Eastport Critical Metals’ flagship is the Matsitama copper project in northeast Botswana, held across six contiguous prospecting licences and hosting the Nakalakwana (NAK) deposit, alongside Selebi East (nickel-copper-cobalt), Semarule (rare earths), Foley (uranium), and a couple of smaller targets including a kimberlite. In this interview, I asked the CEO about his background and the corporate smell test, the history of the ground going back to Falconbridge and African Copper, the recent Phase 1 drilling at NAK, the pivot to geophysics before more drilling, treasury, and how he thinks about which projects stay in the company.
TL;DR
CEO Danie Major l told me he is not going to keep drilling around NAK just to make it bigger at lower grade. Instead the money goes into gravity over the 30 km “Copper Snake” structure on the northern half of the licences that nobody has drilled, then EM to get depth, then drilling. That geophysics sequence takes six to seven months on his estimate, so meaningful Matsitama drill news is a 2027 story. Three assays are still outstanding from Phase 1, mostly NAK Main including hole 12, due in a week or two, and he was clear those results do not change the plan either way. Cash was about C$2.5 million at the last accounts, enough for the geophysics but not enough to see the whole program through, and he would not give me a budget number because the board had not approved it yet. He owns 31,000 shares bought on day one for about 20,000 pounds, insiders hold just under 22%, and the only royalty is the 5% government one.
What have they done for shareholders lately?
Phase 1 drilling at Matsitama is done: 15 holes for 3,645 metres across NAK Main, NAK East and NAK West. July assays on the main zone confirmed thick, continuous copper, but the step-outs at NAK East, which is 10 km from NAK Main, came back with three holes of over 100 metres of copper at grades the market did not like, and Daniel did not dress that up. He said it looks like the same structure based on the terrain and the ridges, but without drilling the 10 km gap he cannot tell whether it is one continuous system or separate lenses. His explanation for the lower grade was blunt: less copper there. Beyond Matsitama, he has been to every project since being appointed and has been doing near-weekly interviews. On Foley he says the Gorgon extension is proven and the better uranium grades sit in paleo channels. At Semarule, XRF on core drilled to 350 to 400 metres is showing neodymium and praseodymium grades all the way down over a gravity high of roughly two by two kilometres, with lab assays and mineralogy still pending.
How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
Cash was around C$2.5 million at the last accounts, and he says nothing more is needed to get the geophysics done. The last raise was C$2 million in February at C$0.80 with a full warrant at C$1.00 for three years. There are 33.5 million shares out, 2 million options and 16.7 million warrants, so about 36% of the 52.3 million fully diluted count sits in paper, and the market cap is roughly C$13.5 million at C$0.40 against a 52-week range of C$0.35 to C$1.25 on about 25,000 shares a day. Spending goes first to gravity and EM at Matsitama, EM at Selebi East, drone magnetics over four licence areas, some extension drilling at Foley, and drilling at Semarule if the assays support it. Marketing is budgeted at about C$400,000, which he admitted is a big chunk of G&A. He would not give me the total exploration budget or the G&A number, saying his board meeting was right after our call. He also confirmed his change-of-control provision is 12 months, so no large payout on a sale. Hill 79 and Globe Capital both owe the company money; he said the Hill 79 amount could become a transaction and he could not recall the Globe number.
Upcoming catalysts
Technical: three remaining Phase 1 assays, mostly NAK Main including hole 12, expected within one to two weeks; outstanding results from Selebi East and Semarule; Semarule mineralogy results in the next couple of months and a first tied-together geological picture in three to four months; gravity survey over the Copper Snake starting in about a week; drone magnetics over PL60 and around NAK; EM surveys to follow gravity, with the full Matsitama geophysics cycle running six to seven months before drill targets are defined; two EM surveys and drilling on up to three Selebi East targets within 12 months; possible resource-style step-out drilling at Semarule if grades hold; extension drilling on the Foley paleo channels; one hole planned into the kimberlite target.
Operational: an approved exploration budget once the board signs off.
Corporate: he was open about possible JV, sale, spin-out or in-specie distribution for Semarule and for Foley, and about a potential transaction on PL60 with the neighbouring Kopano operation, but nothing is agreed.
Risks
The obvious one is what the CEO himself brought up when I asked what keeps him up at night: negative results. Beyond that, the plan pushes real drilling out six to seven months, so there is a long stretch with mostly survey news while the stock sits near its lows after falling from about C$1.10 at the start of the year. Cash covers the geophysics but not the drilling that follows, so a raise is coming at some point, and he was explicit that as an exploration company they will have to return to the market. Add the usual early-stage unknowns like metallurgy has not been looked at on their licences, water has to be trucked in, and licence renewals are limited, with Daniel believing two renewals remain but saying he would have to confirm. Finally, with five or six projects moving at once on a C$13.5 million market cap, capital gets spread thin, and he acknowledged some projects may have to be sold, spun out or partnered rather than advanced in-house.
Eastport Critical Metals CEO Interview
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