Company Interviews

Interview with Alex Walker, CEO of East Star Resources
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/east-star-resources-lseest-partner-funded-copper-production-and-25m-gold-search-in-kazakhstan-10606
Recording date: 2nd September 2026
East Star Resources (LSE:EST) has added a second free-carried development structure to its Kazakhstan copper and gold portfolio, signing a binding Heads of Agreement for a joint venture over its Rulikha copper project. The deal follows the same non-dilutive logic that underpins East Star's existing Verkhuba joint venture with Chinese mine-builder Xinhai Mining: rather than raising capital from shareholders to fund permitting, drilling and construction, East Star brings in a partner with deeper development expertise and lets that partner carry the cost, in exchange for a minority economic interest once the project reaches production.
At Rulikha, that partner group consists of two entities: Nova, a financing vehicle, and Orion, an operating team that has previously built two copper mines in Kazakhstan and exited its most recent project to a Chinese buyer for approximately $125 million within the past four years. CEO Alex Walker cited that track record, along with the personal involvement of a well-connected Kazakh lawyer who structured the deal, as central to his confidence in the partnership.
The earn-in mechanics are designed to protect East Star's downside. The partners' initial percentage only crystallises once they complete the first of either 3,000 metres of drilling or $1.5 million of spend, and even that threshold represents only a fraction of the total committed spend, not a cap. East Star's final economic interest lands between 25% and 35% depending on whether the partners fund with equity or debt and importantly, majority ownership does not pass to the partners until they reach the construction stage, well beyond the current commitment.
Operationally, drilling approval for Rulikha is already secured, land access was obtained before the joint venture was even discussed, and management expects drilling to begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2026, targeting both the main Rulikha deposit areas and two satellite targets, Taloskoy and Rulikha North, the latter having already returned a 120-metre interval of disseminated sulphide mineralisation last year.
Meanwhile, at the more advanced Verkhuba copper deposit, drilling continues under the existing Xinhai-funded joint venture, with a second rig now on site and the first assay results due at the lab within one to two weeks. East Star's separate gold exploration joint venture with Endeavour Mining, covering two large land packages in northern and central Kazakhstan under a $25 million funding commitment, remains unchanged and continues to offer a third free-carried catalyst.
For investors, the Rulikha announcement effectively doubles East Star's exposure to potential copper production funded entirely by third parties, without adding dilution risk. The near-term catalysts to watch are execution of the definitive Rulikha joint venture agreement (currently only a Heads of Agreement), the start of Rulikha drilling later this year, and Verkhuba's forthcoming assay results, which together will begin to clarify the pace at which East Star's project pipeline converts into cash flow.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/east-star-resources
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Interview with Peter Akerley, CEO & Kelly Clure, Advisor of Erdene Resource Development
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/erdene-resource-developments-tsxerd-undervalued-investment-series-with-peter-akerley-10566
Recording date: 1st September 2026
Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD; MSE:ERDN; OTCQX:ERDCF) has moved from mine-builder to self-funded explorer. The company's Bayan Khundii Gold Mine, operated as a 50/50 joint venture with Mongolian Mining Corporation, delivered 11,709 ounces of gold in Q2 2026, a 37% increase quarter-on-quarter, generating $53 million in gross revenue. Feed grade rose 25% to 2.4 g/t gold, with recoveries of 96%, ahead of plan.
That cash flow is now being redeployed into a materially more aggressive exploration program across the company's broader Khundii Minerals District, discovered by Erdene in Mongolia's southwest. Management has committed 12,000 metres of drilling to Bayan Khundii's western expansion, targeting the corridor between the current pit and the newly resource-defined Ulaan deposit. In parallel, the company is testing porphyry copper potential beneath all three of its main hydrothermal systems, Bayan Khundii, Altan Nar and Zuun Mod, none of which has been drill-tested below roughly 700 metres, despite kilometre-scale surface alteration footprints comparable to major regional discoveries like Oyu Tolgoi.
Zuun Mod, a wholly-owned molybdenum-copper porphyry, is the standout near-term catalyst: the deposit ranks in the upper 15th percentile globally on grade-tonnage terms, and a preliminary economic assessment is on track for mid-H2 2026, backed by a newly contracted deep geophysics (IP/MT) program aimed at both Zuun Mod itself and the adjacent Khuvyn Khar copper target.
Altan Nar, holding roughly 500,000 ounces of gold along a 5-kilometre trend, is next in line for 2027 capital, with management weighing a CIP tie-in to the existing Bayan Khundii plant against a standalone flotation-concentrate build. Early metallurgical work favours the CIP route, potentially adding five years of mine life for a fraction of the estimated $140 million standalone capex. A complementary heap leach study, covering oxide material at both Dark Horse and Altan Nar, could add a further ~100,000 ounces of lower-cost production.
