineralized intervals with a combined weighted average of 53.6 meters (175.9 feet) of 0.68 grams-per-metric-ton of gold and 5.0 grams-per-metric-ton of silver, with just traces of lead and zinc mineralization, which is a characteristic of this gold zone. The company noted that this combined weighted average includes a highlight of 9.6 meters (31.5 feet) of 1.58 grams-per-metric-ton, and that all calculations are based on a strict inclusion cut-off of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) at 0.30 grams-per-metric-ton. On the same basis, hole 59 delivered five intercepts aggregating 29.3 meters (96.1 feet) with a weighted average of 1.92 grams-per-metric-ton of gold, most of it near the surface, and 5.0 grams-per-metric-ton of silver, and, again, traces of base metals.

As announced in September, the geophysical anomaly probed by hole 57 was found to be caused by pyrite-rich rock of no economic value, although drilling did return two intervals with a weighted average of 4.5 meters (14.8 feet) at 0.3 grams-per-metric-ton of gold and 3.0 grams-per-metric-ton of silver with a trace of lead and 0.14 percent concentration of zinc. However, Marifil Vice President Richard Walters noted that the absence of normally present lead bears further exploration.

“The first 45 meters of this hole assays 0.3% zinc with abnormally absent lead. The drill core contains oxidized rock near the surface, and it is plausible this zinc mineralization has been selectively leached from a nearby source stratigraphically higher in the volcanic section leaving the insoluble lead behind, and geochemically transported and redeposited in the area of our drilling as zinc oxides,” Walters stated in the release. “We are keen to identify the source, and think a step back hole about a hundred meters to the west could be rewarding.”

A total of 112 holes have been drilled on the property, all of which have intercepted some degree of mineralization, indicating an extensive and largely unexplored system of hydrothermal mineralization over several square kilometers, according to company data. Mineralization begins near the surface and continues to the bottom of the deepest holes (200 meters, or 656 feet), with all zones open to continued expansion.

Marifil also announced recently that it has engaged UnityWest Capital Markets Ltd. to provide certain consulting services, such as marketing and branding. Marifil paid UnityWest a signing bonus of C$25,000 and has agreed to pay monthly consulting fees of C$6,000 per month during the 12-month term of the agreement. Marifil also granted UnityWest 300,000 stock options under the terms of the agreement at an exercise price equal to the closing price of the common shares on the date prior to the date of grant (http://ibn.fm/0Li5A).

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

• Sharing insights into how crypto and blockchain are redefining the everyday
• Joel Comm and Travis Wright from The Bad Crypto Podcast will host the conference, with more than 75 speakers expected
• Taking place at the smartest hotel on The Strip from October 31 through November 2

Over 5,000 attendees and 150+ exhibitors will come together October 31 through November 2 at the Aria Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for World Crypto Con (WCC) 2018. Industry leaders will share insights into how cryptocurrency and blockchain are redefining the everyday.

For two days, over 75 speakers will present projects, technology and discussion surrounding the world of crypto. Topics will include blockchain’s role in entertainment, ecommerce, education, travel, charity, lifestyle, health & wellness, world government and much more.

Joel Comm and Travis Wright from The Bad Crypto Podcast will be hosting WCC and introducing some of the top names in the industry to the stage.  Here are just a few of the speakers who attendees will have the opportunity to hear:

• Stewart Rogers, Analyst-at-Large at Venture Beat;
• Lyn Ulbricht, Founder and CEO of Ross Ulbricht Defense;
• Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize;
• Tim Draper, Headmaster of Draper University;
• Paul Puey, Co-founder and CEO of Edge;
• Tammy Camp, Co-founder and CEO of Stronghold;
• Brock Pierce, Chairman of Bitcoin Foundation;
• Steve Dryall, Founding Director of Nikola Tesla United;
• Sterlin Lujan, Communications Ambassador at Buy the Boots;
• Ari Smith, CTO at Fincross International;
• And many more!

Aria Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is the perfect place to discuss and learn about the advances in crypto and blockchain. Known as the smartest hotel on The Strip, the Aria boasts technologically advanced rooms and suites, five-star service, 16 world-class restaurants and much more! This is the perfect place to network with the industry’s thought leaders, sit at a poker table with big names like Charlie Lee and Joel Comm, enjoy Vegas’ nightlife and discover how this technology is changing the world at this exact moment in time! Don’t miss your opportunity.

