VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Riverside Resources Inc. (“Riverside” or the “Company“) (TSX-V: RRI) (OTCQB: RVSDF) (FSE: 5YY0), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement (the “Option Agreement“) with 1575540 B.C. Ltd., a private British Columbia company (the “Optionee“), pursuant to which the Optionee may acquire a 100% interest in Riverside’s Revel carbonatite rare earth element (REE) project located approximately 20 kilometres from the community of Seymour Arm, north of Revelstoke, in southeastern British Columbia (the “Revel Project” or the “Project“) with Riverside retaining a 3% NSR if the option is completed and if not the project returns 100% to Riverside.
“Securing this option agreement for Revel is an excellent step forward for Riverside’s REE portfolio and we can immediately move forward with a high resolution geophysical survey of the project with partner funding to refine and expand the targets,” said John-Mark Staude, President and CEO of Riverside Resources. “The agreement brings dedicated funding to advance the 12-kilometre-long Revel carbonatite REE system while allowing our team to remain involved in the program and building value across our broader portfolio of British Columbia and Mexico projects. By retaining a 3% NSR, Riverside preserves meaningful long-term exposure to the discovery and development potential of the Revel Project.”
Terms of the Option Agreement
Under the terms of the Option Agreement, the Optionee may acquire a 100% interest in the Revel Project by making aggregate cash payments to Riverside totalling $450,000 and incurring aggregate exploration expenditures on the Project totalling up to $2,200,000 in each case in accordance with the milestone schedule set out below and over a 5-year option period commencing on February 18, 2026 as the effective date of the Option Agreement.
Milestone Cash Payments and Exploration Expenditures
Milestone
Cash Payments to Riverside
Exploration Spend Required
Signing Option Agreement
$40,000(1)
N/A
On or before the 1st Anniversary of the Effective Date
$60,000
$150,000(1)
On or before the 2nd Anniversary of the Effective Date
$50,000
$350,000
On or before the 3rd Anniversary of the Effective Date
$50,000
$500,000
On or before the 4th Anniversary of the Effective Date
$100,000
$1,200,000 or $1,000,000(2)
On or before the 5th Anniversary of the Effective Date
$150,000
N/A
Total
$450,000
Up to $2,200,000
Paid $40,000 Signing Option and has Firm Commitment of $150,000 minimum exploration spending in 1st year.
An additional $1,200,000 of Exploration Expenditures (for an aggregate of $2,200,000 in Exploration Expenditures) on or before the 4th anniversary of this Agreement in the event the price of Au is greater than $6,000 per ounce on January 1, 2029 OR an additional $1,000,000 (for an aggregate of $2,000,000 in Exploration Expenditures) in the event the price of Au is less than $6,000 per ounce on January 1, 2029.
Upon exercise of the option and acquisition of a 100% interest in the Revel Project, the Optionee will grant to Riverside a 3% net smelter returns royalty on all commercial production from the Project on the terms set out in the NSR Royalty Agreement entered into concurrently with the Option Agreement (the “Royalty Agreement“). The Royalty Agreement provides the Optionee with two buy-down rights: (i) a first right to purchase 0.5% of the NSR for US$1,000,000 at any time prior to January 1, 2033, reducing the royalty to 2.5%; and (ii) a second right, exercisable only if the first buy-down has been exercised, to purchase an additional 1.0% of the NSR for US$2,000,000 at any time prior to January 1, 2035, reducing the royalty to 1.5%.
Riverside’s exploration team will continue to provide technical input and oversight on the Revel Project during the option period, with the Optionee funding programs designed to advance the Project toward drill testing of the carbonatite-style rare earth system.
About the Revel Project
The Revel Project is located approximately 20 kilometres from the community of Seymour Arm and north of Revelstoke, British Columbia, within a highly prospective carbonatite belt. The Project covers part of the Mount Grace Carbonatite, which is known to host rare earth element mineralization, and Riverside has outlined a 12-kilometre-long carbonatite-style rare earth system at Revel that remains undrilled.
The Revel claims are located on the northeast margin of the Frenchman Cap Gneiss Dome, comprising part of the Shuswap Metamorphic Terrain. The core gneisses are overlain by allochthonous cover rocks that host both extrusive and intrusive carbonatites and form part of the Monashee cover sequence. Recent exploration at Revel has included detailed mapping, spectral and geochemical sampling, and ground geophysics designed to vector toward higher-grade REE zones in advance of drill testing.
The next work will likely be airborne geophysics and field exploration work during the summer of 2026 with funding partner providing the capital for these efforts. Additional information on the Revel Project is available on Riverside’s website at www.rivres.com.
Qualified Person & QA/QC:
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release pertaining to the Project was reviewed and approved by Freeman Smith, P.Geo, a non-independent qualified person to Riverside Resources Inc., who is responsible for ensuring that the information provided in this news release is accurate and who acts as a “qualified person” under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Riverside Resources Inc.:
Riverside is a well-funded exploration company driven by value generation and discovery. The Company has a strong balance sheet, no debt and tight share structure with a strong portfolio of gold-silver, copper, and REE assets and royalties in North America. Further information about Riverside is available on the Company’s website at www.rivres.com.
ON BEHALF OF RIVERSIDE RESOURCES INC.
“John-Mark Staude”
Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO
For additional information contact:
John-Mark Staude President, CEO Riverside Resources Inc. info@rivres.com Phone: (778) 327-6671 Fax: (778) 327-6675 Web: www.rivres.com
Eric Negraeff Investor Relations Riverside Resources Inc. Phone: (778) 327-6671 TF: (877) RIV-RES1 Web: www.rivres.com
Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology (e.g., “expect”,” estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”). Such information involves known and unknown risks — including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Riverside in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
DALLAS, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 24, 2026 / AIAI Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:AIAI) (“Ai2” or the “Company”), an AI-enabled diversified holding company utilizing Transformational AI (TAI) to enhance portfolio performance, announced today that, following discussions with its board, the Company is commencing discussions with Messier 42 LLC, a company controlled by our founder and controlling stockholder, John P. Rochon, to begin the process of acquiring a number of M42’s existing and targeted businesses across multiple sectors to help execute the Company’s vision, including international and domestic defense, intelligence, healthcare, gaming and rare earth minerals. The Company anticipates that, if completed, these significant transactions will be structured to be minimally dilutive to the current Ai² stockholders.
The acquisitions remain subject to due diligence and will require the approval of the board of AIAI. Additionally, because these will be related-party transactions, the Company will retain an investment banker to provide a fairness opinion and structuring advice.
About AIAI Holdings Corporation AIAI Holdings Corporation (Ai2) (NASDAQ:AIAI) is an AI-enabled diversified holding company that acquires and grows companies across multiple industries. We expect to drive revenue and earnings growth throughout our portfolio by applying exclusively licensed Transformational AI to enhance operational efficiency and financial performance.
Ai2 is building a next-generation model for technology-enabled business operations, which is expected to create sustainable value for shareholders through the strategic integration of artificial intelligence across diverse industries.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking information” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs, and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and plans of the Company. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “would,” “could,” “should”, “estimate,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “estimate”, or “continue,” or similar expressions, including the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.
Forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations regarding its strategy, plans, intentions, performance, or future occurrences or results, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company’s control, that could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to our lack of operating history, our ability to attract new investments, our failure to manage growth effectively, our acquisition activities may pose risks that could harm our business, and our licensed AI may not perform up to the expected standards, as well as general business and economic conditions, competitive pressures, regulatory changes, technological developments, and other factors identified in the Company’s most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Registration Statement on Form S-1, which are available for review at www.sec.gov
Furthermore, the Company operates in a competitive environment where new and unanticipated risks may arise. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention to, and, except as may be required by law, undertake no obligation to, update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which the Company hereafter become aware. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
CASPER, WY / ACCESS Newswire / August 20, 2026 / Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American:URG)(TSX:URE) (“Ur-Energy” or the “Company“), America’s largest and fastest-growing domestic ISR uranium producer, is pleased to announce that on August 19, 2026, it made the first shipment of uranium from its Shirley Basin mine to its Lost Creek processing plant in Wyoming.
Matt Gili, President & CEO of Ur-Energy, stated, “This first shipment is not only the start of full operations at Shirley Basin, it also marks Ur-Energy’s transition to a multi-asset, domestic U.S. uranium producer. It is important to note that Shirley Basin moved from construction decision to production in just two and a half years. This is a clear demonstration of our team’s ability to progress through permitting, construction, and startup in a highly effective manner. Crucially, this milestone also validates our capital-efficient, hub-and-spoke development model and further strengthens Ur-Energy’s position as a leading U.S. uranium producer.”
With licensed wellfield and toll processing capacity of up to 2.0 million pounds of U3O8 equivalent, Ur-Energy’s Shirley Basin mine is the Company’s second uranium in-situ recovery (“ISR”) operation in Wyoming. As previously announced, initial mining operations commenced at the mine in April 2026. Final authorization to advance to full operations was received from the State of Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in late June 2026.
Shirley Basin is being run as a satellite mine of the Company’s Lost Creek hub operation. Lost Creek, which is home to the largest operating ISR mine in the U.S., has a proven and tested facility that has processed and shipped more than 3.5 million pounds of U3O8 to the conversion facility for delivery to the Company’s customers. This hub-and-spoke model is the basis of Ur-Energy’s growth platform in Wyoming. It avoids duplicative infrastructure, improves capital efficiency, and can be scaled at an accelerated pace.
Now that shipments from Shirley Basin to Lost Creek have commenced, the Company will execute on its strategy for ramp-up to full commercial levels, while continuing to advance its other organic growth opportunities in the district.
About Ur-Energy
Ur-Energy is the largest and fastest-growing ISR uranium mining company in the United States. It owns and operates the Lost Creek ISR uranium facility in south-central Wyoming, which has produced more than 3.5 million pounds of U₃O₈ since operations began, and the Shirley Basin ISR operation in central Wyoming, where uranium recovery commenced in April 2026. Lost Creek and Shirley Basin have combined annual licensed production and toll-processing capacity of 4.2 million pounds of U₃O₈. The Company is also engaged in exploration and development activities at a selection of projects in the Great Divide Basin uranium district. Ur-Energy’s common shares trade on the NYSE American under the symbol “URG” and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “URE.” The Company’s corporate headquarters is in Casper, Wyoming, and its registered office is in Ottawa, Ontario.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This release may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws regarding events or conditions that may occur in the future (e.g., our ability and the expected or planned timing at Shirley Basin to ramp up and increase production or to reach full commercial levels of production; our ability in the future to execute on our construction, development, and operating plans; and our ability in the future to comply with regulatory requirements and receive regulatory approvals). Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans,” “expects,” “does not expect,” “is expected,” “is likely,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “does not anticipate,” “believes,” or variations of the foregoing, or statements that certain actions, events or results “may,” “could,” “might” or “will” “be taken,” “occur,” “be achieved” or “have the potential to.” All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates; failure to establish estimated resources and reserves; the grade and recovery of ore that is mined varying from estimates; production rates, methods, and amounts varying from estimates; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental, or other project approvals; inflation; changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in development; changes in governmental polices or market conditions; and other factors described in the public filings of the Company that are available at www.sec.gov and www.sedarplus.ca. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the beliefs, expectations, and opinions of management as of the date hereof, and Ur-Energy disclaims any intent or obligation to update them or revise them to reflect any change in circumstances or changes in management’s beliefs, expectations, or opinions that occur in the future, except as required by applicable law.
Expanding American Defense Manufacturing Through Vertically Integrated Ammunition Production, Strategic Partnerships and Next Generation Drone Technologies
HAGERSTOWN, MD / ACCESS Newswire / August 20, 2026 / First Breach Inc. (“First Breach” or the “Company”), an American-made defense technologies company focused on vertically integrated ammunition production and next-generation unmanned aerial systems, today announced that its common stock has commenced trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “FBDT.”
The Nasdaq listing marks an important milestone in the Company’s evolution as it continues executing its strategy of expanding domestic ammunition manufacturing capacity to meet growing domestic and international demand across the defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and commercial markets. Operating from its manufacturing campus in Hagerstown, Maryland, First Breach has built a vertically integrated production platform capable of manufacturing critical ammunition components, finished ammunition, and advanced drone technologies within the United States.
“Beginning trading on Nasdaq represents a defining milestone in First Breach’s history,” said Jeffrey Low, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Breach. “This listing reflects years of investment in building an American manufacturing platform designed to support critical defense and security markets. As demand continues to grow for domestically manufactured ammunition components, finished ammunition, and advanced unmanned systems, we believe First Breach is well positioned to capitalize on these long-term industry trends.”
“Our strategy extends well beyond becoming a publicly traded company. We are focused on expanding production capacity, executing on strategic partnerships, advancing our next generation drone technologies, and continuing to build one of the few vertically integrated American defense manufacturing platforms capable of supporting customers from component manufacturing through finished products. We believe these initiatives position First Breach to deliver sustainable long-term growth while creating lasting value for our shareholders.”
The Company is continuing to expand production capabilities through additional manufacturing lines and equipment designed to robotically increase throughput while maintaining rigorous quality standards. First Breach also continues to strengthen strategic industry relationships, including its partnership with Hellbender, Inc., which management believes will further enhance the Company’s ability to address evolving customer requirements for both drones and robotic manufacturing, and support future growth opportunities.
Growing geopolitical uncertainty, increased defense modernization initiatives, and renewed emphasis on strengthening domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience continue to support favorable long-term market fundamentals for the Company’s products and technologies. First Breach believes its integrated manufacturing model, engineering expertise, and commitment to American production uniquely position the Company to participate in these expanding market opportunities.
