Nicola Mining's ($NICM | $NIM) Multi-Asset Strategy for Self-Funded Growth

Nordic Funds Jun 26, 2026

Summary

Nicola Mining plans to fund expansion, drilling, and acquisitions from Merritt Mill cashflow rather than raising new equity.

The Merritt Mill is British Columbia's only provincially permitted gold and silver mill, able to accept feed from anywhere in BC.

Small BC projects are stranded: few hold enough ounces to justify building a roughly $250 million mill on their own.

Management shelved Treasure Mountain in 2013 rather than mine at $12.50 per ounce costs, betting silver would return above $30.

Buying out seven owners in 2016 let New Craigmont restart copper drilling after a gap running from 1961 to 2015.

Talisker is named among the projects the BC Ministry of Mining introduced to Nicola, which he frames as prospective feed for the permitted Merritt Mill.

TOP: The guest argues Nicola's growth is self-funded — its own mill cash flow is meant to cover operations, exploration and acquisitions so the company does not have to raise capital; he cites zero debt, roughly $10m-plus in cash and about 220m shares outstanding.
The Merritt Mill, which he describes as the only BC mill permanently permitted to process gold and silver feed from anywhere in the province, is moving from 200 to 500 tonnes per day, with slides showing room to expand to 1,500 tonnes per day.
Mining at the Dominion Creek gold project is scheduled to start in July 2026 with milling in August; he calls it the highest-grade gold project he is aware of in Canada and puts summer mining margins as high as 60% because mine development is already sunk.
The Treasure Mountain silver mine is scheduled to reopen in August 2026 with mining within 12 months; the first stope holds about 400,000 oz of silver plus lead and zinc that he says cover operating costs, and he expects roughly $50m of revenue at very high margins.
He calls the New Craigmont copper project the company's flagship and the highest-grade copper mine in North American history, adjacent to Highland Valley; the most significant drill hole so far is still unreported, with results due in September 2026.

Top takeaway TOP: Espig argues Nicola's edge is structural rather than cyclical — a fully permitted mill with province-wide processing rights is the 'monetizing agent' that lets the company fund expansion, exploration and acquisitions from its own cash flow.
He maintains gold, silver and copper have found a new price base and says he does not expect them to come down, while stressing the company was deliberately built to stay profitable at low metal prices.
His strongest conviction is New Craigmont: he says the skarn is part of a porphyry system talking in billions of pounds of copper, and that the hole just drilled is the most significant the project has ever produced, with the news still under embargo.
On jurisdiction he contrasts British Columbia with places such as Peru, arguing permits are slower there but far more secure once granted, and pointing to the site's proximity to Pacific ports for shipping concentrate to Japan, Korea and China.
He lays out a milestone path from mid-2026 onward: mining start at Dominion Creek in July, Treasure Mountain restart in August, copper drill results in September and strong Q4 earnings, with 2027 exploration to be funded by that cash flow.