Transition Metals (TSXV:XTM) is a Canada-based, multi-commodity exploration company laser-focused on discovering the next generation of critical and precious metals in the country’s most prospective and mining-friendly jurisdictions.

With a diversified portfolio spanning platinum group metals, nickel, copper, gold, silver, and uranium, the company offers broad exposure to the metals powering electrification, decarbonization, and long-term resource security.

Operating under a disciplined project generator model, Transition advances early-stage assets through rigorous, geoscience-driven exploration before strategically bringing in partners to help fund drilling and development. This approach preserves capital, limits shareholder dilution, and retains meaningful upside through royalties, milestone payments, and equity interests — while maintaining operatorship and technical control during critical exploration stages.

Company Highlights

• Multi-commodity exploration company with a portfolio of projects and royalties, covering gold, nickel, copper, platinum group metals (PGM), cobalt, tungsten and more located in mining-friendly jurisdictions across Canada
• Flagship PGM exposure at the Saturday Night/Sunday Lake projects in the Thunder Bay region
• Discovery-focused project generator model designed to minimize shareholder dilution while maximizing exploration leverage
• Strong treasury position complemented by marketable securities, milestone payments and royalty interests
• Proven management team with multiple industry discovery awards and a long track record of value creation
• Exposure to critical metals themes supported by government funding, flow-through incentives and secure jurisdictions

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Gold price chart, January 12 to 19, 2026.

The yellow metal’s latest rise adds to an ongoing historic run.

After starting 2025 around US$2,640, gold had risen to the US$3,200 level by April. It stayed within a fairly flat range until the end of August, when it launched higher once again, breaking US$4,300 in mid-October.

The price of gold took a breather following that move, even falling briefly below US$4,000; however, its retracement was neither as steep nor as long as many market watchers expected it to be.

Gold began gaining steam again in mid-November, and took off again in earnest at the end of 2025.

In 2026, precious metals have continued to benefit from geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. Expectations of interest rate cuts after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends later this year have provided support too. Trump’s feud with the Fed over rates took an eyebrow-raising turn on January 9, when the US Department of Justice served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas targeting Powell with a criminal indictment.

Silver also posted a fresh high of US$94.88 per ounce on Monday.

This latest upswing for the precious metals comes as investors moved out of global stocks following Trump’s threats over the weekend that the European nations opposing his bid to acquire Greenland will face 10 percent tariffs starting February 1. That figure could rise to 25 percent if a deal to secure Greenland for the US is not reached by June.

The nations targeted by the new tariffs include France, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. The news has prompted fears of a full-blown US-Europe trade war, a weaker US dollar, higher inflation and a worsening outlook for the global economy. There are even concerns the conflict over Greenland could seriously weaken or dismantle the NATO alliance. Gold is traditionally used as a hedge against such risks.

Greenland’s key geographic position in the Arctic has long been coveted by the United States as a necessary strategic asset in its geopolitical struggle with Russia and China. “China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!”

‘As soon as the probability of escalation increases, defensive capital tends to move preemptively, rather than waiting for tangible impacts to materialize in economic data. In this context, gold functions as a portfolio risk-balancing asset.’

European leaders have responded with vows that they will not be blackmailed into allowing Trump to take Greenland, and are now preparing counter measures to the president’s tariffs.

Gold also continues to benefit from strong central bank buying, while silver’s industrial side is attracting attention. Although it is valued as an investment metal, silver is key for technology such as solar panels.

Elsewhere in the precious metals space, platinum rose close to record highs on Monday, reaching US$2,397.93 per ounce. Palladium remains below its top price level, but is elevated above US$1,800 per ounce.

Overview

Torrent Capital (TSXV:TORR) is a publicly traded investment company providing exposure to an actively managed growth portfolio of public and private investments.

Torrent Capital provides investors with access to a sector-agnostic, actively managed portfolio that blends long-term core holdings with income-generating strategies. Our diversified platform spans public equities, private ventures, and royalty investments. This approach is designed to deliver compounded NAV growth.

Portfolio Overview

Public Equities

Torrent’s core public equity holdings include the following:

Kneat (TSX:KSI) – A leader in SaaS solutions for digitising validation and quality processes in regulated industries, including life sciences. Torrent invested early, recognising Kneat’s scalable platform and its potential to transform compliance-heavy sectors globally.

