Latest / Kitco MINING / How Prospector Is Targeting the Next Yukon Gold Discovery | Rob Carpenter

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How Prospector Is Targeting the Next Yukon Gold Discovery | Rob Carpenter · Kitco MINING

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Kitco Mining.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Niels Christensen and we continue our coverage of PDAC 2026, the world's mining, the world's largest mining conference.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Joining me today is uh Rob Carpenter, uh CEO of Prospector Met Metals.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we're here to talk all things Yukon.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Rob, thank you very much for joining us today.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Great to see you again, Niels.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um before we get into you know the Yukon as a mining jurisdiction, give us a little bit uh about uh Prospector.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you guys have 45 million in the bank.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you do you are starting uh a drill program.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, just give us uh give us the the the elevator pinch.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so prospector uh a lot of your a lot of your viewers may not know it because we're a new company that does exploration.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And uh in 2025, we drilled some new discovery holes on some prospects in Yukon near Dawson City.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we got cashed up, we financed our our biggest shareholder and partner is B2 Gold, which is a producer.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they actually just increased their share.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: They did, they went from 9.9% to 19.9.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and having their backing uh and you know not only financially but corporately and their geological expertise has been very invaluable.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna come in in 2026 and expand our program.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're gonna go from 6,000 meters drilled in 2025 to over 25,000 in 2026.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And our objective is to expand that new discovery from last year as well as show that the potential for this area to to host district scale or multiple deposits.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's really interesting because um you're not unfamiliar with greenfield exploration.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um you were co-founder of Kaminac.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um similarities between the two, eh?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean we were you know, Kamenac's, you know, a couple hundred kilometers away from Yukon, and you know, we drilled the first ever hole on the Kamanac project at Coffee in 2010, and we watched that grow from you know greenfields to several million ounces discovery.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so with this new project, ML, we look at the similarities in scale and footprint and geological prospectivity.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of these things, these the gold is hosted in in fault zones or structural corridors.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we key in on those, and not surprisingly, the best gold deposits or the biggest gold deposits occur in the biggest structure.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we look for that footprint and we look or we look for that scale, and whether it be gold showings or fault zones, and our new our new project with Prospector and ML, the project name, its strategy is very similar to Caminac, the process is very similar, and a lot of the folks are similar.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the geologists are are are back with us again uh for this journey.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um so like what's it like then?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the the like obviously, you know, you drilled this whole, you know, first hole 2025.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um it just feels like you know, there's a century of history of mining gold in the Yukon, you know, whether it's plaster miner, um, plaster mining or whatever.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just it's really interesting that we're still finding these green fields.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's it like working in the Yukon right?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it feels like uh there's still a tremendous amount of opportunity.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like clearly the the gold rush from the 1890s is the lore.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's been a tremendous amount of discoveries.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I I went to school in Ontario, I worked in Ontario, and and I still think there's lots of prospectivity in Ontario and Quebec, but in Yukon, I can get a I can get a land position or a claim block that is 20 kilometers, 40 kilometers long to really capture that district.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if and with the geology just scraping the surface, with the new technologies like satellite imagery, uh it feels like you know, we're where Ontario was uh 100 years ago as far as how much work's been done.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there's still going to be many more uh high-quality discoveries to come, I think, in Yukon.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: What's the sentiment like in the Yukon net?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's positive.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're seeing a lot of companies, like the global risk is real, and expiration dollars are coming home to Canada.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, whether you're working in you know West Africa or other parts of the you know the globe that are you know relatively uncertain politically.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Canada, your investment dollars, the the the rules are are firm, uh, the governments are are real, and uh the expiration dollars are seen as being value add in Canada.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Toronto here in Ontario and Canada has a tremendous investment base in Canada.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel that deposits that are uh discovered in Canada and in UConn tend to get fully valued quicker than if they're in a jurisdiction where uh politics are more uh front and center.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um so obviously we're at PDAC here.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what has sentiment been like for you guys?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, and you guys have you guys have actually seen uh really good uh uh movement in your in your stock.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um what are conversations like with investors right now?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we just had a core shack here uh for the past two days where we took our drill core and we showed it and lots of good questions from different geologists and investors.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh everyone is very eager to see what the drilling looks like for 2026.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: The the one thing that we like about this project is the high grade nature of the mineralization.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so high grade deposits and high grade occurrences tend to get more attention.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been very positive.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Our investor base and our shareholder base are very in well-informed.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh here at PDAC, you know, you meet folks that um you know, due to things like Kitco and other sources, the information available to the investor is more than it's ever been.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So they're making really well-informed decisions.