Company Interviews

Interview with Alan Carter, President & CEO of Cabral Gold
 
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/cabral-gold-tsxvcbr-87-gt-gold-over-95m-mining-permit-granted-9596
Recording date: 26th March 2026
Cabral Gold is approaching one of the most consequential transitions in a junior mining company's lifecycle: the move from developer to producer. With its Phase One oxide heap leach project at Cuiú Cuiú in northern Brazil now 60% complete, on budget, and on schedule for commercial gold production in Q4 2026, the company is within striking distance of generating meaningful cash flow from one of the lowest-cost gold mining methods available.
The Phase One project was prefeasibility-studied at a gold price of $2,500 per ounce. Gold is currently trading around $4,500 per ounce. That gap matters enormously to the investment case. The company expects to produce approximately 25,000 ounces in its first 12 months at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,200–$1,300 per ounce, generating an estimated $60–$65 million in annual cash flow. Against a current market capitalisation of approximately $200 million, Cabral is trading at roughly 3x anticipated cash flow, well below the 7x multiple at which junior gold producers are typically valued once in production. The implied re-rating potential on Phase One alone is substantial.
The permitting picture has also improved materially. Cabral recently received its Licença Prévia (LP) for a full mining license . This removes the 1,500 tonnes per day ceiling imposed by trial mining licenses, clears the path to operating at the full Phase One design capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day, and provides regulatory line-of-sight for the larger Phase Two hard rock operation that sits behind it.
Beyond Phase One, the exploration upside at Cuiú Cuiú is significant and largely unpriced. The district's soil anomaly spans 7 kilometres and remains open, seven times the size of the equivalent anomaly at the adjacent of the third-largest gold mine in Brazil which produced just under 180,000 ounces in 2025. Cuiú Cuiú's historical placer gold production of approximately 2 million ounces dwarfs Tocantinzinho's 200,000-ounce placer endowment, providing a geological proxy for the scale of the hard rock system below. The global resource last updated in September 2022 at 1.2 million ounces has not captured 35,000 metres of subsequent drilling or four new discoveries, including the Jerimum Cima intercept of 9.5 metres at 87.4 g/t gold which is the best result in the project's history.
A $20 million bought deal financing has been announced to fund an accelerated exploration program. CEO Alan Carter, who has invested $2 million of his own capital in the company, is direct about the strategic logic: getting more rigs on site now, ahead of Phase One cash flow, allows the company to grow its resource base and advance the Phase Two economic case faster than a more conservative approach would allow.
For investors focused on the junior gold development sector, Cabral presents a defined production timeline, a widening cash flow margin driven by gold prices, significant resource growth optionality, and a management team with a track record of discovering and building mines in the same district. The re-rating catalysts are multiple, sequential, and near-term.
View Cabral Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/cabral-gold
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Interview with Andrew Penkethman, MD & CEO of Ardea Resources Ltd.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/western-nickel-projects-gain-momentum-as-supply-dynamics-improve-9150
Recording date: 30th March 2026
Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL) has made meaningful progress in advancing the Goongarrie Hub, its flagship asset within the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project in Western Australia. The company recently secured approximately A$1 billion in indicative funding support from Export Finance Australia and the US Export-Import Bank, representing a significant external endorsement of the project ahead of the completion of its Definitive Feasibility Study, due in the June 2026 quarter.
The Goongarrie Hub is one of the largest nickel-cobalt resources in the world and is being developed through an incorporated joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Corporation. The Japanese partners hold 75% of the project's offtake and bring integrated downstream processing expertise, established export credit agency relationships, and a track record of delivering large-scale resource projects globally. This partnership structure is central to Ardea's ability to access competitive project financing and provides a level of commercial credibility that distinguishes the company from peers still in search of strategic partners.
The EFA letter of support is for up to A$500 million and can be structured across debt, equity, or other instruments. The US EXIM indicative support is for US$350 million, or approximately A$500 million. Both are conditional on DFS completion, environmental approvals, and a Final Investment Decision, and should be understood as indicative rather than committed capital. That said, management described the receipt of this support ahead of DFS completion as an industry first, and the involvement of two major Western government-backed institutions adds credibility to the project's strategic positioning within broader Australia-Japan-US critical mineral cooperation frameworks.
