Company Interviews

Interview with Glenn Jessome, President & CEO of Silver Tiger Metals Inc.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/silvers-designation-opens-support-pathways-as-advanced-projects-target-2026-milestones
Recording date: 6th June 2026
Silver Tiger Metals has reached a major milestone at its El Tigre project in Sonora, securing the first Mexican construction permit granted to a foreign mining company since 2019. Now over three months into building a high-margin heap leach silver and gold mine, the project is fully funded by a recent USD 60 million financing round. With earthworks underway and a 50-person camp operational, the build currently remains ahead of schedule. Management anticipates the first doré pour by December 2027, officially transitioning the firm from a development-stage company into a near-term producer.
The financial projections for El Tigre are highly compelling. At current spot prices, the surface heap leach mine boasts a standalone after-tax net present value of roughly USD 800 million, an internal rate of return of 92 percent, and generates USD 100 million annually over an initial 10-year life. Crucially, the company also released an assessment for an adjacent underground mine featuring a 15-year lifespan and a USD 830 million valuation. Unlike many Mexican epithermal deposits where surface mining blocks deeper extraction, El Tigre’s underground ore body lies entirely outside the surface footprint. This spatial advantage allows both operations to run concurrently, sharing infrastructure and drastically reducing the initial capital expenditure for the underground expansion.
Beyond the established plan, Silver Tiger is aggressively pursuing exploration upside. Drilling has resumed on northern veins located 700 meters away, targeting an additional three million tonnes of silver equivalent. This expansion could nearly double the underground resource. Despite a recent dip in share price, the company views its current valuation as a massive discount to the combined theoretical project value of up to USD 1.8 billion. As the December 2027 production target approaches and debt providers actively compete to offer favorable financing terms, Silver Tiger is uniquely positioned to capitalize on a generational peak in precious metal prices.
Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/silver-tiger-metals
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Interview with Arturo Préstamo Elizondo, Executive Chairman & CEO of Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/santacruz-silver-mining-tsxvscz-undervalued-investment-series-with-arturo-prestamo-10185
Recording date: 9th June 2026
Santacruz Silver Mining entered 2026 with improving operations, rising financial strength, and a clearer path to growth across its Bolivian and Mexican assets. In the first quarter, the company produced about 2.3 million silver-equivalent ounces, including 1.3 million ounces of silver and roughly 21,000 tonnes of zinc, alongside smaller lead and copper output. Stronger silver prices and better operating performance helped drive a solid financial quarter, with management expecting production to rise further in the second quarter.
The company’s most important near-term focus is the Bolivar mine in Bolivia, where excess water in key mining zones has limited access to high-grade silver areas. Santacruz is carrying out a dewatering program to restore output from the Pomabamba and Nena veins, with a goal of returning to budgeted production levels by the fourth quarter of 2026. Management believes this recovery will not only lift silver volumes but also lower mining costs at one of its most important assets.
Despite more than a month of political unrest in Bolivia tied to tensions between President Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales, Santacruz says its operations have remained on budget and uninterrupted. The company has reduced risk by storing key supplies in advance and using rail for most concentrate shipments, limiting exposure to road blockages.
Santacruz is also positioning itself for the next phase of growth. It expects to move from the TSX Venture Exchange to the TSX main board within weeks, a step intended to improve liquidity and attract a broader investor base. Management also plans to launch a share buyback, signaling confidence that the market undervalues the business. Beyond Bolivar, the company is advancing Soracaya, a brownfield Bolivian asset with a strong silver profile, as its main medium-term growth project in a silver market supported by persistent supply deficits.
View Santacruz Silver Mining's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/santacruz-silver-mining
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Interview with Thomas Abraham-James, President & CEO of Pulsar Helium Inc.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/pulsar-helium-tsxvplsr-building-americas-primary-helium-supply-9105
Recording date: 8th June 2026
Pulsar Helium (TSXV:PLSR) sits at the intersection of a structural commodity supply crisis and an accelerating domestic US critical minerals agenda. The company is developing the Topaz helium project in northern Minnesota, a primary helium resource that does not depend on natural gas production economics, carries an average helium concentration of 8.1% across seven drilled wells, and is now backed by a completed regulatory framework, a major US engineering partner, and production-ready drilling scheduled for September 2026.
More than 95% of global supply is produced as a byproduct of natural gas processing, which means output cannot be increased in response to price signals. When a major production node goes offline, the market has no rapid self-correcting mechanism. Two major nodes are now offline simultaneously. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz to container shipping has cut Qatar's export route — Qatar historically supplying approximately 35% of global helium. Russia, contributing a further 10%, has introduced export controls. The combined disruption has removed approximately 45% of global helium supply from the market. The CEO of QatarEnergy has indicated that restoring full production capacity could take three to five years. US customers are already reporting order allocations of 50% of typical volumes, with premiums on top.
Against this backdrop, Topaz's geological profile is genuinely differentiated. The project was identified following an accidental discovery during nickel and copper exploration drilling, when a drill hole returned helium concentrations between 10-12% and is among the highest ever recorded. Since listing via IPO in the third quarter of 2023, Pulsar has drilled seven wells across the project area. All seven encountered gas. The current average concentration of 8.1% places Topaz in an entirely different grade regime from conventional byproduct production and makes primary extraction commercially viable as a standalone helium operation.
The regulatory picture has materially improved. Minnesota had no prior framework for gas production. In 2024, the state legislated helium as a regulated commodity. In June 2026, the operational regulations were finalised — a process driven substantially by Pulsar's own work at Topaz. The removal of this non-geological risk represents a meaningful de-risking event for the project's development timeline.
