Company Interviews

Interview with Blake Hylands, CEO of Lithium Ionic Corp.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/lithium-ionic-tsxvlth-non-core-asset-sale-injects-30m-to-fast-track-bandeira-11443
Recording date: 24th September 2026
Lithium Ionic Corp. (TSXV:LTH) is a Canadian lithium developer advancing the Bandeira hard-rock lithium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project sits in an established lithium district, alongside Sigma Lithium's Grota do Cirilo operation and the CBL Cachoeira mine, which has produced lithium since 1991. CEO Blake Hylands outlined how the company plans to move Bandeira from engineering into construction.
The company's financial position has improved materially. Lithium Ionic has closed the sale of its non-core Salinas asset, and Hylands said it now holds almost C$30 million in cash after closing costs. The company's presentation showed roughly C$12 million at the end of March 2026. The sale also delivered a 2% royalty and a further US$7.5 million deferred payment still to be received. This cash funds engineering and pre-construction work while permitting and financing are completed.
Permitting is the key near-term catalyst. Hylands said the federal process is being finalised, which will return the project to the state committee for a vote expected to begin within about two months. The company is targeting permits in hand by the end of 2026. The permit has not yet been granted. The construction licence application was first submitted in November 2023.
Bandeira's economics are built on a low capital requirement. The September 2025 feasibility study estimated initial capital of US$191 million, including contingency, supporting a post-tax NPV of US$1.45 billion and a 61% post-tax IRR. These figures used Fastmarkets forecast pricing, with a near-term assumption of US$1,392 per tonne of SC6. The project is designed to produce an average of 177,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year over an 18.5-year mine life. Hylands said spot prices are currently between US$2,000 and US$2,500 per tonne. At those levels, he estimates the NPV is closer to US$2 billion with an IRR near 100%. The company's January 2026 sensitivity at a US$2,515 per tonne spot price showed a US$1.8 billion NPV and a 102% IRR.
Offtake terms provide downside protection. Binding five-year agreements with Yahua Group and Grand Chen, signed in March 2026, are priced at market with no discount and a floor of US$1,000 per tonne. Hylands estimated all-in sustaining costs at about US$650 per tonne, meaning the company would be profitable on every tonne sold under the agreements. A US$20 million prepayment tied to the offtake will be released at the final investment decision.
On financing, management expects 60% to 65% of the roughly US$191 million to US$200 million requirement to come from debt. Institutional shareholders have signalled interest in the equity portion, which Hylands expects to be modest and ideally raised at a higher share price after key catalysts.
The timeline targets permits and substantial financing progress by the end of 2026, with long-lead items ordered and construction beginning thereafter. Production is targeted for the end of 2027 or early 2028. Key risks include permitting delays, the terms and timing of debt financing, construction cost inflation and spodumene price volatility.
View Lithium Ionic's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/lithium-ionic-corp
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Interview with Troy Boisjoli, CEO of ATHA Energy Corp.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atha-energy-tsxvsask-rib-north-breakthrough-confirms-continuity-q4-catalysts-underway-11857
Recording date: 7th October 2026
ATHA Energy Corp. (TSXV:SASK) is a Canadian uranium explorer whose flagship is the 100%-owned Angilak Uranium Project in Nunavut's Angikuni Basin. The company also holds a large exploration portfolio in the Athabasca Basin and Labrador's Central Mineral Belt, along with 10% carried interests in parts of the NexGen Energy and IsoEnergy exploration land.
The 2026 programme at Angilak focused on the Mineralized RIB Corridor (MRC), discovered in 2025. Its goal was to convert a widely spaced discovery into defined continuity. Drilling on 150 to 300 m fences extended continuous mineralisation on the Eastern Limb from 1.45 km to 3.4 km, connecting the RIB North and RIB East discoveries. Twenty-one of 23 holes intersected uranium. The final seven holes, RIBN-DD-017 to RIBN-DD-023, were all mineralised.
Drilling also identified a thicker, higher-grade sub-zone near discovery hole RIBN-DD-001. It measures roughly 300 m along strike and 300 m down-dip, with five holes returning 17.5 m to 37.5 m of total composite mineralisation. RIBN-DD-023 returned 19.5 m over 14 zones, including 2.0 m of high-grade mineralisation. RIBN-DD-019, about 850 m northeast, recorded a peak reading of 78,785 CPS. RIBN-DD-022A, about 1.2 km northeast, intersected 5.5 m at the current limit of drilling.
CEO Troy Boisjoli says the company has moved from assumption to modelling. Mineralisation is controlled by a large graphitic fault zone with stacked veins in the hanging wall and footwall, similar in style to basement-hosted deposits such as Eagle Point and Arrow. He says every conductive target drilled has been mineralised, and that the 3.4 km is limited only by drilling, not geology.
