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#98 Digging for Dollars #26 Wait for the Trickle Down Effect on Junior Miners

CEO.CA Apr 30, 2026 44:54

Summary

EarthLabs closed its year with $80 million in cash and securities, up from $39 million, without borrowing or raising new capital.

Producer and mid-tier strength has not yet trickled down to juniors and privates — the flow the hosts say is just getting started.

Kirkland Lake Discoveries bought the forgotten 442,000-ounce Mirado gold project for about $9 million; eight pending drill holes could re-rate the stock.

Drilling is paused roughly three weeks for river-crossing safety; a magnetotellurics survey and till sampling will probe ground hidden beneath glacial cover.

Portfolio discipline from the show: cap privates near 20% for liquidity, keep funds under $150-200 million, and benchmark returns.

Key points on Borealis Mining Company Ltd

  • The host argues Borealis is "very, very cheap" compared to its peers considering the economics it published for Sandman.
  • He names it among the fund's larger, long-voiced positions selling off on a down day while "nothing has changed fundamentally with the company."

Key points on Belo Sun Mining

  • The second "Dig This Deal" is revealed as Belo Sun, pitched at a $750 million market cap with a claimed NAV of about $5 billion today: roughly 4 million ounces at about a gram (4 million ounces proven and probable), visibility on 15 million ounces, and 30-50 kilometres of controlled greenstone belt in Brazil.
  • The pitcher says the project was nearly in production in 2017 (a $700 million NAV at $1,300 gold, 20-year mine life, about $750/oz costs, 26% IRR) and argues a takeout at $650 per ounce could be worth multiples of the current market cap.
  • Construction permits revoked in 2018 over a nearby dam have been re-granted, but the decision to restart construction now sits with an appeals court, and the pitcher notes one of its three judges is the one who granted the new permit.
  • The hosts disclose they are shareholders and frame the stock as binary: $5-$10 a share if the legal question resolves, about $0.10 if not (it traded at $0.10 a year before the April 2026 show).
  • The company is run by the former head of legal for Vale in Brazil, pitched as the right background for navigating the permit fight.

Key points on New Found Gold

  • The host says Earth Labs held a very concentrated New Found Gold portfolio when it sold its consulting-tech business, and still holds a royalty tied to New Found Gold.

Key points on Franco-Nevada Corp

  • The host notes Errington Metals announced David Hartwell, identified as Franco-Nevada's chairman, as an incoming advisor and big shareholder alongside Dan Meyerson.

Stefan Skelpowitsch's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Argues Kirkland Lake South is a gold-rich VMS system far bigger than its historic 442,000-ounce resource, with continuous open-pit-style material plus high-grade pay shoots, a continuity thesis he says the first two holes confirmed.
  • Believes the asset was massively mispriced when bought for just shy of $9 million in paper after nearly 15 years dormant, and insists "the only thing that really speaks is the drill."
  • Is chasing the deep IP anomaly aggressively ("we don't have time to waste"), with five holes into it and hole 4 as the first 40-metre step-out south, expecting at least "smoke" from eight pending holes in the next few months.
  • Paused drilling for about three weeks for spring-melt safety, and is adding a mobileMT survey and a till program across roughly three-quarters of the ~2,200-hectare property to see what hides under cover.
  • Voices a buy-what's-already-found stance in the panel game, ditching discovery-stage pitches because "my fundamental investment thesis these days is to buy things that are already found because they're also cheap."

Michael Gentile's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Referenced from a past show appearance for his point that "you're going to be wrong because there is no right" — so get the odds in your favor and own a portfolio of names rather than a single stock.

John Florek's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Named in the Dig This Deal reveal as CEO of Sankamap Metals (SCU), with the hosts calling the aggressive 1,000-metre first hole plan his "new baby."