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Company Interviews

Crux Investor

An insight into junior mining and opportunities to invest.

Company Interviews, a Crux Investor show, exists to cut through the jargon, bias and bluster.

Matthew Gordon, and guest host Merlin Marr-Johnson hone in on the important factors that indicate a company's strong footing for growth and success.

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  • September 14 · 41 min

    Emperor Metals (CSE:AUOZ) - AI-Driven Modelling Doubles Gold Resource in Quebec

    Interview with John Florek, President & CEO of Emperor Metals Recording date: 11th September 2026 Emperor Metals is a Canadian gold exploration company advancing two projects in Quebec's Abitibi Greenstone Belt, one of the world's most prolific gold-producing districts with roughly 200 million ounces produced historically. The company's flagship asset, Duquesne West, sits on the Porcupine-Destor Fault Zone, a structure credited with over 110 million ounces of historical production, and neighbours active and past-producing mines operated by Agnico Eagle, IAMGOLD and others. In July 2025, Duquesne West received a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 26.9 million tonnes at 1.69 grams per tonne gold, for 1.46 million ounces, based on a $2,300 per ounce gold price assumption. That resource is roughly double the 727,000 ounce historical estimate that predated Emperor's 2022 takeover as operator. Management, led by President and CEO John Florek, a geologist with 35 years of experience including senior roles at BHP, Placer Dome, Barrick, Teck and Detour Lake Gold attributes the growth partly to an AI-assisted geological modelling process that identified a large-scale, lower-grade open-pit envelope surrounding higher-grade underground lenses that earlier operators had not recognised since the deposit was first discovered in the 1940s. The company describes the resource as substantially under-drilled: approximately 140,000 metres of drilling have been completed to date, which management estimates at 15-20% of what comparable projects required to reach similar ounce totals. A 15,000 metre drill program and an 8,000 metre historical core re-sampling campaign - aimed at converting inferred ounces to indicated via duplicate drilling of older holes - are currently under way, funded through the end of 2026. Management has signalled an intent to pursue a further 30,000-50,000 metre program from around October 2026, subject to financing, ahead of an eventual preliminary economic assessment once the resource passes roughly 2 million ounces. Emperor's secondary asset, Lac Pelletier, sits approximately 30 kilometres south and offers a different risk profile: a historical resource of 227,000 ounces at 3.9 grams per tonne gold, permits valid for production until 2030, and roughly C$70 million of prior infrastructure investment including more than 3.3 kilometres of underground development. Two historical bulk samples averaged 96.3% gold recovery. Management's near-term plan is to update the historical feasibility study and evaluate a production decision, rather than to advance immediately to construction. As of June 2026, Emperor had 194,850,005 shares outstanding (242,289,794 fully diluted) and an estimated C$5.4 million in working capital. Strategic investors Rob McEwen (7%) and Rick Rule are on the share register. On a company comparable basis, Emperor traded at approximately C$39 million market capitalisation, or C$25.28 per ounce of resource. Both the Duquesne West and Lac Pelletier resource figures carry standard caveats: inferred resources and historical estimates do not have demonstrated economic viability and are not current mineral reserves. Neither project has reached a construction or production decision. Learn more: https://cruxinvestor.com Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 14 · 14 min

    Cabral Gold (TSXV:CBR) - First Gold Pour in Cuiú Cuiú Beats Expectations

    Interview with Alan Carter, President & CEO of Cabral Gold Inc. Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/cabral-gold-tsxvcbr-operating-licence-secured-first-gold-targeted-by-september-11515 Recording date: 11th September 2026 Cabral Gold has crossed the line from developer to producer, confirming the first gold pour at its Phase 1 Cuiú Cuiú heap leach operation in Pará state, Brazil. The pour, approximately 1,130 ounces of doré assaying 93-94% gold, came in well above management's internal expectations, and arrives with construction running roughly two months ahead of schedule. For a company that only secured project financing twelve months ago, the milestone represents a rapid and largely self-executed build. The near-term operational story is about ramp-up discipline. The dry circuit is fully commissioned; the wet circuit, covering leaching and gold recovery, is expected to follow within days. Stacking rates are being increased in stages toward a 3,000 tonne-per-day design target, monitored through a control room tracking belt speeds and throughput. Management has been explicit that no 2026 production guidance will be issued while ramp-up variables remain unresolved, but formal 2027 guidance is expected, potentially as early as January, giving investors a concrete date to watch. The cash flow case, while based on a study CEO Alan Carter himself flagged as roughly eighteen months old, is notable: first-year production of 20,000 to 25,000 ounces at an estimated margin near $3,300 an ounce implies pre-tax cash flow in the order of $80 million before any expansion. Carter framed this against typical gold producer valuation multiples of six to twelve times cash flow, arguing the operation could support meaningful re-rating once production stabilises. Strategically, the more interesting thread is how Cabral intends to fund its next phase of growth. A recent $45 million strategic investment from Alpayana, described as Peru's largest private mining company, gave Cabral a 9.99% shareholder and, combined with Phase 1 cash flow, is intended to reduce the company's reliance on annual dilutive equity raises, a pattern Carter was candid about wanting to avoid. The larger opportunity sits underground. Approximately 75% of the district's known gold ounces are hosted in hard rock beneath the oxide material Cabral is currently mining. A district-wide resource update due by year-end will model six gold deposits, up from three in the last global estimate from September 2022, incorporating roughly 50,000 metres of drilling completed since. Management is also sitting on some 50 untested peripheral targets, including boulder fields averaging 90 grams per tonne gold across ten to twelve targets. A meaningful increase in the resource base would support a formal Preliminary Economic Assessment on the hard rock opportunity, positioning 2027 as a pivotal year for both production guidance and district-scale resource definition. For investors, the near-term watch list is straightforward: confirmation of the refinery assay on the first doré bars, completion of wet-circuit commissioning, and progression of stacking rates toward design capacity. Further out, the year-end resource update and the timing of a Phase 2 PEA decision will determine whether Cuiú Cuiú's story broadens from a single oxide starter operation into a genuine two-stage gold district. View Cabral Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/cabral-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 14 · 37 min

    South Star Battery Metals (TSXV:STS) - Graphite Output Restart and Fully-Funded Expansion in Brazil

