Selkirk Copper is a newly listed company aiming to restart the past-producing Minto copper-gold-silver mine in the Yukon, where the Selkirk First Nation is both landholder and major shareholder. The project sits in the “boring” de-risking phase of the Lassonde Curve between closure and a possible restart. This interview focused on management incentives, the restart and financing strategy, permitting and environmental legacy issues, the current 50,000 m drill program, and timing to a restart decision.
- 1. TLDR
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– Selkirk Copper’s core plan is to grind through a structured sequence of drilling, engineering, permitting and feasibility work to reach a credible restart decision for Minto in early 2027, not to “flip the switch” quickly.
– The 50,000m drill program with four rigs is meant to expand existing lenses, fill gaps and test near-mine exploration targets within the current licence, in a system where the prior operator relied heavily on grade and barely scratched the geoscience.
– Management expects working restart capital of roughly 125 to 150 million for about 30,000 tpa contained copper, relying on existing infrastructure that may cover 60 to 70% of a normal greenfield capital bill. The framework agreement and ~45 million already spent by government on closure works reduce near-term water and reclamation costs and push major bonding and some operating costs out until a restart is actually committed.
– Removal of streams and offtake encumbrances improves the project’s potential economics and gives room to use future offtake as non-dilutive financing.
– The real test will be whether the company hits its drill, study and permitting milestones while keeping G&A and dilution under control at a project with a messy history. - 2. What have they done for shareholders lately?
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The company has raised roughly 40 million plus an additional 4.5 dollars in recent financings and put that into a 50,000 m drill program with four rigs on a near-mine 3 km by 3 km footprint. Selkirk has engaged SRK and Hatch on engineering and trade-off work for a feasibility-style restart plan, run multiple site visits including a 12-engineer field trip, and opened regular discussions with the Port of Skagway on a containerized or rotainer-based concentrate export route. - 3. What has changed since the last update?
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Management is now following a staged, feasibility-driven restart path with an early 2027 restart decision as the working target, instead of rushing back into production as the previous operator did. The historic gold/silver stream and Sumitomo offtake have been removed, giving Selkirk full metal exposure and future offtake flexibility, and a framework agreement means the Yukon government pays care and maintenance until April 2026 and water treatment until April 2027, with full closure bonding only required on a restart decision within a five-year option. - 4. How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
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Management says the roughly 40 million plus 4.5 raised is intended to fund work through to an early 2027 restart decision, covering the 50,000 m drilling, engineering and trade-off studies, permitting work within existing licences, and corporate overhead. Initial budgets called for about 12 to 14 million over 18 months for corporate G&A plus people-heavy care and maintenance, but actual G&A is currently lower because the government is still carrying care and maintenance. Colin said he aims to keep people-related G&A under about 750,000 per month, with total corporate/overhead in the 1.2 to 1.4 million per month range. He personally holds around 6 million shares at an average cost of roughly $0.31, mainly from financings at $0.28 and $0.56. - 5. Upcoming catalysts
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Management guides to a steady set of drill-result news releases roughly every 3 to 4 weeks, starting with initial results from Minto Northwest around the US Thanksgiving window, another batch before Christmas, and several more in the new year as the 50,000 m program is assayed. They expect a mineral resource update in March, followed by a PEA around mid-Q2 and then the start of a feasibility study that will frame the early 2027 restart decision. In parallel, updates on amendments to the existing Quartz Mining License and water licences to support a 12 to 15 year integrated open pit and underground plan could also be part of the near-term future. - 6. Risks
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The main near-term risk is permitting and approvals timing, according to Colin. Selkirk needs an integrated, longer-life permit package that satisfies both the Selkirk First Nation and Yukon regulators in a jurisdiction still wary after past failures at Minto and elsewhere. There is execution risk in planning and operating a modest-sized combined open pit and underground restart where daily performance is less forgiving, and in presenting a restart plan that lenders see as robust enough to finance mostly through project facilities. Financing risk rises if the early-2027 decision timeline slips, which could force more equity, and there is lingering overhang risk from legacy low-cost paper in the old Venerable Ventures shell (including historical 5 cent and 16 cent stock), although Colin says the main cheap-paper holders are long-term aligned.
Selkirk Copper CEO Interview With Colin Joudrie
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