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-tapping-into-bcs-copper-gold-amid-global-demand-surge-5754Recording date: 11th June 2025Pacific Ridge Exploration Limited (TSXV:PEX) has undergone a significant strategic transformation, joining the prestigious Fiore Group while pivoting from planned US expansion back to its core British Columbia copper-gold portfolio. Under CEO Blaine Monaghan's leadership, the company now controls 100% of five promising projects in BC's emerging critical minerals landscape.The partnership with the Fiore Group represents a major validation of Pacific Ridge's asset quality, bringing strategic advisors Rob McLeod and Ryan Waymark alongside crucial capital access and M&A expertise. "I think I found most gratifying over this past year where it's been really really hard to access capital in the market and you begin to question and wonder if your projects are as good as you think you are and that was really validation," Monaghan explained.The company's flagship Kliyul project has attracted significant investment, with over $14 million spent and 19,000 meters of drilling completed since 2021. Management targets an inaugural resource estimate of minimum 250 million tons, with recent geophysical surveys suggesting the majority of the system remains untested. Highlight intercepts exceed 300 meters of 0.8% copper equivalent, with mineralization extending to 600 meters depth.Pacific Ridge's RDP project presents exceptional high-grade potential, building on Antofagasta Minerals' discovery of 110 meters grading 1.4% copper equivalent - one of BC's best intervals in 2022. The upcoming $1.5 million drill program will test expansion potential from this discovery, with geological interpretation indicating a steeply dipping pipe system leading to deeper mineralization.The company's tight capital structure of only 19 million shares outstanding provides significant leverage to drilling success, particularly given the high-grade nature of targets in the increasingly active Stikine terrain. With regional momentum building around discoveries like Amarc's nearby Joy project and government support for critical minerals development, Pacific Ridge is positioned to capitalize on both local and global copper market dynamics.View Pacific Ridge Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/pacific-ridge-explorationSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with George Salamis, President & CEO of Integra Resources Corp.Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/integra-resources-tsxvitr-developer-transforms-into-cash-flowing-gold-producer-7094Recording date: 9th June 2025Integra Resources has successfully completed its transformation from a gold developer to a cash-flowing producer, marking a pivotal shift in the company's eight-year trajectory. The Nevada-focused mining company now operates the Florida Canyon mine, which began production six months ago and serves as the financial engine for developing two additional projects in the state's prolific Great Basin region.President and CEO George Salamis emphasizes that many institutional investors still perceive Integra as a developer rather than a producer. "The concept of Integra actually producing gold and having cash flow is new," he explains. "About two-thirds of the funds that we're meeting this week don't know Integra as a gold producer - they know Integra as a gold developer."The company controls a substantial 10 million ounce portfolio across three Nevada projects, targeting 300,000 ounces annually when all assets reach production. This scale would position Integra among mid-tier gold producers, representing a significant step-change from typical junior developer models.Florida Canyon's restart has generated impressive financial results, with $60 million in treasury and cash margins of approximately $1,000 per ounce. This financial strength enables self-funded development of the DeLamar and Nevada North projects without dilutive equity financing. "Six months ago we would have been not contemplating going fast this year on Nevada North," Salamis notes. "Now with the cash balance that we have and the money that we're generating from Florida Canyon, we can afford to go much faster."The company benefits from favorable regulatory tailwinds under the current US administration, which has designated gold as a critical mineral and promised 30-day permitting turnarounds. Integra sits among the top three projects in the US permitting queue, positioning it advantageously in a sector with limited new development opportunities.Despite operational progress, Integra trades below typical producer multiples, creating a valuation gap that management expects to close through consistent quarterly performance and market education efforts.View Integra Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/integra-resourcesSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Paul Barrett, CEO, Rome ResourcesOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/rome-resources-lsermr-drc-drilling-restarts-7052Recording date: 8th May 2025Rome Resources PLC has announced a potentially transformative discovery at its flagship Bisie North project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, identifying a new tin zone that extends well beyond the company's previously known mineralized footprint. The AIM-listed tin and base metals explorer intersected a 40-meter-wide tin-bearing zone in drill hole MADD030 on the northeastern flank of the Mont Agoma prospect, with initial XRF readings confirming elevated tin levels.What makes this discovery particularly significant is its location outside both the current mineralized footprint and the established tin-in-soil geochemical anomaly. CEO Paul Barrett explained that the company has identified "a broad shear zone, maybe 500m to a kilometer wide" that provides the geological framework for interpreting the discovery. The finding represents either a new tin system or fault repetition of known