Category: Canada

Copper Price Crash Threatens Zambia’s Economic Stability

Zambia is bracing for severe economic repercussions following a dramatic fall in global copper prices, with fears mounting over potential job losses, reduced government revenue, and delayed mining investments. The slump was triggered by an escalating global trade war and new U.S. tariffs, which have sent shockwaves through commodity markets.

On Friday, copper futures on the Comex market dropped by 9.1% to $4.388 per pound ($9,670 per tonne), while prices in London fell 6.8% to $8,734 per tonne levels last seen during the early stages of the  pandemic. The downturn follows warnings from BNP Paribas and Citigroup, both forecasting further declines and a likely global recession if trade tensions persist.

Copper accounts for over 70% of Zambia’s export earnings, making the country especially vulnerable to commodity price shocks. A prolonged dip in copper prices could significantly affect the government’s fiscal projections, especially as it struggles with a growing debt burden and a weakening kwacha. The Ministry of Finance is expected to revise its 2025 budget assumptions if the trend continues.

Mining giants operating in Zambia have already started feeling the pressure. First Quantum Minerals, which owns Kansanshi and Sentinel Mines, saw its shares plunge 12.8% on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company has warned of possible cuts in capital spending and a review of production targets in light of falling global demand.

Meanwhile, local suppliers and contractors who rely on the mining sector are likely to experience delays in payments or outright cancellations of service contracts. This will have a ripple effect on employment in Copperbelt and North-Western Provinces, where the bulk of mining activity is concentrated.

Economic analysts warn that Zambia could experience a shortfall in foreign exchange inflows, exacerbating pressure on the kwacha and increasing inflationary risks. “The drop in copper prices has the potential to reverse recent gains in macroeconomic stability, and this could lead to more borrowing or austerity measures.”

The situation also places Zambia’s debt restructuring negotiations in a more complicated position. The country recently secured partial relief from international creditors, but continued reliance on copper revenue means any sustained price weakness could erode confidence among lenders and investors.

Small-scale miners, often overlooked in policy circles, are equally exposed. With tighter margins and limited reserves, many could be forced to suspend operations if prices fall below viable thresholds. Calls are growing for the government to consider emergency support or tax relief to cushion vulnerable players in the sector.

As the world’s eighth-largest copper producer, Zambia’s prospects are tightly linked to global economic trends. With copper prices now on a downward spiral, stakeholders are urging diplomatic solutions to the trade standoff, alongside robust domestic strategies to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on a single commodity.

April 9, 2025
By Edwin Daka
©️ KUMWESU

STAFF WITH THE Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service meet with representatives of GreenLight Metals at the site of proposed exploratory drilling for copper and gold within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in Taylor County. (Photo courtesy of GreenLight Metals, via Wisconsin Public Radio)

A Canadian mining company has been cleared to begin exploratory drilling for copper and gold in northern Wisconsin.

GreenLight Metals, which does business as Green Light Wisconsin, says it wants to make the state a “premier” domestic producer of critical minerals. The company has received state and federal approvals to conduct exploratory drilling of the Bend Deposit on U.S. Forest Service land northwest of Medford in Taylor County. The deposit is believed to contain 4 million tons of mostly copper and gold. The company plans to drill eight holes on six drill sites spanning less than an acre.

The announcement comes as the company will go public Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. CEO Matt Filgate said becoming a public company will speed up mining exploration of the Penokean Volcanic Belt in Wisconsin.

“This access to capital markets will directly benefit our projects, allowing us to advance our drilling programs, create local employment opportunities and strengthen Wisconsin’s position in critical mineral development,” Filgate said in a statement. “As a company with deep Wisconsin roots, we’re committed to responsible exploration that respects both the environment and the communities where we operate.”

The company has raised about $4 million to $5 million for exploration activities from individual investors, according to Steve Donohue, who serves on the company’s board of directors. “We still have a couple steps to go through to get that set up. But hopefully by summer sometime, we will be out there drilling at the Bend Deposit,” Donohue told WPR.

THE FLAMBEAU MINE near Ladysmith, Wis., shown in a photo taken in 1997. The operation is the only sulfide mine permitted by the state in the last 40 years. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)

The company recently provided updates on its exploration plans to town board members in Westboro, as well as officials serving on the Taylor County mining committee. Donohue said GreenLight plans to engage more with local communities in the coming months as it prepares for exploratory drilling.

