Greetings Contrarian,

This is The Next Big Rush, your daily drop of mining/energy investing news. Where we come together and sometimes wish we weren't together.

Here are the highlights:

➡ ESG Out, Profits In

🧐 71m at 18.05 g/t Gold

💋 Biden Wants EV To 10-Bag

🦾 Orezone Hits Juicy Oxide

🍃 ESG Out, Profits In

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, typically publishes a letter each January on the state of the financial world. This year, the letter did not arrive until February.

In the meantime, Tim Buckley, the CEO of Vanguard, the world's second-largest asset manager, gave an interview in which he explained Vanguard's decision to withdraw from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative.

Buckley warned investors against expecting superior returns from ESG investing and argued that it would be presumptuous to assume that Vanguard knew the right strategy for the thousands of companies in which it invests.

In response, Terrence Keeley, a former BlackRock executive, argued that investment managers could not make net-zero commitments without reneging on their fiduciary duties.

When Fink's letter did arrive, it focused less on net zero and ESG and more on the importance of trust and fiduciary duty.

Who would have thought that money managers are after…profits? This is almost a return to sanity.

💪🏼 Dundee Finds 71m at 18.05 g/t Au

Dundee Precious Metals Inc. (TSX: DPM) has announced the latest assay results from its ongoing drilling program at the Čoka Rakita project in Serbia. The results show that the deposit has been extended to the east, and the high-grade zone has been both confirmed and extended.

Highlights:

• 16m at 23.14 g/t Au from 430m depth (including 1m at 354 g/t Au with visible gold from 441m depth)

• 52m at 3.18 g/t Au from 513m depth (including 8m at 8.49 g/t Au and 8m at 7.44 g/t Au)

• 58m at 4.04 g/t Au from 524m depth and 17m at 11.33 g/t Au from 591m depth

• 16m at 5.15 g/t Au from 423m depth and 71 metres at 18.05 g/t Au from 445m depth (including 35m at 34.34 g/t Au and 0.17% Cu)

Super duper and we hope they find more.

📈 Biden Trying To Make You Rich

A new (E.P.A.) legislation by the Biden administration aims to combat climate change by implementing some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world.

The legislation proposes that all-electric cars account for up to 67% of new passenger vehicles sold in the United States by 2032, up from less than 6% today. (Don't say we didn't warn you. They will fail but they will try.)

This ambitious proposal would require impossibly-sized investments in infrastructure and mining and refining of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, and graphite for batteries.

While the legislation is set to significantly boost EV sales and ignite a battery metals craze (see what we did there?), we junior mining heads know that these numbers don’t add up.

Raising funds for mining remains more challenging than funding gigafactories, highlighting the need for a more synchronized upstream and downstream supply chain.

The bar is open and drinks are free.

⛏ Orezone Hits Juicy Oxide

Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE, OTCQX: ORZCF), at pretty much spoon-digging depth, has found some juicy intercepts and its ongoing oxide drill program at its Bomboré Gold Mine (yes, mine).

Highlights:

• 30.86 g/t Au over 5.00m from 19.00m in hole BBC5287

• 42.19 g/t Au over 1.75m from 46.25m in hole BBD1279

• 1.01 g/t Au over 24.00m from 32.00m, including 1.76 g/t Au over 8.00m from 33.00m in hole BBC5174

We like it.

Meme Of The Day

Happy Speculating!

The Editor

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.