The Case for Canadian Exploration

0:04 Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending on where in the world you're signing in from. I saw at the very least from Alaska to Australia, so the sun almost doesn't set on the panel of participants here today, which I appreciate. I'm joined today for a discussion on Canadian mineral exploration and why you might want to bet on it as an investor. I'm joined by Fletcher Morgan, CEO of TDG Gold, David Stein, CEO of Kuya Silver, and Mark Jarvis, CEO of Giga Metals. Gentlemen, how are you today? Good, thank you. Great, thank you. Awesome. So here's how today's going to work for the folks in the room. It is an interactive event, so please use that chat button on the bottom right hand of your screen at any time during today's event. Questions that are on topic for today's discussion, I'll try to weave in as much as possible or ask them towards the end of the hour. If you do have questions about individual security, so you want to know if any of the speakers, you know, what their drill program is like for the year, how much cash they have in the bank, et cetera, please feel free to ask them. We probably won't address them today, but I'll make sure the relevant teams get that information and the transcripts, So they'll be able to get back to you as soon as possible. I'll say that today's event is also being recorded. It will be available in your inbox later this afternoon, Eastern time.

1:08 At that point, you can share it. It will also be available on events.6 and our YouTube channel. But that's enough housekeeping. I want to get right into this conversation today. And I'll start with the kind of 101 of what we're talking about today. And Fletcher, I'll throw it to you first. In short, what key advantages do you think Canada offers for exploration? You can compare it to other jurisdictions globally if you'd like. I want to hear about geology,

1:29 infrastructure, political stability. I'll shoot it to you first. Okay, thank you and thanks for inviting me on the panel today. So I do have some experience of being involved in exploration projects in Asia, Africa, and obviously now Canada and North America. And so I will draw a few comparisons, but I think the obvious place to start is how important the sector is to the Canadian economy. And it's been, it's not just a recent phenomenon, it's been for decades, over a hundred years, and everything that we're seeing here in terms of where the sector stands today is a product of everything that's happened in the past. We are very, very well endowed in terms of our natural resource opportunities.

2:17 We're very well structured in terms of the different parts of our sector and the integration of those. And when you compare it, and I don't really want to go into a jurisdiction that's not good versus a better jurisdiction where there are obviously things happening. But I think really where you can 0 in is there are multiple things that you need, and Canada has them all. Now, that's not to say that we're doing everything perfectly, there's a lot of room for improvement, but if you for example take projects in Africa where there's a phenomenal geological prospectivity, you know in places where there has been for whatever reason an inability to get in there and explore, where they've mainly, maybe just opened up in the last 15, 20 years.

3:12 Yeah, sure, geological prospectivity, 100%, but then look at the other parts of the industry and the political stability, infrastructure, road access, export licenses, all of those things that are incredibly important, and they're probably going to fall short. Now, it's not to say they can't get there, But the question that everybody should

3:31 be asking is how long? And that's really what drove me into Canada and Canadian exploration was it's not just about the size of the price, it's about how rapidly you can get to unlocking that price. And when it comes to Canada and specifically British Columbia, where we operate, we not only saw a direct path to something of significance in terms of the size of the prize, but also the way to unlock it and to make sure that all stakeholders would benefit as part of that journey. And so, I think really where we are today is perfectly placed, given all of the things that are happening globally and Canada's efforts over the last 10, 15 years to even put itself even further at the front of various initiatives. I think that's starting to pay off and I think it will continue to pay off for at least the next decade, but there's more that we need to do.

4:27 I appreciate that. We will get on the more that we need to do for sure later in this hour. David, I'll throw it to you. I know you operate in multiple countries, but you've got a project in Ontario. Curious to hear your perspective on working in Canada. Yeah, so important to preface our perspective as KUYA. We operate in several jurisdictions,

4:50 Peru, Canada, Ontario, and then also we are in a joint venture in Saudi Arabia. So besides my own personal experience, which is in dozens, investing in dozens of different jurisdictions. But KUYA specifically is we're not exclusively focused on Canada. So we do have a more of a global perspective, I guess, on things. But with that being said, you know, on a lot of factors, you know, as Fletcher mentioned, Canada is just an absolute pleasure to do business in. I think When you look globally and when you invest globally, one of the most important things is really rule of law, safety and security.

5:43 And by rule of law, we mean that if you do have a problem, there is a legitimate process to go through. It's not going to take forever and you don't have to bribe anyone. And and that you know, that that's definitely the case in in Ontario and Canada. So those are really important. I think I think, you know, at the end of the day, the way I look at things is more like an investor. And when you're, when you're in the sort of the, you know, junior mining, even mid cap for that matter, The reality is the world is full of decent mining projects like they're literally in almost every country, every continent.

6:24 And these countries are really competing for your capital. So you have to you know sort of you can or at least you can look at that as an investor as you know, is this company, is this country giving me a good risk adjusted return on my investment? And I think in the case of Canada, it is. There's, you know, there's so many benefits from infrastructure, from the flow through share system, you know, and just just all you know, all the things I mentioned before about essentially, you know, the advantages of working in a first world country. You know, Canada really ticks a lot of the boxes that we look for. I appreciate that, David. And Mark, I know your operations in BC, but you've got a long career. Eager to hear your perspective.