For more information, visit the event’s website at www.WorldCryptoCon.com

• GRBX expects to ship enough new integrated hardware and software units to bring $750,000 in monthly net income by year-end
• GreenBox has a goal of processing $1 billion of transactional volume in FY2019
• The company recently acquired Sky Mids Technologies, boosting its volume capacity
• GRBX is well positioned in multiple rapidly growing sectors, including payments processing, fintech and secure point of sale terminals

Fresh off deployment of its latest blockchain-based hardware and software to payments solutions clients, GreenBox POS, LLC (OTC: GRBX) is focused on ramping up transaction volume. GreenBox plans to ship enough of its newest TrustGateway units pre-installed with the company’s software by year-end to generate transaction volume that’s projected to contribute $750,000 per month to net income.

“We continue to work on increasing bandwidth and speed of transactional volumes,” Ben Errez, executive vice president of GreenBox, stated in a news release. “The demand for our services far exceeds our initial projections. We owe it to our clients to accommodate their growing needs safely, securely and efficiently.”

The company has even bigger ambitions for next year, when its expects to process more than $1 billion of transactional volume (http://ibn.fm/mdgQN).

Integral to the GreenBox effort to reach that milestone is the company’s recent acquisition of Sky Mids Technologies. The deal allowed GRBX to absorb Sky’s engineers, technology and book of transactional business. “Following the Sky acquisition, we will be able to accelerate the pace by which the thousands of new business applications are processed, and the best selected to join our ecosystem and enjoy the benefits of our technology,” Errez noted in a news release (http://ibn.fm/MTolz).

GreenBox’s TrustGateway technology is highly effective in preventing fraud for all transactions processed on the company’s payment platform. Because it owns the blockchain payment system in its entirety, GRBX has a competitive advantage in fraud prevention. To date, there have been no successful penetrations of the GreenBox platform’s defensive walls. Nor have any of the company’s customers lost money or been otherwise harmed through secure transactions across the platform.

GRBX’s technology and growth have it well positioned in multiple rapidly growing industries, including the global payments sector, projected to reach $2.2 trillion by 2020; the financial technology sector, forecast to grow at nearly 55 percent CAGR through 2020; and the global point of sale terminals market, estimated to have a value of $116 billion by 2025 (http://ibn.fm/4fmtv).

GreenBox POS uses the company’s proprietary technology to build customized payment solutions for a multitude of industries. GreenBox POS has developed the fastest and safest way to send and process money using blockchain technology and has been awarded five provisional patents. The company develops the following main products: POS (point of sale software and hardware solutions); DEL (delivery app, APIs to POS and PAY); PAY (payment app, providing financial APIs to all other components); and KIOSK (deposit, cash and E-wallet management). GRBX is based in San Diego with offices in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Vancouver, BC.

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

• Marifil Mines recently closed a private placement financing
• Marifil has hired UnityWest Capital Markets to provide marketing services
• Canada One Communication has been engaged to provide Marifil’s investor relations

Mining exploration company Marifil Mines Ltd. (TSX.V: MFM) (OTCQB: MFMLF) has announced closings of multiple private placement financings, as well as the engagement of firms to provide marketing and investor relations services to the company. The Vancouver-based company is focused on exploration for cobalt, lithium and gold, as well as other metals, on its mining property holdings in Argentina.

Marifil recently closed a non-brokered private placement with proceeds of C$565,000, with funding to be used for repayment of existing liabilities, exploration and development activities and general working capital (http://ibn.fm/T1xqR). This followed an earlier announcement this year of a private placement with gross proceeds of $2 million. Those financing proceeds have been used to fund acquisitions and for mining exploration and development activities, including another round of drilling on the company’s San Roque gold claim in the province of Rio Negro, near the Atlantic coast of Argentina.

