BTV Visits Equinox, Mineros, Elemental Royalty, 5E, Alkane, Contango, and Osisko Development

0:01 This is BTV, [music] Business Television. Welcome to BTV Business Television. I'm Jessica Kachmarik. >> And I'm Taylor Tone. [music] Jessica, it's a big day here at BTV. It is, Taylor. [music] We're celebrating a very special milestone. We are. This is the 400th episode [music] of BTV. Congratulations to you. Congratulations to us. What a remarkable [music] achievement. That's 28 years, 400 episodes featuring over [music] 1,500 companies from more than 35 countries, showcasing investment opportunities from virtually every sector [music] found in the world's global equities market.

0:44 Here's to another 400 more, at least. And now, it's on with the show. Natural resources are a global [music] business, and for investors, they're the foundation of everything from energy to [music] infrastructure. That's why the search for the next big opportunity covers all four corners of the earth. That's exactly right, Taylor. And today, we're going to zero in on the projects and commodities that span the globe [music] and companies who are striving to meet demand. We're a growth company that's going to quadruple our production of gold and silver in the next [music] 5 years. We're fully permitted for construction of a 220,000 oz a year mine. The best way to be exposed to mineral rights is royalty ownership. We have two producing mines, Nicaragua and Colombia. These are stories from around the world where scale, supply, and opportunity [music] all come together.

1:43 Since we last caught up with Equinox Gold roughly a year ago, they've been keeping busy. Their headline move, merging with Calibre Mining, has created a new mid-tier gold [music] producing powerhouse with a renewed focus and fresh momentum. There was an opportunity to strengthen the whole leadership team, and we've been [music] able to tear up the quality of the portfolio, and so that the really the principals saw that as the big driving force [music] opportunity. So, now we're ramping up to 500,000 oz a year of Canadian gold production from two mines in Ontario Greenstone. What Calibre brought to the table [music] was a large gold asset in central Newfoundland called Valentine, and it's going to contribute about 200,000 oz of gold a year. That was a big force behind [music] it because in tier-one mining jurisdictions, as companies deliver into expectations, they often command [music] top quartile valuations.

2:37 While Equinox continues to expand its [music] footprint in North America, investors may wonder why they're selling assets in Nevada [music] and Brazil at a time when gold is at an all-time high. We were looking [music] at the portfolio again to streamline it from a a tier-one jurisdictional asset base, but also looking at what may or may not fit going [music] forward in terms of where we want to allocate the most amount of management's time and where we think the biggest opportunities will be from a share price return [music] or an internal rate of return perspective. We were able to significantly delever the balance sheet, which sets us up for our future growth.

3:15 >> [music] >> Equinox plans to keep the pedal to the metal as they advance their new 6 million [music] oz Castle Mountain deposit in California. We are expected to get a record of decision by December. It's about a 2-year build, and then [music] we would be producing about 200,000 oz of additional production. At the same time, we're advancing Los Filos, [music] which is a 16 million oz deposit. It's currently on suspended operation, but we're looking at restarting that.

3:43 >> [music] >> So, there's opportunities for us to do that and move ahead with an additional asset in Mexico. So, a very exciting time for the business. This year, the company's guided [music] 700 to 800,000 oz. So, a tremendous opportunity for the company, but a tremendous opportunity for investors as well. News for Equinox investors gets even better with the recent announcement of a dividend [music] along with a share buyback opportunity, both firsts for the company.

4:15 Mineros has been a leading Latin American [music] gold producer for decades and a fixture on the Colombian stock market for more than 45 years. [music] With the new CEO and leadership team in place and a new global vision, Mineros may [music] finally be on North American investors' radar. Minero's has a very rich history. The company has been around for five [music] decades. We have two producing mines, Nicaragua and Colombia. Nicaragua produces about 140,000 gold equivalent oz. Colombia produces about 90,000 oz, but to some extent, it's a it's also a brand new opportunity, especially for North American investors. We have a track record of 50 years of steady production, [music] return to our shareholders in form of dividends, buybacks. But for the first time ever, we're investing in our assets as well. So, this is a new vision. We see a [music] lot of growth opportunities in what we're doing in Nicaragua. We are debottlenecking [music] the operation. There's way more mineral than we can process at the moment. So, this year, we're investing in [music] increasing processing capacity by 40%. We're going from about 1,500 tons per day to 2,500 tons per day. We're improving [music] recoveries as well, and we're improving grades.

