Nicholas Campbell

Don Durrett & John Feneck Interview Mayfair Gold ($MFG | $MINE) on Building a Mine in Ontario

• Top takeaway His core decision is to build one of Canada's smallest open pits (4,800 tpd, under the 5,000-tonne federal threshold) so Fenn-Gib can be permitted provincially in 2-3 years and producing by 2030, rather than chase a 200,000-ounce-per-year mine facing 7-9 years of federal permitting and over a billion dollars of capex.
• Starter-pit economics from the Q1 2026 PFS: 1.47 g/t feed over six years, about 70,000-75,000 ounces a year at roughly 90% recovery, AISC under $1,200/oz, and about $150 million of annual free cash flow at $3,100 gold ($249 million at $4,450) on C$450 million of capex.
• He plans about $300 million of debt plus $250 million of equity over three years, is funded into mid-2027 with $35 million on the balance sheet, and will raise only opportunistically because he thinks today's cost of capital is unattractive.
• Growth without expanding throughput: feed the mill with high-grade regional and underground tonnes, including three ex-Plato Gold properties trucked up to 150 km on Highway 101, at 60-70%-plus margins; expansion beyond 5,000 tpd would require the federal track he estimates at 7-9 years, which he has not scheduled.
• He took over a year ago after a proxy battle removed prior management and stresses alignment: about $19 million of insider buying since October 2024 leaving roughly 35% insider ownership, COO Drew Anwyll, a former Barrick North America CFO with Ontario experience, a new VP of capital markets targeting generalist investors, plus a coming marketing push and renewed exploration spending.

Mayfair Gold is permitting a 4,800 tonne-per-day starter pit at Fenn-Gib provincially, cutting years off the federal route to first production. Projects under 5,000 tonnes per day permit provincially in Ontario, avoiding a federal review where no new (greenfield) mine has won approval since 2019. Management guides to a sub-$1,200 AISC (All-In Sustaining Cost — the full cost to produce an ounce) and first gold in 2030. Staying small preserves optionality: regional high-grade and underground tonnes can sweeten mill feed (raise average grade) without expanding throughput or new federal permits. Don Durrett favors undervalued, leveraged silver producers while John Fenwick argues war headlines, not fundamentals, gate gold's next move.