Company Interviews

Interview with Sapan Ghai, CCO of Sovereign Metals Ltd.
Recording date: 8th October 2026
Sovereign Metals Limited is developing the Kasiya project in Malawi, which the company describes as the world’s largest rutile deposit. Kasiya also contains a large graphite co-product and a heavy rare earth concentrate identified during recent test work. Chief Commercial Officer Sapan Ghai outlined how the project’s commercial and funding strategy has changed over the past year.
The most significant change is the role of the US government. Ghai said the US State Department and other agencies approached Sovereign roughly nine months ago. Their focus was on how Kasiya’s minerals could be processed in Malawi into products suitable for US aerospace, defence and industrial end uses. Ghai has since briefed policy makers, including the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He described the Washington engagement as covering offtakes, funding and knowledge sharing. His position is that if the US wants Kasiya’s minerals, it should help finance the build.
The second change is Rio Tinto’s step back. Rio Tinto invested roughly A$60 million and built its stake to just under 20%, but has declined to take on operatorship. Ghai attributes this entirely to Rio Tinto’s new strategy, which concentrates on copper, aluminium, iron ore and lithium. He stressed that no technical red flags were raised. The DFS was completed with Rio Tinto’s input, and Ghai expects outcomes within plus or minus 5% to 10% of its estimates. Former Rio Tinto staff have joined Sovereign, and the company’s build team has constructed around a dozen mines in Africa.
On offtakes, most rutile is expected to go to Japan for titanium metal production. That route connects Kasiya to an established supply chain serving US aerospace and defence primes. Ghai said a leading Japanese titanium producer has confirmed the rutile can be used for all end purposes. Around 70% of Kasiya’s graphite is refractory grade, used in electric arc furnaces. Sovereign holds a non-binding marketing arrangement with Traxys North America for US sales. Traxys participates in Project Vault, the US critical minerals stockpile initiative. Rare earth offtake discussions are at an early stage.
The funding plan is the central investment question. Ghai’s working assumption is peak funding of about $750 million. Around $450 million would come from DFIs such as the IFC, DFC and AFC, and about $300 million from equity and offtake-linked finance. The company wants equity to be the final piece, after permitting, binding offtakes and a FEED study are complete. Ghai targets that position by the end of Q1 or in Q2 2027, with a financing solution tabled within six to nine months.
The heavy rare earth stream adds optionality. Scoping-level work suggests a roughly $30 million add-on could generate around $80 million a year in profit over 23 years. Ghai estimates Kasiya could meet about 35% of US yttrium requirements.
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Interview with Rupert Verco, CEO & Managing Director of Cobra Resources PLC
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/cobra-resources-lsecobr-deeper-drilling-points-to-bigger-copper-system-11059
Recording date: 8th October 2026
Cobra Resources plc (LSE:COBR) is a South Australian explorer advancing two projects: the Manna Hill Copper Project in the Nackara Arc and the Wudinna rare earth project, which targets in situ recovery. This summary covers Manna Hill, where the company reported a material drilling update on October 2026.
The update concerns a slim-line RC programme designed as a fast, low-cost test of lateral extent. After 23 holes and around 2,000m of drilling, Cobra has extended copper anomalism at the Blue Rose prospect a further 600m west, lifting the known corridor from 1.6km to beyond 2.2km of strike. At Blue Rose West, hole MHRC0029 intersected anomalous copper over 32m from 52m, with coarse chalcopyrite logged in chips.
The programme also found copper in two skarn units not previously drilled. Shadow Rose, about 300m south of Blue Rose, returned up to 60m of continuous copper anomalism in each of two holes, with oxide copper from around 10m depth. Neptune Rose, about 500m north, intersected copper sulphides at two depths in hole MHRC0024. All three zones remain open, and up to 35 holes remain to be drilled.
The important caveat is that no grades have been reported. The observations are visual and pXRF-based, and the company explicitly warns they are not a substitute for assays. First results from ALS are expected within four to six weeks. Investors should treat the update as evidence of geological footprint, not of economic grade. Reported intervals are also downhole lengths, and true widths are expected to be narrower.
The grade benchmark comes from earlier work. Historic hole RABR822 returned 47m at 2.2% Cu and 0.76 g/t Au from 11m, and Cobra's January 2026 drilling returned 74m at 1.02% Cu and 0.25 g/t Au from 70m. CEO and Managing Director Rupert Verco said he hopes current results will be similar to those reported in March.
Management has stated ambitious scale goals. Verco said the board believes the skarn system could deliver more than 1 million tonnes of contained copper and that a porphyry at depth could take the total above 5 million tonnes. No resource has been estimated, and these figures should be read as aspirations.
Cobra's strategy is to build a shallow skarn inventory first, then fund deeper porphyry exploration from a higher valuation to reduce dilution. Diamond drilling earlier in 2026 logged hydrothermal breccia, anhydrite veining and potassic-associated copper, which the company interprets as evidence of a porphyry source. The current campaign also tests the Anabama Hill and Netley Hill porphyry targets.
On the corporate side, Cobra has a £47.7 million market capitalisation at 4.2p as of 18 August 2026. It will hold 6.45 million Barton Gold shares at final settlement and is due A$9.5 million in further payments.
Key watch-items are first assays, eastern Shadow Rose drilling more than 2km from current holes, results from Anabama Hill and Netley Hill, and follow-up diamond drilling at Blue Rose.
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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.
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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.
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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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