    Interview with Tiago Cunha, Director & CEO of South Star Battery Metals Recording date: 11th September 2026 South Star Battery Metals Corp (TSXV:STS) is a rare example in the junior mining space of a genuine operational turnaround delivering measurable results within a single year. The company's Santa Cruz graphite operation in Bahia, Brazil came close to bankruptcy in October 2025, with insufficient funds to meet payroll. CEO Tiago Cunha, then a board member and investor, stepped in, personally funding two payroll cycles before a capital raise closed in December 2025. He describes replacing effectively the entire workforce and management team, citing prior contracting misconduct and kickbacks, and crediting the new operational team led by COO Rogério Barcellos with proving the underlying asset was never the constraint. Since the turnaround began, management reports a 60% reduction in cash operating costs, driven by straightforward fixes: renegotiating electricity from retail to wholesale rates (a 35% cut in power costs within 30 days) and changing filter-press mesh size to eliminate near-daily equipment failures. Current operating costs are reported below $800 per tonne of concentrate. Production restarted in 2026, reportedly around three months ahead of an original July target, with the company targeting 5,000 tonnes per year of capacity by year-end and cumulative 2026 throughput of roughly 1,847 tonnes. Two distinct expansion paths are on the table. The first to 10,000 tonnes per year is described as low-capex (under $1 million) and fully financed, since the plant's off-the-shelf equipment already has spare capacity and the only bottleneck is a second filter press. The second, a larger expansion toward 25,000, to potentially 50,000 tonnes per year, is being discussed with the Brazilian Development Bank and the US International Development Finance Corporation, but rests on a 2022-vintage feasibility study that Cunha himself says is no longer reliable, given subsequent changes to the processing flowsheet. Commercially, South Star reports a flake-to-fines split of roughly 70/30, ahead of original design, with flotation grades of 93-97% Cg and 99.95% Cg purity validated downstream. Sales are spread across multiple US buyers, with additional niche markets - such as agricultural graphite at a substantial premium to commodity pricing - cited as a way to avoid dependence on any single customer. Cunha frames the sector's core risk as Chinese pricing behaviour rather than product-specific competition, noting the absence, so far, of any floor-pricing mechanism for graphite comparable to those emerging in rare earths. With CEO ownership of roughly 40%, funded through the company's near-collapse, and graphite's growing framing as a supply-chain security issue for Western defence and industrial policy, South Star presents a relatively de-risked near-term production story layered with a larger, currently unquantified expansion option. View South Stat Battery Metals company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/south-star-battery-metals Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 11 · 34 min

    ATHA Energy (TSXV:SASK) - RIB North Breakthrough Confirms Continuity, Q4 Catalysts Underway

    Interview with Troy Boisjoli, CEO of ATHA Energy Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atha-energy-tsxvsask-district-scale-uranium-play-builds-momentum-with-dual-discoveries-11012 Recording date: 8th September 2026 ATHA Energy Corp. (TSXV:SASK) is a Canadian uranium explorer built around a strategy of maximising exposure to the country's best uranium jurisdictions before committing capital to resource definition. Founded three years ago, the company grew from an initial 3.5-million-acre position in the Athabasca Basin to a seven-million-acre portfolio spanning the Athabasca Basin (Saskatchewan), the Angikuni Basin (Nunavut) and the Central Mineral Belt (Labrador), while retaining a 10% carried interest in Athabasca Basin projects operated by NexGen Energy and IsoEnergy. The company's flagship is the 100%-owned Angilak Uranium Project in Nunavut, which hosts two parallel value drivers: the Lac 50 Deposit Corridor, carrying an existing exploration target of 61 to 98 million pounds U3O8, and the Mineralized RIB Corridor, where 2025 drilling produced four new discoveries including RIB North. ATHA reported results from seven additional RIB North drillholes, extending confirmed mineralisation continuity from 300 metres to 1.45 kilometres along the corridor's eastern limb. The standout intersection returned 20.0 metres of composite uranium mineralisation across fifteen zones, including 1.3 metres of high-grade material defined by the company as exceeding 10,000 counts per second on its downhole gamma probe. A separate horizon on the western limb was extended to approximately 220 metres of strike via follow-up drilling. None of this work has yet been converted into a formal resource estimate, and the corridor remains open in every direction. CEO Troy Boisjoli, a former Cameco chief geologist who led the Rook I project through to feasibility, framed the results as evidence of a deliberate, staged strategy: address discovery risk first through widely spaced regional drilling, then prove continuity, then move into delineation. He argues this sequencing, rather than rushing toward a resource statement, is what reduces execution risk for a company at ATHA's stage. VP Exploration Cliff Revering, previously a senior resource geologist at Cameco and chief geologist at Cigar Lake during its production ramp-up, leads the technical program alongside him. Management's emerging geological thesis is one of the more distinctive elements of the story. Rather than a conventional Athabasca Basin-style unconformity system, ATHA believes Angilak's basement-hosted, structurally controlled mineralisation behaves more like an orogenic gold system, with graphitic and sulphide-bearing structures making conductive geology itself prospective, rather than a background feature unrelated to mineralisation. If the model holds up against 3D geophysical inversion results due across the full Angikuni Basin in Q4 2026, management believes it could support drill targets across a structural trend extending tens of kilometres, well beyond the roughly 1.45 kilometres tested to date. The company enters that catalyst window well capitalised, having raised $63 million in Q1 2026, including a $25 million US investment from Queen's Road Capital, funding a three-rig, roughly 20,000-metre program running through the end of September 2026. Investors could weigh the scale of the opportunity management describes against the fact that no resource has yet been defined at either RIB North or the broader corridor, and that the company itself says it cannot currently quantify the eventual size of the system. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atha-energy Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 11 · 21 min

    Power Metallic (TSXV:PNPN) - Defines High-Grade 4.7 Million Tonne Lion Maiden Resource in Quebec

    Interview with Terry Lynch, CEO, Power Metallic Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/power-metallic-tsxvpnpn-undervalued-investment-series-with-terry-lynch-9869 Recording date: 9th September 2026 Power Metallic's September 8 release of an inaugural Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Lion Zone gives investors their first NI 43-101-compliant number for a deposit that has been the market's main reason to own the stock since 2023. The headline: 4.145 million tonnes Indicated at 3.86% CuEq and 0.601 million tonnes Inferred at 4.01% CuEq, for a combined 4.75 million tonnes at roughly 3.9% CuEq. First, classification: more than 85% of the maiden resource sits in the Indicated category, materially de-risking conversion to reserve relative to a typical maiden estimate, which more often skews Inferred. Second, geometry: the deposit starts at surface and roughly 59% of tonnes sit within an open-pit shell, which analysts cited by CEO Terry Lynch believe could be built for under $200 million with payback inside a year, an unusually capital-light profile for a project of this grade. Third, metallurgy: locked-cycle testing has already returned copper recoveries above 98% and a concentrate grading more than 25% Cu, reducing processing-route uncertainty that often lingers for years on polymetallic deposits. Nickel recoveries at the adjacent Nisk Main deposit remain a modest 70% in the current MRE, with a co-mingled processing test aimed at lifting that toward 80% still pending results. And the company's Nasdaq ADR ambitions add a near-term financing event which the management has flagged a required $15 million raise tied to the planned late-October to early-November listing. Step-out drilling beneath the Lion zone has already pushed mineralisation from roughly 600 metres to more than 900 metres vertical depth, and assay results from that programme are due by the end of September. Management frames the maiden resource represents a floor established by drill-verified data rather than a ceiling on the deposit's ultimate size and will be tested directly by those results and by additional step-outs planned through November, which the company expects will add a further 35,000-40,000 metres of drilling to the resource base ahead of the PEA. Longer term, the investment case rests partly on a district thesis drawing comparisons to Norilsk-style orthomagmatic camps, where mineralisation typically occurs as multiple deposits spread across a wider land package rather than a single ore body, a thesis management says is supported by having explored only 2-3% of its ~330 km² land position as exploration upside. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/power-metallic Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 10 · 38 min

    Rainbow Rare Earths (LSE:RBW) - 'Undervalued?' Investment series, with George Bennett

