Company Interviews

Crux Investor
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An insight into junior mining and opportunities to invest. Company Interviews, a Crux Investor show, exists to cut through the jargon, bias and bluster. Matthew Gordon, and guest host Merlin Marr-Johnson hone in on the important factors that indicate a company's strong footing for growth and success.

  1. 12 hrs ago

    Group Eleven Resources (TSXV:ZNG) - Ballywire Germanium Grades Jump on New Assays

    Interview with Bart Jaworski, CEO of Group Eleven Resources Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/group-eleven-resources-tsxvzng-new-high-grade-lead-zinc-discovery-at-stonepark-11079 Recording date: 17th September 2026 Group Eleven Resources (TSXV:ZNG) has added a fresh dimension to its Ballywire discovery in Ireland: materially higher germanium grades, confirmed through a more accurate assay method. The company re-analysed 220 previously submitted samples from five drill holes, switching from lithium borate fusion to sodium peroxide fusion - a technique that better retains germanium during sample digestion. The result was a 68% average increase in reported germanium grades across the re-tested samples, with the strongest individual interval reaching 94 g/t Ge, well above typical grades of 20-40 g/t seen across the batch. This matters because germanium is not an incidental addition. CEO Bart Jaworski explained that the metal tracks closely with sphalerite, the zinc-bearing mineral already central to Ballywire's zinc-lead-silver-copper discovery: "Whenever we see high zinc numbers, we tend to have the highest germanium numbers along with it." In practice, this means Group Eleven is capturing a scarce, high-value byproduct metal within intervals it would already be reporting for zinc, lead, silver and copper - without additional exploration cost. The timing is notable. Germanium, used in AI infrastructure and fibre optics, trades at roughly US$200 per ounce outside China, up about 25% over the past year, as Chinese export restrictions imposed in 2023 continue to limit Western supply. Very little of the world's germanium comes from dedicated mines; it is recovered almost entirely as a byproduct of a small number of zinc smelters, making new supply additions structurally scarce. Jaworski described the dynamic bluntly: "There's not enough in the Western world coming that we need to backfill for China." Operationally, Group Eleven remains well-funded. A C$12 million financing closed in March 2026 is supporting a 67,000-metre drill campaign for 2026, with four rigs currently active at Ballywire and roughly 15 additional holes in the pipeline. A further 110 samples from those 15 holes are still to be reassayed for germanium, suggesting more grade revisions could follow. Ballywire itself remains substantially untested: of four gravity anomalies spanning a 6-kilometre trend, drilling to date has concentrated almost entirely on one. Investors should treat today's news as an enhancement to an existing thesis rather than a new one. The core investment case at Group Eleven still rests on the scale and grade of the underlying zinc-lead-silver-copper system at Ballywire, and on the path toward a maiden resource estimate. Germanium adds a genuine, if still unquantified, economic sweetener - genuine because the metal is present in meaningful, high-grade concentrations; unquantified because metallurgical test work establishing recoveries and payability has not yet been carried out for any metal at Ballywire, germanium included. With a small, tightly balanced global germanium market, a discovery of this scale could carry a strategic premium once those metallurgical questions are answered - but that remains a forward catalyst rather than a settled fact today.

  2. 14 hrs ago

    Mogotes Metals (TSXV:MOG) - District-Scale Explorer Triples Drilling to 20,000m Through 2027