GreenLight Metals needs to provide the state with 48-hour notice prior to drilling, said Molly Gardner, metallic mining coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Gardner said the agency will be there to monitor operations when the company begins drilling, and the agency plans to conduct unannounced inspections.

“We’ll get on-site, and we’ll make sure the company is following their plan,” Gardner said. “It’s important to us. It’s important to everyone for the protection of our resources.”

The company has obtained state permits to control stormwater runoff, as well as any water that leaves the site as a result of drilling. The Forest Service has also granted approval of the company’s plan, and the agency plans to monitor operations. In late February, GreenLight Metals submitted a $50,000 bond to the state to cover the cost of abandoning drill holes.

“Our ultimate goal would be to expand the resource through subsequent drilling, so increase the size of the deposit through drilling and confirming what’s there,” Donohue said. “Then, (the company will) eventually do engineering studies on that and see if there’s a viable resource there that could be developed at some point down the road.”

Donohue said it would be at least five years before the company has done enough drilling and studies to determine whether a mine could be developed under Wisconsin law. At that point, he added it would likely take another four years to go through the state’s permitting process.

Some residents, environmental groups and tribes have expressed concerns that the company’s plans would contaminate water resources surrounding the Reef and Bend Deposits.

In March, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed petitions for a contested case hearing and judicial review, challenging the construction site storm water permit issued to GreenLight Metals for drilling.

Metals like gold and copper that occur in sulfide ore bodies haven’t been mined in Wisconsin since the Flambeau mine shut down in 1997. The mine served as a catalyst for the state’s sulfide mining moratorium that was repealed in 2017 under a law passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature.

Drill plans come amid demand for domestic supply of critical minerals

The company also owns or leases minerals for other sites, including the Reef Deposit in Marathon County. The deposit is roughly 12 miles east of Wausau and contains about 454,000 tons of gold reserves. GreenLight Metals has also expressed interest in the Lobo and Lobo East properties as part of a massive sulfide deposit 15 miles southwest of the town of Crandon, which contains zinc and copper. It also owns rights to the Swede deposit in northern Wisconsin.

In 2022, the DNR requested additional information from GreenLight Metals for its plans to explore the Reef Deposit, but Gardner said no further details have yet been provided to the agency.

Donohue said the company is reviewing where it may conduct exploratory drilling next.

“As we look as a society to do things like electric vehicles, green energy generation, we need to have secure supply chains of those critical metals that go into those technologies,” Donohue said, adding those metals occur in Wisconsin.

He said that includes metals such as copper, zinc and tellurium that’s used to manufacture solar panels. The clean energy transition is set to increase demand for such minerals, according to the International Energy Agency.

President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act in March to boost domestic mineral production. Former President Joe Biden also invoked the law to ensure domestic supply of critical minerals for the clean energy transition.

Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared effective the Registration Statement on Form S-4 relating to the company’s previously announced reorganization and domestication from the Cayman Islands to Delaware and proposed “listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market of Class A common stock of Galaxy Digital Inc., a new Delaware holding company.”

Mike Novogratz, CEO and Founder of Galaxy.

“We’re pleased to announce the effectiveness of our registration statement with the SEC. This marks an important milestone for Galaxy, as we take a significant step toward advancing our mission of driving innovation and growth across digital assets and artificial intelligence infrastructure. We look forward to completing the transaction this quarter.”

Galaxy anticipates listing on Nasdaq “under the ticker symbol GLXY.”

Holders of record of the Company’s ordinary shares as of the close of business on April 7, 2025 are “entitled to notice of the Special Meeting and to vote at the Special Meeting.”

Galaxy will be filing a Canadian “management information circular and the prospectus.”

The parties anticipate that the Reorganization will “close in mid-May, subject to the approval by the shareholders of the company and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).”

The Nasdaq listing is subject to the “closing of the Reorganization and fulfillment of all Nasdaq listing requirements.”

For a period of time following the “consummation of the Reorganization, and immediately following New Pubco’s intended listing on the Nasdaq, New Pubco will remain listed on the TSX.”

The company has also engaged TMX Investor Solutions Inc. to “assist with the solicitation of proxies.”

