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ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – After Experimenting With #Bitcoin and #Ethereum, #DocuSign Is Accelerating its Blockchain Ambitions $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:53 AM on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2019

SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap exits. Click Here For More Information.

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After Experimenting With Bitcoin and Ethereum, DocuSign Is Accelerating its Blockchain Ambitions

Business team two executive shaking hands after a meeting and conference to sign agreement and become partner in the office, results of their successful teamwork, contract between their firms.

  • Since its founding in 2003, firms of all sizes and industries have relied on the company to streamline the contract process through its best-in class security, identity authentication, user interface, and integration with leading business suites.
  • Today DocuSign has 500 thousand paying customers, and it earned over $700 million in revenue last year.
  • Company also joined the Accord Project, an open-source software initiative that was established to develop a technology stack for smart agreements.

By: Steven Ehrlich

Famed cryptographer Nick Szabo may have coined the term “smart contract” back in 1994, but DocuSign can make a compelling case for being its true inventor. Since its founding in 2003, firms of all sizes and industries have relied on the company to streamline the contract process through its best-in class security, identity authentication, user interface, and integration with leading business suites. Today DocuSign has 500 thousand paying customers, and it earned over $700 million in revenue last year.

However, the company is not resting on its laurels and instead is seeking ways to improve its service offerings, with much of this experimentation incorporating blockchain technology. Over the last few years this testing has included trials, demos, and partnerships on both Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company also joined the Accord Project, an open-source software initiative that was established to develop a technology stack for smart agreements. Furthermore, last week the company invested in a $5.5 million Series A round for smart contract provider Clause alongside Galaxy Digital with the goal of making contracts on their DocuSign Agreement Cloud “self-executing” and “self-aware” in an ongoing fashion, rather than just one moment in time.

Given the core facets of DocuSign’s business and its research into blockchain technology and smart contracts, the San Francisco-based company is in an unrivaled position to assess their utility and applicability to the needs of today’s businesses. Still, the road to blockchain adoption has not been a straight line, and the company’s plans face many of the same hurdles that other potential adopters are trying to clear. To better understand DocuSign’s future direction, I had an opportunity to speak with Ron Hirson, DocuSign Chief Product Officer, who shed additional light on these endeavors, provided context for the company’s investment in Clause, and offered expectations for how blockchain will impact the company moving forward.

DocuSign’s Blockchain Strategy Began in 2015

When individuals think of major enterprise users of blockchain, the first companies that come to mind often include blue-bloods such as Facebook, IBM, and JP Morgan. However, DocuSign has been experimenting with the technology since 2015, when it built a “smart-contract meets smart-asset meets smart-payment” demo with Visa on top of the Bitcoin blockchain. According to Ron, the collaboration aimed to determine whether they could utilize Bitcoin so that a user could “buy a car while sitting in the car”, and have it start provided that the buyer’s insurance was up to date.

Then in 2018, the company joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), a 250+ member global organization that builds open standards aimed at promoting the adoption of Ethereum-based blockchain applications. As part of this partnership, DocuSign created a pilot where clients could store a hash, or a cryptographic fingerprint, of a completed agreement on the public Ethereum blockchain as an independent system of record for interested parties.

Initial Forays Offered a Glimpse of Blockchain’s Potential, but Also Challenges

However, as exciting as these experiments were, neither went mainstream for reasons that will ring familiar to active followers of the enterprise blockchain space. According to Ron, the POC with Visa was primarily an opportunity to learn, and the Bitcoin blockchain was chosen because it was by far the most prominent platform in 2015 (remember Ethereum did not officially launch until July 30, 2015), even if it was not tailor-made for this use case. Even then Bitcoin’s limitations in functionality, data storage, and throughput were well known to industry observers.

It is perhaps for these reasons that the company joined the EEA in 2018 and built its second project on top of Ethereum. However, despite more functionality, the pilot did not gain widespread adoption because customers already felt comfortable with DocuSign serving as a store of record. Ron made it very clear in his conversations to me that most customers did not see a need for an independent audit trail. He also noted that education was not a problem, as he and the company “pitched this broadly, stood on stage, screamed from the mountaintops, about that we have this capability, and the uptake from customers who are interested in it is fairly low because they don’t see the need.”

Speaking more broadly about DocuSign’s global customer base and blockchain’s shortcomings to this point, Ron underscored the massive challenge facing technologists and blockchain enthusiasts. He provided a hypothetical about a client trying to meet its sales goal before the end of a quarter. Putting himself in the customer’s shoes he said “I can’t rely on an open source system that may or may be available, may or may not have the latency that I need, and oh my gosh it is way too expensive to store all these files. Plus, there is no compelling UI for me to engage in these kinds of systems.”

Undaunted and Moving Ahead With a Clearer Vision

In spite of this feedback, Ron and the rest of the company believe in the potential that blockchain technology has for its product lines, and it is continuing to drive forward. However, from these initial experiments, it became clear to the team at DocuSign that for blockchain technology to transform their business and deliver client value, the benefits from the technology must move far beyond “nice to have”. In a sense, the company would need to find a value proposition that was unavailable before the invention of blockchain technology.

Rationale for the Clause Investment

It is for this reason that as reported last week it invested in smart-contract technology provider Clause. The startup has built a promising business by leveraging its platform to enable users to add smart clauses to documents that automate business processes, workflows, and digital transactions. What this means in layman’s terms is that contacts that utilize Clause’s technology can run in the background until a specified date, time, or event and execute when a certain condition is met. In my conversations with Ron, he highlighted a demo that the company unveiled at its annual Momentum 2019 conference last month, whereby this new platform could be utilized to authenticate new drivers for a ride-sharing platform on an ongoing and persistent basis.

This speaks to the true potential of this collaboration. DocuSign is in many ways the epicenter of complex business processes that take place behind the scenes when a contract is signed. By incorporating these “smart clauses” into future contracts a lot of this work can become automated, removing middlemen such as title or escrow agents, offering a more streamlined and efficient process for all involve parties to an agreement all the way through to payment.

