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

Investor TV Apr 17, 2026

Summary

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.

Key points on Artemis Gold

  • Nick Campbell says the biggest share-price revaluation he has witnessed comes from getting a project into free cash flow, a lesson he took from his time at Artemis Gold after leaving SilverCrest.
  • He also credits Artemis with teaching him how much team quality matters in moving a staged asset into production, a lesson he applied when hiring at Mayfair.

Key points on Coeur Mining

  • John Feneck recalls SilverCrest as a great success story and a big former holding of his that ended with Coeur Mining taking it over, which he attributes to relentless roadshow promotion by its leadership.

Key points on Americas Gold & Silver Corp

  • Don Durrett ranks Americas Gold & Silver among the undervalued silver producers best set up right now, a five-bagger-plus candidate in his view alongside Avino and Santacruz.
  • He highlights the Galena mine's ~200 million ounces at ~400 g/t with three shafts (only one in use), and says he values the company on doubled production of ~7 million ounces a year versus CEO Paul Hewitt's 10-million-ounce target.
  • John Feneck calls recently interviewed CEO Paul Hewitt a great turnaround artist with 93% of his personal net worth in the stock, backed by Eric Sprott and a couple hundred million dollars raised.
  • Feneck argues the company is in an enviable position because earlier operators mined lead and zinc while leaving silver in the ground, and he says about 90% of its revenue now comes from silver.

Key points on Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd

  • Don Durrett names Avino among the undervalued silver producers he considers best set up as of the interview, with five-bagger-plus potential in his view.

Key points on Endeavour Silver Corp

  • John Feneck notes Guanajuato Silver bought the Bolanitos operation from Endeavour Silver (EXK) for a song in Q4, a price he says would not be available at current silver prices.

Key points on Guanajuato Silver

  • Don Durrett's core case is silver-price exposure: with the Bolanitos deal done and priced in, he expects only about 1 million added ounces over the next three years from current properties, so the stock's key driver is the silver price itself.
  • He notes the stock ran from about $0.23 US at the December deal announcement to about $0.85 post-announcement by February 2026, which is why he considers the acquisition already reflected in the price.
  • John Feneck disagrees, arguing Guanajuato is mispriced because it got Bolanitos so cheaply and it could contribute this year, though he concedes the company needs to put up better numbers.
  • Durrett expects deal maker James Anderson to keep growing the company through another acquisition, with several candidate projects available.

Key points on Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd

  • Don Durrett names Santacruz, alongside Avino and Americas Gold & Silver, as the undervalued silver producers best set up right now, with five-bagger-plus potential in his view.

Key points on Mayfair Gold

  • CEO Nick Campbell's pitch is a deliberately small 4,800-tonne-per-day open pit kept under the 5,000-tonne federal threshold so it can be permitted provincially in 2-3 years, with permits targeted for early 2028 via Ontario's Project One process and first gold in 2030, instead of a billion-dollar mine facing 7-9 years of federal permitting.
  • The Q1 2026 pre-feasibility plan mines 1.47 g/t ore over the first six years for roughly 70,000-75,000 ounces a year at about 90% recovery, with AISC under $1,200/oz and free cash flow of about $150 million a year at $3,100 gold or $249 million at $4,450, on C$450 million of build costs.
  • Financing is set at about $300 million of debt plus roughly $250 million of equity over three years including the $35 million on the balance sheet, funded into mid-2027; Campbell argues a 10% free-cash-flow yield would support a ~$2.5 billion valuation versus a ~$300 million market cap at the time of the interview.
  • Growth is planned by feeding the Timmins mill rather than expanding throughput, using high-grade tonnes from regional underground mines and three properties just acquired from Plato Gold, haulable up to 150 km along Highway 101; any expansion past 5,000 tpd would require the 7-9-year federal track, so the wider 4.3-million-ounce indicated resource could wait until the late 2030s, which Campbell concedes.
  • Alignment is a selling point: about $19 million of insider buying since October 2024 leaves roughly 35% insider ownership (the hosts tally closer to 40%), and Campbell has rebuilt the team since a proxy battle, adding COO Drew Anwyll, a former Barrick North America CFO, and a sales-focused VP of capital markets aimed at generalist investors.