    Interview with Allen Sabet, CEO of Mogotes Metals Inc. Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/mogotes-metals-tsxvmog-major-copper-gold-discovery-at-filo-sur-10342 Recording date: 16th September 2026 Mogotes Metals closed out its first full drilling season at the Filo Sur project with two discoveries in hand and a validating investment from one of the world's largest mining companies. The Vicuña district straddling Argentina and Chile has drawn intense attention since Lundin Mining and BHP's Filo del Sol discovery redefined the region's prospectivity, and Mogotes' ground sits immediately along strike from that deposit and its structural corridor. The season's headline result came from Albor, where a drill hole eturned 180 metres at 0.98% copper equivalent from 108 metres depth, including a higher-grade core of 58 metres at 1.77% CuEq,  the strongest single intercept drilled at Filo Sur to date. A second discovery at Cruz del Sur, roughly four kilometres to the south, returned two broad intervals exceeding 300 metres each at lower but still meaningful grades, with mineralisation open in every direction. Both discoveries sit on the Macho Muerto Fault Zone, a 10-kilometre structure that CEO Allen Sabet describes as the project's primary control on mineralisation, and one that remains mostly untested. Two further targets, Luz del Sol and Cuenca, were advanced this season through shallow drilling and channel sampling rather than full discovery-grade intercepts. Both returned encouraging but sub-economic results directly above geophysical anomalies interpreted as porphyry vectors, positioning them as first-pass drill targets in the coming season. A fifth target, Meseta, remains entirely untested after difficult ground conditions forced its deferral. The more significant near-term development for investors may be corporate rather than geological. On August 2026, Mogotes closed a US$15 million strategic investment from Rio Tinto Canada Inc., pricing the placement at a 50–70% premium to where shares had been trading. The deal establishes a Strategic & Technical Alliance giving Mogotes access to Rio Tinto's geoscience capability, while granting Rio Tinto a 15-month exclusivity period over any project-level transaction at Filo Sur, a right to match competing proposals, and a top-up right to 9.99% ownership. Sabet was careful to note that Mogotes retains full discretion over its own technical and drilling decisions, and remains free to pursue corporate-level transactions, bringing in new investors or fielding a takeover approach, despite the project-level exclusivity. That exclusivity period effectively sets the clock on a defined catalyst window: Rio Tinto will be watching the outcome of the 2026–2027 drill season, planned at up to 20,000 metres and more than triple this season's total, to decide whether to pursue a larger transaction. The company's roughly C$75 million treasury funds that programme, along with parallel option projects: Montana's Copper Cliff (a Rio Tinto-optioned porphyry system, earn-in to 51% for US$16 million) and Kazakhstan's Beskauga deposit (a multi-million-ounce gold-copper deposit with drill results due within weeks). For investors, the combination of an expanded, better-funded exploration programme and a defined major-investor decision point makes the next 12 to 15 months a genuine inflection period for the stock with the usual caveat that porphyry-district promise still has to be converted into defined, continuous tonnage. View Mogotes Metals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/mogotes-metals Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  3. 17 hrs ago