7:13 Well, in terms of country risk, my basic role as an investor, and I am an investor in all sorts of different mining stocks from majors to juniors,

7:26 but I basically, my rule is I won't put my money in a country where I'm not comfortable to take my family. That's kind of the dividing line for me. And Canada is certainly a place I'm comfortable having my family. You know, part of the lure of Canada is, you know, sheer geology. I mean, it's a huge country and there is a lot of geology. I mean, even just looking at BC, there's all these different parts of the province that are, you know, that are different, you know, geneses. And, you know, we've got some young rocks out near the coast. You look at Ontario, where there's like 3 billion-year-old rocks. I mean, everything's here. The other thing that Canada has, and that it's developed over time, is a network of geologists, metallurgists, and mining engineers. We've got a talent pool here that is

8:26 second to none. I mean, you think Australia, perhaps, South Africa, quite a bit of talent ends up in London, I suppose. But this has been a mining jurisdiction for so long that, you know, we've developed all of the skill sets and infrastructure and, you know, including the ability to raise capital. You know, You've got knowledgeable capital markets that understand the mining business. It's a great jurisdiction. And of course, there's room for improvement. And I think some of the politicians are starting to accept that. Mining used to be a four-letter word. It was easy to find lots of people that were against mining. Now, the comprehension that if you want an iPhone, if you want a car, if you want an electric vehicle, I mean, this is all metals.

9:20 How are you going to get it? And would you rather get your metals from a jurisdiction that has a

9:28 meaningful environmental assessment, Or would you rather get it from the Wild West where, you know, who knows what's happening to, you know, local indigenous people, who knows what's happening to the environment? I mean, you know, you can feel good about buying metals sourced in Canada. All in all, a great place. And I'd appreciate that, Mark. And I actually want to play off of that and talk about geopolitics really briefly in my next question. So we've done the basics, but I do want to get into the nitty gritty a bit. And I know Giga, obviously, is a Nickel Project. And I'm curious, the global push for critical minerals and battery metals, it's suddenly in the news all the time. It must be, to some degree, reshaping exploration priorities in Canada. So I'm curious, from your perspective, what opportunity does this create, the new reality for critical minerals for junior explorers?

10:19 Well, I think there's definitely a political will in Canada to be developing the battery supply chain. Everyone sees that batteries are the future for not just automobiles, but I mean, if you think about what's gonna happen in the next 10 or 20 years with robotics, you need high energy density batteries. And So there's a lot of will. And our new prime minister, Mark Carney, has talked about Canada as an energy superpower. And he's quite clear. He's not just talking about oil and gas, with which we're well endowed, but all of the copper, nickel, cobalt, we've got lots of rare earths actually in this country that could be developed, including in Saskatchewan, where you can readily dispose of radioactive waste, which is a consideration in developing a lot of different rare earth deposits.

11:23 We got it all. And the politicians are, they seem eager to

11:31 shorten the timelines to get environmental approval without sacrificing quality. It's just simply you've got to put enough resources to the process to make it move along without a project rotting in someone's desk for years. And I think that realization is there. And there's also a move to help with infrastructure. And basically with the mining business, infrastructure means roads and power lines. I mean, there's other things too, but those are the 2 main things. So just politically,

12:10 the wind seems to be in our sails. I appreciate that, Mark Fletcher. I'll throw it to you. I know TDG's pretty massive land package does have significant copper, et cetera. So I'm curious what you're seeing in the future for critical minerals geopolitically and what it means for Canadian exploration in that vein. Well, firstly, what I think it's done is it's put the mining and metals sector back onto everybody's radars, where we were potentially, as Mark said, we were thought of as a legacy industry that really wasn't, that was part of the past way of doing business and that needed to reinvent itself. And then critical minerals are a key to everything that's going to be happening in the low carbon economy and the digitized economies moving forwards. We get that. Okay, so that's really for me,

13:03 acted as a catalyst to get us back out there and showing actually that whatever you want to do globally now in terms of developing the global economy, the mining and metal sector is going to be absolutely integral to it. And I'd just like, yes, we have a lot of copper potential on our property package in the Tudor Gaon. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit later. But just to stick on this specific point, I'd like to broaden the 34 critical minerals that the Canadian government has already identified. I'd like to broaden that. If there's one thing that we should have learned from the last 3 to 4 months of macroeconomic and global political instability, not least some of the things we've seen that have been happening with tariffs, et cetera. If there's 1 message we've got to learn is that everything that we've been doing with the mining and metals sector in terms of our approach to sustainability, in terms of our blend of the metals that we're producing, is now really important, not

14:05 just for Canada's independence and strategic supply of metals, but also globally as well. And I'd like to see it broadened. Gold turns out to be now Canada's number 2 export. I think it's just hit that stat. Why is that not now being categorized? If there's one thing that could be helping us with our own economic future, it's a robust currency, It's a robust

14:33 industry within Canada where we're using and taking advantage of more of the metal and mineral endowment that we're privileged to be able to work on. Well, Thanks for that, Fletcher. And David, I'll throw it to you. I know it's a primarily silver company, and various jurisdictions consider silver a critical mineral now, or at least, very least, industrial metal. Curious to hear your perspective on how that impacts junior exploration here.

15:01 Well, in our Ontario project, we do have cobalt as a, it's either a byproduct or a co-product, depending on, I guess, the price. And and so it has been pretty interesting. We've we've seen quite a bit of support for the domestic cobalt sector in our specific little bubble of the Tamizkaming area. You know, one of our neighbors, which is Electra Battery Metals, has gotten quite a bit of support from the Canadian and U.S. Government actually to rebuild and essentially expand a historic refinery there that can produce cobalt for North America.

