Company Interviews

Interview with Blaine Monaghan, President & CEO of Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/pacific-ridge-exploration-tsxvpex-undervalued-bc-copper-explorer-reports-first-resource-estimate-8193
Recording date: 20th April 2026
Pacific Ridge Exploration is advancing two copper-gold porphyry projects in British Columbia's southern Toodoggone district during a period of elevated commodity prices. With copper trading around $6 per pound—triple the level when drilling commenced in 2021—the economics of the company's flagship Kliyul project have fundamentally improved.
The company has defined a maiden resource of 334 million tons grading 0.33% copper equivalent at Kliyul, representing 5.7 million ounces of gold equivalent. This resource was discovered for approximately $15 million across 20,000 meters of drilling, demonstrating capital efficiency that CEO Blaine Monaghan believes provides significant leverage for future exploration. The deposit is characterized as a gold-rich system with a 2:1 gold-to-copper value ratio, offering exposure to both commodities.
Management's explicit strategy is to build a resource large enough to attract merger and acquisition interest from major mining companies. The initial target of 500 million tons appears achievable through systematic step-out drilling at the Kliyul main zone, which remains open in multiple directions on 150-meter drill spacing. Beyond resource expansion, the company has identified three untested porphyry targets along a 6-kilometer mineralized trend—M39 and Klip being the highest priority—that offer discovery potential to enhance both resource size and grade profile.
The RDP project presents additional upside through a concealed porphyry center interpreted to lie between two mineralized magnetic lobes. Only 12 modern holes have tested this target, with the 2026 program allocating 1,500 to 2,000 meters specifically to this high-priority zone.
Despite resources comparable to peers trading 6-8 times higher, Pacific Ridge maintains a market capitalization of approximately $15 million. Management attributes this valuation discount to recent share dilution and limited news flow during winter months, factors they believe are now largely resolved. The company plans to drill a minimum of 4,000 meters at both projects during the 2026 field season, with results expected from late summer through year-end, providing multiple catalysts for market re-rating.
View Pacific Ridge Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/pacific-ridge-exploration
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Recording date: 17th April 2026
Recent developments in the Guyana mining sector have dramatically reshaped valuations for junior gold companies. The spark came when G Mining acquired G2 Goldfields for roughly $3 billion CAD. This deal carried a massive 80% premium, valuing G2’s 3.2 million recoverable ounces at about $600 CAD per ounce. To put this in perspective, imagine a neighborhood where a house suddenly sells for nearly double the historical market rate; naturally, every other homeowner immediately reevaluates their own property's worth. This transaction established one of the highest valuation benchmarks seen in recent mining mergers and acquisitions.
Just three days after the G2 buyout, Omai Gold Mines capitalized on the shifting landscape by releasing a massive mineral resource update. Revealing nearly 8 million ounces, Omai boasts a resource base more than double that of G2. As the most advanced asset in the Guiana Shield not already owned by a producing company, Omai's scarcity value has skyrocketed. Investors quickly connected the dots: applying the $600-per-ounce metric to Omai suggests a potential valuation approaching $6 per share, a steep premium over its recent $2.50 trading price. Unsurprisingly, Omai shares surged 40% within a week as the broader market recognized this discrepancy.
Investment firms are actively maneuvering to capture this upside. Olive Resource Capital, holding Omai as its largest asset, navigated recent market turbulence with surgical precision by selling equities in February and aggressively buying during March volatility. As the broader gold sector shifts its focus toward operational efficiency and supply chain management rather than aggressive growth, advanced development assets like Omai stand out as prime targets for future industry consolidation.
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Interview with Oliver Turner, VP, Corporate Development of Americas Gold & Silver Corp.
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/americas-gold-silver-tsxusa-undervalued-investment-series-with-oliver-turner-9605
Recording date: 20th April 2026
Americas Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX:USA) is one of the more straightforward turnaround-to-growth stories currently available in the silver sector. The company controls the Galena mine in Idaho's Silver Valley with 190 million ounces of silver in resource at 19% year-over-year increase in M&I mineral resources and 21% increase in M&I grades. After 14 months of operational restructuring under a new management team, the company has moved into active execution of a strategy it spent much of 2025 designing and capitalising.
The operational picture at Galena is improving on several fronts. The introduction of longwall stoping, a more productive mining method than the underhand cut-and-fill technique the mine had used for a century, has already delivered results. In 2025, Galena produced silver at 473 g/t, the highest grade in 20 years. Nine longwall panels have been completed, and the transition to 70% longwall stoping by late 2027 is projected to reduce per-tonne mining costs by 40–50%. At the same time, hoisting upgrades have doubled shaft capacity and are expected to triple skipping speeds by mid-May 2026, while a fibre optic network is being installed to automate mine operations and improve productivity further.
Alongside Galena, the company acquired the Crescent mine, located nine miles away, which produces the same ore type and will begin feeding the Galena mill in H2 2026. With the Galena mill currently running at roughly 55% of capacity, Crescent ore provides a near-term margin improvement by spreading fixed costs across a higher throughput base. Crescent has not seen an exploration drill hole since 2011, and the company plans to drill it aggressively as part of its 64,000-metre, $20 million 2026 exploration programme.
