Company Interviews

Interview with Victor Cantore, President & CEO of Amex Gold Mining
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/amex-exploration-tsxvamx-quebec-gold-project-posts-standout-feasibility-results-9879
Recording date: 24th Sept 2026
Amex Gold Mining (TSXV:AMX) is pursuing an unusual development model at its Perron Gold Project, located about 8 kilometres from Normétal in Quebec's Abitibi region. Instead of waiting for full Phase 1 permitting and a traditional construction financing, the company has begun a fully permitted 40,000-tonne bulk sample and is building it to the specification of the eventual mine.
Underground, the ramp has passed roughly 100 metres and is advancing at around 5-6 metres per day. It will run approximately 1.5 kilometres to the 235-metre level, providing access to the high-grade Champagne Zone. Contractor CMAC is carrying out the work, and Amex has been hiring experienced miners.
On surface, CEO Victor Cantore estimates the bulk sample will cost about C$60 million, with around C$40 million going into infrastructure that Phase 1 will reuse. That includes a C$7.7 million grid connection supplying hydro power at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour, expected by January, and a water treatment plant already sized for Phase 1.
The Phase 1 FS supports the case. It outlines 774,000 ounces of proven and probable reserves at 12.10 g/T, and a five-year operation averaging 147,000 ounces per year at US$910/oz AISC. At a US$3,500/oz base case, the FS shows a post-tax NPV5 of C$1.127 billion, a 114.6% IRR and a 0.5-year payback. Initial capital of C$193.9 million falls to C$125.8 million net after C$68.1 million of pre-production revenue.
Cantore's own scenario goes further. Assuming 25,000 ounces from the bulk sample at US$4,000 gold, he estimates roughly C$135 million of revenue. Combined with the infrastructure overlap and pre-production revenue, he believes Phase 1 capital could be covered before commercial production is declared. If a gap remained, he would prefer a forward sale of about 10,000 ounces over new equity. This is a management scenario, not an FS outcome, and it depends on grade reconciliation, gold prices and execution.
Two dependencies stand out. First, processing is covered by an LOI with Eldorado Gold, the company's 27% shareholder, but no definitive agreement has been signed. Several other mills in the region need feed, which provides a fallback. Second, the Phase 1 permit is targeted for Q3 or Q4 2027, ahead of the FS assumption of mid-2028. The Project Notice has been filed.
Valuation offers context. Amex had a market capitalisation of about C$715 million in late August 2026, around 0.63 times its Phase 1 post-tax NPV. Cantore argues the stock should trade at a multiple of annual free cash flow once production is in view.
Exploration remains the second engine. About C$24 million is allocated for 2027, with six drills active across a 570 square kilometre package spanning Quebec and Ontario. Targets include the new Rosé Zone, VMS-to-gold vectoring in Ontario and depth extensions at Champagne, which has returned high-grade intercepts at 1.6 kilometres. A Phase 2 concept envisages a 2,000 tonne-per-day on-site mill around 2033.
View Amex Mining's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/amex-exploration
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Interview with Patrick Cruickshank, Director & CEO of Nine Mile Metals
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/nine-mile-metals-csenine-234m-of-visual-copper-and-a-horizon-never-seen-in-historic-records-10758
Recording date: 24th September 2026
Nine Mile Metals Ltd. (CSE:NINE) is a Canadian junior explorer focused on copper-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the Bathurst Mining Camp of New Brunswick. Its lead asset is the Wedge, a deposit that Cominco mined in the 1960s. According to the company's presentation, historic production was approximately 1.5 million tonnes at 2.88% copper.
The company is midway through a 10,000-metre Phase 3 programme, its largest to date. CEO and Director Patrick J. Cruickshank said 22 holes and roughly 5,500 metres had been completed at the time of the interview, with only five holes reported. Assay turnaround of about a month, and the need to rebuild each hole from anonymously numbered samples, explains the gap. Certified results to date includes 24.55 metres of 3.49% copper equivalent over true width and another 14.15 metres at 5.09% copper equivalent.
The geological picture has become more complex and potentially more valuable. Drilling has identified three lenses rather than one. One is a polymetallic lens with lead, zinc, silver, copper and gold. Another, to the east, carries high-grade copper and gold over roughly 40 metres. The lenses dip steeply, so reported intercept widths reflect drill angle rather than true lens size.
The next step is methodical rather than aggressive. Because the upper third of the deposit has collapsed and historic plans of the workings are unavailable, Nine Mile is running a borehole electromagnetic survey across eight holes. The survey should produce a 3D map of old workings and remaining conductors. The company will then complete the programme by drilling to depth on the northwest side of a fault that cuts the deposit. Historic mining did not test below about 150 to 300 metres.