15:47 And interestingly, they are, for the foreseeable future, They're actually importing the concentrate from Africa Because there is no domestic source of cobalt concentrate at the moment. We may be able to help with that in the future. But but anyway. So so cobalt's been pretty pretty interesting. And it is it's one of those metals that I think along with lithium is is pretty much universally agreed that it's a strategic or a strategic metal.

16:21 But yeah, I have discussed with elected officials adding silver. It's I think 14 countries at the moment who do have 14 of the maybe 50 or 60 that have a critical minerals list have silver as a critical mineral or metal. And, you know, I think honestly, it's kind of a no-brainer given its use in the solar panel industry, which again, if we want to diversify meaningfully our energy source in the future, globally, not maybe in Canada, but globally, Silver plays a huge, huge role in that because you just you cannot make a solar panel without silver.

17:07 So and it's become the biggest industrial use of silver over the last couple of years.

17:14 Although, you know, and then there's, you know, the monetary aspect as well. Fletcher mentioned gold potentially as a strategic metal, which Trump has actually brought up as well and And I think silver goes alongside of that so you know critical minerals are important and also figuring out which ones are the critical ones is also important because if the government's going to provide incentives for lithium and cobalt and stuff like that, they should probably, you know, they definitely should for silver and gold as well. It's a huge, huge benefit to our economy. I'm with you there. My next question, honestly, the rock in the chat has a probably better formulation of it, but I really want to talk about investor interests in Canada. Because I know a lot of companies I work with, investors complain. What they'll often say is, it's so much easier in Australia, is usually the company that they point to. But Rock asked in the chat, and David, I'll start with you if you don't mind, is how does capital market investing in Canada compare to other jurisdictions?

18:09 Do other jurisdictions have better access to capital?

18:15 Well, in my 25 year career now in capital markets, it has, you know, the capital markets between the different markets kind of ebbs and flows. And so, you know, I think we have been in a time where, you know, Australia has been getting more interest in their metals and mining sector relative to Canada. But that easily could change. You know, there's certain geographic and economic reasons why that may happen. I think in North America, like, you know, in Canada, we rely heavily on US investment to, you know, kind of fuel the Canadian stock market.

19:05 And, you know, and there's been a lot of attention on non-mining, large cap tech, crypto, etc. And, you know, these things are typically cyclical. And, you know, when we do move to more of a value driven

19:25 kind of market, you know, I think mining will come back into favor. So so we're we're maybe seeing that in the early stages, but not in any huge degree yet. I think some of the larger cap golds, for example, like Agnico Eagle have done very, very well in the market. So that's a good indication that big money is starting to move into the sector. And, you know, you know, another year or 2 of that, it'll filter down to basically everybody, including the micro caps. So so that's kind of the way the way I see that I wouldn't stress too much about 1 market versus another. I think you have to look at where your longer term, where your investors are gonna

20:07 be. And I don't see any fundamental issues with Canada, definitely, but Australia is great too. I have nothing bad to say about it. Okay. Mark, I'm going to get you in here next. I'm curious just for your perspective on trends over the years. Do you think Canadian investor interest in mining it's on the way up? It's on the way down. What, what, what trends are you noticing? Well, I think it's on its way up from a low base And if I can just get into the whole Canada versus Australia discussion, I think Australia is eating our lunch frankly their their junior sector is quite robust And a lot of Australians I've talked to have said that they think it's because the pension funds in Australia have to invest Australian.

20:55 And like Canada,

21:00 Mining is a very large part of the Australian economy. So if you're going to invest in Australia, mining is going to be part of it. And that provides an underlying bid. In Canada, we've got flow-through, but that's a very imperfect mechanism, other than charity flow-through. I really like charity flow-through. But flow-through in general is a very good way to destroy the market in your stock. It's sort of, you know, cheap money in a sense, but you pay the price for it with the aftermarket. And, you know, I think one of the things that's changed, and what will change again, is there used to be in Canada an underpinning of a brokerage network

21:45 that not only financed, but also provided liquidity, open market buying and selling in junior stocks. Now in Canada, that's disappeared because basically brokerage fees have dropped to 0 for open market buying, so there's no incentive. So really, until you get through the $100 or $200 million market cap level where the institutions can start participating in the market, our problem is a lack of liquidity. And I don't know what the answer is. I've just observed the changes over time. I think that'll change back again as the wider retail market gets into mining more.

22:35 We're not really there yet. I'm starting to see things start, particularly in gold,

22:41 where you're maybe getting some Bitcoin crossover. But really, it's going to take that. I think it's going to take at least one big discovery that gets taken out for a couple of billion dollars, and then we'll have a market on our hands. But until then, again, I don't really know the solution, but

23:04 things are picking up. But boy, if you look around Canada, projects themselves are cheap. That's why you've got a lot of Australian companies in Canada looking for projects, because they're not cheap in Australia, They are in Canada. Anyways, I'll leave it at that. No, I appreciate it, Mark. And Fletcher, I'll throw it to you. Do you think the Australians are eating their lunch? I don't disagree with anything that Mark has said. I do think that we are seeing an increasing investor interest into Canadian exploration. I think it's mainly a function of metal prices that we've seen over the last couple of years. It was a driving force behind TDG getting an OTCQX listing so that we could appeal to a broader US-based audience.

