Within the Vancouver junior mining and exploration space, the 29-year-old entrepreneur has been making a name for himself through his resource news site, CEO.ca, which combines elements of social media with the traditional mining investor newsletter.
Humphreys, a web developer, said he designed CEO.ca specifically for the junior resource sector because that part of the industry was a latecomer to the digital revolution.
“It was the last one to get new technology,” he said. “It was the only one that didn’t have all this stuff. The mining sector is the last place to get good tech.”
CEO.ca is really two distinct platforms that will merge in the coming months. The original website, launched in 2012, is like an online newsletter featuring articles and analyses focused primarily on mining and minerals and oil and gas.
In December, Humphreys’ web design company, Pacific Website Co., worked with Lighthouse Labs to launch chat.ceo.ca – a live chat room where investors and speculators can be found griping about CEO bonuses or musing over share prices, drill results and the Greek debt crisis.
Some executives for publicly traded companies use the chat room to monitor what others are saying about them. By plugging their company’s stock symbol into a watch list, they can get instant updates any time someone posts something about their company.
Humphreys writes many of the articles himself. He pumped CEO.ca’s traffic with a number of scoops, including interviews with mining magnates Frank Giustra, Lukas Lundin and Robert Friedland – no mean feat, given Friedland’s aversion to the media. Humphreys hounded the billionaire until he finally agreed to allow Humphreys to fly to the Congo (on his own dime) to tag along on a mine site tour.
CEO.ca also uses freelance writers, and the site features guest writers, including such resource-sector doyens as Brent Cook (Exploration Insights) and Rick Rule (Sprott US Holdings chairman).
Some of the site’s articles and interviews, which are sometimes posted in video format, are bought and paid for. Humphreys admits he dislikes having to host sponsored content, but it’s one of the few ways the site generates revenue. Business relationships and financial conflicts of interest are always disclosed.
Unlike most traditional resource newsletter writers, Humphreys is not a geologist. And his only real experience in the financial sector was a short stint as an associate with RBC Dominion Securities.
He appears to have inherited a good deal of his knowledge, picking up financial expertise from his father, a stockbroker, and media acumen from his mother, who was a radio personality.
When he was 20, he started his web design company. Joe Martin, founder of Cambridge House International, gave Humphreys his first big break, hiring him to develop the investment conference’s website and event-hosting software.
Humphreys is now in the investor conference game himself. CEO.ca sponsors two conferences annually, which at the moment are his biggest revenue generators.
Last year, Humphreys bought out a resources newsletter called Resource Opportunities. But he thinks the traditional subscriber newsletter needs an overhaul to bring it into the digital age.
“It’s kind of languishing,” he said. “However, it showed me what I need to create is this real-time service for all the newsletter writers.”
Humphreys admits he still hasn’t fully worked out how to monetize CEO.ca, which is free to all users. Apart from some sponsored content, it doesn’t generate much cash flow.
Ultimately, he believes, mining stocks will rally. When they do, CEO.ca could take off, he said.
“I’m a promoter and I’m determined to come out of this bear market and make a fortune.” •