About First Breach
First Breach Inc. is an ISO 9001:2015 certified, American-made defense technologies company of match-grade ammunition components, finished ammunition, and next-generation unmanned aerial systems for commercial, law enforcement, and military markets. The Company manufactures its products in-house at its Hagerstown, Maryland facility, where it produces brass cups, casings, projectiles, lead cores, lead wire, and completed ammunition with rigorous quality control standards. First Breach is also advancing its drone strategy through the development of U.S.-made unmanned systems, leveraging advanced engineering, robotics, ISR and sensor technologies, and precision manufacturing capabilities to address evolving defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and commercial requirements across domestic and international markets.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts and include statements regarding the Company’s expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, strategies, future events, future performance, business prospects, growth initiatives, acquisitions, market opportunities, capital resources, operational objectives, and other statements that are predictive in nature. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs regarding future developments and their potential effect on the Company. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, changes in economic, business, market, competitive, regulatory, technological, legal, and geopolitical conditions; the Company’s ability to execute its business strategy; the successful integration of acquisitions and strategic transactions; access to capital and financing; customer demand; industry developments; and other risks and uncertainties described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update, revise, or publicly disclose any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances, or changes in expectations occurring after the date of this press release.
The U.S. government’s debt has surpassed $40 trillion, according to the latest data from the Treasury. It’s a staggering, hard-to-process number, totaling over $359,000 in federal debt for every American taxpayer.
Bank of America’s chief equity strategist, Michael Hartnett, projects the number will swell to $50 trillion in less than three years.
“The problem with $40 trillion is not the number,” Stephen Innes, financial markets analyst and former investment bank trader, wrote in an analysis. “Markets have been watching the US debt clock spin higher for years and, for most of that time, the response has been little more than a shrug. Washington spends, Treasury issues, investors absorb it, and the machine keeps moving.”
The largest federal budget items are Medicare/Medicaid combined (nearly $2 trillion), Social Security (over $1.6 trillion), national defense ($946 billion) — and interest on the debt (over $1 trillion).
Innes believes interest costs will soon begin “eating the budget alive,” with the steep trajectory of the government debt making the interest expense “one of Washington’s largest single outlays.”
What does that mean for the stock and bond markets — and the cost of living?
For fiscal year 2026, the federal government is projected to collect $5.6 trillion in revenue while spending about $7.4 trillion. That results in a deficit of roughly $1.9 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“In other words, the government is spending roughly $1.33 for every $1 collected,” Colin Slabach, clinical assistant professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, told Yahoo Finance in an email.
“The good news is that there is still plenty of demand for US government debt,” he added. “The problem is that if that changes in the future — and nations like Japan need to sell our debt to stabilize their own currency — it could lead to an overabundance of supply.”
That’s when the Treasury would have to pay increasingly higher interest rates to attract investments in the U.S. government, Slabach said.
As swelling government debt pushes bond yields higher, borrowing costs for consumers also rise.
“As the federal government runs a deficit, it must borrow the difference by issuing Treasury securities. Increased supply of U.S. Treasuries pushes yields higher to attract investors. Those yields then serve as a benchmark for interest rates across the economy,” the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan economic think tank, wrote in an economic outlook.
As rising rates filter through the economy, the cost of living squeezes household budgets even tighter.
“Rising borrowing costs mean larger payments on mortgages, car loans, student loans, business loans, and credit card debt,” the report noted.
However, it’s not only about a higher monthly housing payment, Ethan White, co-founder of White Sands Tax Services in Long Beach, Calif., told Yahoo Finance.
When borrowing costs remain high, the “freedom to buy, move, downsize, or respond to a new job or caregiving need” is reduced.
“The debt becomes tangible not when Washington crosses another trillion-dollar milestone, but when an otherwise reasonable life decision no longer fits within the family budget,” White said.
The federal debt could ‘lower the standard of living for all Americans’
In June, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) came to a startling conclusion: At $31.3 trillion, the U.S. debt was roughly equal in size to the country’s economy. Within weeks, the debt quickly surpassed the U.S. Gross Domestic Product.
“When the federal government spends more than it collects in revenue, it borrows money to make up that deficit,” the GAO report said, adding that while the federal debt would often spike during an economic setback, over the past two decades, the deficit had grown even as the economy thrived.
One result: Businesses face higher borrowing costs. With less capital for operational costs, wages suffer, “leading to slower wage growth,” the GAO reported.
“If nothing is done to reduce deficits each year, we project that debt will grow about twice as fast as the economy over the next 10 years. In 30 years, that debt will likely be 2.5 times the size of the economy,” the GAO said. “What that means for you, and future generations, is that today’s deficits — if not addressed — could have lasting financial consequences. The federal government’s debt could ultimately lower the standard of living for all Americans.”
A growing deficit could bring another headache to taxpayers: “It could mean higher taxes with no additional services because the taxes will pay the interest on the debt,” Slabach said.
And investors are likely to see continued volatility in the markets.
“Higher rates can weigh on stocks because it makes borrowing more expensive for companies,” Robert Brokamp, CFP, a financial advisor with The Motley Fool, told Yahoo Finance. “When rates rise, the prices of current bonds drop since they are now less attractive than new bonds offering higher yields. Because rates have risen in 2026, the overall bond market has dropped approximately 2.5% so far this year. It’s not a devastating loss, but also not what many investors expect from ‘safe’ bonds.”
Brokamp recommends keeping any money you may need in the next three to five years in higher-yielding cash, money market funds, CDs, or short-term bonds, which are less sensitive to interest-rate moves.
Borrowers should watch debt levels as well.
“If rates remain elevated, carrying $25,000 on a variable-rate credit card or financing a car every few years becomes much more consequential,” Zachary Sahar, CPA, managing director at Capital Tax in Walnut Creek, Calif., said in an email. “I’d focus less on predicting Washington and more on reducing expensive variable-rate debt, maintaining liquidity, and avoiding new fixed expenses that only work if rates or economic conditions improve.”
Copper Is Reaching Record Highs for New Reasons: Despite mixed economic data, copper is benefiting from growing demand tied to energy security, AI, defense and electrical infrastructure.
Mine Supply Remains Constrained: Weak Chilean production, delayed mine recoveries and long development timelines continue to limit supply growth.
Concentrate Scarcity Is Shifting the Economics: Record-low treatment charges and spot-indexed contracts signal intensifying competition for concentrate and growing miner leverage.
Tariff Uncertainty Is Fragmenting Supply: Potential U.S. tariffs have drawn significant refined copper into the U.S., tightening availability elsewhere.
Power May Be AI’s Next Bottleneck: AI investment is expanding from chips to power generation, transmission and grid infrastructure, adding another copper-intensive source of demand.
Copper Miners Are Responding: After lagging in July, miners rallied sharply in early August as record copper prices and strong margins highlighted their operating leverage.
Performance for periods of less than one year is not annualized. Source: Bloomberg as of 7/31/2026. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Performance Overview: Copper Reaches Another Record High
Copper prices continued to advance in July, extending a rally that has increasingly diverged from the traditional industrial cycle. Copper ended the month at $13,836 per metric ton, gaining 3.65% in July and 11.10% year-to-date. The rally continued into August, with copper reaching a new all-time high of $14,334 per metric ton on August 10. A weaker U.S. dollar and persistent concerns over global mine supply helped support copper’s move. The U.S. copper premium also climbed back above 3%, reflecting continued positioning ahead of a potential tariff on refined copper imports.
