• Focused on medical market with organic marijuana
• Large scale production to reap benefits from economies of scale
• Partnerships with utilities to lower power costs

As one of just two producers of organic cannabis and with a million square feet of low cost production planned, the Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. (“TGOD”) is set to capitalize on Canada’s looming supply shortfall. The company is growing its competitive advantage in a way that appears to run contrary to established dictum by focusing not just on differentiation but also on cost leadership. Typical generic strategies are either one or the other. This unique approach is winning friends and influencing people. TGOD has, to date, closed $112 million in private placements, which includes $55 million from marijuana industry powerhouse Aurora Cannabis Inc. (OTCQX: ACBFF) (TSX: ACB). As Canada draws closer to legalization of the consumer market, TGOD is looking good. The company’s highly anticipated IPO is planned for March 2018.

Writing in the 1980s, renowned Harvard professor Michael Porter excited attention with his theory of how companies should pursue the elusive grail of competitive advantage. A company’s basic strategy should be based, he argued, either on producing at a lower cost than its competitors can or on differentiating itself by offering unique features. A company should also decide on market scope by selling to selected market segments or to the broad market.

As a guide, Porter’s analysis helps to develop strategic focus. However, real world conditions often blur the dichotomy between the cost and differentiation strategies that he detailed. While TGOD can attempt some differentiation by its concentration on organic methods of cultivation, such methods are obviously not unique to the company, which is why a hybrid approach may be the right one. As a result, TGOD is pursuing a low cost strategy in the limited scope market segment of organic cannabis.

The low cost aspect of its mixed strategy has a good chance of succeeding. The company’s production operations in Ontario and Quebec together command 970,000 square feet of ultra-high technology greenhouse facilities. With such a mammoth scale in play, TGOD should benefit from large economies of scale. Moreover, TGOD has an agreement with Eaton Corp., the $36 billion global power management company, under which Eaton, by providing research and optimization, will allow TGOD to have some of the lowest electricity input costs in the business. The collaboration has facilitated the development of a six-megawatt cogeneration natural gas power plant on TGOD’s Ontario property, which is expected to drive kilowatt-hour cost down from its present $0.13 to $0.045.

At that Hamilton, Ontario, facility, TGOD is planning a two-phased approach, under which annual production will be expanded from 1,000 kilograms per year to 14,000 kilograms by the end of 2018. At $8 a gram, this translates to revenues of $112 million. Total build-out capacity to achieve that output will be 150,000 square feet. The operation currently consists of a 1,000 kilogram-per-year indoor production facility, which acts as a beta facility for the larger expansion.

Construction at facilities located on TGOD’s 75-acre property in Quebec has begun. The facility covers an extensive 820,000 square feet capable of producing 102,000 kilograms of organic cannabis. The first phase of this expansion is underway, and construction is expected to be completed by Q2 2019. This first phase will consist of 220,000 square feet capable of producing 22,000 kilograms of cannabis. Second and third phases, which will add 250,000 square feet producing 26,000 kilograms of cannabis and 350,000 square feet producing 54,000 kilograms of cannabis, are expected to follow.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.TGOD.ca

• Petrogress announced further expansion of global footprint in deal with A&E Petroleum
• Positions company as prime player in world’s sixth-largest oil market
• Further worldwide expansion expected

Establishing itself as an integral player in the worldwide distribution of oil products, diversified marine transport and offshore services company Petrogress, Inc. (OTC: PGAS) has just taken another significant step in its aggressive global expansion.

In a press release dated February 13, 2018 (http://ibn.fm/pleey), Petrogress announced the further expansion of its global footprint by striking deals with Nigeria-based A&E Petroleum Co. Limited. The partnership with A&E Petroleum expands the company’s operations into Nigeria, generating enhanced revenue opportunity and strengthening the company’s international reach. The Memorandum of Understanding and Partnership Agreement with A&E Petroleum, which were inked by Petrogress subsidiary Petrogress Int’l, LLC, will jointly form a corporation to be named P&A Nigeria Oil Co. Ltd. (“PANOC”) to engage in various oil and gas business opportunities in Nigeria, including the operation of storage tank facilities and the supply, sea transportation, distribution and sale of gas, oil and other petroleum products, including crude oil originated in Nigeria.

This is significant, since Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of oil and the sixth-largest oil-producing country in the world.

