Company Interviews

Interview with Stephen G. Roman, President & CEO of Global Atomic Corp.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/global-atomic-tsxglo-africas-highest-grade-uranium-mine-could-match-all-us-production-7873
Recording date: 4th November 2026
Global Atomic is building the Dasa uranium mine in Niger, which is described as the highest-grade uranium mine in Africa. The company owns 80% through SOMIDA, and the Niger Government holds 20%. The largest change in the story is financing. On September 16, 2026, the DFC board approved a debt facility of up to US$414.2M, made up of a term loan of up to US$397.4M and a US$16.8M cost overrun facility. Roman said the process took 4 years. The approval does not close the loan, and drawdown remains subject to conditions.
Roman names 3 conditions. The first and probably most important is an export port, and he said US embassies in Benin, Nigeria and Algeria are working on a route. The second matches the mining permit term to the DFC loan, which was extended from 7 to 10 years, while Niger’s permits typically renew every 5 years. Roman said Niger has agreed to a 10-year rollover. The third is a government-to-government agreement between the US and Niger.
Costs have reset. Direct project costs are US$653.0M and total project costs are US$777.6M. Roman attributes the increase mainly to time, saying each year of border closures and logistics issues cost US$100M, or US$300M over 3 years, and puts the capital estimate about 70% above the original. The company is reviewing the numbers for its third-quarter report.
On site, about 830 people are working. Underground development is down 4 levels, with 1 more in the first phase, and water inflows and rock quality are better than planned. A pilot plant is being shipped to site for operator training. Roman is targeting plant completion by the end of 2027 and shipments in the second half of 2028. The presentation estimates about 20 months of plant construction once financing is available, and first drawdowns are targeted for the second quarter of 2027, so those dates need to be read together.
Dasa’s 2024 Feasibility Study shows 68.1 Mlb U3O8 over 23 years at 4,113 ppm, with a target of about 4 Mlb a year at 1,000 tpd. After-tax NPV8% is US$917M at US$75/lb and US$1,621M at US$105/lb, on a 100% basis and before the cost update. Contracts are now around US$100/lb, according to management. Market capitalization was C$199M at C$0.33 on October 31, 2026. Roman reports at least half a dozen utilities calling for supply since the DFC news.
View Global Atomic's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/global-atomic-corp
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Interview with Darcy Vis, VP Exploration of GoldInxs Mining Corp.
Recording date: 2nd November 2026
GoldInxs Mining Corp. has started the first modern, systematic drill test at its flagship Fishpot Project in central British Columbia. The maiden program is planned at approximately 2,000 m of diamond drilling over 8 to 10 holes on the over 5,500-hectare property with only 378 m of historic drilling in 2 holes and no drilling since 1995. Vice President Exploration Darcy Vis explained how the program is designed to show whether a large alteration footprint holds a valuable mineralized system.
Vis generated the targets himself, starting from geology and trace geochemistry and then adding geophysics. Magnetic data showed where features lay but not their depth, so the company used a 53.4-line-km 3D IP survey to set azimuths and dips. A satellite-based Virtual DRILL system by Ripplinger, added further depth estimates. Vis said he has never had success drilling blind geophysical targets, and that chargeability anomalies alone could reflect pyrite or graphitic sediments. The company therefore requires a target to connect to other evidence.
Drilling opened at the Lightening Zone, where resistivity above 800 ohm-m and chargeability above 20 mV lie beneath a 2 km by 500 m surface zone of intense silica alteration, with overlapping Au, Ag, Cu, Bi, Sb and Zn anomalies. The other priority zones are Thriller, Believin’, Luftballon, Southside and BullsEye. Surface rock samples returned up to 5.65 g/t Au, 11.35 g/t Ag and 0.42% Cu, which the company states are not indicative of expected drill grades.
The geological model is Artemis Gold’s Blackwater Mine, approximately 65 km away, which holds proven and probable reserves of 334.3 Mt at 0.78 g/t AuEq, containing approximately 8.0 Moz Au and 62.2 Moz Ag. Vis cited similar sericite and kaolinite alteration, fine-grained disseminated sulfides and similar volcanic rocks. GoldInxs is targeting lower-grade, bulk-tonnage mineralization. The company states that no mineral deposit has been identified at Fishpot and that the similarities do not imply comparable mineralization.
