What is attracting investors to Rupert Resources’ story?

We set out back in 2018 to be an exploration company focused in a part of Finland that had seen limited commercial exploration but was host to Europe’s largest gold mines; Agnico Eagle's Kittila gold mine. We acquired a large land package with the Pahtavaara acquisition and took a very systematic approach to exploring it. We made a number of discoveries in the first couple of years doing regional exploration, but the discovery that has driven all the value has been our Ikkari discovery. This discovery stands out as being unique in terms of gold discoveries today, and the market caught onto it quickly.

A year later, we announced the first resource of just under 4 million oz at 2.5 g/t. To be able to move at that pace all comes down to the geology, and the style of this deposit. That drove people's expectations, and allowed us to access the capital markets again in the summer of 2021. This set the company up well to do our PEA, and first engineering study, and we announced that at the end of November 2022. Since then, we have graduated to the TSX mainboard from the TSXV.

What are the reasons you expect such high margins at Ikkari?

The main driver of the low cost base at Ikkari is the morphology of the deposit. As an analogy: imagine you are looking at a city block. A lot of gold deposits occur as a narrow line down the middle of the road. Ikkari is like mining the whole city block, because the intercepts are up to 150 m wide. That means the amount of waste you have to move is a lot lower, plus it also occurs very near to the surface. Most importantly, the waste products it generates are not complicated, so waste management costs and long-term environmental impacts look to be low. It is one of these unique deposits whereby everything lines up. Overall, being simple drives the cost base to be lower.

What makes Finland an advantageous jurisdiction to explore and develop a mine?

Finland has a very established predetermined process of going about getting your permits, and Rupert Resources is taking a proactive approach in terms of working with the authorities. The challenge for the industry is that the broader public perception of permitting mining deposits is typically negative. Companies can do a much better job in terms of understanding the environmental impacts of their projects. We are very fortunate to be located in an area with potentially low power costs, and zero emission power. We are working with the authorities to make sure they have the information they need to make a very informed, defensible decision about permitting the project. From that perspective, Finland is a very good place to work. Rupert Resources is looking at a two to three year permitting process. If someone wants to make an appeal against a license granted, there is a well-regulated path to move through in the courts. In Finland, ultimately, the gold in the ground belongs to the state, so it must be developed in a manner that generates a net benefit to the country. Deposits like Ikkari, which have high margins, can be a significant contributor to the country.

Will Rupert Resources’ graduation to the TSX help in accessing new institutional capital?

If the opportunity is compelling enough, investment institutions will find you if their fund policies allow. That said, over the last 15 or 20 years, the fund management industry has become a lot more highly regulated, so a lot of funds are restricted on where they can allocate capital. For us, graduating to the TSX will open up doors to other funds that were not able to hold TSXV shares. And also, by completing the PEA, funds that cannot invest in exploration companies can now consider Rupert as the potential economics have been outlined. Moving to the TSX removes yet another hurdle for potential investors.