The M&E Dispatch // 067

Hello Everyone,

My working title for this post was “You can’t expect others to spend while you sit on your hands. If you want your stock to move, you have to move off your own wallet first." and then I segued to “Do you boycott US goods on Facebook Marketplace? No, you don’t…”

None of these seemed to quite fit right. Further they seemed a bit odd of a topic, but I just can’t shake that many of my friends who run companies of all sorts are really, really, hurting right now. They’re the ones that take their earnings and pour them into stocks and alts. They work in one world while they dream and dabble in ours.

But the world’s weird right now. Things are tight. People are frustrated. And more and more folks are boycotting anything made in the U.S. out of principle.

But here’s what’s getting missed, your local outdoor store didn’t stock Made in USA gear because they hate Canada. They stocked it because we asked for it.

North American-made. Good quality. Worth the price.

Now the border’s tense, and the shelves are full. They're stuck. They paid for that inventory when the U.S. was a good neighbour.

Now they can’t move it—and they’re really feeling the pinch.

The Port of Seattle has been in the news for the apparent decreasein volume and talk about a shortage of toys has hit the White House… the principal of that is terrifying.

But that’s a lagging indicator. Local businesses are the first to get hit, because messaging spreads faster than product. Shoppers change their behaviour long before the shipping lanes show it.

If you want to support Canadian-made goods going forward, awesome. But the only way your local shops can Order Canadian Next… is if you help them clear what they already own.

Here’s how to do that—and a few other things that actually move the needle locally.

So on this Beautiful Friday Morning, I’m using an asset that I have, to show up for those I care about. They’re in my 10km circle^* and I care about them and my community.

^{*[Deca-radius to sound more corporate](more about this below)}

The TL;DR of this is Buy the Stuff That’s Already Paid For!

If it’s sitting in a local store, someone here already paid for it.
So if the tag says Made in USA? Don’t leave it there out of protest.
If it’s a local service, it’s supporting local one way or another.

Buy it.
Free up their cash.
Help them re-stock with Canadian-made options and near-shore their own operations. 

Just as you can’t “Bring it home” without capital, how can we expect our local community businesses to do the same? They can’t—and without our support, they won’t. The locally owned businesses will fade away to corporate conglomerates.

I have no interest in living in a BlackRock Capital Community. Full stop.

I’m going to be as blunt as I can here. Our communities are at risk and we need to band together to support one another as we all try to navigate this.

Ask “What are you trying to move?”

A local buddy of mine, who taught my kids to Kayak, owns a local outdoor store, Just Liquid, and he’s got a shop full of goods that he needs to move in order to buy Canadian.

He hasn’t bought anything US since this tariff war all started, but he had stocked North American goods since, well, 15 years ago as we asked him to do so over made in China. We were supporting Canadian and US goods and felt great about it then.

Now he’s sitting on the same goods that he had to pay for last year, that no one wants to buy out of protest. And he’s just one example of dozens of retailers like you. So, be a pal to your local friend and help them out.

Walk into your local shop and ask that one question: “What do you need gone?”

You might find something you didn’t know you needed.
You might give them the margin to shift their inventory mix.
You might be the one person that changes their month.

You might get a REALLY great deal. In fact, if you call Rob at Just Liquid right now and ask him for a Paddle Board or Kayak and tell him Lee sent you, well, you’ll have something to do this beautiful weekend and you’ll help him stick around. 

Buy 4 Season Tickets. Keep None.

I’ve talked about hockey, in well, every issue - it’s pretty much my family’s life. The Cranbrook Bucks is our local junior hockey team. They’re not owned by some US hedge fund, they’re owned by a young guy who chased his hockey dream and is paying it forward. When you spend with them, you’re keeping money local while having a blast. 

Your Local Team is likely just that, local. Buy four season tickets from them. 

• Give them away all season long.

• To your employees.
  To a customer who’s lawn you just mowed.

• To a guy standing in line at a grocery store buying a box of chicken and wedges for a Friday night.

• To a new family in town.

• To a buddy who hasn’t been out much.

• To…. anyone! That’s the point. Spread the good. 

You're:

• Filling the barn with noise and life! Empty seats are the hardest thing to play for

• Driving up concession sales

• Creating new fans

• Supporting a bunch of kids chasing their dreams!!!!

This is how you create energy in a local economy—and in a hockey rink—for the cost of a weekend away. There is so much power in community and we need that now more than ever.

Go be around people, see friends, get excited, live where you live. Don’t just reside.