23:51 And we're starting to see that work. We've got more work to do on our side. But I think just to sort of put a wrapper around what Mark and David said, we've got the system in Canada already in place in terms of where capital comes from and how capital flows into mineral exploration. I know that we're a world leader in exploration, But I also believe a significant amount of those dollars that come into our companies then go abroad. I think the system is there, but it isn't working properly. And it's mainly a function of the flow of funds and how much is coming into the system and where it's going to. And so I think we can help to get back and get it working, but it's gonna take some effort from all parts of our industry, all in concert, in order to make it really start to function. I mean, let's not forget, the mining and metal sector,

24:50 or mineral sector, is 6% of Canadian GDP. It's incredibly important. It's on a proportionate basis in terms of the numbers of jobs we employ. These are some of the best paying jobs in Canada, relative to what we're producing. And so what we need to do is we need to lean into that. And maybe we'll get to talk about that in a minute. But really what I'd like to see is as a solution is something Mark alluded to. Australia has this mandate where a portion of the pension funds have to be invested domestically. I don't believe we have the same mandate in Canada at the moment. And I think that if you go and look, I heard a stat at the presentation, keynote speaker I think mentioned that only 1% of Canadian pension fund investment goes into domestic companies.

25:41 For me, that's just not enough. And even though we're $4.2 billion a year is invested into exploration, again, it's not enough. And it's not enough given what we were talking about earlier in terms of how important this sector is going to be to global, the global economy and global stability moving forwards. And it doesn't just stop at actually the exploration. Another thing that Mark mentioned about the importance of the existing infrastructure, roads and power lines, etc.

26:10 To add to that, it's ports and it's rail links. All of these things present us with an enormous opportunity in order to be able to access that endowment we've got. I think once we get going and we start showing, and I agree, one major discovery would make a big difference. I think we've kind of had 1 actually at the Aurora Discovery by Freeport Namoc on our boundary that was announced in January this year. It's super special. I think we need multiple, and I think we have the ability in Canada to lead the way on that. Really what we've got to be doing is backing the entrepreneurs, backing those incredibly talented individuals that have grown up in this sector, and give them the shots in Canada itself.

26:57 I definitely appreciate that. Oh, David, you're on mute if you're talking. Sorry. Sorry, if I can just jump in before we move on, I just wanna emphasize the pension point because it is a really good point that Mark raised. We in Canada actually had a more domestic focused pension investment policy. And, you know, I remember when I was starting my RRSP, which is our, you know, our personal retirement savings plan, that you had to invest a certain amount in Canadian stocks, essentially securities. And gradually over the decades, that's been lifted, I guess, in the interest of making, you know, you know, allowing us to invest more globally and in more competitive markets, et cetera, et cetera.

27:48 But, you know, given the protectionism we're seeing globally again, the trend is probably now that we should prioritize investing in Canada. And I think that is a, you know, it's a great idea that probably needs some strength, some more of a push. Definitely people are, you do hear about it from time to time, but I hope that's something that we can build on in Canada because it would make a big difference. Yeah, I didn't know about the Australian legislation for pension funds. I imagine that is quite impactful. I do want to get into politics just to scare the crap out of our teams more than anything else, just kidding. But I do want to talk about the most recent Canadian election. So obviously in a pretty surprise 30-day upset, Carney retained power as Prime Minister. And I'm curious, Mark, I'll start with you here. What, if any, shifts do you anticipate in Canada's approach to resource development? Because he's certainly saying some things that sound different to the previous government.

28:45 I'm particularly curious if you want to speak to the balance between climate policy and mining sector growth. Well, I'm hoping for a bit more pragmatism. In terms of politics, I don't really care what comes out of politicians mouths. I look at the candidate and I go, is there any reason to believe that you can run a large organization effectively? And if the answer is no, I don't care whether it's left, right or the center. If somebody's a bad manager, they shouldn't be prime minister. And because no matter what your goals are, you're just going to screw up with tour management. I look at Carney and frankly, I see someone who, you know, we'll see, but he's run a couple of large organizations and quite effectively. So I'm hopeful that there's going to be a more pragmatic approach, less starry-eyed, if you will, and that the work that was going on that I did like that the previous administration had, such as infrastructure funds for mining, I hope that that will continue and improve.

30:03 And that when there's talk of us being an energy superpower, that all of the elements that go into making that happen, including the investment ecosystem, if you will, is considered. Thanks, Mark. David, I'll get you in here on this. What do you think, if anything, will change in the mining sector based on new liberal government? I think it's too early to tell for sure, but you know in my opinion the initial signals have been positive You know, I think You know, we we've we've backtracked on some of the more kind of extreme policies of the previous government.

30:53 And I agree with Mark. We just need to be pragmatic and common sense about, you know, this is a strength of ours. And in this, you know, this new world, we need to flex it, right? And I think, you know, my feeling is that Carney gets it but again, I think it's too early. We're only a few weeks into the new parliament. So we'll have to see what happens. That's fair. Ink's not drying out. Fletcher, I got double-barreled political questions for you, but I'll start with the one that the other gentleman just got. I'm gonna be controversial here. I can feel it coming. Look, I'm not just looking for pragmatism and I'm not just hoping and feeling. I want this federal government to wake up and I want them to really go onto the front foot here and lay down a very clear vision. I think we've been seeing more solutions, more vision on a provincial level.

31:50 And I think it's time for the federal government now, they've got an incredible mandate and an opportunity to really take the Canadian economy forwards. Mining metals is a key part of that. I think that we need to see the handcuffs coming off the sector. We need to come together and we need to come up with solutions that provide a roadmap that we can all lock arms and work towards over the next, not just parliamentary term, but also heading towards 2050. And I was at the Mining Association of BC keynote speech last week, and I think it was fabulous for highlighting all the problems. What it lacked, in my opinion, was the solutions and the vision. And I think we've got the industry to a point where we know how to work with each other. We, I think, know what the opportunities are. We know what we can contribute.