The San Roque property is held by Minas San Roque S.A., which is jointly owned by Marifil Mines (51 percent) and NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE: NG) (TSX: NG), a subsidiary of NovaGold Argentina Inc. (49 percent). Marifil is currently the project operator. The partnership has so far invested about $8 million in assessing the expansive precious and base metals property. Preliminary results for its diamond core drilling program at the San Roque property indicate significant mineralization in the four holes that were tested (http://ibn.fm/B7QfT).

The company in August engaged business consulting firm UnityWest Capital Markets Ltd. to provide marketing services for Marifil (http://ibn.fm/YPkcF). In addition, Marifil has engaged Canada One Communication Inc. to manage the company’s investor relations activities. Canada One is a leading investor relations and communications provider, serving public companies across all industries (http://ibn.fm/1alSq).

“The company is always striving to improve its communications with shareholders and stakeholders,” Rob Abenante, president and CEO of Marifil, stated in a news release. “Canada One gives us access to a top tier team of communications experts to manage communications with our growing shareholder base. Communication with our shareholders is a top priority at Marifil.”

In addition to the San Roque property, the company currently holds mining claims to 15,250 hectares (37,700 acres) of land in the Argentine Puna, within the famed ‘Lithium Triangle’, where it has revived its lithium exploration program, which was halted in 2009. The company also owns the Las Aguilas property in central Argentina, which is currently the country’s largest known nickel/cobalt property. Marifil Mines Ltd., based in Vancouver, Canada, is a junior exploration company dedicated to acquiring, exploring and evaluating mineral properties in Argentina.

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

• Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions serves the legal cannabis industry with an end-to-end payment processing solution
• The company serves medical and recreational-related businesses and dispensaries
• Its payment solution card is unique for purchasing cannabis-related products from state-sanctioned merchants

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTC: REFG) is a first-tier merchant processing cannabis industry innovator. The company serves the legal cannabis industry with a premier end-to-end payment processing solution that is FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) compliant. Its proprietary payment system goes by the name ‘Green’. Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The company offers one of the first and only comprehensive card processing operations of its type. This is to serve the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry. Its state-of-the-art solution provides businesses with an advanced client management system, security, convenience and sector-specific tools. Furthermore, it tracks sales and tax collection and eliminates the need to deal in cash-only transactions.

Cannabis Dispensary recently noted (http://ibn.fm/2KMBH), “The cannabis retail sector is going beyond cash with new, fully transparent technologies.” It further said that cash-only transactions affect how businesses operate and also affect customers’ and patients’ convenience in making purchases. As such, cannabis consumers are demanding the same effortless transaction options that they enjoy when buying other products.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions serves medical and recreational-related businesses and dispensaries. The company’s payment solution card permits patients and customers to link a checking account from any U.S. bank to their ‘Green’ accounts (http://ibn.fm/PfJx1). This card is distinctive for buying cannabis-related products from state-sanctioned merchants. In essence, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is the link between a bank and a dispensary.

‘Green’ provides for cash transactions for businesses as well. A business can accept cash with an understanding that it has a safe and user-friendly way to manage cash with deposits, withdrawals, spending and transfers, all out of one easy system. Therefore, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions makes it possible to serve the varied needs of medical and recreational cannabis consumers.

The company allows the online signup of vendor clients on its website. It additionally provides online bank accounts. Therefore, this helps cannabis providers deal with the problem of limited or no bank support because of federal regulations still in place. Moreover, almost all point-of-sale systems can be setup with the company’s gateway.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions is also working together with First Bitcoin Capital Corporation. The aim of the collaboration is to enable cryptocurrency payments. First Bitcoin’s cryptocurrency will integrate within the gateway. The result will be cash-alternative options such as bitcoin and Weedcoin, which are approved cryptocurrencies. The emphasis here is convenience and choice for consumers and state-licensed dispensaries.

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions provides end-to-end management, across manifold systems, for medicinal marijuana operations. Its processing solution provides first-rate security and has the capacity to abide by all regulatory frameworks. The company is on track for greater growth as it serves the needs of cannabis businesses and their customers.