An Auspicious Start, but Many Challenges Ahead

It is clear that DocuSign is setting its sights much higher this time. However, much still needs to be developed regarding this partnership, including which platforms it will run on, the first use cases, and an initial set of customers. Within this context it is important to note that Clause’s code can run on top of any blockchain or non-blockchain platform. Additionally, the collaborators will still need to find solutions for the scalability, accessibility, and security problems noted above, not to mention solving these challenges with the elegant user interfaces that its customers have come to expect. Being able to work on top of multiple blockchains should help.

Additionally, the partners will need to find and utilize oracles that never go down and cannot be hacked or manipulated. For readers unfamiliar with the term, oracles are data feeds that smart contracts rely on to determine when a condition is met that would cause the contract to self-execute. Today, there is no foolproof way to prove the fidelity of an oracle, and it is a long-standing problem that blockchains cannot differentiate between good and bad data being fed into the system. For a partnership like this to truly succeed they will need to find a solution, which is something that the partners dutifully acknowledge.

Solving these challenges will require heavy lifting, and in recognition of the size of this undertaking DocuSign has a product manager and entire engineering team focused on the technology. Therefore, it seems unlikely that lack of resources will be an issue, boding well for the future. After all, the prize is big enough to justify the cost, because if the collaborators succeed, this partnership has the potential to impact every industry under the sun.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2019/07/01/after-experimenting-with-bitcoin-and-ethereum-docusign-is-accelerating-its-blockchain-ambitions/#6395c3a55a32

Enthusiast Gaming $EGLX.ca – The rise of #Esports in Canada $EPY.ca $FDM.ca $WINR $TCEHF $ATVI $TNA.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 9:00 PM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019

SPONSOR: Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. (TSX-V: EGLX) Uniting gaming communities with 80 owned and affiliated websites, currently reaching over 75 million monthly visitors. The company exceeded 2018 target with $11.0 million in revenue. Learn More

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EGLX: TSX-V
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Esports is gaining ground among sports enthusiasts in Canada. Now, for the first time, players have a new place to call home.

Source: https://globalnews.ca/video/5448705/the-rise-of-esports-in-canada

CLIENT FEATURE: NORTHBUD $NBUD.ca – Canada on Verge of CA$2.7 Billion Infused #Cannabis Market $WEED.ca $CGC $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $HEXO.ca $TRST.ca $OGI.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:49 PM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019

WHY NORTHBUD FARMS?

  • Canadian regulatory door for CIP (Cannabinoid Infused Products) is opening this year
    As shown in other legal jurisdictions (Colorado, Washington, Nevada, California)
  • Infused products sector has become the highest margin segment of the industry
  • Positioned to be a raw input producer for this space
  • Currently working with multiple food, beverage and science companies to provide safe standardized cannabinoid infused raw inputs for large scale GMP manufacturing of products

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

North Bud Farms Signs Binding Letter of Intent to Acquire Nevada Botanical Science

  • Transaction valued at USD$7 million
  • Medical and adult use licenses for cultivation extraction and distribution.
  • NBS currently operates a 5,000 sq. ft. indoor cultivation facility and have been approved for expansion of up to 100,000 sq. ft.
  • Located in Reno, Nevada

North Bud Farms Signs Binding Letter of Intent to Enter U.S. Market with Strategic Acquisition of Multi-State Licensed Operator Eureka Vapor

  • Transaction valued at CAD$20 million
  • In 2018, Eureka recognized revenue of approximately CAD$11.5 million*
    • net profit margin of 16%* from its California and Colorado operations
  • Anticipates further growth in revenue due to anticipated changes to retail regulation of adult cannabis use in California.

Justin Braune, CEO of Eureka Vapor, joins Scott to share the company’s background and why Eureka was an ideal match for North Bud. Watch until the end to hear Justin’s predictions on Federal de-regulation in the US.

FULL DISCLOSURE: NORTHBUD is an advertising client of AGORA Internet Relations Corp.

BetterU Education Corp. $BTRU.ca – Govt must help unleash the massive potential of #EdTech in #India $ARCL $CPLA $BPI $FC.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:30 AM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
SPONSOR:  Betteru Education Corp. Connecting global leading educators to the mass population of India. BetterU Education has ability to reach 100 MILLION potential learners each week. Click here for more information.
BTRU: TSX-V

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Govt must help unleash the massive potential of EdTech in India

A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of opportunities for EdTech market players to enter with the promise of customisation and efficiency.

  • Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised globally
  • India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up.
  • As the global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived, accessed, and utilized.

Aditi Bhutoria

Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised globally, with four of the nation’s start-ups being selected as a part of 30 global finalists for the ‘Next Billion EdTech Prize 2019’ awarded by UK-based Varkey Foundation. India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up. As the global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived, accessed, and utilised.

With the largest young demography in the world that is getting increasingly mobile-friendly and technologically connected, the Indian EdTech market has a huge opportunity at hand. Indian start-ups can be at the centre of this technological change, driving innovation to help a young nation reach its demographic potential.

A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of opportunities for market players to enter with the promise of customisation and efficiency. Distortions in the schooling systems, such as weak teacher incentives or outdated pedagogies, undermine student learning and much of the impact of increasing existing educational spending.

Here, technology-assisted innovations designed to address these distortions are making quality teaching accessible for all, raising learning levels, and increasing test scores, at a low cost. Moreover, the present EdTech start-ups are striving to make ‘learning fun’ despite different distractions surrounding students.

The disruptive innovation in this space is to encourage voluntary self-learning rather than crammed or forced learning that focuses on rote memorisation. Personalised e-learning solutions including step-by-step learning methods, animated graphics, or blended teaching approaches are making hard concepts easier to understand.

Favourable investment regulations support capital flows, with 100 per cent foreign direct investment permissible in the Indian education sector, protecting it from the plausible sickness of over-governance. The EdTech market, thus, functions as an economic system where supply and demand regulate its dealings. Such a market is characterised by freedom of choice and free enterprise. Private entrepreneurs are free to sell teaching-learning goods and services to a target groups of their choice. Learners (or consumers) are free to buy those goods and services that best satisfy their wants and needs. However, what drives this space is competition. Competition ensures greater quality and lower prices for education courses or products for the learners.

In such a market, China has emerged as a leader with an establishment of 97 new unicorn companies in 2018 alone. The reasons could be that Chinese parents are apprised about the importance of education, the country has a massive population, and there is strong government support. While India is similar to China in terms of having benefits of demography and scale, the market conditions and government support levels in our country are different.

