Cambria Gold’ flagship project is the Premier Gold Project in BC near Stewart, which includes the Premier, Big Missouri and Silver Coin deposits feeding a built 2,500 tpd mill, plus the Red Mountain deposit located about 50 km away by road and tramline. The company also owns the Mount Margaret copper-gold porphyry project in Washington State. CEO Rob McLeod walked through the restart plan, the changes from the Ascot era, financing, permitting, and a planned spinout of Mount Margaret.
TL;DR
McLeod is targeting a mid-2027 restart at Premier and a 2028 ramp at Red Mountain, with the company sitting on roughly C$190 million raised across three tranches and another ~C$125 million potentially coming in if all the 85-cent warrants are exercised. He says they are fully capitalized for the roughly C$250 million development plan assuming those warrants come in. An updated feasibility study is due in November or December 2026, and a Mt. Margaret spinout announcement is expected within the next couple of weeks. The key changes versus Ascot are tighter infill drilling on 12.5-metre centres, an in-house assay lab, an owner-operated mining team, a re-engineered water treatment plant currently out of compliance, and an aerial tramline being evaluated to move Red Mountain ore down to the mill. There is a Sprott stream of about 8.3% with a US$80 million buyback option extended by two years, and around C$33 million of Nebari debt that may be repaid from warrant proceeds. Care and maintenance is burning C$1.5 to over C$2 million per month, which is part of why they want to restart as soon as possible even at break-even.
What have they done for shareholders lately?
They closed the restructuring of Ascot, renamed it Cambria, raised about C$190 million in three tranches (a 50-cent rights offering, then a 60-cent unit deal with half warrants at 85 cents, expiring December or January), negotiated a two-year extension on the Sprott stream buyback and a three-year covenant break with both Sprott and Nebari, and brought in Frank Giustra, Gord Keep and Shawn Khunkhun as strategic advisers alongside the Fiore group. They are partway through a 27,000-metre Phase 1 infill drill program at Premier, with the next batch of results expected within a week to ten days, and have hired Ace East as VP Exploration. They also let go about 40% of the previous Ascot workforce, brought water treatment in-house under a new lead (Carla, formerly running Elk Valley Coal’s water treatment), and reached out to the US administration in early April about Mt. Margaret, with McLeod and Ryan Weymark meeting White House department heads on critical minerals.
How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
CEO McLeod said the company is fully capitalized for the roughly C$250 million development plan to restart Premier and build Red Mountain, assuming all 85-cent warrants get exercised, which would bring in about C$125 million. Some warrants have already been exercised. Current spending priorities are the 27,000-metre drill program, C$7.3 to C$7.8 million on re-engineering the water treatment plant, about C$35.8 million combined for mill and water treatment upgrades (including a permanent crusher, a thickener, and a third grinding circuit to fine-grind Red Mountain ore), road construction to Red Mountain, and engineering on the aerial tramline. G&A budgeted for 2026 is about C$5.3 million, with a marketing and IR budget of C$1.3 to C$1.6 million. Care and maintenance is running C$1.5 to over C$2 million per month. Debt sits at about C$33 million with Nebari, which McLeod said could be repaid from warrant proceeds, and there is also the Sprott stream of about 8.3% with a US$80 million buyback option that must be exercised by end of 2028. Royalties on Red Mountain total 3.5% NSR (1% to Franco-Nevada, 2.5% to an individual geologist), and Premier has variable royalties from zero to 3.5%.
Upcoming catalysts
Technical and operational: next batch of Premier infill drill results within a week to ten days, with further results expected roughly monthly through year-end; start of Red Mountain access road construction expected to get the go-ahead in June; ongoing water treatment plant re-engineering targeted for full compliance by Q4 2026; trade-off studies on the aerial tramline versus rope conveyor; infill and confirmation drilling at Big Missouri and Silver Coin, with the 27,000-metre program likely to be expanded; updated feasibility study from a newly engaged QP in November or December 2026.
Corporate: free trading date on the second tranche on May 28, 2026; FID and possible announcement of an early restart in November or December 2026; a Mt. Margaret spinout announcement expected within the next couple of weeks, likely through a TSX Venture shell with later uplisting to the NYSE American, financed via subscription receipts, with Cambria retaining 49.9%; refresh of the benefits agreement with the Nisga’a Nation; potential repayment of the Nebari debt from warrant proceeds; investor site visits in June and August, and conference attendance starting again in September with Beaver Creek.
Risks
The biggest near-term risk McLeod flagged is execution on the Red Mountain access road, which involves steep alpine terrain, switchbacks, and exposure to early winter, heavy rain, and harder-than-expected rock, all of which can push budgets and timelines. Permitting is technically straightforward but federal and provincial regulators are slammed, and the road permit is already behind schedule. The water treatment plant is currently out of compliance for zinc discharge, which is a regulatory and relationship risk with the Nisga’a Nation even though the relationship was described as strong. Free trading of the second tranche on May 28 plus the existing first tranche unlock is creating share supply, and the stock has been weak as some holders book profits. If the restart slips past late 2028 there is no immediate covenant trigger thanks to the negotiated extensions, but the Sprott buyback deadline at end of 2028 becomes tighter and care and maintenance keeps burning C$1.5 to over C$2 million per month. The previous Ascot operation failed largely due to under-drilled resources, no on-site assay lab, an undersized mill feed pipeline, and engineering issues at the water plant, and investor skepticism about whether this team can avoid repeating those mistakes is the most common pushback McLeod said he gets.
Cambria Gold Mines CEO Interview With Rob McLeod
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