Kody Penner, VP, Corporate Development of Nations Royalty |Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

Rule Investment Media May 21, 2026

Summary

Impact benefit agreements already give indigenous groups royalties on most major Canadian mines, signed over the past 30 to 40 years.

Nations Royalty, 72% owned by the Nisga'a Nation, consolidates those royalty streams and trades publicly at roughly $150 million market cap.

Its biggest prize is a royalty on Seabridge's KSM deposit, which holds 47 million gold ounces and 7.5 billion pounds of copper in reserve.

Cash flow is uneven: Bruce Jack payments keep rising, but Cambria's Premier and Red Mountain mines went into care and maintenance.

The founding nation holds 72% and management 1.5%; the guest argues that thin float could sharply move the stock on any new deal.

Newmont comes up only as the owner of the Bruce Jack mine, a producing underground operation in British Columbia that the guest says runs at roughly 250,000 ounces a year.
Nations Royalty's royalty on that mine is the growth engine of its existing cash book: the guest says payments started near $70,000 and reached about $1.2 million last year, and should keep rising in a higher gold price environment.

The guest calls the royalty on Seabridge's KSM deposit the most valuable holding in Nations Royalty and the biggest part of its net asset value, describing KSM as the world's largest permitted but undeveloped copper-gold project, with about 47 million ounces of gold and 7.5 billion pounds of copper in reserve.
He argues Seabridge and Nations Royalty are effectively the same bet, saying a share in Nations Royalty can be thought of as a bit of a call option on Seabridge because the royalty moves with any progress at KSM.
He says the royalty company is closely aligned with Seabridge's management and expects any material partnership or development news at KSM during 2026 to lift Nations Royalty sharply.
He frames KSM as the holding that gives investors a route to a top-tier asset through a roughly $150 million market cap, cheaper than owning Seabridge directly.

The guest cites Franco-Nevada as the precedent Nations Royalty follows, saying the business model is the same but the difference is majority Indigenous ownership.

The guest argues the company's edge is consolidating royalty streams that Canadian First Nations already hold on major producing mines, which he says has never been done, giving investors what he calls the best pipeline in junior mining royalties.
His founding First Nation partner, the Nisga'a, rolled five impact benefit agreements spanning about 30% of the Golden Triangle into the company for 77% ownership, diluted to roughly 72% by a $15 million raise, and has signalled to the market it will never sell.
The portfolio is Bruce Jack, the Premier and Red Mountain assets, a 2% net smelter return on the past-producing Kitsult molybdenum mine targeted for around 2029, and the Seabridge KSM royalty.
At about a $150 million market cap the shares trade at a discount the guest attributes to investors waiting to see the next acquisition; he expects one announcement this year out of talks he describes as very advanced, and expects further groups to follow once the model is proven.
He says rising Bruce Jack payments plus interest on treasury cash should make the company free cash flow neutral soon, and notes the register is tightly held with only about 1.5% owned by management.

Top takeaway Rule discloses that he personally holds Nations Royalty shares and is featuring the company at his own symposium, and frames the rule that every exhibitor's shares must sit in conference sponsors' accounts, his included, as a vetting endorsement that carries no promise of a higher price.
He argues the register is so concentrated, with most shares held by the founding Nation and not for sale, that landing one new Indigenous partner with a visible asset could produce a dramatic near-term move, while an all-share deal would barely add liquidity.
He calls the Indigenous-controlled and Indigenous-run structure a definable competitive advantage that should earn sympathy from other First Nations across Canada.
He advises investors to treat Nations Royalty as a value buy now, to get ahead of the announcements and the snowball effect he expects once the first partnership is done.

Top takeaway Penner argues Nations Royalty is the first company to consolidate the separate impact benefit agreements Canadian First Nations already hold on major mines, giving those groups access to public capital for royalty streams that had never been pooled before.
He says the founding Nisga'a partner contributed five agreements for 77% of the company, diluted to about 72% by a $15 million raise, and views the arrangement as a brand new idea for Indigenous groups.
He expects free cash flow neutrality soon as Bruce Jack payments rise and the company earns interest on treasury cash, with Red Mountain and Premier adding cash once that asset moves forward.
He describes roughly two years of deliberate relationship building since the June 2024 listing, including advisory work on royalty agreements and time with chiefs and councils from the Abitibi through British Columbia copper belts to Saskatchewan uranium and the Yukon, ahead of any partnerships being announced.
He says about 72% of shares sit with the founding Nation and roughly 1.5% with management, so new partners would be paid mainly in stock and existing investors would gain a larger portfolio rather than liquidity.