On the supply side, the most nagging barrier to growth in the Indian EdTech market is that undertaking new ventures or sustaining existing ones remains costly. There are fixed costs to entry and the returns to education can be small in the short-run, with benefits only reaped in the medium- and long-run. For instance, the Indian EdTech industry has about 3,500 companies operating at present with only around 274 backed by investors. Of these, only 52 ventures have received cumulated funding of greater than $1 million. This presents a starkly different business landscape compared to our Chinese neighbours.

Education has positive externalities, which means that gains from the education of a child or adult accrues not only to them but also to other members of their family, society, and nation. Thus, a conducive policy can focus not just on providing financial impetus to EdTech ventures but also improving the productivity of educational investment, through non-pecuniary support such as entrepreneurial training, strong mentoring, or recognition.

Further, the multi-faceted nature of the Indian EdTech market has to be studied in detail to differentiate between different types of products, value created, and impacts of the same. For instance, EdTech is not just e-learning; e-learning is only a small part of a very diverse sector.

Overall, the B2B (business-to-business) EdTech market in India is fragmented with buyers like government, high-budget and affordable-private schools all functioning under varied regulations.

If the government can leverage on its public-school ecosystem to be more open towards smart solutions and better integrate technologically-driven learning opportunities for students, there can be a shift in how EdTech is perceived by the society and would drastically improve the existing market opportunities.

Finally, research and evaluation should be planned and used to make evidence-based decisions on: which EdTech solutions work and which don’t? As a way ahead, initiatives such as StartUp India can provide increased emphasis on EdTech start-ups that are solving the most challenging education problems in a cost-effective manner. Further, integration of AI with education has already been recognised in the current government’s vision; but AI solutions in education need to be constructively expanded and rigorously tested.

Overall, with the stage being set through diverse offerings of innovative products by the Indian EdTech industry, the government must take the initiative to sustain these innovations so as to unleash its massive social and economic potential.

Aditi Bhutoria is assistant professor, Public Policy and Management Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Views are personal.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/policy-govt-must-help-unleash-the-massive-potential-of-edtech-in-india-4145861.html

ThreeD Capital Inc. $IDK.ca – Is #Google $GOOG Chasing The 90% Potential Of #Blockchain That #Facebook $FB Left Out? $HIVE.ca $BLOC.ca $CODE.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 10:46 AM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019

SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap exits. Click Here For More Information.

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Is Google Chasing The 90% Potential Of Blockchain That Facebook Left Out?

  • Regardless of your viewpoint on Facebook’s Libra program, it’s a significant stepping stone for the adoption of cryptocurrency
  • Facebook has it is repertoire a bank of over two billion users who will soon be exposed to the world of tokens and cryptocurrency

Darryn Pollock Contributor

Regardless of your viewpoint on Facebook’s Libra program, it’s a significant stepping stone for the adoption of cryptocurrency. Facebook has it is repertoire a bank of over two billion users who will soon be exposed to the world of tokens and cryptocurrency.

However, outside of tokenomics, there is a lot more power in the blockchain, especially in regards to smart contracts. Thus, a recent partnership between Google and Chainlink, a company that provides on ramps and off ramps for information necessary to run smart contracts, may hint at Google wanting a bigger slice of the pie.

So far in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, it has been tokens that have dominated in terms of usefulness. Bitcoin, as a prime example, is a blockchain token that has shown the most application, and garnered the most excitement from individuals.

This tokenized economy opens massive doors in terms of the transfer of value without the need for intermediaries, or the handbrake that banking regulations bring in, but it is only one piece of the pie.

In this nascent space, there are tokens, and then there is the blockchain proper with its smart contract applications offering huge potential. For enterprises and business, smart contracts offer far more than tokens can – but tokens are far more attractive for individuals.

Facebook, as a company serving individuals, is looking at taking tokens forward, but Google may well be looking to the enterprises. By honing in on smarter smart contracts, Google could well be tapping into the other 90 percent of blockchain’s potential.

Looking to make smart contracts smarter

Google’s decision to partner with Chainlink allows for Ethereum app builders using Google software to be able to integrate data from sources outside the blockchain.

Chainlink offers a service called an oracle to integrate additional data into on-chain smart contracts. This adds another layer to the capabilities of these contracts, allowing processes to be implemented directly on the blockchain.

Essentially, the smart contracts are being made a lot smarter as the data used to execute can be integrated from more than just within the blockchain. It is a small step for Google, but it could be hinting at their general heading in the blockchain space.

Chainlink CEO, Sergey Nazarov, spoke to Forbes about the value of smart contracts in the blockchain space.

“Our space is stuck in two dimensions. One is that we are really focused on tokens because tokens are the only real functionality blockchains have, to date,” Nazarov said.

“It is very useful functionality, and from the amount of attention that one simple piece of functionality has gotten, it says a lot of really positive things about what other contracts can be viewed as.”

“Tokens are the email of our space, and I think all the other applications require a certain amount of infrastructure. The idea is that to build useful applications we need to be able to connect them to what they need to consume, and what they need to generate.”

“So, for the people at Google, they are looking at the two directions. One direction is heavy tokens, which is fine, and then the other direction asks: ‘what else can blockchains do?’ and my sincere opinion is that tokens are maybe 10 percent of what this stuff can do.”

“I think the difference between Facebook and Google is that Facebook may have a real interest in payment and crypto stuff, but Google may have an interest in building these highly useful contracts by building useful infrastructure to make that possible.”

Google catching up

Google, as one of the world’s leading technology companies, has been viewed as somewhat behind the eightball in the blockchain space. In comparison to IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and the likes, Google is playing catch up.

However, Nazarov confirms that there is a growing interest from the internet giant.

“There are people in Google that are very interested in blockchain,” he added. “The thing with Google is that it is very focused, and they have their systems and processes that lead them to success in a focused way. There are people in Google, and official positions, that I know of that are related to blockchains – and I have seen an increase in that since a year ago.”

With Google taking a more active role in the blockchain space, their focus looks to be enterprise-based, and on what blockchain can do besides offering tokens.

Nazarov goes on to explain that in the world of contracts, only 10 to 20 percent make up an exchange of value. It means that there is a gaping hole of blockchain potential that needs to be realized.

