Caleb Stroop

Caleb Stroup is the President and CEO of Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE: HWG, OTCQX: HWAUF), a junior exploration company focused on high-grade epithermal gold — near-surface, hot-spring-type gold systems — in Nevada and Idaho. He is relevant to resource investors because Headwater runs a project generator model: it generates and drills its own 100%-owned projects, then partners them to major producers rather than building mines itself. Newmont, OceanaGold and Centerra Gold have all signed earn-in agreements on Headwater ground, and Newmont and Centerra have also taken equity stakes in the company.

The Newmont relationship shows the model end to end. Under an earn-in first signed with Newcrest in 2022 — Newmont acquired Newcrest in late 2023 — Newmont funded US$15 million of exploration to earn an initial 51% of the flagship Spring Peak project in Nevada's Aurora mining district, where Headwater's Disco Zone has returned high-grade drill results. In September 2025, Newmont elected to advance to Stage 2, which can lift its interest to 65% with a further US$40 million of spending over three years; the definitive joint venture agreement was signed on August 4, 2026. Nine days later, Headwater added a new Newmont earn-in at its 100%-owned Jupiter project, a roughly 5-by-8-kilometre altered system in the southern Walker Lane where Newmont can earn up to 75% through US$30 million of staged expenditures — including a firm US$2.5 million minimum commitment in the first two years — plus delivery of a pre-feasibility study (a mid-stage technical and economic assessment of a deposit). OceanaGold funds exploration at Headwater's TJ, Jake Creek and Hot Creek projects, and Centerra funds Crane Creek in Idaho.

Stroup brings more than 15 years of geology to that dealmaking. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in geology and has explored for gold, base metals and geothermal resources, including time as a Senior Geologist at Kinross Gold, where he led greenfields project generation (generating drill targets on unexplored ground) and advanced property evaluation in Nevada, and earlier roles with NovaGold, Tintina Resources and Ram Power on projects from Central America to Alaska. That technical background shapes how Headwater picks its targets: large, underexplored epithermal systems in the mining-friendly Great Basin, ranked with mapping, geochemistry and geophysics before drills turn. When a partner steps in, Headwater keeps meaningful exposure — 49% of Spring Peak at the JV signing, the manager role and a 10% management fee at Jupiter, and net smelter return (NSR) royalties — a percentage of revenue from any future production — built into the later stages of both Newmont agreements.

Following Stroup is a working education in how tier-one producers validate junior ground: every earn-in election, expenditure commitment and permit is a signal about how a major values the underlying asset. His near-term focus is converting that validation into results — advancing the Burnt Rock Plan of Operations (a federal permit covering a major expansion of drilling) at Spring Peak under the FAST-41 permitting framework, planning the 2027 Stage 2 exploration program, and preparing Jupiter's first drill program for late 2026 or early 2027. He discusses these agreements and the exploration case behind them in investor interviews, including recent appearances on the expanded Newmont partnership.