Company Interviews

Interview with Ken Armstrong, CEO of Westhaven Gold, & Jonathan Goodman, CEO of Dundee Corporation
Recording date: 24th September 2026
Westhaven Gold Corp. is advancing the Shovelnose gold-silver project in southern British Columbia. It has moved from an exploration-led junior into a funded development company. The turning point was the February 2026 closing of a project-level earn-in agreement with Dundee Corporation (TSX:DC.A). Under the agreement, Dundee can earn up to 60% of Westhaven's four Spences Bridge Gold Belt properties by spending up to C$85 million, with a firm minimum commitment of C$30 million.
The core asset is the South Zone deposit at Shovelnose. A March 2025 PEA outlined an 11.1-year underground mine producing an average of 56,000 ounces of gold per year. The study reported an after-tax NPV (6%) of C$454 million, an after-tax IRR of 43.2% and pre-production capital of C$184 million, at a base case gold price of US$2,400 per ounce. All-in sustaining costs were estimated at US$836 per gold-equivalent ounce.
Work in 2026 has focused on converting that study into a PFS. A 35,000m resource infill programme, drilled at nominal 25m centres, was nearly complete, with 109 holes drilled and six remaining. Results continue to show wide, high-grade intervals, including 37.89m grading 5.29 g/T gold and 14.00m grading 13.09 g/T gold. CEO Ken Armstrong expects an updated resource very early in 2027, with the aim of placing most ounces in the measured category. The PFS is targeted for the second half of 2027, supported by a C$4 million geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling programme. Metallurgical testing has supported recoveries above 90% with conventional cyanide leaching.
The deal's main attraction for shareholders is its effect on the capital structure. Before the agreement, Westhaven's market capitalisation was about C$40 million. Armstrong said a conventional raise might have brought in C$10 million while issuing half the share count or more. Instead, project spending is now covered by Dundee. Westhaven's own cash needs are mainly general and administrative costs, and management expects the next major financing to be its 40% share of pre-production capital. Westhaven retains that 40% with no right of first refusal.
Exploration provides a second source of potential value. The Spences Bridge Gold Belt runs roughly 75-80km, and Westhaven controls about 60,263 hectares across four properties. Dundee CEO Jonathan Goodman said the exploration team has about 150 targets, of which roughly 93 are drill-ready. He argued that the funding allows many targets to be tested rather than a handful each year. Four drills are now moving onto a 15,000m exploration programme.
Location supports the development case. Shovelnose lies about two and a half hours from Vancouver, with a highway crossing the property and grid power on site. Management sees a best-case realistic FID towards the end of 2029.
Key risks include the reduction to a 40% project interest, a possible transfer of operatorship to Dundee at 50%, the eventual funding of Westhaven's share of construction capital, and permitting and study outcomes. Cash was C$3.88 million at 30 June 2026, with around C$6.2 million of potential warrant proceeds over the next ten months.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/westhaven-gold
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Interview with Shawn Howarth, President & CEO of Excellon Resources
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/excellon-resources-exn-focus-is-silver-with-gold-optionality-795
Recording date: 25th September 2026
Excellon Resources Inc. (TSXV:EXN) has rebuilt itself around a single near-term producing asset. After exiting its Mexican silver operations in 2022-2023, the company acquired the Mallay silver-lead-zinc mine in central Peru from Buenaventura, closing the deal in 2025. Mallay was built in 2012 and run as a narrow-vein, high-grade underground mine until 2018, when it became non-core to its previous owner.
The attraction was infrastructure and permits. Mallay came with state grid power, a 600 tpd ball mill that needed upgrades rather than replacement, and a full permit package. Excellon has raised about $30 million across three financings, which funded reopening the underground, the mill restart and drilling. The concentrator restarted in July 2026 on a pre-commissioning basis. Stockpiled ore was processed in batches at 400 and 600 tpd, and the first concentrate has been sold to Glencore under a commercial offtake agreement.
The February 2026 NI 43-101 resource contains 12.0 Moz silver equivalent (AgEq) Indicated at 420 g/t AgEq and 4.0 Moz AgEq Inferred at 344 g/t AgEq. CEO Shawn Howarth argues this understates the system, because Buenaventura drilled only two to three years ahead of mining. The resource extends only about 300 metres below the lowest workings. Excellon's first batch of 2026 underground drilling, released in September, returned 3.4 metres at 495 g/t AgEq and supports grade continuity at depth.
The ramp-up hinges on deeper access. Current mill feed comes mostly from narrow remnant stopes. The 400 Ramp has been dewatered, and its rehabilitation, expected later this year, will open about 60 metres of vertical access below the 4090 Level. There Excellon is targeting 3 to 5 metre ore shoot widths, which would support mechanised mining by a contractor sized to the new plan. Howarth expects consistent throughput of 400 to 600 tpd by early-to-mid 2027, equivalent to around 2 Moz AgEq a year at full rate. An updated resource estimate and mine schedule are targeted for year-end or the first quarter of 2027.
