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Amex Gold Mining Sees a Path to Build Perron Without New Debt or Equity | Victor Cantore · Kitco MINING

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining on-site coverage of the Precious Metal Summit is presented by Newcore Gold.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Kitco Mining with me, Paul Harris, here at the 2026 Precious Metal Summit in Beaver Creek in Colorado.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me today is Victor Cantori, president and CEO of Amex Gold Mining.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Victor, welcome to Kitco.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me on your show.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a lot to get through.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to try and do a brief summary of some of the key things that have happened to the company recently.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: You've renamed from Amex Exploration to Amex Gold Mining.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: That happened in July, obviously reflecting the change from status from being an explorer to going into development and then on to a producer.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: You've completed a feasibility study.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You've got key permits in hand for a 40,000 ton bulk sample at your Perron gold mine in the Abertibi region of Quebec.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you have exploration upside still to boot.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: A lot going on there, Victor.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot, there's a lot going out.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's start with the the name change to Amet Gold and all that that implies and the 40,000 ton bulk sample.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: What was the plan there?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: So the plan there is to actually start producing from the from the bulk sample.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a 40,000 ton.
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  SPEAKER_02: So we're going to be, we've we've built the portal.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: We're in the process of building the decline and um and also the ramp.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Now, all this is the same size as you're going to need in phase one.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: So my budget for the um the ramp in this product for the bulk sample is going to be the same thing that you're going to be using in phase one.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: So about 67% of all the costs there are going to be part of uh the the phase one costs.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So in addition to getting a head start on the phase one development, what other information uh are you hoping to learn from undertaking the bulk time the bulk sample?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well it's it's the grade, right?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's one of the highest grade projects that you'll find in Canada.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I could I could probably I can comfortably say definitely one of the um most high grade that you'll find in North America right now.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a question for us to go mine it and show the world that yes, it is a high grade mine and we will be we will be producing high grade ore from there.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And once you've extracted that 40,000 ton bulk sample, what are the steps to go from there to actually advancing into phase one production?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of the a lot of the permitting that's needed for phase one is actually being done right now in the in the bulk sample.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: So what what we want to do is be able to get the permit as soon as we're mining the bulk sample, that it just continues on.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's one step continues into the it's a sequence, it just continues into the other.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: We've put in our feasibility study that by sometime in mid-2028, but we're actually hoping that it we can get that sometime in late 2027.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we just announced yesterday uh we wanted to show the progress of the of the bulk sample.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, we were already in in the 75 meter, um, we've already done 75 meters of 1.3, 1.4 kilometers that would that would need to be done.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and how much more do you need to get to to get into the oil?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um in up next year this time, uh we're we're mining.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, okay.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now you mentioned the feasibility study.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us some of the highlights of that in terms of the annual average production you'll have, um the annual average all-in-sustaining cost, the capex you'll need to invest to be able to get there, et cetera.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so phase one, um we're looking at an annual average annual production of 147,000 um ounces per year.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um our AISC, you're looking at$910 uh US US per ounce.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um I mean, the one that I really like to show is is the uh 0.5.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a half a year uh payback on the on the project.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: And that's using$3,500 gold.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh free tax, free cash flow over the five years, it's$2.492 billion.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's like half a half a billion dollars.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: That's$500 million a year for the next for the next five years inside inside the champagne zone alone.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's uh it's great it's called the Champagne Zone because I imagine it's could potentially give you a champagne problem of uh what to do with all that cash.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: You you've got some uh exploration upside both um in in uh Quebec but also next door in Ontario.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about in that in just a moment, but given that your time horizon towards producing is you know relatively short and you'll be generating such rich cash flows in a relatively short space of time, are you starting to think about and discuss with the board okay, where do we go from here?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: What's the best use of that capital going forward?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it better to just return that to our shareholders?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think you do a you do a little bit of both.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think you return some capital to the shareholders.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's that's to be determined uh down down the road.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: But but definitely um and when it comes to capex, I think we were gonna be covering that uh you know what you know, capital expenditure.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: So in the feasibility study, it's showing at$194 million.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: But our our bulk sample is gonna cost about$60 million.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: We're fully financed for that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: We raised that money not too long ago.
