Company Interviews

Interview with Keith Boyle, Director & CEO of New Found Gold
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/new-found-gold-tsxnfgc-q3-hammerdown-production-results-12342
Recording date: 23rd October 2026
New Found Gold Corp. (TSX / NYSE-A: NFGC) has released a revised Preliminary Economic Assessment and updated Mineral Resource Estimate for its 100%-owned Queensway Gold Project in central Newfoundland. At a base case gold price of US$3,600/oz, the study gives an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.728 billion, an after-tax IRR of 126% and payback in under one year. The mine plan outlines 1.744 million ounces of gold over a 15-year phased open pit and underground operation, with average annual production of 116,000 ounces and a peak of 190,000 ounces in 2032. Life-of-mine AISC is estimated at US$1,375/oz.
The updated resource raises Measured and Indicated ounces by 38% to 1.920 million ounces, while Inferred ounces are unchanged at 606,000 ounces. Phase 1 has an average head grade of 13.41 g/t gold, and 97% of its ounces are in the Measured and Indicated categories. Grade control drilling at Keats and Iceberg reconciled closely with the earlier resource model, which supports confidence in the high-grade core.
The plan relies on the company’s own Pine Cove mill, acquired with Hammerdown, which is being converted to a gravity-CIL circuit and expanded to 1,400 tonnes per day. Phase 1 initial capital of C$149.8 million is in line with the previous estimate, and the company reports it is fully funded. It holds about C$167 million in cash, a C$35 million debt facility and expected warrant proceeds, alongside cash flow from Hammerdown.
Later phases add a new on-site mill with dual processing circuits and 86% more underground ounces. The changes improve payability but bring C$832.1 million in growth capital and C$970.8 million in sustaining capital. These costs are intended to be funded from operating cash flow.
The Environmental Preview Report is targeted for submission in Q4 2026. Subject to permits, first Queensway material is expected at Pine Cove in Q4 2027.
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Interview with Rudi Deysel, Managing Director & CEO of West Wits Mining
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/west-wits-mining-asxwwi-qala-shallows-breakthrough-drives-70000-oz-target-gold-production-10547
Recording date: 22nd October 2026
West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) has moved from developer to producer at its Qala Shallows gold project on Johannesburg's Witwatersrand Goldfield. First gold was poured in March 2026, and the company is now ramping towards a steady state of 70,000 ounces per annum. CEO and Managing Director Rudi Deysel argues that the market has not caught up with this progress, and that the share price reflects a valuation gap rather than any shortfall in the asset.
The valuation case is straightforward on management's numbers. West Wits has a market capitalisation of about A$165 million and held A$36 million in cash on 7 October 2026. Against a 7.24-million-ounce JORC resource at 4.0 g/T gold, Deysel puts the enterprise value at around A$21 per resource ounce. He compares this with ASX-listed gold peers in Australia, Mali and South Africa trading between A$44 and A$118 per ounce. The company's own presentation, using the 7 October share price, gives A$25/oz.
Funding is the second pillar. A package of about A$97 million from Absa and Nedbank covers construction and the ramp-up. It includes an A$8 million cost overrun facility that the company's current models do not use. Two senior debt drawdowns totalling about A$50 million have been completed. Each required a cost-to-complete test signed off by the banks' independent technical adviser, which Deysel presents as external validation that the project is on track. The facility includes an 18-month holiday on interest and principal.
Operationally, the ramp-up is accelerating. Underground development reached a record 200 metres in September 2026, and surface infrastructure is 61% complete. Ore is toll treated at Sibanye-Stillwater's Ezulwini plant, which removes plant construction risk. Deysel says AISC below US$1,300/oz reflects executed contracts. The updated DFS set life-of-mine AISC at US$1,289/oz using a US$2,850/oz gold price. At around US$4,100/oz gold, management estimates roughly US$200 million of annual margin at steady state, before corporate costs, finance and tax.
The milestone sequence is defined. Primary stoping begins in February 2027, grid power connects in early 2027 and surface infrastructure completes in the third quarter of 2027. Commercial production is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027, followed by 42,500 ounces in 2028 and steady state in the first quarter of 2029.
Geological confidence rests on the Witwatersrand Basin's history of more than 1.5 billion ounces produced. Deysel cites high resource-to-reserve conversion and positive reconciliations to date. A new decline into virgin ground gives the mine twin access points to the orebody.
