Chad Williams

Honey Badger Silver is Accelerating High-Grade Silver in Northern Canada

• Top takeaway Williams argues the asset is a restart rather than a new build, pointing to a mill on site, about 5 km of underground development and roughly 80 km of drilling, and says the company acquired it about six months before the September 22, 2026 interview along with what he estimates is about $1 billion of existing infrastructure.
• He frames the case around valuation, arguing the stock is undervalued at about a tenth of Prairie Creek alone and that the other seven projects carry no value in the current price, with feasibility study results guided to Q2 2027 as the next major catalyst.
• He says the roughly C$650 million capital estimate from the preliminary economic assessment splits into about a third for an all-season road, a third in soft costs and a third in hard assets, and says the company is eligible for around 15 types of Canadian government funding, though government and company timelines differ.
• He says existing infrastructure, grade and jurisdiction are what make mining financiers and smelters engaged, and points to negative zinc and lead treatment and refining charges as evidence that smelters want the feed.
• He identifies perception as the main obstacle rather than geology, saying investors think the project is too good to be true given the low purchase price, and acknowledges community skepticism after past failed restart attempts, noting impact benefit agreements with Fort Simpson, Nahanni Butte and Fort Lyard.

The guest says zinc treatment charges have turned negative, meaning smelters would pay to process Prairie Creek's concentrate. A PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) puts the restart at a 22-year mine life and roughly C$650M of capital. About a third of that capital builds an all-season road the company expects Canadian critical-mineral programs to help fund. Management guides a feasibility study to Q2 2027, with Germanium assays, mill restart work and underground drilling coming first. Skepticism is the main obstacle: earlier operators promised this mine for decades, though three communities now hold impact benefit agreements.

Honey Badger Silver: Crucial Updates Coming for Canada's Next Silver Mine

• Top takeaway He argues the restart will be operational faster and for less money than investors expect, basing this on a recent site visit to the mine and mill where, he says, everyone who went found the asset considerably more advanced than they had assumed.
• He makes the case that the inherited asset is unusually advanced for a restart — fully built about 45 years ago by the Hunt brothers, with about 5 km of underground development, and mothballed only after the silver price fell — and says his own team is the best equipped, citing operating and fundraising depth and a data room holding 868,000 files from roughly 98 years of project history.
• He sets out the near-term catalyst path: the mineral resource estimate and PEA both on schedule for September 2026 without new drilling, PEA work focused on capital-cost detail, and continued news flow through the end of 2026.
• He is openly disappointed by post-financing selling even while accepting that private-placement investors who bought at $0.16 realized life-changing gains quickly, because he believes many milestones remain ahead.
• He presents germanium as an under-recognized element in the orebody and describes the combination of high metal prices, Indigenous agreements and government support as conditions the project has never previously benefited from.

Honey Badger Silver bought the Prairie Creek mine in the Northwest Territories three months ago and is targeting a production restart. The mine is fully permitted with five kilometers of underground development and an existing mill, cutting restart risk versus a greenfield build. A mineral resource estimate (MRE — the calculated size of a deposit) and PEA (first-pass study of costs and returns) are both due in September. The CEO attributes share pressure to an August 17 warrant hold expiry freeing nearly 72 million shares sold from $0.16 placements. Germanium, found but never previously recognized, and new copper credits add metals beyond the mine's historic silver and zinc focus.

Honey Badger Silver ($TUF.V | $HBEIF) Acquires Prairie Creek | Don Durrett & John Feneck Interview

• Top takeaway Williams says the Prairie Creek acquisition about two months before this interview is what rerated the stock, describing the project as a proven-reserve restart about 95% built by the Hunt brothers in 1982 with about 3 miles of intact underground development and an existing mill, which he calls the highest-grade undeveloped polymetallic deposit he has seen.
• He argues the company is mispriced at about $188 million of enterprise value, or 5% to 10% of peers on an enterprise-value-per-ounce basis, with about 20% insider ownership and his own stake near 15%.
• He says the company holds eight silver assets totalling about 650 million silver-equivalent ounces and expects to reach one billion ounces without further acquisitions, citing Sunrise Lake, bought for $1 and reported at 45 million ounces.
• He says germanium at Nanosivic was missed in his due diligence and was identified by a University of Toronto group using lasers, and that in his view it alone is worth more than the current market cap; he also points to a 100 million tonne pyrite deposit against a sulfur price he says has risen fivefold in two years.
• On execution he names COO Ron Hallis as the company's mine builder, says JDS is updating the preliminary economic assessment and resource from about 80,000 metres of existing drilling, and plans the first investor trip to the undrilled Plata property for about July 2026.

Chad Williams says Prairie Creek anchors a 650 million ounce silver-equivalent portfolio bought at a deep discount to peers. Prairie Creek is a 1982 mine restart, roughly 95% built, with three miles of underground development and an existing mill. Byproduct credits from zinc, lead, germanium and tungsten could hold Prairie Creek's cash costs far below the silver price. Don Durrett frames the sector as washed out: the HUI gold-miner index sits 26% below its high, yet quality developers trade at fractions of peers. Durrett stays cautious until the company publishes an updated resource estimate, a PEA and a capital cost plan.

Chad Williams, CEO of Honey Badger Silver Inc. | Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

• Top takeaway His stated objective is to maximize net present value per share while minimizing the share count, which he says means de-risking, adding resources and reserves, and funding through less-dilutive or non-dilutive sources such as government grants.
• He bought Prairie Creek for less than 3 cents per silver-equivalent ounce in the ground, a mine and mill that was 95% built under the Hunt brothers in 1982 and mothballed when silver fell, and notes peers now trade at $2 to $3 per ounce-equivalent.
• Prairie Creek will take about 80% of his time, energy and effort; he describes it as the highest-grade undeveloped polymetallic deposit he knows of, with revenue at least 50% silver, 35% zinc and 15% lead, and germanium and titanium credits that may turn out to be important.
• He says plans will be announced shortly, including some form of concentrate production within about a year, which would not be commercial production or free cash flow positive but is intended to demonstrate that this is a world-class project.
• He discloses owning almost 20% of the company on a fully diluted basis, bought with after-tax dollars, and says he bought more stock the day before the interview, having taken control about five years ago when it was a shell and silver was near $16 an ounce against his then-public $100 an ounce thesis.

Value creation in mining comes from two paths: buying assets cheaply for a rerating, or finding them through exploration, where odds are low. The guest frames his mandate as maximizing net present value per share, pushing him toward non-dilutive government grants over equity raises. Prairie Creek cost under three cents per silver-equivalent ounce, metal valued as silver, while peers trade near two to three dollars. A 95% built mine from 1982 is vintage, not ready: recommissioning still takes time, effort, and money before cash flow. The host discloses sponsor ownership of every exhibitor he interviews, and warns that owning a stock does not mean it goes up.