32:46 And it's significant. You know, a stat last week was something like 8% of British Columbians, mining and metal products go down to the US. So there's, believe it or not, there's a growth opportunity there. It might sound contrarian, but equally, it means that we're already delivering 92% of our products that go overseas that don't go to the US. So, we've got that opportunity to grow our global supply chains as well. This is the time, if not now, when. We should have learned some key lessons already. You can flick a switch in Washington, DC and switch off the film industry in Vancouver.

33:34 And yet mining and metals, it's fundamental to everything we're doing and our way of life and the future of the life that we'd all like to live. And so now is the opportunity and I'm sincerely hoping this federal government will come and listen to the forward-looking provinces and industry leaders who are basically saying, hey, we're ready. We're ready to compete. We're ready to grow. We're ready to become the poster of how you go about building a sustainable sector that we're all proud of. That's great. I got another question straight for you, Fletcher. I'll talk about the provinces for a second. So I know British Columbia is currently emphasizing First Nations partnerships and equity ownership in resource projects. Premier recently said none will be built without First Nations consent and financial benefits. So I'd love to hear, just get into the details, how is TDG Gold approaching Indigenous partnerships in the Tudogon And what impact does this have on timelines, strategies, etc?

34:35 It's been front and center of everything we've done since we first started, you know, operating in the Tudogon district of north central British Columbia. And it was partly because of, we inherited a legacy of smaller scale brownfield operations. That was part of the attraction of the package in terms of the historical mining and exploration that had taken place there. But it was also something that we were conscious of that we would have to address out of the gate. It's also the right thing to do. So when we started acquiring properties up there in 2019, 2020, the DRIPA, D-R-I-P-A, I think came into effect in British Columbia in November of 2019. And that sets out the clear framework of how we have to work in partnership. I'm very privileged that I know people who have followed the TDG story have heard me say it a number of times and I'm very privileged to work with Kristie Smith, our VP Sustainability.

35:36 Kristie is a published author on exactly how to work in partnership with local communities, First Nations in the natural resources sector. She's an MBA and is of First Nation heritage herself. And she's our guardian of the vision for doing this, how to go about it. And I'm really pleased to say that actually a lot of the things that Christy put in place out of the gate are now becoming what I see as standard operating procedures, standard approaches, certainly within British Columbia. And so I think, again, we've got enough vision, we've got enough talent within Canada that we can make this work. I'll make a prediction. In the next 10 to 15 years, a lot of countries that maybe don't pay so much attention to this are going to have to evolve and they're going to have to put this front and centre as well if they wish to pursue their own mineral projects.

36:35 I think you're going to see a levelling up over the next 10 to 15 years, and British Columbia and Canada are at the forefront of everything. I don't see us changing. When it comes to the specifics of ownership, you know, there are various models that seem to have worked globally for these things. I don't think it has to be, you know, ownership in the equity form, it can be ownership in other forms. I think that the local communities and businesses within whose traditional territories we're privileged to explore, I think they'll have a view on what will work for them. And the first stage of everything is this concept of active listening. And if we do that, I think, again, we'll probably learn more and learn how to come up with solutions that work for everyone.

37:23 If I can just jump in on that a little bit. Yeah, it's interesting, the link here. We brought in Christy to help us educate Mitsubishi Corp on First Nations issues in British Columbia. And she did a tremendous job, of course. You know, the one thing I will say, and this is a conversation we've had with provincial politicians, is if First Nations are gonna be involved in permitting, and frankly, I would like to see First Nations more hands-on with environmental assessment, be part of the process, not just the recipient of a report at the end of the day. It's going to take more capacity and what we're, you know, one of the problems that we run into is that if the provincial authorities are waiting for a First Nations response to a permitting application and the First Nations are just overwhelmed with volume and a lack of personnel, then that's something that will slow down the whole process. So where does that capacity come from?

38:32 I would argue it shouldn't be coming from industry, which is already particularly the junior end of the market. It's a difficult market in general, but I think government, if they're gonna move in that direction, they have to provide the capacity so that things can move along and that there is the capacity to actually evaluate a permitting application and all of that. No, I think that's a useful perspective. David, I want to get you in on Ontario. And I will say, someone from the Ontario Ministry of Mines did sign up for this webinar, so mind your Ps and Qs. I'm just kidding. But I did want to mention, so I know the historic cobalt camp in Ontario has produced over 500 million ounces of silver. I'm curious, obviously, Ontario is a mature mining district. It's got existing infrastructure, et cetera. How has that impacted your technical approach, your community engagement strategies, et cetera?

39:31 Well, it's a big question. I mean, just on the First Nations side, we, you know, we consult and communicate with the, you know, the First Nations that are, that have traditional territories in our, in our area where we're exploring. And, you know, what's kind of interesting about Ontario, as you mentioned, is, you know, we have some pretty mature mining areas and we're you know we're very close to like the Timmins, Kirken Lake area even though we're not you know we're further south but still within that you know that that same sphere and you know so some of the First Nations there are quite, they're very, very sophisticated in terms of their structure and how they deal with the mining industry and that is been, you know, that's been quite eye-opening for us, you know, since we went in there 4 years ago and it's been a pleasant surprise to deal with these groups that are, you know, they're quite reasonable and well-educated, you know, and we don't need to educate them. In fact, they they have more experience in mining than we do. So so so it's been it's been quite good in that front.

