NA Proactive news snapshot: Bay Talent Group, Media Central, Co-Diagnostics, Nano One Materials UPDATE …

Bay Talent Group Inc (CVE:HIRE) opened the market at the TSX Venture Exchange on Thursday, nearly one month after its shares began trading on the market. The firm’s strategy is to complete accretive acquisitions of staffing, information technology, and consulting firms. Its wholly owned operating subsidiaries, Provision IT Resources Limited and PTC Accounting and Finance Inc, are boutique consulting firms that offer a range of professional staffing services for accounting, finance, information technology, office administration and human resources. Media Central Corporation Inc’s (CSE:FLYY) wholly owned subsidiary NOW Central Communications Inc released its annual Black Futures Month issue this week, inspired by the growing movement to recognize February as Black Futures Month. Held in conjunction with Black History Month, the movement pushes for a world where Black people are liberated. The issue, available online at nowtoronto.com from Jan 29 and across 800 newsstands in Toronto from Jan 30, profiles five Torontonians making progressive change in the city. Working across different fields and contributing to a future free from racism oppression and discrimination, this issue envisions the future of urban farming, city planning, art, poetry and fashion design. Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CODX) CEO Dwight Egan spoke with Fox Business and Yahoo! Finance Thursday on how the company’s new screening for coronavirus can test multiple patients at the same time. The Salt Lake City-based company has completed the principle design work for a genetic screening test to detect the disease, which has propelled Co-Diagnostics and its stock into the spotlight. The coronavirus has already killed around 170 people.  Egan discussed how the company’s new screening for coronavirus can test multiple patients at the same time. “They can tell whether the patient has the disease present even if the patient is asymptomatic,” Egan told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo.  Nano One Materials Corp (CVE:NNO) (OTCMKTS:NNOMF) has secured a private placement worth as much as $5 million in order to fund expansion of its facilities and further technology development. The company will offer up to 4.3 million units — each containing one share and one half a share purchase warrant — at a price of $1.15 per unit. A whole warrant entitles its holder to purchase an additional share at a price of $1.60 for up 36 months following the closing date. CEO Dan Blondal said the infusion of cash will make a big difference for the Vancouver-based lithium-ion battery materials producer, particularly when combined with another $5 million it received last year. Duos Technologies Group Inc (OTCMKTS:DUOT) said Thursday it expects to post record revenue during its fiscal fourth quarter and full year 2019 periods. The artificial intelligence company’s preliminary revenue figures point to revenue of a record $5.7 million during the three-month period ended December 31, 2019, with FY 2019 revenue also coming in at a record $13.6 million. The numbers represent a 123% increase over 4Q 2018 and a 13% increase from FY 2018, when the company saw revenue of $2.6 million and $12 million, respectively. Osino Resources Corp (CSE:OSI) has raised C$14 million gross after closing an oversubscribed overnight offering, of which net proceeds will be used on its exploration projects in Namibia and for general working capital. In all, over 17.9 million units were sold, including the full exercise of the over-allotment option of around 1.92 million units, at C$0.78 each, the gold explorer said. "We are very proud to close this significantly oversubscribed overnight offering of Units and we are grateful for the support of both new and existing key investors," said Heye Daun, CEO at Osino. DRDGOLD Limited (NYSE:DRD) issued a trading statement Thursday covering the last six months of 2019, revealing that it expects to report significant earnings and revenue growth in the period. The Johannesburg-based gold producer expects earnings per share to be between $0.48 and $0.49 per share, up dramatically from a loss of $0.07 per share in the prior reporting period. Revenue will likely come in at roughly R$2.1 billion (US$142 million), a 69% increase of R$858.9 million (US$58 million). Ventura Cannabis and Wellness Corp (CSE:VCAN) on Thursday said it has produced three consecutive quarters of revenue growth. In a statement, the company said it ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 on November 30 with $501,000, compared to $402,000 in the second quarter, or a 24% increase. In the first quarter the company hauled in just $92,000 in revenue, or a 444% increase. Annualized, the company saw an organic growth rate of 96%. "We had a fantastic quarter for revenue growth, the overwhelming majority of which was organic," said CEO Chris Heath.  