Copper miners initially lagged the metal, gaining just 0.22% in July, before responding more strongly in August. As of August 10, copper miners had gained 12.96% month-to-date, while junior copper miners had risen 15.06%. The acceleration suggests that investors may be looking beyond near-term copper price volatility and focusing more closely on the earnings leverage available to producers if prices remain near historically elevated levels.
Copper is breaking away from the traditional industrial cycle.
Copper’s strength is particularly notable against an uneven economic backdrop. Chinese demand indicators remain mixed, elevated prices have pressured some fabricators and broader industrial activity has not provided an obvious cyclical catalyst. Yet copper continues to be one of the better-performing commodities. We believe this resilience reflects a structural shift in copper’s demand profile, with consumption increasingly driven not only by construction, manufacturing and consumer activity, but also by electricity networks, AI data centers, defense systems and energy infrastructure. These sources of demand are supported by government policy, national security priorities and long-term infrastructure investment, making them generally less sensitive to short-term economic conditions.
At the same time, supply constraints are emerging across multiple stages of the copper value chain. Mine production continues to underperform expectations, exceptionally low treatment charges (TCs; the fees mining companies pay smelters to process copper concentrate into refined metal) point to an acute shortage of concentrate, and tariff uncertainty has redirected refined copper toward the U.S. No single factor fully explains copper’s move to record highs. Collectively, however, they underscore the limited flexibility within the global copper supply system as structural demand growth, constrained supply and policy disruptions increasingly converge.
Looking at longer-term performance, copper miners have outpaced broader equities over the past five years (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Physical Copper and Copper Stocks Have Outperformed Other Asset Classes Over the Past Five Years (7/31/2021-7/31/2026)
Source: Bloomberg and Sprott Asset Management. Data as of 7/31/2026. Copper Miners are measured by the Nasdaq Sprott Copper Miners™ Index (NSCOPPT index); Junior Copper Miners are measured by the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners™ Index (NSCOPJT index); U.S. Equities are measured by the S&P 500 TR Index; the Copper Spot Price is measured by LMCADY Comdty; and Commodities are measured by the Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM). Definitions of the indices are provided in the footnotes. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Market Drivers
Concentrate Scarcity Is Rewriting the Copper Market
Demand for copper concentrate continued to intensify in July as mine supply became increasingly difficult to secure. Spot treatment charges fell to another all-time low, while Chilean copper miner Antofagasta plc shifted its mid-year copper sales from fixed terms, which had long served as an industry benchmark, to prices linked to the copper spot market.6 Antofagasta’s contracting decisions matter because its terms have traditionally influenced pricing across much of the copper industry. Together, these developments suggest that concentrate is becoming increasingly scarce, bargaining power is shifting toward miners and long-standing industry practices are beginning to adjust to a tighter market.
Concentrate scarcity is shifting the balance of power decisively toward copper miners.
For much of the copper industry’s history, large miners and smelters negotiated annual or mid-year benchmark treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs). Once a leading producer and smelter reached an agreement, other market participants frequently adopted similar terms, providing greater pricing certainty across the industry.
Antofagasta has become the de facto leader on the mining side of these negotiations in recent years. Its move toward spot-index-linked pricing is therefore more significant than an isolated contract between a miner and a smelter. If similar arrangements become more common, they could weaken the traditional benchmark system and expose a larger share of the industry directly to prevailing concentrate scarcity. BHP, the world’s largest copper producer in 2025, has already priced substantial volumes of concentrate against spot indexes.
TC/RCs provide an important measure of the balance between concentrate supply and smelting capacity. When concentrate is abundant, smelters can charge miners more to process it. When concentrate becomes scarce, smelters must offer miners increasingly favorable terms to secure enough material to keep their facilities operating. Negative TC/RCs therefore indicate that the value of concentrate has risen significantly relative to refined copper.
The move from above $90 per metric ton in late 2023 to below -$150 today represents a reversal of more than $240 per metric ton. This extraordinary shift illustrates how decisively bargaining power has moved toward miners and provides a clearer indication of upstream scarcity than record-high refined copper prices alone.
Why Smelters Keep Competing for Scarce Concentrate
Given deeply negative treatment charges, an important question is why smelters have not responded by reducing production. Treatment charges have historically been an important source of smelter revenue, but they are only one component of a more complex earnings model. Smelters can also generate revenue from sulphuric acid produced during processing, payable and recoverable by-products such as gold and silver, copper recovered above contracted payable levels, cathode premiums and downstream products such as wire rod and tubing.
Sulphuric acid has been particularly important in sustaining smelter demand for concentrate. The Iran war disrupted trade from the Middle East, a region responsible for nearly half of global sulphur trade, while China’s suspension of sulphuric acid exports further tightened availability outside the country. Higher acid prices have had opposing effects across the copper supply chain: increasing costs and supply risks for acid-dependent solvent extraction and electrowinning mines while improving the economics of smelters that produce sulphuric acid as a valuable by-product.
Combined with elevated gold and silver prices, these revenues have allowed many smelters to remain profitable and continue competing aggressively for scarce concentrate despite deeply negative TC/RCs. This has delayed the production cuts that might otherwise have reduced competition for concentrate and allowed treatment charges to recover.
Copper miners are benefiting from scarcity on both sides of the market.
For copper miners, the result is particularly favorable. Smelters are offering increasingly attractive terms to secure scarce concentrate at the same time that refined copper prices are near record highs. Together, these conditions have pushed copper miners’ all-in sustaining cost margins to levels not seen in decades.
The resulting margin expansion highlights the operating leverage available to copper miners. Once a mine’s operating costs are covered, higher copper prices can flow disproportionately into earnings and cash flow. This leverage has historically allowed copper miners to outperform the metal during sustained bull markets, particularly when higher prices coincide with favorable concentrate terms and strong by-product revenues, as they do today.
We believe pure-play copper miners provide more direct exposure to copper’s constrained supply response and the resulting margin expansion, positioning them to benefit disproportionately if these conditions persist.
Figure 2. Record-Low Treatment Charges
Source: Bloomberg. China Treatment Charge measured by ZACNTC26 Index. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
U.S. Tariff Uncertainty Is Reshaping the Global Copper Market
The possibility of U.S. tariffs on refined copper has redirected significant volumes of metal into the country, creating a historically large domestic stockpile. In 2025, the U.S. Commerce Department recommended a universal tariff of 15% beginning January 1, 2027, rising to 30% on January 1, 2028. Although the Trump administration separately imposed a 50% tariff on semi-finished copper products, it did not immediately adopt the recommendation for refined copper, leaving the market uncertain about whether—and at what rate—imports might eventually be taxed.
Tariff uncertainty is pulling copper into the U.S. and reshaping global trade flows.
That uncertainty created a powerful incentive to move copper into the U.S. before any tariff took effect. Copper already inside the country could become considerably more valuable if future imports were taxed, supporting a premium for U.S. copper over metal traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME). When that premium was sufficient to cover freight, financing and storage costs, traders could profitably purchase copper abroad and deliver it to U.S. ports and warehouses.