5:33 Then we have the Purbenir development asset, which is just southwest of our two producing mines in Nicaragua. This was an asset that was looking very attractive [music] $1,650 gold price when the latest PFS was published. At $4,000 gold, it's looking very, very attractive. Minero's has expanded its growth [music] strategy with the acquisition of a new development project. I like to [music] describe Minero's as a very nice package deal. We are >> [music] >> steady producer. We've been producing for five decades. We're also a developer. Chile is our latest addition to the portfolio. It's an [music] advanced exploration opportunity. We are in the northern part of Chile in the Atacama region surrounded [music] by producing mines, by advanced development opportunities.

6:27 The most exciting part of of my work is transforming this 50-year-old company into the modern [music] mining company, one that is actually looking outside Latin America, wanting [music] to play in the global space. It's just a very nice combination of history, very rich history, and an amazing pipeline of opportunities. And Minero's continues to expand with the announcement of another new acquisition, a gold exploration project [music] in Colombia.

7:02 Coming up on BTV, a truly [music] global royalty company that should be on everyone's radar. The best way to be exposed to mineral rights is royalty ownership. We'll be right back. You're watching BTV. >> [music] >> Last November, EMX Royalty Corp and Elemental Altus Royalty merged to create [music] Elemental Royalty, a new entity with its sights set on becoming the world's premier gold-focused royalty and streaming [music] company.

7:39 Very pleased to bring these two companies together. We all know that the royalty business [music] and the markets reward scale growth. Both companies had a strong curve of increasing revenues coming into the company. That's only been multiplied [music] by bringing the two companies together. The newly formed company boasts an enviable and complimentary portfolio of royalties from both companies. [music] I'm really passionate about why royalties are so awesome. They're phenomenal financial instruments. The best way to be [music] exposed to mineral rights is royalty ownership. And Elemental Royalty Corporation's accumulating royalties copiously around the planet.

8:21 >> [music] >> So, we have a portfolio of 200 royalties spanning over 20 countries. 18 of them have production cash flow. So, they're advanced near the top of the pyramid with producing revenue [music] streams. But then there's also another 45 royalties that have pre-production payments that are smaller. And then an immense magnitude of assets that are early stage at the base of the pyramid that give us the opportunity for that discovery. >> [music] >> My goal is to break $100 million this year, and that is without the addition of new royalties that we will acquire.

8:51 We've been building this portfolio for two decades. It is now bearing [music] fruit, and the fruit is ripening. We've seen the price of gold go from $35 an oz when I was 10 [music] years old to now over $5,000 an oz. That's a 9% compounded annual growth rate. It's rather astonishing. Copper prices had [music] a similar trajectory. The best way to be exposed to mineral rights is royalty ownership. We want to be the royalty investment [music] of choice.

9:21 So, I want to have shareholders that don't trade the stock, but they buy it. They hold it for their grandchildren because they know that this is a buy and hold opportunity. Elemental recently initiated their [music] first dividend and became the first public gold company to offer shareholders their returns in Tether Gold, a blockchain-based token backed [music] by real gold. Everyone knows the power of gold, silver, and copper. But quietly working behind the scenes is a significant [music] critical element that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves.

10:01 Boron. Boron being added to the critical minerals list validates the importance of boron. Boron is the fifth element on the periodic table. It's light, [music] heat resistant, and energy dense. It makes life as we know it exists today and goes into over 300 diverse [music] applications. With several of these tied to strategic technologies, including permanent magnets for fighter [music] jets, AI systems, semiconductors, and nuclear energy, the US government is now prioritizing [music] the development of a secure and reliable domestic supply.

10:35 Two companies control [music] 85% of global boron supply. Large deposits, I can count them all on one hand. There's about four of them. We have two in the US, [music] of one of which is Fort Cady. The rest are in Serbia and Russia. Colemanite is the type of mineral that underpins the Fort Cady [music] deposit. Colemanite is the Cadillac of boron mineralizations. Fort Cady stands to be the next long-term boron producer in the United [music] States. We have a mine life that can be 200 plus years.

11:07 We can be a major economic driver and engine to the local communities and bring high-paying jobs to California. [music] With commercial engagement underway, the next steps for 5E Advanced Materials are clear. There's three major focuses for the business. [music] The first, finalizing those customer agreements. The second, what's the final debt and equity package or financing structure look like to build a commercial scale facility. The third is to progress through the next phase of engineering that drives a bankable feasibility study where this project can be bid at a construction level. This facility today already operates onshore power. We're [music] tied into the grid. We're a 2-hour drive from the port of LA, so we can easily access [music] the southeastern Asian markets where there's ample demand for boron.

