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Don Durrett & John Feneck: Insights Into Pacific Ridge Exploration ($PEX | $PEXZF) & Stocks Round-Up

Investor TV Apr 26, 2026

Summary

The episode opens by stating it is disseminated on behalf of Pacific Ridge Exploration, so company-supplied claims deserve independent verification.

Pacific Ridge's British Columbia copper-gold portfolio is positioned for a widening copper supply-demand gap the CEO argues began with electrification.

The shares trade near one cent per pound of copper in the ground, which the analyst frames as a wide discount against comparable British Columbia peers.

Among junior gold names the analyst prefers 1911 Gold and Lahontan Gold on risk-reward, citing 1911's restart and Lahontan's straightforward open pit.

Denarius Metals' Saudi interest and a bid for Emorita Resources signal expansion, while a Pacific Ridge financing announcement is flagged as likely.

Key points on Denarius Metals

  • The company announced a hostile approach for Emorita Resources the day before this April 2026 recording, and the analyst says this shows Denarius is in growth mode, buying assets that complement its Spanish holdings.
  • Saudi investor interest in taking a stake was announced February 19, 2026; the analyst says it could be 9.9 percent or 19.9 percent but not 1 percent, that these investors are well funded, and that this remains additional upside rather than something already in the price. The host notes no follow-up announcement has come yet and expects one soon.
  • The company has just raised about $19 million from warrant money, which the analyst says lets it fund the bid, which was made only about a business day after the press release and priced at a 15 percent premium to the depressed closing price rather than a VWAP.
  • On growth, the analyst says Denarius projects 150,000 ounces of production in 2028 while currently mining about 30,000 ounces, and that the stock is not priced anywhere close to the larger figure — making it one of the highest-leverage gold miners he covers.
  • The analyst visited the Colombian mine about three to four weeks before this recording, notes two backup projects in Spain, and says the company received an invitation to the Beaver Creek conference two days before the recording.

Key points on 1911 Gold

  • The analyst calls 1911 his favorite pick from Beaver Creek and says the company simply has to put an existing mine back into production.
  • He describes the plan as mining straight down, turning the existing mine back on and working a resource he puts at about a million ounces, with production roughly a year away as of this April 2026 discussion.
  • He faults management for waiting on higher gold prices rather than anticipating them, arguing that had they moved earlier the mine could already be producing, and that all the company needs is higher gold prices.
  • He ranks 1911 with Lahontan as having the best risk-reward of the five names reviewed in the round-up, since 1911 only has to restore an operating mine.

Key points on Rua Gold

  • The analyst says he has just interviewed the company: the Reefton project in New Zealand, a property of about 300,000 acres with a lot of past producing mines, which he calls a really exciting story and one he likes a lot.
  • The host introduces Rua as one of his recent interviews, with tickers NZAUF in the US and RUAN in Canada, and says they met Rob a few days before this recording.

Don Durrett's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He opens the round-up saying he likes all five names but puts Lahontan and 1911 ahead of the rest, calling their risk-reward really strong while the other three are not slam dunks and carry more risk.
  • He calls Denarius one of the highest-leverage gold miners right now, pointing to a projection of 150,000 ounces in 2028 against about 30,000 ounces being mined today, and says it is not priced close to that.
  • He reports from a visit to Denarius's Colombian mine about three to four weeks before this recording that the Emorita approach was announced the day before, and frames both the Saudi interest and the bid as additions to the story.
  • On Pacific Ridge he says he would buy it if he liked copper: with 63 million common and 114 million fully diluted shares worth about $17 million US, under a penny a pound of copper equivalent and under two dollars an ounce of gold equivalent, against peers he values at 6 to 10 cents in the ground.
  • He argues copper has been under the radar while silver ran higher and gold reached an all-time high of $5,500, and that these juniors are mispriced — what he calls a value investor's dream if you believe in higher metal prices.

Blaine Monaghan's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He argues Pacific Ridge is undervalued — its BC deposit compares favourably with peers on tonnage and grade while peers trade 6 to 8 times higher, and he says the company is criminally undervalued and intends to close that gap.
  • The flagship project's inaugural resource came out of last year's partnership with a French investor group that injected capital; it is 334 million tonnes at about 0.33 copper equivalent, it remains open, and he wants to see it grow past half a billion tonnes.
  • The 2026 plan announced on April 14, 2026 commits to a minimum of 2,000 metres at the flagship and 2,000 metres at RDP, plus testing three other targets along a 6-kilometre mineralised trend he believes could host another deposit.
  • He flags that about $2 million in the treasury will not fund the 2026 programme, so a financing announcement is expected, and says the news was held back while markets were risk-off and only released once sentiment moved from extreme fear toward greed.
  • He says a preliminary economic assessment is still a few seasons away because the main zone needs delineating and roughly another 20,000 metres of infill drilling, and he wants to retain 100 percent ownership, entertaining a joint venture only if it brings strategic capital for the other project; more than two dozen confidentiality agreements are signed.

John Fenwick's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He frames the segment as a check-in on the analyst's recent favourites: the two of them had just attended a dinner with a chief executive a few days earlier, and he had interviewed four other companies recently.
  • He sets the bar for any deal on Pacific Ridge: the good offer would be 50 percent free carry, and if no one will pay that, his point is that the company is effectively for sale at that level.
  • He presses the copper shortage argument — if the shortage is real, copper goes to $10 a pound against the roughly 1 cent a pound Pacific Ridge trades at, which he says could become 50 cents, or 25 cents if you own half of it.
  • He questions why nobody is circling a growing billion-pound project with gold and silver offsets if there is a copper shortage, and expects consolidation among BC juniors to start once a senior moves in and acquires one of the smaller companies.
  • He asks the operating questions — drill metres and rig count, how long results take, whether a PEA is planned and whether joint venture requests were turned down — and closes by promoting his two conferences in Washington DC and Fort Lauderdale in May 2026.