Silver accounts for about 40% of revenue at current prices, with lead and zinc making up the balance. Howarth expects the mine to be economic at a 200 g/ silver head grade at current silver and zinc prices. The company carries no debt, held about US$10 million in cash at the end of July and has an undrawn US$5 million facility with Glencore.
Upside sits beyond the restart. Deep DHEM drilling is testing for the intrusive source of Mallay's veins, which Howarth links to much larger operations on the same formation at Uchucchacua and Iscaycruz. He stresses that this remains a long-term thesis. The Tres Cerros gold-silver project has seven targets, with first drilling anticipated in H1 2027 subject to permits. The Silver City project in Germany is being spun out, with completion expected by year-end, and a partnership is being considered for Kilgore in Idaho.
The key risks are execution, historic data in the resource, a modest balance sheet and metal prices. The next two quarters should show whether Mallay can deliver steady throughput from deeper stopes.
View Excellon Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/excellon-resources-inc
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Interview with Chad Peters, President and CEO, Ridgeline Minerals 
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/ridgeline-minerals-tsxvrdg-ngm-sale-funds-next-wave-of-nevada-exploration-11410
Recording date: 25th September 2026
Ridgeline Minerals (TSXV:RDG | OTC:RDGMF) is a Nevada-focused precious and base metals explorer. It has spent the past five years running a hybrid prospect generator model. Under that approach, major partners fund high-risk exploration while Ridgeline keeps interests carried through to production. In August 2026, the model produced its largest result so far. Ridgeline closed an all-cash sale of four early-stage gold projects (Swift, Black Ridge, Bell Creek and Atlas) to Nevada Gold Mines for US$23.15 million, or about C$32.7 million.
The sale came from a strategic judgement rather than a discovery. NGM had funded earn-ins at Swift and Black Ridge, and Peters said around US$16 million was spent over roughly four years. Drilling confirmed a large gold system at Swift, but NGM's attention was increasingly focused on Barrick's Fourmile deposit. Peters concluded that Swift could be shelved, so he negotiated a cash exit. The proceeds were non-dilutive and were paid for assets with no defined resource.
Ridgeline now trades close to its cash. Peters put cash at roughly C$30 million and market capitalisation at about C$33 million at the time of the interview. On that basis, investors are assigning little value to the Selena project, a carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) discovery made in 2025 and partnered with South32. The company also covers its overheads. Management fees and interest income total about US$200,000 a month, compared with G&A of roughly US$115,000.
Management's priority is capital allocation. Peters has ruled out simply scaling up the prospect generator model, which he considers slow and costly. He is instead looking for an acquisition or merger with exposure to copper, gold or silver. The preference is for the western US, with Canada and Mexico also considered. The target must have grade, scale and room for Ridgeline's technical team to add value through drilling. Small, incremental resources are excluded. Deal flow has been strong since the sale, helped by Peters' network after eight years as CEO.
Selena is the nearer-term catalyst. A three-to-four-hole programme is testing continuity with 100-metre step-outs, including a directional hole from discovery hole 53 aimed at higher copper and silver grades to the south. South32 plans to release all results together. Peters hopes to show continuity across a large footprint and has cited around 250 metres of strike and 50 metres of thickness as the kind of geometry he aims to demonstrate. Under the earn-in, South32 has spent US$8.5 million of its US$10 million first phase for 60%. It can then elect to spend a further US$10 million for 80%, leaving Ridgeline with a 20% free carry. Peters compares this with South32's Taylor deposit, whose build cost he put at around US$3 billion.
The 100%-owned Big Blue project adds further upside after a 2025 maiden intercept of 0.6 metres grading more than 3,200 g/t silver.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/ridgeline-minerals
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Interview with Janet Lee Sheriff, Director & CEO of Verdera Energy
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/verdera-energy-tsxvv-high-grade-resource-in-new-mexico-positioned-for-us-uranium-growth-10515
Recording date: 25th September 2026
Verdera Energy Corp. (TSXV:V, OTCQB:VUECF) is a New Mexico-focused uranium developer built around in-situ recovery (ISR), the extraction method behind roughly 60% of global uranium output. The company holds private mineral rights over approximately 400 square miles of the Grants Uranium District, historically one of the world's most productive uranium regions and once a leading source of U.S. supply.
The portfolio spans four core projects. Crownpoint and Hosta Butte hold a current NI 43-101 estimate of 23.42 million pounds Indicated and 5.36 million pounds Inferred. Nose Rock, West Largo and Ambrosia Lake carry historic estimates that have yet to be verified as current resources. Following the sale of Treeline, the combined portfolio stands at roughly 86.6 million pounds of current and historic uranium.
Verdera's most distinctive asset is its data. The company acquired the Uranium Resources Inc. database with its enCore Energy spin-out and separately bought the Kerr-McGee archive. Together these cover about 90% of New Mexico's historic uranium records, including around 250,000 drill hole logs and, according to CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff, historic wellfield plans and designs. Staff in Durango, Colorado, are scanning and consolidating the records.
