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Scott Berdahl, CEO of Snowline Gold | Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

Rule Investment Media Jun 4, 2026

Summary

Snowline Gold's Valley deposit holds 7.9 million measured and indicated ounces at 1.2 g/t (grams per ton) and remains open.

A surface starter pit of 2.9 million ounces at 2.3 g/t with a 0.1-to-1 strip ratio (waste moved per ore mined) anchors the economics.

The PEA (preliminary economic assessment) shows C$3.4 billion NPV (net present value) at C$2,150 gold against C$1.7 billion capex; spot prices imply roughly C$11.4 billion.

A C$2.5 billion market cap values Valley at about 0.2 times spot-price NPV, clearing Jonathan Goodman's minimum two-to-one NPV-to-capital standard.

Growth lies in new hotspots across the intrusion and at depth, while district infrastructure lowers the bar for future Yukon discoveries.

Key points on Snowline Gold Corp

  • Berdahl says the Valley PEA, with economics modeled on a $2,150 gold price, yields a C$3.4 billion NPV at construction start, and extrapolating the PEA model to spot prices implies about C$11.4 billion, against a market cap he puts near C$2.5 billion, about 0.2x, as of the June 2026 interview.
  • The most recent Valley resource, based on about 50,000 meters of drilling, holds 7.9 million ounces measured and indicated at 1.2 g/t plus 0.9 million ounces inferred, and the guest says the deposit remains open and still growing.
  • Berdahl points to a high-grade surface starter pit of 2.9 million ounces at 2.3 g/t with a 0.1-to-1 strip ratio including pre-strip, which he claims is the highest strip-adjusted grade of any pit, within a 1.1-to-1 life-of-mine strip ratio.
  • The PEA carries C$1.7 billion of capex, and Berdahl says the pre-feasibility study now underway may raise throughput because the PEA is likely undersized, which would add capital cost.
  • The site is reached by a long helicopter flight, but the guest notes it has a relatively short connection to the North American road network rather than a remote Arctic sea-access setup.

Scott Berdahl's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Berdahl argues Valley may not be the district's biggest or best deposit: mineralization is tied to a later granite phase, and Snowline is testing other hotspots on the eastern side of the intrusion and at depth, where a similar find 500 meters to a kilometer down would still be interesting.
  • He says tighter drill density no longer adds much value at Valley because the body is continuous and well understood, while step-outs mostly add later mine life at falling grades that a cash-flow model heavily discounts.
  • He frames Valley as proof of concept for the founding district-scale thesis across a roughly 80-by-100-kilometer data set in the Eastern Yukon, assembled from ground that came back when financiers pulled out after 2012.
  • He contends coming infrastructure such as a mill, power plant and road access lowers the bar for what counts as an economic find and changes what Snowline targets in the district.
  • He says his interest in shareholders is not altruistic: he owns a large stake in Snowline and is aligned with other holders in trying to drive value.

Rick Rule's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule discloses he owns Snowline stock and calls Valley, by his estimate, a spectacular discovery.
  • He applies Jonathan Goodman's minimum 2-to-1 NPV-to-capital test and judges that Snowline fits well within it at the gold prices and costs current at the time of the interview.

Jonathan Goodman's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule cites Goodman's teaching that a project's NPV should be at least twice its capital cost, and preferably three times.