Growth sits outside the current valuation. About 6.2 million resource ounces lie beyond the mine plan. The Project 200 scoping study examines 200,000 ounces per annum and is being optimised before release. Bird Reef Central offers uranium-gold optionality, with funded exploration targeting a maiden uranium resource.
View West Wits Mining's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/west-wits-mining
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Interview with Charles C. Downie, President & CEO of Eagle Plains Resources
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/eagle-plains-resources-tsxvepl-five-revenue-streams-29-projects-advancing-in-2026-9412
Recording date: 22nd October 2026
Eagle Plains Resources (TSXV:EPL) is a project generator based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, with more than 30 years of listing history and no share consolidations. Its model is to stake or acquire projects, complete early work with its own cash and then option projects to partners who fund drilling. Under a typical deal, the partner earns 80% and Eagle Plains keeps 20%, plus a royalty.
What separates Eagle Plains from many project generators is recurring revenue. TerraLogic Exploration, its wholly owned geological contractor, works for third parties and on Eagle Plains projects. President and CEO Chuck Downie said TerraLogic typically returns $1 million to $2 million a year to the parent, and that first-half 2026 revenue was around $12.5 million against about $3.6 million a year earlier. Eagle Plains holds about $7.5 million in cash, just over $4 million in securities and about $2.2 million in hard assets, which Downie said allows it to go years without a financing.
The largest active programme is at Black Bay Project in Uranium City, northern Saskatchewan. Six projects covering five past-producing mines and about 50 mineral occurrences are optioned to Xcite Uranium (TSXV:XRI). Downie put total commitments at just over $19 million in exploration, $330,000 in cash and roughly 2.5 million Xcite shares. About $6 million was spent in 2026, and about $12 million would be needed next year to complete the earn-in. Three projects have been drilled. At Don Lake, downhole probes returned strong radiometric results from all three zones tested, but assays are pending. Eagle Plains operates the programme, earns a management fee and keeps a 20% interest carried to a bankable feasibility study.
George Lake, a 100%-owned zinc deposit in Saskatchewan, carries a historical resource of about 7 million tonnes at around 4% zinc. Three holes drilled in 2026 extended mineralisation up to 260 metres down dip. Only about 400 metres of a projected 20-kilometre horizon has been tested. Downie said the route to a partner is to show the deposit can reach 60 million to 80 million tonnes at a similar grade.
Earlier-stage copper-gold exposure comes from Theory, optioned to Sun Summit Minerals (TSXV:SMN), and the adjacent Orbit joint venture in the Toodoggone district, both with assays pending. At Iron Range, partner Earthwise Minerals drilled three holes and identified an upper mineralised horizon that aligns with geochemical and IP anomalies. American Eagle Gold has optioned Hearne Hill South near its NAK project.
Spin-outs remain an important source of shareholder value. Taiga Gold was sold to SSR Mining for cash and Eagle Royalties was acquired through a transaction with Summit Royalties. Eagle Plains states that spin-outs have delivered more than $115 million in value to shareholders.
View Eagle Plains Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/eagle-plains-resources-ltd
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Recording date: 21st October 2026
Olive Resource Capital (TSXV:OC) used this Compass episode to share how its leadership assesses mining projects on the ground. Executive Chairman Derek Macpherson spoke from Georgetown after visiting Omai Gold Mines (TSXV:OMG) in Guyana, while President, CEO and Chief Investment Officer Samuel Pelaez spoke from central Uruguay near the projects of Sun Valley Minerals. Both companies are among Olive's largest investments, and both executives are directors of the company they visited.
The framework starts with access. Investors should ask how a site is reached, whether existing roads and power could support an industrial operation and what would need upgrading before production. The arrival experience itself can signal whether mining matters in a country. In Guyana, mining suppliers advertise in the airport and a large Caterpillar dealership sits on the road into the capital. In Uruguay, the route to site uses paved highways with a high-voltage line alongside, and passes large quarries and cement plants.
The second layer is process quality. Clean drill sites, an organised core shack and a disciplined safety induction indicate how a company will operate as it grows. Omai now runs six drill rigs, and Macpherson said core handling has become close to an industrial process. Sun Valley, ahead of its drilling, has set up protocols for 3,000 soil samples a month and an in-house laboratory, with samples also sent to independent laboratories.
