PUBC PureBase Corporation (PK)

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

An investment in our common stock involves a number of very significant risks. You should carefully consider the following risks and uncertainties in addition to other information in this report in evaluating our company and its business before purchasing shares of our common stock. Our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed due to any of the following risks. You could lose all or part of your investment due to any of these risks.

Risks Related to Our Business

We are a development stage company which makes the evaluation of its future business prospects difficult.

The Company changed its business focus to its current business of developing agricultural and natural resources as a result of a reorganization with its wholly owned subsidiary PureBase Ag which occurred in December, 2014. Consequently, the Company only commenced selling its agricultural products during 2017 and has not yet achieved profitable operations.. As such we may not be able to achieve positive cash flows and our recent operating history makes evaluation of our future business and prospects difficult. The Company’s success is dependent upon the successful development of suitable mineral projects, establishing its production capability and establishing a customer base for its agricultural products. Any future success that we might achieve will depend upon many factors, including factors beyond our control which cannot be predicted at this time. These factors may include but are not limited to: changes in or increased levels of competition; the availability and cost of bringing mineral projects into production; the amount of agricultural and/or natural resources available and the market price of and the uses for such minerals. These factors may have a material adverse effect upon our business operating results and financial condition.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has expressed doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, which may hinder our ability to obtain future financing to fund our operations.

Our audited consolidated financial statements as of November 30, 2019 have been prepared under the assumption that we will continue as a going concern. Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued a report that included an explanatory paragraph referring to our recurring losses from operations and net capital deficiency and expressing substantial doubt in our ability to continue as a going concern without additional capital becoming available. For the fiscal year ended November 30, 2019, we had a loss from operations of approximately $1.7 million and negative cash flows from operations of approximately $461,000. We anticipate that we will continue to incur operating losses as we execute our development plans for 2020, as well as other potential strategic and business development initiatives. In addition, we expect to have negative cash flows from operations, at least into the near future. We have previously funded and plan to continue funding these losses primarily through the sale of equity and debt. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to obtain additional equity or debt financing, attain further operating efficiencies, reduce expenditures, and, ultimately, to generate revenue. There can be no assurance that we will continue to be successful in raising capital and have adequate capital resources to fund our operations or that any additional funds will be available to us on favorable terms or in amounts required by us. If we are unable to obtain adequate capital resources to fund operations, we may be required to delay, scale back or eliminate some or all of our plan of operations, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and ability to operate as a going concern. The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.

We will need to raise additional capital for the foreseeable future in order to continue operations and realize our business plans, the failure of which could adversely impact our operations.

Although we have started to generate revenue, such revenue is not sufficient to cover our operating expenses and financing costs. As of November 30, 2019, we had liabilities of $976,821 and a working capital deficiency of $946,405. To stay in business, we will need to raise additional capital through public or private sales of our securities, debt financing or short-term bank loans, or a combination of the foregoing. In the past, we have financed our operations by issuing secured and unsecured convertible debt and equity securities in private placements, in some cases with equity incentives for the investor in the form of warrants to purchase our common stock and have borrowed from related parties. We have sought and will continue to seek various sources of financing but there are no commitments from anyone to provide us with financing. We can provide no assurance as to whether our capital raising efforts will be successful or as to when, or if, we will be profitable in the future. Even if the Company achieves profitability, it may not be able to sustain such profitability. If we are unable to obtain financing or achieve and sustain profitability, we may have to suspend operations, sell assets and will not be able to execute our business plan. Failure to become and remain profitable may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and our ability to raise capital and continue operations.

We will need to grow the size and capabilities of our company, and we may experience difficulties in managing this growth.

If and when our marketing plans and business strategies develop, we may need to recruit additional managerial, operational, sales and marketing, financial, IT and other personnel. Future growth will impose significant added responsibilities on management:

Our management may have to divert a disproportionate amount of its attention away from day-to-day activities in order to devote a substantial amount of time to managing these growth activities.

We depend on third parties for services

We currently rely, and for the foreseeable future will continue to rely, in substantial part on advisors and consultants to provide certain services. There can be no assurance that the services of these independent advisors and consultants will continue to be available to us on a timely basis when needed, or that we can find qualified replacements. In addition, if we are unable to effectively manage our outsourced activities or if the quality or accuracy of the services provided by consultants is compromised for any reason, our business operations may be interrupted. There can be no assurance that we will be able to manage our existing consultants or find other competent outside contractors and consultants on economically reasonable terms, if at all. If we are not able to effectively expand our company by hiring new employees and expanding our consultants and contractors, we may not be able to successfully implement the tasks necessary to achieve our marketing, research, development, and expansion goals, and we may face loss and liability in connection with any deficiency in service caused by the lack of capable personnel or errors made by third parties.