Blackrock Gold Corp (CVE:BRC) has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered private placement previously announced on January 10. The company issued a total of 2,685,000 units of the company at a price of $0.20 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $537,000. Each unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of 30 cents until January 30, 2022. Proceeds from the private placement will be used by the company to finance the 2020 drilling program and exploration work on the company's Silver Cloud property and general working capital. Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RKDA) has secured more than $3 million initial seed purchase commitments for its new GoodHemp product line, the company announced in a letter to shareholders. The GoodHemp line is Arcadia’s latest commercial brand, created to deliver genetically superior hemp seeds, transplants, flower and extracts. The Davis, California company is anticipating more than $10 million in revenue from GoodHemp this year, once the initial seed commitments are delivered to growers between the second and fourth quarters of the year. Klondike Gold Corp (CVE:KG) (OTCMKTS:KDKGF) told investors Thursday that drilling on its Klondike District property in Yukon Territory intersected broad zones of gold mineralization. The Vancouver-based firm reported results including 2.1 grams per ton (g/t) gold over nearly 29 metres and 31.2 g/t gold over 0.5 meters at the Stander Zone Central on the project. Results support Klondike’s understanding that structures on the property are conduits for gold-bearing fluids. Two structures are potentially gold mineralized exploration targets, according to the exploration company. BioCorRx Inc (OTCMKTS:BICX), which is developing treatments for addictions, has been awarded an additional $2.8 million by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is the second tranche from a total grant of about $5.7 million that was announced last year, the company said in a statement Thursday. The grant is for the development of BICX102, the company’s three-month, sustained-release naltrexone implant for the treatment of opioid use disorder. BioCorRx is currently seeking US Food and Drug Administration approval for BICX102. Surge Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:SURG) announced that the SurgePays Marketplace network, which provides products to the underbanked through convenience stores, bodegas and community markets, has been integrated with prepaid wireless company ECS. The Memphis-based company has completed the onboarding of SurgePhone Wireless to ECS’s network and expects to commence rolling out its SIM Starter Kits over the next month. Additionally, Surge has launched a real-time national transaction tracker for the ECS and SurgePays networks. Mota Ventures Corp (CSE:MOTA) (OTCMKTS:PEMTF) said it expects significant growth this year at its wholly-owned subsidiary First Class CBD.  Wyoming-based First Class, which Mota Ventures purchased this month, has already produced US$2.1 million in revenue in January compared to US$307,000 last year. “First Class plans to continue this significant growth in their US operations over the balance of 2020, as well as enter the European market,” the company said in a statement.  Kincora Copper Ltd (CVE:KCC) is significantly increasing its land package in one of Australia’s major porphyry regions. The Vancouver-based company completed two transactions to boost its holdings to 1,732 square kilometres in the highly prospective Lachlan Fold Belt. Sam Spring, Kincora’s CEO, said that the firm’s expansion activities in the region provide an “extremely attractive” entry point to an extensive license portfolio with proven investor appeal. EuroLife Brands Inc (CSE:EURO) (OTCMKTS:CANVF) revealed Thursday that it has finalized a pact with a fast-growing cannabis company which has a billion-dollar market cap, to develop its online education portal, used by hundreds of cannabis retailers, and employees across Canada. In a statement, the Canadian cannabis education and analytics firm said the budtender portal was designed to help knowledge retention by having each user take a quiz after each module. After taking a final course exam, budtenders earn an e-learning certificate as proof that they have completed the course. Mawson Resources Ltd (TSE:MAW) (OTCMKTS:MWSNF) unveiled a deal Thursday, which sees it acquire three high-grade gold assets in the Victoria goldfields of Australia and become a cornerstone investor in major landholder Nagambie