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  SPEAKER_02: $40 million of that is already is already a sunk in cost inside that$194.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So you would have to deduct the$194 minus the$40 million.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: Now, when it comes to gold, we should be producing anywhere from$20,000 to$28,000 ounces in the bulk sample.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: If we just take the midpoint around$25,000 ounces, for simple math, that$4,000 gold, you'd be you'd be generating$100 million US.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: If you use the$1.35 Canadian US exchange, it's another$135 million.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you start when you start producing from your phase one, until you achieve commercial production, all that ore that you're that you're um producing, that would generate another$68 million that would be coming that would be coming in.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So this sequencing one into the other, my capex will be will be pretty much paid for by the time by the time you know you start you start your phase one production.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: So uh if I'm hearing correctly, you're effectively saying you'll be fully financed into production.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: You won't need to raise any more money, you won't need to raise any debt, you won't need to raise any equity.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, fine.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can have enough working capital to do what you yeah.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so when you if if you do the math, again, it all it's all gonna depend on US dollar exchange, depend on the price of gold.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: But if I use these numbers, I need 194 million dollars.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: And basically I'd be bringing in about 230 million dollars if you do the math on between the gold production, between the production from your bulk sample and what's already sunk in from your from your uh um from your bulk sample uh inf infrastructure.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: So there's more than enough money there for to continue on exploration.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: For me, expiration is very is very important.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we control at least 70 kilometers on strike.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: You're in the middle of the Abatibi greenstone belt, and total acreage is is uh is uh 570 square square kilometers.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: You know, when you look at all the other deformation zones, there's multiple multiple deposits, and you know, do I believe there's only one one deposit uh on this deformation zone?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's gonna be multiple deposits, and that's gonna come with exploration.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll be able to do a lot of that exploration with uh with free cat with free cash flow starting in uh 2028.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's talk more about exploration because you you're touching on a very important point.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: As uh companies go into development, they tend to go into the the the bottom part of the LaSonne curve where you're doing important work, but your news flow dries up and the interest wanes.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's often important to continue the exploration effort, to continue the news flow, to stay front and center of people's investors' minds.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it sounds like you're that's very much gonna be part of your picture going forward.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna continue along along with all the development press releases that we're gonna be putting out, and it's not that long.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, you're looking at a year, a year out, a year and a half out at the most, with uh getting the permits for the phase one.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um we currently have four drills that are turning.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: We have two in Ontario, and there's uh there's at least two on two on the Quebec side.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um everything that we everything that we explore, everything that we discover on the Quebec side, most of it, it's you know, once you're underground, you should be able to drift to drift over like like the Rose zone.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's directly under it's directly under uh the ramp that we're that we're building.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that that becomes a creative.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I need I need I need the waiver here because I'll say it is you know, you need a feasibility study, you need economic study, but it's you know, you should be able to access uh um all these all these deposits that you find on the Quebec site, but also on the Ontario side, it's very exciting.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're looking for bigger and uh bigger and new things.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now uh this bit begs the obvious question.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: You're in the Abbey TV, it's uh one of the best and most attractive gold districts anywhere in the world.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: You've got one very big neighbor, you've got another couple of producing miners.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, whilst you may not have a big annual production headline number, 900 US dollars per ounce all in sustaining cost is attractive for anybody, no matter who you are.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: How confident are you that you're gonna be able to execute your plan rather than being gobbled up by one of your bigger neighbors?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm doing everything I possibly can to move forward.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't need these big, you know, I don't need to raise these big dollars to go into production, producing 147,000 ounces a year to start with.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I do believe, you know, by controlling 70 kilometers on strike and having 570 square kilometers that we're gonna find um you know multiple multiple deposits.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: Now, it's anybody's guess after that.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: If somebody wants to gobble us up, I can't.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'll I'll do everything I can what's best for all the shareholders.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: You meeting with a a lot of corporates here?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um lots on the it's we we it's every year like that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: We have we have we have corporates, we have bankers, and we have uh buy side.