11:58 Ultimately, boron helps power the military. >> [music] >> And for investors, it could represent a smart hedge in a rapidly expanding and strategically vital market. After the break, [music] what happens when a gold company and a silver company join forces? To complete a billion-dollar merger, it's kind of a dream come true. We'll be right back.

12:28 You're watching [music] BTV. Investors, here's a question. Why should you invest in a single stock ETF? There's a number of advantages for a Canadian [music] investors in a single stock ETF. Specifically, you still get exposure to the underlying [music] stock, but there's also some added features we can employ the covered call strategy that allows us [music] to generate income each month on that particular stock. >> [music] >> So, an investor looking for single stock ETF is really looking to get exposure [music] to that stock, but generate high tax efficient monthly income.

13:11 Alkane Resources, a gold [music] producer and explorer from down under, transformed the company last year through a merger with Mandalay Resources, creating a bigger gold and antimony player with global ambitions. I love when a plan works. So, the merger with Mandalay [music] works. Both companies were quite small, subscale, less than 100,000 oz production. So, the rationale for our merger was increase relevance, right? Increase access to capital markets, make ourselves accessible to passive funds, going to the different indexes that track us. So, there's like a corporate reason for doing it.

13:46 >> [music] >> That's been really successful. The new and improved Alkane Resources boasts a formidable [music] portfolio of operations. We've got three mines, two in Australia, one of which also does antimony and has for many years, [music] and another in Sweden. We have one we call Tomingley. It's been running since 2014. [music] It's in New South Wales, about 4 and 1/2 hours west of Sydney. Underground mine, does about 80,000 [music] oz a year, another 7 years ahead of it.

14:13 Produces gold doré, which gets refined in Sydney. We have Björkdalen Sweden, which produced over 42,000 oz of gold in 2024. And we have the Castlefield mine. It's about an hour and a half drive north of Melbourne in that classic gold rush area of Bendigo. It's been running since 2008, although it's a historic mining area. Produces gold and an antimony gold concentrate, very topical metal. We've done between [music] 2 and 1/2 thousand tons a year, and this year we'll do a bit thousand tons a year of contained antimony, yeah. One of the net benefits of the merger with Mandalay is Alkane's robust financial outlook.

14:50 Our balance sheet's in in in in great in great shape, as you'd hope for a gold production company in a in a gold market. Now, equities have gone up five times in both the ASX [music] and TSX. And we're doing typically 40 to 45,000 oz a quarter. So, we have just under 250 million Australian dollars cash and bullion in the banks, so 155 US. >> [music] >> How are we going to deploy that? At the moment, we're looking for other growth options. So, we have organic growth, we're spending a lot on exploration and extending our reserve life. But as well as that, we look for is there another producer that we could merge with for a similar uplift, or is there a development project that's ready to go? There's always that part of us who are involved in exploration thinking that one day something's just [music] going to go bang. Alkane has successfully launched an ADR program, American Depository Receipts, to further increase its [music] exposure to new North American investors.

15:47 With a billion-dollar merger between Contango Ores and Dolly Varden Silver, and with some of the highest grade assets in North America, the new [music] Contango Silver and Gold is positioning itself as a new force in precious metals. This new company offers investors high-grade, safe exposure to both silver and gold. The two companies individually were valued at around $400 million, and so by coming together, and so by coming together, we're valued at about $800 million. Combined, we've got about $100 million of cash in the treasury, about $100 million of cash flow. We've got a much larger resource base, about 100 million oz of silver, about 3 million oz of gold. We're a growth company that's going to quadruple [music] our production of gold and silver in the next 5 years. It's a lofty goal, but it's one we think we can achieve. I challenge you to find another company that's based in a tier one jurisdiction to do that. And both [music] projects offer security for investors. Canada and the US are very much aligned recognizing that we're 30 years behind China in terms of developing critical metals. It's exciting now to me as an exploration geologist who's been doing this for going [music] on 40, 50 years, to have people behind you and supporting you and saying this is this is something that we need. Along with that has come high prices of $5,000 gold, $80 silver, etc. So, >> [music] >> we're in a great environment to build a great company, and that's that's the objective here.