👉 BTW — if you're a reader of Mining & Energy Dispatch in the Kootenays, call the Cranbrook Bucks office and tell them "The Dispatch sent you and that you want a corporate pack”  they’ll know what this is for. You’ll get 26 tickets that you can use for any game, so as you give them away the person you gave them to can choose which game they attend.

And with 26 tickets the good you can do with just $395 is amazing.

• That’s 13 date nights for 2

• 6 family nights out for 4

• 3 super fun birthdays for 8 kids

• One heck of a year end night to reward your team

That’s just good all around and all thanks to you and giving up a night's worth of what you’d spend at BP if the Canucks were still in the playoffs…

Make the $20 Purchase That Keeps the Shop Open

I know, you’re sitting here thinking “Lee, we know how to shop local…” and I hear you, sometimes we just need a reminder that little bits add up. If you want your favourite local store to still exist, this is the moment.

Buy something small.
A book. Printer paper from a local distributer and not Staples or Costco.
A Muffin & Coffee.

Those little purchases keeps the doors open and the lights on—and you didn’t have to think that hard about it. And while you’re at it, use your phone for something extra valuable, internet eyes are expensive from an advertising point of view, but you can add real value by simply sharing.

• Like the game? Post a pic, show people you were there and they’ll follow suit

• Buy something great? Leave a review and include a picture

• See someone doing good work? Thank them in a facebook group and tag them…

It sounds cliche but we often lose the goal of this all when we’re trying to push a share up 0.25% to move another million units…

These little actions cost you nothing—but they build real local momentum. And save our communities and those who call them home.

Let’s Be Real, you have to lead by example.

I know, you want your stock price to move up and to the right.
But you can’t expect others to pay up while you’re sitting on your wallet waiting for the market to turn around. See, I worked this in after all.

I know you, I know where you work and how you see the world.

I also know that lightening your wallet by a $1000 would be noticeable… but in a way that would make you question if you actually had it with you or not in the first place… like if you remembered to lock your house when you left for the office. 

But to your local business owners, and I mean LOCAL, business owners… they’ll know. Without a doubt, they’ll know. The impact of that $1000 will be massive. 

Without them, no one’s stock goes up and to the right. Support the people trying to do the right thing in a rough time.

Now’s the time to lean in. Spend smart. Draw a 10km circle around your home and do what you can for the people within it. You don’t have to save everyone, if we all look after our circle of influence everything will balance out. These are your people.

Because getting through this isn’t about one big save or an election outcome—it’s about a thousand little nudges in the right direction in your community.

You’re not just saving your neighbour’s kayak shop.
Or keeping local youth in your community.
You’re saving your own future.

Draw your circle.
Show up for it.
That’s how we win as a community.

// The Dirt

Melkior Drills 77.4 g/t Au Over 6.9m at Carscallen
Timmins-based Melkior Resources hits a bonanza-grade zone, including 445 g/t Au over 1.2m, marking its highest-grade intercept to date.
Read more →

Homerun Delivers 43-101 Resource for Belmonte Silica Project
The company releases a compliant technical report confirming resources at its high-purity silica sand district in Brazil.
Read more →

Northisle Launches 2025 Drilling Program at North Island
Phase IV is underway with 7,000m of drilling, targeting maiden resources and new porphyry intrusions.
Read more →

Thesis Gold Closes Strategic Investment with Centerra
Centerra Gold’s 9.9% stake is finalized, backing Thesis’ work in BC’s Toodoggone district.
Read more →

Piedmont Ships 27,000 dmt of Spodumene in Q1 2025
Lithium output at North American Lithium remains strong, bolstering the U.S. EV supply chain.
Read more →

NioCorp Engages New Engineers to Update Elk Creek Feasibility Study
Multiple firms have been tapped to revise the economics and technical scope of this Nebraska-based critical minerals project.
Read more →

Kinross Begins Field Exploration at Riley Gold JV in Nevada
Work kicks off at the Pipeline West/Clipper Project, part of Nevada’s Cortez trend.
Read more →

CanAlaska Wraps Winter Drilling at Cree East Uranium Project
All holes hit target depths. Assays pending for this Athabasca Basin explorer.
Read more →

Fury Gold Completes Acquisition of Québec Precious Metals
Fury consolidates ground in the James Bay region, gaining full control of QPM’s gold assets.
Read more →

Tartisan Kicks Off Airborne Survey at Kenbridge
The critical metals player launches geophysics and Greenfields exploration across its Ontario project.
Read more →

By the time you read this I’ll be back in the Home Hardware Lumber Yard for the second time today. I’m currently rebuilding the fence around our pool and I like to measure once and cut twice, my own little way of stimulating the local economy…

Enjoy the weekend, all!

- Lee