Apex Geoscience is consolidating historic and modern data into a live model. An updated NI 43-101 technical report is expected in the first quarter, followed by a maiden mineral resource estimate. Management's stated mandate is to demonstrate a footprint of up to 10 million tonnes. That target remains untested until the resource estimate is published.
Beyond the Wedge, a new rig is heading to Tribag, four kilometres west along the same trend, to test six targets at 350 to 400 metres depth over about 3,000 metres. At Nine Mile Brook, where the company drilled 10.12% copper over 15.10 metres, a second rhyolite cap found this summer will be drilled next spring.
Financially, the company is in its strongest position in several years. It holds about C$5 million in cash and says it is funded for two to almost three years without needing to raise. Management reports inbound interest from companies about joint ventures and acquisitions, although no agreement has been announced.
The principal risks are typical of pre-resource exploration. These include laboratory delays, unverified historic data, copper equivalent figures that differ in methodology between holes and the absence of any defined resource. Investors should watch pending Phase 3 assays, the borehole survey results, the Tribag programme and the first-quarter technical report as the key near-term markers.
View Nine Mile Metals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/nine-mile-metals
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Interview with Keith Boyle, Director & CEO of New Found Gold
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/new-found-gold-tsx-nfgc-commercial-production-at-hammerdown-11907
Recording date: 23rd Sept 2026
New Found Gold Corp. (TSX / NYSE American: NFGC) has declared commercial production at its Hammerdown Gold Mine in Newfoundland. The milestone was achieved on August 19, 2026, after 60 consecutive days in which throughput, recovery and feed grade all cleared pre-set thresholds. Average throughput was about 748 tonnes per day, recovery was 87.7% and feed grade was 2.92 grams of gold per tonne. Hammerdown produced 9,140 ounces in the first eight months of 2026.
Chief Executive Officer Keith Boyle said the declaration has changed how investors engage with the company. Management had guided to 20,000 to 25,000 ounces a year at an all-in sustaining cost of about US$2,500 per ounce. Boyle said Hammerdown is now delivering against that guidance and expects annualised cash flow of about C$40 million.
The next focus is Queensway, the company's flagship project. Boyle said Queensway needs little mine development because the high-grade material is at surface. The critical path runs through the Pine Cove Mill. The company is first converting the circuit from flotation and Merrill-Crowe to Gravity-CIL, which should lift recovery on Hammerdown ore, and targets completion in the fourth quarter of 2027. Once Queensway is permitted, the company plans to seek an amendment to double the mill so it can take an extra 700 tonnes per day. Boyle targeted the fourth quarter of next year for that expansion.
Queensway's environmental assessment certificate is expected early in the new year. Boyle said Phase 1 material will be trucked to Pine Cove and that this phase carries production to 2031. A mill at Queensway is then planned to process the current deposit.
Exploration is the second theme. Boyle wants ounces available to fill the Pine Cove capacity after 2031. An exploration manager started in June and is assembling historical data on Hammerdown and Pine Cove. The Hammerdown ore profile is about 270,000 ounces at roughly 3 g/t Au. Boyle acknowledged it is not a large high-grade deposit but pointed to untested targets along strike, at depth and on parallel structures. A 10,000 to 20,000 metre programme is planned for next year, separate from grade control and infill drilling. At Queensway, exploration is being made more systematic after 18 months in which about 75% of drilling was deposit-focused.
Funding shapes all of this. Boyle said the company raised C$220 million in April and wants to reach Queensway production with the cash it has. That is why exploration spending is being paced.
For investors, the key items are the Queensway environmental decision, the updated Queensway resource estimate and PEA, commissioning of the Hammerdown crusher and sorter in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the first annual Hammerdown guidance. Risks include the permit to double the mill, which has not yet been applied for, the modest size of the Hammerdown ore profile, and the unproven nature of the new exploration programme. This commentary reflects the views of company management.
View New Found Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/new-found-gold
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Interview with Craig Hallworth, President & CEO of Gunnison Copper
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/gunnison-copper-tsxgcu-advances-2b-arizona-project-toward-2028-construction-decision-10985
Recording date: 24th September 2026
Gunnison Copper Corp. (TSX:GCU, OTCQB:GCUMF) enters the final quarter of 2026 as one of the few junior copper companies with a producing US mine. On 22 September, the company declared commercial production at the Johnson Camp Mine in Cochise County, Arizona, following record August output of 1,304,448 lbs of copper cathode. CEO Craig Hallworth said this represents about 60% of the mine's nameplate capacity of 25 million lbs a year. The remaining ramp-up requires no further permits or construction and depends on leach recovery curves building over time.