Labs are quoting approximately 7 to 8 weeks, and GoldInxs is targeting first results early in the new year. Vis said wide zones of silica, veining or breccia would be encouraging even with gold around 0.1 g/t or below 0.5 g/t, since a single core is a small sample within a 2 km target. Propylitic or phyllic alteration would support the porphyry concept. Mineralization keeps the drill on a target for multiple holes, and a poor result moves it to the next zone.
GoldInxs closed C$1.25 million across 2 tranches. Vis said the funds cover this program and all assays, after which the company must raise again. As of October 2026, the company had 45,999,802 shares outstanding and 69,083,381 fully diluted. The property is under option from Golden Tiger Minerals, controlled by director Barry Miller, with up to 100% available subject to a 2% NSR. A 5-year area-based permit covers 12 holes, and an amendment is planned. First assay results and the terms of the next financing are the next markers for the investment case.
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Interview with Nolan Peterson, CEO of Atlas Salt
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atlas-salt-tsxvsalt-c300m-in-lender-interest-secured-as-road-salt-prices-nearly-double-12094
Recording date: 2nd November 2026
Atlas Salt is developing the Great Atlantic Salt Project in Newfoundland, designed for 4 million tonnes (Mt) per year over a 24.3-year mine life. Chief Executive Officer Nolan Peterson gave a public run-through of Meridian, the company’s internally built model of the North American salt market, and laid out why he thinks reserve capacity claimed by producers is not there.
Peterson’s evidence is bidding behavior. Last year some cities drew bids from two or three mines, and this year many of those mines are not bidding on the same contracts. He said inventory built during mild winters has been exhausted, and diesel costs are adding pressure at domestic mines and for importers. The flooding of Morton Salt’s Fairport Harbor mine in Ohio removed a mine that was not among the 4 Atlas Salt had been watching for shutdown risk. Atlas Salt’s company presentation cites a low bid of US$160 per ton against US$88 a year earlier at one purchasing council, and 18 Ohio counties with no offers in a first round.
Meridian was built by Andrew Smith, Director of Project Strategy & Execution, to test the 4 Mt rate set in the 2025 Updated Feasibility Study. It combines demand at every selling node with road, rail and barge networks, estimated mine costs and seaborne imports, then uses Monte Carlo statistics to show who can win each market. The run shown displaces primarily foreign imports. An uncapped run places up to 7 million tons at a profit, although the last ton earns less than the first. The model uses last year’s pricing and excludes this year’s fuel price increases.
Peterson said Great Atlantic would be the lowest-cost producer in North America, with transportation providing the advantage over imports from Chile, Egypt and North Africa. The presentation shows 3 days to ship to Boston, against more than 14 days from Egypt or Chile. The study shows operating cost of C$28.2 per tonne shipped, an after-tax NPV8% of C$920M, a 21.3% after-tax IRR and a 4.2-year payback. Enterprise value was C$144.1M on October 23, 2026. Peterson’s position is that the case holds even if the market normalizes, because the numbers already use last year’s pricing.
Demand looks steady in his account. Most salt sells under contract in spring and summer, cities fill their yards each year, and no substitute has reached mass scale in 60 years. Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride cost 5 to 10 times as much as road salt.
The open items are financing and offtake. The presentation sets C$589M of pre-production capital against more than C$300M of letters of interest, and lists the financing package and remaining permits as milestones still to be completed, with production estimated by 2030. Project Blue’s market work for lenders produced a price model above the feasibility study price. Atlas Salt holds a memorandum of understanding with Scotwood Industries targeting 1.25 to 1.5 Mt per year and is in discussions with other partners.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atlas-salt
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Interview with Bo Sears, CEO of Helix Exploration
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/helix-exploration-lsehex-self-funding-model-for-helium-exploration-7306
Recording date: 28th October 2026
Helix Exploration (LSE:HEX) has moved further along the helium value chain than most listed peers. The company produces gaseous helium at its Rudyard project in northern Montana and, since July 2026, owns the Keyes helium liquefaction complex in Oklahoma. CEO Bo Sears, who has 26 years in the helium industry, says Keyes makes Helix hold one of only six helium liquefiers in the United States.
Rudyard is the upstream engine. Its gaseous plant can handle up to 6 million cubic feet of raw gas per day at maximum capacity, which Sears expects could fill roughly one 160,000-cubic-foot tube trailer every other day. Processing relies on membranes and pressure swing adsorption, a low-pressure route with nominal power and compression costs. Membranes need no power, so capacity can be added in modular steps as more gas becomes available. Sears says the plant was bought at a steep discount, which keeps the capital base low.