If we lose key employees and consultants or are unable to attract or retain qualified personnel, our business could suffer.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to attract, retain and motivate highly qualified technical, marketing, engineering, and management personnel. Any inability in hiring and retaining qualified personnel could result in delays in development or fulfillment of any current strategic and operational plans.

Our officer and directors are able to control the Company.

Our officer and directors and their affiliates control the vast majority of common stock of our company. As a result they have significant influence over the management and affairs of the Company and control over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or our assets, for the foreseeable future. Their interests may differ from the interests of other stockholders and thus result in corporate decisions that are disadvantageous to other shareholders.

Raising funds through debt or equity financings in the future, would dilute the ownership of our existing stockholders and possibly subordinate certain of their rights to the rights of new investors or creditors.

We hope to raise additional funds in debt or equity financings if they are available to us on terms we believe reasonable to provide for working capital, carry out mining development and production programs, expand our marketing efforts or to make acquisitions. Any sales of additional equity or convertible debt securities would result in dilution of the equity interests of our existing stockholders, which could be substantial. Additionally, if we issue shares of preferred stock or convertible debt to raise funds, the holders of those securities might be entitled to various preferential rights over the holders of our common stock and such debt instruments may contain negative covenants restricting corporate actions which could have an adverse affect, the rights and the value of our common stock and our operations.

We face increased competition.

At the present time the Company is aware of other companies providing similar agricultural and natural resources to those of the Company’s. In addition, other entities not currently offering the minerals or product uses similar to the Company’s may enter the industrial and agricultural markets. The Company’s natural resources and products will also have to compete with established minerals (such as fly ash for use in making cement) which are already in commercial and agricultural use. Any such competitors would likely have greater financial, mining production, production facilities, marketing and sales resources than the Company. Increased competition may result in pricing pressures and the inability to increase market share, which may have an adverse effect on the Company’s business, operating results and financial condition.

At present, our sales are concentrated in a few customers.

The Company’s sales are presently concentrated within a few customers. If any of these customers, in particular, the customers that provide the most significant percentage of revenue, are no longer customers, for any reason, and these customers are not replaced, we will sustain additional losses as our fixed cost base will be left uncovered and consume working capital leading to significant cash flow problems.

An increase in the price of natural resources will adversely affect our chances of success.

The Company’s business plan is based on current development costs and current prices of the natural resources being developed or purchased by the Company. However the price of minerals can be very volatile and subject to numerous factors beyond our control including industrial and agricultural demand, inflation, the supply of certain minerals in the market, and the costs of mining, refining and shipping of the minerals. Since the Company will be obtaining the majority of its minerals from third party suppliers, any significant increase in the price of these natural resources will have a materially adverse effect on the results of the Company’s operations unless it is able to offset such a price increase by implementing other cost cutting measures or passing such increases on to its customers. While the Company has attempted to secure stable pricing and supply pursuant to its agreement with USMC, there is no assurance that the Company will not incur future price increases or supply shortages of its raw materials.

We may lose rights to properties if we fail to meet payment requirements or development and/or production schedules.

We expect to acquire rights to some of our mineral properties from leaseholds or purchase mining rights that require the payment of royalties, rent, minimum development expenditures or other installment fees or specified expenditures. If we fail to make these payments/expenditures when they are due, our mineral rights to the property may be terminated. This would be true for any other mineral rights which require payments to be made in order to maintain such rights. Some contracts with respect to mineral rights we may acquire may require development or production schedules. If we are unable to meet any or all of the development or production schedules, we could lose all or a portion of our interests in such properties. Moreover, we may be required in certain instances to pay for government permitting or posting reclamation bonds in order to maintain or utilize our mineral rights in such properties. Because our ability to make some of these payments is likely to depend on our ability to generate internal cash flow or obtain external financing, we may not have the funds necessary to meet these development/production schedules by the required dates.

Management may be unable to implement its business strategy.

The Company’s business strategy is to develop and extract or obtain certain minerals which they believe can have significant commercial applications and value. The Company’s business strategy also includes developing new uses and products derived from these mineral resources, such as the use of pozzolan as an ingredient for cement or sulfate and Humate for agricultural uses. There is no assurance that we will be able to identify and/or develop commercially viable uses for the minerals we will be mining or obtaining. In addition, even if we identify and/or develop commercial uses and markets for our minerals, the time and cost of mining or otherwise obtaining, refining, blending and distributing such minerals may exceed our expectations or, when developed, the amount of minerals available may fall significantly short of our expectations thus providing a lower return on investment or a loss to the Company.

