producing mining company” CEO Gordon Robb With gold trading near record highs, investors are paying closer attention to small cap companies moving toward production rather than simply talking about long-dated development plans. ESGold Corp. (ESAU: CSE | ESAUF: OTCQB) says it is now funded to advance its fully permitted Montauban Gold-Silver Project in Quebec toward a planned 1,000 tonne-per-day tailings reprocessing operation, replacing its earlier staged approach of starting at 500 tpd and expanding later. Management says that the shift reflects a stronger cash position, higher precious metals prices, and the goal of moving directly to continuous full-capacity operations rather than pausing after an initial start-up phase. ESGold has also stated that Montauban is under construction, fully permitted, and anticipated to begin production in 2026. The heart of the story is that ESGold is no longer talking about building in stages. Gordon Robb said the company now has “just north of C$20 million” in cash, alongside a previously announced C$9 million Ocean Partners facility, which management says supports the move to a full 1,000 tpd build-out from the outset. That matters because Montauban’s September 2025 updated PEA outlined preliminary economics that included a 60.3% after-tax IRR, C$24.27 million after-tax NPV (5%), less than two-year payback, and C$103.73 million in projected life-of-mine revenue using US$2,900 gold and US$31.72 silver. What differentiates ESGold is that the initial production plan is based on historical tailings already at surface rather than new underground mining. That gives Montauban a different development profile than many traditional junior mining stories, which often require years of drilling, permitting, and infrastructure work before production is even visible. ESGold’s strategy is to move toward production first, then use that operating base to support broader growth if execution goes to plan. At the same time, the company is not presenting Montauban as just a tailings story. ESGold’s integrated 3D model identified a mineralized corridor extending to roughly 900 metres depth and more than 2 kilometres of strike, and the company followed that by expanding its land package to 417 claims covering about 20,618 hectares, or 206 square kilometres. ESGold is now conducting a 70 km² ANT survey and preparing for hard-rock drilling. For investors, this interview sharpens the ESGold thesis. Montauban is being positioned as a dual-track story: a planned near-term production path from surface tailings and a broader district-scale exploration opportunity beneath and around a historic mining camp. That combination is what gives the story more weight than a typical single-asset junior with only long-dated optionality. As with all pre-production mining companies, execution, financing, timing, and commodity-price risks remain. But with a fully permitted project, construction underway, announced funding support, and a growing technical case for a larger mineralized system, ESGold is trying to move Montauban from redevelopment concept to operating platform in a much stronger metals environment. Watch the full interview with CEO Gordon Robb to hear why ESGold believes Montauban can combine a planned path to production with meaningful exploration upside in Quebec. A COMPANY MOVING STRAIGHT TO FULL BUILD-OUTSTRONGER CAPITAL POSITION, BIGGER EXECUTION PLANTAILINGS FIRST, EXPLORATION NEXTOUTLOOK: PRODUCTION PATH PLUS DISTRICT-SCALE UPSIDE