Lemonade (NYSE:LMND) – An insurance technology company that leverages artificial intelligence to automate operations such as claims processing and policy issuance, disrupting the $2 trillion global insurance market.

SentinelOne (NYSE:S) – A global leader in AI-powered cybersecurity. Torrent invested in SentinelOne for its ability to disrupt traditional security solutions and scale rapidly as enterprises adopt automated threat detection and response.

Fortune Bay (TSXV:FOR) – A Canadian gold exploration company with promising assets in Saskatchewan and Mexico. Torrent’s investment reflects our belief in gold’s enduring role as a hedge against market volatility, coupled with Fortune Bay’s potential to unlock significant resource value through exploration success.

Sona Nanotech (CSE:SONA) – Innovator in nanotechnology with applications across healthcare and diagnostics. Torrent’s investment thesis is based on the potential for Sona’s unique gold nanorods to deliver breakthroughs in medical technology, particularly in diagnostics and cancer treatment.

ReeXploration (TSXV:REE) – A rare earth exploration company focused on the Eureka Project in Namibia. Torrent invested in ReeXploration for its strategic exposure to critical minerals essential to clean energy and advanced technologies.

Private Ventures

Torrent selectively invests in early-stage private ventures with high growth potential.

Holding:

OARO Technologies – A cybersecurity and digital identity company delivering advanced blockchain-powered authentication, digital ticketing, and secure credential solutions. Torrent invested in OARO for its ability to meet the growing global demand for secure, scalable identity management, positioning the company at the intersection of cybersecurity and blockchain adoption.

Royalty Investments

Torrent maintains selective exposure to royalty investments designed to generate potential long-term, recurring cash flows.

Key investment:

Argentia Capital – Argentia Capital is focused on the construction of port infrastructure, the provision of services and equity ownership in businesses that support aquaculture, renewable energy, and oil and gas sectors, as well as other port developments.

Company Highlights

• Proven Performance Across Market Cycles: NAV grew from ~$0.25 in 2017 to ~$0.87 as of November 30, 2025 (15.84% CAGR), Outperforming the S&P500 and TSX Small Cap Index, which increased at rates of 13.13% and 7.77% respectively.
• Diversified Investment Model: Combines public equities, private ventures and royalty investments to balance growth and stability through market cycles.
• Active Management and Transparency: Torrent publishes frequent NAV updates and portfolio disclosures, providing clarity that differentiates it from other investment companies.
• Proven Leadership: Led by CEO Wade Dawe and a team with over C$2 billion in deals completed, Torrent combines decades of entrepreneurial and capital markets experience across public and private companies.
• Strategic focus: Targeted exposure to key growth themes—including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and critical minerals—balancing innovation with defensive holdings to produce long-term compounding.

Management Team

Torrent’s leadership is aligned with shareholders and focused on long-term value creation.

Wade Dawe – Chief Executive Officer, Director

Wade Dawe is an Atlantic Canadian entrepreneur and skilled investor. Fiercely independent throughout the entirety of his career, he achieved early success internationally in the resource sector and went on to play a pivotal role in a number of companies as a financier and company founder.

Carl Sheppard – President & Chief Operating Officer, Director

Carl Sheppard is the current president and chief operating officer of Torrent Capital and is also the president and managing partner of Strategic Concepts, a business consulting company. For the past 30 years, he has provided consulting services to many of Canada’s leading resource companies and organizations. He has participated in numerous economic studies, strategic plans, cost/benefit reports and business plans targeted at the identification of development opportunities.

Eric Thompson – Chief Financial Officer

Eric Thompson has over ten years of accounting and assurance experience in both public practice and industry. Prior to assuming the CFO position, he served as the controller of Torrent Capital, contributing to enhanced financial reporting and treasury oversight.

Evan Dawe, CFA – Portfolio Manager – Public Equities

Evan Dawe is a Portfolio Manager at Torrent Capital, focused on identifying high-growth public equity opportunities across U.S. and Canadian markets. He brings a rigorous, fundamentals-driven approach with a strong emphasis on business quality, competitive positioning, and long-term value creation. Evan is a CFA charter holder and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University. Prior to Torrent Capital, he served as a Corporate Development Officer at Numus Capital, where he sourced venture capital deal flow and coordinated capital raises for early-stage companies.

Jim Megann – Director

Jim Megann is Managing Director of Numus Financial and serves as a Director of OARO Technologies. He has extensive experience in capital markets, corporate development, and strategic communications, and is the former Chair of NWest Energy.