As covered, Galaxy is a global enabler of digital assets and data center infrastructure, delivering solutions “that accelerate progress in finance and artificial intelligence.”

Their digital assets platform offers institutional “access to trading, advisory, asset management, staking, self-custody, and tokenization technology.”

In addition, they invest in and operate data center infrastructure “to power AI and high-performance computing, meeting the growing demand for scalable energy and compute solutions in the U.S.”

The company is headquartered in New York City, with offices “across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”

Is everyone feeling liberated yet? Liberated from the post-war global trading system, financial market stability, economic convention and basic common sense, perhaps. This is investment reporter Tim Shufelt and today we’re scouring for pockets of the market offering some shelter from the mayhem. Then we’ll consider the “radical uncertainty” that is the hallmark of Donald Trump’s brand of leadership.

SHEER CHAOS

Financial markets rocked by tariffs

It’s been a week since the poorly named “Liberation Day” kicked off a face-melter of a market selloff. In the four trading days that followed, the S&P 500 lost 12 per cent over the very real prospect of a doom spiral dragging the global economy into a tariff-induced recession. Then Trump folded in the face of intense financial market pressure and paused most of his bonkers “reciprocal” tariffs hours after they went into effect, setting off a monster stock rally in afternoon trading. With trillions being erased and made back in the blink of an eye, lots of investors are yearning for stability in a world that has very little of it. So let’s consider safe havens. What has been holding up in the madness?

Nothing

Virtually no market or asset class has been spared. Since Donald Trump’s dystopian tariff gameshow in the Rose Garden last week, every single stock in the S&P/TSX Composite Index declined. Up to Tuesday’s close, all 218 stocks in Canada’s benchmark index were down, ranging from -0.2 per cent for Kinaxis Inc. to -35 per cent for Baytex Energy Corp.

Looking globally, every major stock index in the world was nursing losses. Turkish stocks seemed to fare the best with a 3 per cent decline, after the country was hit with just the baseline 10-per-cent tariff on its exports to the U.S. Meanwhile, the 15-per-cent drop in the Ho Chi Minh Stock Index reflected the severity of the 46 per cent tariff Trump (briefly) slapped on Vietnam.

The carnage went well beyond stocks. Traditional safe havens offered no respite, with the U.S. dollar sliding against a basket of global currencies. Even U.S. Treasuries got smoked as investors seemed to retreat from everything America.

Naturally, commodities have also been among the casualties, given how correlated they are to the global economy and trade. Industrial metals, energy, and agricultural commodities have been steeped in negativity. West Texas Intermediate, which was trading as high as US$80 a barrel in January, dropped to its lowest level in four years at around US$57 a barrel, before bouncing back to US$63 on Wednesday afternoon.

And if penguins were somehow investible, then they would probably be selling off, too.

So, we’re left to look for the cleanest dirty shirts.

Widows and orphans

Utilities stocks tend to keep their composure at times like this. “As regulated monopolies whose rates are set by public utilities commissions, these stocks are generally less volatile than the broader market,” John Heinzl writes in The Globe.

Plus, their generous dividends become more attractive as interest rates fall. So it makes sense that utilities have been some of the best performers on the TSX in the last week. Hydro One Ltd., Emera Inc., Fortis Inc. and ATCO Ltd. have experienced losses of less than 5 per cent up to Tuesday’s close, compared to the double-digit losses in the broader Canadian market.

Grocers

Consumer staples is another sector well-suited for times of economic uncertainty, since households have less flexibility in cutting back on these purchases when times are tight. Plus, inflation may be picking up again and we’ve all seen how well these chains can do in an inflationary environment. That’s pricing power for you. Loblaw Companies Ltd., Metro Inc., George Weston Ltd. and Empire Company Ltd. have all declined in the past week, but by less than half the pace of the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

Gold

Gold stocks have been the runaway sector of the year with 18 of the top 20 performers within the S&P/TSX Composite Index so far. No secret what the driver is here, with gold futures soaring above US$3,000 per ounce for the first time. Canadian miners also get a boost when the loonie is weak, since they sell what they produce in U.S. dollars, while paying costs in Canadian dollars. A number of gold miners have also weathered the past week well, with Lundin Gold Inc., Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd., Dundee Precious Metals Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. outperforming the market handily.

