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Live Q&A with Rick Rule and Steve Barton

Rule Investment Media Jul 30, 2026

Summary

Rick Rule frames currency debasement and a structural copper deficit as multi-year themes, and treats the uranium pullback as a buying window rather than a topping signal.

Two majors as shareholders of a junior like Founders Metals create real auction tension if a discovery is made, plus adult supervision and a tighter effective float.

Rule sizes lithium as a processing-bottleneck story, not a raw-material shortage, and flags direct lithium extraction from oil and gas brines as the long-term threat to hard-rock producers.

Abitibi 'orphan' deposits such as Emperor Metals can now monetize via nearby mills, removing the capex bar that once left them undeveloped in past cycles.

Rule is constructive on Cameco, Origin Royalties, Alamos, Emperor, B2Gold, and Cheniere; he is cautious on lithium juniors and explicitly refuses to time the uranium market.

Key points on Agnico Eagle Mines

  • Rule says Agnico's sale of $261M of junior equity in Q2 2026 to fund its own buyback does not signal where we are in the cycle — they chose a 'bird in the hand' valuation over junior prospectivity
  • Rule stresses Agnico has 20 years of positive reconciliation, upgrading more ounces from resources to reserves via the drill bit than it produces annually, so it does not strictly need exploration success to grow for the next five years
  • Rule believes highly competent technical teams add value through the drill bit, and that joint venturing with juniors (including equity ownership) is the most efficient exploration model — though he concedes Agnico has a real financial case for the opposite view
  • Mentioned as a likely buyer of smaller Abitibi deposits that no longer need to amortize a standalone mill, given its regional infrastructure

Key points on Alamos Gold

  • Rule has restored Alamos Gold from a 5 back to a 4, citing the pullback in the share price and a 'very, very, very nice' project pipeline
  • He had previously downgraded Alamos from 4 to 5 on price appreciation, but the stock is now only ~20% above last year's levels
  • Rule discloses he is an Alamos shareholder and a personal friend of CEO John McCloskey for 40 years

Key points on B2Gold

  • Rule says B2Gold is cheap on a sum-of-the-parts basis — one of the cheapest intermediate producers globally, on par with Oceana Gold but with two tier-one deposits rather than a collection of tier twos
  • Founder Clive Johnson has retired and Rule questions whether the new management can replicate Clive's ability to quietly resolve political disputes with host countries like Mali, where Barrick struggled
  • Rule's investment thesis hinges on Goose (the troubled Canadian project) hitting nameplate capacity — if it does, he expects the same share recovery Equinox saw after its past-due/over-budget Canadian build
  • Key political risks to handicap: Namibia, Philippines, and Mali

Key points on Equinox Gold

  • Rule has Equinox as a 5 and is waiting to see one or two more quarters from the previously troubled Canadian operation before reassessing
  • If the Canadian asset shakes in at nameplate capacity, Rule says cash 'is really going to gush' and the question becomes what Equinox builds next
  • He flags Jason Simpson's new CEO role as something he needs to discuss with the company, given the strategic implications
  • Cash-generative potential, including the Valentine deposit, is 'pretty spectacular' per Rule

Key points on First Majestic Silver

  • Identified by Rule as the operator of the Aromatano royalty inside Origin Royalties, currently prosecuting a new discovery that adds proven upside to Origin's existing cash hoard

Key points on Gold Fields

  • Rule cites Gold Fields (alongside B2Gold) as a major shareholder of Founders Metals, providing 'adult supervision,' technical expertise, and auction tension — Rule says he has 'high regard' for the people

Key points on Hecla Mining Company

  • Rule is not a Hecla shareholder, citing a poor 20-year asset allocation track record where reserve/resource additions from margin generated on ounce sales have been net negative — destroying rather than adding capital
  • He notes Hecla is generating meaningful cash now and is extremely leveraged to a silver price spike, with an American-silver premium benefit

Key points on Ivanhoe Mines

  • Rule attributes Ivanhoe's recent ~20% jump primarily to spectacular Kipushi Zinc mine results, not copper news (which he calls bad)
  • He flags the local politics around Kipushi — the provincial governor controlling trucking out of the province and blocking rail shipment — as a structural drag that makes the recent results even more impressive
  • Rule sees Ivanhoe as part of a multi-year copper thesis, even though the near-term move was zinc-driven

Key points on Oceanagold

  • Rule contrasts Oceana Gold unfavorably with B2Gold, saying Oceana is 'more a collection of tier two deposits' while B2 has two tier-one assets

Key points on Dakota Gold

  • Rule has Dakota as a 5 and says he has no doubt Richmond Hill becomes a mine — the only question is how big
  • He likes Richmond Hill's resemblance to the Wharf mine across the property line and sees additional upside from drilling off the Homestake-style structures, potentially including reserves sterilized when Barrick gave the mine to South Dakota
  • Rule is due to talk to Bob Quartermaine, who has moved himself upstairs from CEO to Chairman, and still wants more detail on the foot wall and hanging wall deposits
  • He believes multiple production facilities could feed a common mill, with intriguing undeveloped potential at depth not yet in any mine plan