In a news release, Petrogress Chief Executive Officer Christos P. Traios stated, “Our partnership with A&E Petroleum is an excellent opportunity for Petrogress to expand its operations into and serve the Nigerian market. Our companies’ combined facilities, assets and services are not only expected to provide for enhanced revenue streams, but also ensure our future in this important international market.”

Following the company’s global expansion strategy, this news comes on the heels of another partnership announced in December that expands operations in Cyprus. Based in Greece, Petrogress, Inc. owns and operates an expanding fleet of tankers that transport crude oil, distillates and refined products off the coast of Africa, as well as operating service and shipping facilities in Cyprus. The deal with A&E Petroleum in Nigeria dovetails nicely with the company’s current operations and is expected to positively impact both the top and bottom line.

With over 25 years of senior management experience operating and managing shipping operations and an aggressive expansion agenda, Petrogress is fast becoming a force in delivering oil products and may well provide investors a unique global opportunity.

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

Let us hear your thoughts: Petrogress, Inc. Message Board

• Only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America for producing battery materials
• Electric vehicle market driving demand for cobalt
• Over 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of cobalt-rich properties

Now that the Paris Climate Accord is in effect (since November 4, 2016), its signatories, which now include 195 nations, are ramping up their efforts to slow global warming by reducing carbon emissions. The U.S. has signaled its intention to leave but can only do so on November 4, 2020, or thereafter. One obvious way to cool the planet is by changing gears in the transportation sector, estimated by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to contribute some 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, across the globe, governments are supporting the electric vehicle (EV) industry with incentives and with restrictions on competitive gasoline and diesel vehicles. The blossoming EV industry is driving demand for battery grade lithium and cobalt, placing First Cobalt Corp. (OTCQB: FTSSF) (TSX.V: FCC) in an enviable position. The Canadian company is not just the largest cobalt explorer in the world; it also owns the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials.

Discovered in 1739 by the Swedish chemist Georg Brandt, cobalt gained prominence in 1980 after its employment in ‘the cobalt-oxide cathode, the single most important component of every lithium-ion battery’, according to Quartz (http://ibn.fm/AzVgs). The hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal, extracted as a by-product of nickel and copper mining, is now in demand for Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LiCoO2) batteries, widely used in mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and EVs because of its high energy density.

Satisfying this rising demand has been problematic. ‘About 90 percent of China’s cobalt originates in Congo, where Chinese firms dominate the mining industry’, writes the Washington Post (http://ibn.fm/NgjyC). The largest of these, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, supplies ‘some of the world’s largest battery makers.’ However, for over a decade, reports have been surfacing of widespread human rights abuses in its operations and in cobalt mining generally. Moreover, the U.S. Labor Department has listed Congolese cobalt as a product that it suspects is produced by child labor.

Such issues do not affect First Cobalt. The company’s extensive properties are located in Ontario, Canada. First Cobalt is the largest landowner in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario with control of over 10,000 hectares (nearly 25,000 acres) of prospective land and 50 historic cobalt/silver mines. In addition, its assets include a mill and the only permitted cobalt extraction refinery in North America capable of producing battery grade material. This puts the company in an unrivalled position regarding future production of top grade, ethically sourced cobalt, a position that has been buttressed recently by fortuitous finds on its properties.

The company recently announced positive drill results, which confirm the presence of high-grade cobalt and nickel along the known Bellellen vein system south of the historic mine workings. These happy outcomes coincide with increasing demand for cobalt as EV production accelerates. Bloomberg has estimated that EVs will enjoy a two percent share of the auto market by 2020. This figure is expected to rise to eight percent by 2025, to 20 percent by 2030, and to 35 percent by 2040. Demand is causing a tight global cobalt market, with orders for cobalt expected to surge from 2,000 tonnes in 2017 to over 300,000 tonnes by 2030, a stupendous 14,900 percent increase that will likely see prices reach record levels. The battery industry currently uses 42 percent of global cobalt production. With an integrated approach that encompasses exploration and refining, First Cobalt has become the largest pure play cobalt company in the world.

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

Let us hear your thoughts: First Cobalt Corp. Message Board

• Recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market improves company profile
• New board appointment of Mr. Venugopal Aravamudan, with over 25 years of experience in technology development with major companies
• SinglePoint will leverage this experience to expand its reach into global markets

On February 14, 2018, SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) released an update for shareholders regarding its recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market (http://ibn.fm/quSvZ). With a market cap of just over $65 million, the company is currently busy completing its 2017 audit for the imminent reporting of its financial results. SinglePoint places great importance on becoming fully reporting so as to increase transparency and improve credibility with shareholders. This way, the company will increase its exposure to institutional investors and attract further direct investment through the open market.

