Why Isn't This 29M Oz Gold Deposit Being Mined Yet? | Tudor Gold CEO Interview

Company & Project Overview (Tudor Gold / Treaty Creek)

• Company focus: Move the Treaty Creek / Goldstorm deposit to production, with the possibility of acquisition or partial partnership later.
• Ownership structure / key overhangs:
  • Tudor Gold holds ~80% of Treaty Creek.
  • Teton Resources holds ~20%.
  • Tudor also faces a royalty/NSR (<1%) on key claims, reportedly held by Teton Resources (not Tudor insiders).
• Project scope: ~180 km property area in BC’s Golden Triangle.
• Resource highlights (Goldstorm deposit):
  • Indicated: 22.6M oz gold (~1 g/t)
  • Inferred: ~5M oz gold (additional)
  • Copper: ~3 billion lb at ~0.2% Cu
  • Silver: ~128M oz silver
  • Combined indicated + inferred: ~28.9M oz gold (noted as a practical total; the speaker cautions against “combining” categories too literally).
• Strategic location context:
  • Nearby major assets:
    • Newmont Bruce Jack (SE)
    • Seabridge KSM (SW)
  • Seabridge KSM dispute: centers on a planned ~22 km tunnel that could pass through Tudor’s deposit and potentially sterilize ~5M oz.

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Strategy & Execution Playbook (What Tudor Says It Will Do)

Build-first approach (not “wait for M&A”)

• Goal: “Drive the project forward to production.”
• M&A / takeover: acceptable only if price works; otherwise Tudor intends to build itself.

Mining concept / scale target

• Mining concept: underground “long hole stope” style approach.
• Throughput target: ~8,000–10,000 tons/day
• Gold production target: ~250k–300k oz gold/year
  • Speaker preference: 250k–300k, targeting “tier-one scale.”
• Mine life framing: 20+ years at that output range.

CAPEX guidance (benchmarking vs Bruce Jack)

• Bruce Jack example: ~US$841M for a ~4,000 t/day underground operation.
• Tudor intent: target Goldstorm capex around US$1B–1.5B for a “bigger operation,” with confidence in financing feasibility based on prior experience.

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Frameworks / Processes Mentioned (Business Terms)

PA gating decision process

• Use the PDA / “PA” (Preliminary Assessment) as a go/no-go economic gate:
  • Start with a higher-grade cutoff for faster capex payback.
  • Then progressively lower cutoff after cash payback to “clean up debt” and improve economics.
• If PA economics don’t work under plausible gold prices, Tudor would adjust the plan / alternative scenario.

Negotiation-first approach (with timeline pressure)

• Prefer negotiation over “court,” because courts:
  • create long uncertainty
  • reduce control over outcomes.

Drill program logic (phased discovery → resource development)

• Don’t “hammer” Goldstorm immediately.
• Instead:
  • Drill around Goldstorm to identify/advance other zones on the same structural trend.
• Use underground transition later to reduce drilling costs and support more year-round drilling feasibility.

Financing packaging process

• Build a “construction financing levers” playbook:
  • Equity vs debt vs offtake vs royalty/stream
  • Royalties are disliked, but may be considered selectively depending on market conditions.

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Key Business Metrics / KPIs / Targets (Execution-Oriented)

Production & life-of-mine

• Underground rate: 8k–10k tons/day
• Gold output: 250k–300k oz/year
• Mine life: 20+ years

Grades & economic cutoff targets (explicit PA-style KPIs)

• NSR cutoffs (valuation thresholds):
  • $125 NSR cutoff → ~8.4M oz averaging ~2.5 g/t (speaker notes it’s “from memory” and not to over-literalize)
  • $175 NSR cutoff → ~5.4M oz averaging ~2.8–2.9 g/t
• Mining cutoff strategy:
  • Start mining north of ~3 g/t
  • Drop cutoff later after capex is repaid
  • Speaker compares to Hemlo operating-style cutoffs described as potentially sub-1.5 g/t-type while profitable (also described from memory).
• SC1 success criterion (depth ~600–900m):
  • North of ~2.5–3 g/t = “success” (depends on gold price).

Permitting / engineering timelines (process KPIs)

• Ramp / portal permit:
  • Applied Aug (previous year)
  • Resubmitted before Christmas
  • Waiting for response
  • Speaker expectation: not optimistic about starting portal construction immediately
    • Best case could be “this summer”
    • More likely: focus on getting permit this year, mine next spring
• PDA/PA timing: expected “this summer” (with some later contradiction, but still referenced as “this summer”)
• Idealized overall timeline (modeled from Bruce Jack):
  • ~7 years discovery → production (Bruce Jack example)
  • Tudor expectation (idealized framing): ~3 years feasibility + ~3–4 years permitting, then production ~5–6 years from now, depending on alignment.

