Can you provide an update on NGEx Minerals and your projects?

Lunahuasi, located in San Juan, Argentina, is one of the world’s most exciting high-grade, copper-gold-silver discoveries. It has garnered a lot of attention due to the grades being hit, which are atypical for the district. This began with the discovery hole we drilled about 18 months ago, intercepting 60 m of 7.5% copper equivalent (CuEq). Through Phase 1 and 2, and, more recently, Phase 3 drill programs, we have been able to delineate a mineralized area of 1 km north-south, 1 km east-west, and 1 km vertical, which remains open in all directions and continues to show continuation of extremely high-grades. If this was purely a gold deposit, the intercepts would be world-class, but coupled with the copper and silver, we believe we are only scratching the surface at likely the most exciting exploration project globally.

Our Los Helados project on the Chilean side of the Vicuña district is located about 17 km from the Caserones mine, owned by Lundin Mining, and is more advanced than Lunahuasi. More drilling, around 100,000 m, has been completed at Los Helados and a large resource has already been defined (roughly 2 billion t at 0.52% CuEq and an additional 1 billion t of inferred resource). There are potential synergies between the two projects providing a viable development scenario for Los Helados in the future. What advice would you give to juniors struggling in the current financial climate?

I think the determining factor to financial success is the project. This gives you access to capital and has the potential to capture investors’ attention. From NGEx, we have spun out projects such as Josemaria and Filo del Sol, which has enabled us to generate about C$8 billion of value for shareholders to date. The track record we now have has helped us raise additional capital and grow a strong institutional, long-only investor base. How has the experience been developing projects in both Argentina and Chile?

Our experiences on both sides of the border have been positive. Whilst there may be some regulatory and cultural differences, we have been able to work effectively in both. Chile is a historic mining district and one of the premier places for mining investment, which makes it a very comfortable place to do business. In Argentina, as part of the Lundin Group of companies, we have been working in the country for over 20 years in different iterations, through different governments and the economic challenges this can bring. We are bullish on the future of both countries. How do you balance record metal prices with the rising cost of developing a project?

Exploration is a long-term business. It is easy to think of the Vicuña district as something that just sprung to life recently, when in fact it is the result of 20 years of investment through thick and thin. In a long-term business such as mining, you cannot let daily or even yearly metal prices influence your decisions. Much of the success we are enjoying today is because of investment made during tougher times decades ago. For NGEx, any future move in the copper or gold price will only give us additional upside but is not something we can count on when planning for the future. One important thing to consider is that mining companies cannot control metal prices, but rather they are dictated by wider macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. Issues often arise when companies can only operate during periods of strong prices. I believe companies should stick to the long-term vision that demand for copper is only going to grow, and new projects will be needed to meet this. What are your plans for NGEx Minerals in 2025?

Our focus will be on Lunahuasi in the coming year. We are in the middle of a 25 km drilling program that’s roughly 50% complete and plan to continue drilling until weather forces us to stop, likely in May. We are currently not conducting any activities at Los Helados. This does not diminish the importance of Los Helados to NGEx though. Our decision making is driven by value generation, and ultimately further drilling at Lunahuasi will be more value accretive that further work and Los Helados, which is already well advanced.