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This Metal Is More Critical Than Gold & Silver | Oceanic Iron Ore

Liberty and Finance Jun 15, 2026

Summary

Existing iron ore mines are depleting their high-grade reserves, and the guest argues scarcity of high-purity product will command a premium.

Green steel (steel made using high-purity iron ore or low-impurity scrap) needs feed that only a few regions, including Quebec and Brazil, can supply.

The iron ore business is as much a logistics business as a mining one, with roughly half of all-in costs sitting in transportation.

Oceanic Iron Ore sits 25 kilometers from tidewater with no rail requirement, avoiding the $25-$40 per ton rail costs peers in Quebec carry.

A pre-feasibility study due this fall and a potential strategic offtake partner are the near-term catalysts management points to for a re-rating.

Key points on Artemis Gold

  • Chris Batalha says the same team behind Oceanic started Artemis Gold in 2019 with about $30 million in cash and acquired the Blackwater asset in central British Columbia, growing it to a market cap he puts at $7-8 billion as of mid-2026.
  • He notes Artemis currently operates at a cost in the lowest quartile of the industry, a low-cost hallmark he says carries over to the Oceanic project.
  • He says that once Artemis completes its phase two expansion in about two years, it will be the second or third largest gold mine in Canada.
  • He points out that both Artemis and Atlantic Gold were built on time in first-class Canadian jurisdictions.

Dunagun Kaiser's takeaways

  • Top takeaway As host, Dunagun Kaiser frames iron as a new topic for his precious-metals-focused audience and presses Batalha on why iron matters now and on the management track record behind Oceanic, invoking Rick Rule's saying about good people running moderate rocks.
  • He draws on his manufacturing engineering background to highlight the logistical and energy-cost challenges of the iron ore supply chain for viewers.

Chris Batalha's takeaways

  • Top takeaway Chris Batalha argues that continuing depletion of high-grade reserves at existing iron ore mines, with India already down to low-grade material, is creating medium-term scarcity of high-purity iron ore that feeds the green steel movement and will command a premium.
  • He contends the Simandou ramp-up in Guinea, at 100-120 million tons per annum, will merely replace ongoing global depletion rather than glut the market, so scarcity should push prices higher.
  • He claims Oceanic's core edge is logistics: being 25 kilometers from tidewater with no rail requirement, in a first-tier Quebec jurisdiction with an LOI from the local community, versus peers facing 300-700 kilometers of rail.
  • He lays out near-term catalysts: a pre-feasibility study in Q4 2026, a feasibility study and permitting the following year, and a possible strategic partner with exclusive offtake, and says he hopes for a re-rating from about 0.1 times NAV toward 0.3-0.5 within six to twelve months.
  • He stresses the team's track record building and selling Atlantic Gold for $800 million and growing Artemis Gold to a $7-8 billion market cap, saying 'we're builders and we are operators.'