Company Interviews

Interview with Brian Miller, Director & CEO of Astra Exploration
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/astra-exploration-tsxvastr-largest-drill-plan-tests-district-scale-at-la-manchuria-12013
Recording date: 18th October 2026
Astra Exploration Inc. (TSXV:ASTR) is a gold-silver explorer focused on Argentina and Chile. Its flagship is the La Manchuria project in Santa Cruz province, within Argentina's Deseado Massif. The company is preparing to start its largest drill campaign to date, and CEO and co-founder Brian Miller set out the investment case at Michael Gentile's European roadshow.
La Manchuria hosts two styles of mineralisation. A bulk disseminated system begins at surface and remains open. Miller puts grades in this system could average up to 10 g/t gold. Its hilltop location supports the case for open-pit mining. The project also hosts high-grade veins, typically 1-2 metres thick, carrying 50-100 g/t gold and silver in the kilograms per tonne. The Basalto zone, discovered in March 2026, is a high-grade vein exposed at surface, and its most recent step-out returned 2.0 metres at 80.5 g/t gold and 44 g/t silver.
The company has deliberately held off on an updated resource estimate. A small resource already exists, and Miller says drilling has shown the deposit is substantially larger. Astra will only publish an update once it believes it can outline about a million ounces, a threshold that gives investors a clear benchmark against which to judge progress.
Phase IV begins in November with two drills. The programme is planned at a minimum of 10,000 metres and up to 20,000 metres, with the final figure driven by results. About 5,000 metres are targeted before year-end, about 5,000 metres in the first quarter of 2027, and up to a further 10,000 metres after that. The first assays are expected around February. Beyond Manchuria Hill, which covers about 1 km², the company has defined five priority regional targets across a 4 x 4 km area. Breccia, directly along strike to the southeast, will be drilled first. La Pampa, to the northeast, is the other standout.
In Chile, Astra will drill its 100%-owned Don Mario project in the Maricunga belt in early 2027. Field work in 2026 aligned every geological dataset on a single 2 km by 2 km high-sulphidation epithermal target. About 2,500 metres in roughly seven holes should deliver a go or no-go decision. A strong result could lead Astra to seek a joint venture partner quickly.
Astra holds just over C$12 million in cash. The company's latest presentation lists about 137 million shares outstanding, no warrants, and strategic investors holding about 64% of the company, including Gentile with about 15%. The stock has been under pressure and recently traded around C$0.36, close to its 52-week low.
The district offers infrastructure optionality. Patagonia Gold, Astra's partner on La Manchuria, has heap leach production at Cap-Oeste and owns the Martha flotation mill, which is on care and maintenance. Pan American Silver's Manantial Espejo plant nearby is also on care and maintenance. Miller believes a project of around a million ounces could support a profitable open-pit starter operation, while a larger discovery would attract a different class of acquirer. The key risks are drilling outcomes, the absence of an updated resource and share-price weakness that could make future financing more dilutive.
View Astra Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/astra-exploration
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Interview with Michael Gentile, Strategic Investor & Robert Hinchcliffe, President & CEO of Galway Metals
Recording date: 18th October 2026
Galway Metals Inc. (TSXV:GWM) has closed a $14 million brokered flow-through financing led by strategic mining investor Michael Gentile. Gentile acquired 17,150,000 units and now holds approximately 10.94% of the company, rising to about 19.72% if his warrants are exercised. He has agreed to a 12-month lock-up. The proceeds are earmarked for exploration at the Clarence Stream gold project in southwest New Brunswick and must be spent by the end of 2027.
Clarence Stream hosts 1.42 million ounces Indicated at 1.62 g/t gold and 1.29 million ounces Inferred at 1.40 g/t, for roughly 2.7 million ounces across three deposits. Speaking at the London Mining Forum, Gentile said the project had advanced considerably since he first assessed it several years ago. He pointed to a higher ounce count, improved grade and a strip ratio that he said has fallen from around 10 or 11 to one down to five or six to one. President and CEO Robert Hinchcliffe emphasised that the North and South deposits contain both the higher-grade material and the antimony, giving the project the potential to prioritise higher-grade ounces in its early years.
Antimony is a potential source of upside rather than a core assumption. Gentile said he modelled the project with no antimony credit, focusing instead on confirming that it would not harm gold recoveries. He now expects it to add value, though metallurgical testwork continues, with around 50 samples recently sent for analysis.