The antimony angle is one that distinguishes Americas Gold & Silver from most silver producers. Galena is the largest producing antimony mine in the Americas and has produced antimony continuously since World War II. Until recently, the company was contractually penalised for this production rather than paid for it. That changed on January 2026 when a renegotiated offtake agreement brought antimony and copper into the revenue column. A joint venture with US Antimony to construct an on-site leaching facility is expected operational within 16 months at a total cost of approximately $50 million which will further maximise the value of that production stream. Americas Gold & Silver's 51% share is fundable from operating cash flow, and US government financing discussions are underway.
From a valuation standpoint, the company currently trades at 0.6–0.7 times NAV based on eight-analyst consensus at spot prices. Comparable silver producers trade at 1.5–2 times NAV. Recent M&A in the silver sector has taken place at approximately 2 times NAV. That gap is the investment opportunity in its simplest form. Closing it requires execution and the first production report of 2026 was received positively by the market.
The risks are real. Underground silver mining ramp-ups are operationally complex, and the antimony leaching facility has not yet broken ground. Investors should treat 2026 quarterly production reports as the primary scorecard. But the resource quality, cost reduction trajectory, byproduct monetisation timeline, and valuation discount to peers combine to make Americas Gold & Silver one of the more compelling risk-reward propositions in the silver producer space today.
View Americas Gold & Silver's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/americas-gold-silver-corporation
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Interview with Scott Lower, President of Trillion Energy
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/trillion-energy-csetcf-presses-ahead-with-turnaround-strategy-to-double-monthly-cashflow-6192-47aa0
Recording date: 15th April 2026
Trillion Energy has executed a transformative strategic pivot, exiting its operationally challenging offshore operations to capitalize on a lucrative onshore light oil discovery in Southeast Turkey’s M47 block.
For years, Trillion faced bureaucratic delays and high costs at its offshore SASB gas field, where it operated as a minority partner. By divesting this asset, the company successfully eliminated over $20 million in accumulated liabilities and cleaned up its balance sheet. Simultaneously, Trillion retained a 7% production royalty that offers future financial upside without ongoing operational risks or burdens.
The company’s new primary focus is the M47 block, an area experiencing an exploration boom. Trillion’s C1 well on the North Lead encountered 38 meters of net pay, testing at high-quality 32.4 API light oil. Independent evaluators have confirmed over 27 million barrels of contingent resources net to Trillion based on its newly acquired 29% working interest, boasting an 81% chance of development and commerciality.
Transitioning onshore fundamentally streamlines Trillion’s operational efficiency. Unlike the complex logistics of offshore drilling, the M47 block benefits from abundant local infrastructure and active nearby rigs. With production costs estimated at a remarkably low $10 per barrel, the baseline economics are highly favorable. Trillion must complete a two-well work obligation requiring roughly $7 million. However, with analog wells producing strongly, management anticipates a rapid one-to-two-month capital payback, enabling the company to effectively self-fund future expansion.
Despite this massive underlying potential, Trillion remains significantly undervalued, trading at a market capitalization that implies less than $0.50 per barrel. In a Turkish market that heavily imports its oil, Trillion’s M47 project provides a secure, locally produced domestic supply. With aligned private partners and highly favorable project economics, the company is strongly positioned for rapid growth and long-term value creation.
View Trillion Energy's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/trillion-energy
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Interview with Nathan Kong, CEO of Bayan Mining & Minerals
Recording date: 17th April 2026
Bayan Mining and Minerals is emerging as a rare earths and critical minerals story built around two themes: geological proximity to a proven U.S. rare earth district and technology that could improve downstream processing economics. Its Desert Star project in California sits just 4.5 km from Mountain Pass, the only producing rare earth mine in the United States, and early surface sampling has returned grades as high as 6.68% total rare earth oxides, giving the company a credible exploration target in a strategically important jurisdiction.
The near-term catalyst is a maiden 1,000-meter reverse circulation drilling program scheduled for June 2026, with results expected in July or August. Bayan says the program will test both shallow high-grade anomalies and deeper extensions, with the geological model suggesting a possible carbonatite system at depth and monazite mineralisation near surface. The company has framed success around meaningful intercepts and retains flexibility to expand drilling quickly if early holes are encouraging.
What differentiates Bayan from a standard junior explorer is its licensing of four rare earth processing patents from Colorado School of Mines. Those technologies include a single-stage leach approach and other separation and recovery methods designed for bastnaesite-dominant ores like those at Mountain Pass, where they were developed and tested. The strategic appeal is not only higher recoveries and lower processing complexity, but also a stronger position for U.S. government support as Washington pushes to rebuild domestic critical minerals supply chains.
Bayan also has portfolio depth. Its Bayan Springs gold-silver project in Nevada’s Carlin Trend provides additional upside and downside protection, while the company’s cash balance of $2.8 million gives it runway for multiple drill campaigns without immediate funding pressure. Overall, the investment case rests on a convergence of location, geology, technology licensing, and policy tailwinds that could make Bayan a notable participant in the U.S. rare earth buildout.
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