    Interview with George Bennett, CEO of Rainbow Rare Earths Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/rainbow-rare-earths-lserbw-us-govt-backed-miner-targets-2027-production-from-waste-processing-8115 Recording date: 9th September 2026 Rainbow Rare Earths (LSE:RBW) is pursuing a structurally different route into rare earth supply than most of its peers. Rather than mining hard rock, the company reclaims rare earths from phosphogypsum - the waste residue generated when phosphate rock is processed into phosphoric acid for the fertiliser industry. Because the rare earth content in phosphate rock is too low to mine economically on its own, it has historically been discarded in gypsum waste stacks; Rainbow's proprietary process recovers it from that existing above-ground resource using leaching and ion exchange, avoiding the drilling, crushing and milling costs that dominate capital spending on conventional rare earth projects. The company is advancing two projects built on this model. Phalaborwa, in South Africa, is the more advanced of the two, currently 75% through its definitive feasibility study, with a post-tax IRR estimated at 38% using December 2024 spot pricing (rising to a CEO-cited 40-45% at more recent pricing), an EBITDA margin of 70-75%, and capital costs of circa $325-350 million. Rainbow currently owns 85% of Phalaborwa, with an option to move to 100% next year. Uberaba, in Brazil, is a joint venture with The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS), in which Rainbow holds 49%. A March 2026 Economic Assessment put Uberaba's post-tax NPV10 at $916 million, IRR at 45%, average annual EBITDA at $217 million over a 30-year mine life, and payback at 1.7 years; a Pre-Feasibility Study for the project formally commenced in September 2026. Management's central argument is that the market has not yet caught up with the combined earnings power of the two projects. CEO George Bennett points to a combined attributable EBITDA estimate of circa $300 million by 2030 - roughly 75% of the EBITDA forecast for Serra Verde, a comparable Brazilian rare earths project that was recently acquired in a deal valuing it at $2.8 billion - against Rainbow's own market capitalisation of circa $250 million. Independent benchmarking cited in the interview supports the cost-position argument: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reportedly ranks Rainbow among the lowest-cost rare earth producers in the West, while Argus Media ranks it among the highest-margin. The investment case is also supported by third-party validation. TechMet, a critical minerals fund holding circa 12% of Rainbow, brought in the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which has committed $50 million of project equity to Phalaborwa, convertible at Final Investment Decision (expected around Q3 2027). Mosaic, a Fortune 500 fertiliser producer, is Rainbow's partner on Uberaba. Rainbow is also evaluating a U.S. listing, having engaged BMO Capital Markets, partly in response to the disproportionate market cap uplift Mosaic received relative to Rainbow when their joint venture was announced. Remaining funding gaps are relatively modest against committed capacity - circa $70 million at Phalaborwa and circa $50 million at Uberaba - and near-term catalysts include binding offtake term sheets and a solvent extraction technology partner selection, both expected before the end of 2026. Investors should note both projects remain pre-FID, with first production not expected until 2029 (Phalaborwa) and 2030 (Uberaba), and that some reported capital cost figures for Uberaba have varied pending finalised feasibility numbers. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/rainbow-rare-earths Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 9 · 21 min

    Eastport Critical Metals (TSXV:EVI) - Four Critical Metal Projects, One Botswana Portfolio

    Interview with Daniel Major, CEO of Eastport Critical Metals Recording date: 8th September 2026 Eastport Critical Metals Corp. (TSXV:EVI) is a Botswana-focused critical minerals explorer with exposure to copper, rare earth elements, uranium, and nickel-copper-PGM across a combined land package exceeding 4,000 km². The company listed on the TSX-V in November 2025 via a qualifying transaction with Penbar Capital and appointed Daniel Major, former CEO of TSXV-listed GoviEx Uranium, as Chief Executive Officer in July 2026. The flagship asset is Matsitama Copper, a 1,845 km² district-scale position across six prospecting licences in an established copper district, sitting adjacent to the historic Kopano (~1% Cu) and Thakadu (~2% Cu) mines and roughly 10 km from the currently producing Moana mine. The project carries a historical - not current, not NI 43-101-compliant - resource estimate at Nakalakwana Hill of 9.9 Mt at 4,640 ppm Cu (45.5 kt contained copper), based on 2013 SRK Consulting work under the superseded SAMREC 2007 code. Drilling through 2025-2026 has extended the mineralised footprint east and west of the original zone, with three recent holes intersecting more than 100 metres of copper mineralisation at internal higher grades of 0.5% to over 1.5% Cu. Twenty priority targets have been defined across the licence, including the roughly 30 km Copper Snake trend, which the company plans to test with gravity and EM surveys in 2026 ahead of drilling. Semarule (250 km², ~40 km from Gaborone) is Eastport's rare earth optionality, hosting a syenite-carbonatite complex with mineralised outcrop across ~15 km². 2023 rock-chip sampling returned 0.5% total rare earth oxides plus yttrium, roughly a quarter of which is higher-value magnetic rare earth oxide. An eight-hole drill program has intersected mineralisation to depths exceeding 300 metres, with a further assay batch pending at the time of the interview. Management has indicated Semarule could be spun into its own listed vehicle if results confirm scale, given rare earth and base metal investors typically seek different exposure. Foley, a uranium project adjacent to the Letlhakane deposit, returned a maiden RC intercept of 8 m at 553 ppm U₃O₈, supporting the company's palaeochannel exploration model. Selebi-East (nickel-copper-PGM, ~7 km east of the historic Selebi-Phikwe complex) shows Ni-Cu-Co soil anomalies over reprocessed geophysical data but remains earlier-stage with limited historic drilling. Insiders hold 21.77% of the 33,490,774 shares outstanding, a level of alignment the company positions as a differentiator. Management's stated strategy is disciplined sequencing - inexpensive geophysics to define targets, RC drilling to confirm grade, and diamond drilling only once a target is proven - rather than funding all four commodities to feasibility within a single vehicle, with spin-outs or partnerships positioned as the likely route for whichever project demonstrates scale first. Near-term catalysts: 2026 gravity/EM results at Matsitama's Copper Snake trend, and the outstanding Semarule assay batch. Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 9 · 16 min

    Greenheart Gold (TSXV:GHRT) - 2,000m Drilling Commences at High-Grade Tosso Creek Gold Project

    Interview with Justin van der Toorn, President and CEO, Greenheart Gold Inc. Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/greenheart-gold-tsxvghrt-multi-asset-drill-program-drives-newsflow-in-2026-9693 Recording date: 3rd September 2026 Greenheart Gold Inc. (TSXV:GHRT; OTCQX:GHRTF) is an exploration company built on the technical legacy of Reunion Gold, the team credited with discovering and delineating the multi-million-ounce Oko West deposit in Guyana. That background shapes the company's current strategy in the Guiana Shield, a gold-prospective but still relatively underexplored terrain spanning Guyana and Suriname: move quickly from geochemical sampling through trenching to drilling, and run several projects in parallel rather than concentrating resources on a single target. Greenheart currently has three active projects in Suriname. Tosso Creek, the subject of this interview, is the newest and most remote, comprising four target areas: Maconia, Swalanga, Walaba and Sevil. A 2,000-metre diamond drilling programme has now commenced at Walaba, following up broad trench intervals including 52.0 m at 0.77 g/t Au and a higher-grade zone of 7.0 m at 4.57 g/t Au. Drilling at the recently identified Swalanga target, roughly 1 km east, is planned to follow; trenching there has already returned 56.0 m at 0.9 g/t Au. CEO Justin van der Toorn described the current drilling as a first test of whether near-surface mineralisation continues at depth, and what structural or lithological controls govern the higher-grade zones observed within the broader mineralised envelope. The company's two more advanced Suriname projects, Igab and Majorodam, sit closer to existing regional operations and require a lower threshold of discovery to justify continued work, according to management. At Igab, a maiden drill programme returned 7.0 m at 5.82 g/t Au at the Koela target, and the company is now integrating those results with core relogging and structural mapping ahead of a planned drill test at the Cannibal Creek target. At Majorodam, a 160-hole, 11,748-metre RC programme is largely complete, though roughly 35% of assay results remain outstanding due to laboratory delays in Paramaribo; a full project review is planned once all results are received. Management cited a cash position of approximately $85 million following the company's recent financing, which it says supports simultaneous drill programmes across all three projects without requiring near-term additional capital. Van der Toorn was explicit that this comes with a discipline requirement: avoiding over-drilling any single project ahead of its stage of geological understanding, and ensuring capital committed to the ground translates directly into results. For investors, the near-term catalysts are concrete and sequential: assay results from the first Tosso Creek holes, the outstanding Majorodam RC results, and the refined targeting expected from Igab's ongoing core relogging and structural work. None of the three projects yet carries a defined mineral resource, and reported intervals are sampling lengths rather than true widths, so the eventual investment case depends on converting today's broad, low-grade trench and drill intercepts into demonstrated depth and grade continuity. Suriname's wet season and reliance on Paramaribo-based assay laboratories are recurring, if manageable, sources of scheduling and reporting delay across all three projects. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/greenheart-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 8 · 21 min