“Think about how this looks from an enterprise point of view,” Nazarov said. “Realistically, all the contracts – financial contracts – in the world, 10 -20 percent is about ownership and transfer. That covers tokens, which is all very useful in itself, but it also shows that a reliable method of doing that is extremely valuable.

“Then the question becomes – ‘if all we can do today is ownership’ – what is the other 80 percent in contracts? And the other 80 percent is what we are talking about. What we work on is trying to get that other 80 percent to function, and for that, we need to work on more than application, we need to build an environment for the application to exist in.”

An efficient blockchain environment

Nazarov uses an example of Uber to express how building this application environment can make things better for enterprises, and again hints at why Google is interested in partnering with Chainlink.

In Uber, there is a mapping application which needed to be integrated for the driver; there is the need for messaging between drivers and customers; there is a payment application for both customers and to pay drivers. All of these applications operate within the Uber app, but they were all not created by Uber.

In other words, the Uber environment houses many applications. And, in the blockchain space, with smart contracts that have the power to reach data from sources outside the blockchain, an enterprise environment is far more natural to build, and a lot more efficient.

A complex heading

Of course, there is no set roadmap from Google indicating that they are looking to be the leaders in functional, enterprise smart contract blockchain. However, their heading does seem to be more focused on the other 90 percent of blockchain potential.

Chainlink is trying to make smart contracts smarter, and more useable in common sense. If Google is looking to partner with them for their work, they must have a desire to be a part of that potential.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2019/07/02/is-google-chasing-the-90-potential-of-blockchain-that-facebook-left-out/#60248afd3185

Marijuana Company of America $MCOA Provides Update on Viva Buds, Its #Cannabis Delivery Service $AERO $CBDS $CGRW $APH.ca $GBLX $ACG $ACB $WEED.ca $HIP.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:32 AM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
15233 mcoa
  • Announced that the Company’s manufacturing and distribution facility for its Viva Buds cannabis delivery service is expected to be completed and fully functional by August 2019.
  • Announced in April that it had acquired a 20% ownership interest in Natural Plant Extract of California to establish a joint venture to create Viva Buds Inc., a unique cannabis delivery service based in Los Angeles, California.

ESCONDIDO, Calif., July 02, 2019 – MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA INC. (“MCOA” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, today announced that the Company’s manufacturing and distribution facility for its Viva Buds cannabis delivery service is expected to be completed and fully functional by August 2019.

MCOA announced in April that it had acquired a 20% ownership interest in Natural Plant Extract of California (“NPE”) to establish a joint venture to create Viva Buds Inc., a unique cannabis delivery service based in Los Angeles, California.

“We are making tremendous progress through our partnership with NPE and the rollout of our licensed cannabis manufacturing facility,” said Mr. Edward Manolos, Board Member of MCOA. “Our commitment to compliance will put Viva Buds ahead of the competition in California at a time when many license holders are still awaiting permits. Such permits are difficult to attain for manufacturers currently using volatile extraction methodologies, due to stringent regulations on California’s Manufactured Cannabis Safety.”

“Our joint venture partnership with NPE will allow us to become more competitive within the bourgeoning cannabis industry in Southern California,” said Mr. Don Steinberg, CEO of MCOA. “Once completed and launched, Viva Buds will offer consumers a line of high-quality products at low prices along with the ability to build their own personal cannabis business.”

The Lynwood, California manufacturing facility is licensed for the volatile manufacturing, distribution and retail delivery of cannabis products. NPE’s volatile manufacturing process is an efficient and cost-effective extraction process that will help distinguish NPE from others that use extraction.

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.
MCOA is a corporation that participates in: (1) product research and development of legal hemp-based consumer products under the brand name “hempSMART™â€, that targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated for medicinal and recreational use; and, (4) the expansion of its business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment mature and develop.

About Natural Plant Extracts of California
NPE is a fully licensed cannabis manufacturing, distribution and non-store front retail delivery. The Company has secured its licenses with the state of California and city of Lynwood, CA. For more information about the Company, please visit its website at https://nldistribution.com

The owners and founders of NPE are marijuana industry veterans with decades of experience in establishing retail, manufacturing and distribution of cannabis in California, including obtaining the first retail dispensary licenses in Los Angeles, CA.

Legal Status of Cannabis
While legalized in California for recreational and medicinal use, cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. § 811) and illegal under the federal law.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” which are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities and words such as “anticipate”, “seek”, “intend”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, or similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov.

Contact:
[email protected]
888-777-4362

Corporate Communications Contact: 
NetworkNewsWire (NNW)
New York, New York
www.NetworkNewsWire.com 
212.418.1217 Office 
[email protected] 

For more information, please visit the Company’s websites at:

MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com
hempSMART.com
NetworkNewsWire/MCOA

Esports Entertainment Group $GMBL – #Hershey is gravitating toward opportunities in #Esports $TECHF $ATVI $TTWO $GAME $EPY.ca $FDM.ca $TNA.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:41 PM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment $GMBL Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing agreements with 190 Esports teams. Click here for more information
GMBL: OTCQB

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Hershey is gravitating toward opportunities in esports

  • Twitch, the No.1 streaming site for gamers, touts 15 million unique daily visitors, and over 2.2 million creators who live stream their gameplay.
  • The global esports audience is projected to hit 600 million by 2023 — up from 281 million just three years ago, per Business Insider Intelligence estimates.
  • And revenue will rise with it: Global esports revenue is forecasted to reach $2.96billion by 2022, up from $869 million in 2018.

Mariel Soto Reyes

The Hershey Company is looking to reach non-traditional audiences through esports, per Digiday. Hershey has traditionally allocated the bulk of its media spend to traditional TV advertising, but it’s increasingly diversifying its media spend beyond traditional TV and into more digital spaces. The esports phenomenon has opened up a channel to reach hundreds of millions of eyeballs worldwide.

Business Insider Intelligence

Hershey is increasingly investing in esports as it looks to tap into audiences its traditional buys likely miss — in particular millennial and Gen Z males under age 25. Hershey decided to ramp up its commitment to the fast-growing space after seeing younger audiences flock to streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube to engage with gamers live-streaming their sessions.