    Frontier Energy (ASX:FHE) - Financing Locked In, Waroona Build Begins

    Interview with Adam Kiley, CEO, Frontier Energy Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/frontier-energy-asxfhe-federal-backing-transforms-outlook-for-wa-renewables-developer-6941 Recording date: 15th September 2026 Frontier Energy Limited (ASX:FHE) has reached the stage that most renewable energy developers never do: fully funded, fully contracted, and building. Stage One of its Waroona Renewable Energy Project in Western Australia comprises 132MW of solar generation and an 81.5MW, 6.9-hour battery storage system, at a total capital cost of A$310 million plus A$22 million contingency. A A$110 million equity raise has lifted institutional ownership on the register to around 30%, while Natixis CIB and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have signed an underwriting letter for up to A$280 million in credit-approved debt facilities. Financial close is targeted for October or November 2026, with first debt drawdown in the first quarter of 2027. The project's risk profile is unusually contained for its stage. Frontier used a free-issue contracting model, buying equipment directly from tier-one suppliers - LONGi, Trina, SMA, Nextracker - on fixed-price terms and supplying it to EPC contractor Monford, insulating the budget from input cost inflation. Long-lead items were ordered up to 12 months in advance, and a structured early-works process with the EPC surfaced scope gaps before financial close rather than during construction. Site mobilisation began in mid-September 2026, with peak construction workforce (around 200 people) expected from January 2027 and first revenue generation targeted for 2028. Revenue certainty is the other pillar of the investment case. Independent forecaster Aurora, engaged by the project's lenders, models average annual revenue of A$72.5 million over the first five years, of which A$32 million comes from fixed-price Reserve Capacity payments locked until 2032. The project has also been selected for the federal Capacity Investment Scheme, which - alongside Reserve Capacity - extends a revenue floor through to 2042, sharing 50% of any upside above an agreed ceiling with government. Against $10 million of forecast opex, that produces average EBITDA of A$62.5 million (an 86% margin), a post-tax IRR of approximately 20%, and average free cash flow of roughly A$35 million annually after debt servicing and tax in the first five years. Beyond Stage One, Frontier holds 830 hectares of freehold land in total and has development approval already in place for a similarly sized Stage Two (~130MW solar / ~80MW BESS), connected to Western Australia's largest 330kV transmission corridor. The state faces a structural supply gap - the market operator forecasts an additional 11.5 TWh of generation needed by 2031, rising to 18.3 TWh by 2036, as coal and gas capacity retires - compounded by fast-growing data centre demand, for which Frontier's uncommitted Stage One output and expandable substation design offer optionality. The key near-term catalysts are financial close on the debt package and execution of the CIS contract, both expected within weeks of the September 2026 interview. Longer term, the size of the opportunity depends on how quickly management can replicate Stage One's fixed-price, government-backed model for Stage Two and beyond. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/frontier-energy Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  4. 2d ago

    1911 Gold (TSXV:AUMB) - Manitoba's True North Gold Project Restart Targets 2027 Production Decision

    Interview with Shaun Heinrichs, President and CEO of 1911 Gold Recording date: 11th September 2026 1911 Gold Corporation (TSXV:AUMB) is working to restart the fully permitted True North Gold Project in Manitoba's Rice Lake Greenstone Belt, a mine and mill complex that has produced roughly 2.0 million ounces since the 1930s but has sat idle since 2015. President and CEO Shaun Heinrichs took over in mid-2022 and rebuilt both the technical team and the underlying resource before committing to a restart plan, bringing in Vice President of Exploration Michele Della Libera and Lions Gate Geological Consulting to independently re-estimate the deposit. The result, a 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate of 499,000 ounces indicated and 644,000 ounces inferred, underpins a 2026 Preliminary Economic Assessment that models a post-tax NPV5% of $391 million, an IRR of 105% and a 2.2 year payback at a base case gold price of US$3,000/oz. Rather than restart at full scale immediately, the company is running test mining across two zones, the Level 16 shaft mine and the Hinge ramp mine, using smaller equipment and narrower development than the project's previous operators, targeting 15% dilution against a history that saw dilution as high as 25% up to 80-100% under an earlier operators. Management frames this as the key operational lesson from True North's difficult past: equipment sizing, delineation drilling and mining method discipline, not resource quality, were what previously constrained the project. On the PEA's schedule, production ramps from roughly 26,000 ounces in the first partial year to a steady-state run rate near 58,000 ounces annually by 2029, at all-in sustaining costs of $1,897/oz. The remaining capital need, largely a new crushing circuit due for delivery through October 2026, is being funded through a $30 million credit facility with Auramet International, of which the first $15 million tranche was drawn in March 2026. Management's near-term financial priority is refinancing that facility ahead of its April 2027 amortisation start, which would otherwise coincide with the early stages of the production ramp. Beyond True North itself, 1911 Gold controls the entire 90 km Rice Lake Greenstone Belt land package, positioning the company for a hub-and-spoke growth model built around the existing, expandable mill. September 2026 drilling confirmed a high-grade structural link between the L10 zone and the larger 710-711 zone, and the company's 2026 inferred resource update for the Ogama-Rockland deposit, 45 km away, now stands at 712,000 ounces at 6.68 g/t Au. Both feed into a global resource update due in the fourth quarter of 2026. Importantly, a formal decision to commit to full-scale production has not yet been made; that decision is targeted for 2027, pending the results of 2026 trial mining and bulk sample processing. Investors should treat the current activity as a proof-of-concept phase for the operating model management intends to scale, rather than confirmation that production is already underway at design capacity. Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/1911-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  5. 3d ago

