Company Interviews

Interview with Nolan Peterson, CEO of Atlas Salt
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atlas-salt-tsxvsalt-streamlines-permitting-as-financing-process-accelerates-10969
Recording date: 23rd September 2026
Atlas Salt Inc. (TSXV:SALT) is developing the Great Atlantic Salt Project in western Newfoundland, a planned 4 Mtpa underground rock salt mine aimed at de-icing markets in Eastern Canada and the US Northeast. CEO Nolan Peterson outlined how changes in the road salt market, a proprietary distribution model and a growing base of lender interest are shaping the project's next phase.
The most striking change is in pricing. Road salt has historically been sold to municipalities and governments through annual tenders, with prices rising 2% to 3% a year. In 2026 that pattern broke. The company's presentation cites US tenders clearing at US$155-175 per ton against roughly $88 per ton a year earlier, with some jurisdictions receiving no bids in initial rounds. Peterson attributes the shift to depleted inventories after two hard winters, existing mines operating at capacity with limited expansion scope, and higher costs for diesel and ocean freight that affect both domestic producers and importers.
Atlas Salt intends to compete through proximity and analytics. The site sits near a deep-water port, and the company states that shipping to Boston takes about three days compared with more than 14 days from Egypt or Chile. Its in-house Meridian model maps demand across North American jurisdictions and calculates the least-cost supply route for each, allowing the company to target markets where its delivered cost gives it the widest margin. Peterson said back-testing has matched historical tender prices closely. He also noted that an unconstrained run shows profitable demand of up to 6.5 million tons, although this figure has not been studied at feasibility level.
On financing, the 2025 Feasibility Study sets initial capex at C$589 million. Atlas Salt is targeting approximately C$350 million to C$400 million of senior secured debt and holds non-binding LOIs above C$300 million. These include up to C$150 million from EDC, up to C$75 million from a second export credit agency and approximately C$79 million of equipment financing from Sandvik. Peterson sees these LOIs as anchors that make it easier for commercial banks to join with smaller tickets. The equity component has yet to be determined.
On site, early construction is under way, focused on low-cost site preparation during the summer season. The team is expanding, with new site, permitting and safety roles and a new COO. Peterson identified drift development as the main cost and schedule risk, estimating that a 10% slower advance rate could add $10 million to $20 million.
The study outlines a C$920 million after-tax NPV8, a 21.3% IRR and approximately C$188 million in average annual free cash flow. Against an enterprise value of C$174.7 million, the market is pricing in substantial financing and execution risk. The key watch-items are conversion of LOIs into binding terms, the size of any equity raise and early underground ground conditions. Positive progress on those fronts would test whether the current valuation gap begins to close.
View Atlas Salt's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atlas-salt
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Interview with Eric Zaunscherb, President & CEO of GR Silver Mining Ltd.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/gr-silver-mining-tsxvgrsl-drilling-and-pilot-plant-strategy-support-growth-10136
Recording date: 23rd September 2026
GR Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV:GRSL, OTCQX:GRSLF) is a Mexico-focused silver explorer that owns 100% of the Plomosas Project on the Sinaloa-Durango border. The project combines two assets with different roles. San Marcial is a silver discovery that hosts 46 Moz of indicated and 14 Moz of inferred silver under the 2023 resource estimate. The Plomosas Mine is a past producer that operated from 1986 to 2000 and now serves as a potential bulk sampling site. President and CEO Eric Zaunscherb has taken on direct responsibility for the Mexican business following the death of founder Marcio Fonseca.
The central development in 2026 is hole SMS26-04, which returned 45.1 m true width at 1,623 g/t silver, including 8.25 m at 8,579 g/t silver. Zaunscherb said the result matters most because it confirms the company's geological model. Mineralising fluids from an intrusive body broke up an overlying breccia. Metal was deposited in dilation zones where cross-cutting structures intersect it. The hole was 99.8% silver by value, compared with roughly 90% for the 2023 resource.
Rather than rushing out an early resource to showcase the hole, the company is tightening drill spacing around it from 100 m to 45 m. That aims to bring the zone into the indicated category for the resource update targeted for the first half of 2027. The 20,000 m programme is behind plan, with about 7,000 m completed after security issues and a difficult rainy season. GR Silver is spending about $1 million upgrading road access from Durango and plans to add rigs.
At Plomosas, SEMARNAT has ruled that no new environmental impact authorisation is required. Zaunscherb prefers toll milling or selling material at the mine gate over building a pilot plant, citing lower capital, a shorter timeline and lower execution risk. Pilot plant engineering nonetheless remains among the company's listed catalysts. Output would be limited to 60 to 100 tonnes per day by available power. The strategic value is social licence. Restoring local employment in a very poor area could build goodwill that carries over to San Marcial, 5 kilometres to the south. Management believes this could shorten San Marcial's five-to-seven-year path to potential cash flow by one or two years.