Helix owns its own used drilling rig and crew, which Sears says pays for itself after three wells by removing mobilisation costs and day rates of up to $20,000. It is the only rig in northern Montana, according to Sears. The company is drilling its fifth well, with Ollie #1 awaiting perforation and a flow test and the rig now at Ross #1. Permits are granted per well by the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, and the most recent took a couple of days. Helix now files in batches to keep the rig moving.
All Rudyard gas is contracted until the end of the first quarter of 2027. Pricing and the buyer are confidential, but Sears describes the terms as very good given today's shortage. He expects firm pricing at least until the current conflict ends and does not assume spot-level prices will last indefinitely.
Keyes is the downstream differentiator. Sears says the plant came with take-or-pay contracts and tolling arrangements, is already making money and is running at maximum capacity. He puts its input at 465,000 cubic feet, equivalent to 13 liquid ISO containers a month. It also owns several hundred miles of gathering pipeline, giving Helix midstream tolling revenue. Unlike larger plants fed by the declining Hugoton field, Keyes was designed for explorer gas, so it can toll for third parties. Sears does not plan to expand it, noting a new liquefier would cost $50 million to $100 million.
The macro backdrop has strengthened. The US Department of Energy designated helium a critical material on October 2026, and Sears says this opens funding and tax credit opportunities.
View Helix Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/helix-exploration
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Interview with Craig Hallworth, President & CEO of Gunnison Copper
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/gunnison-copper-tsxgcu-commercial-production-hit-5-partner-stake-targeted-12092
Recording date: 28th October 2026
Gunnison Copper Corp. (TSX:GCU, NYSE American:GUNN) is a pure-play copper company with a producing mine in Arizona and a large development project next door. On 26 October 2026 it began trading on NYSE American under the ticker GUNN. CEO Craig Hallworth said the move followed a review of companies whose trading volume and market value generally rose after similar listings. He reported that more than 27 million shares traded on the first day, over 10 times the 30-day average, and that the shares traded more than 25% above the opening price. The company also plans to award restricted share units to 115 employees to mark the listing.
Johnson Camp, the producing asset, declared commercial production in Q3 2026. Hallworth expects full production of more than 2 million lbs of cathode a month by the end of Q4 2026, up from about 1.3 million lbs a month in September. He declined to give recovery numbers before the Q3 financial statements, but said recovery curves are running faster than expected in some cases. The Nuton sulfide leach circuit, developed by Rio Tinto's Nuton venture, now supplies at least 60% of output.
That share reflects a mine plan built to demonstrate Nuton's technology during Stage 2, which runs to mid-2030. Hallworth acknowledged this raises mining costs because the plan prioritises sulfide ore production ahead of profit. Rio Tinto funded construction and ramp-up in full, and Johnson Camp's profits repay that funding until mid-2030, when any remaining balance falls away. Nuton then holds a one-time right to become a 49% joint venture partner. After Stage 2, Hallworth expects the sulfide share of production to fall to around 17%.
Acid is the biggest operating cost pressure. Hallworth said Arizona spot prices are around $400 a ton or more, against $150 to $160 assumed in many studies. The Gunnison Project PEA includes a $300 million acid plant that would use domestic molten sulfur, with one ton producing three tons of acid. Once built, it should also supply Johnson Camp.
The Gunnison Project PEA outlines about 174 million lbs of cathode a year over 21 years, with an after-tax NPV8% of $1.96 billion and IRR of 22.5% at $4.60/lb copper. Initial capital is estimated at $1.56 billion. The study is preliminary and includes Inferred resources.
Hallworth estimates around $20 million is available for the project, enough to fund six rigs drilling for metallurgy, expansion and infill. He has turned away investors offering $25-50 million, saying he will not raise at the current valuation. The company's presentation puts its P/NAV at 0.22x.
Gunnison will need a partner to build the project. Hallworth sees a mid-tier producer as most likely, and named metallurgical results and permit amendments as the two catalysts. The company targets approval of its amended reclamation plan in December 2026, with remaining major permits through 2028. A relocation of part of Interstate 10, run by ADOT, and a $1 million geophysics programme targeting a possible porphyry add further milestones. Investors should watch the Q3 and Q4 financial statements, the reclamation plan decision and metallurgical results through mid-2027.
View Gunnison Copper's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/gunnison-copper
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