Total project capex is expected to exceed the A$3.1 billion estimated in the 2023 Prefeasibility Study, driven by flowsheet changes and inflationary pressures. The financing gap between current indicative support and total capex is material, and investors should expect additional equity raises as the project progresses. The company is pursuing a multi-layered capital stack that includes further export credit agency engagement, potential government grants, and the possible monetisation of Ardea's retained 25% offtake entitlement.
The DFS is the central near-term focus. Completion in the June 2026 quarter will trigger a Mini Investment Decision to commit to the FEED phase, advancing engineering from approximately 30% to 60% completion and substantially derisking the path to a Final Investment Decision. The FEED phase is planned to run in parallel with the environmental approvals process, which is traditionally 18 to 24 months. Major Project Status from the Australian federal government and a pending Lead Agency Status application in Western Australia are expected to assist in streamlining this process.
On the market side, Ardea's management points to tightening Indonesian permitting standards and growing defence-driven demand for high-quality stainless steel as structural tailwinds for nickel prices. The project sits at the intersection of a potential cyclical recovery in nickel and an accelerating geopolitical shift toward Western-aligned critical mineral supply chains.
For investors, the June 2026 DFS completion represents the most actionable near-term catalyst. Ardea is advancing through a well-defined development pathway with credible partners, institutional backing, and growing government support — but the path to production remains multi-year, capital-intensive, and conditional on milestones yet to be achieved.
View Ardea Resoures' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/ardea-resources-limited
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Recording date: 31st March 2026
Olive Resource Capital is responding to a sharp, volatility-driven sell-off in mining equities by repositioning its portfolio toward higher-quality, more liquid gold producers — a strategy grounded in the view that institutional forced selling, rather than fundamental deterioration, is responsible for the bulk of recent price declines.
Speaking on their investment podcast, Samuel Pelaez, President, CEO, and CIO, and Derek McPherson, Executive Chairman, outlined a deliberate spring-clean of the firm's holdings. The core thesis is straightforward: when risk managers at leveraged funds are forced to de-risk portfolios rapidly, mining stocks — categorised as high-risk assets — are sold indiscriminately, regardless of underlying asset quality. The result is a repricing event that creates entry points disconnected from fundamentals, with valuations across junior and mid-tier gold names down 20–60% from recent highs.
Rather than chasing the steepest discounts at the riskiest end of the market, Olive is moving up the market capitalisation and liquidity spectrum. The two names at the centre of their repositioning are Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and Goldsky (TSXV:GSKR). Northern Star is Australia's largest gold producer and operator of the Super Pit, the country's largest gold mine. The company has delivered consistently against guidance for most of its fifteen-year history. Temporary operational setbacks over the past six months, compounded by broad gold price weakness, have pushed the stock to what Pelaez describes as the most attractive entry point since the company was founded. The operational issues are characterised as temporary; the asset quality and management track record are not in question. Olive is treating it as a multi-quarter accumulation, with scope to add further on any near-term earnings disappointment.
Goldsky presents a different but complementary opportunity. The company is consolidating 100% of the Barsele project through an ongoing acquisition process. McPherson notes the stock is trading in an unusual manner relative to its fundamental position, likely as a result of transaction mechanics rather than any change in underlying value. The completion of the Barsele acquisition is expected to serve as a near-term re-rating catalyst. Across both names and their broader portfolio, Olive's non-negotiable filter is balance sheet strength. Financing conditions have deteriorated sharply. Companies requiring capital raises are now doing so on materially worse terms — warrants and sweeteners that were unnecessary two months ago are now standard — while cashed-up operators can continue executing, maintaining momentum and avoiding dilution.
Looking ahead, the pair flag two key dynamics for investors to monitor. First, Q2 margins face a potential double squeeze: gold's average price is expected to be lower than Q1's exceptional levels above $5,000 per ounce, while rising energy costs — energy represents approximately 30% of open-pit mining costs — flow through from higher oil prices. Margins remain healthy, but the rate of expansion will slow. Second, M&A conditions are ripening. Compressed valuations, record producer free cash flow, and the psychological ease of offering premiums to depressed share prices create the conditions for an active deal calendar in the months ahead.
