Manhattan Gold’s flagship is the 665 km² Hook Lake project in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, roughly 133 km northwest of Arviat and 220 km southwest of Rankin Inlet, in the Rankin-Ennadai greenstone belt. The main target is Jaws (historically called Turquetil Lake). It carries a historic estimate from the 1980s of 3.4 Mt at 2.38 g/t gold, which is not JORC compliant. Manhattan bought Hook Lake in July 2025 and drilled it for the first time this year. In this interview, I asked CEO Bay Rezos why Jaws sat untouched for decades and why nobody put the package together before them, whether the project can get permits in Nunavut, and how big it needs to be, as well as timing, money, insider incentives, and risks.
TL;DR
CEO Bay Rezos told me success over the next 12 months means showing Jaws is much bigger than the historic estimate and getting to a JORC resource. That resource is now expected in late 2027, not May as first hoped. Phase one was 25 RC holes for about 4,500 m. It outlined roughly 490 m of higher-grade gold inside a 1.2 km corridor, reaching about 220 m vertical depth, but true widths are still unknown. I asked how big this needs to be to get built, and said they need “multi-million ounces” at roughly a 2 g/t floor. The one thing he said they couldn’t work around is metallurgy failing to match the historic ~94% recoveries. A raise is coming early next year to fund about 10,000 m of diamond drilling, starting late April or early May.
What have they done for shareholders lately?
This year they built a permanent camp and drilled five targets, including zinc, gold and silver hits at the Spectre VMS target. They also grew the land package from 400 km² to 665 km², adding the Vanquish prospect west of Jaws. Bay said hole 6B cut about 40 m at good grade. Drilling has also found gold below and along strike from the historic estimate, which only covered 940 m of strike at shallow depth. On skin in the game, Bay owns about 3.5 million shares at an average cost near 2.2 cents, and 1.5 million of those came from performance rights. Chairman Gavin Rezos has put in over A$1 million of his own money and Eric over A$200k. Bay is paid A$200k a year and has a three-month exit clause. Sam gets A$150k plus extra for days on site. Bay’s performance rights are tied to share price targets over three years. Gavin’s and Eric’s are also tied to geology: a strong drill hit (already met), then recoveries of 94% or more, then a 500,000 oz JORC resource. On permits, Bay said the Kivalliq Inuit Association has been supportive. A federal permit was held up nearly a month over caribou concerns from a Manitoba group, but it was issued without changes.
How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
In September they raised A$4.5 million at 2 cents. About A$3.4 million has closed, and the remaining ~A$1.1 million goes to a shareholder vote on November 6. I asked how much cash is left and didn’t get a number. He said phase one is “well and truly covered,” about another A$1 million is still coming in, and the rest depends on how much 2027 fuel and supplies they buy early this winter. Phase one cost about A$900 per metre, against roughly A$300 he cited for a peer. Part of the reason is that the RC rig drilled 2,000 to 3,000 m less than they’d hoped, because holes drifted off course and drilling had to slow in softer rock. He expects winter supply runs over land and the camp’s spot closer to Jaws to cut costs, but there’s no 2027 budget yet. The next raise would likely go through Euroz Hartleys and Alpine Capital, with Leeuwin Wealth as co-manager. Viaticus Capital, the family fund Bay runs with Gavin, also takes part and charges 4% versus a typical 6%. Bay estimated overhead at 10 to 15% of spending. There are just under 1 billion shares out and 1.4 billion fully diluted (334M options, 128M performance rights, no warrants). The top 20 holders own 65%.
Upcoming catalysts
First up are five holes still waiting on assays at a backed-up lab in Yellowknife. At Jaws, one hole steps out about 1 km southwest and the other tests below 6B. The other three are at Omega, a target about 6 km northeast that has never been drilled, where gold would sit in banded iron formation under shallow glacial cover. Bay called Omega the one that could change how they look at the project. Next is the November 6 vote on the rest of the raise. Between November and January come results from the magnetics survey (12,600 line km) and LiDAR, plus 550 till samples and metallurgy on Jaws and Spectre, which are both due around January. After that, a raise in early 2027 and diamond drilling from late April or early May. A possible exploration target could come around May, with a JORC resource later in the year. Nunavut also takes control of its own lands and permitting in April 2027. In Australia, Novo pays for the work at Tibooburra up to a bankable feasibility study. Manhattan is bringing in community engagement consultants to fix access to the southern part of Tibooburra. They’re simply holding on to Ponton (uranium) while Western Australia keeps its ban on uranium mining.
Risks
Rezos named metallurgy as the one risk they couldn’t work around, and proving scale as the main challenge overall. True widths are not known yet. Hole 8 was still mineralized at 220 m vertical, but grade there was only slightly above 1 g/t. Insiders hold a 2% NSR royalty on the project, with no buyback terms. That’s a potential conflict, since they also help make the decisions. Viaticus, a related party, takes part in raises. Dilutive securities are about 32% of the fully diluted count, and more raising at low prices is coming. On permitting, Nunavut’s draft land use plan for the whole territory was rejected this year, and caribou migration can stop/slow down work. I raised the review board’s rejection of the Meliadine mine extension but Bay pointed to mines already running nearby though admitted mining permits haven’t been looked at yet. Access is fly-in only, the nearest town is 120 to 150 km away, and costs are high. On this year’s helicopter fuel spill, he said it was cleaned up but passed the details to Eric.
Manhattan Gold CEO Interview
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