Karus Mining: A New Gold Story Emerging in British Columbia

0:00 Okay, as folks are filtering in, I will say good morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where in the world you're signing in from. Another international audience today. So appreciate people signing in from all hours of day and night to join us. I'm pretty excited for today's event. I've got with me Andrew Kipe, interim CEO and director of Karis Mining, and as a special treat, strategic investor and advisor, as well as general mining luminary, Peter Moroney. Andrew, Peter, how are you guys today?

0:27 Doing just fine, thank you. Awesome. Doing well, thank you, Romeo. Perfect, so here's how today's gonna work just for the folks in the room. We're going to go through a brief presentation. We're hoping for about a 30-minute event today, and that includes questions. So there is a chat button at the bottom of your screen. If you'd like at any point during today's event, please do ask questions. As it is a shorter event, I may not be able to get to all of them. And if that's the case, don't worry. It's certainly not the case that we won't get back to you. I will pass on all the questions we don't get to to the CARES team. They'll be able to help you out. There's also a request meeting button right at the bottom of your screen if you're attending as a viewer. If you press that, I'll be able to try and connect you with the Care team afterwards so you can try and book a meeting with either their executives or their investor relations team. The only other boring piece of housekeeping I'll give before we get into the protein is that today's event is being recorded and will be available for replay, likely end of day, Eastern time. It'll pop right in your inbox. It'll be at the same link, but also on Six's YouTube channel. So please feel free to join at that time. But that's enough out of me. I'm going to go off screen, and Andrew will let you get started with the presentation.

1:32 All right, so I'll, I'll drive the presentation for this.

1:37 If that's okay, just give me a minute to get it up and running.

1:46 Can everybody see that? No, because I... Let me do this a different way. Sorry about that. I need to share first. There we go. All right.

2:14 Let me get this going. There we go. So let's start off just with Keras and what the intention of Keras is and what the ambition of both Pierre and I are on driving Keras forward as we think about it. Keras is very much a gold exploration company. It has 2 assets in British Columbia. They are projects that are of merit in our view, that have a growing resource opportunity, but they're also very large land packages, and we'll talk more about that. And both of us, I would say, feel that not only do you have to have a good opportunity when it comes to a base exploration opportunity in the gold exploration world, but you also need to have the ability to make new discovery.

3:04 And that's one of the themes that we'll talk about through this presentation. And it's one of the cornerstones of Keras. Cautionary looking statements, I urge everybody to read through them. It's an important aspect of our business. So really, what do we think the tenants of Keras are? I guess the first thing that we would say is we're very much a pure play gold exploration company.

3:32 We do think we're in a good jurisdiction in British Columbia and in Canada. I would point out that British Columbia has been recently recognized as a top jurisdiction in a recent poll of executives and global investors.

3:52 We have a drill ready pipeline. We are currently active on 1 project and we will be transitioning to the other project. So through the remainder of this year and into 2027, you're going to see a pipeline of drill results come out. They're targeted drilling, and we'll talk about that as we get into the projects, but we do think that they're going to deliver interesting and constructive drill results.

4:21 Now is an attractive time, and Peter can talk more about this, but now is an attractive time to be thinking about Keras. It's a new company, It's just listed, it's attractive valuation, it has good people behind it. Peter, any additional thoughts on that one? Well, Andrew, I'd start by saying that I'm not sure that I agree with the idea of a peer discount, not because there isn't a discount, there is. And I think we can address the question of why there is a discount, but how we will overcome it. Clearly, with the effort that you have in your exploration program and all the things that we say here, the pure play, tier 1 jurisdiction, drill ready on both projects, high grade in the case of 1 project, and clearly very prospective, large land package and already significant drilling that in my view very quickly supports a resource

5:13 on the other. But the question that I bring forward is peers. I don't think that there are many peers that compare to this company. Indeed, I would say that it's a very unique opportunity. So while there's a discount, we will bridge that discount. I think that the share price will go up very significantly. That's why I'm invested in it. But I think we stand alone because of the reasons that you've given that are on this page and some of the things that we'll go through in this presentation.

5:40 I couldn't say it any better. Thank you, Peter. Again, 100 percent ownership of these districts. And then we've talked about Peter, but we're gonna get into talking about the company itself and how important the construct of the company and the people are. And Peter, you've had a pretty material input into the construct of this company. So we'll talk about that as well.