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

• PCaTest has already proven a superior predictive ability in comparison with other genetic prognostic tests
• Cytodyn in the process of acquiring PCaTest developer ProstaGene and will launch a clinical study once the transaction is complete
• Prostate cancer is the second-most common type of cancer among American men, with almost 165,000 new cases expected this year

Biotechnology company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) has unveiled a comprehensive strategy for the development of a genetic prostate cancer prognostic test (http://ibn.fm/GSEfb). Developed by ProstaGene, an entity that CytoDyn is in the process of acquiring, PCaTest has already demonstrated superior predictive ability in comparison to other genetic prostate cancer tests. The PCaTest employs 14 genetic biomarkers to provide an accurate prognosis of prostate cancer, with the help of a complex proprietary artificial intelligence algorithm.

Following the completion of the ProstaGene acquisition, which is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018, CytoDyn will initiate a clinical study aimed at establishing the superior qualities of the PCaTest compared with current genetic tests. CytoDyn expects research results within four months from the start of the clinical trial.

CytoDyn interim Chief Medical Officer Richard Pestell, developer of the PCaTest, said in a news release that, so far, this test has shown three to four times superior hazards ratio (a predictor of outcome) in comparison to other prognostic tests for prostate cancer. The statement is based on results from three studies (featuring a total of 348 patient samples).

Recent evidence raises concerns about the ability of current prognostic tests to distinguish whether prostate cancer will be aggressive or slowly growing, Pestell said. Such vital information about the makeup of the malignancy can be used by physicians to make adequate decisions about the treatment of a patient.

Tests available now rely on the detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Elevated PSA in the blood provides a warning, but it is not 100 percent indicative of cancer. Patients who have high PSA levels detected multiple times need to undergo a prostate biopsy to confirm the existence of cancer. During the biopsy, 12 extracted tissue samples are used for standard testing. In the case of the PCaTest, a single sample will be sufficient.

CytoDyn President and CEO Nader Pourhassan said that his company plans to complete development of the PCaTest soon and with minimal cost to CytoDyn, so as to file for Food and Drug Administration approval in 2019.

Prostate cancer is a common ailment in older men, and, as the Western population ages, the incidence of this malignancy is expected to increase. According to a forecast presented in the European Urology journal, the incidence of prostate cancer will double by 2030 (http://ibn.fm/Khd2L).

Early screening is effective for certain types of cancer, including prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (http://ibn.fm/THygV). Frequent PSA screening every four years can significantly lower the risk of death from prostate cancer. This type of cancer typically grows very slowly, which helps with early detection and allows urologists to administer an adequate treatment.

Currently, apart from skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in American men (http://ibn.fm/pkFk1). In 2018, some 164,690 new cases of prostate cancer are expected to be diagnosed. The number of deaths from this malignancy is forecast to reach 29,430 during the year. At the same time, the five-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer is 100 percent.

CytoDyn is a biotech company that develops a novel humanized CCR5 monoclonal antibody, PRO 140, for multiple therapeutic indications. The CCR5 receptor plays a vital role in the ability of HIV to enter and infect T-cells. It is also implicated in the metastasis of tumors, as well as immune-mediated illnesses. CytoDyn’s lead product candidate, PRO 140, is in advanced clinical development for the treatment of HIV in combination with other anti-retroviral therapeutics and also as a potential single-agent treatment for HIV. The company is also conducting a Phase 2 clinical study of PRO 140 as a potential treatment to prevent graft-versus-host disease following bone marrow transplantation. CytoDyn further plans to conduct clinical investigations with PRO 140 in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, following the completion of its acquisition of ProstaGene.

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

• Lead product candidate, PRO 140, is a viral-entry inhibitor that works by blocking the entry of HIV/AIDS to healthy cells by masking CCR5 receptor
• Completion of Biological License Application (BLA) for potential approval in combination HIV therapy expected in Q1 2019
• CytoDyn received approval to increase dosing of PRO 140 in its phase 3 adaptive clinical trial for enrolled HIV/AIDS patients
• Market potential for PRO 140 as an anti-viral agent in combination with HAART is $1.2 billion; as a monotherapy maintenance/single-drug therapy, the market is estimated at $3.8 billion
• Acquisition of privately held ProstaGene expected to complete in November, giving CytoDyn access to CCR5 technologies related to cancer
• PRO 140 set for Investigational New Drug (IND) application in first cancer indication

Biotechnology company CytoDyn Inc. (OTCQB: CYDY) is focused on providing real hope and help to the millions of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and those suffering from several devastating forms of cancer. The company’s lead product candidate, PRO 140 (leronlimab), is in advanced stages of clinical development as a therapy for HIV/AIDS, and plans to expand investigations with PRO 140 into cancer are underway. Nader Pourhassan, Ph.D., president and CEO of CytoDyn, updated shareholders during a recent conference call that was highlighted in a corporate summary from leading independent small cap media portal EmergingGrowth.com (http://ibn.fm/OarFS).