The company held C$26 million in cash and expects further proceeds from in-the-money warrants averaging C$0.26. Zaunscherb noted that the stock trades as a silver proxy. Longer term, GR Silver plans to permit an access tunnel at San Marcial, which could enable underground drilling from later 2028. Plomosas would produce lead and zinc concentrates, while San Marcial points to a Merrill-Crowe circuit producing doré.
On corporate strategy, parties are in the data room, and management is also reviewing acquisitions that could diversify risk within Mexico. Key risks are security, access, development capital and silver price sensitivity. Key watch-items are pending assays, drilling pace and the H1 2027 resource update.
View GR Silver Mining's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/gr-silver-mining
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Interview with Julien Davy, CEO of Silver Acadia
Recording date: 23rd September 2026
Silver Acadia Exploration Inc. (CSE:SLA) is an early-stage explorer focused on high-grade silver in New Brunswick's Bathurst Mining Camp. The district has a long production history, but it was explored mainly for zinc. CEO Julien Davy believes that left the silver potential of the company's Nicholas-Denys project under-examined.
The core of the investment case is the historical dataset. About 125,000 m of drilling has been completed on the project area over roughly 50 years, and about half of it was never assayed for silver. Around 50,000 m of core is still available. After hyperspectral scanning last year, the company is now re-assaying 20 to 22 selected holes, about 6,000 to 7,000 m in total. Results are expected around November. This work costs much less than redrilling and is intended to guide new targeting.
Geologically, the company describes the system as hydrothermal with remobilised mineralisation rather than pure VMS. Mapping and structural studies indicate that the highest grades sit at intersections between the regional Rocky Brook-Millstream corridor and secondary structures. The company controls about 20 km of the corridor but is concentrating on a 3 km priority area. Phase 1 drilling of roughly 3,600 m tested the model where reported results include 328.9 g/t silver and 1.0 g/t gold over 24.8 m.
Management's objective is to show continuity across a broad envelope grading 70 to 80 g/t silver, with higher-grade ore shoots inside it. Davy argues that an envelope of that grade near surface could be economic in a safe jurisdiction. The company is working toward a Mineral Resource Estimate targeted for 2027.
The shareholder base is a notable strength. About 30 holders own roughly 70% of the stock, including Michael Gentile and Victor Cantore. The company raised $4.7 million in two private placements in 2025. It now has about $2 million in cash, around 74.6 million shares outstanding and about 109 million fully diluted.
Funding is the key near-term issue. Drilling begins in November at an all-in cost of about $320 per metre and is expected to run until March or April 2027. The planned Phase 2 programme of about 15,000 m would cost roughly $4.8 million at that rate, well above current cash. Investors should expect a financing. Warrant exercises at $0.18 to $0.24 could contribute some of the capital.
Beyond the flagship, Silver Acadia holds four other projects. Goldstrike, on the same trend to the west, has returned a 455 g/t gold grab sample and 1.19 g/t gold over 10.2 m in drilling. SEDEX combines an untested gravity anomaly with an antimony occurrence that returned 4.2% antimony over 0.6 m. These projects receive about 20% of spending.
The main risks are non-compliant historical data, unproven continuity, narrow high-grade intervals, dilution, untested metallurgy and silver price volatility. For investors comfortable with early-stage exploration risk, the re-assay and winter drill results are the milestones to watch.
View Silver Acadia's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/silver-acadia-exploration
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Interview with Darcy Marud, President and CEO of Western Exploration 
Recording date: 23rd September 2026
Western Exploration Inc. (TSXV:WEX, OTCQX:WEXPF) is a Nevada-focused gold and silver developer whose 100%-owned Aura project lies in north-east Nevada near the Idaho border. The project contains two assets about 8 km apart. Doby George is a near-surface oxide gold deposit being permitted for heap leach development. Gravel Creek is a high-grade epithermal gold-silver discovery that the company made in 2013. Together they hold about 1.5 million gold-equivalent ounces in indicated and inferred categories.
President and CEO Darcy Marud has spent about 40 years in the industry, including roles at Homestake, Meridian Gold and Yamana Gold, and was part of the team behind the El Peñón mine in Chile. Several of his senior colleagues have worked with him for 20 years or more, including CFO Curtis Turner and Aura Project General Manager Mark Hawksworth.