    Marimaca Copper (TSX:MARI) - Drilling Results Confirm World-Class Scale at Pampa Medina

    Interview with Hayden Locke, CEO, Marimaca Copper Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/marimaca-copper-tsxmari-undervalued-investment-series-with-hayden-locke-11042 Recording date: 7th September 2026 Marimaca Copper's latest drill results from Pampa Medina add meaningfully to a discovery story that has been building since late 2024. The headline intercept, SPRD-15, returned 216 metres at 1.0%+ copper plus 7.2 g/t silver, including a high-grade zone of 62 metres at 2.2% copper with 21.6 grams per tonne silver - a result CEO Hayden Locke described as the company's best yet at Pampa Medina. Multiple step-out holes to the south and west, including SPRD-17, SPRD-12, SMRD-13 and SMRD-22, confirmed continuity of the mineralised system across a broader area, with the company now defining a roughly 3km by 1.5km drill-confirmed footprint and a 1.3km by 1.3km high-grade core. Locke was emphatic that Pampa Medina should be understood as a sediment-hosted copper system rather than a Chilean porphyry, drawing direct comparisons to the Kupferschiefer basin in Poland and Germany and, more pointedly, to the Central African Copperbelt's Kamoa-Kakula deposit - among the most significant copper discoveries of the past several decades. He cited an average grade thickness across the drilling of roughly 70% copper-metres plus around 10 g/t silver, though investors should note this figure sits well above every comparator cited elsewhere in the same interview and would benefit from written confirmation as the maiden resource is finalised. On the structural side, Locke addressed two previously unresolved questions. Post-mineral dikes, while carrying negligible grade, have proven thinner in true thickness than earlier drilling suggested, reducing their expected dilution impact on any future resource. Faulting is better understood on an east-west orientation, with fewer structures expected to complicate a north-south mining approach, though further geotechnical work will be required before any underground decision. Parallel to the exploration story, Marimaca's flagship MOD project is fully permitted and now in its detailed design and engineering phase, and is advancing toward a financing decision. The company has narrowed its lender search to three groups now in final due diligence, after which it will negotiate exclusively with one before moving into legal due diligence and long-form documentation, targeting full construction during 2027. Management describes its financing philosophy as conservative: a modest debt-to-equity ratio, no hedging, and traditional senior secured lending rather than more complex structures. Design work at MOD has already anticipated Pampa Medina's growth, with the project's water pipeline oversized to support up to 100,000 tonnes of cathode production annually - infrastructure that any oxide material from Pampa Medina would piggyback on regardless of eventual scale. The company's larger sulfide opportunity at Pampa Medina remains a longer-dated, unquantified catalyst that management says will not be rushed. With approximately $140 million in cash, separated development and exploration teams led by VP Exploration Sergio Rivera, and shareholder alignment behind the current dual-track strategy, Marimaca enters the second half of 2026 with two distinct, near-term catalysts: the Pampa Medina maiden resource expected by end-October, and the outcome of the MOD financing process. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/marimaca-copper Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 5 · 20 min

    Avino Silver & Gold (TSX:ASM) - Record Quarter Results, Debt-Free, Construction Decision Underway

    Interview with David Wolfin, CEO of Avino Silver & Gold Mines Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/avino-silver-gold-tsxasm-record-revenue-powers-three-mine-expansion-strategy-8753 Recording date: 4th September 2026 Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX:ASM) enters the second half of 2026 in the strongest financial position in its 57-year history, and that strength is now being deployed toward a decision that could reshape the company's production profile. Q2 2026 revenue reached $26.8 million, up 23% year-on-year, driven by higher realised silver prices at $68.90/oz and increased throughput from La Preciosa development material. Net income of $10.9 million and EBITDA of $12.6 million both grew strongly year-on-year, and the company closed the quarter debt-free with $144.2 million in cash and $140.8 million in working capital. That balance sheet strength underpins the company's most consequential near-term decision: whether to build a standalone processing plant at La Preciosa, its silver development project 19 kilometres from the existing Avino mill. Management estimates a facility comparable to Avino's current 2,500-tonne-per-day mill would cost $200-300 million, roughly half of which the company already holds in cash. A pre-feasibility study now underway with an independent engineering firm is expected within 8-10 months, after which Avino could move directly to a construction decision. The case for going standalone rests on both economics and optionality. Trucking material 19 kilometres at a much larger scale would strain logistics and community relations at the volumes a full La Preciosa operation would require, and CEO David Wolfin has been explicit that a standalone plant is the better use of capital once the study confirms it. Recent drilling supports that confidence: intercepts including 7.9 metres of 1,600 g/t silver and 2 g/t gold, and a further 6 metres at 550 g/t silver, suggest underground mining grades could exceed the diluted, open-pit-based resource model inherited from the project's previous owner, Coeur Mining. Underpinning this is Avino's first mineral reserve in company history, published in April 2026 after the company crossed the $90 million trailing-revenue threshold required under NI 43-101 to report reserves. The combined 127 million silver equivalent ounces in proven and probable reserves, alongside 301 million ounces of measured and indicated resources, gives the growth story a formal technical foundation it lacked a year ago. Average reserve mine life across the portfolio comfortably exceeds the roughly 8-year average among primary silver peers, a comparison management uses to argue for a valuation re-rating as the company de-risks. Risks remain concentrated in execution. Costs rose alongside the cash build, with all-in sustaining costs of $38.75 per silver equivalent ounce in Q2, reflecting the expense of developing a new mine rather than deterioration at Avino itself. Copper production fell 50% year-on-year as the company processed oxidised material from historical open-pit walls, a sequencing decision expected to reverse over the next six to eight months. Investors should also note that much of the grade upside management points to remains in step-out drilling not yet reflected in the reserve model; an updated estimate is expected in Q1 2027. For investors, Avino offers a rare combination: an operating, cash-generating mine funding a second high-grade asset, a debt-free balance sheet providing genuine optionality, and two concrete near-term catalysts: the La Preciosa pre-feasibility study, and the Q1 2027 resource update against which to track execution. View Avino Silver & Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/avino-silver-gold-mines-ltd Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 5 · 33 min