The summary includes highlights from the ongoing clinical development of CytoDyn’s PRO 140 viral-entry inhibitor, which has demonstrated a 93 percent suppression rate in 525mg trials after a six-week induction period of enrolled HIV/AIDS patients. The data suggests that the higher the dosage of PRO 140, the quicker the drug drives a durable response, with a lower probability of a viral rebound, EmergingGrowth.com’s summary states.

HIV targets the immune system and weakens the body’s defense systems against infections and some types of cancer. During 2017, some 1.8 million people became newly infected with HIV, bringing the global total to 36.9 million people living with HIV, according to the World Health Organization (http://ibn.fm/udfzb). HIV continues to be a major public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far from every corner of the world. The market potential for PRO 140 used as an anti-viral agent in combination with a patient’s current HIV regimen (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or “HAART”) is $1.2 billion; as a monotherapy maintenance/single-drug therapy, the market is estimated at $3.8 billion.

CytoDyn also recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held ProstaGene. The deal, expected to be finalized in November, transfers or assigns to CytoDyn certain intellectual property rights held by ProstaGene and its founder and CEO Richard G. Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.P., F.R.A.C.P., who has joined CytoDyn as its interim chief medical officer (http://ibn.fm/JMWyC). ProstaGene is developing metastasis-control technology that targets the chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5), a protein on the surface of white blood cells. Metastasis is the spread of cancer beyond the original tumor, a phenomenon that contributes to the disease’s deadliness. Preclinical studies have suggested that the use of CCR5 antagonists, such as PRO 140, as adjuvants may bolster anti-tumor immune responses.

“We are honored to soon have world-renowned cancer researcher Dr. Richard Pestell join CytoDyn as our Chief Medical Officer, with responsibility for leading all PRO 140 programs in non-HIV indications,” Pourhassan said in a news release. “We also have taken this important next step to acquire ProstaGene, which will allow Dr. Pestell to accelerate his CCR5 antagonist research related to cancer. As previously stated, our objective is to evaluate PRO 140 in expanded indications including certain cancers and immunological indications concurrent with advancing our promising HIV programs.”

CytoDyn has been conducting recent efforts to generate capital through the sale of shares and the exploration of non-dilutive licensing pathways and acquisition of related licensing rights for ProstaGene’s innovative prostate cancer prognostic test. The company expects this genetic test to add significantly to the company’s portfolio and, if successfully commercialized, to compete favorably with existing marketed prognostic cancer tests “that the competitor sells for $3,000.”

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

• Drilling shows additional lithium-bearing brines carrying highly conductive zones, suggesting that lithium grades increase with depth
• Brines tested lithium grades starting at 150 mg/l, increasing to 270 mg/l when drill holes reached 250-meter contracted depth
• Results of recent drilling reinforce company’s decision to test deeper limits of aquifer
• Lithium Chile holds one of the largest lithium land holdings in Chile, a country with about 50 percent of the world’s reserves
• Global demand for lithium, which is vital to rechargeable batteries, is expected to increase by 650 percent by 2027

Mineral explorer Lithium Chile Inc. (TSX.V: LITH) (OTCQB: LTMCF) continues to announce encouraging news from its drilling program at the company’s wholly owned Ollague Project in Chile. The drilling program confirms the reliability of TEM geophysical profiles in identifying lithium-bearing brine carrying highly conductive zones and suggests that lithium grades increase with depth, according to a recent news release (http://ibn.fm/0YAJ5).

“We are extremely pleased that our drilling program continues to show good lithium grades. The fact these grades improve with the depth of the holes justify the company’s decision to target the much deeper zones on hole five,” Steve Cochrane, president and CEO of Lithium Chile, stated in the release. “It is also important to note that with the drilling of holes one and two we have identified a 4 km² zone on our southern block and with holes three and four a 10 km² zone on our larger northern block with significant lithium grades.”