The resulting inventory shift has been extraordinary. More than 200,000 metric tons of refined copper arrived at U.S. ports in July, the largest monthly inflow in data extending back to 2014.
The U.S. Commerce Department was expected to complete its Section 232 review by June 30, 2026, but no public decision followed. The market must therefore continue to weigh several potential outcomes, including the original phased tariff, a lower rate with exemptions or another delay. Each carries different implications for the value of copper already accumulated in the U.S.
Under normal conditions, COMEX copper trades at only a modest premium to LME copper. That changed dramatically in July 2025, when President Trump’s comments regarding a 50% copper tariff led traders to believe the levy could include refined copper, pushing the COMEX premium above 28%. The premium collapsed after refined copper was excluded but has recently begun to rebuild, rising above 3% as the market again prices in the possibility of future tariffs.
Copper already held inside the U.S. therefore retains valuable optionality. If a tariff is ultimately imposed, those inventories could become more valuable relative to copper outside the country. As long as policy remains unresolved, that possibility reduces the incentive to return metal to international markets.
U.S. Stockpiling Is Tightening Copper Markets Elsewhere
The U.S. stockpile has been built at the expense of availability elsewhere. Copper shipped to the U.S. has been diverted from other consuming regions, contributing to a sharp decline in available LME inventories. Nearby LME contracts have moved further into backwardation, indicating that copper available for immediate delivery is commanding a premium over future supply. Chinese buyers are also competing more aggressively for metal while domestic exchange inventories remain low.
Some copper may eventually return to international markets as trade flows normalize. But policy clarity cannot increase mine production, reverse declining ore grades or accelerate projects that can take more than a decade to develop. U.S. tariff uncertainty has amplified and regionalized copper’s tightness, but it has not created the underlying scarcity of mined copper.
Figure 3. U.S. Copper Shipments Surge as Tariff Decision Looms
Source: Bloomberg and HIS Markit. Copper Tariff Delay Raises Repricing Risk: Macro View.
Chile’s Production Downgrade Reinforces the Mine-Supply Challenge
Chile lowered its copper production forecasts after first-half output fell to its lowest level since 2018.7The world’s largest copper-producing country now expects output to decline in 2026 before recovering next year, with both forecasts reduced meaningfully from prior estimates. At a time when smelters are already struggling to secure concentrate, the loss of expected supply from Chile further tightens the upstream market.
The weakness reflects more than temporary maintenance or operational disruptions. Much of Chile’s major copper capacity was developed decades ago, and key operations are contending with declining ore grades, aging infrastructure, water constraints and increasingly complex investment requirements. National production remains below its 2018 peak and would still fall short of that level even if the revised recovery forecast is achieved.
Copper needs new supply, but new mines remain years away.
These challenges extend well beyond Chile. Mine disruptions exceeded their long-term average in both 2024 and 2025, while recoveries at major operations, including Grasberg and Kamoa-Kakula, have taken longer than expected. The market needs Chilean production to recover, disrupted mines to return and operating performance elsewhere to normalize simply to deliver the supply already embedded in forecasts.
Higher copper prices should encourage investment, but major mines can take 15 to 20 years to develop and require substantial capital. Much of the visible project pipeline is also needed simply to replace declining production at existing operations before it can generate meaningful net supply growth. Record copper prices are sending the necessary investment signal, but the supply response remains years away.
Copper enters the remainder of 2026 near record highs, but the market has yet to deliver the supply response those prices are intended to encourage. The most important near-term test will be whether production begins to recover. The market is relying on improved output from Chile and the gradual restoration of major operations, including Grasberg and Kamoa-Kakula. These recoveries, though reduced from original expectations, are already embedded in supply forecasts, leaving limited room for further disappointment at a time when record-low treatment charges indicate that smelters are already struggling to secure enough concentrate.
Meanwhile, strategic demand continues to build. AI was not the principal driver of copper’s recent rally, but its rapid expansion is exposing the limitations of global power systems. Data centers can be built faster than the generation, substations and transmission systems needed to supply them, shifting the potential bottleneck from computing hardware toward electricity infrastructure. Copper demand extends well beyond the metal contained within data centers to the much larger power systems required to operate them.
The copper market is tightening before power-related demand reaches full scale.
China is already investing at scale. As an energy-dependent nation, China’s expansion of domestic generation and transmission is fundamentally an energy-security strategy, reducing exposure to imported fuels while supporting industrial and technological growth. The U.S. faces similar pressure to expand its power system as AI, advanced manufacturing and defense requirements collide with aging grids and limited connection capacity.
AI does not need to become copper’s largest end market to have a meaningful effect. Even incremental demand can materially tighten a market in which existing mine supply is already falling short and new production remains slow to deliver.
Copper’s record price should therefore be viewed as a signal that significant investment is still required. The market is already competing intensely for limited concentrate before the next phase of power-related demand has fully arrived. With strategic uses expanding faster than mine supply can keep pace, the copper market appears to be moving deeper into a multi-year period of structural tightness.
Short-term volatility is likely, but the longer-term balance is becoming increasingly supportive. Copper miners offer leverage to that imbalance because higher realized prices can flow disproportionately into margins and cash flow. As supply remains inelastic and strategic demand accelerates, copper and copper miners remain well positioned to benefit through the remainder of 2026 and beyond.
Figure 5. Copper Reaches New All-Time Highs (2000-2026)
Source: Bloomberg as of 8/10/2026. Copper is measured by LMCADY Comdty. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Footnotes
1
The copper spot price is measured by the LME Copper Cash ($), Bloomberg ticker LMCADY.
2
The Nasdaq Sprott Copper Miners™ Index (NSCOPP™) is designed to track the performance of a selection of global securities in the copper industry; the Index was co-developed by Nasdaq® and Sprott Asset Management LP.
3
Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners™ Index (NSCOPJ™) is designed to track the performance of mid-, small- and micro-cap companies in copper-mining related businesses; the Index was co-developed by Nasdaq® and Sprott Asset Management LP.
4
The Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) is a broadly diversified commodity price index that tracks prices of futures contracts on physical commodities and is designed to minimize concentration in any one commodity or sector. It currently has 23 commodity futures in six sectors.
5
The S&P 500 or Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies.
Here is a number that doesn’t happen. Thirty patent applications filed. Thirty patents issued. Zero denied.
Patent examiners are paid to push back. For a claim to survive, it must cover patentable subject matter, be new, non-obvious, technically enabled, and practically useful — not one bar, five. Mica has cleared all five, thirty times — spanning Credential-less Payments, Credential-less Enrollment, N-Character PIN, Coupons and Rewards as Currency, Multi-Tender Payments, and many others.
Alston & Bird, one of the most respected intellectual property practices in the country, became Mica’s legal partner — building the patent portfolio jurisdiction by jurisdiction, claim by claim, across ten markets.
“Behind every issued patent is a challenge overcome and an innovative idea brought to life. Mica’s expanding patent portfolio reflects a relentless drive to innovate, reinforcing its position as a market leader and advancing transformative solutions that are shaping the future of the industry.”