For investors willing to apply discipline and maintain a medium-term horizon, the current environment offers access to some of the highest-quality gold producer equities at valuations not seen in over a decade.
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Interview with Frederick H. Earnest, President & CEO of Vista Gold
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/vista-gold-corp-nysevgz-39m-oversubscribed-raise-funds-development-push-9478
Recording date: 28th March 2026
Vista Gold Corp. (NYSE: VGZ) is advancing its Mt Todd Gold project in Australia's Northern Territory with a strategic rightsizing that management believes positions the asset for independent development while addressing a significant market valuation disconnect.
The company completed a 2025 feasibility study that reduced the project from 50,000 tons per day to 15,000 tons per day, cutting initial capital requirements by 59% from approximately $1 billion to $425 million. This restructuring targets annual production of 153,000 ounces over the first 15 years of a 30-year mine life, with the company raising its design cutoff grade from 0.35 to 0.5 grams per ton to prioritize higher-quality ore.
At a conservative $2,500 per ounce gold price, the feasibility study projects an after-tax NPV of $1.1 billion and a 27.8% IRR, with all-in sustaining costs near $1,500 per ounce. At $3,300 gold, the NPV increases to $2.2 billion with an IRR approaching 45%. With current gold prices around $4,500 per ounce, the project demonstrates substantial leverage to prevailing market conditions.
Despite holding 5.2 million ounces of proven and probable reserves and 10.6 million total ounces, Vista Gold trades at a significant discount to peers on enterprise value per ounce metrics. CEO Frederick Ernest attributes this partly to legacy perceptions from the project's 1990s operational history, though he emphasized that past failures stemmed from poor equipment selection rather than fundamental project flaws. Modern HPGR crusher technology is expected to achieve 90% metallurgical recovery versus historical 70% rates, while the frequently cited "hard ore" issue translates to only $50 per ounce in additional energy costs.
Near-term catalysts include permitting approvals expected through mid-2027, building an experienced Australian mine development team, and securing project financing through multiple pathways including traditional banks, government infrastructure funding, and potential streaming arrangements. The company closed a $44.85 million financing in March 2026, providing over $50 million in cash to fund development activities.
View Vista Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/vista-gold-corporation
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Interview with Victor Cantore, President & CEO of Amex Exploration Inc. 
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/amex-exploration-tsxvamx-high-grade-quebec-gold-project-targets-q3-2027-production-9500
Recording date: 26th March 2026
Amex Exploration Inc. (TSXV:AMX) has positioned itself as a potentially undervalued opportunity in the gold development sector, with management arguing the company's $470 million market capitalisation fails to reflect the project's underlying economics compared to similarly staged peers.
The Quebec-based developer's investment thesis rests on three fundamental pillars: exceptional ore grades, capital-efficient phased development, and strategic infrastructure positioning. At the project's core lies a grade differential that management characterizes as transformative. While comparable development projects report grades between 1.9 and 3.6 grams per tonne, AMX's deposit averages 5.1 grams per tonne on a diluted basis. The flagship Champagne zone grades 16 grams per tonne before dilution, with practical mining grades expected between 10 and 12 grams per tonne.
This grade advantage translates directly into capital efficiency. Phase 1 development requires $146 million in capital expenditure to achieve production exceeding 100,000 ounces annually from a 2.3 million ounce resource base. The company's phased approach—bulk sample followed by Phase 1 and Phase 2—creates a self-funding pathway designed to minimize equity dilution, with each stage generating revenue to finance subsequent expansion.
Near-term catalysts include imminent bulk sample permit approval, currently at the six-month review threshold following submission in mid-September. Upon approval, construction mobilization follows within 45 days, positioning the project for mid-2027 initial production of 20,000 to 23,000 ounces. Phase 1 commercial production targets early-to-mid 2028.
Infrastructure access provides additional operational advantages. Proximity to an established town delivers immediate workforce availability, while electrical grid connectivity eliminates diesel generation requirements and associated fuel price exposure. Water supply exists through municipal connections, collectively differentiating the project's capital intensity from remote deposits requiring greenfield infrastructure construction.
Management contends that peers with similar production timelines trade at market capitalisations between $1.2 billion and double AMX's current valuation, despite what the company characterises as inferior grade economics and higher capital requirements.
View Amex Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/amex-exploration
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