Recent drilling has strengthened the growth case. At the Southwest Deposit, a drill holes returned 2.8 g/t gold over 48.0 metres including 16.7 g/t over 5.0 metres, 8.3 g/t over 6.0 metres and 6.4 g/t over 7.0 metres. Several intercepts fall outside current resource wireframes, supporting the company's model of high-grade shoots plunging to the southwest and hinting at underground potential.
Cost and location are central to the thesis. Gentile described all-in drilling costs of about C$120 per metre as the lowest he has encountered. The project also benefits from highways, a deep-water port, power and a nearby town, while New Brunswick approves drill permits in under three weeks, according to Hinchcliffe. Hinchcliffe plans around 70,000 metres of drilling next year.
The key near-term catalyst is a PEA expected in Q1 2027 covering all three deposits. Gentile expects the study to correct what he sees as the market's outdated view of Clarence Stream as a low-grade, high-strip-ratio project. He also argues that Canadian development assets near infrastructure will attract growing interest from major producers.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/galway-metals-inc
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Interview with Mark Trevisiol, President & CEO of McFarlane Lake Mining
Recording date: 18 October 2026
McFarlane Lake Mining (CSE:MLM) is a Canadian gold explorer advancing the Juby Gold Project near Gowganda in Ontario's southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The district has produced more than 200 million ounces of gold over the past century and hosts major operations nearby, including IAMGOLD's Côté Gold to the west. The August 2026 Mineral Resource Estimate, prepared by BBA E&C Inc. at a US$3,600/oz gold price, contains 1.07 Moz Indicated at 0.96 g/t and 5.09 Moz Inferred at 0.87 g/t.
The company's balance sheet has changed sharply this year. McFarlane acquired Juby from Aris Mining for US$22 million, including a US$15 million debenture due in October 2026. In late May, Michael Gentile and Pierre Beaudoin invested C$6.75 million. CEO Mark Trevisiol said that investment, and the investor support that followed, allowed the company to repay more than US$13 million of the debt. Around US$1.7 million remains, largely held by friendly parties. A C$17.25 million bought deal financing closed in September, and Trevisiol said about C$12 million of that was flow-through funding.
That capital funds a 50,000 m Phase 2 programme over 12 to 15 months, with three drills expected on site before 1 November. Two drills will extend known mineralisation along strike and at depth. The third will focus first on infill drilling to convert Inferred ounces to Indicated. Trevisiol has set a goal of about 10 Moz within two years. The presentation allocates conceptual target ranges across the Big Dome, Hydro Creek and Golden Lake trend, the 826 Zone, Juby East and Byberg. These targets are not resources and remain to be tested.
Trevisiol was open about the role of price in the latest resource. He said drilling and modelling alone would have added roughly 800,000 to 900,000 oz at last year's US$2,500/oz assumption, with the higher price adding a further significant step to its now 6.2 million ounces of combined gold resource. 
Development work runs in parallel. A scoping study is due to begin this quarter, with results targeted by the end of Q2 2027. Environmental baseline studies began in December 2025, and the company aims to submit an advanced exploration permit application in Q1 2027 to support a proposed bulk sample. Metallurgical testwork is confirming earlier SGS results, and historical testing suggests the material may respond to flotation, which could reduce capital requirements.
The team has been strengthened with the appointment of Gilbert Lamarche as COO. Lamarche was previously COO of Foran Mining and spent more than 15 years at Vale. Two senior field geologists have also joined.
McFarlane at US$33/oz of enterprise value against a peer average of US$48/oz. Key risks include the high Inferred proportion, sub-1 g/t grades, unsecured milling capacity, permitting timelines and a fully diluted share count of 727.0 million. Assay results, toll milling discussions and the scoping study are the main catalysts to monitor over the next 12 to 18 months.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/macfarlane-lake-mining
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Interview with Brian McClay, President & CEO of Golden Pursuit Resources
Recording date: 16th October 2026
Golden Pursuit Resources (TSXV:GDP) is a junior gold explorer focused on the Gordon Lake district in the Northwest Territories. The company has done something previous operators never managed. It has consolidated a historically fragmented district under single, 100% ownership. President Brian McClay describes a package roughly 41 km long, hosting six historic mines and around 10 deposits. The ground carries no royalties, and the company has no third-party debt.