40:42 And look, I think, you know, operating in a historic mining district has lots of different challenges and benefits. So the benefits are that you there's already a lot of data, there's infrastructure, you know, roads, etc, etc. The challenges are, you know, in the Cobalt Camp, especially, it would be probably around dealing with old mine workings, which they're pretty numerous. We have less abandoned mine workings than some of our neighbors, but we do have them. And we have to make sure that they're safe, that people don't wander in either accidentally or on purpose.

41:35 And we have to also make sure that we're monitoring the environment as well. And that nothing from the last 100,120 years of mining is that we're doing anything to make it worse. So, there's definitely issues to watch, but on balance, It's a huge benefit to be in an area that has that mining history, because it just puts us probably years, if not decades, ahead of developing something in a brand new area like the Ring of Fire. So, which is great, looks great, lots of great geology and great discoveries there, but definitely infrastructure challenges that we don't have to worry about.

42:28 No, awesome, appreciate that. I wanna talk about provincial incentives. So I know Mark earlier talked about flow-through and issues he's got with that particular incentive. I know Quebec for example has enormous exploration tax credits, you can claim back a lot of your exploration. I'm curious for your perspectives and Fletcher I'll start with you on what provinces are doing right and what they could do better in terms of incentivizing exploration. Just 1 point on the traditional versus charity flow through. I do agree with Mark, but I think that in a market where there is liquidity and more investment from a wider pool of investors. The traditional flow, throw through does work. I can see the benefits of it, but I do accept what Mark is saying. Just in terms of then the credits that we can claim back, it's all taking too long.

43:17 To get that money back into Treasury can take somewhere between 24 and 36 months in some cases. It's too long in terms of the investment cycle and capital flows that we need to support our companies and not just sustain them but obviously move on to the front foot and keep growing and tackling more of the exploration opportunities that we've all got. I think that the credit, the tax incentive regime in Canada, I think it's well established, it's well understood, it works. I would like to see, as I've mentioned already, the critical mineral pool expanded to include gold. And I think David makes a great, great set of points related to silver as well.

44:04 We were a beneficiary of that. And for those participants in this webinar that maybe not understand how important it is, it basically enables us to stretch dollars, certainly through the charity flow-through mechanism. In the case of TDG, our raise that happened in February, the backend price of that was printed at 50 pennies. Same for every investor that participated. But some of those dollars we were able to stretch by 1.65 times in order to be able to use those for exploration purposes, seeking critical mineral opportunities. And so, it's fabulous in terms of that. What I would like to see moving forwards is there's a gap now in investment that's really in terms of the corporates and the pull through and then investing back into the sector in order to help generate future projects in British Columbia specifically for whatever reason, I'm sure it's multifactorial, we saw over a decade period a number of really important industry players exit the province.

45:12 Now it created an opportunity for entrepreneurs, including people such as myself, to step in and acquire projects that perhaps we wouldn't have been able to had those companies stuck around. But what we now need to do, and I think it's something between the corporates and the provinces as well to have a conversation is how do we now start investing some of those incredible profits that they're seeing, that free cashflow, how do we get that coming back into our sector in meaningful ways at the junior end so that we do have the dollars that we need in order to be able to advance the exploration on all fronts. Thanks for that, Mark. I'll throw it to you next as another guy working in BC. What do you think province is doing right?

45:58 What are they what are they doing wrong? What could they do better? Well, I think right now they're listening, and that's a good thing. We've had quite a few meetings, including with the new Minister of Mines, Mr. Brar. I think that they're getting the message that if they want to have a critical minerals industry be robust in British Columbia, that there are certain things they've got to do. They've got to improve the permitting processes. They've got to provide some support for First Nations to be involved in the process. But while we're on the topic, I'm just going to veer off a little. I want to take my hat off to Sea Bridge Gold, who took the CRA to court about Canadian exploration expenses.

46:51 And this is a situation that had been going on for decades, and in fact, that we have some experience with, where Canadian exploration expenses, which are suitable for flow-through, but also suitable for refunds, partial refunds from the provincial governments, which was very helpful. The Canadian exploration expenses were defined as, you know, money spent to discover, delineate, and evaluate the quality of an ore body. And the part where you evaluate the quality, how do you do that? Metallurgy and engineering. You could have a remarkable deposit in terms of grade, but if you can't recover any of it, it's kind of useless quality, isn't it?

47:39 The CRA had been holding back on and not paying in terms of metallurgy and engineering. And we ended up 15 years ago or so settling out of court with them on our dispute. But I'm just very happy that Seabridge actually took it to court and that they won because CRA was simply wrong in their interpretation and in their internal interpretation. So that's helpful because BC, the money is significant. Also Quebec is even better, I understand. So all of that helps. But again, I get back to the pension funds and even the RRSPs, even if there was only a percentage that had to be invested in, Canada's not a bad place to invest. I wouldn't ever argue that you've got to invest all of your money here, because I think that would be absurd.

48:40 You need to, if you're trying to retire, you need to be able to have the ability to invest wherever you think the returns are best. But Canada's pretty good. And I'm planning to invest right now in Canada more than ever, because I think our banking sector, for example, is more stable than it is in the US. It's less upside, perhaps, because they're stodgier, but they're also safer banks. You know, that sort of thing. That's, I think, if the politicians are listening, please consider that. I appreciate that, Mark. David, I'll get you on this one. What do you think provinces are doing right? What do you think they could do better? Well, like, I mean, I can only really speak about Ontario.

