Interview with Keith Boyle, CEO, New Found Gold

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/new-found-gold-tsxvnfg-permitted-infrastructure-accelerates-path-to-gold-production-9383

Recording date: 2nd of March 2026

New Found Gold is executing a calculated transformation from exploration company to near-term producer under CEO Keith Boyle, who joined the company one year ago with a clear mandate: convert five years of exploration work into cash flow generation.

The cornerstone of this strategy was the acquisition of Maritime Resources, which delivered two critical assets—the producing Hammerdown mine and the permitted Pine Cove Mill. Hammerdown achieved first pour in November 2025 and is ramping to steady-state production, generating immediate cash flow at current gold prices. Meanwhile, the Pine Cove Mill, which restarted in March 2025, will be expanded from 700 to 1,400 tons per day capacity to process material from both Hammerdown and the flagship Queensway project.

This acquisition-driven approach solves a fundamental challenge: accelerating Queensway production by 2-3 years. Building an on-site mill would require in-pit tailings deposition, significantly extending permitting timelines and forcing continuous dilutive financing. Instead, New Found Gold plans to ship Queensway material 270 kilometers along the Trans-Canada Highway to Pine Cove by the end of 2027.

The economics prove compelling. Queensway's Phase 1 targets 700 tons per day at grades of 9-10 grams per ton gold, with all-in sustaining costs of $1,300 per ounce. Combined trucking and processing costs approximately one gram per ton, leaving substantial margins at current gold prices above $5,000 per ounce. The company projects over $250 million in free cash flow during the first four years, which will fund construction of an on-site mill for Phase 2 expansion.

Recent grade control drilling on 5x5 meter centers addresses previous concerns about "nuggety" mineralization, revealing instead consistent gold distribution as fine flakes throughout high-grade shoots. This systematic de-risking, combined with visible gold at surface in the Iceberg zone, positions Queensway for low-capital-intensity production start-up while the company continues district-scale exploration with 100,000 meters of drilling planned for 2026.

Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/new-found-gold

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Interview with Philip Williams, CEO, IsoEnergy Ltd.

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/isoenergy-tsxiso-production-advancement-with-exploration-upside-commencing-winter-drill-program-8967

Recording date: 1st of March 2026

IsoEnergy is a diversified uranium developer and near-term producer operating across Canada, the United States, and Australia — three jurisdictions deliberately chosen for their strong regulatory and mining track records. The company is gaining significant attention from institutional investors as the uranium sector enters what many believe is a sustained structural bull market.

Earlier in 2026, IsoEnergy raised $50 million in a capital round that attracted over $300 million in demand — more than six times oversubscribed — from 45 global institutional investors, roughly half of whom were new to the company. CEO Philip Williams, speaking at PDAC 2026, described it as a signal of a meaningful shift: where uranium investing was once the domain of a handful of specialists, generalist funds and large institutions are now actively deploying capital into quality names. IsoEnergy's scale and track record position it to capture that wave.

IsoEnergy's flagship asset, the Hurricane deposit in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, holds 48.6 million pounds of U₃O₈ at an average grade of 34.5% — the highest-grade uranium resource on earth. The deposit sits adjacent to Cameco and Orano's Dawn Lake project, whose operators have publicly confirmed high-grade mineralisation comparable to Cigar Lake and McArthur River, the two largest uranium mines in the world. IsoEnergy is currently running an expanded winter drill program and believes significant additional pounds remain to be discovered.

The Tony M Mine in Utah is the company's most advanced production asset. A bulk sample program is currently underway underground, generating the data needed for a final restart decision. With approximately $150 million in cash, the company is fully funded for that decision without needing new equity or debt.

IsoEnergy stages its portfolio deliberately — advancing Tony M first, then Daneros and Rim in Utah, then its Australian assets — allowing a core technical team to transfer expertise sequentially rather than spreading it thin. This matters because experienced uranium mine builders are globally scarce. The company is also well-positioned to access US government capital, with agencies including the Department of Energy and the Export-Import Bank actively advertising critical minerals funding at industry events.

With multiple catalysts converging in 2026 — Hurricane drill results, a Tony M production decision, and broad institutional tailwinds — IsoEnergy is structurally positioned as one of the uranium sector's most compelling development stories.

Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/isoenergy

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Interview with Wesley Whymark, Director & CEO of Inventus Mining

Recording date: 1st March 2026

Inventus Mining is doing something most junior gold companies cannot: generating cash from its asset before it has a formal resource estimate, and using that cash to fund its own growth. At its Pardo Paleoplacer project in Ontario, Canada, the company extracts gold-bearing conglomerate from surface, crushes it on-site, and trucks it to McEwen Mining's nearby mill under a pre-sale arrangement. The first bulk sample returned approximately two dollars for every dollar invested. That single data point separates Inventus from the majority of its peers, who depend entirely on shareholder capital to advance their projects.

The geology underpinning this model is straightforward and well-understood. The Pardo Paleoplacer project targets a conglomerate reef averaging 2 metres thick and grading 2.5 to 3.5 grams per tonne gold, sitting at or near surface. Drilling costs are low — a single rig can complete two to three holes per day at the current target depths of 0 to 50 metres. Gold recoveries at McEwen's mill are running in the mid-90% range, with 70% of gold captured in the gravity concentrate alone. The metallurgy is not a question mark here. It has been tested at scale through the bulk sampling program itself.

The company has now completed 30,000 of its permitted 50,000 tonnes of bulk sample. With 20,000 tonnes remaining, management is prioritising grid drilling to define a maiden mineral resource estimate, targeted for Q3 2026. That resource estimate is the most important near-term event for investors. It will be the first time the market has a formal, independently verified number to attach to the asset, and it will form the basis of the subsequent production permit application targeting 200,000 tonnes of material. Ontario's permitting framework is efficient — once a third-party environmental report is submitted, Ministry approval can come within 45 days. A permit submission is targeted for late 2026, with production potentially commencing in early 2027.

The shareholder base adds a further layer of conviction. Eric Sprott holds 16%. McEwen's founder personally holds 17%. McEwen Inc. holds approximately 10%. Together, these three positions account for roughly 43% of the company. These are not passive holders — McEwen's mill is the processing partner, and Sprott has been involved since approximately 2013. Their continued presence signals that those closest to the asset continue to believe in its scale and economic potential.

Ore sorting represents the most significant unpriced optionality in the story. A 2018 scoping study showed XRF particle sorting could recover 93% of the gold from just 40% of the mined material — a 160% uplift in mill feed grade and a meaningful reduction in trucking and processing costs. Modern XRF sorters can now process 40 to 120 tonnes per hour, making commercial-scale deployment viable in a way it was not when the study was first conducted. Bulk-scale testing is planned, and the results will be a key secondary catalyst.

The risks are real but manageable. McEwen's mill pace has been slower than hoped. The resource remains undefined. Modest additional capital may be needed. But for investors looking for gold exposure through a near-production junior that funds itself, operates in a top-ranked jurisdiction, and carries endorsement from two of the resource sector's most credible names, Inventus Mining presents a case worth examining closely.

View Inventus Mining's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/inventus-mining-corp

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