    Why Short-Term Macro Noise Won't Derail the Commodities Supercycle

    Recording date: 11th September 2026 Olive Resource Capital Inc. (TSXV:OC), represented on this Compass episode by Executive Chairman Derek Macpherson and President, CEO & CIO Samuel Pelaez, used the post-CPI window to lay out both its near-term macro read and its underlying investment process. On the macro side, the September CPI print came in at 3.4%, above the Fed's target band but in line with consensus, prompting a muted market reaction. With the Federal Reserve's next meeting imminent and roughly 60% odds of a hike priced in, both executives argued that current inflation, driven substantially by diesel prices tied to disruption around the conflict in Iran, is largely a supply-side phenomenon the Fed has limited tools to address directly. They are watching the US Dollar Index closely, currently at a key support level, as their preferred read on where commodity prices head next: a breakdown lower would support the bullish commodities case, while a technical bounce, potentially reinforced by a rate hike, would be a near-term headwind. The approaching US midterm elections add a second layer of expected volatility. Macpherson described a "midterm election vortex" of conflicting political headlines, citing a proposed household payment tied to Congressional control and a same-week reversal on copper tariff policy that briefly moved copper prices roughly 5%, as the kind of noise investors should expect through November without necessarily reflecting a change in underlying fundamentals. Despite the noise, both executives stressed their long-term thesis is unchanged: persistent fiscal deficits are debasing fiat currency over time, a dynamic reinforced by comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, layered on top of two decades of underinvestment in resource discovery that has left supply structurally short of demand. They frame Olive's closed-end structure, free of redemption pressure, as a structural advantage that lets the firm buy into weakness rather than being forced to sell. On process, Pelaez detailed the firm's portfolio construction discipline: every one to two months, the pair review every position in the portfolio, testing whether each investment thesis still holds and whether capital would be better deployed elsewhere. Position sizing scales with conviction and risk, from roughly 1-2% in binary, early-stage exploration bets up to 5-10% in high-conviction names, with the top ten holdings collectively targeted at more than half of total portfolio assets. The clearest working example offered was CANEX Metals Inc. (TSXV:CANX), where Olive built its position from an initial 6-to-9-cent entry around the early-stage consolidation of the Gold Basin district into CANEX's Gold Range project, adding in the open market as the story progressed and continuing to participate in financings, most recently at 35 cents, even after a five- to six-times return on the original stake. Recent portfolio exits have freed capital that management is now redeploying into new positions. Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  6. 3d ago

    Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) - Scoping Study Cuts High-Purity Alumina Capital Costs

