John Hunt
Founder | The Mining Speculator (YouTube) | Independent analyst covering junior gold, silver and uranium miners
"Founder of The Mining Speculator, a YouTube channel focused on junior gold, silver, and uranium mining stocks."
Biography
John Hunt is an independent mining analyst and the founder of The Mining Speculator, one of the larger YouTube channels dedicated to junior mining stocks. He built a following of retail resource investors by walking through individual company stories one ticker at a time, with a consistent emphasis on junior gold, silver, and — more recently — uranium developers.
His track record is a content track record rather than a fund track record. Hunt has produced hundreds of single-company episodes, hosted management interviews, and surfaced as a guest commentator on commodity outlets including Kitco, Proactive Investors, and Mining.com. Coverage spans exploration-stage stories through to developers approaching production, with videos framed around the question a retail investor would actually ask: does the market cap make sense relative to what is in the ground and what it would cost to extract.
On approach, Hunt tends to lead with the asset — what is being drilled, what the resource looks like, what jurisdiction it sits in, and what the permitting and financing path looks like — before getting to valuation. He is comfortable explaining resource-stage terminology on camera and frequently walks through how a preliminary economic assessment, a feasibility study, or a measured-and-indicated resource estimate translates (or fails to translate) into a share-price thesis.
For an investor today, the channel is most relevant as a filter for junior gold and uranium names — the two commodity lanes Hunt has leaned into hardest in recent episodes, including coverage of stories like Scottie Resources and Noble Plains Uranium. The honest limit: Hunt is a commentator and channel operator, not a portfolio manager, so any single-name call should be weighed against a buyer's own work on the underlying disclosure.
Videos (4)
A $15 Million Silver Bet: Silver Pony Resources (CSE: PONY, OTC: PONIF)
- Top takeaway Asks about the valley of despair: even with good intervals, short drill seasons mean years of work, so he wants to know how hard a mine would be to build; he hears the nearby town has an existing mill and old mining roads needing repair rather than new construction.
- On the call he calls the marketing program very substantial for a company of this size, while allowing he understands the purpose of building an audience ahead of the results.
Silver Pony's C$15-million market cap is a low-priced way to trade first drill assays from the underdrilled Lardeau silver district, due early October. Panelists flag selection bias: 3,500 to 12,000 gram-per-ton grab samples — selectively picked rocks — guided drilling, so assay widths matter more than grades. CEO Morgan Good points to about C$1.25 million in Roxmore Resources shares free-trading soon as non-dilutive funding flexibility. Geologist Chris Furey moved the drill 18 kilometers mid-season to Revelstoke after a 455 gram-per-ton surface sample, drilling through fold hinges for architecture. Panelists would buy it personally as a short-term drill-hole trade but won't recommend it, noting the paid presentation, warrants, and thin liquidity.
A Gold Miner That Could Earn Its Market Cap Every Year: Scottie Resources (TSXV: SCOT | OTC: SCTSF)
- Top takeaway John Hunt presses Mumford on when investors will get paid back in something other than share-price appreciation; Mumford responds that payback is under six months at current gold prices, after which cash flow is reinvested into pushing the resource toward 2 million ounces and a 10-year mine life
Scottie Resources plans 2028 production from a BC Golden Triangle gold project using DSO, shipping crushed ore directly to a Taiwan offtake buyer with no mill or tailings facility. A 2025 bulk sample pulled $9 million from 4,600 tons at ~14.5 g/t over nine days, validating the road-to-port shipping model ahead of a Q1 feasibility study. Management targets roughly $150 million in annual free cash flow at $2,600 gold, with average production near 65,000 ounces per year over a seven-year mine life. Eleven commentators split on the plan: a few endorsed the team, while others flagged the $225 million valuation and tight two-year timeline as key risks. Indicated-versus-inferred resource conversion, project financing, and a joint IBA with the Nisga'a are the milestones Thomas pointed to as the path from PEA to first pour.
Doug Already Bought It - Noble Plains Uranium (TSXV: NOBL | OTC: NBLXF)
- Top takeaway Hunt drills into the Geomorphic AI relationship and is told it was a project-specific tool that digitized 1,211 scanned Ur Energy drill holes far more cheaply than a geology team, with wider use possible on future acquisitions.
Noble Plains Uranium (TSXV: NOBL) buys historic Wyoming uranium ground and converts legacy drill data into compliant resources, skipping grassroots exploration risk. Flagship Duck Creek holds a maiden 6.36-million-pound uranium resource (83% indicated) beside Cameco's and Uranium Energy's Powder River Basin projects. In-situ recovery (ISR — leaching uranium with solution underground rather than mining it) underpins the plan; management wants 20-25 million pounds before a production decision. Ur Energy took a 6.2% stake and signed a processing LOI, so Shirley Central pounds could pipe into its brand-new adjacent ISR plant. The panel flags a 30-million warrant overhang, serial commodity pivots, and thin cash, yet most agree the nano-cap valuation already prices much of the risk.
A $95 Million Company Sitting On a $340 Million Mine
- Top takeaway Predicts Palisades — a supporter of the company for years that likely took a big recent position — will be one of the major investors in the next capex round, and asks whether its stake counts inside the ~27% insider figure.
Sonoro Gold's PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) for Cerro Caliche shows a $360 million after-tax NPV at $3,500 gold, versus a $95 million market value. Management argues the Mexico discount reflects permitting paralysis under the prior administration, with approvals now accelerating under new leadership and stricter standards. A 50,000-meter, two-rig drill program targets higher-grade zones at Batamote, Diana and newly acquired Acuna Landia, aiming to lift grades and resources. PEA economics rest on 72% heap-leach recovery, $83 million initial capex and $1,900 AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost — the full cost per ounce), which panelists questioned. Panel debate weighed warrant overhang, thin institutional ownership and Mexico risk against management's track record, production-first plan and recent $51 million raise.
Key Quotes
"With uranium, this is just the beginning — the supply side has not caught up to where demand is going."
— Proactive Investors interview on the uranium rally
Key Works
Independent analyst channel covering junior gold, silver, and uranium mining stocks through company deep-dives and management interviews.
Profile and Q&A with Hunt on his framework for evaluating junior precious-metals developers.
Specializations
Disclaimer: John Hunt has NOT endorsed this platform and is not affiliated with Pixys in any way.