mineralization, potentially opening the entire eastern flank for exploration.Rome Resources currently operates three active drilling rigs at Mont Agoma, with four holes totaling 737 meters completed since May 13, 2025. All holes have intersected visual tin, copper, and zinc mineralization confirmed through on-site analysis. The company has engaged MSA Group to complete its maiden resource estimate by the end of June 2025, with updated numbers planned for September following additional drilling results.The discovery comes at an opportune time for DRC-focused mining companies, with improved security conditions and increased strategic investor interest. The recent acquisition of neighboring Alphamin by Abu Dhabi's International Resources Holding validates the region's strategic importance for critical minerals supply chains. Barrett noted that this regional validation, combined with improved security conditions, creates a favorable operating environment.With tin being essential for electronics manufacturing and renewable energy infrastructure, Rome Resources is positioned to benefit from global supply chain diversification efforts. The company expects assay results before July 31, 2025, which will provide quantitative data to assess the commercial significance of this potentially game-changing discovery.Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/rome-resourcesSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Michael Rowley, President & CEO of Stillwater Critical MineralsOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/group-ten-metals-pge-pges-nickel-and-copper-time-to-reward-patient-investors-343Recording date: 5th June 2025Stillwater Critical Minerals has positioned itself as a leading domestic critical minerals investment opportunity, combining substantial polymetallic resources with strategic institutional backing and favorable policy tailwinds. The company's recent transformation from Group 10 Metals reflects management's conviction in their Montana asset, which sits within America's most established platinum group element mining district.The investment proposition centers on a significant resource base containing 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper, and cobalt alongside 3.8 million ounces of platinum group elements and gold. This polymetallic endowment addresses multiple critical mineral supply chains simultaneously, providing natural commodity diversification and reducing single-metal price risk. The resource represents a potential 10-20 year mine life operation with bulk tonnage scenarios exceeding $50 per ton gross value.Glencore's strategic 15.4% investment provides crucial institutional validation and operational expertise. The global commodity giant has made two separate investments and secured board representation, indicating serious commercial interest beyond passive investment. This partnership brings established market access, technical knowledge, and potential development capital to advance the project through feasibility studies.The project's location within Montana's Stillwater Complex offers significant operational advantages. Positioned within 500 meters of Sibanye-Stillwater's active East Boulder mine, the company can potentially leverage existing infrastructure, processing facilities, and skilled workforce. This proximity reduces development capital requirements and project execution risk compared to greenfield opportunities in remote locations.Management has assembled proven technical expertise through recruitment from Ivanhoe Mines, bringing direct experience developing complex polymetallic deposits. The team's geological model applies successful Bushveld Complex strategies to similar rock formations, reducing exploration risk and accelerating resource definition. Their reinterpretation of 40,000 meters of historical and recent drilling data has identified previously unrecognized economic potential within the lower Stillwater Complex.Federal policy alignment creates exceptional development opportunities. The project directly addresses U.S. critical mineral security objectives, with potential access to Defense Production Act funding and regulatory support. Montana's pro-mining jurisdiction and established permitting frameworks provide additional development advantages, while congressional support has been demonstrated through direct engagement with the state's delegation.The development timeline offers near-term catalysts for value recognition. Management expects to complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment by Q3 2026, following additional drilling and resource modeling work. This milestone will provide crucial economic validation and establish the foundation for advanced feasibility studies and potential strategic partnerships.Market dynamics strongly favor domestic critical mineral development. Supply chain vulnerabilities, energy transition demand, and strategic stockpiling trends create sustained growth drivers across Stillwater's commodity portfolio. The company's polymetallic approach provides exposure to multiple market segments while reducing dependence on individual commodity cycles. Strategic optionality enhances investment appeal through multiple potential development pathways. These include strategic partnerships with neighboring operators, infrastructure sharing agreements, independent development scenarios, or potential acquisition by major mining companies seeking domestic critical mineral exposure.With approximately $15 million invested against a current market capitalization of C$63 million, Stillwater represents compelling value creation potential. The combination of substantial resources, institutional backing, policy support, and proven management positions the company to capitalize on America's critical mineral security imperative while delivering significant investor returns through systematic project advancement and strategic value realization.View Stillwater Critical Minerals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/stillwater-critical-mineralsSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Sam Lee, President & CEO of NorthIsle Copper & Gold Inc.Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/northisle-copper-gold-tsxvncx-long-life-high-margin-canadian-project-6739Recording date: 5th June 2025Northisle Copper & Gold is positioning itself as a premier copper-gold development story, combining exceptional project economics with strategic board additions that signal institutional credibility. Led by President and CEO Sam Lee, the company has assembled a world-class team to advance what it characterizes as an extraordinary project trading at significant discount to its underlying value.The company's preliminary economic assessment reveals compelling fundamentals: a CAD$2 billion NPV after tax with 45% internal rate of return over 29 years at conservative metal prices. At current spot prices of $4.60 copper and $2,900 gold, the economics expand to a remarkable CAD$3.7 billion NPV. Despite these metrics, Northisle trades at approximately $250 million market capitalization, representing just 0.1 times net asset value.Strategic board appointments underscore the project's institutional appeal. Alex Davidson, a 30-year Barrick Gold executive vice president instrumental in identifying major global gold projects, brings unparalleled operational expertise. "If there's a major gold project in this world, Alex has touched it somehow," Lee noted. Complementing Davidson's experience, Dr. Pablo Mejia, former VP of Exploration at Ero Copper, contributes AI-driven geological analysis capabilities to unlock value from the project's extensive 60-year database.The company has engineered a phased development strategy that prioritizes high-grade, high-margin zones delivering 70% EBITDA margins. This approach, following the successful Teck Resources model, uses early gold production of 200,000 ounces annually to fund broader district development across a 35-kilometer porphyry system.Northisle's systematic exploration approach has delivered consistent results, with four consecutive phases generating a 3:1 return ratio—each $7 million drilling program translating to $25-30 million market capitalization increases. This disciplined execution, combined with strong political support for Canadian critical mineral development and strategic tidewater access on Vancouver Island, positions Northisle as a compelling investment opportunity in an increasingly strategic sector.View NorthIsle Copper & Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/northisle-copper-goldSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Simon Marcotte, President & CEO of Northern Superior Resources Inc.Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/northern-superior-resources-tsxvsup-consolidating-12moz-resource-base-7148Recording date: 7th June 2025Northern Superior Resources (TSXV: SUP) has reported exceptional drilling results at its flagship Philibert project in Quebec's Chibougamau Gold Camp, delivering what CEO Simon Marcotte describes as "probably the best drilling results we've seen" at the property. The discovery of high-grade underground mineralization directly beneath the existing open-pit resource fundamentally transforms the project's development profile and economic potential.The latest drilling campaign intersected remarkable grades including 21.6 metres at 4.82 g/t Au with 7.0 metres at 11.86 g/t Au, and 22.2 metres at 2.09 g/t Au including 10.0 metres at 3.54 g/t Au. These results extend a new high-grade discovery zone over 200 metres of strike length with more than 150 metres of vertical extent.The strategic significance lies in the underground mineralization's position beneath the planned open pit, enabling a phased development approach that generates cash flow during the transition to underground operations. "If it's under an open pit, then you mine the open pit first and then you access the high-grade with a ramp," Marcotte explained. "So in other words, you're making money while accessing the high-grade at depth."This discovery strengthens Northern Superior's broader consolidation strategy in the Chibougamau Gold Camp, where the company and IAMGOLD now control 12.4 million ounces of defined resources. The camp's simple metallurgy, with 93-95% recovery rates, supports optimization opportunities across multiple deposits through a hub-and-spoke processing strategy.With strong gold prices creating favorable market conditions and Northern Superior maintaining an active exploration pipeline across its 62,000-hectare land package, the company appears well-positioned to capitalize on what Marcotte believes will be "the next big camp to take off globally."View Northern Superior Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/northern-superior-resources-incSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Troy Boisjoli, CEO, ATHA EnergyOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atha-energy-tsxvsask-up-to-47-grades-defining-mineralized-potential-6890Recording date: 4 May 2025ATHA Energy emerges as a compelling uranium investment opportunity amid unprecedented nuclear expansion policies and shifting global supply dynamics. The Canadian exploration company controls significant uranium assets positioned to benefit from US executive orders targeting a quadrupling of nuclear power capacity from 50 million to 200 million pounds per annum.The company's flagship Angilak project holds a 43 million pound historic resource at an exceptional 0.69% U3O8 grade, comparable to world-class deposits. ATHA's 2024 drilling program achieved a remarkable 100% success rate across 25 drill holes, demonstrating the scale and continuity of mineralization. CEO Troy Boisjoli notes this success rate is "uncommon" in uranium exploration, indicating substantial metal endowment potential.Beyond the established historic resource, ATHA controls the entire unexplored Angikuni basin, spanning 31 kilometers of mineralized structural trend