    Interview with Dr. Mike Jones, MD of Impact Minerals Ltd. Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/impact-minerals-asxipt-advancing-scoping-study-with-10x-throughput-breakthrough-in-hand-10564 Recording date: 11th September 2026 Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has spent the past three years repositioning from a conventional Australian exploration company into a twin-pathway high-purity alumina (HPA) developer, and the scoping study for Alluminous, the company's 50%-owned chemical-process technology in which it holds its stake alongside two US-based institutional co-investors, is the first independent test of the economics behind that pivot. The study, prepared by NewPro Consulting & Engineering Services, compared four development cases across Perth and the Houston area. Impact's preferred pathway stages a US Gulf Coast plant from 2,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) up to 4,000 tpa as customer qualification, offtake and funding mature, rather than committing to full capacity immediately. The case models a post-tax NPV at an 8% discount rate of A$518 million ($362.4 million), a 42.3% IRR, and a capital payback of roughly 3.8 years, on total installed capital of $74 million. Net operating costs, after crediting a saleable ammonium sulphate by-product, come in just under $9,000 per tonne.  Management's central claim is capital efficiency: it puts listed peers Alpha HPA and Advanced Energy Minerals at roughly four to five times Alluminous's capital intensity per tonne of installed capacity, while operating costs remain broadly comparable. Alluminous sits alongside Lake Hope, Impact's 80%-owned flagship Western Australian project, which uses a different, natural lake-sediment feedstock and completed its own Pre-Feasibility Study in June 2025 - a standalone A$1.2 billion NPV case at a 10% discount rate with a 47.5% IRR. The two projects are run and owned independently, use different feedstocks and produce different by-products (Lake Hope yields sulphate of potash; Alluminous yields ammonium sulphate), but both compete for the same downstream battery, semiconductor and sapphire-glass markets. Lake Hope's naturally low uranium and thorium content - independently confirmed below 1 part per billion without a dedicated removal step - is pitched as a specific advantage for semiconductor-grade qualification, a hurdle competitors have typically had to engineer around. Both projects remain genuinely early-stage. The Alluminous scoping study carries a wide +50%/-30% cost accuracy band typical of FEL-0 order-of-magnitude estimates, and the study's authors note they relied on Alluminous-supplied data without independently verifying the underlying technology. The integrated process has not been demonstrated continuously at scale, batch testing has produced filtration challenges, and no binding customer offtake or project debt exists for either pathway - the model assumes 100% equity funding throughout.  Near-term catalysts include converting the Perth pilot plant to continuous operation, further validation work with battery-technology partner C4V, a formal Texas Gulf Coast site-selection study, and the start of Lake Hope's own Definitive Feasibility Study in 2027. Impact closed a A$4.13 million entitlement offer on September 9th 2026, underscoring that further capital will likely be required as both projects advance toward construction decisions. View Impact Minerals' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/impact-minerals Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  7. 3d ago

    Emperor Metals (CSE:AUOZ) - AI-Driven Modelling Doubles Gold Resource in Quebec

    Interview with John Florek, President & CEO of Emperor Metals Recording date: 11th September 2026 Emperor Metals is a Canadian gold exploration company advancing two projects in Quebec's Abitibi Greenstone Belt, one of the world's most prolific gold-producing districts with roughly 200 million ounces produced historically. The company's flagship asset, Duquesne West, sits on the Porcupine-Destor Fault Zone, a structure credited with over 110 million ounces of historical production, and neighbours active and past-producing mines operated by Agnico Eagle, IAMGOLD and others. In July 2025, Duquesne West received a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 26.9 million tonnes at 1.69 grams per tonne gold, for 1.46 million ounces, based on a $2,300 per ounce gold price assumption. That resource is roughly double the 727,000 ounce historical estimate that predated Emperor's 2022 takeover as operator. Management, led by President and CEO John Florek, a geologist with 35 years of experience including senior roles at BHP, Placer Dome, Barrick, Teck and Detour Lake Gold attributes the growth partly to an AI-assisted geological modelling process that identified a large-scale, lower-grade open-pit envelope surrounding higher-grade underground lenses that earlier operators had not recognised since the deposit was first discovered in the 1940s. The company describes the resource as substantially under-drilled: approximately 140,000 metres of drilling have been completed to date, which management estimates at 15-20% of what comparable projects required to reach similar ounce totals. A 15,000 metre drill program and an 8,000 metre historical core re-sampling campaign - aimed at converting inferred ounces to indicated via duplicate drilling of older holes - are currently under way, funded through the end of 2026. Management has signalled an intent to pursue a further 30,000-50,000 metre program from around October 2026, subject to financing, ahead of an eventual preliminary economic assessment once the resource passes roughly 2 million ounces. Emperor's secondary asset, Lac Pelletier, sits approximately 30 kilometres south and offers a different risk profile: a historical resource of 227,000 ounces at 3.9 grams per tonne gold, permits valid for production until 2030, and roughly C$70 million of prior infrastructure investment including more than 3.3 kilometres of underground development. Two historical bulk samples averaged 96.3% gold recovery. Management's near-term plan is to update the historical feasibility study and evaluate a production decision, rather than to advance immediately to construction. As of June 2026, Emperor had 194,850,005 shares outstanding (242,289,794 fully diluted) and an estimated C$5.4 million in working capital. Strategic investors Rob McEwen (7%) and Rick Rule are on the share register. On a company comparable basis, Emperor traded at approximately C$39 million market capitalisation, or C$25.28 per ounce of resource. Both the Duquesne West and Lac Pelletier resource figures carry standard caveats: inferred resources and historical estimates do not have demonstrated economic viability and are not current mineral reserves. Neither project has reached a construction or production decision. Learn more: https://cruxinvestor.com Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