Key points on NexGold Mining

  • John Feneck mentions that he and Don Durrett have money invested in NexGold among their Ontario gold development stories in the region.

Key points on Silver Mountain Resources

  • Don Durrett includes Silver Mountain in his trio of near-term silver producers that look most attractive right now.
  • John Feneck groups it with cheap juniors that need to spend on marketing, saying they cannot assume investors will find them even with silver above $70.

Key points on Silver Storm Mining

  • Don Durrett expects Silver Storm to reach production in the first half of 2026 and counts it among the near-term silver producers he finds most attractive.

Key points on Skeena Resources

  • Nick Campbell cites Skeena's approved environmental assessment as an example of a brownfield project clearing Canada's federal process, a route he says is faster than the greenfield path at Fenn-Gib.

Key points on Troilus Mining Corp

  • Nick Campbell notes Troilus is a brownfield project and expects it to have an easier time in Canada's environmental assessment process than a greenfield project like Fenn-Gib.

Key points on Blackrock Silver

  • John Feneck argues the market is missing that Blackrock's project sits entirely on private land and holds about 123 million ounces of silver versus the 89 million silver-equivalent ounces in the PEA, with drilling since the PEA adding further upside.
  • The stock traded around $0.90 US at the time of the interview, after running to $1.07 on April 1 on the positive PEA and a former high near $1.70 US, which he sees as a big pullback.

Don Durrett's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He calls Mayfair a five-to-ten-bagger development opportunity that checks all his boxes: a 4-million-ounce-plus project with a 1.47 g/t starter pit and ~90% recovery, a top-tier Timmins location, a solid path to production and about 40% insider ownership, though he expects inflation to hold AISC nearer $1,500 and free cash flow nearer $200 million a year.
  • His metals framework is war-dependent: gold is stuck in a 4,500-5,000 range and silver in 70-90 until the war resolves, with a quick end sending both higher and a prolonged conflict sending them lower.
  • He favors undervalued and near-term silver producers: Avino, Americas Gold & Silver and Santacruz as undervalued five-bagger-plus candidates, plus near-term names like Silver Mountain and Silver Storm, with Andean Silver restarting in Q1 2028.
  • On Americas Gold & Silver he points to the Galena mine's ~200 million ounces at ~400 g/t with three shafts (only one in use), valuing the company on roughly 7 million ounces of annual production versus management's 10-million-ounce target.
  • He came away struck by how difficult Canadian federal greenfield permitting is, five to seven years for the environmental assessment alone, so he argues companies close to production, like Mayfair at about four years out, carry real value and optionality.

James Anderson's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Don Durrett describes James Anderson as a deal maker and expects him to grow Guanajuato Silver through another acquisition, with several candidate projects he could pursue.

Drew Anwyll's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Mayfair CEO Nick Campbell says he brought Drew Anwyll in as COO because he is one of the few people to get a federal environmental assessment approved in the last five years, at Generation Mining's Marathon project under the grandfathered 2012 act.
  • Campbell calls Anwyll a serial mine builder who built Detour Lake, Canada's largest open-pit gold mine, in contrast to the small pit he will run at Mayfair.

Eric Sprott's takeaways

  • Top takeaway John Feneck notes Eric Sprott is backing Americas Gold & Silver, which has raised a couple hundred million dollars, backing he says puts the company in an enviable position.

Nicholas Campbell's takeaways

  • 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.

John Fenwick's takeaways

  • Top takeaway He frames gold and silver direction as a function of the war, positioning himself against Don Durrett's view that the HUI could drop to 650 in a deeper sell-off.
  • He expects 6,000-6,500 gold within the next couple of years and therefore prefers companies reaching production within the next several years over those 7-9 years out, which is why Mayfair's approach interests him.
  • He pushes junior miners to spend on marketing, citing SilverCrest's promotion-heavy path to its takeover and criticizing companies that assume investors will show up with silver above $70.
  • He focuses on Ontario and Quebec as jurisdictions that attract investor interest and closes by saying Mayfair checks a lot of boxes: 40%-plus of shares in good hands guarding against take-unders, a 14-year mine life, strong first-six-year cash flows and sub-$1,200 AISC.