    White Gold Corp (TSXV:WGO) - Delivers PEA Alongside Drilling Programme and Spin-Out Catalysts

    Interview with Donovan Pollitt, President and Director, White Gold Corp Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/white-gold-tsxvwgo-largest-drill-program-commencing-on-highest-grade-gold-resource-in-yukon-10043 Recording date: 2nd September 2026 White Gold Corp (TSXV:WGO) has crossed a threshold that had eluded it for years: a Preliminary Economic Assessment that puts formal economics around its Yukon flagship deposit. Released August 10, 2026 and refined in an August 28 update, the PEA delivers an after-tax NPV (5%) of C$1.86 billion and a 41% IRR at a US$3,600/oz gold price, with a 1.5-year payback period. At spot-adjacent US$4,500/oz pricing, those figures rise to a C$2.9 billion NPV and 56% IRR. The proposed operation is a conventional open-pit, carbon-in-leach mine processing 12,000 tonnes per day across the Golden Saddle, Arc, Ryan's Surprise and VG zones, producing approximately 188,000 ounces annually over a 9.4-year life at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,482/oz. Initial capital is costed at C$1,002 million. President and Director Donovan Pollitt was explicit that the study was built conservatively: a first-year production rate derated to 85% of nameplate, full costing of infrastructure most PEAs might trim (a new 5,000-foot airstrip, complete camp and tailings facilities), and a mine plan that uses only around 60% of the current 3 million-ounce resource. Notably, underground potential at Golden Saddle where drilling continues to target higher-grade mineralisation below the current pit design was excluded from the study altogether, representing upside not yet reflected in the headline numbers. Beyond the PEA, two lower-cost avenues to resource growth are underway in parallel with continued step-out drilling: a systematic resampling of roughly 7,350 metres of historic core (about 12% of all metres drilled on the property since 2008) that was never assayed, concentrated in a hanging-wall zone now interpreted as continuously mineralised, and a new target, Golden Saddle 2.0, on the far side of a fault offset from the main deposit. The 2026 drilling programme totals 15,000-20,000 metres, with over 10,000 metres completed at the time of the interview and 11,500 metres confirmed in a subsequent company update; assay results are expected through the autumn as regional lab capacity, strained by a busy Yukon drill season, catches up. A second and distinct value lever sits outside the gold story: White Gold's non-gold critical mineral targets - copper, tungsten, silver and molybdenum anomalies identified through years of soil geochemistry but never drilled - are being spun into a separately listed vehicle, W2 Critical Minerals Corp, at a ratio of one W2 share per five WGO shares held. The Ontario Superior Court granted final approval for the arrangement on August 28, 2026, with W2's associated financing upsized from $5 million to $10 million to fund a maiden drill programme. Valuation-wise, White Gold trades at approximately US$116 per contained ounce as of early August 2026 company filings - the lowest in its Yukon peer group despite carrying that group's highest weighted-average grade (1.38 g/T). Management has signalled no rush toward a production decision or an accelerated pre-feasibility study, prioritising further drilling and optionality on mine-plan design over speed. For investors, the near-term catalyst calendar includes autumn assay results, progress at Golden Saddle 2.0 and the VG East extension, and the pending completion of the W2 spin-out. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/white-gold-corp Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 4 · 35 min

    Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) - Fully Funded Drilling Targets 269Mlb Uranium Upside in Western Australia

    Interview with Jonathan Fisher, CEO of Cauldron Energy Recording date: 2nd September 2026 Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) holds 55 million pounds of JORC-compliant uranium resource at its Yanrey Project in Western Australia, with an exploration target of up to 269 million additional pounds. The company’s near-perfect drilling record and strategic positioning make it a compelling uranium story—provided Western Australia lifts its longstanding mining ban. The Yanrey Project spans three deposits: Bennett Well, Manyingee South, and Manyingee North are all situated in a region considered highly prospective for in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium mining. Cauldron’s exploration has been remarkably successful wherein the first 24 drill holes at Manyingee North intersected mineralisation, defining a maiden 10-million-pound resource with a 100% hit rate. Subsequent drilling of 40 to 50 additional holes has maintained that near-perfect success rate. The company uses passive seismic surveying to identify buried palaeochannels, ancient river systems, that concentrated uranium as they flowed eastward from granitic sources. Three channels have been drilled to date, yielding the three known deposits, with 20-30 more channels still untested. A formal resource update is expected later in 2026 following the completion of the current drilling campaign. Western Australia’s state-level uranium mining ban remains the single biggest obstacle to production. Despite this, Cauldron received two government exploration grants in April 2026, a signal CEO Jonathan Fisher interprets as contradictory but encouraging. Additional indicators of potential policy shift include a parliamentary inquiry where over 60% of submissions favoured uranium mining, and a recent by-election swing toward the pro-uranium One Nation party. While the ban persists, Cauldron is maximising its resource base to become either a ready-to-develop asset or an attractive takeover target once policy changes. The company has partnered with Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company to de-risk ISR process design and hired an experienced environmental manager to navigate regulatory approvals. Groundwater testing by ANSTO found low salinity across all three deposits—a favourable factor for ISR recovery economics. Cauldron’s investment case hinges entirely on Western Australia lifting its mining ban. While management cites multiple signals of policy change, none are confirmed. Technical risks remain, as demonstrated by peer Boss Energy’s setbacks at its Honeymoon ISR operation, though Cauldron’s Navoi partnership aims to mitigate such risks. Shareholder concentration is high, with a family office holding ~30% and ETFs ~15–16%, providing stability but limiting free float. View Cauldron Energy's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/cauldron-energy-limited Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 4 · 36 min

    East Star Resources (LSE:EST) - Secures 2nd Copper JV Agreement with Rulikha Project in Kazakhstan

    Interview with Alex Walker, CEO of East Star Resources Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/east-star-resources-lseest-partner-funded-copper-production-and-25m-gold-search-in-kazakhstan-10606 Recording date: 2nd September 2026 East Star Resources (LSE:EST) has added a second free-carried development structure to its Kazakhstan copper and gold portfolio, signing a binding Heads of Agreement for a joint venture over its Rulikha copper project. The deal follows the same non-dilutive logic that underpins East Star's existing Verkhuba joint venture with Chinese mine-builder Xinhai Mining: rather than raising capital from shareholders to fund permitting, drilling and construction, East Star brings in a partner with deeper development expertise and lets that partner carry the cost, in exchange for a minority economic interest once the project reaches production. At Rulikha, that partner group consists of two entities: Nova, a financing vehicle, and Orion, an operating team that has previously built two copper mines in Kazakhstan and exited its most recent project to a Chinese buyer for approximately $125 million within the past four years. CEO Alex Walker cited that track record, along with the personal involvement of a well-connected Kazakh lawyer who structured the deal, as central to his confidence in the partnership. The earn-in mechanics are designed to protect East Star's downside. The partners' initial percentage only crystallises once they complete the first of either 3,000 metres of drilling or $1.5 million of spend, and even that threshold represents only a fraction of the total committed spend, not a cap. East Star's final economic interest lands between 25% and 35% depending on whether the partners fund with equity or debt and importantly, majority ownership does not pass to the partners until they reach the construction stage, well beyond the current commitment. Operationally, drilling approval for Rulikha is already secured, land access was obtained before the joint venture was even discussed, and management expects drilling to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, targeting both the main Rulikha deposit areas and two satellite targets, Taloskoy and Rulikha North, the latter having already returned a 120-metre interval of disseminated sulphide mineralisation last year. Meanwhile, at the more advanced Verkhuba copper deposit, drilling continues under the existing Xinhai-funded joint venture, with a second rig now on site and the first assay results due at the lab within one to two weeks. East Star's separate gold exploration joint venture with Endeavour Mining, covering two large land packages in northern and central Kazakhstan under a $25 million funding commitment, remains unchanged and continues to offer a third free-carried catalyst. For investors, the Rulikha announcement effectively doubles East Star's exposure to potential copper production funded entirely by third parties, without adding dilution risk. The near-term catalysts to watch are execution of the definitive Rulikha joint venture agreement (currently only a Heads of Agreement), the start of Rulikha drilling later this year, and Verkhuba's forthcoming assay results, which together will begin to clarify the pace at which East Star's project pipeline converts into cash flow. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/east-star-resources Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • September 3 · 48 min