VOLATILITY

Welcome to a world of radical uncertainty

When the S&P 500 index can rise by 9 per cent in a matter of minutes, as it has done twice this week so far, you know we’re outside the bounds of what investors have come to expect from the world’s largest stock market.

Some have used the word “uninvestable” to describe the stock market in this moment. Consider the wild swings over the past week in shares of Nike Inc., which is the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and clothing. When Trump announced tariffs of 46 per cent on imports from Vietnam, where about half of all Nike shoes are made, the company’s stock fell by nearly 15 per cent in one day. Then on Wednesday, as those same tariffs were paused for 90 days, Nike shot up by 11 per cent.

“That kind of volatility is a defining symptom of radical uncertainty, a state of affairs where no one has any conviction about what anything might be worth, or even about what they don’t know,” Felix Salmon writes for Axios.

Radical uncertainty makes it so risk can’t even really be modelled since the range of outcomes is unknown. This is life in Trumpworld and it has specific implications for investors, Salmon says:

• Overall valuations are lower, as investors demand a risk premium for risks they can’t even name, let alone model.
• Volatility becomes a permanent feature of the market, rather than a temporary aberration.
• Cash allocations rise, as investors wait for that volatility to throw up investing opportunities.

The essentials

Looking for our updates on market movers, analyst actions, stock technicals, insider trades and other daily, weekly and monthly insight? Click here to visit our Inside the Market page.

Globe Investor highlights

What do you do with your investments when stock and bond markets are in disarray? N-o-t-h-i-n-g, advises Rob Carrick.

If your adviser is telling you to delay retirement because of market volatility, then maybe you need a new adviser? Meera Raman explains that periods of turbulence are a great moment to stress test your retirement plan. And it’s important that advisers design retirement plans to withstand market swings, which are unpleasant but not uncommon.

Reuters offered a round-up of market pros reacting to the tariff reprieve. “It’s beginning to look like this thing has been all about China,” said Tom Bruce of Tanglewood Wealth Management.

What’s up next

U.S. CPI inflation data for March is due out on Thursday morning. It’s probably still too early to expect tariffs to show up in the form of higher final consumer prices. But combined with data on producer prices expected Friday, we should get a hint of whether inflation is starting to build. A more definitive signal is likely to come from the University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment expected on Friday. U.S. confidence indicators have plummeted the last few months and there’s no reason to expect this instalment of the survey will be any different. It will also show where respondents expect inflation is headed. Those expectations have taken a sharp upward turn of late, which can be a prelude to higher prices showing up in the hard data.

See our full economic and earnings calendar here (You can bookmark the page – it gets updated weekly)

Ultimately, it was this consultancy fee — and who was responsible for paying it — that was at the center of the court case at the B.C. Supreme Court.

ANALYSIS OF BGCATTLE

Blue Goose Capital, the financial entity that owned Blue Goose Cattle Company, is a subsidiary of the Dundee Corporation which is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

James MacIntyre, the chief financial officer of the 3L group, assisted Dutcyvich in a financial analysis of the Blue Goose assets, according to the court’s ruling.

Court documents described the work Dutcyvich did as part of the analysis: “Dutcyvich travelled into the field to ascertain whether the information and identified assets did, in fact, exist. Mr. Dutcyvich said he would check and assess the identified equipment, review the land and the leases, check the herds, and importantly, do a cattle count of the 16 ranches in the interior of British Columbia. Mr. Dutcyvich said cows were a valuable part of the business, as each cow is worth approximately $2,300 to $2,500.”

Dutcyvich tried to make sense of the situation.

“Mr. Dutcyvich said it appeared BGCattle was indicating it had 14,000 cows when it appeared the count was more likely 5,000 cows,” the court said in its ruling.

“Mr. Dutcyvich said BGCattle was including cows, steers and calves in the count, when the essential question was only how many cows there were and the consistency of their pregnancies.”

Among his other findings, Dutcyvich became concerned that equipment was being moved between ranches during his assessment, making it difficult for him to accurately assess the assets, the court said.

MacIntyre and Dutcyvich also assessed the payroll, noting it was “large for ranches of this size and it appeared many employees were relatives of the ranch manager, Doug Sinclair. Mr. Dutcyvich developed a concern about Mr. Sinclair as a result.”

Along with other concerns of his, in Dutcyvich’s completed assessment, he concluded that BGCattle’s shares and ranch interests were worth $76 million and that he “would not pay more if he was purchasing these shares.”