A smaller, earlier-stage option property, Tereg Uul, sits roughly 10km south of Oyu Tolgoi; a maiden drill program confirmed anomalous gold, silver and native copper along a 1.5-kilometre structure, and the option was extended in July 2026 with a $400,000 payment.
Underpinning the exploration push is a policy tailwind: Mongolia's mining ministry announced in June 2026 that it would reopen exploration licensing after roughly a decade of restricted issuance, a development management believes favours first movers with existing geological databases, including Erdene.
Financially, the company holds $26 million in corporate cash earmarked for its wholly-owned project pipeline through 2027, and is running an active share buyback (up to 4.9 million shares, ~10% of public float, with 94,400 shares already repurchased at an average $5.21). Key near-term catalysts for investors to track include the Zuun Mod PEA, deep geophysics results expected later in Q3 2026, and progress on Mongolia's licensing reopening.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/erdene-resource-development
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Recording date: 28th August 2026
Olive Resource Capital's latest Compass episode centres on two connected observations: a summer drilling season that is quietly delivering strong results, and a persistent shortage of the advanced copper projects the market increasingly wants exposure to.
On the drilling side, Derek Macpherson said a quick scan of recent releases turned up roughly ten notable holes in a two-day window, spanning gold and copper-equivalent results from companies including Lake Victoria Gold, Free Gold, ATEX Resources and VR Resources. He attributed the volume to well-funded companies - many of which raised capital during the frothy financing window of late 2025 and early 2026 - finally reaching the drill bit with larger, multi-rig programmes than in past cycles. Despite the quality of results, Samuel Pelaez noted that most of the underlying stocks have moved only modestly, framing individual holes as a starting point for deeper diligence rather than a signal to react to immediately. He illustrated the point with VR Resources Ltd. (TSXV:VRR), whose strong copper-equivalent grade at its New Boston project in Nevada turned out to be molybdenum-led on closer inspection, and with Heritage Mining Corp., where a genuinely strong gold result failed to move the share price because of an unresolved warrant overhang from prior financings.
Both Macpherson and Pelaez pointed to operational bottlenecks as a growing constraint on the pace of news flow. Assay laboratory turnaround times have roughly doubled industry-wide, and at least one Nevada-based lab has stopped accepting new clients. Macpherson cited a conversation with White Gold Corp. CEO David D'Onofrio, who described Yukon labs as overwhelmed by the scale of concurrent drill programmes in the territory - a dynamic likely to push meaningful drill-result reporting into the fourth quarter and beyond the traditional autumn conference season.
This episode returned to a recurring theme: the scarcity of tier-one copper development projects. Pelaez cited comments from Mineral Resources Limited (ASX:MIN) chief executive Chris Ellison, who told investors on a results call that the roughly A$10 billion Australian miner intends to buy a copper project outside Australia within the next 12 months - a sign, in Pelaez's view, that copper demand is broadening well beyond specialist resource investors. Macpherson highlighted Rio Tinto's US$15 million strategic investment in Mogotes Metals Inc. (TSXV:MOG), closed on 27 August, as further evidence of major producers competing for exposure to early-stage assets in Argentina and Chile's Vicuña district, home to NGEx Minerals Ltd.'s (TSXV:NGEX) four significant discoveries. Closer to home, Olive continues to build positions in Edge Copper Corporation's (TSXV:EDCU) Zonia project in Arizona, Gladiator in the Yukon, and Valhalla in Alaska.
Olive's preferred strategy is buying advanced development assets likely to be built or acquired this cycle, on the view that the valuation gap between developers and producers is typically widest early in a bull market, a gap they expect to become more pronounced in copper as competition for scarce, advanced assets intensifies.
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Interview with Colin Joudrie, CEO, Selkirk Copper
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/selkirk-copper-mines-tsxvscmi-restart-developer-targets-mid-2028-production-10866
Recording date: 26th August 2026
Selkirk Copper Mines is executing a restart of the past-producing Minto copper-gold-silver mine in Yukon, Canada, an asset that operated successfully for 16 years before its most recent operator entered bankruptcy in 2023. Rather than building a new mine, Selkirk is rehabilitating existing infrastructure - a 4,100 tonne-per-day processing plant, underground and open-pit workings, a 400-person camp, water treatment facilities and grid power - an approach management argues meaningfully compresses both the capital and time required to reach production.
The exploration case has strengthened materially over the past year. A Phase 1 drill programme of 52,288 metres, completed in mid-2026, underpinned an updated Mineral Resource Estimate showing a 182% increase in Measured & Indicated copper to 940 million pounds, alongside comparable increases in gold and silver. An ongoing Phase 2 programme, targeting 50,000 metres, is now more than 90% complete and running ahead of schedule, with recent assay results including a 13.12% copper-equivalent intercept at the high-grade Minto North zone and step-out drilling that suggests further expansion potential to the south. Roughly half of the resource growth is attributed to drilling success, with the remainder reflecting updated metal price assumptions.