SinglePoint’s uplisting to the OTCQB marketplace required the addition of another board member. As such, the company announced its addition of Mr. Venugopal Aravamudan to the board. Aravamudan has more than 25 years of experience in growing and leading technology developments for major companies, including Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), VMware (NYSE: VMW) and F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV). He is currently senior vice president and general manager of F5 Networks, where he is responsible for its next generation cloud services products.

SinglePoint intends to leverage Aravamudan’s expertise in cloud computing technology to accelerate the company’s capability to deliver blockchain-enabled solutions on a large scale. This will enable SinglePoint to build global capabilities for service delivery and ensure substantial growth at the next level. In a news release, the company’s president, Wil Ralston, had this to say on this exciting appointment: “We are very happy Mr. Aravamudan has joined us. This gives us the expertise we need for accelerating the right set of technology based Joint Ventures, Acquisitions and other interesting Big Data plays that unlock the potential for blockchain applications.”

SinglePoint intends to launch its bitcoin payments processor via subsidiary SingleSeed, during the first quarter of 2018. SingleSeed will initially provide a platform for both consumers and retailers in the legal cannabis industry to process payments using cryptocurrency. The app provides a much needed payment solution for most operators in the cannabis sector who cannot access traditional banking processes. Built to accommodate bitcoin payment, SingleSeed will be extended to facilitate other cryptocurrency payments, most notably ethereum.

The SingleSeed app is user-friendly and a win-win solution for merchants and consumers, enabling easy account registration and fast point-of-sale transactions. The downloadable app will enable retailers to post photographs and descriptions of their products, while employing text messaging to market their offerings, develop customer relationships and build trust. Developed specifically to provide a payment solution for the cannabis industry, SingleSeed can be customized as a payment platform for any other industry.

Toward the end of last year, SinglePoint entered into joint venture agreements with Global Payout, Inc. (OTC: GOHE) and AppSwarm (OTC: SWRM). Global Payout provides multi-national companies with customized payment and mobile banking solutions, merchant processing services and payment system consulting services. AppSwarm focuses on technology development for mobile applications and has established agreements with several application stores. These strategic alliances will strengthen SinglePoint’s cryptocurrency payment solutions, providing value-added offerings that will include licensed in-home delivery options.

SinglePoint’s new board appointment and recent uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Markets are set to take the company in a new direction. They could position the organization strongly for the upscaling of its operations and the acceleration of its growth into global markets.

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

Let us hear your thoughts: SinglePoint, Inc. Message Board

• Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the largest banking groups in Europe, with a market cap of 53 billion euro and some 4,700 branches in Italy alone
• ATIXF’s Marketwall real-time stock trading app is integrated into the banking group’s MarketHub trading platform
• ATIXF to reach stock-trading clients of Intesa Sanpaolo in six countries

AnalytixInsight Inc. (TSX.V: ALY) (OTCQB: ATIXF) plans to integrate its 49 percent-owned fintech subsidiary’s real-time stock trading app, Marketwall, into Italy-based banking group Intesa Sanpaolo during 2018. This will give ATIXF exposure to the group’s eight million stock-trading clients (http://ibn.fm/vve4U). The integration is expected to be available in six countries.

AnalytixInsight, developer of artificial intelligence, will have its CapitalCube platform embedded into the financial app, giving users real-time trading information. Also, in agreement with global partner Samsung, the app will be preloaded into Italian smart TVs and other devices. Intesa Sanpaolo is one of Europe’s largest banking groups, with a 53 billion euro market cap and some 4,700 branches in Italy alone (http://ibn.fm/KUeTB).

AnalytixInsight is the developer of an AI machine-learning platform that turns big data into actionable information. Workflow information schedules are robotically analyzed for maximum performance. Its product, CapitalCube, is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that offers financial research and analysis for investors, financial portals and media. The Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based company has licensed the technology to the stock exchanges, financial news agencies and web portals. The technology is scalable and adaptable to other industries, such as government, health care, insurance, e-commerce and others.

AnalytixInsight also co-owns Marketwall, a Milan, Italy-based fintech company. ATIXF owns 49 percent of that company. It has partnered with Samsung to make the Marketwall mobile application available on smart devices. In the first half of 2018, the company is expected to roll out to Intesa Sanpaolo’s eight million stock-trading clients. Intesa Sanpaolo is Italy’s largest bank, with more than 4,000 branches, and is co-owner of Marketwall.