Twitch, the No.1 streaming site for gamers, touts 15 million unique daily visitors, and over 2.2 million creators who live stream their gameplay. The global esports audience is projected to hit 600 million by 2023 — up from 281 million just three years ago, per Business Insider Intelligence estimates. And revenue will rise with it: Global esports revenue is forecasted to reach $2.96billion by 2022, up from $869 million in 2018.

There are three primary methods for brands to advertise in esports:

  • Event sponsorships. While brands can reach esports viewers by advertising on streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube, they can also reach millions of esports event attendees and viewers by sponsoring major live competitions. For instance, 200million viewers tuned into the League of Legends World Championship in 2018 — nearly double the number that watched the Super Bowl that year, which clocked in at about 98 million viewers. That same event sold 23,000 tickets in under four hours, with game owner Riot releasing an additional 3,000 to meet the overwhelming demand.
  • Direct advertising on sites like Twitch. Many brands have taken to running ads on alongside gaming content on the top video streaming platforms for live gameplay. For instance, Wendy’s designed an interactive ad-campaign which ran on Twitch, and Nike has even debuted new shoes on the site.
  • Influencer brand partnerships. Gaming influencers inspire intense trust and loyalty among their followings: If a gaming influencer recommends hardware, their fans are likely to purchase that gear, and if they recommend food or eat something while playing, their fans might also follow suit. In fact, Hershey’s first foray into esports was a partnership with top gamers “Ninja” ( 5 million Twitch followers), and “DrLupo” ( 3.4 million Twitch followers) to launch its Reese’s Pieces candy bar at gamer event TwitchCon (like Comic-Con, but for video games). Likewise, Axe partnered with “Cizzorz” — part of the popular FazeClan esports team — to run a promotional contest where fans could upload a live-action clip of themselves gaming to Instagram or Twitter and be entered to win a feature on the gamer’s channel and the opportunity to attend VidCon with him.

As the global esports market explodes, I expect opportunities for brand partnerships and advertisements to trace a similar path. And it’s likely that brands get increasingly creative with their attempts to win a piece of the space. Already, brands like Kellogg — which launched a new cereal dubbed “Lucio-Oh’s,” based on a popular Overwatchcharacter — are experimenting with their approaches to the gaming world.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/hershey-gravitates-to-esports-opportunities-2019-6

North Bud Farms Inc. $NBUD.ca – #Cannabis industry expects bump in sales for #Canada Day long weekend $WEED.ca $CGC $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $HEXO.ca $TRST.ca $OGI.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 2:00 PM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019

SPONSOR: North Bud Farms Inc. (NBUD:CSE) Sustainable low cost, high quality cannabinoid production and procurement focusing on both bio-pharmaceutical development and Cannabinoid Infused Products. Learn More.

NBUD: CSE

—————

Cannabis industry expects bump in sales for Canada Day long weekend

  • Canada Day long weekend is no longer mostly the preserve of the liquor industry, say some of the country’s cannabis retailers.
  • More of the pie for that flag-waving party is being carved out by legal pot sellers as the first post-legalization national birthday approaches, says an online cannabis information resource.

By: Bill Kaufmann

The Canada Day long weekend is no longer mostly the preserve of the liquor industry, say some of the country’s cannabis retailers.

More of the pie for that flag-waving party is being carved out by legal pot sellers as the first post-legalization national birthday approaches, says an online cannabis information resource.

A survey commissioned by Leafly Canada suggests 25 per cent of Alberta adults plan to embark on a cannabis buzz this long weekend, among the highest in the country.

“That’s one in four compared to one in five (nationally),” said Jo Vos, managing director of Leafly Canada, which commissioned the poll of 1,513 people conducted last week by Maru/Blue.

That’s due largely to the proliferation of pot shops in Alberta that now number up to 136, leading the nation by a wide margin, she said.

“Alberta and Atlantic Canada are leading the country in plans to consume this weekend,” said Vos.

Among millennials surveyed — those aged 22 to 37 — a whopping 33 per cent said they plan to toke up or consume edibles on Canada’s 152nd anniversary weekend.

The latest Statistics Canada figures on cannabis consumption suggest 15 per cent of Canadians reported using pot in the past three months, with 19 per cent planning to consume it over the next three months.

“That was a similar percentage to what was reported before legalization,” states StatsCan.

Those numbers rise to 33 per cent among those aged 18 to 24.

Cannabis information clearing house Leafly is confident legalization is pushing cannabis use into the mainstream when weekends approach, said Vos.

“We believe consumption patterns will continue to shift and there’s a broader awareness of cannabis as an option,” she said, adding those follow the lines of booze consumption.

“We know there are behaviour patterns very similar to alcohol in the lead-up to weekends.”

There are even “very compelling” indications that cannabis could displace some alcohol use, added Vos.

It was illegal but now there’s a freedom,Mark Goliger

Some statistics on alcohol sales in Canada show they haven’t decreased since pot legalization, but some predict that might happen when cannabis-infused beverages come on the market at year’s end.

Vos acknowledged marketing the newly legalized product is a much tougher task than that facing the alcohol industry, whose wares can be promoted openly on a host of platforms, including newspaper ads and street signage.

Legalization has grown Canadian cannabis demand “but not exponentially,” said Mark Goliger, CEO of National Access Cannabis (NAC), which operates 15 stores in Alberta.

But he said the first summer long weekend following prohibition’s end will likely see a spike in people consuming pot, and those who do should feel no stigma.

“It was illegal but now there’s a freedom,” said Goliger.

“Long weekends are a time for people to relax and enjoy more of everything, whether it’s food, friends, drinks, cannabis and, hopefully, sunshine.”

NAC recently announced revenues of $40 million since legalization, through its NewLeaf Cannabis stores in Alberta and other outlets in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

“We’d love to have been further ahead but with the (now-ended) moratorium on new stores in Alberta, supply problems, with Ontario going to a lottery system for new stores and B.C. not going as fast as we’d like, it’s impacted things,” he said.