The confirmation of Helium-3 at Topaz adds a longer-horizon dimension. Helium-3 has applications in quantum computing and fusion research and is currently transferred between US government agencies at approximately US$18.7 million per kilogram. No commercial separation process exists at scale yet, and management has been measured in how it frames characterising Helium-3 as the cherry on top whilst keeping Helium-4 production as the operational priority. That framing is appropriate, but the optionality is real.
The risk profile is consistent with a development-stage company. The resource has not yet been independently quantified at full scale. The economic assessment is pending. Production-ready well drilling has not yet commenced. Investors should size positions accordingly. But for those with the risk appetite for early-stage resource exposure, the combination of a 100% drilling success rate, a completed regulatory framework, a confirmed supply crisis with a multi-year recovery horizon, and an engineering partner already at work makes the near-term catalyst pathway unusually clear.

View Pulsar Helium's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/pulsar-helium
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Interview with Hayden Locke, President & CEO of Marimaca Copper Corp.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/marimaca-copper-tsxmari-tier-one-discovery-potential-alongside-mod-growth-10320
Recording date: 8th June 2026
Marimaca Copper’s Pampa Medina discovery in Chile’s Antofagasta region is emerging as a potentially world-class copper asset, with drilling confirming both exceptional grades and expanding scale. Recent results from key drill holes have defined an ultra high-grade bornite-rich core, including intersections such as 16 metres at 5.7% copper and 62.6 g/t silver. These findings sit within a broader mineralised column that can reach up to 100 metres in thickness at average grades around 1.2% copper, significantly enhancing the project’s economic potential.
Drilling has now confirmed mineralisation across an area exceeding 2 square kilometres, with the system remaining open along a northeast–southwest trend and at depth. Based on early geometric assumptions, the deposit could host between 120 million and 500 million tonnes of ore, depending on true thickness. The presence of mineralisation in multiple geological units, including newly identified zones in basement rocks, further supports the potential for substantial expansion.
These developments are prompting a shift in mining strategy. Rather than a selective underground approach, Marimaca is evaluating bulk mechanised mining methods that could lower costs and allow extraction of a larger portion of the mineralised column. This shift could materially increase recoverable tonnage and improve project economics.
While the Marimaca Oxide Deposit remains the company’s near-term development priority—and is considered valuable enough to justify the current market valuation on its own—Pampa Medina is increasingly seen as a standalone tier-one opportunity. Ongoing drilling, a forthcoming maiden resource estimate, and strong copper market fundamentals position the discovery as a potentially significant asset in a supply-constrained global market, with the scale and location likely to attract interest from major mining companies.
View Marimaca Copper's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/marimaca-copper
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Interview with Dr. Mike Jones, MD of Impact Minerals Ltd.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/impact-minerals-asxipt-pitch-perfect-october-2025-8328
Recording date: 8th June 2026
Impact Minerals Limited (ASX:IPT) is undergoing a deliberate and material transformation. What began as a junior mining explorer is becoming, under the direction of Managing Director Dr. Mike Jones, a specialty chemicals and material science company with a credible path to producing high-purity alumina which is  a critical input for battery separators, artificial sapphire, advanced ceramics, and semiconductor components.
The company's commercial strategy rests on two interconnected assets. The first is a 50% stake in Alluminous, which holds a patented solvent extraction process for producing HPA from widely available chemical feedstock. That intellectual property is now protected across the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia, jurisdictions that management views as the primary commercialisation markets. The second is the Lake Hope clay project in Western Australia, where a Pre-Feasibility Study has been completed and work toward a Definitive Feasibility Study is underway.
What has sharpened investor attention recently is a process engineering breakthrough at the Alluminous pilot plant. By modifying the orientation of impellers in the solvent extraction stage, the team achieved up to ten times the originally designed throughput. Dr. Jones has stated that this discovery could allow the company to reach production capacity comparable to its listed peers for under AU$10 million in capital — against the AU$200 million-plus spent by those peers to reach similar output levels. The scoping study for a 2,000-tonne-per-annum commercial plant is expected to provide independent cost validation shortly, making it one of the most significant near-term catalysts for the stock.
The competitive context is instructive. Alpha HPA carries a market capitalisation of approximately AU$650–700 million. Advanced Energy Minerals trades at approximately AU$250–300 million. Both began as resource companies and have re-rated substantially as they have moved toward production. Impact Minerals currently sits at a significant discount to both, at a stage where the technology has been proven in batch mode, IP is protected, and initial customer engagement — including 3kg sapphire-grade samples dispatched to European buyers — is underway.
The market entry strategy is measured. Rather than chasing premium 5N pricing immediately, management has chosen to enter the higher-volume 3N advanced ceramics segment first, building commercial credibility before moving up what Dr. Jones calls the "pyramid of purity." This approach mirrors the path taken by peers and reduces the risk of prolonged customer qualification timelines.
The company's byproduct streams add further resilience to the investment case. Potash which is almost entirely imported into Western Australia and aluminium chlorohydrate have both attracted early buyer interest and are the subject of a separate scoping study. A joint venture on these streams would allow Impact to advance its HPA programme without proportional increases in capital expenditure.
The principal risks are clear and should be held alongside the opportunity. Back-end engineering challenges remain unresolved, the technology has not yet been demonstrated at scale, and the company is pre-revenue. However, with patent protection secured, a breakthrough in production efficiency, a clear commercialisation roadmap, and peers trading at valuations ten to twenty times higher, the risk-reward profile at current prices warrants serious investor attention.
View Impact Minerals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/impact-minerals
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