We have not yet established sustained and increasing sales from our customer base or distribution system.

During fiscal 2019 we established a customer base and distribution system for our agricultural products but have experienced only modest increasing sales. However, we are now engaged in promoting sales and marketing in an effort to increase the sales revenue of our agricultural products to customers and through the distribution system. To date we have one long term supply contract for our minerals and agricultural products. We have not yet entered into any agreements for the purchase of our minerals or SCM products nor have we established a distribution system to deliver our minerals and SCM products to customers. Our inability to attract additional customers for our agricultural products, to deliver products in a time and cost effective manner or develop our SCM business would have an adverse effect on the growth of our business.

Mineral exploration and mining are highly regulated industries.

Mining is subject to extensive regulation by state and federal regulatory authorities. State and federal statutes regulate environmental quality, safety, exploration procedures, reclamation, employees’ health and safety, use of explosives, air quality standards, pollution of stream and fresh water sources, noxious odors, noise, dust, and other environmental protection controls as well as the rights of adjoining property owners. We will strive to verify that projects currently owned or being considered, are currently operating or can be operated in substantial compliance with all known safety and environmental standards and regulations applicable to such mining properties and activities. We will also seek suppliers and service providers, such as USMC, who we believe are operating in substantial compliance with all safety and environmental standards and regulations applicable to such mining properties and activities. However, there can be no assurance that our compliance efforts regarding our own properties could be challenged or that future changes in federal or state laws, regulations or interpretations thereof will not have a material adverse effect on our ability to establish and sustain mining operations of our own properties or adversely affect the mining properties of our suppliers.

Certain of our current and proposed products will require certifications before being suitable for intended purposes.

Some of our agricultural products and our SCM’s will require certain certifications before being suitable for labelling and usage. For example, our SCM must be certified by the ASTM International (American Society for Testing and Materials International) to meet certain strength standards in order to be certified for use in large government projects. Similarly, our agricultural products must be certified under US Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) and CDFA specifications and properly labeled. While the Company has certified two of its agricultural products under USDA and CDFA specifications and is currently working with various laboratories and agencies to acquire future certifications, there is no assurance as to if or when such certifications will be obtained.

We incur increased costs as a result of being a public company.

We are a public “reporting company” with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). As a public reporting company, we incur significant legal, accounting, reporting and other expenses not generally applicable to a private company. We also incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as well as other rules implemented by the SEC. These rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Its Market Value

Our Common Stock is subject to the “penny stock” rules of the SEC and the trading market in our securities is limited, which makes transactions in our stock cumbersome and may reduce the value of an investment in our stock.

SEC Rule 15g-9 establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require:

In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must:

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form:

Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the “penny stock” rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of our Common Stock and cause a decline in the market value of our stock.

Our securities are covered by the penny stock rules, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors.” The term “accredited investor” refers generally to institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 jointly with their spouse. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document in a form prepared by the SEC which provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. The bid and offer quotations, and the broker-dealer and salesperson compensation information, must be given to the customer orally or in writing prior to effecting the transaction and must be given to the customer in writing before or with the customer’s confirmation. In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from these rules, the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for the stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our Common Stock; however, we have the option to execute a reverse split which could mitigate this issue.

Our securities are quoted on the OTCQB, which may not provide us much liquidity for our investors as an exchange, such as the NASDAQ Stock Market or other national or regional exchanges.

Our securities are quoted on the OTCQB, which provides significantly less liquidity than the NASDAQ Stock Market or other national or regional exchanges. Securities quoted on the OTC are usually thinly traded, highly volatile, have fewer market makers and are not followed by analysts. The SEC’s order handling rules, which apply to NASDAQ-listed securities, do not apply to securities quoted on the OTCQB. Quotes for stocks included on the OTC markets are not listed in newspapers. Therefore, prices for securities traded solely on the OTC Market may be difficult to obtain and holders of our securities may be unable to resell their securities at or near their original acquisition price, or at any price. We cannot assure you a liquid public trading market will develop.

The market price of our Common Stock may be adversely affected by several factors.

The market price of our Common Stock could fluctuate significantly in response to various factors and events, including:

In addition, the securities markets have from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also materially and adversely affect the market price of our Common Stock.