Carl Hansen – Director

Carl Hansen is CEO of Cascada Silver Corp. and a geologist with more than 30 years of experience in exploration, mining, and public markets. He has led multiple successful exploration companies and has significant experience in corporate finance and capital formation.

Wayne Myles – Director

Wayne Myles is a legal advisor specializing in international mergers and acquisitions, corporate, and commercial law. He provides strategic legal guidance to Torrent’s management and board on governance and cross-border transaction structures.

1. Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV:UCU,OTCQX:UURAF)

Ucore Rare Metals claimed the top overall position on this year’s OTCQX Best 50 list.

Ucore is focused on developing downstream rare earths separation and refining infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on heavy rare earths used in permanent magnets for defense, clean energy and advanced manufacturing.

Central to that strategy is the company’s planned Strategic Metals Complex in Louisiana, US, which is being developed with backing from the Department of Defense and the state of Louisiana.

In August, Ucore moved to strengthen its future feedstock supply by signing a non-binding letter of intent with Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML) for a proposed 10 year offtake arrangement tied to the Tanbreez rare earths project in Southern Greenland. Deliveries will start in in 2027 or upon commercial production — whichever is later.

The company has also advanced the technical and financial foundations of its US refining plans. In mid-2025, Ucore and representatives of the defense department completed the formal project kickoff for an US$18.4 million Phase 2 award to support construction of the company’s first commercial-scale RapidSX separation system at the Louisiana site.

The Phase 2 funding focuses on demonstrating the effectiveness of Ucore’s proprietary technology in separating key rare earth elements, including dysprosium, a critical input for high-performance permanent magnets.

2. Discovery Silver (TSX:DSV,OTCQX:DSVSF)

Discovery Silver ranked third overall on this year’s OTCQX Best 50 list, capping a year marked by a major acquisition that repositioned the company as a Canada-based gold producer.

In early 2025, Discovery reached an agreement with Newmont (NYSE:NEM,ASX:NEM) to acquire the Porcupine operation in Ontario for total consideration of US$425 million. The deal represented the final phase of Newmont’s divestiture program as it streamlined its portfolio to focus on tier-one assets.

Located in Ontario’s Timmins Mining Camp, the Porcupine Complex is one of Canada’s most prolific gold-producing districts, with approximately 70 million ounces of gold produced since 1910.

The assets acquired by Discovery include the Hoyle Pond underground mine, one of North America’s highest-grade gold mines with more than 4 million ounces produced since the late 1980s.

Following completion of the acquisition, Discovery said it intends to continue both production and exploration activities across the Porcupine Complex as part of its broader growth strategy.

3. Andean Precious Metals (TSX:APM,OTCQX:ANPMF)

Andean Precious Metals placed fourth on this year’s list.

In November 2025, Andean secured a new US$40 million revolving credit facility with National Bank of Canada, enhancing its financial flexibility as it advances its strategic and operational priorities. Andean said the facility improves liquidity and provides a more efficient cost of capital compared with its previous arrangements.

Earlier in the year, the company entered into a long-term agreement with Corporación Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) to purchase up to 7 million tonnes of oxide ore from mining concessions located within a 250 kilometer radius of Andean’s San Bartolomé processing facility. The 10 year agreement provides Andean with a potential long-term source of feedstock, subject to economic viability under prevailing market conditions.

4. Rio2 (TSXV:RIO,OTCQX:RIOFF)

Taking the fifth spot is Rio2, which in December of last year completed its acquisition of Southern Peaks Mining’s 99.1 percent interest in the Condestable mine in Peru, valued at US$241 million.

Condestable, a well-established underground copper-gold operation, is forecast to produce approximately 27,000 metric tons per year of copper equivalent (around 80,000 ounces gold equivalent) and has a reserve life of over 10 years.

The company is also advancing its flagship Fenix gold project in Chile, where first gold production is scheduled for this month. Early gold recovery is expected within 30 to 40 days, and the project includes long-term expansion potential up to 300,000 ounces annually over 10 years.

5. Lundin Gold (TSX:LUG,OTCQX:LUGDF)

Lundin Gold secured the seventh spot in this year’s OTCQX Best 50 list. It operates the Fruta del Norte gold mine in Southeast Ecuador, one of the highest-grade gold operations in the world.

In 2025, the company was named to the TSX30 list of top-performing companies, ranking second with a dividend-adjusted share price appreciation of 775 percent over the three years ended on June 30.