ATHA is developing an orogenic uranium-rich deposit model for Angilak, which it describes as the first of its kind globally. Management says mineralisation extends over about 17 km around the RIB structural trend and anticipates the trend runs along the entire edge of the Angikuni Basin. These are interpretations rather than defined resources. The Lac 50 Deposit Corridor separately carries a conceptual exploration target of 60.8 million to 98.2 million lbs U3O8 at 0.37% to 0.48%, which is not a mineral resource.
All 2026 MRC figures are preliminary probe results. Assays are pending at SRC, and true thickness is not yet determined. ATHA lowered its reporting threshold to 300 CPS after earlier assays showed readings above that level typically exceed 0.01% U3O8. In 2025, probe peaks of about 50,000 CPS at RIB North returned grades of around 8% locally.
ATHA raised $63 million in Q1 2026, which management says funds the company through the 2027 programme. As of October 2026, it had 353.1 million basic shares at C$1.01 and an enterprise value of C$349.5 million. Boisjoli says the company is not entertaining a strategic partner and will advance Angilak itself, combining delineation at RIB with continued discovery work.
View ATHA Energy's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atha-energy
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Interview with Chris Stevens, CEO of Coda Minerals
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/coda-minerals-asxcod-fully-funded-pfs-continuous-drilling-set-up-big-2026-8680
Recording date: 6th October 2026
Coda Minerals (ASX:COD) is developing the Elizabeth Creek copper-silver project in South Australia, about seven hours north of Adelaide and 40km west of BHP's Carrapateena mine. The project hosts a JORC resource of 65.5Mt at 1.6% CuEq, containing more than 700,000t of copper and 28 million ounces of silver across the Windabout and MG14 open pits and the Emmie Bluff underground deposit at about 400m depth.
The company is just over halfway through a pre-feasibility study, targeting delivery in Q1 2027 on an 18-month schedule. The March 2026 scoping study update set a base case pre-tax NPV7 of A$2.25 billion and a pre-tax IRR of 56%, with a post-tax NPV7 of A$1.52 billion and IRR of 43%. Those figures assume US$10,500/t copper, US$60/oz silver and A$615 million in capital expenditure over a 15.5-year mine life. At a market capitalisation of about A$51 million, Coda trades at roughly 3% of post-tax NPV.
CEO Chris Stevens says that discount is typical of the study phase. He expects it to narrow as three things arrive: a final flowsheet decision, a complete mine plan across all three deposits, and a defensible PFS valuation.
Metallurgy has made the most progress. The whole-ore chloride leach base case is now returning about 94% to 95% copper and 96% silver recovery, compared with low 80% recoveries via flotation. Around 130 tests have been run since the August 2025 scoping work, using a much wider spread of samples. Difficult Windabout material that floats at mid-70% recovery leached at about 90%. Coda has also recovered about 40% of the cobalt in the leach, a stream excluded from all previous economics.
Next steps are METSIM process modelling, which takes about a month, then locked cycle testing to confirm reagent recycling in an integrated circuit. The final trade-off between leach and flotation follows. Flotation remains a viable alternative.
Mine planning starts with re-optimising the open pits at current prices, as they were last optimised at US$7,800/t copper. Their output will determine the underground mining rate at Emmie Bluff. Almost all of the previous mine plan sat in the Indicated category, supporting a maiden reserve without further drilling. The open pits also cushion the risk of a slow underground ramp-up.
On funding, Stevens maintains a tracker of 143 potential partners. He points to KGL Resources' precious metals stream with Wheaton Precious Metals as a model and believes a 50% silver stream could fund a material part of capex. Approvals are advancing, with South Australia's Scoping Report gazetted and hydrogeological drilling under way.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/coda-minerals-ltd
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Interview with Sorin Posescu, President & CEO of Valhalla Metals
Recording date: 6th October 2026
Valhalla Metals Inc. (TSXV:VMXX, OTCQB:VMXXF) is a copper-focused explorer with two polymetallic VMS projects in Alaska's Ambler Mining District. The district hosts Arctic, the Ambler Metals deposit owned 50/50 by Trilogy Metals and South32, which carries probable reserves of 46.7 million tonnes at 3.7% CuEq. Valhalla's chairman, Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, founded Trilogy. Several team members worked on Arctic before joining Valhalla.
The flagship Sun Project hosts an NI 43-101 resource with an effective date of October 1, 2021. Indicated resources total 1.71 million tonnes at 1.48% copper, 4.32% zinc, 1.11% lead, 60 g/T silver and 0.21 g/T gold. Inferred resources total 9.02 million tonnes at 1.21% copper, 4.18% zinc, 1.46% lead, 81.7 g/T silver and 0.25 g/T gold. Both categories grade 4.2% CuEq at the company's price assumptions. Copper and zinc contribute similar shares of value.