Assay results from the first of four holes drilled at Ollague showed lithium concentrations on par with the average grades in Argentina, which shares the Lithium Triangle’s borders with Chile and Bolivia (http://ibn.fm/XjLi9). Samples from the fifth hole were collected from 170 meters to 350 meters and have been sent for independent analysis, the company reports.

“Drilling a fifth hole at Ollague not only reflects the encouraging data we have collected on our first four holes but also reflects our belief that Ollague has the potential to be an exciting new lithium discovery,” Cochrane added (http://ibn.fm/gZK7D).

The outlook for lithium continues to shine bright, with demand for the vital metal used to produce batteries powering electric vehicles and high-tech devices such as smartphones and laptops expected to increase 650 percent by 2027, according to Mining.com (http://ibn.fm/WTA3A). The increasing use of lithium-ion batteries in automotive applications for hybrid and fully-electric vehicles – the biggest influencer on the lithium industry in 2017 – is expected to double by 2020, according to Roskill’s 15th edition market outlook (http://ibn.fm/B4e7B).

In anticipation of the company’s next drill program getting underway soon, Lithium Chile is mobilizing a drill rig from the Ollague Project site to the Salar de Coipasa property. Coipasa is the company’s second largest property in the Andean lithium belt and is considered one of its most prospective projects.

To date, Lithium Chile owns 100 percent of 159,700 hectares of highly prospective lithium properties spread over 16 individual salars, costing the company just over $3 per hectare. That is a significant discount to recent land sales in Chile, where prospective lithium properties have sold for over $800 per hectare, as Cochrane noted in a shareholder update (http://ibn.fm/b6IPp).

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

• Americans spending a growing amount of capital on cannabis concentrates, with forecasts for $2.9 billion in sales this year
• Cannabis Strategic Ventures recently announced the introduction of high-quality concentrate line PureOrganix in California dispensaries
• PureOrganix presence expected to gain national, international footing amid advancing tide of cannabis legalization

Cannabis industry incubator Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC: NUGS) is working its way toward a national stock exchange uplisting and growing its presence within the industry through a series of timely business building ventures, including the introduction of PureOrganix, a brand marketed by subsidiary Pure Applied Sciences as a California dispensary shelf item that expects to blossom in a ready national and international market for legalized plant products.

PureOrganix is a high-quality concentrate line composed of organic and pure cannabis oils that conform to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices protocols. Under a non-exclusive cannabis concentrate extraction services agreement with a U.S. subsidiary of Sunniva Inc. (CSE: SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF), Pure Applied Sciences gets white-labeled ultra-purified cannabis extracts that the company then develops through marketing and licensing efforts for distribution to retail stores.

“Having our brand available to consumers is a huge milestone for PureOrganix,” Cannabis Strategic Ventures CEO Simon Yu stated in a news release about the product line (http://ibn.fm/HnTh0). “We have spent months refining our formulation, branding and designing our product to appeal to our target demographic… Concentrates are already revolutionizing the way cannabis is being consumed. The PureOrganix brand has already captured a strong following.”

The company cites a September 2018 market report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics (http://ibn.fm/s2Efs) that Americans will spend 49 percent more on concentrates this year than they did last year, boosting concentrates’ portion of the overall cannabis market to 27 percent of sales. The report further predicts that spending on concentrates will grow from $2.9 billion this year to $8 billion by 2022, less than five years from now, following a rise of the overall market to more than $24 billion by 2021 (http://ibn.fm/RXjvl).

“Understanding this growing market segment is quickly becoming an essential part of the strategic landscape for cultivators, extractors, distributors, brands, retailers, and investors operating in the cannabis space,” the report states.

More than half of U.S. states have provided some form of legal framework for using cannabis medicinally, and the FDA’s approval of a cannabis-based drug as an anti-seizure prescription medication led the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify the chemical extract cannabidiol (CBD) as a nationally legal drug in FDA-approved medications last month (http://ibn.fm/M2VQQ). Canada legalized all medicinal and recreational uses of cannabis nationwide this month under locally governed frameworks (http://ibn.fm/BW1i6).