comparable to the Athabasca basin. This district-scale opportunity presents discovery potential analogous to early Athabasca exploration in the 1960s, with surface mineralization up to 30% uranium and historical drilling results showing grades up to 5.6%.The company's exploration program is led by Cliff Revering, former chief geologist responsible for bringing Cigar Lake into production. The concurrent drill programs target both additional work at established projects, as well as new discoveries.Market fundamentals support uranium price appreciation, with current conditions mirroring the 2006-2007 period that saw prices rise from the mid-$30s to $135-138 per pound. Boisjoli describes market tension as "a spring that's being coiled very very tight," driven by constrained global supply chains and accelerating demand from both traditional utilities and technology companies requiring nuclear power for data centers.Canada's strategic position as a stable uranium supplier becomes increasingly valuable as global supply chains fragment, with significant Kazakhstani production committed to China and Russia, creating what Boisjoli terms a "bifurcated uranium market."Learn More: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atha-energySign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Rana Vig, Director & CEO of Blue Lagoon ResourcesOur previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/blue-lagoon-resources-bllg-gold-producer-focused-on-being-explorer-1079Recording date: 5 May 2025Blue Lagoon Resources (CSE: BLLG, OTCQB: BLAGF) is set to commence gold production on July 9, 2025, marking the culmination of a five-year permitting process that CEO Rana Vig initially expected to take just 18 months. The company's high-grade British Columbia property near Smithers represents a significant milestone in today's challenging regulatory environment, where typical mining permits can extend to 20 years.The 22,000-hectare property contains 15 known high-grade veins averaging 9 grams per ton, with current measured and indicated resources of 218,000 ounces concentrated on a single vein. Management projects a clear path to over one million ounces based on extensive drilling programs totaling more than 50,000 meters. Recent drilling 150 meters below known resources has yielded intercepts exceeding 18 grams per ton across multiple hits, with increasing copper grades suggesting proximity to the mineralization source.Blue Lagoon's strategic approach emphasizes cash flow generation over traditional equity financing. "I could have raised more money for this company a couple of years ago, but everybody was depressed," Vig explained. "Why dilute at that level? I'd be at 700-800 million-900 million shares." Instead, management plans to use production cash flow as an "ATM" to fund exploration and expansion activities.The company has invested approximately $40 million in infrastructure and assembled an experienced operational team, including Cobra Mining contractors familiar with the historical Noranda operations at the same site. A validated toll processing partnership with Nicola Mining confirmed 90-95% recovery rates through previous test shipments.Cash flow generation is projected for fall 2025, with free cash flow expected by year-end. The timing coincides favorably with gold prices exceeding $3,300, well above the company's $2,600 base case assumptions. This positions Blue Lagoon uniquely among junior miners as it transitions from exploration to immediate revenue generation in a sector dominated by speculative plays.Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/blue-lagoon-resourcesSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com

Interview with Darren Cooke, CEO, FireFly MetalsRecording date: 5 May 2025FireFly Metals has emerged as a compelling turnaround opportunity in the Canadian mining sector following its strategic acquisition of the Green Bay copper-gold project in Newfoundland. The company acquired the asset from administration in August 2023, securing an unencumbered deposit after clearing all previous debt and unfavorable contracts that had plagued the former operator.Under CEO Darren Cooke, a seasoned geologist with experience at Northern Star, Barrick, and Newmont, FireFly has transformed the project's prospects through aggressive resource expansion and strategic infrastructure planning. The company has grown the resource base by 50% from 40 million tons to 60 million tons through a comprehensive 90,000-meter drilling program, with recent results indicating the ore body extends at least 200 meters beyond current boundaries.The previous operator's failure stemmed from a fundamental infrastructure mismatch—operating a 500,000 ton per annum processing plant against a 40+ million ton resource. Cooke illustrated the problem succinctly: "So it would take 80 years to actually process what they had when we bought it." FireFly's solution involves building a right-sized 1.8 million ton per annum processing plant on-site, eliminating transport costs and reducing port access from 140 kilometers to just 6 kilometers.The project's high-grade nature, averaging approximately 2% copper with gold credits, provides significant economic advantages over large-scale porphyry deposits that require decades and billions in capital for development. Recent market conditions further support the project's value proposition, with negative treatment charges reflecting strong demand for quality copper concentrate.FireFly recently completed a $77-80 million capital raise led by institutional investors from Canada, the US, and London, with BlackRock as the largest shareholder. This funding provides runway through feasibility studies and early construction phases, positioning the company for rapid production timeline in a jurisdiction known for favorable mining conditions and skilled workforce availability.Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/firefly-metalsSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com