17:18 Contango just [music] delivered another standout intercept, over 60 g per ton gold across nearly 6 m at the Lucky Shot [music] project in Alaska. All funded by the results at Mancho. Our Mancho project is in operation in Alaska. We're generating about $100 million of free cash flow a year from that mine, and that is enough cash flow to advance our other projects in Alaska, Lucky Shot and Johnson Tract. And now [music] we're adding to that the dominantly silver project in the Kitsault Valley of British Columbia.

17:49 Investors want stability. We're giving it to them with grade in a safe jurisdiction with a proven management team. And the timing could not be better. I've been in the mining industry for 22 years, and to [music] complete a billion-dollar merger, particularly with global events that are unfolding around the world, it's kind of a dream come true. With high-grade gold and silver assets and a growing development pipeline, momentum continues to build around the future of Contango [music] Silver and Gold.

18:25 After the break, [music] more globally focused resource companies every investor should have on [music] their radar. We can add another 1,000 m to 1,500 m of depth to this project, it becomes one of the bigger targets in the gold space worldwide. We'll be right back. You're watching BTV. When it comes to working with advisors, some of Equiton's key differentiators are really our transparency, our focus on communication, providing insight into our investment solutions, but also into the wider market. We provide our advisors access [music] to anybody in the organization to make them feel comfortable in the decisions that they're making.

19:09 >> [music] >> That could be anybody from our CEO, myself, and we ensure that the customer [music] service that we give these advisors is exceptional. We ensure that the [music] fund is audited to the highest standards, so we have IFRS audits, third-party independent appraisals, and we have a board [music] with a majority of independent directors. Their job is to protect the rights of the investors. We also hire firms to review [music] our processes and make sure that we are complying and operating to the best standard possible.

19:49 The slogan drill, baby, drill has been synonymous with the oil and gas industry. [music] But more recently, it's become a rallying cry for the North American gold company, Osisko Development. It's a mission statement that's [music] led the company to some huge successes. Now, they're at it again at their Caribou gold project in central BC. >> [music] >> My favorite way to start the day is coffee and drill results. I have a sign on top of my door that says "Sudz stand and shut up and drill stupid."

20:21 That is my passion, my hobby, and my raison d'être. Historically, the Osisko group, we've been one of the largest drillers in Canada in drill space. Uh we've collectively drilled more than 6 million [music] meters uh in various projects across Canada. This is our most uh recent push in one of our larger projects that's uh that we've got involved with uh over the 20 years that I've been running Osisko. The Caribou gold project is Osisko's [music] flagship asset and for good reason. Right now, we're focused on the delineation drilling of the fairly large land package that we have there with 83 km of of land. We're fully permitted for construction of a 220,000 oz a year mine uh that started construction uh earlier in the summer and will go to final investment decisions uh this year. So, we have nine drills on site right now and uh an entire underground mining team. We're about 2 km of development in the underground.

21:13 Uh and we're hoping to uh commission this mine in 2028 2029. While exploration [music] work to date underpins the planned development, Osisko continues to focus on the project's [music] growth potential. We've only drilled down to a depth of 350 m and we've documented uh one of the larger resource in the space, over 2 million oz of reserves and 3 and 1/2 million oz of measured and indicated and inferred. And then, we're drilling below that 350 uh meter level down to a depth [music] of 2 km. Uh so, if we can add another 1,000 m to 1,500 m of depth to this [music] project, it becomes one of the bigger targets in the gold space worldwide. That prospect has the company believing that the best is yet to come.

21:53 [music] This company has a market cap of about 1.5 to 2 billion right now. Uh and we've raised uh about 1.2 billion dollars in the last 10 months. So, we're fully financed, fully permitted, drilling [music] with new discoveries. When we reach final investment decision, we we should be uh in a place to build Canada's next [music] big gold mine. Osisko's project pipeline also includes the Tintic [music] project in Utah, located just 40 mi south of the prolific Bingham Canyon Mine, which [music] is operated by mining giant Rio Tinto.

22:28 Today, we've seen what it takes to run a successful coffee [music] franchise. Owner-operators can be their own entrepreneur. We have another fantastic lineup for you today, but this show is extra special. It's our 100th episode. Coming up next, how persistence and patience is about to pay off at a gold mine in Ghana. Thanks [music] for joining us today for BTV Business Television on our 400th episode. I'm Jessica Cacherchak. And I'm Taylor Tone. Happy 400th, Jessica.

23:02 [music] And follow us right here at Business Television and be part of a growing community turning insight [music] into action. And until next time, may your portfolio prosper. >> [music]