Doby George has a long history. Homestake discovered it in the 1980s, and it carried over 800 drill holes when Western acquired it in the late 1990s. The company validated the historical data through confirmation drilling, an independent 2021 technical report and a further drilling programme in 2022. The 2025 PEA outlines a five-year open-pit, heap leach operation producing about 58,700 ounces of gold per year at a grade of 1.01 g/t. At US$3,000/oz gold, the study shows an after-tax NPV of US$211.2 million, a 62.2% IRR and AISC of US$1,197/oz. Initial capital is US$115.2 million, which is broadly equal to one year of operating cash flow. Marud said the company can see additional oxide ounces that could extend mine life to seven to ten years.
Western chose to start permitting early because it is the longest-lead item. Its Mine Plan of Operations is with the US Forest Service, and the company wants regulator feedback before completing a Pre-Feasibility Study in early to mid-2027. It is targeting a record of decision at the end of 2027, followed by state permits and a possible EIS. That points to a construction decision in 2028 or 2029 and production in 2030.
Gravel Creek provides the growth angle. Last year's resource update raised gold ounces by more than 50% and silver ounces by 83%, driven by the high-grade Jarbidge discovery. The deposit shares its age, mineralogy and style with historic northern Nevada mines such as Midas and Sleeper. Recent metallurgical work showed that concentrate can be ultra-fine ground and cyanide-leached to produce doré on site, with 73.3% gold and 74% silver recovery reported so far. Further test work is due by the end of 2026.
The company is tightly held, with 63.4 million shares outstanding, and Agnico Eagle owns 10%. Its market capitalisation of about C$40 million is small next to Doby George's capital needs, so financing structure and dilution are key considerations. Marud described Glamis Gold's start-small, grow-around-a-central-plant model as the template.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/western-exploration
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Interview with Hugh Agro, President and CEO of Revival Gold Inc
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/revival-gold-tsxvrvg-high-gold-intercepts-in-idaho-continues-mercur-nears-build-decision-11384
Recording date: 23rd September 2026
Revival Gold Inc. (TSXV:RVG, OTCQX:RVLGF) is positioning the Mercur Gold Project in Utah as a near-term US heap leach development, with a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) targeted for Q1 2027 and a construction decision planned for early 2028. The company states it has sufficient cash to reach that decision without further financing.
The starting point is Mercur's 2025 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlining an open-pit heap leach operation producing an average of 95,600 ounces of gold per year over a 10-year mine life, requiring $208 million in pre-production and working capital. At $3,000 gold, the PEA delivered an after-tax NPV of $752 million and an after-tax IRR of 57%. CEO Hugh Agro describes capital intensity of just over $200 per ounce and a capital requirement of about one-third of net asset value, with all-in sustaining costs expected to sit in the bottom quartile in North America.
Management expects the PFS to land close to the PEA. Engineering refinements to leach pad placement, truck fleet size and haulage cycle times should offer some gains, while higher energy prices will add cost. Agro has been clear that Revival Gold will keep a healthy grade and a conservative cut-off rather than lowering grades to add ounces, since recoveries in heap leach operations deteriorate at very low grades.
Technical work is converging on the PFS. Approximately 11,600 metres of the 2026 Mercur programme had been completed by late September, and the company reports that infill results continue to support PEA grade and leachability assumptions. Recent intercepts include 0.92 g/t gold over 33.5 metres and 1.82 g/t gold over 29.0 metres. Eighteen metallurgical columns are under leach with constructive early results. Environmental baseline fieldwork is complete with no red flags identified, and the company is now working with Utah's Division of Oil, Gas and Mining on its notice of intent.
The most significant development is organisational. Revival Gold has around 20 employees and 20 contractors and consultants. It has appointed a Mercur General Manager with 14 commissionings behind him, a new Exploration Manager from Kinross Gold and a Utah-based permitting and environmental manager. Around six further hires in mining, processing and human resources are planned over the next five to six months. The consultant team includes Kappes, Cassidy & Associates, WSP, RESPEC and Stantec.
The financing plan follows a defined sequence. Lender engagement begins in March or April 2027, with an eight-month review period and an independent engineer appointed well before the feasibility study is complete. The company will also evaluate streams, royalties, convertibles, private equity, offtakes and equity, likely with the support of an adviser.
At Beartrack-Arnett in Idaho, 2026 drilling expanded the vertical extent of the Joss zone by 70%, and the zone remains open to the south. An internal resource update, metallurgical testing and a concentrate market study are under way, with the next drill phase being planned.
For investors, the key catalysts are the remaining infill assays, the DOGM notice of intent and the Q1 2027 PFS. The main risks are cost inflation, permitting timing and potential dilution if Beartrack-Arnett is advanced faster than Mercur cash flow allows.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/revival-gold-inc
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