NA Proactive news snapshot: Lexaria Bioscience, The Valens Company. MindMed, Pacific Empire Minerals …

Lexaria Bioscience Corp (OTCMKTS:LXRP) (CSE:LXX) has said it is applying to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a grant to support its second round of planned studies relating to treatment options for coronavirus (COVID-19). The application is being made following the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) RFA-AI-20-028 entitled "Partnerships for Countermeasures against Select Pathogens," said the Kelowna, British Columbia-based company, which is a specialist in drug delivery platforms. The aim is to receive research applications for projects, which are focused on pre-clinical development of lead candidate therapeutics, vaccines, and related countermeasures against select NIAID emerging infectious diseases/pathogens of interest including COVID-19. Lexaria also said its subsidiary Lexaria CanPharm ULC has successfully received a new license from Health Canada that allows for expanded testing capabilities including sensory testing of cannabis oral products for taste, smell, and additional research and evaluation. The Valens Company (CVE:VLNS) (OTCQX:VLNCF) has signed a custom manufacturing agreement with boutique brand house FPS Brands Inc to launch ufeelu, a line of craft, hemp-derived CBD products. Under the terms of the two-year agreement, The Valens Company has agreed to manufacture a minimum of 250,000 units across a variety of branded products in the ufeelu portfolio. Valens will initially focus on the development of cannabis oils, vapes and topicals, with specialty drinks expected to be added to the product line shortly. The company said it will be responsible for providing premium extracts, filling, packaging and manufacturing services, in addition to the national distribution of the ufeelu branded products. Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc (NEO:MMED) (OTCQB:MMEDF) told shareholders on Thursday that it is pursuing research into N, N-Dimethyltryptamine, the active ingredient in ayahuasca commonly known as DMT. The news comes as part of a research and development collaboration that the psychedelics company has with the University Hospital Basel’s Liechti Lab. MindMed will provide startup funding for a Phase 1 clinical trial looking at intravenous dosing regimen options for DMT. The first stage of the trial is designed to understand how humans react to DMT, a naturally-occurring psychedelic substance that causes a rapid onset and offset of action compared to similar psychedelic substances like psilocybin or LSD. When administered as an ayahuasca brew, DMT along with natural substances can prolong experiential effects and slow the metabolism in the human body. Pacific Empire Minerals Corp (CVE:PEMC) (OTCQB:PEMSF) revealed that it has expanded its footprint at the Jean Marie copper-gold-silver-molybdenum project in British Columbia. The prospect generator said it had staked over 1,000 hectares of prospective mineral tenure, contiguous to and immediately east of the site, which lies just 50 kilometres west of Centerra Gold's Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine. In all, the project now spans 7,355 hectares and boasts multiple mineralized zones open for expansion, along with several additional exploration targets. American Resources Corporation (NASDAQ:AREC) posted first-quarter results on Thursday that showed the company was well-positioned to supply raw material to the global infrastructure market after making a dramatic shift from coal to mining metallurgical carbon used in steelmaking. For its first quarter ended March 31, 2020, American Resources narrowed its loss from operations to $4.26 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.89 million, or $0.48 per share, in the same period a year earlier. In a statement accompanying the numbers, American Resources chairman and CEO Mark Jensen said: "The first three months of 2020 continued to be very productive in the transformation of the company in becoming an infrastructure company and pure producer of metallurgical carbon.” WeedMD Inc (CVE:WMD) (OTCQX:WDDMF) announced Thursday the launch of its same-day medical cannabis home delivery service. The pilot project called PatientDirect will service local patients in the greater Toronto-area starting in June, with order fulfillment from the company’s Bowmanville, Ontario distribution centre located just outside Toronto. WeedMD said PatientDirect is intended to ease potential third-party postal and delivery service disruptions resulting from the current business conditions. Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RKDA), which focuses on enhancing the quality and nutritional value of crops and food ingredients, announced Thursday that the Australia Patent Office has granted it a foundational patent covering herbicide tolerance in wheat. The patent grants intellectual property protection for mutations to the wheat genome that make it herbicide-tolerant, the company said. Arcadia Biosciences also received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office to cover the same technology. Altamira Gold Corp (CVE:ALTA) (OTCPINK:EQTRF) (FSE:T6UP) told investors it has hired Edgar Barrios as senior mining consultant to manage the construction of the Cajueiro gold mine in Brazil and a 1000 tonnes per day (t/d) processing plant. "Edgar brings a wealth of knowledge and extensive experience on small and large scale gold operations in South America," Altamira CEO Michael Bennett said in a statement. "Not only has he held senior operating roles at larger companies, he is a metallurgist by training and has hands-on experience in designing and installing carbon-in-leach circuits and operating plants. His technical expertise will be invaluable as we advance our Cajueiro gold project into production." Hillcrest Petroleum Ltd (CVE:HRH) (OTCMKTS:HLRTF) said Thursday that it has expanded the company's involvement and responsibilities in its ALSET Innovations Limited technology partnership. The Vancouver-based company said the partnership will first exclusively license, market and deploy US patented technology in the United States and European Union before expanding to other markets as opportunities arise. ALSET Innovations is a private incorporated joint venture company owned by Hillcrest and its partner. Hillcrest's role, through ALSET, has been expanded to include responsibility for business planning and leading direct discussions with potential technology development partners. Compensation for the expanded role, including fees and bonus provisions, will be addressed in definitive agreements, noted the company. NexTech AR Solutions Corp (OTCQB:NEXCF) (CSE:NTAR) has reached a partner supplier agreement with merchandise agency Bensussen Deutsch & Associates LLC (BDA) to bring its InfernoAR virtual events platform to professional sports leagues and other Fortune 1000 clients.  BDA creates merchandise and integrated marketing campaigns for brands such as Coca-Cola, Sony, AT&T, NFL, Ford, Starbucks, GE, Kellogg’s, HBO and others. Under the supplier agreement, those blue chip clients will have access to NexTech’s suite of augmented reality (AR) technology.  Specifically, the firm’s BDA Sports division will use InfernoAR for its Think Tank 2020 summit for teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. Great Bear Resources Ltd (CVE:GBR) (OTCQX:GTBAF) continues to see exploration success at its flagship project in Ontario and on Wednesday announced the discovery of a further Red Lake style high-grade gold zone. A drill hole has hit three zones of gold mineralization including a 15 metre wide interval containing high-grade visible gold in quartz veins, which has been named the "Arrow" zone, Great Bear said. Intersected was 19.32 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 2.10 metres, including 50 g/t gold over 0.75 metres, within a broader interval of 3 g/t gold over 15 metres, the junior exploration company added. LexaGene Holdings Inc (CVE:LXG) (OTCQB:LXXGF) said it is seeing good results after its LX Analyzer pathogen detection device was configured to screen for coronavirus (COVID-19). The Beverly, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company, which is developing genetic analyzers for rapid pathogen detection, placed the pre-commercial instrument in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center’s Laboratory for Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology at the end of May. The machine detected numerous positive samples from those tested to date, according to LexaGene CEO Dr Jack Regan. 1933 Industries Inc (CSE:TGIF) (OTCQX:TGIFF) has announced the launch of a new hemp-specific line of Canna Hemp products made with organic hemp seed oil.  The suite of wellness products include creams, balms, tinctures, lotions, capsules and more, all formulated with its proprietary TerpFX blend of cannabis terpenes, which mimics the profile of cannabis strains without any of the “high” produced by THC. "Many of our consumers want hemp-specific products and we have delivered a line that appeals to a wide audience,” 1933 Industries president Gene Ruiz said in a statement. “The Canna Hemp wellness line has grown since its inception in 2016 to become a brand that people can trust because of the effectiveness of each formulation, the safety and quality of our ingredients, and the care we put into developing each and every product." Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp (CSE:CANN) (CNSX:CANN.CN) (OTC:HERTF) has announced that it will launch its Daybreak and Nightfall full spectrum THC tinctures under the Pura Vida brand in the British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba adult-use cannabis markets in July, with additional provincial markets expected to follow. The cannabis specialist recently bought Pura Vida, an award-winning legacy cannabis brand recognized for superior tinctures, concentrates and vape cartridge products. Pura Vida’s Daybreak and Nightfall tinctures are extracted from high quality, hand-selected cannabis flower. The company said the “premium quality” products are created using only the highest-grade cannabis materials suspended in “organic medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil” to ensure a positive user experience. Blockchain Holdings Ltd. (CSE:BCX)(CSE:TSF) has announced that, further to its news release dated June 10, 2020, it has completed the name change from "Blockchain Holdings Ltd." to "TraceSafe Inc." and trading under the new name will commence at the opening of trading on Friday, June 19, 2020, under the new symbol "TSF". The Flowr Corporation (CVE:FLWR) (OTCMKTS:FLWPF) has announced that the company will release its first-quarter 2020 results after the close of the financial markets on Thursday, June 25, 2020, which will be followed by a conference call and webcast to review these results on Thursday, June 25 at 5.30pm Eastern Time. Conference call and webcast details are as follows: Toll Free: 1-833-227-5845; Toll/International: 1-647-689-4072; Passcode: 8781563 Webcast: flowrcorp.com/investors. Conference call replay details are as follows: Toll Free: 1-800-585-8367; Toll/International: 1-416-621-4642; Passcode: 8781563; Webcast: flowrcorp.com/investors. The replay of the conference call will be available through midnight on Thursday, July 9, 2020. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX:OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 US and global securities, has announced Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE:RWB) (OTCQX:TDRYD), a company positioning itself to be a multi-state cannabis operator active in the US legal cannabis and hemp sector, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market and has today upgraded from the Pink market. For companies listed on a qualified international exchange, streamlined market standards enable them to utilize their home market reporting to make their information available in the US To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws. Brad Rogers, chief executive officer and chairman of RWB said: "We are extremely proud to announce the commencement of trading on the OTCQX Best Market." He added: "We are thrilled to have a foundation in which we can share our long-term vision for RWB with a wider pool of retail and institutional shareholders throughout the United States. We firmly believe that cross-trading on OTCQX in the US is vital for a company headquartered in the US and deriving 100% of its revenue from US customers." RWB anticipates that its new US trading symbol will be RWBYF and should be effective on or about July 1, 2020. The Flowr Corporation also noted that, as disclosed in a press release dated May 29, 2020, the company became aware in late May that for the fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2020, it was in breach of a current ratio financial covenant and positive covenant requiring it to have a certain percentage of total assets held by loan parties under the Credit Agreement dated November 18, 2019, as amended to the date hereof, with a syndicate of lenders, including ATB Financial. The company said that, as at today’s date, it is in compliance with the current ratio testing under the Credit Agreement and has received a formal waiver from its lenders with respect to the aforementioned breach of covenants. Ximen Mining Corp (CVE:XIM) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing documentation with respect to its non-brokered private placement announced on June 12, 2020, which will see the issue of 500,000 shares t a purchase price of 50 cents per share each, together with 500,000 share purchase warrants at an exercise price of 78.75 cents for a three-year period with one placee. VR Resources Ltd (CVE:VRR) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for expedited filing documentation relating to its agreement, dated June 15, 2020, with the vendors, Orebot Inc., (Kevin Kivi), Charles King and Gary Peacock to acquire a 100% holding in 80 unpatented mining claims, located in Northern Ontario, known as the Hecla-Kilmer property. In consideration, the company will pay $15,000 and issue 75,000 shares in the first year, and, if the company commences a drill program, additional consideration of $50,000 and 100,000 shares will be due. Great Bear Resources Ltd (CVE:GBR) said the TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing an exploration agreement dated April 28, 2020, between the company and the Lac Seul First Nation and Wabauskang First Nation, that governs the development and exploration on the company's mining claims within the traditional territory of Lac Seul and Wabauskang, with the consideration of 100,000 common shares.