    Erdene Resource Development (TSX:ERD) - Bayan Khundii Cash Flow Funds Deep Porphyry Hunt

    Interview with Peter Akerley, CEO & Kelly Clure, Advisor of Erdene Resource Development Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/erdene-resource-developments-tsxerd-undervalued-investment-series-with-peter-akerley-10566 Recording date: 1st September 2026 Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD; MSE:ERDN; OTCQX:ERDCF) has moved from mine-builder to self-funded explorer. The company's Bayan Khundii Gold Mine, operated as a 50/50 joint venture with Mongolian Mining Corporation, delivered 11,709 ounces of gold in Q2 2026, a 37% increase quarter-on-quarter, generating $53 million in gross revenue. Feed grade rose 25% to 2.4 g/t gold, with recoveries of 96%, ahead of plan. That cash flow is now being redeployed into a materially more aggressive exploration program across the company's broader Khundii Minerals District, discovered by Erdene in Mongolia's southwest. Management has committed 12,000 metres of drilling to Bayan Khundii's western expansion, targeting the corridor between the current pit and the newly resource-defined Ulaan deposit. In parallel, the company is testing porphyry copper potential beneath all three of its main hydrothermal systems, Bayan Khundii, Altan Nar and Zuun Mod, none of which has been drill-tested below roughly 700 metres, despite kilometre-scale surface alteration footprints comparable to major regional discoveries like Oyu Tolgoi. Zuun Mod, a wholly-owned molybdenum-copper porphyry, is the standout near-term catalyst: the deposit ranks in the upper 15th percentile globally on grade-tonnage terms, and a preliminary economic assessment is on track for mid-H2 2026, backed by a newly contracted deep geophysics (IP/MT) program aimed at both Zuun Mod itself and the adjacent Khuvyn Khar copper target. Altan Nar, holding roughly 500,000 ounces of gold along a 5-kilometre trend, is next in line for 2027 capital, with management weighing a CIP tie-in to the existing Bayan Khundii plant against a standalone flotation-concentrate build. Early metallurgical work favours the CIP route, potentially adding five years of mine life for a fraction of the estimated $140 million standalone capex. A complementary heap leach study, covering oxide material at both Dark Horse and Altan Nar, could add a further ~100,000 ounces of lower-cost production. A smaller, earlier-stage option property, Tereg Uul, sits roughly 10km south of Oyu Tolgoi; a maiden drill program confirmed anomalous gold, silver and native copper along a 1.5-kilometre structure, and the option was extended in July 2026 with a $400,000 payment. Underpinning the exploration push is a policy tailwind: Mongolia's mining ministry announced in June 2026 that it would reopen exploration licensing after roughly a decade of restricted issuance, a development management believes favours first movers with existing geological databases, including Erdene. Financially, the company holds $26 million in corporate cash earmarked for its wholly-owned project pipeline through 2027, and is running an active share buyback (up to 4.9 million shares, ~10% of public float, with 94,400 shares already repurchased at an average $5.21). Key near-term catalysts for investors to track include the Zuun Mod PEA, deep geophysics results expected later in Q3 2026, and progress on Mongolia's licensing reopening. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/erdene-resource-development Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • August 31 · 30 min

    Drill Results Pile Up, But Real Scarcity Is in Copper Development

    Recording date: 28th August 2026 Olive Resource Capital's latest Compass episode centres on two connected observations: a summer drilling season that is quietly delivering strong results, and a persistent shortage of the advanced copper projects the market increasingly wants exposure to. On the drilling side, Derek Macpherson said a quick scan of recent releases turned up roughly ten notable holes in a two-day window, spanning gold and copper-equivalent results from companies including Lake Victoria Gold, Free Gold, ATEX Resources and VR Resources. He attributed the volume to well-funded companies - many of which raised capital during the frothy financing window of late 2025 and early 2026 - finally reaching the drill bit with larger, multi-rig programmes than in past cycles. Despite the quality of results, Samuel Pelaez noted that most of the underlying stocks have moved only modestly, framing individual holes as a starting point for deeper diligence rather than a signal to react to immediately. He illustrated the point with VR Resources Ltd. (TSXV:VRR), whose strong copper-equivalent grade at its New Boston project in Nevada turned out to be molybdenum-led on closer inspection, and with Heritage Mining Corp., where a genuinely strong gold result failed to move the share price because of an unresolved warrant overhang from prior financings. Both Macpherson and Pelaez pointed to operational bottlenecks as a growing constraint on the pace of news flow. Assay laboratory turnaround times have roughly doubled industry-wide, and at least one Nevada-based lab has stopped accepting new clients. Macpherson cited a conversation with White Gold Corp. CEO David D'Onofrio, who described Yukon labs as overwhelmed by the scale of concurrent drill programmes in the territory - a dynamic likely to push meaningful drill-result reporting into the fourth quarter and beyond the traditional autumn conference season. This episode returned to a recurring theme: the scarcity of tier-one copper development projects. Pelaez cited comments from Mineral Resources Limited (ASX:MIN) chief executive Chris Ellison, who told investors on a results call that the roughly A$10 billion Australian miner intends to buy a copper project outside Australia within the next 12 months - a sign, in Pelaez's view, that copper demand is broadening well beyond specialist resource investors. Macpherson highlighted Rio Tinto's US$15 million strategic investment in Mogotes Metals Inc. (TSXV:MOG), closed on 27 August, as further evidence of major producers competing for exposure to early-stage assets in Argentina and Chile's Vicuña district, home to NGEx Minerals Ltd.'s (TSXV:NGEX) four significant discoveries. Closer to home, Olive continues to build positions in Edge Copper Corporation's (TSXV:EDCU) Zonia project in Arizona, Gladiator in the Yukon, and Valhalla in Alaska. Olive's preferred strategy is buying advanced development assets likely to be built or acquired this cycle, on the view that the valuation gap between developers and producers is typically widest early in a bull market, a gap they expect to become more pronounced in copper as competition for scarce, advanced assets intensifies. Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • August 28 · 37 min

    Selkirk Copper (TSXV:SCMI) - Doubles Mineral Resource Estimate, Minto to Restart by 2028