The court said this was in part because of the condition of the equipment, the cattle count and the problem with the leases. Dutcyvich provided that advice to LBJ.

Totaling up his work for LBJ, MacIntyre estimated he worked a total of 450 hours, “from the date of signing the NDA (April 14, 2020) to the date on which the term sheet between LBJ and BGCattle was created (June 12, 2020)” then continued to work on this as LBJ and BGCattle worked to substantiate a $76 million offer on the shares.

LBJ AGREES TO PAY

In July 2020, LBJ agreed to pay 50% of the price reduction from Blue Goose Capital’s $100 million asking price. That resulted in the $12 million fee to 3L Developments based on a $76 million purchase price.

However, during the next few months LBJ was unable to secure the necessary funds and Blue Goose Capital cut off a deal in early January 2021.

After LBJ’s failure to secure funds, Blue Goose Capital relied on 3L Developments to find a new buyer while maintaining a cooperative relationship, according to the court’s opinion.

According to Burke’s ruling, “At this time, unknown to Mr. Dutcyvich and 3L Developments, it appears that the defendants, Darrel Monette and Monette Farms, were making arrangements to have some measure of involvement with LBJ. Mr. Monette disputes this. However, I find that the evidence supports this involvement, and I therefore conclude that it did occur and was underway at this pertinent time.”

The document said Dutcyvich testified that he had various conference calls in late 2020 with LBJ and that the calls included Monette.

“Specifically, Mr. Dutcyvich testified that Mr. Monette was on two or three conference calls he had with Mr. Thomas Bunker and Mr. Benoit, two members of LBJ,” the court said.

“Mr. Dutcyvich says that during these calls, Mr. Monette expressed substantial interest in matters relating to Mr. Dutcyvich’s prior cattle ranching experience and herd quality. Specifically, Mr. Monette was very interested in Mr. Dutcyvich’s previous ranch, which had been ranked highly in North America. Mr. Monette wanted to know what Mr. Dutcyvich had done differently to achieve these results.”

As a result of the calls, according to Dutcyvich’s testimony in court, he was under the impression that Monette was in partnership with LBJ, including Bunker and Benoit at the time, and that Monette was to be part of the LBJ transaction that was delayed continuously in late 2020, the court said.

DUTCYVICH AND MONETTE MEET

Dutcyvich first met Monette in person in March 2021.

Monette approached Dutcyvich with an offer to assist in buying Blue Goose Cattle shares independently of LBJ.

However, in testimony before the court, Dutcyvich said he was under the impression that Monette was “in partnership with LBJ.” The two reportedly had conversations about a potential transaction in the works.

Dutcyvich testified that Monette contacted him in early March 2021 after BGCapital told LBJ they were no longer interested in dealing with LBJ, according to the court’s ruling.

According to the Dutcyvich testimony, Monette told him he was “going to leave those three buggers and do the deal on his own” and that he would like Dutcyvich’s help.

“As part of this conversation, Mr. Dutcyvich said to Mr. Monette: ‘you know the deal, my fee is $12 million,” according to the court ruling, “are you going to pay me?”

Dutcyvich testified that Monette replied “yes, he would pay the fee.” As a result, Dutcyvich agreed to help and said he would have his accountant send a letter to Monette to sign.

Meanwhile, 3L Development’s MacIntyre was concerned about Monette and wanted to make sure he was financially sound to complete the deal with BGCapital.

“As part of his CFO responsibilities, Mr. MacIntyre said he did not want 3L Developments to spend any more time on this matter while not being paid for it,” the court said.

“At this point, 3L Developments had spent nine months working on this matter without being paid and Mr. MacIntyre did not want that to happen again.”

When he received proof of sufficient liquidity for 3L Developments to work with Monette Farms to buy the BGCattle shares, MacIntyre was persuaded to help with the sale.

Monette was introduced to Blue Goose Capital to make a deal.

On March 14, 2021, Monette Farms signed a term sheet for the purchase of the shares of BGCattle, including the purchase of the shares of Lambert Creek Organic Meats Ltd., which was a processing facility of BGCattle in North Vancouver.

DEAL STRUCK

The court said MacIntyre directed Blue Goose Capital to pay Monette on March 16, 2021.