The growing legalization landscape for cannabis portends fertile ground for cannabis-related businesses. Cannabis Strategic Ventures operates out of Los Angeles as a publicly traded entity committed to acquiring, incubating, developing and partnering with companies in the startup and growth stages worldwide. Its commitment of capital and expertise to the cannabis sector and ancillary industries is in turn a vehicle for building a continually expanding portfolio of brands and hard assets to which investors in vertically integrated enterprises can turn.

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

• Breast cancer is the leading cancer diagnosed in women and the second-most common cancer overall
• BriaCell Therapeutics has begun patient dosing in clinical trials that combine its trademarked Bria-IMT technology with celebrated cancer-fighting antibodies
• The clinical trials are working on a therapy that will help the body’s own immune system fight cancerous cells

The battle against breast cancer is taking a technological turn amid an increasing drive to develop therapies that use the body’s own immune system to destroy life-threatening cancer cells. BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (OTCQB: BCTXF) (TSX.V: BCT) is on the front line of the battle and is currently testing its immuno-oncology biotechnology in phase I and IIa trials involving advanced-stage breast cancer patients.

Last month, the company announced positive outcomes from the latest proof of concept data for the study (http://ibn.fm/36wya), in which BriaCell’s trademarked Bria-IMT immunotherapy technology was checked for safety and efficacy factors in select breast cancer patients. The company reported that patients experienced some tumor shrinkage at various sites after the introduction of Bria-IMT, building on previous Bria-IMT proof of concept testing that showed substantial tumor shrinkage in a patient whose breast cancer had metastasized. In the study, blood was tested to see if cancerous cells and associated cells expressed an “immune checkpoint” molecule dubbed “programmed death-ligand 1,” or PD-L1, that might normally suppress the immune system response to cancerous “invaders.”

Earlier this month, BriaCell announced that it is proceeding with the next stage of testing — patient dosing using Bria-IMT in combination with celebrated cancer-fighting antibodies expected to increase the power of the technology’s punch (http://ibn.fm/5QKZU).

The immune checkpoint inhibiting antibodies, known as pembrolizumab and ipilimumab and marketed as Keytruda by Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and as Yervoy by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY), respectively, gained worldwide attention after the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Drs. Tasuku Honjo and James P. Allison. Honjo and Allison made what the Nobel committee referred to as “game-changing discoveries about how to harness and manipulate the immune system to fight cancer” by studying proteins that block the immune system from attacking dangerous cells (http://ibn.fm/S30pC).

The proteins are known as CTLA-4, which Yervoy targets, and PD-1, which Keytruda targets in an attempt to “release the brakes” on the immune system’s fight against such protected cancer cells. The scientists’ work in the 1990s led rapidly to the development of new cancer therapies designed to help the body’s immune system fight off cancerous cells, and Yervoy was the first to gain approval in 2011.

Keytruda launched in 2014 and became a bigger hit. Initially, Keytruda received FDA approval for treating a type of skin cancer, but ongoing clinical trials led to its accelerated implementation in treating other forms of cancer, such as non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, classical Hodgkin lymphoma and bladder cancer, with priority review currently under way for treating advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (http://ibn.fm/bHuRa).

In this developing landscape for battling cancer, BriaCell believes Bria-IMT’s use in stimulating the immune system’s T-cell activity, working in combination with the protein-attacking virtues of Keytruda and Yervoy, may provide the trial’s advanced-stage breast cancer patients with a greater benefit than they might otherwise have known. The PD-L1 expression of blood-borne cancer cells and cancer-associated cells suggests that Keytruda may be the best combination, and this will be evaluated initially.

Thus far in 2018, more than two million new cases of breast cancer have been diagnosed, making it the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International (http://ibn.fm/HUClW).

“We believe that combination of Bria-IMT with immune checkpoint inhibitors should create even more potent anti-cancer immune responses,” BriaCell President and CEO Dr. Bill Williams stated in this month’s news release. “BriaCell is committed to exploring additional ways to address the unmet needs of the advanced breast cancer community. We are very excited to test this novel combination treatment approach which we believe will offer significant clinical benefit to patients with advanced breast cancer.”

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