    Interview with Colin Joudrie, CEO, Selkirk Copper Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/selkirk-copper-mines-tsxvscmi-restart-developer-targets-mid-2028-production-10866 Recording date: 26th August 2026 Selkirk Copper Mines is executing a restart of the past-producing Minto copper-gold-silver mine in Yukon, Canada, an asset that operated successfully for 16 years before its most recent operator entered bankruptcy in 2023. Rather than building a new mine, Selkirk is rehabilitating existing infrastructure - a 4,100 tonne-per-day processing plant, underground and open-pit workings, a 400-person camp, water treatment facilities and grid power - an approach management argues meaningfully compresses both the capital and time required to reach production. The exploration case has strengthened materially over the past year. A Phase 1 drill programme of 52,288 metres, completed in mid-2026, underpinned an updated Mineral Resource Estimate showing a 182% increase in Measured & Indicated copper to 940 million pounds, alongside comparable increases in gold and silver. An ongoing Phase 2 programme, targeting 50,000 metres, is now more than 90% complete and running ahead of schedule, with recent assay results including a 13.12% copper-equivalent intercept at the high-grade Minto North zone and step-out drilling that suggests further expansion potential to the south. Roughly half of the resource growth is attributed to drilling success, with the remainder reflecting updated metal price assumptions. A structural feature distinguishes Selkirk's economics from the prior operation: a gold and silver streaming agreement that previously diverted precious metals revenue to an outside party was eliminated during the bankruptcy process. CEO Colin Joudrie describes this as a rare outcome that leaves the company with full exposure to gold and silver, which together represent roughly 35% of the deposit's value. Management also plans metallurgical upgrades - adding gravity recovery circuits and a permanent crusher circuit - intended to lift precious metals recovery and reduce milling costs relative to historical performance. The near-term roadmap is defined. A Preliminary Economic Assessment, incorporating the enlarged resource base, is targeted for completion in Q3 2026 and will provide the first formal cost and production estimate under Selkirk's ownership. A Feasibility Study is expected to begin around the end of September 2026, feeding into a final investment decision targeted for mid-2027, with first production targeted for mid-2028. Restart capital costs are currently expected to be in the range of C$200 million, financing for which - alongside potential offtake and streaming arrangements - is expected to be arranged over the next 12-18 months. Joudrie situates the restart within a broader copper market thesis: negative treatment and refining charges, ageing global mine supply, and recent major operational failures elsewhere have left the market structurally short, a gap he believes new, quickly-executed supply like Minto is well positioned to help fill. Risks include permitting amendment timing, which remains outside the company's direct control, Yukon-specific cost inflation in contract mining, and the execution risk of translating a substantially larger drill database into a coherent, financeable mine plan. The PEA release stands as the clearest near-term test of whether the exploration success translates into a credible economic case. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/selkirk-copper Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • August 27 · 23 min

    American Eagle Gold (TSXV:AE) - Strikes Kilometre-Long Copper Zone at BC's Babine Porphyry District

    Interview with Anthony Moreau, CEO, American Eagle Gold Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/american-eagle-gold-tsxvae-29-million-major-funding-for-multi-billion-ton-copper-gold-in-bc-6271 Recording date: 25th August 2026 American Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV:AE | OTCQB:AMEGF) is advancing its 100%-owned NAK copper-gold porphyry project in British Columbia's Babine Porphyry District, and the past month has produced two of the strongest results in the company's history. NAK26-87, reported 18 August 2026, intersected 1,001 metres of 0.46% copper equivalent (CuEq) starting at surface, including 218 metres of 1.01% CuEq - a full kilometre of continuous copper-gold mineralisation and the longest intercept ever drilled at NAK. A week later, NAK26-89 returned 411 metres of 0.43% CuEq from 47 metres downhole, within a broader 880-metre interval of 0.30% CuEq, extending near-surface mineralisation roughly 250 metres east of the existing South Zone and opening a new target area along the southern margin of the Babine porphyry stock. Together, these results have grown the mapped South Zone footprint to more than 700 metres east-west by 600 metres north-south, with a high-grade core extending beyond 800 metres depth, and management believes the zone remains open in multiple directions. Three additional western step-out holes - NAK26-84, -86 and -88 - returned broad, consistent copper intercepts that extend the footprint further north and west, with positive implications for future open-pit design and strip ratio. The company is roughly a fifth of the way through an approximately 80-hole, 55,000-metre drill programme running through April 2027, with three rigs operating continuously. Management has now dedicated one rig specifically to the newly opened southern stock zone, an area it describes as among the least-tested but most prospective ground on the property, and the immediate next target is a follow-up to NAK23-09 - the 2023 "Teck Hole." American Eagle is well capitalised to execute this programme. As at July 2026, the company reported approximately $55 million in cash (with a subsequent release citing approximately $50 million), 205 million shares outstanding, and a market capitalisation of roughly $230 million at a share price of $1.12. Management states the company is funded through 2028 without need for near-term financing. Insiders and strategic shareholders control 53% of the share register, including South32 (19.9%), Teck (12.9%) and Eric Sprott (9.5%) - none of whom, according to CEO Anthony Moreau, have sold shares since investing. The investment case rests on combining a high-grade core with substantial surrounding bulk tonnage, a model management compares to Highland Valley. CEO Moreau has framed the strategy as proving NAK can become a mine within the current metal price cycle, positioning the asset for acquisition by a major producer. Road access, existing power and rail infrastructure, and a five-year Exploration Agreement with the Lake Babine Nation (signed August 2023) support a lower relative cost of capital versus more remote British Columbia projects. Key catalysts ahead include continued assay releases through April 2027 (roughly 74 of 80 planned holes remain unreported), results from the newly dedicated southern stock zone rig, ongoing metallurgical test work feeding a 2027 PEA, and a targeted maiden mineral resource estimate in 2027. The primary risk remains that NAK is still a pre-resource exploration asset: reported intercepts, while long and consistently mineralised, do not yet establish confirmed tonnage or grade, and copper equivalent figures rely on assumed metal prices and recoveries pending further metallurgical work. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/american-eagle-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • August 27 · 29 min

    Bravo Mining (TSXV:BRVO) - Luanga Advances Toward PFS With Multiple Funding Options