Monette eventually acquired Blue Goose shares through a subsidiary of Monette Farms, 102134752 Saskatchewan Ltd.

However, according to court documents, MacIntyre did not know, “In the meantime, on March 10, 2021, unbeknownst to 3L Developments and prior to Monette Farms signing a term sheet to purchase the shares of BGCattle from BGCapital, Monette Farms and LBJ signed a term sheet in which LBJ agreed to purchase 75% of the shares of Monette Farms.”

That amount was later reduced to $425 million and included plans to roll Blue Goose Cattle shares into Monette Farms, according to court records.

After the March 16, 2021, term sheet between LBJ and Monette Farms was signed, MacIntyre, who was unaware of this term sheet between LBJ and Monette, said 3L Developments continued to work for Monette Farms to ensure that $76 million was the right price for BGCattle, the court said.

MacIntyre and Monette continued to work together into May, according to court records. Dutcyvich even did a helicopter ride with Monette in May 2021 to tour the ranches that were part of the deal.

“Mr. Dutcyvich said he had a brief early morning conversation with Mr. Monette just prior to the helicopter tour, during which he advised Mr. Monette that his work was essentially done, and he expected his $12 million when the deal closed,” Burke wrote in the ruling.

Monette told the court the conversation never took place. The court also said Monette tried to “minimize” Dutcyvich’s role in the share purchase “to the point where one has to ask why Mr. Dutcyvich was even part of this helicopter tour of the ranch lands.”

Burke said in her ruling that “while at least one helicopter tour of the ranches was Mr. Dutcyvich’s choice, it was part of his work to assist Monette Farms” in buying the BGCattle shares.

Although Monette claimed he was making the deal on his own, the court said he maintained a partnership with LBJ that he withheld from 3L Developments and Blue Goose Capital.

“At this time, unknown to Mr. Dutcyvich and 3L Developments, it appears that the defendants, Darrel Monette and Monette Farms, were making arrangements to have some measure of involvement with LBJ,” the court said in its ruling.

“Mr. Monette disputes this. However, I find that the evidence supports this involvement and I therefore conclude that it did occur and was underway at this pertinent time.”

The purchase of Blue Goose Cattle shares was assigned to Monette’s subsidiary and the $63 million transaction was completed with Blue Goose Capital on Oct. 21, 2021.

ENFORCEABLE CONTRACT

Burke said in her ruling that there was an enforceable oral contract between Monette and Dutcyvich.

A contract is formed, she said, when offered by one party and accepted by another, when intended to create a legal relationship and supported by consideration and pointed out “the contract does not need to be written or signed to be binding, even in complicated commercial contexts. Additionally, the essential terms of the contract must be sufficiently certain and agreed to by the parties.”

Burke added, “In the case at hand, I am satisfied on the evidence that Mr. Dutcyvich and Mr. Monette entered into an oral contract during their initial conversation in early March 2021. I am satisfied that the vital or fundamental terms of the contract were agreed to and sufficiently certain — essentially, that Mr. Dutcyvich would assist Mr. Monette in purchasing the shares of BGCattle in exchange for a fee of $12 million, so long as Mr. Monette demonstrated that Monette Farms had sufficient financial capability.”

The promises, according to the court, “operated as the consideration supporting the agreement. I do not accept that 3L Developments was not working for Monette Farms as purchaser’s agent because it sought a fair price for both parties. A fair price for both parties incentivizes a deal, which is what both parties wanted.”

Burke concluded, “I find that there was an objective intention by the parties to create a legally enforceable contract. This is evidenced by the oral agreement made in March 2021, the subsequent conduct of the parties according to the terms of that agreement (including the introduction, promotion, work and other services undertaken by 3L), and the reference to the $12 million figure in the March 2021 emails. While Mr. Monette sought to minimize the efforts of Mr. Dutcyvich and 3L Developments, the evidence establishes that the introduction by itself was critical to BGCapital entertaining any dealings at all with Mr. Monette and Monette Farms in view of recent history and Mr. Dutcyvich continued to provide advice and information to Mr. Monette at its request. All of this facilitated Mr. Monette’s ultimate purchase of the BGCattle shares — his specific goal at the time, which he achieved.”

DTN/Progressive Farmer Associate Content Manager Elaine Shein contributed to this story.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DTNeeley