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Teo Dechev, CEO of Mundoro Capital | Rule Symposium 2026: Rick Rule interviews

Rule Investment Media May 13, 2026

Summary

Prospect generators (junior explorers whose partners fund the drilling) deliver roughly ten times the exploration spending without diluting shareholders.

Mundoro spent $3 million on exploration over four years while partners funded $35 million, on roughly $5 million raised in a decade.

Porphyry deposits (giant copper systems) host about 70% of world copper output, which is why majors hunt billion-tonne resources.

BHP in Serbia and JOGMEC in Bulgaria currently fund Mundoro's programs, following past partnerships with Vale, Freeport, First Quantum, and Kinross.

Rick Rule reports about 30% of his 70 prospect generator investments made economic discoveries, far above typical exploration success rates.

Key points on Kinross Gold

  • Dechev names Kinross as another past Mundoro partner in Serbia, in a list of companies she says all sought large porphyry copper systems.

Rick Rule's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Rule argues prospect generators are the most efficient way to finance exploration: across about 70 public prospect generators he has backed over 35 years, he counts 23 economic discoveries, an almost 30% success rate he says is three standard deviations above the TSX Venture Exchange median.
  • He argues prospect generator shareholders effectively get majors' technical teams for free, citing BHP and Rio Tinto's roughly 150 earth scientists, and that partners do the due diligence and pay the generator rather than charging it.
  • He highlights Mundoro as cash flow positive most years, which he reads as a sub-zero cost of capital, and points to its spending discipline.
  • He promotes the 2026 Natural Resources Investment Symposium in Boca Raton on July 6-10, saying every public company exhibitor is owned in the sponsors' accounts and attendance carries a money-back guarantee.

Teo Dechev's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Dechev's core argument is that a working prospect generator lets partners do the heavy spending: over the last four years about $35 million of partner money went into the ground versus about $3 million of Mundoro's own spend, with only about $5 million raised in a decade, keeping dilution low.
  • She argues copper investors must be in porphyries, which she says produce about 70% of the world's copper, and that majors need billion-tonne resources to reach 500,000 t to over 1 Mt of annual copper output, which is why Mundoro targets mega-system belts in Eastern Europe and Arizona.
  • As of May 2026 she frames the finances as about C$5.5 million in cash, $1.6 million of budgeted revenue this year rising toward $2 million as programs build through the December 2026 budget year, and a roughly $1.2 million annual G&A run rate.
  • She presents the partner roster as evidence the ground is valued: BHP now covers Mundoro's entire Serbian land package under five agreements, JOGMEC is exploring copper with the company in Bulgaria, and Vale, Freeport, First Quantum and Kinross were past partners.
  • She describes herself as a large Mundoro shareholder focused on making every dollar spent create value, and says the company needs no new capital over the next 12 months, with more partner drilling seen as the route to shareholder returns.