Cash / funding runway

• Claims they have cash for:
  • PA
  • drilling program
  • possibly portal if permit timing comes quickly
• Mentions ~15M flow-through from prior financing intended for drilling “this summer.”

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Concrete Examples & Case Studies Used

Predium / Silver Standard track record

• Claims about scaling and execution:
  • Silver Standard scaled from ~$50M market cap to $2B+
  • Silver resources grew from 0 to 2B+ oz
  • Mine from discovery (Aug 2009) to production (June 2017) in <8 years

Bruce Jack as the primary benchmark

Used to justify feasibility of:

• underground mining approach
• permitting speed (“reasonably quickly”)
• water/tailings approach

Bruce Jack permitting:

• Provincial approval: March ’15
• Federal approval: early Aug ’15 (speaker described language/translation delay)

Water/tailings:

• Claims Bruce Jack used Bruce Jack Lake as part of water management.
• Speaker states they achieved drinking-water quality outputs.
• Notes strict Canadian requirements and involvement of Alaskan environmental/public bodies due to water flow.

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Key Risks & Blockers (and How Tudor Proposes to Manage Them)

• Major risk: Seabridge KSM tunnel legal conflict

  • Government (Major Mines Office) stance: no decision on full 22 km tunnel permitting until:
    • Seabridge and Tudor reach an agreement, or
    • court resolves who can block/permit the tunnel through the deposit
  • Tudor views this as a pressure point to force “win-win” negotiations.
  • Speaker estimate: ~5M oz could be impacted.

• Major risk: fragmented ownership

  • Split ownership between Tudor (80%) and Teton (20%) can complicate deals and market valuation.

• Financing / dilution risk

  • As a pre-revenue company, continued public-market funding may cause dilution.
  • Tudor claims enough cash for 2026-ish work, but interviewer frames questions around whether it’s sufficient.

• Permitting uncertainty

  • Ramp permit timing subject to government review cycles; speaker cautious about starting in Sept due to snow.

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Actionable Recommendations / Negotiation Options Discussed

Seabridge tunnel resolution options

• Relocate the tunnel: starting proposal (from Oct 2017) to move tunnels ~1 km north of Goldstorm.
• Value-based compensation: idea of payment/royalty for sterilized ounces (speaker mentions “transit royalty” as brainstorming).
• Win-win framing: negotiate schedule/cost impacts, acknowledging tunnel length is critical path for Seabridge construction and production timing.
• Potential operational integration JV (limited):
  • Seabridge could accept a JV partner, but speaker suggests Tudor’s deposit may not allow full access to tunnel infrastructure “at heart.”

Teton 20% acquisition plan

• Objective: buy remaining 20% from Teton this year.
• Financing preference: use equity (not cash-heavy), on the basis that:
  • Teton shareholders should participate in upside from assembling the project to improve market cap and negotiations.

Financing construction playbook

• Debt possible if paired with offtake (example cited: Bruce Jack—private equity + stream + buyback right).

• Royalties/streams: Tudor dislikes them but may use tactically depending on market conditions.

• Preference for mechanisms enabling buyback after fast startup cash flow.

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Marketing / Investor Relations Posture

• Marketing described as secondary to execution deliverables.
• Events planned:
  • Beaver Creek: September
  • Swiss Mining: November
• Potential additional outreach in spring tied to PA progress + legal resolution updates.

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Key Timelines Mentioned (Consolidated)

• This summer: expect PA/PDA
• This year (objectives):
  • Resolve Teton 20% acquisition (described as a second “deal with Tutin” objective)
  • Reach resolution with Seabridge on land/tunnel dispute
  • Advance key permitting pathway for ramp/portal (or at least move it forward)
• Drilling program:
  • Mobilize mid-May (two rigs)
  • ~10,000 m planned + 5,000 m+ reserve
• Portal/ramp permitting & start:
  • Speaker not optimistic about starting immediately “this summer”
  • More likely aim: next spring

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Presenters / Sources (as Mentioned)

• Presenter / interviewee: Joe (Tudor Gold CEO) (full name not clearly stated in the provided subtitles)

• Host / interviewer: Resource Talks host (Joe at Resource Talks)

• Project/market references: Seabridge, KSM, Newmont (Bruce Jack)
• Other referenced entities: Teton Resources, Treaty Creek / Goldstorm, Major Mines Office
• Platform/sponsor mentioned: Terra Hutton; resource talks.com; setterplus.ca