Because we are not subject to compliance with rules requiring the adoption of certain corporate governance measures, our stockholders have limited protections against interested director transactions, conflicts of interest and similar matters.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rule changes proposed and enacted by the SEC, the New York Stock Exchange, the Amex Equities Exchanges and NASDAQ, as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley, require the implementation of various measures relating to corporate governance. These measures are designed to enhance the integrity of corporate management and the securities markets and apply to securities which are listed on those exchanges or the NASDAQ. Because we will not be seeking to be listed on any of the exchanges in the near term, we are not presently required to comply with many of the corporate governance provisions. We do not currently have independent audit or compensation committees. Until then, the directors who are part of management have the ability, among other things, to determine their own level of compensation. Until we comply with such corporate governance measures, regardless of whether such compliance is required, the absence of such standards of corporate governance may leave our stockholders without protections against interested director transactions, conflicts of interest and similar matters and investors may be reluctant to provide us with funds necessary to expand our operations.

We have not paid dividends in the past and do not expect to pay dividends in the future. Any return on investment may be limited to the value of our Common Stock.

We have never paid cash dividends on our capital stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends on our capital stock will depend on our earnings, financial condition and other business and economic factors affecting us at such time as the board of directors may consider relevant. If we do not pay dividends, our Common Stock may be less valuable because a return on any investment in our Common Stock will only occur if our Common Stock price appreciates.

A sale of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock may cause the price of our Common Stock to decline.

If our stockholders sell substantial amounts of our Common Stock in the public market under Rule 144 or upon the exercise of outstanding options or warrants, it could create a circumstance commonly referred to as an “overhang” and in anticipation of which the market price of our Common Stock could fall. The existence of an overhang, whether or not sales have occurred or are occurring, also could make more difficult our ability to raise additional financing through the sale of equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price that we deem reasonable or appropriate.

We may, in the future, issue additional shares of Common Stock, which would reduce the percent of ownership held by current stockholders

Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of 520,000,000 shares of Common Stock of which as of February 28, 2020, 208,650,741 shares are issued and outstanding. The future issuance of Common Stock may result in substantial dilution in the percentage of our Common Stock held by our then existing stockholders. We may value any Common Stock issued in the future on an arbitrary basis. The issuance of Common Stock for future services or acquisitions or other corporate actions may have the effect of diluting the value of the shares held by our investors, and may have an adverse effect on any trading market of our Common Stock.

Compliance with changing regulations concerning corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses.

In recent years, there have been several changes in laws, rules, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”) and various other new regulations promulgated by the SEC and rules promulgated by the national securities exchanges. The Dodd-Frank Act, enacted in July 2010, expands federal regulation of corporate governance matters and imposes requirements on publicly-held companies, including us, to, among other things, provide stockholders with a periodic advisory vote on executive compensation and also adds compensation committee reforms and enhanced pay-for-performance disclosures. While some provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act were effective upon enactment, others will be implemented upon the SEC’s adoption of related rules and regulations. The scope and timing of the adoption of such rules and regulations is uncertain and accordingly, the cost of compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act is also uncertain. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley specifically requires, among other things, that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure of controls and procedures. These and other new or changed laws, rules, regulations and standards are, or will be, subject to varying interpretations in many cases due to their lack of specificity. As a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies, which could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. Our efforts to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards are likely to continue to result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. Further, compliance with new and existing laws, rules, regulations and standards may make it more difficult and expensive for us to maintain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. Members of our board of directors and our principal executive officer and principal financial officer could face an increased risk of personal liability in connection with the performance of their duties. As a result, we may have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified directors and executive officers, which could harm our business. We continually evaluate and monitor regulatory developments and cannot estimate the timing or magnitude of additional costs we may incur as a result.

We have reported material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting as of November 30, 2019, and we cannot provide any assurances that additional material weaknesses will not be identified in the future or that we can effectively remediate our reported weaknesses. If our internal controls over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures are not effective, there may be errors in our financial statements that could require a restatement, or our filings may not be timely, and investors may lose confidence in our reported financial information.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires us to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting every quarter and as of the end of each year, and to include a management report assessing the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting in each Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer, who is also our acting Principal Financial Officer, does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Furthermore, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. Over time, controls may become inadequate because changes in the conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may occur. Because the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

As a result, we cannot assure you that additional significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future or that we can effectively remediate our reported weaknesses. Any failure to maintain or implement required new or improved controls, or any difficulties we may encounter in their implementation, could result in significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, cause us to fail to timely meet our periodic reporting obligations, or result in material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. Any such failure could also adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations regarding disclosure controls and the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the rules promulgated thereunder. The existence of material weaknesses could result in errors in our consolidated financial statements and subsequent restatements of our consolidated financial statements, cause us to fail to timely meet our reporting obligations and cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information.