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

Let us hear your thoughts: AnalytixInsight Inc. Message Board

• Retail sales of colored gemstones valued from $18 billion to $21 billion
• RGNP guarantees quality Australian gems that are favorable to modern ethical sensibilities
• Sapphires regained popularity with British royal engagement and are second only to diamonds in terms of natural hardness

In April 2015, Amnesty International reported that nearly 80 percent of public companies in the United States were failing to thoroughly check whether their supply chains included conflict minerals from nations in Central Africa known to extract the Earth’s riches from the ground amid a variety of human rights abuses (http://ibn.fm/94xs1). Consumer awareness and Congressional legislation have fueled a growing focus on the ‘ethical’ production of minerals for everything from jewelry to electronics in the years since, and Reign Sapphire Corp. (OTCQB: RGNP) has established such a standard of care in its global direct-to-consumer brand of custom jewelry.

While sapphire production doesn’t typically generate the violence common to diamond mining in some less industrialized nations, about a quarter of the gem’s supply comes from Madagascar, where diggers often work in dangerous conditions, rely on abusive practices such as child labor and don’t rehabilitate the land after mining (http://ibn.fm/2Gcw7). Reign Sapphire, based in Beverly Hills, California, relies on ‘responsible’ mining in Australia and guarantees that its products come from that country, are naturally authentic and are mined in an environmentally-friendly manner.

Australia’s sapphire industry has a history as colorful as the gem itself. According to the mining industry, the quality and quantity of sapphire from Australia was concealed by ‘many international vested interests’ for decades as part of an attempt to control the supply and price of the gems. As a result, Australian sapphires were deceptively branded as coming from other countries where the mineral supply is largely depleted, according to AustralianSapphire.com (http://ibn.fm/6PmLq). Australian producers have begun to take greater control of the marketing of their products in recent years, however.

The sapphire is an aluminum oxide (corundum) gem that is second only to the diamond for hardness in a natural substance. It’s so durable, synthetic versions of it are used for the windows of supermarket scanners and spacecraft. Rubies are a red or pink corundum sibling; all other colors, including blues, greens and yellows, are sapphires. The gem gained new attention and an exponential increase in sales when Prince William provided his deceased mother’s blue-white sapphire-and-diamond cluster as an engagement ring to Kate Middleton. Reign Sapphire CEO Joseph Segelman told the Huffington Post (http://ibn.fm/czGDT) last year that his company’s focus on ethical production of the stone from the Australian industry means that the company “can guarantee the plot of land practically within a couple feet of where the sapphires were mined from. We can also guarantee that it’s been mined in an ethical way, that the topsoil is environmental and gets replanted [post mining] and made good.”

The Gemological Institute of America (“GIA”) estimated the annual retail sales value of colored gemstones such as sapphires at between $18 billion and $21 billion in a 2016 report on the rise in their popularity (http://ibn.fm/S1wlV). The GIA noted that the greater transparency in the supply chain of sapphires, as compared to diamonds, is of value in today’s market not only because of the human rights concerns, but also because of the sentimentality of consumers who often prefer jewelry with a backstory to stones of unknown origin.

“Jewelry has always been an emotional purchase, and customers care about the ‘story’ behind their pieces,” the GIA wrote. “Millennials, who have grown up knowledgeable about fair-trade products and sustainability, expect that issues pertaining to human rights, environmental impact, and social consciousness are addressed in the supply chain for the products they wish to purchase.”

Reign Sapphire capitalizes on the desire to trace its jewelry’s supply chain as it delivers stones directly from the mine to the jewelry consumer as part of its direct-to-consumer model. Its niche brands also include its customized Le Bloc jewelry and the personally commemorative inscriptions of the Coordinates Collection.

“Miners are not marketers, marketers are not miners,” Segelman said in the Huffington Post interview. “I happen to have done both which is why I came up with this concept.”

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

Let us hear your thoughts: Reign Sapphire Corp. Message Board

• ETST projects a breakout year in 2018 from its new line of High Grade Full Spectrum Cannabinoids, marketed as a cannabinoid complex
• Checkout sells to major retailers, such as Walmart and Target, as well as a network of independent distributors and retail owners
• ETST’s new line is sourced from European industrial hemp, but it is mixed, bottled and packaged in the U.S.