The investment case rests on a simple change in economics. Gordon Lake was explored and mined when gold sold for $35 an ounce and later for $300 to $400. Operators of that era mined at around an ounce per ton and treated anything under half an ounce as waste. With gold above $4,000 per ounce, McClay argues that much of that rejected material now qualifies as high grade. He cites historic Kidney Pond intervals of around 150 feet at 4.5-6 g/T. He also cites three historic holes beneath a 1,000-foot shaft on the east side of the lake, returning up to 2.6 ounces per ton (around 90 g/t). Historic reports also describe extensive hanging-wall mineralisation that was never assessed, along with untested breccias, stockworks and parallel veins. None of the data is compliant with NI 43-101 however. Converting historic results into a modern resource will require a substantial drilling programme.
The company’s current work is designed to sharpen targeting without heavy dilution. It has catalogued about 35,000 feet of archived core and plans AI-assisted scanning. It has measured magnetic susceptibility on around 500 rock samples and flown drone geophysics, with results being processed. A full-time geophysicist is completing a PhD on the district. Priority targets include Kidney Pond, Myrt Lake, Lynk and Burnt Island.
The central catalyst is road access. Drilling costs $1,000-$1,200 per metre today, and McClay says a road would cut that by about $200 per metre. He reports that the territorial government has spent $50 million on engineering, surveying and permitting the route. Construction has not started, however, and no timeline has been confirmed. McClay says a large global mining fund has shown interest conditional on the road.
Capital discipline is the other pillar of the story. Golden Pursuit has fewer than 50 million shares outstanding. McClay, who ran Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines for 22 years, says he has watched peers destroy shareholder value by diluting too early. His plan is to attract a partner for a staged programme of around 200,000 m. The next step would cost $10 million to $20 million, and any partner would need to commit at least $10 million. He expects a joint venture, or possibly a sale, once the road is built or formally announced.
For investors, Golden Pursuit is a leveraged bet on three things: the road being built, historic grades being confirmed at scale, and management securing a partner on favourable terms. The key risks are infrastructure timing, the historic nature of the data and execution as the company transitions to technical leadership. The near-term items to watch are a formal road construction announcement and results from the 2026 geophysical programme.
View Golden Pursuit Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/golden-pursuit-resources
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Recording date: 13th October 2026
SSR Mining has agreed to acquire Roxmore Resources for C$6.75 per share in cash, plus shares in a new exploration SpinCo that will hold Roxmore’s other properties and US$10 million in cash. The cash consideration values Roxmore’s equity at roughly US$464 million. The transaction remains subject to approval by at least two-thirds of votes cast by Roxmore securityholders and by the court, with completion expected in Q4 2026.
The prize is the Converse gold project in Nevada, which holds roughly 5.2 million ounces across indicated and inferred categories at an average grade of about 0.5 g/t. Converse lies around 6 km from Marigold, one of SSR’s flagship operations. SSR expects Converse to add 150,000 to 170,000 ounces a year over a mine life of more than 10 years, with first production targeted for 2033. Initial capital is guided at US$800 million to US$900 million, with no material spending expected until the early 2030s.
Derek Macpherson, Executive Chairman of Olive Resource Capital, estimates the price at roughly US$95 per resource ounce including the SpinCo. He contrasts this with around US$400 per ounce for two other recent large developer takeovers. Two factors explain the gap in Olive’s view. First, SSR will re-estimate the resource using more conservative gold price assumptions than Roxmore’s US$3,000 per ounce pit shells, which is likely to reduce the ounce count. Second, the list of realistic buyers was short. Converse works best as a tuck-in to Marigold, and the only other nearby operator with obvious synergies, i-80 Gold, is in the middle of a restructuring.
The cash premium of 47% to the 20-day volume-weighted average price was respectable but not exceptional. Macpherson notes that Roxmore’s share price held up through September and October. He suggests negotiations were likely well advanced by the time the industry gathered at the Beaver Creek and Denver conferences, given the typical 30 to 60 days of exclusivity between a letter of intent and a definitive agreement.
Samuel Pelaez, Olive’s President, CEO and Chief Investment Officer, places the deal within a broader trend. Producers are upgrading the quality of their jurisdictions and concentrating on North America, Guyana and Australia. SSR’s own history illustrates the point. It completed the sale of its 80% stake in the Çöpler mine in Türkiye in June 2026, following a major heap leach failure there, and refocused on the Americas.
The partners agree that SSR’s acquisition appetite is not exhausted. The company reported around US$1.78 billion in cash at the end of Q2 2026, and Macpherson estimates it will retain more than US$1 billion in working capital after the deal. Pelaez expects further transactions from SSR, Centerra, Lundin Gold and Kinross within months. Liberty Gold’s Black Pine project in Idaho, in which Centerra already holds a strategic investment, is one asset both partners see as likely to draw interest.
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