6:06 Again, we've got 2 projects that have had quite a bit of historical drilling. We're funded for the exploration programs that we are deploying in 2026. A lot of money has been spent on these 2 projects and to introduce them, we have a large land package in the Southern portion of the Caribou District. And I think people know more about the Caribou District because of companies like Imperial Metals that operates the Mount Pauley operation, but also

6:39 Osisko, which is to the northwest of us and is rapidly moving towards a final decision on constructing a new mine in the Barkerville District that is a long trend from our Caribou claims. The other area is on the island, it's called Mineral Creek. It's well located, it's accessible 12 months of the year, And it is another large land package that offers gold, originate gold, high-grade opportunity. And that's another opportunity that we'll be advancing later this year.

7:16 So who are the people? Well, I'm the interim CEO. We are actively in the process of finding that CEO that is gonna take over Keras, and we're working on that. That's another deliverable that we have. Peter has been pointed out as a strategic advisor, but there are a number of people on this board, Peter, that you've brought essentially this entire board to the table, and maybe you can shed some light on that as well.

7:48 So let me take a step back for a moment, Andrew. I think it's important to put context. I begin with a premise, which is that you have to put your money where your mouth is. If you are going to sponsor something, be a promoter of something, a creator of something, you have to say that you are investing your money. And when you're investing your money, you also want to make sure that you've got prudent management and prudent and disciplined, responsible parties that can take care of that money, that can invest it wisely. I begin with the Mineral Creek project. It was a private company called Thea. That's how I first invested. But interestingly, even before that, I was aware of the Caribou project as a result of a prior company that I sold in 2023.

8:40 We actually invested in it. And that was Yamana Gold. And that's how I became familiar with this project, Andrew, and you were at the time the chief executive of the company. For many reasons, the company

8:56 fell into a situation where people were not very familiar with it. Yamana was sold, and it came back as an opportunity to me privately and personally on what to do with this. And to go to your question, I think if we are to look at an asset or a portfolio of assets, we also have to look at who is responsible for managing them. And so it was important for me to say, let's look at,

9:21 in some respects, who managed it before and was successful enough to have a high-quality company like Yamana invest. That was you and some of the members that are on the board of directors. What's that expression about putting the band back together? That's essentially what we tried to do here. My objective was not to manage this company. My objective was to put a prudent management, a capable board of directors to manage my money, to manage my investment, to manage the investment of all the other people that are on this call. And that's what we succeeded in doing. And as is true with all things with management and boards of directors,

9:56 once you've established a foundation, then improve on it. And as you said, Andrew, You are on the board of directors. You have graciously agreed to step in on this interim basis as an interim chief executive officer. We do need a responsible and capable

10:12 permanent and full-time chief executive officer. I've been briefed on some of the discussions you've been having. I think these are formidable parties that would be available to us that would become chief executive officers to manage my money and all other investors money effectively to manage this exploration program effectively. You start with a quality management, start with a quality board of directors, and then build on top of that. And that's what we've tried to do here. Great. Thank you.

10:41 Capital structure, it's always important to understand capital structure as well as, you know, who is there. Peter, as you've pointed out, you're a significant shareholder. And, you know, what I can tell the people online right now is Peter is a very constructive and active participant in helping us move this company forward. We appreciate the constructive conversations we have with him as a key shareholder.

11:10 Again, market capitalization is very attractive for what the company is doing. I would point out that Pan American and Eric Spratter are also on the register. And we had conversations with them as we

11:24 were going public, and they were very comfortable with being pointed out that they're there. Peter, you know, when you think about constructing a company and you've constructed a number and you've talked about it, what else do you want to point out here that is of importance to you? Well, we've talked about quality boards of directors and management. We've talked about

11:48 sponsors of companies should have their money invested in it, the expression of putting your money where your mouth is. I think that this is, as I said before, unique also because it has this impressive portfolio of assets. Andrew, what I would circle is that market capitalization. Put a big circle around that $21.2 million. And as an investor, I'm here in my capacity as an investor. I am delighted to be an advisor to you as sounding board and to your board of directors and management. That is what I see as my role. But what I would highlight this afternoon is let's put a circle around that 21.2 million because that's where the bank for the buck is. Given what we have in this company, this market capitalization is undervaluing the prospects. It's undervaluing the business.