Earth Science Tech, Inc. (OTC: ETST) is projecting a breakout year in 2018, resetting its executive team and implementing a new marketing strategy. Playing key roles in the predictions of higher volume and performance are new Netherlands-sourced industrial hemp-based products and Mr. Checkout, the specialty distributor that focuses on retail placement (http://ibn.fm/aRPfX).

The company recently launched its revamped and repackaged line of industrial hemp products as a cannabinoid complex. It uses a CO2 extraction process with organically grown and unfiltered industrial hemp. It sources the product from Europe, but it is mixed, bottled and packaged in the U.S. The European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) for a product review, and its next meeting is set for May 2018 (http://ibn.fm/Ok2ET).

ETST is an innovative biotech company based in Doral, Florida. Its new line consists of High Grade Full Spectrum Cannabinoids product. It is focused on the cannabinoid, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical fields, and it also conducts R&D for certain medical devices. The new cannabinoid complex line is unique, because it offers the user a specific disclosure of the milligrams (mg) of each cannabinoid. The cannabinoid complex is rich in Terpenes and Saponins, ETST said.

Mr. Checkout, a distributor originally launched in 1989, specializes in distribution to major retailers, such as Walmart, Target and Walgreens, and it also to a network of 1,100 independent distributors and 50,000 independent retail owners within a national network in the U.S. It also offers comprehensive logistics expertise in shipping and boasts a ‘Fast Track’ program designed to get product onto retail shelves quickly (http://ibn.fm/zI8dd).

ETST markets a 100 percent natural and organic high grade hemp cannabidiol and holds three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Earth Science Pharmaceutical has a line of low-cost, non-invasive medical devices for the detection of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); Cannabis Therapeutics is an emerging biotechnology company; and KannaBidioilD is targeted to the recreational market.

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

• Letter of Intent to acquire Agro-Biotech, to become vertically integrated from “seed to derivatives”
• Development and commercialization of therapeutic pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals
• Patented formulation and delivery technologies

Scientific studies have provided empirical credence to the medical efficacy of cannabinoids for multiple maladies. Globally, researchers and biopharmaceutical companies are now laser focused on cannabinoid-based therapeutics that may hold blockbuster medical potential, providing solutions to a range of unmet medical needs. However, current drug delivery techniques remain antiquated. There are inherent metabolic and bioavailability issues affecting the consistent, effective delivery of cannabinoids. It’s becoming clear that these new pharmaceutical therapeutics require revolutionary delivery techniques. Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CSE: PVOT) (OTCQB: PVOTF) is establishing new paradigms in cannabinoid drug development and delivery.

Pivot Pharmaceuticals is transforming the development and commercialization of these new therapeutic pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals with unique drug delivery platform technologies. Pivot’s medical cannabis product division, Pivot Green Stream Health Solutions (PGS), conducts research, development, and commercialization of cannabinoid-based nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, and it has acquired worldwide rights to BiPhasix™ Transdermal Drug Delivery platform technology (topical) and Solmic Solubilisation technology (oral) for the delivery and commercialization of cannabinoid, cannabidiol (CBD), and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-based products. The company recently filed three provisional patents for cannabinoid-based product delivery with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (http://ibn.fm/6Oi4A), and these latest patent filings join an established number of global rights to topical, oral, transdermal, food and beverage technologies that Pivot has already secured.

Pivot’s pipeline of potential CBD-based pharmaceuticals now covers treatment indications for supportive care to relieve nausea, mucositis and pain, including cancer-related and menstrual pain, dermatological conditions and even glaucoma. Pivot is also developing and commercializing an array of pharmaceutical-grade formulations for cannabinoid-based consumer health care products.

With enhanced drug delivery and development well underway, Pivot has turned to its next business objective, vertical integration. The company just announced a Letter of Intent for the proposed acquisition of Agro-Biotech, a Québec-based ACMPR Canadian licensed cannabis producer (http://ibn.fm/ERNrg). Agro-Biotech operates a fully licensed, purpose-built, indoor hydroponic cannabis production facility capable of producing a cumulative 10,000 kilograms per year.

Pivot is already a differentiated player in the Canadian cannabis industry due to its unique approach to enhanced dosing and bioavailability of cannabinoids with proven pharmaceutical and patented formulation and delivery systems. With the acquisition of Agro-Biotech, Pivot Pharmaceuticals expects to become vertically integrated, controlling the entire manufacturing process from “seed to derivatives” and capturing margin along the entire supply chain.