A structural feature distinguishes Selkirk's economics from the prior operation: a gold and silver streaming agreement that previously diverted precious metals revenue to an outside party was eliminated during the bankruptcy process. CEO Colin Joudrie describes this as a rare outcome that leaves the company with full exposure to gold and silver, which together represent roughly 35% of the deposit's value. Management also plans metallurgical upgrades - adding gravity recovery circuits and a permanent crusher circuit - intended to lift precious metals recovery and reduce milling costs relative to historical performance.
The near-term roadmap is defined. A Preliminary Economic Assessment, incorporating the enlarged resource base, is targeted for completion in Q3 2026 and will provide the first formal cost and production estimate under Selkirk's ownership. A Feasibility Study is expected to begin around the end of September 2026, feeding into a final investment decision targeted for mid-2027, with first production targeted for mid-2028. Restart capital costs are currently expected to be in the range of C$200 million, financing for which - alongside potential offtake and streaming arrangements - is expected to be arranged over the next 12-18 months.
Joudrie situates the restart within a broader copper market thesis: negative treatment and refining charges, ageing global mine supply, and recent major operational failures elsewhere have left the market structurally short, a gap he believes new, quickly-executed supply like Minto is well positioned to help fill. Risks include permitting amendment timing, which remains outside the company's direct control, Yukon-specific cost inflation in contract mining, and the execution risk of translating a substantially larger drill database into a coherent, financeable mine plan. The PEA release stands as the clearest near-term test of whether the exploration success translates into a credible economic case.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/selkirk-copper
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Interview with Anthony Moreau, CEO, American Eagle Gold
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/american-eagle-gold-tsxvae-29-million-major-funding-for-multi-billion-ton-copper-gold-in-bc-6271
Recording date: 25th August 2026
American Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV:AE | OTCQB:AMEGF) is advancing its 100%-owned NAK copper-gold porphyry project in British Columbia's Babine Porphyry District, and the past month has produced two of the strongest results in the company's history. NAK26-87, reported 18 August 2026, intersected 1,001 metres of 0.46% copper equivalent (CuEq) starting at surface, including 218 metres of 1.01% CuEq - a full kilometre of continuous copper-gold mineralisation and the longest intercept ever drilled at NAK. A week later, NAK26-89 returned 411 metres of 0.43% CuEq from 47 metres downhole, within a broader 880-metre interval of 0.30% CuEq, extending near-surface mineralisation roughly 250 metres east of the existing South Zone and opening a new target area along the southern margin of the Babine porphyry stock.
Together, these results have grown the mapped South Zone footprint to more than 700 metres east-west by 600 metres north-south, with a high-grade core extending beyond 800 metres depth, and management believes the zone remains open in multiple directions. Three additional western step-out holes - NAK26-84, -86 and -88 - returned broad, consistent copper intercepts that extend the footprint further north and west, with positive implications for future open-pit design and strip ratio.
The company is roughly a fifth of the way through an approximately 80-hole, 55,000-metre drill programme running through April 2027, with three rigs operating continuously. Management has now dedicated one rig specifically to the newly opened southern stock zone, an area it describes as among the least-tested but most prospective ground on the property, and the immediate next target is a follow-up to NAK23-09 - the 2023 "Teck Hole."
American Eagle is well capitalised to execute this programme. As at July 2026, the company reported approximately $55 million in cash (with a subsequent release citing approximately $50 million), 205 million shares outstanding, and a market capitalisation of roughly $230 million at a share price of $1.12. Management states the company is funded through 2028 without need for near-term financing. Insiders and strategic shareholders control 53% of the share register, including South32 (19.9%), Teck (12.9%) and Eric Sprott (9.5%) - none of whom, according to CEO Anthony Moreau, have sold shares since investing.
The investment case rests on combining a high-grade core with substantial surrounding bulk tonnage, a model management compares to Highland Valley. CEO Moreau has framed the strategy as proving NAK can become a mine within the current metal price cycle, positioning the asset for acquisition by a major producer. Road access, existing power and rail infrastructure, and a five-year Exploration Agreement with the Lake Babine Nation (signed August 2023) support a lower relative cost of capital versus more remote British Columbia projects.
Key catalysts ahead include continued assay releases through April 2027 (roughly 74 of 80 planned holes remain unreported), results from the newly dedicated southern stock zone rig, ongoing metallurgical test work feeding a 2027 PEA, and a targeted maiden mineral resource estimate in 2027. The primary risk remains that NAK is still a pre-resource exploration asset: reported intercepts, while long and consistently mineralised, do not yet establish confirmed tonnage or grade, and copper equivalent figures rely on assumed metal prices and recoveries pending further metallurgical work.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/american-eagle-gold
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