— Dane Baltich, Partner, Alston & Bird
II. TRUE INNOVATION DOESN’T LAYER. IT REBUILDS.
There is a pattern to technological shifts that actually redefine industries. When an old foundation is structurally flawed, you don’t build a better layer on top of it. You pull it out by the roots.
Steve Jobs didn’t build a better Nokia. He looked at the phone — keyboard, carrier relationships, software, the whole thing — and decided the right answer was to throw it all out and rebuild from scratch. Every smartphone manufacturer in the world had been layering features onto existing form factors. Jobs built a new foundation, and the old one became irrelevant.
For decades, fintech has followed a predictable playbook: build a shinier interface or a faster tokenization layer over legacy transaction rails. But every one of those layers inherits the exact same original sin — the persistent credential. Whether it’s a credit card number, a bank routing code, or a proxy token sitting in a vault, it remains an attack surface waiting to be exploited.
Mica co-founders Christopher Petersen and Tim Kuchlein understood this. Having previously designed the core digital wallet architecture that became Google Wallet, they knew exactly where the old rails hit the wall. They didn’t set out to build onto an existing network. They built a new network.
III. TRANSACTION INFRASTRUCTURE, REBUILT
Mica is a ground-up transformation of transaction infrastructure that redefines authorization.
Zero Credentials, Eliminated Credential Risk: Instead of shielding or masking card numbers, Mica eliminates them entirely from the authorization flow using Universally Unique Ephemeral Keys (UUEKs). Identity is addressed, never stored, removing credential-based fraud exposure at the architectural layer.
Universal Authorization: Where existing networks are siloed by use case — credit cards, ACH or rewards — Mica treats all values natively. Bank accounts, loyalty and coupons can seamlessly orchestrate into a single transaction authorization in under 900 milliseconds.
Intelligence at the Core: Legacy infrastructure moves money and stops, leaving data resolution to third-party software. Mica introduces SKU-level transaction transparency and automated adjudication directly into the network layer.
IV. THIRTY FOR THIRTY
The patents are the proof of work. Thirty times, Christopher, Tim and Alston & Bird put a piece of that infrastructure in front of the patent system — and thirty times, the answer came back the same.
Yes. This is new. This is yours.
With 60+ additional applications pending across ten jurisdictions, the portfolio is still growing.
Building new transaction infrastructure is one of the hardest things a company can attempt. You are asking every participant in an existing ecosystem to change. The people who came in early didn’t just believe in Mica. They’ve staked their reputations on it.
FT Partners, one of fintech’s most respected strategic investment banks.
“When we began working with Mica, it was immediately clear this wasn’t an incremental improvement to existing payment infrastructure — it was a ground-up redesign of how authorization works. The removal of reusable credentials from the transaction flow addresses the structural root cause of problems the industry has spent decades managing around. Reaching 30 issued patents is a meaningful milestone, but what it reflects is more significant: a defensible, novel architecture that incumbents cannot simply replicate. That combination of structural differentiation and a deepening intellectual property portfolio is exactly what we look for when we partner with a category-defining company.”
— Steve McLaughlin, Founder / CEO / Managing Partner, FT Partners
Editor’s note: By the time this article was finished, Mica received five more patents. The total is now 35. There are 60 pending. We’ve stopped being surprised.
Copper rose toward a record on the London Metal Exchange, with soaring price spreads highlighting an increasingly acute squeeze in near-term supply.
The metal’s spot price traded as much as $545 a metric ton above the three-month futures contract, the widest backwardation since a historic squeeze in 2021 prompted the adoption of emergency measures to contain a runaway rally. Other spreads have also surged, and futures are closing in on a $14,500-plus peak reached during a spike in January.
The current supply crunch is being fueled by a surge in shipments to the US in anticipation of a potential decision on import tariffs, while recent tightness in China has also drawn cargoes there. That has led stockpiles across the LME’s global warehousing network to shrink by almost half since mid-May.
Investors were already warming to the metal, whose biggest application is in electrical wiring. They cite longer-term themes of robust demand powered by the energy transition toward electrification, the need to build data centers and infrastructure for artificial intelligence, as well as the mounting industry challenge of finding and funding new mining pits.
The elevated premium for the near-term delivery of copper “points to continued scarcity of available metal,” said Ewa Manthey, a commodities strategist at ING Groep NV. “We expect these supply constraints to keep the market well supported in the near term, particularly if demand remains resilient.”
The fireworks on Monday came at a key moment in the LME’s calendar, just ahead of the third Wednesday of the month, which is the main focus of liquidity in the exchange’s contracts.
Traders and brokers with short positions on that date were trying to cover their positions by buying cash contracts and selling later-dated ones, driving spreads higher, according to market participants. On the other side, owners of metal have been reluctant to relinquish it given the lucrative arbitrage opportunities presented by a surge in US prices on speculation of tariffs.
LME warehouses are a crucial last-resort source of supply to the physical copper industry, and metal in its depots can also be used to close out expiring futures contracts.
Global benchmark three-month futures advanced as much as 1.7% to $14,396 a ton on the LME before paring gains to trade at $14,179 as of 4:09 p.m. in London. The gains build on a seven-week winning streak.
Stockpiles tracked by the LME are currently just above 200,000 tons, the lowest volume since February. On Monday, they rose slightly after a 42-day run of declines, the longest since 2014.
Unbalanced inventories
A quirk of the current situation is that total global inventories are not particularly low, but are concentrated in the US as traders bet on President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on the refined metal. In addition, demand in China is not seen as particularly strong, but smelters there have struggled with feedstock supplies, increasing the need for imports.
The White House has kept the market guessing on plans for levies on refined copper, with no announcement emerging about seven weeks after a deadline for the Commerce Department to make a recommendation. Meanwhile, flows to the US have continued as markets price in a potential tariff.
With the cash-to-three month spread spiking, attention is turning to whether more copper might emerge from China, which often happens during periods of short-term supply pinches.
Among other LME metals, aluminum rose 0.6%, while zinc was up 0.3%, with advances also driven by a weaker US dollar, which aids commodities priced in the currency.
DALLAS, TX / ACCESS Newswire / August 18, 2026 / AIAI Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:AIAI) (“Ai2” or the “Company”), an AI-enabled diversified holding company utilizing Transformational AI (TAI) to enhance portfolio performance, today issues a shareholder letter from CEO Todd Furniss which can be read below.
Fellow Shareholders,
This is our first shareholder letter, and I am excited to share our vision and the foundation we are building for AIAI Holdings.
In just a few months as a public company, we have assembled a terrific Board, an experienced leadership team, established a diversified portfolio of operating businesses, and begun executing the strategy that is driving AIAI Holdings’ momentum with our technology in our operating companies.
Our Nasdaq listing and initial acquisitions were important milestones, but more importantly, they marked the beginning of executing our long-term vision. Our objective is straightforward: acquire businesses with durable fundamentals and create additional value through the integration of Transformational AI (TAI). We believe artificial intelligence creates its greatest impact not as a standalone product, but as a capability embedded within businesses to improve operations, enhance decision-making, and create lasting competitive advantages. We are not a company with a different kind of business model. We are a different kind of company.