In the news release, Dr. Patrick Frankham, Pivot CEO, stated, “I am delighted to welcome Agro-Biotech to Pivot… With this acquisition, we are well positioned to enter the Québec cannabis market and attract experienced scientists to our organization. Pivot will seek to expand its footprint in the province beginning immediately following financing activities which are underway. After several months of identifying and discussing with potential partners in the cannabis space, the Pivot management team and our scientific advisors agreed that it was in the best interest of our shareholders to acquire the compliment of licenses which will enable us to develop our pipeline of patented formulation and delivery technologies all under one vertically integrated process from seed to derivatives. Pivot will only work with partners who truly control their processes and have the finest infrastructure and qualified personnel. We believe that these characteristics will define best in class products for wellness and health conscious consumers using bio-cannabis….”

This latest announcement follows a pattern of strong corporate development by Pivot Pharmaceuticals and uniquely positons the company to become a major force in the burgeoning cannabis markets not only in Canada but around the world.

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

• The Green Organic Dutchman raised $112 million to fund 970,000 square foot expansion of cannabis cultivation facilities in 2018
• This includes $55 million investment by Aurora Cannabis Inc.
• Strategy positions The Green Organic Dutchman to be one of the world’s largest, most technically advanced cannabis producers

Headquartered in Hamilton, Ontario, The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., known as “TGOD”, has formed strategic alliances with industry leaders with a view to becoming the world’s largest organic cannabis company. To achieve this goal, the company has taken an approach unique in the cannabis industry, by growing cannabis organically at a low cost, expanding its cultivation facilities to scale, hiring world class senior management and forming strategic partnerships with major players, including Eaton Corp. (one of the world’s largest power management companies) to lower electricity costs and Ledcor Group, the second-largest and one of most respected construction companies in Canada.

TGOD cultivates farm-grown, organic and synthetic pesticide-free medical cannabis using all natural, organic craft growing principles. The company is licensed to produce medical cannabis under Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (“ACMPR”). TGOD is currently performing a 970,000 square foot expansion to its cultivation facilities, which will enable the company to produce 116 tons of cannabis annually. This expansion project is scheduled to come online in phases, beginning in 2018, to meet the increased demand expected with the legalization of recreational cannabis throughout Canada.

TGOD recently announced that it had secured $112 million in private placement financing, including a $55 million strategic investment by Aurora Cannabis Inc. (OTCQX: ACBFF) (TSX: ACB), an established company in the marijuana industry. This investment will fully fund TGOD’s planned expansion. Its strategic partnership with Aurora positions TGOD’s cannabis production facilities to be among the largest and most technically advanced in the world.

The project management consortium for this expansion includes Eaton Corp. and Ledcor, who will report to TGOD management on project progress. Both of these companies have extensive international experience in power, project and construction management. Eaton devises energy-efficient solutions for the efficient management of electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. Ledcor will ensure an accelerated production schedule by using advanced multidisciplinary design/build processes and implementing scalable operational and project plans. These companies will deploy their world-class project teams to ensure that the projects are completed on time and on budget.

With this massive expansion to its facilities in Ontario and Quebec, and by leveraging innovative technology and low-cost power solutions, TGOD could be positioned as one of the most cost-efficient, high-quality cannabis producers in Canada. The company has formed an alliance partnership with Hamilton Utility Corp., which has enabled it to reduce its power cost from $0.13 per kWh to less than $0.05 per kWh. TGOD’s position as a low-cost cannabis producer will be strengthened in Quebec, the province with the lowest power rates in Canada, which can be as low as $0.04 per kWh.

TGOD also plans to secure a share of the growing cannabis oils market. It has commissioned a purpose-built extraction laboratory, a commercial-scale CO2 extraction unit which can process up to 12,000 kg of raw material per year for the production of around $170 million worth of organic cannabis oils. Cannabis oil is a critical raw material for the production of several recreational market verticals, including topicals, edibles, concentrates and beverages.