That archive is now being put to work in two ways. At West Largo, where the historic estimate totals 17.2 million pounds with the bulk grading 0.30% eU₃O₈, the team has recovered the original drill logs and is incorporating them into an NI 43-101 technical report. Management believes this may remove the need for validation drilling. Separately, the archive underpinned the sale of the non-core Treeline project to Americas Uranium, which closed on 24 September 2026. Verdera received US$100,000 in cash and C$200,000 in shares, with C$1.8 million more in shares due over 36 months and a retained 1.5% royalty. Management expects further transactions of this kind.
The company is well funded for its current stage. Lee-Sheriff cited about C$23 million in the bank, while the presentation shows C$24 million in cash and marketable securities at 31 August 2026. The company's own peer comparison puts Verdera at C$0.36 of enterprise value per pound, well below enCore at C$8.02 and Laramide at C$1.54. Part of that discount reflects the historic status of most of Verdera's resource base.
Social licence is the central non-technical challenge. New Mexico's legacy of conventional mining left strong community concerns, and past projects stalled at state level. Lee-Sheriff, who also leads the Clean Energy Association of New Mexico, is pursuing a two-track strategy of state and federal engagement alongside hands-on community work with tribes and residents. The Cibola County commissioners' three-to-two vote in favour of supporting ISR extraction, taken the day before the interview, is an early sign of shifting sentiment.
Key watch-items include the West Largo NI 43-101 report, further monetisation of non-core assets, county and state permitting signals, and the quarterly release of restricted enCore-related shares through February 2027. Verdera's stated long-term goal is production, delivered with partners experienced in ISR operations.
View Verdera Energy's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/verdera-energy
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Interview with Max Porterfield, CEO, Visionary Copper & Gold Mines
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/visionary-copper-gold-tsxvvcg-20000m-drill-program-targets-resource-growth-in-newfoundland-10814
Recording date: 25th September 2026
Visionary Copper & Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV:VCG, OTCQB:VCGMF) is advancing Pt. Leamington, a 100%-owned gold-copper-zinc-silver VMS deposit in central Newfoundland. The deposit was discovered by Noranda in the 1970s but saw no exploration between 2004 and Visionary's Phase 1 programme in 2026. Its 2021 NI 43-101 resource contains 5.0 Mt of Indicated resources at 1.42% CuEq and 15.4 Mt of Inferred resources at 1.32% CuEq. The pit-constrained portion hosts roughly 500,000 ounces of gold, 170 Mlb of copper and about 680 Mlb of zinc.
Phase 1 comprised 10 holes totalling 3,556 metres. It extended the massive sulphide system to more than 1 km of strike and discovered Kraken, a copper stringer zone in the deposit footwall. Discovery hole PL-112 returned 75.8 metres at 0.45% copper, including 12.0 metres at 1.09% copper. Follow-up holes PL-115 and PL-118 also returned wide copper intervals. None of this mineralisation is included in the current resource. CEO Max Porterfield argues that the existing 20 Mt resource represents only the massive sulphide lens, and that the feeder system beneath it has never been systematically tested.
The company's next step is a 20,000-metre Phase 2 diamond drilling programme. About 90% of the budget will be spent at Pt. Leamington, with each hole passing through the lens and into Kraken. The programme targets conversion of about half of the 13.7 Mt of pit-constrained Inferred resources to Indicated, extension of the lens, and definition of Kraken for the next resource estimate. Porterfield also expects Kraken to improve the future pit's strip ratio, since material previously classed as waste could become mineralised feed.
Two further initiatives add optionality. First, a hyperspectral review of 48 historical holes identified eight with wide stringer intervals that were never fully sampled, and Visionary plans to resample up to 2,000 metres of core. Second, the company has consolidated about 3,575 hectares covering the down-plunge extension of the deposit and a 3 km segment of trend to the south. That ground contains five untested airborne EM conductors on the host horizon, two with historical massive sulphide boulders nearby. Part of the acquisition remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
The team includes Vice President of Exploration Jason Flight, who worked at FireFly Metals' nearby Ming deposit during its growth, and Peter Jones, former founding CEO of Hudbay Minerals. Newfoundland offers supportive permitting, a local drilling workforce and a deep-water port at Botwood.
The key risks are financing and grade. Phase 2 funding is still being completed, which implies dilution. Kraken's copper grades are moderate, and its value will depend on bulk-tonnage pit economics. The 2021 CuEq figures rely on dated price assumptions, and historical boulder and core observations have not been verified by the company's qualified person. Investors should watch for completion of the Phase 2 financing, assays from resampled historical core, and early Phase 2 holes into Kraken. Together these will indicate whether Pt. Leamington's next resource estimate can show meaningful growth.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/visionary-copper-gold-mines
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