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's usually about a third or third or third.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now obviously we've been talking a lot about gold, but um in in within your land package, you also have VMS systems which have uh copper in them.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: To what extent or not is that an attractive um you know secondary direction, if you like, for the company?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a really great point because in the past, uh so we've put in about 12 drill holes.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's in it's all in the historical uh database.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: So anybody could go find that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: But we've always been drilling.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I really wanted to focus on gold.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: I did not want to confuse the story today, gold, uh tomorrow copper.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: But now that we have a path to production and we have an expiration potential and we're sitting with with with the good amounts of money for expiration, I've we're we're setting our eye our eyes also on the on copper right now, on the copper.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: The main thing is finding a VMS there.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's there.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Now it's a question of defining it.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: You don't need to find a massive deposit.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: You have you have the Glencore, you have the Glencore deposit, uh well the sorry, the Glen the Glencore smelter, only um about an hour, an hour and a half away from our deposit.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's gonna be really exciting to find, you know, to make new uh new new discoveries.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I would definitely be looking out for for news coming out from that area.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Again, like before I didn't want to confuse the story, but today it's uh it's just it's a creative to go find more gold.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's an important point, I think, Victor, because um to a certain extent, investors like stories to be quite simple.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: I like investing in gold, I want to invest in a gold company.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: If something else comes into that picture, suddenly it gets too complicated, which may mean I exit.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So VMS is obviously a very different business to go, both in terms of exploration and certainly in the production and the skills you need to be able to do that.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, how does that fit into your sort of broader longer-term strategy?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is it more a case of we're gonna see what's there, we're gonna perhaps advance it with a view to either selling it on spinning it out so we can protect and maintain the the sort of the pure gold nature of what we're doing right now?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a question of defining it, how big is it, how big can we get that?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um I like keeping things simple.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you have a smelter an hour and a half away.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you can start generating revenues the minute you've defined the deposit and get and get permitted and just ship it an hour an hour and a half away.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: That is definitely a hungry, uh, that is definitely a hungry smelter down at the Glencore in uh in Ryan Randa.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um but yes, I I I think it adds it adds to the story at this point.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: If we didn't have a path to gold production, I get it, but not not today.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think it does.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, exploration is exploration.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh we have an exploration team that's a very dedicated Quebec, loves their uh they love uh searching for VMS deposits, and being so close to uh to infrastructure really really helps a lot.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And given uh where those world copper suppliers and the the data projects coming through, I imagine there'll be if you are able to find something and divine something, there'll be a lot of interest in that.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, absolutely.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's right now we're really really focusing on that.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: But and it's and it's different teams.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like I will, it's not gonna, it's not gonna we're not gonna get distracted.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be an exploration team for that.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: We have an exploration team for gold, and we have a development team to become the next high-grade mine.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And how are you gonna determine what the budget for that is?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, underneath each each uh each head of department sends us their what you know what makes sense, and then we break it down, negotiate with them, and hand out the budgets.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now um you've got a lot going on, Victor.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: What what are some of the sort of key catalysts for the company that our viewers uh can expect to see over the next 12 to 18 month period?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely press releases on a on a continual basis on the development of the mine.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, definitely press releases coming uh from expiration from the Ontario side and also from the Quebec side, and definitely expect some news um in in soon enough time also on the VMS targets.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: We're definitely going to start targeting that area.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll definitely have to get you back on.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Victor Candori, thank you very much for joining me today.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me on.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a lot more to come from the 2026 Precious Metal Summit here in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned and hit that subscribe button.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Paul Harris, and this is Kitco Mining.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Kitco Mining on site coverage of the Precious Metal Summit is presented by Newcore Gold.