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Live Q&A with Rick Rule, Rudi Fronk, and Steve Barton šŸ“±

Rule Investment Media May 22, 2026

Summary

KSM is described as the world's largest undeveloped gold project by reserves and resources, and its second largest for copper.

At $4,400 gold, net present value (what future cash flow is worth today) hits $35 billion after tax, with payback under two years.

Life-of-mine production cost sits below $500 an ounce once copper, silver and molybdenum are credited against the gold.

The main blocker is a haulage tunnel dispute with a neighbouring project; a permit amendment waits on that company's mine plan.

Only about seven companies worldwide have the technical, financial and social capacity to partner on a project this size.

Key points on Newmont

  • The guest frames Seabridge's KSM by its location, noting the project sits immediately next door to Newmont's Bruce Jack in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, and uses that adjacency as part of his case that KSM is in a good jurisdiction.
  • He contrasts the two assets on grade, saying Newmont's Bruce Jack carries higher grades than KSM while he looks for a comparable high-grade zone at KSM.

Key points on Seabridge Gold

  • The guest says KSM's after-tax NPV works out to about $35 billion at $4,400 gold, a price he had not yet run against $6 copper, versus a 2022 capital estimate of $6.4 billion, and that the project still pays back in roughly two years even if capital climbs toward $8 billion.
  • He says permits were secured for the life of the project: environmental approvals received in 2014 were due to expire in July 2026, but after spending about C$700 to C$750 million on site-specific construction the company won 'substantially started' designation in July 2024, so a new partner would not have to restart the assessment, and that designation is now under judicial review.
  • He says joint venture talks have narrowed from seven or eight candidates to one preferred partner, and that only about seven companies globally have the technical, financial and social standing he would partner with on a project this size; he wants that partner aligned on the bankable feasibility design before the study starts, and says the company held about $130 million against roughly C$40 million a year of holding costs.
  • He notes the 2022 study restricts mining to 2.3 billion tons of the project's 15 billion tons of economic resources, giving an initial 33-year life at just over one million ounces of gold and close to 200 million pounds of copper a year plus about two million ounces of silver, with life-of-mine cost of production under $500 an ounce after copper, silver and molybdenum by-product credits.
  • He says the Courageous Lake spinout is expected to reach shareholders around June 3, 2026, shortly after the as-of date, with about 99.9 percent of votes cast in favour; he puts that project's NPV at more than $3 billion at current gold prices, roughly Seabridge's own market cap, and frames it as $5 to $10 of value per Seabridge share.

Key points on Skeena Resources

  • The guest notes that the old Snip mine, which he has known since the 1970s era of flying supplies in and gold out, is now part of Skeena Resources.
  • He says Skeena hopes to use the Snip material as mill feed for its other project, which he describes as advancing.

Key points on Franco-Nevada Corp

  • Rick Rule relays that, at a dinner in Zurich the previous year, Pierre Lassonde said that after more than 40 years of producing in northern Nevada, Franco-Nevada holds more ounces today than it bought 42 years ago.

Key points on Nations Royalty Corp

  • The guest says the Niska Nation has sold the net profits interest it received under its KSM impact benefit agreement to Nations Royalty, which has since become one of the project's bigger supporters and wants to see KSM built.
  • He explains that Nations Royalty's royalty is drawn from the mineral tax the eventual builder of Seabridge's project would pay, so the payments depend on a joint venture partner coming in and building.
  • Rick Rule tells attendees that Nations Royalty can give investors a third-party view of the Niska and Tahltan Nations' own relationship with KSM and the value they see in it.

Rick Rule's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rick Rule opens by pressing management on why a joint venture that has been talked about for more than 15 years has taken so long to close.
  • He suspects any partner will be a gold company rather than a copper company, reasoning that gold producers trade at higher free-cash-flow multiples and have been able to raise capital more readily, and that on a capital-intensive deal the lowest cost of capital wins; he notes the guest pointedly declined to answer that question.
  • He argues conventional net present value calculations understate long-life reserves because anything beyond roughly year 10 to 20 is valued at zero, pointing to what he says Robert Friedland calls the stupidity of the mining analyst neglecting the tail, and to a large shareholder's framing of the optionality that NPV drops.
  • He says the Classroom audience needs to hear from people who have actually built mines, and argues investors should press management at vetted industry events such as his own Natural Resources Investment Symposium, where exhibitors are screened and attendees are offered a money-back guarantee.
  • He draws on roughly 35 years of flying into the Snip mine area, recalling an airfield littered with broken aircraft and power supplied by diesel generators, to underline how much of that district's infrastructure was built with other people's money.

Steve Barton's takeaways

  • Top takeaway The host pressed for a phased, lower-capital build that could start generating cash sooner, and was told no: the guest said a lower-grade, high-throughput design is what makes the project work, and the tailings facility, the tunnels and the water storage dam all have to be in place before first production.
  • He asked on a neophyte basis whether the province's 10 percent mineral tax applies to everything pulled out of the ground, and was corrected that it is a net profit calculation that only reaches the 10 percent rate after capital has been recouped.