Jason Kosec and Jonathan Awde of Hemlo Mining Corp. | Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

Rule Investment Media May 16, 2026

Summary

A veteran management team bought Hemlo — Canada's preeminent historic gold mine — from Barrick, betting decades of underinvestment left value behind.

The mill runs at 3,800 of 10,000 tons per day; a planned $130 million investment aims to lift output toward 200,000 ounces a year.

Barrick ran Hemlo as a rounding error — about 5% of output — spending $2 million on exploration where the new owners plan $38 million.

The sellers' technical report shows a 14-year mine life, about 140,000 annual ounces, and $1.1 billion NPV5 (value discounted at 5%) at $2,610 gold.

A 130,000-metre drill program targets an updated technical report in mid-2027; management says it has over $40 million of its own money invested.

The guests argue Barrick sold Hemlo because it was a 'rounding error' — about 5% of Barrick's global production — used as a cash generator for projects like Reko Diq and Fourmile, with exploration spending of only about $2 million.
Barrick commissioned the third-party technical report during the sale process — a 14-year mine life averaging around 140,000 ounces a year — which remains the only disclosure about the asset the new owners can publicly cite as of May 2026.
Jonathan Awde says the purchase of the Hemlo asset out of Barrick closed as the largest transaction in TSX Venture Exchange history, raising over $1 billion and beating 32 other bidders.
Awde says he previously bought the Homestake-district assets that became Dakota Gold out of Barrick's closure group, and the guests cite K92's post-Barrick rebuild as an earlier version of the same refocus story.

Jason Kosec says he led Minera Alamos' acquisition of the Pan Mine out of Equinox Gold, where he went on to chair Minera Alamos.

Kosec cites the recent technical report Gold Fields published on its Windfall project as support for his claim that building a mine like Hemlo today would cost over $2.5 billion.

Kosec says his structural reinterpretation work at Cote — now Canada's third-largest deposit, owned by IAMGOLD — led to a 2012 sale for just over $600 million, after which he worked with IAMGOLD.

Kosec says the Southwest US heap-leach roll-up he built out of Millennial Precious Metals became Integra Resources, where he ultimately served as president and CEO before stepping down.

Kosec points back to what K92 did with an asset it acquired out of Barrick as an earlier example of the focused-operator story he is running at Hemlo.

Awde rolled up Homestake-district assets in South Dakota — bought from Barrick's closure group — took the company public as Dakota Gold, and stepped down in October 2024.
The guests cite what Awde and Robert Quartermain have done at Dakota Gold among examples of refocused teams adding value.

Kosec says the Caribou Camp his team reinterpreted was sold to Osisko Gold Royalties, the company now listed as OR Royalties.

Top takeaway Kosec frames Bristow's capital allocation as the reason Hemlo stagnated: at Barrick's scale, lifting Hemlo from 140,000 to 200,000 ounces a year would still be 'a rounding error' next to drilling off 10 million ounces at Fourmile.
The guests stay respectful — 'Mark's a brilliant guy' — while describing Hemlo under Bristow as roughly 5% of Barrick's production, funding priorities like Reko Diq and Fourmile rather than receiving focus.

Top takeaway Kosec cites Jason Simpson and the Orla team as an example of what focused management can do with an asset a major deprioritized.

Top takeaway Awde says the Hemlo buyout was the largest transaction in TSX Venture Exchange history — the team raised over $1 billion and beat out 32 other bidders, informed by a strong technical view of the asset.
He co-founded and ran Gold Standard Ventures until its sale to Orla, then built Dakota Gold by rolling up Homestake-district assets bought from Barrick's closure group, stepping down from Dakota Gold in October 2024.
He says Robert Quartermain — who was present for two of Hemlo's three discoveries — called him in April to lead the team bidding for Hemlo.
As Hemlo's chairman and the self-described capital markets and M&A half of the team, with 25 years in mining, he fronts investor contact alongside CEO Jason Kosec.

Top takeaway Rule argues Hemlo is valuable even before any upgrade — the mine is already found, permitted and built — and presses the guests to size its worth at gold prices approximating those of mid-May 2026.
He suggests Hemlo's operators of the past 8-10 years treated it as a cash cow that lacked focused intellectual capital, quipping that Mark Bristow 'had his eyes on other prizes.'
He recalls Hemlo as Canada's preeminent gold mine of the last 50 years, with cumulative production he remembers as approaching or exceeding 30 million ounces across its three mines.
He discloses he is himself a Hemlo shareholder and that the company sponsors his educational efforts, and frames Kosec's on-site meetings with geologist Dick Sillitoe as work that benefits shareholders.

Top takeaway Rule and the guests position Quartermain as the force behind Hemlo: he phoned Awde in April to recruit the buyout leadership and was present for two of the deposit's three discoveries.
Kosec calls Quartermain a career mentor and says he is especially drawn to Hemlo's exploration upside, including targets he remembers from 35 years ago that remain undrilled.