12:42 And I hope I can say that as an investor, that I see a multiple of that market gap. And that should suggest to everyone that that share price will rise and will rise very dramatically. As you start to execute on the plan, deliver on results, We already have historical results, as you have already pointed out, the number of meters of drilling, the number of dollars that have been spent on this project. As the market becomes more familiar with the opportunity, I think that we will begin to see a multiple of that share price and that market cap. Yeah, thanks. I agree with you 100% and that's something that we think about on a daily basis. And Let's move on to the project. So let's start off with the first project. We might as well start off with the project that we're actively drilling. We're actively exploring on the South Caribou District. And this year's focus is to really look at this, the key prospect on the property, which is a very large land package, as you can see. It's equal in the size as a Cisco developments land package.

13:56 We've got a project area called the FG Gold Project, And it is an area with a historical resource. We're not gonna quote it today because we think we are going to get to the point at the end of this drill program where we're going to lay the foundations for a modern resource estimate that will evolve through expiration next year. That's one of the key objectives. Why we like this land package, 1, it's a very large land package in a historical district With an inventory of gold that continues to grow, and we want to be a part of that inventory growth. Secondly it affords not only advanced scale projects on the land package.

14:44 But a number of prospects and the opportunity for new discovery given the size of the land package. We point out that this is an emerging mining center. As I pointed out, Osisko is in the process of green lighting a new project. Our partners, our neighbors to the north, Spanish Mountain, are also moving in that direction. And this whole region benefits from good infrastructure. It's one of the reasons why we've focused on this land package historically and why we're moving it forward. So what are the key opportunities, if I might point them out, really? 1, we're looking at gold mineralization that is in a style of deposit called a sediment-hosted gold system, for those that are technical, that affords the opportunity for 1 scale and 2 grade.

15:41 Exploration over the last half a dozen years has identified these corridors of above-average gold mineralization that we have demonstrated we can consistently drill into and we can consistently demonstrate an opportunity for not only near surface potential, but also potential at depth. And I've kind of given you the range of what we see from a near surface potential, where we're looking at, you know, 0.5 to 1 gram material near surface. But when we start looking at the core of that material, we're looking at plus multi-gram material over a good width. And that's one of the key things that we think about when we think about building an inventory of gold mineralization at FG.

16:34 They're predictable, we'll get into that a little more, but that's the focus of drilling this year is to demonstrate the continuity, expand the opportunities and move FG Gold to the stage where we can start talking to investors about this has resource opportunity, and this is what we're going to need to do in 2027 to realize that opportunity. And Andrew, in my view, unquestionably, there's a resource there and it is sizable. We want to be very sensitive to the compliance requirements of Canadian regulatory requirements under 43-101 and you're doing a sensible job of doing the things that you have to do in that regard. But based on history, if 1 were to look at that critically, you referred before to technical people. If technical people look at this critically, they can see that there's a sizable resource here.

17:32 And that's another aspect that makes this very unique. So it's not just the prospect and the district scale opportunity. It's that it's very apparent. You will demonstrate that with your drilling, compliant with Canadian regulatory requirements, but it's very apparent to me that there's already a resource here and it's sizable. Yeah, and you know, Peter, one of the things that I really liked that evolved in the first half of this year is we brought on Sebastian Bernier as a new director to the company. And you know, Sebastian, well, he's worked with you for years, but, you know, talk about adding technical capability to Keras. I mean, with Sebastian, we've got our reserve and resource manager par excellence, in my view, and he's a pleasure to work with, by the way.

18:23 And you know, Andrew, it's not that I want to mitigate or minimize the importance of exploration prospects, But I have spent the better part of several decades building mines and building companies that develop mines, and in many cases going from exploration and advanced exploration opportunities to something that becomes development stage and then ultimately becomes a mine. You have on your board of directors, and Sebastian is an excellent example of that, of one of the, in my view, most capable persons when it comes to looking at drilling and how to develop a proper block model.

19:09 I think it's important to just spend 30 seconds to highlight that. We are looking here to create exploration value, but ultimately to say that we want this to become a mine. The bottom line here is that when we look at exploration results, a mining company, either because this gets bought by someone who builds it as a mine or otherwise, a mining company wants the block model to show that the tonnage and grade is where they expect it to be when you're mining it. It's not just about the inventory of ounces that's in the ground. More or less, when you get to a certain point, that inventory doesn't change, you're within a plus or minus of a very few percentage points. But when you're mining it, you want that block model to be as precise as possible because you want that tonnage and the grade to be there when you're at that place, at that time, mining it. That level of precision is important. And having that on your board of directors is something that again, I'm gonna use the word again, it makes this company very unique.