Cannabis retailers expect to sell plenty of the green stuff on the first Canada Day long weekend since legalization.Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Source: https://calgarysun.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/cannabis-industry-eyes-long-weekend-sales-with-survey-claiming-25-usage-rate/wcm/2f66cd9e-628c-421c-bfec-e1d8da91fa9d

New Age Metals $NAM.ca Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the River Valley #PGM Project in Sudbury $WG.ca $XTM.ca $WM.ca $PDL.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 11:31 AM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019
New age large
  • Life of mine (LOM) of 14 years, with 6 million tonnes annually of potential process plant feed at an average grade of 0.88 g/t Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) and process recovery rate of 80%, resulting in an annual average payable Pd production of 119,000 ounces
  • Pre-Production capital requirements: $495 M
  • Undiscounted cash flow before income and mining taxes of $586M
  • Undiscounted cash flow after income and mining taxes of $384M

June 27th, 2019 – Rockport, Canada – New Age Metals Inc. (NAM) (TSX.V: NAM; OTCQB: NMTLF; FSE: P7J.F) Harry Barr, Chairman & CEO, stated; “We are pleased to update our shareholders and interested parties as to the results of the initial Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the company’s 100% owned River Valley PGM Project in Sudbury, Ontario Canada. The PEA has been developed by various independent consultants – P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (P&E) was responsible for the open pit mining, surface infrastructure, tailings facility, and project economics; DRA Americas Inc. (“DRA”) was responsible for all metallurgical test work and processing aspects of the Project; and WSP Canada Inc. (“WSP”) was responsible for the Mineral Resource Estimate. The PEA demonstrates positive economics for a large-scale mining open pit operation, with 14 years of Palladium and Platinum production.”

Go-Forward Plan: In order to enhance the Project, the PEA has outlined a phased work approach to completing a Pre-Feasibility study. This includes advanced metallurgical testing to improve / confirm process recoveries and more accurately estimate concentrate grades, geotechnical logging of drill core, with new geotechnical holes to create a 3D geomechanical block model and estimate pit wall angles, hydrogeological studies that will estimate water inflows to the open pits and generate a site water and management plan. The Pre-Feasibility study will update the Project study to a higher level of precision.

NAM plans to continue to improve the River Valley Project’s value proposition by drill testing geophysical anomalies found during the 2018 geophysics campaign, continuing the geophysical program throughout the 16 kilometres of the contact mineralization adding significant potential to find new deposits, drilling near the defined open pit shells to increase the mine life, drilling deeper to test the open-ended Deposit at depth, and re-assaying existing drill core for Rhodium in order that Rhodium may be added to the Project’s metal suite.

Technical Report: For readers to fully understand the information in this news release, they should read the PEA Technical Report in its entirety which the Company expects to file in accordance with NI 43-101 within 45 days from the date of this news release on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and it will also be available at that time on the New Age Metals website, including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to the PEA. The Technical Report is intended to be read in its entirety, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context.

PEA Highlights (CDN$ unless otherwise noted):

  • – Life of mine (LOM) of 14 years, with 6 million tonnes annually of potential process plant feed at an average grade of 0.88 g/t Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) and process recovery rate of 80%, resulting in an annual average payable Pd production of 119,000 ounces
  • – Pre-Production capital requirements: $495 M
  • – Undiscounted cash flow before income and mining taxes of $586M
  • – Undiscounted cash flow after income and mining taxes of $384M
  • – Average unit operating cost of $19.50/tonne over the life-of-mine
  • – LOM average operating cash cost of $971 per ounce (US$709/oz) and all-in sustaining cash cost of $972 per ounce (US$709/oz) at a 1.37 CDN: USD exchange rate.
  • – A mining contractor will be engaged for the open pit mining
  • – Pre-tax NPV (5%): $262M, After-tax NPV (5%): $139 M
  • – Pre-tax IRR: 13%, After-tax IRR: 10%
  • – Assumed metal prices of US$1,200/oz Pd, US$1,050/oz Pt, US$1,350/oz Au, US$3.25/lb Cu, US$8.00/lb Ni, US$35/lb Co
  • – Using a + 20% Pd price sensitivity (to the base case of US$1,200/oz Pd) US$1,440 /oz Pd returns a pre-tax IRR of 19% and an after tax-IRR of 15%. Palladium price as of June 25, 2019 is US$1,510/oz Pd, which would return a pre-tax IRR of 21% and an after-tax IRR of 16%.
  • – River Valley process plant feed will be treated by a conventional sulphide flotation process plant to produce a single saleable PGM concentrate that will be transported to the Sudbury area for smelting/refining
  • – Potential for up to 325 jobs at the peak of production

PEA Summary

The PEA parameters are summarized in Table 1.

(*) Cautionary statement NI 43-101: The PEA was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Readers are cautioned that the PEA is preliminary in nature. It includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. All currency is stated as CDN$ unless stated otherwise.

Table 1: PEA Summary Parameters

Assumptions
Palladium Price (Base case) US$/oz 1,200
Exchange Rate US$:CDN$ 1.37
Production Profile
Total Tonnes Processed 78,100,000
Process Plant Head Grade PdEq g/t 0.88
Mine Life (years) 14
Daily process plant throughput (tpd) 16,440
Palladium Process Plant Recovery 80%
Total Payable Palladium Equivalent Ounces 1,600,000
Average annual Palladium Production Ounces 119,000
Operating Costs
Unit Operating Costs (per tonne processed) 19.50
Mining Costs 10.20
Processing Costs 8.44
G&A 0.90
LOM Average Cash Cost US$/oz 709
Capital Requirements
Pre-Production Capital Cost $495.1 M
Sustaining Capital Cost (Life of Mine) Including Salvage $1.0 M
Project Economics
Royalties 3% (Buy down to 1.5% with $1,500,000 payment)
Royalty Payable After $1.5M Payment $39.7 M
Taxes $202.3 M
Pre-Tax
NPV (5% Discount Rate) $262 M
IRR 13%
Payback (years) 6.6
Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flows $586 M
After-Tax
NPV (5% Discount Rate) $139 M
IRR 10%
Payback (years) 7.0
Cumulative Undiscounted Cash Flows $384 M

Operating Cost

Table 2: Operating Cost Summary.