49:28 You know, on the margin, it would be, you know, the Ontario government has made a lot of announcements on, you know, big investments in the in the sector. And it would, you know, I think we want to see that, you know, kind of structured and, and, and, and, and then executed on. And, you know, III kind of like the way that Quebec does do it. You know, Mark brought that up where, you know, they've sort of got their own provincial funds and sort of you sort of know when this fund is investing, it's in, they're investing for infrastructure, they're investing in the mining industry or whatever. And, you know, I, I think that's the sort of a good way to handle, you know, domestic investment, especially within the same province.

50:20 But yeah, I mean, at the stage we're at, we don't have a lot to say about permitting. Permitting exploration for us has been very, very straightforward. And, and, you know, again, compared to some of the other jurisdictions we operate in, it's, it's, it's a pleasure. So, so, you know, but, you know, definitely some of that infrastructure, some of those mining investments that have been announced or proposed would benefit us a lot. And so we'd like to see more action on that. Great, thanks. One thing I wanted to chat about that came up in the chat, came up over email, is Donald Trump. Kind of spooked our teams even more. But I know we've talked at various points during today's event about increased protectionism in the continent. And previously, we'd really thought about the critical mineral strategy as a continental endeavor. Do we think meaningfully this is going to change and where do you think Canadian critical minerals or just mineral explorers generally will fit into the new continental regime? Fletcher, I'll start with you.

51:27 We've already touched on aspects of it, So I'll reiterate those. I think that we are well placed in Canada to contribute to the global critical mineral picture. We have to think about our own strategic supply for our own domestic purposes. These are not necessarily competing forces. I think we can have our cake and eat it. I think that the US is going to go through a set of changes now on an accelerated timeline and every week is going to be different. But Canada does contribute already to the supply of these mining and these metals, and we can contribute more. We just have to lock arms, get ourselves into gear and get going.

52:17 I'd like to see us personally head towards a more open, free trade regime across the board because I believe in what we're doing. I believe in the way we're doing it and I think we can knock the ball out of the park over the next 10 to 15 years if we go about doing a few things properly right now. And so that's really what I, if any of the politicians are listening, it's not just about understanding the problems. It's now about actually putting in place meaningful solutions. And it would be naive, I think, to expect other countries around the world not to want to look at what Canada's been doing and adopt some more of those kind of aspects, foundational pillars into their own sectors and therefore expect to compete. And we're starting to see that already in terms of some of the trade negotiations that are already underway with Washington.

53:18 So Canada's got to get moving. We've got to move on. We're ahead. We've got to stay ahead now. And the question that keeps me up at night is how do we do that, and how do we attract enough investment and support to be able to do it. But I'm pumped. And I think this is a once in a generation opportunity. I don't fixate on what causes the perturbations that are being caused by what Donald Trump and his government decides from 1 week to another. It's not about that for me. It's about how do we win as a country, as a nation, as a sovereign nation, and as an economy. And I'm happy to try and play my part in it, but come on Canada, it's go time.

54:05 Make me wanna get a flag out, geez, appreciate that Fletcher. Mark, I'll throw it to you for what you think comes next in the continent. Well, first of all, here, here Fletcher, in terms of the orange guy, I mean, this too shall pass, but not without leaving some scars. Again, presenting an opportunity. If you're mining something critical that people need, you can sell it on the world market. You can ship it anywhere in the world. Shipping costs are shorter to the US, there's that. But if they want to tax their people so that the people pay more for our materials, how about it? As long as we take the opportunity to diversify who we're selling to. And I think with metals, it's pretty easy. I mean, something like natural gas is a little tougher. You've got to liquefy it before you ship it. It's a lot of work. But, you know, if you're producing copper, gold, or nickel, or rare earths, or, you know, anything really that you can mine, I mean, it's not hard to sell to the world. And so I don't think it presents that much of a challenge for our industry in particular.

55:16 Thanks, Mark. David, I'll let you get in that before we get into pitches for individual companies. Yeah, I'll just I agree. I think the the protectionism has some minor effects on on on the mining sector. But, you know, overall, you know, most commodities are exported globally. So it doesn't have a big, big factor. There's going to be things here and there which do affect us. Like, for example, the $20 million investment in the electro battery metals plant by the Department of Defense, that happened last year, that will not happen, that kind of thing is not going to happen in the next 4 years, That would be my bold prediction.

56:07 But but you know otherwise I think you know there's a good opportunity for Canadian capital and Canadian talent to develop mineral projects in the US because they they do want to have their own supply of critical metals and gold and you know we have tremendous talent and expertise in that here not that far away and so you know we don't have any projects in the US, but for those companies that do, I think this could be a really good 4 years for them. Awesome. Well, it's been a great conversation. I really appreciate all of you guys. But one thing I want to do before we go to the at least 100 some odd people watching the event, I'd love to hear you pitch as shamelessly or as humbly as you'd like.

56:55 Totally up to you. Just the company that you represent. Why might people want to get interested in the stock? David, I'll start off with you. Why should people think about Kuya right now? Well, we're in 3 great mining-friendly jurisdictions, Peru, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. We talked to all these folks on Canada. We've made some tremendous discoveries there, really unlocked a lot of value in this camp that, you know, I dare I say was really written off as done. And we've gone in and reimagined the exploration model there. And not only that, we've actually proven success with several new discoveries in the cobalt camp with high-grade silver and cobalt mineralization.