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're getting very good questions.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you know, it it's very much a positive uh environment.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, hopefully the commodity price obviously helps.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, gold at 5,000.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, our our area is a high grade gold, copper, and silver district.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we have all three of those commodities.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which are all rallying, all rallying at the same time, doesn't hurt, right?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, overall very positive, Niels.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess one of the the the sentiment that I've here that I've sort of heard around on the floor and stuff like that is um investors are like they're interested, but they're not quite ready to buy yet.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm wondering if if that's what you if that's what you see, especially in the exploration sector.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what's what's the challenge?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think gets investors into the market, especially, especially in the explorers, you know, the high risk, high reward area?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Good question.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think you need more successes, right?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And more like, you know, our stock last year was up, you know, tremendous amount, and you know, average person made money and then they reinvested.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we need more success.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: We need to show that you know the investment dollar in early stage expiration or in mining is you know is a value add um you know investment.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, compared to other investments you may make, you know, you pay your mortgage first, you pay your buy your car first, and then you then you buy stock.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's a really good question.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think there is a lot of capital coming in.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um you know, we have a cash position of over$45 million, which is you know a tremendous source for us to fund this year without having to go to the market.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um so there is a lot of capital available, but you like you know, like you mentioned, investors are being very selective.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking for proven management, good jurisdiction, and uh the the right share structure and investor investor base.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Does it help to have somebody like B2 Gold uh in your corner?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we're trying to find a mine.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So having an investor, a cornerstone investor that owns mines is great.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And they're a terrific sponsor, and they're also, you know, their geologists are world-class, and we show them our data, we show them our information.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very open, you know, uh open relationship that way, and we get very good feedback.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they want us to succeed, and it's great.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because yeah, I also one of the things I've heard is uh for explorers too, uh financing can be uh has has been difficult.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, having the backing, like not just their money, but just their support, like you know, does that does that make the the financing conversations a lot easier?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want to Yeah, like you know, when you're an investor in junior mining, you have a checklist, right?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, that you have to like the project, the jurisdiction, the people, and uh everybody here that I know, the management, management in the different companies are very good.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but how can you say, well, what's that chess check mark?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, if I if I'm not a geologist, well, I'm a geologist, so I know the sector, but if I'm if I'm a generalist investor, I'm looking for those types of check marks, right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh if if a if a major mining company or a producing mining company is investing downstream in the expiration, that that to me would be a check mark for that team.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, look, we all know gold, gold is scarce, uh, and drilling for it it can be can be pricey.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you have to have an experienced team and that knows how to allocate capital and knows what success is and knows how to pivot when need be as well, too, right?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a linear journey, as you all know, but um with the right people and the right experience, uh you can get there.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you're correct, and I think you know that's the way to get investors.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't think it's the price, you know, because we we've had we've we we've seen a really strong rally in gold.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, yes, we're at 5,000, but I mean we went from you know, a year ago we were at 2500, you know, now we're at 5,000, and you know, we only started really to see you know investors creep into the market, you know, mid-last year.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, so I it's it's really interesting to see you know sort of the excitement, you know, in the Yukon about you know a pet potentially new discovery, something you know, like Kaminac.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you know, you're right.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I think with the investors, we tend to uh invest in ourselves.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I am an investor as well as a geologist.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I tend to invest in other people that I know and we reinvest that money.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you're right.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think the new money is coming in now from generalists and the idea that having gold as part of your portfolio, uh not only as a safe haven, but as a as a as an investment, uh I think is important.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think we're still early.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think, yeah, getting the word out and you know, I think some successes and and maybe a conference like PDAC will help will help that.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Just one more question, you know, like obviously, you know, like you're as green as it gets.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're the project as green as it gets.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like how how does that progress then?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like everybody sort of is familiar with brown fields and you know, sort of the exploration, like there's been very few, you know, green field discoveries.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, you know, obviously you have your Jill program this year.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: What does the long term look like?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good question.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're going into a new area looking for a new deposit type, there's no textbook, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So then there's no recipe.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: But we know we just like follow, let the rocks do the talking for us.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that you know, uh we have to ask the the companies what is a mine?