OPERATING COST   LOM ($/t)
Mining Cost $/t material 2.28
Mining Cost $/t feed 10.20
Processing Cost $/t feed 8.44
G&A $/t feed 0.90
Unit Operating $/t feed 19.50

Capital Cost

Table 3: Capital Cost Summary

Development Capital Initial (Y-2, Y-1) ($ M) Sustaining ($’ M) Total LOM ($’ M)
Mine Pre-Stripping 17.3   17.3
Process Plant Incl. Indirects 401.3   401.3
TMF 8.0   8.0
Mine Site Infrastructure 10.0   10.0
Office, Warehouse, Shops 10.0   10.0
Owner Cost 5.0   5.0
10% Contingency 43.4   43.4
Initial Project Capital 495.1   495.1
Sustaining Capital    
Closure Bond   26.0 26.0
Salvage Value   -25.0 -25.0
Total Sustaining Capital   1.0 1.0
Total Capital 495.1 1.0 496.1

Project Economics and Sensitivities

The economic results of the PEA are summarized in Table 4 on an after-tax basis. The sensitivities and the impact of cash flows have been calculated for +/- 20% variations against the base case.

Table 4: Project Economics Sensitivity.

Project Sensitivity Analysis         
Pd Price Sensitivity          
% -20% -15% -10% -5% Base Case +5% +10% +15% +20% Spot
US$/oz 960 1,020 1,080 1,140 1,200 1,260 1,320 1,380 1,440 1,510
NPV (CDN$ M) -23 16 59 98 139 179 220 260 300 347
IRR (%) 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 15 16
OPEX Sensitivity          
% -20% -15% -10% -5% Base Case +5% +10% +15% +20%  
Cost Per Tonne 16 17 18 18 19 20 21 22 23  
NPV (CDN$ M) 212 194 175 157 139 120 102 83 68  
IRR (%) 14 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 7  
CAPEX Sensitivity          
% -20% -15% -10% -5% Base Case +5% +10% +15% +20%  
CAPEX (CDN$ M) 397 422 446 471 496 521 546 570 595  
NPV (CDN$ M) 284 248 212 175 139 102 64 28 -6  
IRR (%) 14 13 12 11 10 8 7 6 5  

River Valley Project Site Plan

See the image below that shows a site plan from the River Valley PEA. The map shows all of the 14 open pits that have been used in the engineering design of the Project as well as the proposed process plant site, low-grade stockpile, waste rock storage facilities, tailings storage facility and site infrastructure.


Click Image To View Full Size

Mineral Resource

The pit constrained Mineral Resource Estimate which formed the basis of the PEA, is set out in Table 5 and was prepared by WSP under the supervision of Todd McCracken, P. Geo., an “Independent Qualified Person”, as defined in NI 43-101. The effective date of this Mineral Resource Estimate is January 9, 2019. The Mineral Resource database contains 710 boreholes with 106,554 assays records in the database, and 2,642 surface channel samplings. The Mineral Resource Estimate update was completed on the Dana North, Dana South, Pine, Banshee, Lismer, Lismer Extension, Varley, Azen, Razor, and River Valley Extension Zones, using the ordinary kriging (OK) methodology on a capped and composited borehole dataset consistent with industry standards. Validation of the results was conducted thought the use of visual inspection, swath plots and global statistical comparison of the model against inverse distance squared (ID2) and nearest neighbour (NN) models.

Table 5: Pit Constrained Mineral Resource Estimate for River Valley PGM Project – Effective January 9, 2019.


Click Image To View Full Size

Class PGM + Au (oz) PdEq (oz) PtEq (oz)
Measured 1,394,000 1,701,000 1,701,000
Indicated 983,000 1,166,000 1,166,000
Meas +Ind 2,377,000 2,867,000 2,867,000
Inferred 841,000 1,059,000 1,059,000

Notes:

  1. 1.CIM definition standards were followed for the Mineral Resource Estimate.
  2. 2.The 2018 Mineral Resource models used Ordinary Kriging grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids.
  3. 3.A base cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t PdEq was used for reporting Mineral Resources in a constrained pit and 2.00 g/t PdEq was used for reporting the Mineral Resources under the pit.
  4. 4.Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) calculated using (US$): $950/oz Pd, $950/oz Pt, $1,275/oz Au, $1,500/oz Rh, $2.75/lb Cu, $5.25/lb Ni, $36/lb Co.
  5. 5.Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding.
  6. 6.Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have economic viability

7. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration.

Mining and Processing

The PEA is preliminary in nature, and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that the Preliminary Economic Assessment will be realized.

The River Valley Project is expected to be mined by a contractor. Initial mining will occur at the northwest end of the Deposit, close to the proposed process plant site. A series of 14 open pits will be mined, and will progress in a southeasterly direction. Pit numbers 1 to 4 contain the bulk of the mineralized process plant feed.

Annual process plant feed of up to 6 Mtpy (0.5 Mtpm) is planned, at an average strip ratio of 3.6:1 over the life-of-mine. It is anticipated that a fleet of 221 t haul trucks, 29 m3 excavators and 254 mm diameter hole rotary drills will be utilized, following industry standard conventional open pit mining techniques.

The process plant is designed to produce a single saleable PGM concentrate using conventional sulphide flotation techniques. The concentrate will be trucked to a smelter/refinery in the Sudbury area.

The Run-Of-Mine (ROM) feed from the mine will be crushed in a single primary jaw crushing stage prior to the grinding circuit. The crusher discharge will be conveyed to a live stockpile, which will provide an operating buffer between the crushing and grinding circuits.

The grinding circuit will consist of a SAG mill in closed circuit with a pebble crusher and two ball mills in parallel.

The process plant design considers three stages of cleaner flotation and is designed to process 21,920 tpd (6.0 Mtpy) of ROM feed.

The flotation circuit configuration and design are based on the locked cycle tests conducted by SGS Canada in 2013.

Concentrate and tailings products will be dewatered using high-rate thickeners and the concentrate will be further dewatered by conventional plate and frame vacuum filtration.

Process water will be recovered from the concentrate and tailings thickener overflow. Raw water is assumed to be sourced from the local environment and will be used as makeup water. It is assumed that 10% of the raw water requirement will be recycled from the tailings pond.

Conventional tailings deposition techniques will be utilized.

A 230 kV transmission line is located passing through the village of Warren, approximately 22 km from the Project. A 115 kV transmission line passes through the village of Field, located approximately 15 km to the east of the Project. It is assumed that electrical power will be provided by the local utility via either of these overland power lines. Diesel generators will be used to supply emergency power.