The resource has only been drilled to about 200 metres. Historical helicopter-supported rigs could not go deeper. A 2019 VTEM survey models a possible down-dip extension of more than 900 metres vertical extent. Two further conductors, Targets B and C, remain untested. Valhalla's 2023 programme returned 21.4 metres at 6.84% CuEq in hole Sun23-004, within a broader 52.4 metres at 3.30% CuEq. Management's stated goal is to double the Sun resource.
In June 2026, Valhalla completed the acquisition of the Smucker Project from Teck for 44.8 million shares, or 35% of the company at closing. Teck received an up to 2.0% NSR royalty under certain conditions. It also received a priority purchase right and right of last offer on concentrate from Smucker, Sun and other properties, plus board and top-up rights. Smucker holds a 1981 Anaconda historical estimate of 11.8 million short tons at 6.6% CuEq. This is not current, and the historical core has yet to be located. Valhalla aims to deliver an NI 43-101 resource by the end of 2027.
A concurrent C$15 million equity financing, upsized from a C$5 million target, included C$1.75 million from Teck and C$1.7 million from Marubeni. No warrants were issued. The company has 151.1 million shares outstanding. Management and the board hold about 36%, Teck 31% and Marubeni 13%, leaving a free float of roughly 20%. The market capitalisation was C$106 million at C$0.70 on August 7, 2026.
The 2026 drill programme at Sun has finished, and assays are expected before year end. A driller shortage led Valhalla to buy its rigs and hire crews directly, which management believes will lower costs.
The main external dependency is the Ambler Road. The federal approval was rescinded under the Biden administration and reinstated by the Trump administration in October 2025. AIDEA, the state-owned proponent, is conducting engineering studies, and funding discussions with the federal government are under way. Construction timing is outside Valhalla's control.
View Valhalla Metals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/valhalla-metals
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Interview with Marc Blythe, Founder, President & CEO of Au Gold Corp.
Recording date: 6th October 2026
Au Gold Corp (TSXV:AUGC) is a Vancouver-based junior explorer focused on the Havelock Gold-Antimony Project near Maryborough in Victoria, Australia. The company acquired the 11,663-hectare project in early 2026 after Founder and CEO Marc Blythe, a mining engineer and due diligence consultant, identified it while searching digitised historical records for overlooked Victorian prospects.
The investment case is built on geology that has already created significant value elsewhere in the state. Fosterville, Costerfield and Sunday Creek are epizonal gold-antimony systems characterised by very high grades and mineralisation extending more than a kilometre below surface. Havelock's Shaw-McFarlane Trend hosts a line of historic mines worked in the 1880s and 1890s, none of which reached much beyond 150 metres depth. Blythe argues these mines stopped because of pumping limitations and metallurgical problems, not because the veins ended.
Au Gold commissioned a research geologist to reconstruct the mines from public company reports and newspapers of the period. The resulting long sections show where miners recorded the widest veins and the most visible gold. There are no historic assays, so grade is unknown. Blythe estimates that miners of the era needed around half an ounce per ton to make a profit, which suggests that veins they chose to follow were likely high grade.
Four priority targets have emerged: McFarlane's, the original gold-antimony target; Shaw's No. 1; Shaw's Main, the deepest workings on the trend; and Rob Roy, which reported 293 ounces at an average of 52 g/t gold. Grab samples from the Shaw's Main waste dump returned up to 54.20 g/t gold. The planned programme has grown from 2,000 to 5,000 metres of diamond drilling as the target list expanded.
Funding comes from a non-brokered placement announced at $2 million on September 29, 2026. Blythe said demand allowed the company to increase it to $3.5 million, which remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Drilling is expected to start around the end of October 2026. Day-shift-only operations will slow progress, and first results may arrive early in 2027.
Narrow veins are the central economic question. Blythe expects widths of a metre or less but argues that high grades can carry mining dilution. His hypothetical example of a one-metre, 15 g/t vein diluted to three metres would still grade about 5 g/t, above the 2-3 g/t he cited as typical for Australian underground vein operations.
The risks are considerable. The company has no resource, no modern drill data and relies on century-old visual descriptions. Dump samples are selective. Groundwater, landowner access and commodity price sensitivity could all affect outcomes. Further dilution is likely if drilling succeeds and follow-up is required.
Against that, the company trades at a market capitalisation of around C$14 million, insiders own about 18% of shares, and Blythe himself holds more than 7 million shares. For investors comfortable with early-stage exploration risk, Havelock offers a low-cost, multi-target test of whether Victoria's next epizonal system is hiding beneath its oldest workings.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/au-gold-corp
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