The third layer is geological reasoning. Macpherson's test is whether the geology team can explain to a non-geologist why it is drilling where it is, and whether it adapts as data arrives. Rigid models risk missing mineralisation.
The fourth layer is footprint and line of sight. Visitors should find a high point and look for nearby towns or sensitive sites. Omai is a previously disturbed brownfield site in a country that is mostly rainforest. Sun Valley sits on former eucalyptus plantation land that is unsuitable for food crops, with regrowth screening noise and dust.
The final layer is community and workforce. Sun Valley is training local junior hires under experienced specialists, buying locally and securing housing ahead of growth. A future Omai mine is expected to be camp-based, served by a new paved highway, with a historic workforce base in Linden and lasting goodwill from the former operation.
For Sun Valley, the near-term catalysts are its expected TSXV listing under SUNV, following the filing of its final prospectus and conditional approval, and first drill results that will test its geological model. Kinross Gold holds a 14.9% interest. The company has no defined resource yet, and Uruguay lacks recent precedent for permitting modern metal mines. For Omai, the steady flow of assays from six rigs is the key item to watch. Macpherson also highlighted strong government support in Guyana, where he expects five large-scale gold operations by around 2030.
Investors should weigh all of these observations against the guests' declared positions as directors and shareholders, and verify them against company disclosures.
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Interview with Rupert Verco, Managing Director and CEO, Cobra Resources 
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/cobra-resources-lsecobr-two-new-zones-widen-manna-hill-copper-footprint-in-south-australia-12288
Recording date: 22nd September 2026
Cobra Resources plc (LSE:COBR) has moved its Manna Hill Copper Project in South Australia from visual indications to laboratory-confirmed discoveries. The first assays from its slim-line RC programme confirm copper across three targets, and they add the most direct evidence yet for a porphyry system beneath the known Blue Rose skarn.
The headline result came from Blue Rose West. Drillhole MHRC0029 returned 32m at 0.70% Cu and 0.07 g/T Au from 52m, including 12m at 1.13% Cu from 56m and 4m at 1.33% Cu from 78m. What sets this hole apart is its setting. It sits outside the mineralised skarn, in strongly potassic altered rock, and against a large magnetic anomaly about 600m beyond the 1.6km of defined Blue Rose strike. Managing Director and CEO Rupert Verco described it as a step change in potential scale, and said the anomaly is possibly the porphyry intrusion itself. He pointed to other elevated elements and the team's improved understanding of local sediments as reasons to read the potassium as alteration rather than a naturally potassium-rich host.
The two new skarns add the near-surface side of the story. Shadow Rose, about 200m south of Blue Rose, returned 58m at 0.46% Cu and 0.15 g/T Au from only 12m, including 42m at 0.56% Cu and 10m at 1.09% Cu. Verco said there is potentially a 2km strike zone to test along trend. Neptune Rose, 500m north, returned 10m at 0.39% Cu from 104m. Three more holes across these targets are awaiting assays.
Thirty-two holes and more than 2,800m have been drilled, and the programme has been extended to 64 holes. Verco indicated roughly six to ten holes on the porphyry target, 15 to 20 at Blue Rose and Shadow Rose, and the first drilling at Netley Hill in over 20 years. Petrophysical work on earlier core will guide the choice of geophysics, and a drone magnetic survey is planned.
On depth and processing, Verco said earlier diamond drilling hit sulphides to around 320m to 350m, and the Blue Rose West interval is largely sulphide from around 50m. That shows primary mineralisation beneath the oxides. Metallurgical testwork will follow this drilling. Management expects the sulphides to suit conventional flotation, while oxide processing options are still to be assessed. The stated priority is scale first and metallurgy second.
Cobra reports that the programme is fully funded, helped by recent warrant exercises. Over the next 12 months, however, spending is expected to split roughly 60/40 toward the company's rare earth project, where an ISR pilot or small-scale production study is planned and strategic offtake partnerships are being considered for funding.
For investors, the case now rests on continuity and orientation. The key watch-items are the pending assays, the six holes into the magnetic body, Netley Hill results and any data that firms up true widths. The main risks are the absence of a resource, untested metallurgy and competition for capital from the rare earth asset.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/cobra-resources
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