    Interview with Luis Azevedo, Chairman and CEO, Bravo Mining Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/bravo-mining-tsxvbrvo-double-grades-and-resource-up-to-236-million-tons-in-tier-one-pgm-deposit-7934 Recording date: 25th August 2026 Bravo Mining (TSXV:BRVO, OTCQX:BRVMF) is advancing its 100%-owned Luanga PGM+Au+Ni deposit in Brazil's Carajás Mineral Province through a Pre-Feasibility Study guided for Q3 2026, while simultaneously extending two secondary discoveries — a nickel-copper sulphide system at the Babylon target and an early-stage copper-gold exploration programme — that management believes could add materially to the project's long-term optionality. The immediate news is a set of assay results from drill hole DDH26LU347 at Babylon, adjacent to Luanga's North Sector. The hole intercepted 13.4 metres at 1.55% nickel, 0.33% copper and 2.02 g/t PGM+Au (including a higher-grade 6.7-metre interval at 2.25% nickel and 3.14 g/t PGM+Au), plus a separate 6.0-metre interval grading 6.81 g/t PGM+Au. CEO Luis Azevedo characterises the nickel-copper result as evidence the deposit could ultimately support underground mining grades in addition to its established open-pit resource, with a large Induced Polarisation anomaly at roughly 700 metres depth now queued for follow-up drilling. On the core PGM story, the PFS — pushed one quarter from Q2 to Q3 2026 — is being built around metallurgical testwork showing Jameson Cell flotation technology can lift platinum, palladium and gold recoveries by 5-10% and nickel recoveries by 5-30% against conventional Denver cells, while cutting mass pull by up to 50%. Glencore Technology has independently reviewed the metallurgical database and indicated it is prepared to issue performance guarantees on the assumptions. Azevedo argues the practical effect is a larger, more profitable pit rather than a simple recovery uplift, which is the stated reason the study needed the extra quarter. Bravo held approximately $94 million in cash at the time of interview, which management says funds the PFS, permitting and 2026 drilling without near-term dilution. Beyond the treasury, the company has structured but not yet drawn on two further levers: an indicative $280 million offer for a portion of its gold credit, and an existing $300 million credit line from Orion. A PGM offtake has drawn interest from multiple parties but remains unpriced pending bankable feasibility numbers. On permitting, Bravo already holds its preliminary licence and plans to submit for the Installation Licence within one to two weeks of the PFS release, targeting approval within six months to a year based on the company's track record with Brazilian regulators. A construction decision is targeted roughly six months after the PFS, with construction possible from mid-2028, pending a Q1 2027 resource update and a Q3 2027 Definitive Feasibility Study. The 2025 PEA's vertically-integrated smelter scenario has also become more attractive: rising sulphuric acid byproduct pricing lifts that case's NPV from approximately $1.2 billion to $1.68 billion versus the base concentrate-sale case, though management has not yet decided on timing. Separately, a copper-gold division led by 31-year Vale veteran Fabio Masotti is running IP surveying ahead of an 8,000-metre H2 2026 drill programme — a third, still unpriced source of optionality that management says could eventually support a standalone corporate structure if results warrant it. Learn more: https://cruxinvestor.com/companies/bravo-mining Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  • August 26 · 28 min

    EraNova Metals (TSXV:NOVA) - C$714M NPV Adanac Molybdenum Project Advances Toward Feasibility

    Interview with Meredith Eades, President and CEO, EraNova Metals Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/eranova-metals-dual-path-critical-minerals-play-with-30-million-infrastructure-advantage-in-canada-9037 Recording date: 24th August 2026 EraNova Metals has released the first independent economic study on its Adanac Molybdenum Project since 2008, and the numbers give investors a concrete basis for evaluating a story that has, until now, rested largely on historical potential. The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), prepared by Tetra Tech Canada, values Adanac at a C$714.4 million after-tax NPV with a 23.5% IRR and a 2.6-year payback, using a US$25.00 per pound long-term molybdenum price. At the current spot price of US$31.91 per pound, President and CEO Meredith Eades said the after-tax NPV rises to C$1.29 billion, with IRR climbing to 30.2%. What separates Adanac from many junior molybdenum stories is the amount of work already completed. The project was drilled more than 73,000 metres, advanced through a full feasibility study, and received an Environmental Assessment Certificate in 2007, before the 2008 financial crisis halted construction. EraNova estimates the value of this historical infrastructure at more than C$100 million - road access, site works and engineering that a typical greenfield developer would need years and substantial capital to replicate. Combined with a mineral resource that is 93% Measured and Indicated, the technical foundation for a Feasibility Study is already largely in place, reducing the need for extensive further drilling. The macro backdrop adds to the case. Around 90% of the world's molybdenum supply arrives as a by-product of copper mining, and as copper operations increasingly move underground, by-product molybdenum grades and volumes are under pressure. That leaves relatively few primary molybdenum developers positioned to meet growing demand from high-strength steel applications in pipelines, energy infrastructure, aerospace and defence. Eades is explicit that EraNova is not attempting to raise its full C$953.3 million initial capital requirement in one step. Instead, the company is using the PEA as a credibility milestone to open conversations with government funding programmes, strategic partners and potential off-takers, including molybdenum consumers such as Freeport, Centerra and Molymet. A roughly 3,000-metre engineering support drilling programme is planned to advance toward Feasibility, alongside an updated environmental assessment process conducted in continued engagement with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. Against a market capitalisation the company puts at approximately $10 million, the PEA's economics represent a significant disconnect from the underlying asset value - if the numbers hold through Feasibility. Risks remain: the project still requires a full Feasibility Study, updated permits, and a near-billion-dollar capital build, all of which carry execution and dilution risk as capital is raised in stages. For investors willing to accept pre-production development risk, EraNova offers a rare primary molybdenum exposure with an unusually advanced permitting and engineering head start, plus exploration optionality across the wider Ruby Creek property - including high-grade silver, gold and tungsten targets - that could deliver catalysts independent of the molybdenum development timeline. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/eranova-metals Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

  • August 26 · 20 min

    New Found Gold (TSX:NFGC) - Graduates to the TSX

    Interview with Keith Boyle, Director & CEO of New Found Gold Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/new-found-gold-tsxnfg-construction-still-on-track-10918 Recording date: 14th August 2026 New Found Gold's transition from exploration company to emerging Newfoundland gold producer reached a milestone with its move to the TSX main board, a step CEO Keith Boyle frames as recognition of the company's operational progress over the past 18 months. The listing upgrade is intended to widen access to institutional capital and stock indices unavailable on the TSX Venture Exchange, with Boyle noting the company currently splits roughly 60% of trading volume on New York exchanges and 40% on the TSXV, and expects the TSX move to lift Canadian volume without reducing US liquidity. Operationally, the company is running a two-track strategy. Hammerdown, a smaller open-pit gold mine acquired as part of the Maritime Resources transaction, is being ramped toward a 20,000-25,000 ounce annual run rate and is expected to be declared in commercial production within months. Boyle was explicit that Hammerdown was never intended to be a major cash generator - its purpose is to cover general and administrative costs and exploration spend, freeing the balance sheet to focus on the larger Queensway project. Queensway itself is being built in phases rather than as a single large-scale mill, a decision Boyle said was made specifically to reduce the size of financing required at each stage. Phase one, a 700-tonne-per-day open pit feeding an expanded Pine Cove mill, is fully funded through to first ore delivery - targeted for the fourth quarter of next year - following a $220 million financing announced in April. The company expects production to climb toward 120,000-125,000 ounces annually by 2028 and 175,000-200,000 ounces from 2031, as later, larger phases come online. A key near-term catalyst is the forthcoming updated mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment for Queensway. Rather than moving straight to a feasibility study, the company is choosing to publish an updated PEA so investors can see the full multi-phase project, since phases two and three have not yet received enough infill drilling to be classified beyond inferred resources. Phase one, by contrast, has been de-risked through 5-by-5-metre grade control drilling and orders already placed for the mill conversion, which Boyle said supports a feasibility-level capital cost estimate for that portion of the project. On exploration, New Found Gold is directing roughly 45% of its expanded 90,000-metre, $40-million-plus 2026 drill programme toward new discovery targets rather than infill - including strike extensions east of the high-grade core, ground picked up along the Appleton Fault from the November Exploits Discovery acquisition, and follow-up drilling at Pulse Pond/Greenwood Pond and Duder Lake. Boyle said per-ounce discovery costs have fallen from roughly $145 for the initial resource to below $100 currently, comparing favourably with M&A-driven ounce additions in the sector, which he put at $500-600 per ounce. For investors, the story combines a funded near-term production ramp with an aggressive, discovery-weighted exploration budget, and the updated Queensway study will be the next major data point to watch. View New Found Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/new-found-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

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