20:14 Yeah, well said. The slide in front of you really just talks about the small area of a very perspective trend that has been historically drilled and we've drilled recently. That tan color you that you see represents kilometers of potential. And the interesting thing about it is that we know we have additional structurally controlled gold zones further to the northwest, a long trend. We've identified them from regional work. There are a number of opportunities that have been drilled historically that we need to follow up. So we're not just looking at what we've been exploring at the main FG prospect.

21:02 We know that this is a repeatable style of mineralization and that is gonna be a focus as we move forward. We're going to discover more of these opportunities and that is going to compound the opportunity as we explore in the future. So let's step back and then wave our arms a bit and talk about the regional prospectivity. You know, When we look at that perspective horizon, we've got tens of kilometers of opportunity on this land package that is quite frankly, under explored. When we were running a program in 2022, we were finding new occurrences along trend of where we were drilling that require follow-up.

21:55 And that's one of the opportunities that we're going to work on in 2027, is we're going to go back to, Peter, correct me if I'm wrong, one of the key reasons why Yemena made an investment into Keras in 2022. Andrew, in the slide before you show that U-shape and the red circle, which is roughly FG gold, 20 km strike length, we came to the conclusion, and I fundamentally believe, that Some of the larger deposits have not yet been discovered. And that's what this is all about. Because if you already have a discovery, a resource, and that is likely the runt of the litter here, that there is going to be something larger, That's what creates, you called it arm waving, and I would prefer to think of it as a moonshot, but it's a calculated moonshot. So this is not just a typical conventional moonshot.

22:58 Maybe you get it, maybe you don't. There's a lot of calculus that's gone into this and you have historical drilling, you have mineralization, you have the strike length, you have the prospect, the big district. And it seems to me that some of the larger discoveries have not been made yet. Well said, yeah, no I agree with you. I think we've got significant opportunity and you know we're on the ground right now, Peter, and you know those are the kinds of conversations we're having with the field crew. So just to recap, we're looking at drilling roughly 7,500 meters at FG and expanding the opportunity. We know we've got a solid 650 meters of strike potential with 3 main zones.

23:50 We're looking at expanding that footprint and improving the confidence. And then as Peter pointed out, we've got kilometers of strike opportunity to evaluate on this project for the next couple of years. And these are really the key tenants. Focuses on grade, focuses on opportunity, and as Peter pointed out, focuses on finding ounces that make sense. And we've got the technical capability to do that. Mineral Creek, we'll step into quickly. We're in the process of designing a drill program that will run later this fall at Mineral Creek. And really, again, we're looking at a large land package. Stay tuned on this one. We're evaluating and building up the drill targets as we speak while we're exploring on the ground at FT Gold.

24:45 Really, the focus of exploration like FT is to add value and grow the opportunity this year. So we're going to be strategically drilling some holes to extend the high grade potential. And to refresh people's idea about Mineral Creek. Mineral Creek has the capacity to deliver extremely high grade. When we look, if you look at the presentation on our website, you will see some very impressive grades all over several meters, and we're talking multi-ounce grades. So that's the key attractiveness of Mineral Creek. And the other thing that I would point out is this is a large land package as well, and it's a large system. It's a big orogenic gold system.

25:37 It's structurally controlled. And we are in the process of getting a better understanding of it. Now we can talk about where we see Keras right now. And Peter, I'm going to ask you to, I'm going to lean in on you and again, to reiterate some of the things that you've talked about earlier. But when we look at companies that are comparable, let's call them pre-resource names in the same jurisdiction. I see a lot of upside with regard to Keras, just on what we have and where we're heading. Peter? Yeah, so I don't know what to say that I haven't said here, Andrew, but I don't think that it's reasonable to say that these are peers.

26:25 They're good companies, but I think that we do stand out for all the reasons that have been discussed this afternoon. I'm not sure that I'm current on my stories, but the story I think is David and Goliath. Well, Goliath has got a market capitalization of almost 250 million, and I've got my slingshot. Yeah, I agree with you. Look, before we go on, let's just talk about next steps before we open up to questions. 1, as we pointed out, we're executing on very targeted drill programs, both at Caribou, as well as Mineral Creek. We're looking at large systems. That's the focus of this company.

