Jade Leader Corp (JADE.V) announced today that it is announcing the initiation of a field trenching program targeting the collection of nephrite jade exhibiting a highly unusual color change phenomenon.
For more information about this unique color change type of nephrite, check out the press release dated October 3rd 2022 here. This Jade has a unique color change phenomenon whereby depending on the specimen, the color can shift from white to blues to dark green as the viewer’s eye moves in relation to the stones.
“To our knowledge Jade showing this color change phenomenon has never been documented before, so we had to create the most appropriate cutting and shaping techniques to properly exhibit the optical phenomenon from scratch”, stated Mr. Jean-Pierre Jutras, P.Geol., the President of Jade Leader. “We combined scanning electron microscope mapping, thin section and hand sample microscopy with trial and error lapidary work to understand how the stone’s crystallographic fabric interacted with light to create this effect”, stated Mr. Jean-Pierre Jutras, P.Geol., the President of Jade Leader.
This jade was found in surface trenches at the Lode 2 jade occurrence at Jade Leader’s Washington DJ Project. Fresh material of this type of jade can be reached for harvesting with modest preparations and thus, a jade collection program for processing and marketing is now underway.
For more info on sales, check out Jade Leader’s store here.
So why jade? Well, the international jade market is now larger than the worldwide market for rough diamonds. You can attribute this to Asian demand. Jade holds an important place in Chinese culture. The Hanzi of China itself has jade in it. China may have the oldest jade culture, but other civilizations and people’s have put importance to this stone.
The Maori in New Zealand still revere jade (called Pounamu) to this day. The Meso-American civilizations also have a rich jade history, with the Mayan jade just being rediscovered in recent decades in Guatemala. In fact, when the conquistadors were after the Aztec’s gold and silver, Montezuma is said to have remarked, “thank the Gods they don’t know about jade”.
I myself am a bit of a jade collector. I hold many nephrite pieces and appreciate them for their beauty. There’s just something magical about jade, and you just need to hold one to understand. But perhaps it is because of my archaeological field school in China where in 2012, I saw the lengths the CCP would go in order to find remnants of jade that is supposedly exhausted in parts of China.
And this is the investment opportunity. Chinese buyers need to go overseas to find jade. The Maori have great translucent pieces, but they do not export their pounamu to China. Russia with its chatoyant Siberian jade is favored. In fact, what is marketed as Hetian jade in China is most likely jade from Russia.
BC of course has the largest nephrite jade deposits… and has been getting media attention due to the show “Jade Fever”
In some ways, Asian buyers like to gamble on stones. But recently, jade has been making headlines with Chinese real estate falling:
When you hear the reasons why Chinese investors are putting their money into jade, you get the same reasons why westerners invest in gold and silver. As they say in China, “gold has value, but jade is priceless“.
With demand in jade to continue to rise, Jade Leader provides a way to invest in jade as opposed to buying physical pieces.
The stock is currently trading at $0.06 cents, and has bounced at a major support zone. I really do like these technical setups which show a long range or consolidation. A trendline could be breaking, but I would want to see larger volume accompanying the break.
Longer term, the $0.10 zone is resistance. Once we break above this, the range is officially broken, and according to market structure, a new uptrend begins.
In terms of catalysts, I myself would be interested in finding out the demand for Jade Leader’s jade from Chinese buyers.