Resources Ltd (ASX:NAG). The latter holds 2,000 sq km of ground on the Waranga tenements, including the Nagambie gold mine and the deal diversifies Mawson and gives it a pipeline of potential new projects. NexTech AR Solutions Corp (OTCMKTS:NEXCF) (CSE:NTAR) has beefed up its augmented reality offerings by adding the Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) exclusive .USDZ 3D file type to its arsenal. The .USDZ file type leverages the Quick Look feature on Mac computers, which allows users to preview files by hitting the spacebar without needing to run an application to open them. That same technology can be used to engage with AR content. Minera Alamos Inc (CVE:MAI) (OTCMKTS:MAIFF) has bought a complete crushing system for its Santana gold mine in Mexico for C$1.2 million, which, it says, will lead to lower costs. Earlier this month, the group said construction at Santana - a simple open-pit heap leach project - was now underway. Pressure BioSciences Inc (OTCMKTS:PBIO) announced that it’s targeting the third quarter to release its new BaroShear Mini device, a bench-top CBD oil-processing instrument utilizing the company’s Ultra Shear Technology (UST). The Baroshear Mini works by taking extracted CBD oil — notoriously difficult for the water-based human body to absorb — and processes it so that it’s dissolvable in water. That significantly increases the amount of CBD that enters circulation, a metric known as bioavailability.  Medgold Resources Corp (CVE:MED) (OTCMKTS:MGLDF) has reached a milestone at its Tlamino project in Serbia, with the publication of a maiden resource for the Barje prospect there. Medgold, via its joint venture with Fortuna Silver Mines Inc (NYSE:FSM) (TSE:FVI), carried out exploration and then diamond drilling at Barje in 2018 and 2019, successfully encountering gold mineralization in a shallowly inclined body of breccia. Permex Petroleum Corporation (CSE:OIL) (OTCMKTS:OILCF) CEO Mehran Ehsan told shareholders that the company “continues on a growth trajectory” despite a deep downturn in the oil sector in 2019. “From world price fluctuations, excess supply and pipeline constraints to restricted access to capital, 2019 brought many struggles,” Ehsan said in the company's annual letter to shareholders. “Nevertheless, through it all, I am pleased to say that Permex rose to the challenge and continues its progress.” Permex and its working interest partners have been a fixture in the Permian Basin since early 2015, which is located in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Last year, he said the company continued its focus on profitable properties while temporarily shutting down projects that were unprofitable due to lower West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark for crude oil prices. The price averaged $57 a barrel in 2019, $7 lower than in 2018. Gatling Exploration Inc (CVE:GTR) (OTCMKTS:GATGF) said initial drilling has hit high-grade, near-surface gold at Fernland at its Larder project, underlining the firm's theory that the deposits there are connected by mineralization. Fernland is one of three deposits at the Larder project in Ontario. The other two are Bear and Cheminis.  Progressive Planet Solutions Inc. (CVE:PLAN) said it has closed the second tranche of its recently announced private placement comprising of 2,010,000 "hard dollar" units at $0.06 per unit for total proceeds of $120,600. Each "hard dollar" unit comprises one common share and a share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase an additional share in the company for $0.075 a share if exercised on or before July 29, 2020. The group noted that subscribers include Investor News Network (INN) a digital media company with whom the company has entered into a service agreement, pursuant to which INN will provide comprehensive digital media services. The company said it will use the proceeds from private placement for general working capital, and to repay unsecured indebtedness owing by the company to David Richardson. Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO), a leading sustainable aviation fuel producer, said that CEO Patrick Gruber will present at NobleCon16, which is Noble Capital Markets’ sixteenth annual investor conference at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in Hollywood, Florida on February 18, at 10.30 am. A high-definition, video webcast of the presentation will be available the following day at www.gevo.com. A complete catalog of presentations will be available at Noble Capital Markets’ conference website: www.nobleconference.com and on Channelchek www.channelchek.com. Pure Gold Mining Inc. (CVE:PGM) (LON:PUR) announced the appointment of Peel Hunt and Tamesis Partners as its joint corporate brokers with immediate effect.