57:42 And over the last couple of years, we put together some meaningful drill programs that's starting to put together I think critical mass that could you know end up being future resources. We also though our flagship asset is the Peruvian silver mine Bethania. We just put it into production a few months ago and we're ramping up production now. So we are one of the few silver producers in the world. We have a primary silver mine. We get 75 80 percent of our revenue from silver. And that is extremely rare. So for investors that want exposure to silver There's probably only 567 companies in the entire world you can invest in mining companies. And we're one of them. And you know we're we're ramping up production and we're still valued like like a junior. So there's a lot of upside if we get sort of credit for being a mining company.

58:38 And as we deliver more results and eventually profit, you know, in the next few quarters, I think we will get there. So we will get that recognition in the market and that could be a huge, huge lift for our investors. And the biggest one is right here, me. So I'm very, very excited about that. And if anyone has any questions about Kuya please we've got ways to contact us on our web page and reach out. Awesome. Fletcher give it give it to them straight as shameless or as shameful as you'd like. So on January the 17th this year our world changed. The reason it changed was a major discovery right on our boundary with it drilled within 40 meters of our mineral claims by Freeport, McMorrin and AMARC Resources which is part of the Hunter Dickinson group. Why is it so special?

59:31 It's a gold-rich copper porphyry, it's shallow and it's thick. And I know various groups have started to calculate what they think might be there. It's truly significant. It's a paradigm shift for our district. It's also the most significant discovery in our district in the last 35 years, and arguably one of the most significant discoveries in Western Canada in the last 5 to 10 years. And it's right on our boundary. We are now the only independent company operating in the area. Let me explain that. We have Sentara to the south that's obviously, as people will know, an intermediate producer. They are now a strategic investment in our neighbor to the northwest. So there's Sentara. And then to our east, our entire eastern boundary now is dominated by Freeport-McMoran.

1:00:20 So we're the only independent. We were fortunate enough in February to attract investment from Skeena Gold & Silver. And if people don't know the Skeena story, they should look at that as well as TDG. They're known for their aggressive exploration, their creativity and their agility. They are starting to work increasingly with us and we move into this field season now well-funded to take finally the swings that we've always been talking about, which is to go and see if we have those extensions of that gold-rich copper porphyry coming onto our property. And if we do, how much? And again, this could be the beginning of a cluster of these opportunities. And if we're correct, then this could be the most significant discovery, certainly in our district, or in the Golden Horseshoe in the last 30 years. But it gets better. And the reason it gets better is that we already have downside protection built into our company by virtue of our existing 1.1 million ounce gold and silver resource, gold equivalent ounces. It's open pittable, it's 1 continuous deposit, and we're in a permitted mine area. So we already have a Mines Act permit in place. We also have a small scale tailings and we're on mining leases.

1:01:37 So we think that if we can continue to focus on the discovery potential, but at the same time find ways to keep moving forward our existing resource, We offer that perfect blend of hedged risk, but with extreme asymmetry. In other words, it won't take much to take us now from the $100 million market cap that we are right now with $15 million cash in Treasury. It won't take us much to then move to the next level. And so it's the most exciting season. It all starts this month and there will be continuous news flow. It starts with geophysics, which we expect to light up the districts. It's the first time we've been funded to do that specific form of geophysics. We're highly confident, given what we already know about the, from the geophysics we've already done. And then it moves straight into drilling and I'm super excited. Watch this space.

1:02:29 Awesome. Thank you, Fletcher and Mark, cap us off today. Why should investors take a look at Giga? Oh, you're on mute, Mark. I'm sorry. Well, we've got drilled off. We've got a giant low-grade nickel open pittable deposit that's incredibly simple to process and mine. And in fact, when you look at the mining and processing and even the financial models, it looks like a copper porphyry type of project. But again, the emphasis is simple. And we've got an excellent partner in Mitsubishi Corp. The other thing to consider is the price of nickel is way down right now. I mean, it's been a tough market for a couple of years now. And I don't trust my own ability to predict metals markets, so I'm not even going to try and do that. But you know, they can change overnight, they can change slowly, but basically it's all about the cost of production at the end of the day. And So we've got that, but then rather than sort of wait for the price of nickel to improve, we got fresh eyes on our project.

1:03:40 There's a very good geologist based out of Perth named Dr. Stephen Beresford. I don't know if you know him, but he's intimately involved with what I would call, you know, like this Aurora discovery. I agree, it's a very, very interesting discovery. But the other one that's extremely interesting in Canada is Power Metallic. Their discovery in Quebec is looking like the real thing. And I've had a lot of geologists look at it and they agree there's a lot of room. Well, Stephen Beresford was instrumental in making that discovery. And he's a consultant. I reached him and said, would you be interested in looking at this deposit? We've only explored about maybe 20% of this ultramafic intrusive, which all seems to be mineralized.

1:04:31 So he came on board. He's identified an extremely interesting target for us, what he's calling a Bulkowski style, copper magnetite deposit, a massive deposit, that that he thinks is hiding in 1 particular area of the ultramarine. He says, when you're looking at nickel environments, that it's actually easier for them to make copper deposits than it is to make nickel deposits, in his words. And so we're taking a hard look, and we're talking to a lot of people right now, I'd love to drill these targets. We're not currently funded to do that, but we're actively, very actively looking for the money to drill this copper target, which is right next to, but not contiguous with, it's right next to where our nickel deposit already is. So, again, we've got our downside covered with a massive nickel deposit that's heavily levered to the price of nickel.

1:05:29 But We've got exploration potential that I would love to chase. Awesome. Mark, Fletcher, David, thank you so much for your time. Thanks, everybody who joined. I really appreciate you hanging out with us today. Hope everybody has a wonderful afternoon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.