The company has a world-class management team with proven executive and operational experience in the cannabis, consumer products, consumer packaged goods (CPG) and finance industries. Plans for a public listing with the Toronto Stock Exchange are underway, with the launch of an initial public offering (IPO) expected imminently.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.TGOD.ca

• First Cobalt’s exploration program at the Cobalt Camp has yielded impressive results, with high grade cobalt and nickel confirmed at the historic Bellellen mine
• Company controls 50 historic mining operations in the popular Ontario camp
• Canada’s cobalt exploration epicenter may eliminate ‘conflict minerals’ supply need

First Cobalt Corp. (TSX.V: FCC) (OTCQB: FTSSF), the largest land owner in Ontario, Canada’s reborn Cobalt Camp mining district, continues to investigate the possibility of a tech-friendly resource boom driven by exploration far from the controversial mineral fields of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more of the world’s supply of cobalt is currently produced than at all other sources (http://ibn.fm/bY93B). The DRC sites remain highly controversial, drawing as they do on child labor and the manipulation of questionable political ethics.

Cobalt has become a critical element in the operation of the lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars, which are becoming an in-demand alternative to the petroleum-based pollutants fueling the world’s automobile industries, as well as in other electronic devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones. Although the 7,300 metric tons of cobalt produced in Canada during 2016 pale in comparison to the 66,000 metric tons produced in the DRC that year, the potential for a revitalized cobalt production industry at North American sites including First Cobalt’s Ontario properties is generating excitement among a number of prospectors looking for ethical alternatives to African ‘conflict minerals’.

“Our own little property itself that we have right now that we’re focused on could produce enough cobalt to supply the gigafactory that Elon Musk is building today,” First Cobalt president and chief executive officer Trent Mell told CBS News in 2017 in reference to automaker Tesla’s plans to roll out half a million Model 3s each year beginning in 2018 (http://ibn.fm/UtnnZ).

First Cobalt controls 50 historic mining operations across the Cobalt Camp on over 10,000 hectares (24,710.54 acres) of land for prospecting. The company is working to increase its understanding of the bulk-grade characteristics of the materials on its properties and apply that understanding to the potential processing of ores from the Cobalt Camp sites. Its exploration program is returning positive results, with the presence of high-grade cobalt and nickel already confirmed at the historic Bellellen mine, where drilling began in January 2018. The Bellellen findings follow other positive results reported at the Juno mine in Cobalt North, the Woods and Watson veins in the southern part of Camp Cobalt and the Keeley-Frontier mine in Cobalt South over the last few months.

“First assays from Bellellen drilling confirm the grades found in muckpile material sampled in 2017 and support our view that we now have a third area of interest in the Cobalt Camp. The Bellellen structure has adequate strike length to remain a priority target. Our 2018 drill strategy is to test several new target areas to confirm the cobalt grades of known systems throughout the Camp and then focus on those of sufficient size to support large tonnage operations,” Mell said in a company press release (http://ibn.fm/GlFIB).

On January 16, 2018, First Cobalt also launched a C$7 million exploration program for 2018, which consists of 26,500 meters of drilling at 13 different targets, aside from Keeley-Frontier and Bellellen (http://ibn.fm/Kl2ut). The program significantly expands on the company’s exploration activities in 2017, with the goal of testing various mineralized areas and different geological settings across the Cobalt Camp, including the near-surface potential of certain areas that have never been assessed for their global content before, Mell explained.

The reported results seem to back Mell’s optimism for the company property’s potential, especially amid predictions that, in another decade, the DRC will no longer be such an overwhelmingly significant player in the global tech mineral rush as the country’s human rights violations are in the spotlight.

Congressional hearings on the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act in April 2017 included Human Rights Watch representatives detailing the murder, rape, forced child labor and otherwise destructive practices pursued by several armed privateer groups, foreign-backed rebels and, at times, the DRC’s army itself in relation to mining activities the groups used to fund themselves. Gold mining operations have been the primary focus of those groups, but cobalt’s rising star has created a new emphasis on the mineral once regarded as little more than a byproduct of exploration. (http://ibn.fm/R0Y3Z). “Never in the history of modern mining have you seen cobalt as a primary focus for us miners,” Mell told CBS News. “It was an after-thought.”

The CBS News report acknowledges the challenges of producing sufficient cobalt and other minerals to meet the expected rise in demand for increased electric vehicle production, primarily driven by China and Europe. However, sustainable and responsible cobalt investments and mining assets such as First Cobalt’s are likely to cover a significant part of global demand in the near future. First Cobalt’s focus on expanding its exploration program, with the goal of producing more than the 7,800 tons of cobalt required to supply Tesla’s factory and Model 3 roll-out, could help position the company as a leading provider of cobalt worldwide, as well as build shareholder value via new growth and discovery opportunities.

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

Let us hear your thoughts: First Cobalt Corp. Message Board