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of grade is important, uh, what kind of jurisdictions, what type of drilling, what kind of metallurgy, getting the gold out of the rock, right?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we try to de-risk all aspects of that towards a development decision.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not a miner, I'm an early stage geologist.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So our objective is as it with can with Caminac, is make the discovery and then sell it to a company that owns big yellow trucks that you know knows how to mine.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that's where our investors uh get the most success is at the early stage of the expiration, putting together the deposit, showing it has geometry, showing it can be a resource, and then realizing that value.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: How long does that take?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: How long is that process?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a good question.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: The discovery phase really is three years.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: At least.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So in first year, you get the tiger by the tail.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then over the wintertime, uh, you you know go back into the office or in the laboratory and reanalyze the rocks, look at the data sets, and then come out in year two with a more full sum understanding of the geology.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if the district is there, year two is generally where the discoveries keep coming more rapidly because you're getting more familiar with the geology, you're getting more comfortable with it, and you've we use the expression crack the code.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like once you've cracked the code, and every deposit has a different code, yeah, unfortunately.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So once you crack that code, you start knocking them off one by one, and then by year three, you start putting that resource together.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, as you know, uh 43101 uh regulations dictate that you should have a resource in order to you know move development.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's a regulatory requirement, but also a you know a real life requirement.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you work towards that inferred resource that has a grade and an ounce number, and hopefully it's within a category that keeps investor interest.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's not fully like I guess it's not fully defined yet.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that comes even that's even farther down.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, everybody knows, you know, like the well the old saying is you know, 10 years from exploration to mind development.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really interesting to see, you know, what happens, you know, how is the sausage made in that early stage?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so you're making the sausage, but also it's what's the who's making money at the very stage of the sausage making?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you invest?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: So um, you know, early on is where the best accretion is when you go from you know moose pasture to you know a large deposit that's near surface.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's the discovery phase.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: But as you as you narrow down, like for example, drilling spacing, my drill spacing might be 50 meters or 100 meters away, or I might do things 500 meters away to get an idea.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: As you increase confidence in your deposit and you come towards a mine, that drill spacing will go from 50 meters to 25 to 12 and a half, and you need that type of confidence to actually go to the mining phase.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: So you're correct.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: It it can be 10 years or more for that sausage to go from the from the the pig in the yard in the yard to your table.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um but knowing where the real money made is in that in that phase is critical.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, um well I wish you luck on this on this greenfield.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's I think it's really exciting.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is the I think this is the exciting part of the mining sector as well.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, every there's there's every aspect of the mining sector is is really interesting.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think you know, boots on the ground and looking for new discoveries, which we obviously need, um, is is fascinating.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: So as a geologist, it's exciting.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I was lucky enough early in my career to work with really good geologists who are making discoveries, and like I said, there's no recipe book, but um, you know, it's experience and working with the right people, having the right financiers is absolutely critical.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh is just how do you find this?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like is it does how does it start?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, are you in a plane with like magnetic uh magnetic residence?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Are you just you know going for a hike in the mountain, taking cereal samples?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Is this prospectivity?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh you know, mineral deposits aren't uniform across the earth, right?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But there's special parts, right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's special parts where there's nickel, like Sudbury.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's special parts where there's gold.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we try to uh nail down the prospective areas.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now in Ontario we have some great ones.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Yukon, we think there's two or three areas that really highlight prospectivity.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: So for various reasons.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then we start in there, and that's where we start our soil sampling or prospectivity.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, all like ultimately there's historical work as well.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: So this project we were working on, there were grab samples taken in the 80s and the 90s that were never followed up.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a cycle, gold goes down, claims come open, right?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason why these things become available is for multiple multiple reasons.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Either, you know, like financing gets that gets focused in certain jurisdictions for whatever reason, or uh the commodity price goes down and you might go 20 years without seeing a rock hammer.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it all starts with knowing the prospectivity and you know and uh going to the right areas and finding the capital to help you deploy that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um well I wish you luck on uh on your boots in the ground exploration.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, thanks, Neil.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to come visit.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: I I I I will I one day I will take you up on that.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much for joining us today.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much for watching our coverage at PDAC.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned for more videos.