Majors Pouring Funds into Smaller Players
Barrick, Newmont and Agnico Eagle have all made investments this week
The world’s three largest gold producers have been making moves in the junior space this week.
On Tuesday, Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE: B/TSX: ABX) paid C$20.88 million for 15.47 million units of Kingfisher Metals Corp (TSXV: KFR).
Each unit comprises a common share and half of a common share purchase warrant, with every warrant entitling Barrick to buy one share in Kingfisher at C$1.70 per share for two years.
The investment will give Barrick 9.9% of Kingfisher on a non-diluted basis and 14.1% of the outstanding Kingfisher shares on a partially diluted basis, assuming the exercise of all warrants held by Barrick.
Kingfisher owns the HWY 37 project in British Columbia, which it describes as the largest early-stage copper and gold project in the Golden Triangle, and the adjoining Forrest Kerr project.
The projects are southwest of Newmont Corporation’s (NYSE: NEM) Red Chris gold-copper operation and Saddle North project, and to the east of Newmont and Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK) Galore Creek gold-copper project.
In January, Kingfisher reported results of 889.35m at 0.47% copper equivalent from surface at Williams and 425m at 0.4% CuEq from 534m at Hank, with the latter representing the discovery of a new blind porphyry system underneath the Hank epithermal alteration system.
The stock is up by over 340% since the start of the year, including a 20% jump on Tuesday.
Kingfisher president and CEO Dustin Perry said Barrick made its investment following extensive due diligence.
“This strategic investment is an endorsement of the prospectivity of our Golden Triangle land position and our technical team’s ability to execute,” he said.
“Post-closing, the company will have approximately C$47 million in cash, providing us with the flexibility to fund aggressive ongoing exploration programs aimed at delineating copper-gold mineralisation at our recent Hank porphyry discovery and throughout the extensive Golden Triangle land position.
“We believe the HWY 37 project has the potential to deliver multiple discoveries, and we welcome the support and mining experience that Barrick brings to the company.”
Under an investor rights agreement, Barrick will be entitled to anti-dilution and information rights in respect of HWY 37 and Kingfisher will be restricted from selling or transferring any interest in the project without Barrick’s consent for two years, subject to Barrick maintaining at least a 5% stake in Kingfisher.
Barrick will also be subject to a standstill, preventing it from acquiring more than 15% of Kingfisher for two years, and the company has agreed to an 18-month lockup.
Barrick and Kingfisher will also form a technical committee, with Barrick to provide technical support and expertise to Kingfisher for the 2027 and 2028 drilling seasons at HWY 37.
Kingfisher’s 2026 exploration program kicked off last month, with 15,000m of drilling planned.
Agnico active
On Monday, Cadillac Mines Corporation (previously known as Gold Candle), launched its initial public offering, which will raise up to C$415 million.
The Pierre Lassonde-chaired company expects to complete a concurrent private placement offering of 8.7 million shares to Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM) for gross proceeds of roughly C$60 million.
Cadillac’s flagship asset is the Kerr-Addison project in the southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt of Ontario.
The project sits between Agnico Eagle’s Upper Beaver and Wasamac deposits.
Kerr-Addison has indicated and inferred resources of 5.6Moz of gold.
Cadillac expects to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker ‘CADY’ by October.
Also on Monday, Grid Metals Corp (TSXV: GRDM) announced it had entered into a definitive agreement Agnico Eagle’s wholly owned critical minerals subsidiary Avenir Minerals to form a joint venture over the Grid’s Falcon West cesium project in Manitoba.
It comes after Avenir first invested in Grid in October 25, participating in its private placement to acquire a 9.9% stake.
Avenir will acquire an initial 15% interest in the project for C$3.75 million in cash and thereafter fund its pro rata share of cost.
Avenir has the option to subscribe for up to 19.99% of Grid’s issued and outstanding shares, following the publication of a mineral resource estimate.
Avenir will have an option to acquire an additional 15% interest (for a total of 30%) in Falcon West upon completion of a preliminary economic assessment or adoption of a mine plan.
Agnico Eagle established Avenir in October 2025 as a dedicated vehicle to evaluate and advance critical minerals opportunities in the regions in which Agnico Eagle operates, with an initial geographic focus on Canada.
Earlier this month, Avenir completed the C$94.3 million acquisition of phosphate developer Fox River Resources Corporation and separately, was selected by the New Brunswick provincial government to negotiate an exclusive exploration agreement for the former Lake George antimony mine.
Newmont maintains Metallic stake
On Tuesday, Metallic Minerals Corp (TSXV: MMG) announced it had completed a non-brokered private placement with Newmont for gross proceeds of C$902,916.
Newmont subscribed for 3.22 million units at C28c per unit, comprising a common share and half a common share purchase warrant, with each warrant entitling the holder to acquire one share at C40c per share for a period within 36 months.
The private placement follows Metallic’s recent C$10.3 million bought deal financing, which was conducted at the same price.
Newmont first invested in Metallic in May 2023, paying C$6.34 million for a 9.5% stake.
This week’s private placement will maintain Newmont’s stake of around 9.2% in Metallic.
Metallic owns the La Plata copper-silver-platinum group elements-gold project in southwestern Colorado.
La Plata has an inferred resource of 181.4 million tonnes at 0.36% CuEq, containing 1.3 million pounds of copper and 17 million ounces of silver, or 1.45Mlb of CuEq, as well as a 45.4Mt subset containing 91,000oz of platinum, 121,000oz of palladium and 60,000oz of gold, totalling roughly 272,000oz of PGEs plus gold.
“Newmont has been a valued strategic shareholder since 2023, and we have appreciated the collaboration with their technical team via our IRA technical committee,” Metallic chairman and CEO Greg Johnson said.
“The fundamentals for copper and critical minerals remain very strong and underscore La Plata’s potential to emerge not only as a significant copper and precious metal resource, but also as a strategic source of critical minerals in the US that are essential to support advanced technologies, energy transition and domestic economic development.”