Three reports this week: a drone roll-up, a copper mine, a device maker
Weekly Wrap Up: Sunday, August 16, 2026
Three reports this week, and only one really moved the tape. White Diamond Research spent Monday laying out a related-party trail at a drone roll-up, and the shares still closed the week higher. Viceroy Research went after a critical-minerals developer on Wednesday: Blue Moon Metals fell as much as 14.9 percent intraday, clawed back nearly all of it by the close, then ended the week down 9.3 percent. Shortfinder's flag on a medical device maker landed Friday and barely registered. Away from the tape, Quantum Cyber sued White Diamond over a June report.
- White Diamond Research targeted ZenaTech, Inc. (ZENA) alleging its CEO controlled both sides of a deal that sold technology back to the company at roughly 19 times book value, after ZenaTech had already paid to develop it. Stock closed the week up 29.7%.
- Viceroy Research targeted Blue Moon Metals Inc. (MOON.V) alleging it raised C$156 million from investors without disclosing that European regulators had formally found Norway acted unlawfully in granting the tailings permit its flagship copper project depends on. Stock closed the week down 9.3%.
- Shortfinder flagged electroCore, Inc. (ECOR) in its systematic short rankings. Stock closed the week up 0.3%.
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| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $1.65 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $1.66 | +0.6% |
| Close (Report Date) | $1.71 | +3.6% |
| Close (End of Week) | $2.14 | +29.7% |
Stock Price Impact
ZenaTech never traded below the level it closed at before the report. Its low on August 10 was $1.66, a cent above that, and it finished the day at $1.71. It kept climbing from there, ending the week at $2.14, up 29.7%. The filings White Diamond Research cites are public and dated, and the share price has not engaged with them yet.
About ZenaTech, Inc.
ZenaTech is a Nasdaq-listed drone and software company that grows by acquisition, buying land surveying businesses and reporting in Canadian dollars. It has lost more than $20 million in each of the past two quarters and does not hold earnings calls. Its research and development runs through a 20-year services agreement with Epazz, an over-the-counter company with a market cap of about $340,000. Both are controlled by CEO Shaun Passley.
Key Points from the Report
- Epazz's Q1 2026 SEC filing puts the book value of the technology it transferred to ZenaTech at US$2,356,495 and the ZenaTech stock it received in return at US$46,498,653, roughly 19 times book. The shareholder circular says the board priced it on "an internal determination of their value" and "did not review the agreement with its legal counsel."
- ZenaTech had already advanced C$28,230,118 in cash to Epazz for product development, money the circular describes as "restricted for the use and benefit of ZenaTech." Epazz kept title to what that money built and then sold it back, which White Diamond Research argues means ZenaTech shareholders paid for the same assets twice.
- Epazz's filing states the two companies "are under common control, as a single controlling individual holds a controlling equity interest in both entities." White Diamond Research identifies that individual as CEO Shaun Passley and writes that "the only two parties who ever put a number on these assets were the buyer and the seller, and the same man signed for both."
- ZenaTech carried C$86,310,000 of convertible preferred shares at March 31, each convertible into three common shares at the holder's option, which works out to about 86 million common-equivalent shares against the 88,884,193 common shares reported in July. According to White Diamond Research, those preferred shares do not appear in the fully diluted counts on standard market-data sites.
Read the Full Report Summary →
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $7.40 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $6.30 | -14.9% |
| Close (Report Date) | $7.39 | -0.1% |
| Close (End of Week) | $6.71 | -9.3% |
Stock Price Impact
Blue Moon Metals fell to $6.30 within hours of Viceroy Research's report, down 14.9%, then recovered almost all of it to close at $7.39, a cent below the previous session. The selling returned over the next two days and the stock ended the week at $6.71. Buyers turned up on day one and did not stay, which is a slower verdict than the intraday low suggested.
About Blue Moon Metals Inc.