Similarly, we are a different kind of a technology company. Specifically, we do not license technology to companies we do not own and we do not provide TAI implementation services to companies we do not own.
One principle defines how we operate: a bias toward action. We move quickly, learn continuously, and refine through execution. Speed is not a slogan for us; it is a competitive advantage.
Foundation Now in Place
On May 14, 2026, AIAI Holdings achieved a significant milestone when our Class A common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “AIAI.” Becoming a public company expands our access to capital, increases our visibility within the investment community, and strengthens our ability to pursue strategic acquisitions aligned with our long-term objectives.
We also assembled a distinguished Board of Directors and together our nine directors bring more than 130 years of combined experience spanning private equity, healthcare, artificial intelligence, data science, regenerative medicine, digital infrastructure, national security, finance, and global diplomacy. Their experience provides valuable oversight as we continue executing a disciplined acquisition strategy while integrating AI starting with our holding company and extending throughout our portfolio.
Executing Our AI Strategy
What differentiates AIAI Holdings is that we do not simply acquire companies, we transform them.
Earlier this quarter, we rolled out our proprietary AI Integration Playbook, a structured framework for identifying, prioritizing, and implementing AI-enabled operational improvements across our portfolio. The process begins with understanding each company’s operations, workflows, and data environment before deploying practical AI solutions designed to achieve the goals of improved efficiency, accelerated growth, and expanded EBITDA.
As I have often said:
“Transformational AI is intelligence grounded in a business’s actual operations, acting as a core driver of value rather than an add-on. At AIAI, we don’t sell this technology, we buy companies and bake it into their DNA, converting complex services into durable cash flows.”
The first implementation of our Playbook is already underway at C.C. Carlton Industries(CCCI), where we introduced Bid Accelerator, a proprietary TAI solution designed to improve estimating speed, consistency, and decision-making. Built using more than 1,500 historical bids representing over $7 billion in aggregate value, the platform identifies patterns that help estimators make better-informed bidding decisions, including what to bid on, what not to bid on and the confidence we have in performing the work on time and on budget. We believe this will enable us to put out more bids each year and win more of the bids we put out which will lead to more revenue and better margins.
Today, CCCI has the highest value of contracted awards in the first six months of a calendar year in its more than thirty-year history. While many factors contribute to operational success, this deployment demonstrates how thoughtfully applied AI can generate measurable business value.
Growing the Portfolio
Alongside our AI initiatives, we continued strengthening the capabilities of our operating companies.
Constellation Network expanded our presence in enterprise blockchain infrastructure and AI security through the launch of Gate AI, an enterprise security and audit gateway designed to help organizations deploy AI with greater transparency and governance. Gate AI also has the benefit of substantially reducing token costs, effectively lowering the cost of AI across every agent and application. The company also introduced Arca Wallet, extending its capabilities into secure consumer digital asset management, privacy and digital evidence. And most recently Constellation commercially launched Dôr Retail Intelligence, a platform for retail commerce that leverages our intelligence technology to help businesses better understand customer demand, improve operational performance and guide smarter decisions.
Within healthcare, MediGuide completed a significant modernization of its technology infrastructure, creating a scalable global healthcare services delivery platform for future AI innovation, redefining personalized healthcare by introducing precision healthcare and longevity solutions that combine advanced medical intelligence, world class physician expertise with AI-enabled clinical decision support. These investments position the business for continued growth while improving its ability to deliver personalized, data-driven care.
Our healthcare platform was further strengthened through Vanguard HCS, expanding our presence in primary care and clinical practice management and creating additional opportunities for organic growth, strategic partnerships, and future acquisitions.
Although these businesses operate in different industries, they all support the same objective: building a portfolio of companies that become more valuable through disciplined operations and the practical application of Transformational AI.
Positioned Now for Stronger Performance
We recently filed our second-quarter results, reporting over $120 million in pro-forma revenue for the first six months of the year from primarily pre-acquisition business within our portfolio.
As we enter the second half of the year, we are increasingly focused on the contributions from the initiatives and TAI implementations already underway, as well as the new product offerings from portfolio companies that I highlighted above.
Additionally, the second half of the year provides a stronger operating backdrop, with the temporary disruptions that impacted the first half largely behind us, positioning the Company for improved performance and momentum.
Based on our current visibility, we believe the second half of the year will operationally outperform the first, positioning us for a growth trajectory as we enter 2027 and beyond.
Looking Ahead
The question I am asked most often is what excites me most about the future. My answer is always the same: our acquisition pipeline and how our technology will redefine those companies we acquire.
Our investment criteria are intentionally disciplined. We seek businesses with positive EBITDA, scalable operations, experienced management teams, and opportunities where Transformational AI can create measurable operational improvements. We are not interested in acquiring companies in the hope that AI may eventually add value. We seek businesses where TAI can be embedded quickly to improve efficiency, strengthen decision-making, and accelerate growth.
The breadth of our Board’s relationships across private equity, technology, healthcare, government, and international markets provides access to opportunities that we believe are both differentiated and difficult to replicate.
We believe that many of the initiatives launched this year will begin contributing to operating and financial performance as they mature in the future, while successful execution remains our highest priority.
We are still at the beginning of our journey, but the foundation is in place. We have a clear strategy, an exceptional team, a growing portfolio of businesses, and a disciplined approach to creating value through Transformational AI.
On behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire AIAI Holdings team, thank you for your confidence, trust, and support. We look forward to updating you as we continue building AIAI Holdings into the leading AI-enabled acquisition platform.
This shareholder letter contains “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking information” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs, and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and plans of the Company. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations, intentions, beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “would,” “could,” “should”, “estimate,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” or “continue,” or similar expressions, including the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.
Forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s current expectations regarding its strategy, plans, intentions, performance, or future occurrences or results, the information on which such expectations were based may change. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company’s control, that could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to our lack of operating history, our ability to attract new investments, our failure to manage growth effectively, our acquisition activities may pose risks that could harm our business, and our licensed AI may not perform up to the expected standards, as well as general business and economic conditions, competitive pressures, regulatory changes, technological developments, and other factors identified in the Company’s most recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Registration Statement on Form S-1, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. Furthermore, the Company operates in a competitive environment where new and unanticipated risks may arise. Accordingly, investors should not place any reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention to, and, except as may be required by law, undertake no obligation to, update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which the Company hereafter become aware. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – August 17, 2026) – West Point Gold Corp. (TSXV: WPG) (OTCQX: WPGCF) (FSE: LRA0) (“West Point Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement and a Royalty Termination and Release Agreement (the “Agreements”) which accelerate the remaining payments, eliminate a future bonus payment, and eliminate the royalty related to 107 Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) lode mining claims forming part of the Company’s Gold Chain Project located in Mohave County, Arizona. These claims include the Black Dyke target where the Company has had recent exploration success (press releases from March 17, 2026 and August 11, 2026), the Bull 8 target (June 4, 2026 press release) and the Gold Chain Hill target.
“The completion of these Agreements starts the process of simplifying the ownership structure of our landholdings at Gold Chain and eliminates future potential royalty and bonus payments related to these 107 claims. With the recent exploration success that we have had at Black Dyke and at Bull 8, the elimination of these future payments is expected to add long-term value,” stated Derek Macpherson, President and CEO.