  8. 3d ago

    Cabral Gold (TSXV:CBR) - First Gold Pour in Cuiú Cuiú Beats Expectations

    Interview with Alan Carter, President & CEO of Cabral Gold Inc. Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/cabral-gold-tsxvcbr-operating-licence-secured-first-gold-targeted-by-september-11515 Recording date: 11th September 2026 Cabral Gold has crossed the line from developer to producer, confirming the first gold pour at its Phase 1 Cuiú Cuiú heap leach operation in Pará state, Brazil. The pour, approximately 1,130 ounces of doré assaying 93-94% gold, came in well above management's internal expectations, and arrives with construction running roughly two months ahead of schedule. For a company that only secured project financing twelve months ago, the milestone represents a rapid and largely self-executed build. The near-term operational story is about ramp-up discipline. The dry circuit is fully commissioned; the wet circuit, covering leaching and gold recovery, is expected to follow within days. Stacking rates are being increased in stages toward a 3,000 tonne-per-day design target, monitored through a control room tracking belt speeds and throughput. Management has been explicit that no 2026 production guidance will be issued while ramp-up variables remain unresolved, but formal 2027 guidance is expected, potentially as early as January, giving investors a concrete date to watch. The cash flow case, while based on a study CEO Alan Carter himself flagged as roughly eighteen months old, is notable: first-year production of 20,000 to 25,000 ounces at an estimated margin near $3,300 an ounce implies pre-tax cash flow in the order of $80 million before any expansion. Carter framed this against typical gold producer valuation multiples of six to twelve times cash flow, arguing the operation could support meaningful re-rating once production stabilises. Strategically, the more interesting thread is how Cabral intends to fund its next phase of growth. A recent $45 million strategic investment from Alpayana, described as Peru's largest private mining company, gave Cabral a 9.99% shareholder and, combined with Phase 1 cash flow, is intended to reduce the company's reliance on annual dilutive equity raises, a pattern Carter was candid about wanting to avoid. The larger opportunity sits underground. Approximately 75% of the district's known gold ounces are hosted in hard rock beneath the oxide material Cabral is currently mining. A district-wide resource update due by year-end will model six gold deposits, up from three in the last global estimate from September 2022, incorporating roughly 50,000 metres of drilling completed since. Management is also sitting on some 50 untested peripheral targets, including boulder fields averaging 90 grams per tonne gold across ten to twelve targets. A meaningful increase in the resource base would support a formal Preliminary Economic Assessment on the hard rock opportunity, positioning 2027 as a pivotal year for both production guidance and district-scale resource definition. For investors, the near-term watch list is straightforward: confirmation of the refinery assay on the first doré bars, completion of wet-circuit commissioning, and progression of stacking rates toward design capacity. Further out, the year-end resource update and the timing of a Phase 2 PEA decision will determine whether Cuiú Cuiú's story broadens from a single oxide starter operation into a genuine two-stage gold district. View Cabral Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/cabral-gold Sign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com/subscribe

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An insight into junior mining and opportunities to invest. Company Interviews, a Crux Investor show, exists to cut through the jargon, bias and bluster. Matthew Gordon, and guest host Merlin Marr-Johnson hone in on the important factors that indicate a company's strong footing for growth and success.

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    Crux Investor
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
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