The year also brought a leadership transition, with Ron Hochstein stepping down as president and CEO after 10 years of leadership. Jamie Beck, former CEO of Filo, assumed the role effective November 2025.

6. Graphite One (TSXV:GPH,OTCQX:GPHOF)

Claiming the eight spot on the OTCQX Best 50 list is Graphite One, which in November of last year confirmed the presence of rare earths at its Graphite Creek deposit, located north of Nome, Alaska. Geochemical analysis of drill core samples identified elevated levels of heavy rare earths, as well as all five principal permanent magnet rare earths.

Graphite One is currently advancing a fully integrated, US-based graphite supply chain, encompassing mining at Graphite Creek, transport through the port of Nome, and downstream processing at a planned advanced graphite and battery materials facility in Warren, Ohio. The Ohio complex is also designed to include a co-located recycling facility intended to reclaim graphite and other battery-related materials. The project has received significant federal backing, including a US$37.5 million Defense Production Act Title III grant.

7. G Mining Ventures (TSX:GMIN,OTCQX:GMINF)

G Mining Ventures placed ninth on this year’s OTCQX Best 50 list.

In 2025, shares of G Mining were added to several major equities indexes, including the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index (INDEXNYSEGIS:GDM), the MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners Index, the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) and the iShares MSCI Canada ETF (ARCA:EWC).

The company is anchored by the Tocantinzinho gold mine in Brazil and the Oko West gold project in Guyana. A key development came this past December, when the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission granted G Mining a 20 year mining license for its 100 percent owned Oko West project.

The mining license followed the issuance of a final environmental permit in September and the company’s formal construction decision in October. Early works that began under an interim environmental permit have continued under the final approval, allowing construction activities to progress without interruption.

8. Heliostar Metals (TSXV:HSTR,OTCQX:HSTXF)

Gold producer Heliostar Metals comes in at number 10 on the OTCQX Best 50 list.

Heliostar’s growth strategy is centered on its portfolio of Mexican assets, including two producing mines and four development-stage projects, which have become the foundation of its expansion plan. Ana Paula is its flagship development project, with a feasibility study scheduled for completion in H1 2027.

Alongside Ana Paula, Heliostar is focused on increasing production and extending mine life at its La Colorada and San Agustin operations in Mexico.

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$93,135.95, down by 2.2 percent over 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, January 19, 2025.

Chart via TradingView

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$3,209.04, down by 3 percent over the last 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.98, down by 3.8 percent over 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$133.82, down by 6.1 percent over 24 hours.

Today’s crypto news to know

Tariff shock rattles crypto as Trump targets Europe

Crypto markets sold off sharply after President Donald Trump said the US would impose escalating tariffs on eight European countries in a dispute tied to Greenland, triggering a rapid risk-off move.

According to derivatives data, roughly US$875 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated within 24 hours, which was further amplified by thin holiday liquidity.

Bitcoin slid about 3 percent to near US$92,000, with most forced unwinds coming from bullish bets caught wrong-footed by the geopolitical jolt.

European leaders signaled retaliation, adding to broader market uncertainty across equities, FX, and digital assets.

The proposed tariffs would start at 10 percent in February and rise to 25 percent by June.

Saylor hints at more bitcoin buys after billion-dollar week

Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) chair Michael Saylor is again fueling speculation of another bitcoin purchase just days after the company disclosed a $1.25 billion addition to its holdings.

In a weekend post, Saylor shared a familiar chart tracking Strategy’s past buys, a signal he has repeatedly used ahead of formal announcements.

The company has already added nearly 15,000 BTC since the start of the year, bringing total holdings above 687,000 bitcoin. Those coins were accumulated at an average price in the mid-US$75,000 range.

Still, Strategy’s equity has lagged as investors weigh the risks of heavy leverage and ongoing capital raises. The firm continues to rely on instruments like convertible notes to fund purchases without immediate cash strain.

Dormant bitcoin whale cashes out after 12 years

One of Bitcoin’s long-silent early holders has resurfaced, selling a large portion of coins accumulated in 2012 and locking in a staggering gain.

Blockchain data shows the wallet sold roughly 2,500 BTC at prices above US$100,000, turning an original outlay of just over US$300 per coin into hundreds of millions of dollars.

The realized return exceeds 31,000 percent, making it one of the most profitable long-term exits in Bitcoin’s history.