These Agreements resulted in the acceleration of existing cash payments under the Option Agreement; the extinguishment of the 2% net smelter return royalty (“NSR”) on gold and silver production; and the removal of any bonus cash payment that may have become payable related to the determination of resources in any future Preliminary Economic Assessment compliant with National Instrument 43-101. Total consideration payable under the Agreements comprised a cash payment of US$960,000.
The 107 BLM claims relating to the Agreements comprise the western portion of the Gold Chain Project which hosts the Black Dyke, Bull 8, and Gold Chain Hill prospects. In total, the Gold Chain Project consists of 614 BLM claims covering approximately 4,539 hectares and 15 patented claims covering approximately 114 hectares, including the Tyro, Banner and Sheep Trail claim groups.
Black Dyke Target
Black Dyke has evolved from a historical prospect into a credible second potential resource-development area at Gold Chain, separate from Tyro. Its shallow, oxidized geometry could make it particularly attractive for potential open-pit development if additional drilling establishes sufficient scale and continuity. The zone is located approximately 4km west of the Tyro Main Zone along the Roadside Mine fault, which borders the southwest flank of the Katherine Horst. Geologically, Black Dyke contains a shallow, southwest-dipping vein-breccia system with fragments of chalcedony-rich hydrothermal breccia in a late-stage calcite matrix; the vein is hosted by Precambrian granite and spatially associated with rhyolitic intrusive/volcanic rocks. Alteration and vein textures observed in the shallow drilling suggest additional potential exists at depth, which remains largely untested. Initial RC drilling has defined a shallow-dipping zone of quartz veinlets and breccia approximately 7.6 to 36.6 m thick, extending for at least 200m along strike and approximately 250m down-dip. Importantly, mineralization begins at or near surface, is largely oxidized, and remains open to the west and down-dip to the southwest. Initial drilling returned encouraging, relatively consistent widths and grades, highlighted by 36.6 m at 1.04 g/t Au (GC26-095) from surface, 21.3 m at 0.92 g/t Au (GC26-098), 7.6 m at 1.56 g/t Au (GC26-099), and 12.2 m at 1.09 g/t Au (GC26-101).
Bull 8 Target
Bull 8 is an early-stage gold discovery located approximately 6 km northwest of the Tyro Zone. The prospect occurs along the northwest-trending Union Pass Fault Corridor characterized by strongly sheared, brecciated and altered Precambrian granite cut by fault-bounded dikes. Historical pits, adits and trenches occur throughout the prospect, with surface samples returning up to 2.09 g/t Au. Widespread quartz veining, hydrothermal alteration and anomalous gold occur along the broader Union Pass Fault Corridor, which extends for roughly 12 km across the property and is interpreted as a major structural control on the broader Gold Chain mineralizing system. The 2026 drilling consisted of six RC holes totalling 856 m, with gold mineralization intersected in every hole. The standout result was GC26-136: 21.4 m at 1.01 g/t Au, including an estimated 18 m true width, beginning at 71.6 m depth. A second hole, GC26-130, returned 12.2 m at 0.41 g/t Au from only 6.1 m depth, demonstrating that mineralization also occurs close to surface.
Gold Chain Hill Target
Gold Chain Hill is a historical gold prospect within the broader Roadside Mine structural corridor and represents another potential near-surface bulk-tonnage target outside of the Tyro Main Zone. Historical drilling returned a notable intercept of approximately 52.0 m grading 0.53 g/t Au (Fischer Watt, 1986), demonstrating broad gold mineralization at potentially economic grades. The target is characterized by quartz-chalcedony stockwork and breccia hosted within strongly silicified rhyolite and surrounding Precambrian granite. Mapping has identified a close relationship between gold mineralization and rhyolite dikes, a feature also observed throughout the Gold Chain project area. Gold occurs in surface exposures while historical drilling indicates that the mineralized system continues at depth.
Qualified Person
Robert Johansing, M.Sc. Econ. Geol., P. Geo., the Company’s Vice President, Exploration, is a qualified person (“QP”) as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release. Mr. Johansing has also been responsible for overseeing all phases of the drilling program, including logging, labelling, bagging and transport from the project to American Assay Laboratories of Sparks, Nevada. Drillholes have a diameter of about 10cm, and samples have an approximate weight of 5 to 10kg. Samples were then dried, crushed and split, and pulp samples were prepared for analysis. Gold was determined by fire assay with an ICP finish, and over-limit samples were determined by fire assay and gravimetric finish. Silver plus 15 other elements were determined by Aqua Regia ICP-AES (IM-2A16), and over-limit samples were determined by fire assay and gravimetric finish. Both certified standards and blanks were inserted on site along with duplicates, standards and blanks inserted by American Assay. The results summarized above have been carefully reviewed with reference to the QA/QC results. Standard sample chain of custody procedures were employed during drilling and sampling campaigns until delivery to the analytical facility.
The QP has not completed sufficient work to verify the historical information received on the Black Dyke, Bull 8 and Gold Chain Hill targets, particularly with regard to historical drill results. However, the QP believes that prior drilling and analytical results were completed to industry standard practices at the time they were drilled.
About West Point Gold Corp.
West Point Gold is an exploration and development company focused on unlocking value across four strategically located projects along the prolific Walker Lane Trend in Nevada and Arizona, USA, providing shareholders with exposure to multiple discovery opportunities across one of North America’s most productive gold regions. The Company’s near-term priority is advancing its flagship Gold Chain Project in Arizona.
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Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company’s future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. The use of any of the words “could”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”, “will”, “projected”, “estimated” and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company’s current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events including, among others, assumptions about future prices of gold, silver, and other metal prices, currency exchange rates and interest rates, timing of the Company’s maiden resource estimate, favourable operating conditions, political stability, obtaining government approvals and financing on time, obtaining renewals for existing licenses and permits and obtaining required licenses and permits, labour stability, stability in market conditions, availability of equipment, availability of drill rigs, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to West Point Gold’s ability to complete any payments or expenditures required under the Company’s various option agreements for its projects; and other risks and uncertainties relating to the actual results of current exploration activities, the uncertainties related to resources estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections in relation to production, costs and expenses; risks relating to grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the uncertainties involved in interpreting drill results and other exploration data; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; uncertainty related to the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results may vary from those expected; statements about expected results of operations, royalties, cash flows, financial position may not be consistent with the Company’s expectations due to accidents, equipment breakdowns, title and permitting matters, labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in operations, fluctuating metal prices, unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future and regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions. The possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with adjacent properties and the Company’s expectations; operational risks and hazards inherent with the business of mining (including environmental accidents and hazards, industrial accidents, equipment breakdown, unusual or unexpected geological or structural formations, cave-ins, flooding and severe weather); metal price fluctuations; environmental and regulatory requirements; availability of permits, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; fluctuating gold prices; possibility of equipment breakdowns and delays, exploration cost overruns, availability of capital and financing, general economic, political risks, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in the filings on SEDAR made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this corporate press release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities legislation.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