Key points on Mayfair Gold

  • Rule is trying to bring himself to rank Mayfair but says the resource statement differs from the reserve statement and he cannot get to a million mineable ounces in his own mind
  • He states he will not rank the company until he sees that level of in-situ recoverable reserves

Key points on Franco-Nevada Corp

  • Mentioned by Rule as part of Pierre Lassonde's investment track record alongside ATEX and Orla; Franco-Nevada itself is cited as the flagship of that track record

Key points on ATEX Resources Inc

  • Rule names ATEX as one of Pierre Lassonde's value-creating successes alongside Orla, and also as one of the development-stage copper stories (alongside Merrimac and Hot Chili) that have done well due to the stronger-than-expected copper price

Key points on Eloro Resources Ltd

  • Rule has no ranking on Eloro and says he is familiar with the project only from 25 years ago, with much having changed since

Key points on Founders Metals Inc

  • Rule calls having two majors (B2Gold and Gold Fields) as shareholders of an exploration-stage company 'excellent' for shareholders
  • He outlines three benefits: (1) 'adult supervision' plus free technical expertise lent from the majors, (2) tighter effective float making shares more volatile both ways, and (3) competitive auction tension if a discovery is made rather than a one-bidder process
  • Rule notes exploration in Suriname is unusually expensive — helicopter-supported, tropical rainfall environment — implying ongoing capital needs
  • He does not own Founders but has high regard for the people at both B2 and Gold Fields

Jason Simpson's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule has not yet spoken with Equinox Gold about Jason Simpson's transition to CEO and flags it as something he needs to do
  • Implies Simpson's appointment is material enough to warrant a strategy conversation before Rule reassesses the stock

Clive Johnson's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule describes Clive Johnson as a 'unique human being' whose ability to quietly resolve political disputes (Mali, Philippines under Duterte, Russia) is unlikely to be matched by conventional successor managers
  • Clive chose to step down only after putting the troubled Canadian project (Goose) on track — Rule sees this as Clive successfully handing off a turn-around
  • Rule's B2Gold bull case is anchored to Goose hitting nameplate capacity, replicating the share recovery Equinox saw after clearing its past-due/over-budget Canadian build

Mark Carney's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule frames PM Carney as publicly anti-fossil-fuels and anti-carbon with an aggressive spending agenda, but cautiously optimistic he will still facilitate Canadian gas exports to BC LNG terminals given Canada's economic dependence on oil and gas
  • Rule reads Carney's background as a former banker as a reason he will ultimately side with Canadian hydrocarbon interests

Rick Rule's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule argues the recent yen intervention by the US (printing dollars to lend Japan yen to avoid JGB sales) is monetarily inflationary and lowers the probability of gold revisiting $3,500-$3,600 — he is moving more cash into bullion and is frustrated by US SAR rules that flag legitimate cash-for-gold transactions
  • On lithium, Rule is cautious, arguing the 'shortage' was actually a processing-capacity bottleneck (SQM had 85 years of reserves), and now direct lithium extraction by Exxon/Chevron/Occidental/Berkshire-owned Mid America Power threatens hard-rock producers
  • On copper, Rule is structurally bullish long-term but says the sector has 'overrewarded' him in 2026 and the tier-two names have already run 12-20% in two weeks — he flags Freeport as still undervalued on a pipeline-relative basis
  • On uranium, Rule sees the current pullback as a buying opportunity driven by sentiment, not fundamentals, and only adds on down days, holding Cameco, NexGen and peers without an interest in selling near current prices

Steve Barton's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Barton shares a real-time ATM anecdote from Japan illustrating the dollar/yen intervention (164 yen/$ then 157 yen/$) that Rule later explains structurally
  • He prompts Rule with the Joe Mazumdar symposium question on whether big miners will buy developers over juniors, the Agnico Q2 portfolio-sale follow-up, and the Cameco/Westinghouse reaction — framing the macro and M&A throughline of the Q&A

Ammar Al-Jundi's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Cited by Rule as Agnico Eagle's CEO who, at the Natural Resources Investment Symposium, corrected Rule's orphan-deposit thesis: Abitibi infrastructure is now dense enough that smaller deposits do not need standalone mills — producers with regional mills can truck ore in
  • Ammar's view is the trigger for Rule adding Emperor Metals to his own account

Ross Beatty's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule characterizes Ross Beatty's retirement as seasonal — paddling, gardening, and frontier canoeing June through September, then back to 14-hour days by October
  • Rule predicts Ross will contribute almost nothing to Equinox (or any economic matter) for the rest of the summer, then return at full intensity in October
  • The framing is based on Rule knowing Ross personally for 50 years; Ross is identified as the founder of Pan American Silver and Equinox Gold and Chairman of Lumina Metals