Johnson Camp is the first full-scale commercial application of Nuton, Rio Tinto's sulfide leaching technology, which turns sulfide copper into cathode on site instead of shipping it to Asian smelters. The trade-off for shareholders is timing. Nuton has invested more than $200 million, and Johnson Camp's profits go towards repaying that sum until it is recovered or until mid-2030, whichever comes first. Hallworth advised investors to assume the deadline is reached first, at which point any remaining balance falls away. Until then, Gunnison is extracting value in other ways. These include an $8 million payment from Nuton for adding ore tonnage, around $3 million a year of overhead allocated to the mine budget, and an expected refundable Arizona jobs tax credit of up to about $2 million. The company has also chosen to forgo its $13.9 million Section 48C credit so that it keeps access to incentives that may be worth more.
Hallworth estimates Johnson Camp accounts for about 5% of company value. The rest lies in the Gunnison Project. The March 2026 PEA shows an after-tax NPV of $1.96 billion at $4.60/lb copper, a 22.5% IRR and around 174 million lbs of annual cathode output. Initial capital is about $1.6 billion, including a $300 million acid plant. Around 2 billion lbs of Measured and Indicated copper sits outside the current mine plan. Higher price assumptions or design changes could bring some of it in.
The de-risking programme has two strands. Up to 405 column leach tests, against roughly 25 in the PEA, aim to confirm recovery and acid consumption assumptions. Preliminary results are expected in Q4 2026, with most results due by mid-2027. On permitting, the amended Mined Land Reclamation Plan has been submitted, and approval is expected by the end of 2026. The Aquifer Protection Permit and Air Quality Permit amendments follow in 2027. The company is targeting full permitting and a potential final investment decision by mid-2028.
Funding the build requires a partner. Hallworth's base case is a toehold investment of around 5% from a mine builder valued at $10-20 billion. He believes this would validate the project without heavy dilution at an estimated 0.25 times NAV. A US government debt partnership is the alternative. No agreement has been signed. The company expects to be debt-free by the end of September and has about $25 million available. That is enough for roughly 12 months at current spending, before the drilling programme expands.
View Gunnison Copper's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/gunnison-copper
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Interview with Jim Paterson, Principal and Co-Founder of Discovery Group
Recording date: 24th September 2026
Discovery Group co-founder Jim Paterson used his conversation with Crux Investor at the Beaver Creek conference to make a clear case. Capital has returned to the junior mining sector, and for experienced teams it is changing how exploration is done.
Paterson has worked in the business since 1997. For most of that time, he said, neither the companies he was associated with nor those of his peers had enough money to move quickly. Companies raised funds for single drill holes, waited for results and then raised again. This created two problems for shareholders. Costs were higher because nothing could be planned in advance. Good results also tended to become liquidity events, with existing investors selling into strength rather than the company re-rating.
The current market, in Paterson's view, allows a different model. Funded companies can build two- and three-year programmes. They can negotiate with drilling contractors, geophysical contractors and camp providers on longer terms. They can offer their best people secure employment for two years. Paterson argued that this planning lowers costs and reduces the cost of capital, which ultimately benefits shareholders on a per-share basis.
He named three Discovery Group members as examples. Prospector Metals and K2 Gold previously lacked the capital to answer key questions but are now doing so and have funding to continue into next year. Kodiak Copper is fully funded and drilling at its MPD copper-gold project in British Columbia, a district-scale porphyry system with seven confirmed zones and an initial resource estimate. Paterson credited Chairman Chris Taylor, whose Great Bear discovery was acquired by Kinross Gold for $1.8 billion in 2022, with helping CEO Claudia Tornquist execute.
Europe is a new front for the group. Aquitaine Metals, led by Taylor, holds exclusivity over 330 km² in France's Limousin district, an area that includes 23 past-producing gold mines. Paterson said the jurisdiction has become highly supportive, a change he would not have expected a decade ago. The company is private and hopes to list by the end of the year.
Paterson also warned against complacency. Capital is not yet in excess, but when it arrives in size, generalists and private equity investors who do not understand the business can fund projects that should not advance. Some niche metals rarely attract investment because of difficult metallurgy or locations, and political will does not fix a project that does not work.
His advice to investors is to focus on people. He believes management teams should own significant stock they paid for, and he pointed investors to SEDI to check insider buying. He values clear communication and has worked with an advisor to improve his own. He will not do a deal with anyone he has only met over video, and he looks at how people behave under stress and over time.
For investors, the message is that the current environment rewards funded, experienced teams with scalable projects. The watch-items are whether funded members deliver results, whether Aquitaine lists as hoped and whether the market stays disciplined as more capital arrives.
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