Blue Moon Metals is a TSX Venture listed critical-minerals developer whose flagship is Nussir, a copper deposit on the Repparfjord in Arctic Norway. It also owns Springer, a Nevada tungsten mine idle since 1982, and Apex, a Utah germanium and gallium mine bought from Teck. Nussir's mine plan requires disposing of tailings in the fjord, and the company raised C$156 million in May at C$10.00 a share.
Key Points from the Report
- Norway's Supreme Court declared the analogous Engebø fjord tailings permit "invalid" on 17 June 2026, ruling that income for employees, shareholders and the state "cannot be considered to constitute an overriding public interest" and that the defect "cannot be repaired retrospectively." Viceroy Research says Nussir's 2016 permit was approved under nearly verbatim language, and that the EFTA Surveillance Authority has formally concluded Norway acted unlawfully "by authorising" and "by maintaining in force" it.
- Blue Moon filed its bought-deal prospectus supplement on 29 April 2026, four days after the EFTA Surveillance Authority's Letter of Formal Notice, and according to Viceroy Research it disclosed nothing about the challenge to the permit. The raise closed at C$10.00 a share for C$156 million gross, and a 3 July corporate presentation still described Nussir as "fully permitted."
- Canaccord Genuity lifted its combined valuation of the Springer and Apex mines from C$130 million to C$1,598 million between 1 March and 23 April 2026, a 12.3 times increase the report says rested on "management's best estimates" while admitting "no recent technical work" had been done. The upgrade was published the same day as the EFTA notice, and four days later Canaccord co-led the C$150 million bought deal.
- Revocation of Nussir's permits is listed as a Material Adverse Effect under the Hartree and Oaktree loan facility, which Viceroy Research notes makes it an Event of Default with no grace period, letting lenders enforce over collateral that includes the equity of the subsidiary holding the US tungsten assets.
Read the Full Report Summary →
| Metric | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Day Before) | $9.94 | — |
| Low (Report Date) | $9.68 | -2.6% |
| Close (Report Date) | $9.97 | +0.3% |
| Close (End of Week) | $9.97 | +0.3% |
Stock Price Impact
Shortfinder's flag landed on Friday, so its report-date figures and its end-of-week figures are the same session. electroCore had closed at $9.94 on Thursday, dipped to $9.68 intraday for a 2.6% decline, then recovered to finish at $9.97, up 0.3%. That is a single session, which is a short window to read much into, and the stock ended it roughly where it began.
How the Flag Works
Shortfinder is a quantitative platform rather than a traditional activist short seller. Instead of building a narrative case against a specific company, it ingests SEC filings daily and runs machine learning models that score small and micro cap equities on the likelihood and magnitude of near-term price declines, based on factors such as dilution risk, financial health, insider behavior, ownership networks, and enforcement history. Because the output is a model-driven screen rather than a written investigation, there is no set of allegations to summarize here.
Read the Full Report Summary →
Campaign Updates
- Hunterbrook Media published a follow-up on Bloom Energy (BE). It reports that the City of Vineland ordered work halted on the Bloom fuel cells at a New Jersey data center for want of permits, days after Hunterbrook found them being installed ahead of approval.
- Viceroy Research published a follow-up on Blue Moon Metals (MOON.V). It answers the company's rebuttal and says Viceroy has written to the European Commission asking it to review whether Nussir still qualifies as a strategic project under the Critical Raw Materials Act.
Activ8 Newswire
Quantum Cyber sues White Diamond Research for more than $5.69 million - The complaint in New York state court also names Stocktwits, which Quantum Cyber had retained to distribute its own press releases, and alleges it amplified the report without disclosing White Diamond's potential short position. Source: StreetInsider
Hunterbrook traces JinkoSolar's "American" plant buyer to the "Sun King" family - Corporate filings in Hong Kong, Delaware and the British Virgin Islands lead to relatives of Suntech founder Zhengrong Shi, and JinkoSolar's US operations received $146 million in federal tax credits last year. Source: Hunterbrook Media
Traders say India's new closing auction is thin because they cannot borrow to short - High-frequency firms have stayed out of the 20-minute window, and Nifty 50 turnover in the final quarter hour fell to under $100 million from $700 million a week earlier. Source: Bloomberg