27:11 And we're looking to create value, not only these 2 projects, but I would also point out that Peter is, and the CARES board and the CARES team have really laid the foundations for us to move these projects forward, but we've got the capacity to look for new opportunities as well. And so that's another thing that you'll start seeing develop with regard to Keras in the future. We're always going to be on the hunt for opportunities. And I think based on that, I think we're gonna, I'm gonna stop sharing and we're gonna open it up to the audience to ask questions. Awesome. Thank you so much, Andrew and Peter. Really appreciate you running through that presentation.

27:57 Now we don't have a ton of time left. It's almost 2.30. Like I said earlier, for the questions in the chat that we don't get to, I'm gonna pass all those through to the team. So don't worry, those questions will get answered. But I got a couple that I think summarize and will help us close off today. Peter, I'll just shoot this one to you. What are the nearest upcoming milestones for Keras that investors should be looking out for? Well, look, I'm going to pass it back to Andrew, because I want to make sure that everyone understands that I'm here as a resource, I'm here as an investor. But I believe that this drill program in Caribou will demonstrate what we've been discussing, that there is enough continuity to demonstrate a resource. I believe that we'll be able to, that the company will be able to demonstrate that there are other prospects that are at least as good. And ultimately, Andrew, you touched on Mineral Creek.

28:52 These are impressive, splashy grades at Mineral Creek. So while there's a steady as she goes, but large system and likely large inventory at an interior British Columbia, on Vancouver Island with Mineral Creek, I think that we can get some pretty significant grades pretty quickly, and with the gold price for its trading today, I think we can create some very significant value there. So I don't know that I can comment exactly on what the milestones are, but I'd say that as Andrew delivers and the management and board delivers on the exploration program at Caribou, I think that people will begin to understand what I see, that there's that value proposition that I described before? Yeah, so, you know, what to expect. 1, we've pointed out, Peter pointed out earlier in the conversation that we are actively looking for a full-time CEO and we have a couple of candidates and we're at advanced stages so I hope to be able to deliver a permanent individual that wants to move forward with Keras and take it in the direction it needs to and give it the attention that it requires as an emerging company.

30:09 We have drilled approximately 2,500 meters. We've got more to drill. We actually mobilized a second drill to FG Gold recently. So you're going to see a steady flow of drill results. We're already starting to see assays come in. So we're already starting to get information. So you will see news releases on a routine basis going forward that talk about the success that we're having. And you're going to see that evolve into a better understanding and a more coherent picture on what we're going to start delivering in 2027 and what the objectives for 2027 are. Well, Romeo, one important point, not to your question, but sort of that underlines this is we, Andrew is in the role of interim chief executive, but he's done an excellent job of creating this along with the board of directors, of course, and whatever input strategic advisors have been able to provide. But He's done an excellent job of building this exploration program.

31:18 We had a choice to make as a company. The board had a choice to make as a board. And in discussions with me, the question was, Do we wait to put in a high quality chief executive and delay everything? Or do we start an exploration program, start to demonstrate the value as we're looking for that high quality person? So it was a deliberate effort on our part. Andrew was not in, forgive me, I hope I can say this way, Andrew, but you were not intending to step into the role of chief executive, but you agreed to do it so that we can accelerate this exploration program while we were looking for that high-quality chief executive. And I augur the company well to find that chief executive. I think that the interesting part about this is that as you deliver on this program, it becomes even more likely that the quality of that chief executive materializes even more quickly.

32:17 Absolutely right, Peter. We collectively came to an agreement that we wanted to move this project forward. We wanted to daylight the company and get it listing. And they were important deliverables and we followed through with those deliverables. Awesome. Well, Andrew, Peter, thank you so much. Really appreciate you going through the presentation. And thanks. I know there are a lot of you in the room and I know we didn't get to all your questions, but please do feel confident that I'm passing those directly through to the CARES team so they'll be able to get back to you as soon as possible, but really appreciate everybody's time today. And Andrew and Peter, thanks so much. Hope you have a wonderful end to your Wednesday. Yeah, definitely. Thanks for the opportunity. Cheers, everyone.