Project Enhancement Opportunities

The PEA demonstrates that River Valley has the potential to be economically viable. The PEA also outlines several opportunities to enhance Project value. Additional opportunities include:

Area of Focus Opportunities to Explore Management Target
Geotechnical study – Geotechnical logging of drill core, with new geotechnical holes to create a 3D geomechanical block model and estimate pit wall slope angles – Estimate pit wall slopes
Hydrogeological study – Estimate water in-flows to the open pits and generate a site water management plan – Site water management plan
Increase the Project Mineral Resource base – Additional drilling in the footwall to expand the Mineral Resource. After the ground proofing and surface exploration program conducted in Summer 2018 which followed up on the most recent induced polarization geophysical survey by Abitibi, NAM management has designed a 3-phase 5,000 metre drill program to test the new geophysical anomalies. See the map figure below which shows these new geophysical anomalies and potential targets for the next stage of drilling at River Valley superimposed over the upper 4 kilometres of the project map.
Click Image To View Full Size – Drilling near the defined open pit shells to increase the mine life. – Drilling deeper to test the open-ended deposit at depth. Average drill hole depth is 220 metres below surface.
– Increase tonnes, grade and mine life of Project – Continue to drill recent footwall discoveries – Add additional Mineral Resources to the Project.
Mineral Resource – In-fill drilling to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources – Improve Mineral Resource classification
Mineral Resource – Step-out drilling to increase the Mineral Resource Estimate – Increase the size of the Mineral Resource Estimate
Metallurgical testing – Advanced metallurgical testing to confirm or potentially improve process recoveries and more accurately estimate concentrate grades produced – Achieve a process recovery equal or greater than 80%.
Geophysical surveys – Continue with induced polarization geophysical surveys over the 12.5 kilometres of the contact / footwall that has not been surveyed in the 2017 and 2018 programs conducted on the Project. This work can be carried out in phases as funding is available or until the contact / footwall is covered, see the map figure below that shows a proposed scenario for how to phase the work.
Click Image To View Full Size
– Outline new targets highlighting new potential footwall discoveries over the entire Project
Advanced sampling for Rhodium – Re-assaying existing core for Rhodium. Rhodium has been identified, however, insufficient assaying in the past has not allowed for Rhodium’s inclusion in the Mineral Resource Estimate. – Quantify the amount of Rhodium in the Project and add this to the existing Mineral Resource Estimate
Pre-Feasibility study – Updated Mineral Resource Estimate, optimize the mine plan, process plant design, and Project economics. Address environmental aspects. – Update the Project study to a higher level of precision

Qualified Persons and NI 43-101 Disclosure

The PEA was prepared under the supervision of Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. The Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by Todd McCracken, P.Geo. of WSP Canada Inc. Metallurgical testwork and process plant design and cost estimates were prepared by Jim Kambossos, P. Eng. of DRA Americas Inc. All three are independent Qualified Persons in accordance with NI 43-101. Mr. Puritch has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release. Michael Neumann, P.Eng. Managing Director for NAM is the company Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Harry Barr”

Harry G. Barr, Chairman and CEO

For further information on New Age Metals, please contact Harry Barr and/or Anthony Ghitter, Business Development at 613-659-2773, or [email protected]

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as “continue”, “efforts”, “expect”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “confident”, “intend”, “strategy”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “project”, “goal”, “target”, “prospects”, “optimistic” or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company’s ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts’ expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Marijuana Company of America’s $MCOA #hempSMART™ Brand Continues European Expansion with Netherlands Launch $AERO $CBDS $CGRW $APH.ca $GBLX $ACG $ACB $WEED.ca $HIP.ca

Posted by AGORACOM-JC at 8:30 AM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019
15233 mcoa
  • Continued the expansion of its wholly owned subsidiary, hempSMART, Ltd., into Europe, with its latest launch in the Netherlands.
  • As a result of the positive feedback received during its United Kingdom launch in March, the Company made a strategic decision to offer its hempSMART™ CBD product line and expand its European footprint further by holding an event on June 15, 2019, in the Netherlands.

ESCONDIDO, Calif., June 27, 2019 — via NetworkWire – MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA, INC. (“MCOA” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, has continued the expansion of its wholly owned subsidiary, hempSMART, Ltd., into Europe, with its latest launch in the Netherlands.

As a result of the positive feedback received during its United Kingdom launch in March, the Company made a strategic decision to offer its hempSMART™ CBD product line and expand its European footprint further by holding an event on June 15, 2019, in the Netherlands.

“The Netherlands launch was a complete success, with people traveling from other parts of Europe to witness the excitement around our hempSMART™ CBD product line,” said Mr. Ian Harvey, Global Sales Director of hempSMART, Ltd. “The event featured our CEO, Don Steinberg, unveiling our wellness products via video link and educating people about the benefits of our prime quality botanical ingredients. Our products sold out at the end of the event, and we engaged new marketing associates for hempSMART™ as evangelists to the brand that will help spread our vision.”

“Our high-quality CBD products combined with our compilation of highly knowledgeable hempSMART™ team members have effectively increased the Company’s footprint into the compelling European market,” said Mr. Steinberg.

The Brightfield Group, a predictive market intelligence firm focused on the legal CBD and cannabis industries, opined on March 26, 2019, that the European CBD market was estimated at $318 million in 2018 and is expected to grow over 400 percent by 2023. Brightfield’s assessment was based on its opinion that CBD is just starting to take hold in Europe, and presents a great opportunity for developed brands to enter and expand into.

About Marijuana Company of America, Inc.
MCOA is a corporation that participates in (1) product research and development of legal hemp-based consumer products under the brand name hempSMART™, which targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated for medicinal and recreational use; and (4) the expansion of its business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp industry as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment mature and develop.

About Our hempSMART Products Containing CBD
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not recognized CBD as a safe and effective drug for any indication. Our products containing CBD derived from industrial hemp are not marketed or sold based upon claims that their use is safe and effective treatment for any medical condition as drugs or dietary supplements subject to the FDA’s jurisdiction.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” that are not purely historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities, and words such as “anticipate,” “seek,” intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan” or similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition and the Company’s reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please visit www.sec.gov.

Contact:
[email protected]
888-777-4362

Corporate Communications Contact: 
NetworkNewsWire (NNW)
New York, New York
www.NetworkNewsWire.com
212.418.1217 Office 
[email protected]

For more information, please visit the Company’s websites at:
MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com
hempSMART.com