Speaker 1The following interview is sponsored by PTX Metals. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment decision. This is the Commodity Culture Podcast, where we interview prominent investors, fund managers, analysts, and company CEOs to give you an edge when it comes to investing in the commodity space. Hello, everybody. Welcome into Commodity Culture. I'm Jesse Day, and today is October 6, 2026. My guest is the CEO of PTX Metals, a mineral exploration company focused on high-quality critical minerals projects situated in Northern Ontario. We're going to be diving into gold, platinum, brute metals, nickel, and copper, as well as the latest developments at PTX Metals. It's Greg Farron. Great to have you on the show.
Speaker 2Hey, Jesse. Good morning, and pleasure meeting you. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1Yes, happy to have you. I want to start by discussing the copper market, because it's been very exciting times for the metal here in 2026. It just clocked a new all-time high of around $6.93 a pound just a couple of weeks ago. Do you think we're still in the early stages of this copper bull market, and what are the main catalysts that you see currently driving the sector?
Speaker 2Yeah, no, I agree. A very interesting time for the copper market. Yeah. And, you know, in particular, very interesting for exploration development companies, you know, with projects, right, in good jurisdictions in particular. And in terms of the copper market, I agree with you. I think it's a fairly early stage in the process here. I think, like a lot of metals, things were undervalued, and they've kind of caught up to maybe where the basic level should be, you know, gold, silver, copper. That's the case with all of them, so there is a lot of potential upside. from here. And how I look at the copper market and most metals in particular, you have to look at the supply side first, and I think we all know the copper market is stressed on the supply side. You've got, you know, the shrinking asset quality, lower copper grades, much older equipment, and so the mine life may be sufficient now, but as you know, if you look out five years, ten years, that's the big challenge, right? So as an investor, you've got to get comfortable with the current price. It's trading at around $7 U.S. It's had a decent move. It's up about 100%, as you know, over the past three years. I can't really predict the future. I do think in a year from now, two years from now, it's going to be certainly higher. I think there'll probably be some volatility along the way, but it's ultimately, you know, trending higher. So as an investor, I'm comfortable, and most investors should be comfortable with the current price, notwithstanding some volatility. And, you know, you look at the, there's a long history of demand, and you know that's not going away. There's very little replacement opportunities in the copper sector, and then you've also got a demand that I don't think will diminish even in a recession, if you look at, you know, the use of the copper, right? So then you've got a strong growth path when you look at AI, when you look at updating the power grids, EV vehicles, you know, the growth of the population around the world, industrialization in a lot of countries is still happening. I think those things aren't going to get slowed down. I don't think anyone's going to bet against that. So I think it is a very nice backdrop for the copper market, and I'm, you know, comfortable as an investor, and most investors should be comfortable at the current price, and I think that positions, you know, buying into producers or developers, and ultimately the big companies like BHB and tech and the copper traders will dictate the price, right? If they want to have a $10 copper to finance. New production that we need in five years, 10 years, that's what's going to happen.
Speaker 1Great summary. What about the gold space? How are you thinking about that right now? Because obviously new all-time highs earlier in the year, we all know the story, the tailwinds behind the sector looking incredibly strong. However, we've experienced quite a drawdown since those highs with gold falling from around that high of 5,400 all the way down to around 4,150 where we sit today. Is this just a natural drawdown after such a dramatic move? Or do you think some caution is warranted here of potential further downside ahead?
Speaker 2Yeah, I agree with you, Jesse. I think it's just a natural drawdown, you know, very similar as the copper market. We all know the supply side is constrained on gold. There is a larger recycling secondary market compared to copper. But I think, you know, jewelry, I think most people realize that the price of gold is stable. The profile of gold has increased as well. So I don't think you have any risk of having a significant amount of supply coming to you. So again, it's all about demand. And like copper and other commodities, I think the prices were really depressed, held back for different reasons. And now we're trading at prices that are more reasonable. So again, as an investor in the gold space, I think you should be comfortable buying gold bullion, buying gold producers, buying explorers and developers in a good jurisdiction at this current price, I think is quite attractive. And then you've got all the upside, right? I mean, just look at the, you know, the demand side. You've got investment demand is coming in. I don't see a lot of downside on the gold price. Again, of course, you've got some potential fluctuations, you know, maybe a big debt crisis could move a lot of liquidity from the equity markets. And then the big thing I look at in the gold sector is it's an investment thesis with the central banks buying it, with investors buying it. You know, what are your alternatives, bonds, cash, you know, not attractive. Obviously, so that works in gold's favor equities, you know, very attractive market as well. That should have continued growth going forward. But again, it's, you know, volatility, it's expensive. And then you look at alternative assets, say real estate, people have realized that, you know, there's only this limited amount of upside at this point. So I think gold is really well positioned for investors.
Speaker 1Yes. And the CIO of Morgan Stanley coming out not too long ago and advocating for a 60-20 portfolio, that's 60% stocks. 20% bonds and 20% gold. I think we're seeing the tide start to turn a little bit when it comes to institutional investors, some of the big name value investors kind of throwing their weight into the sector as well. So very fascinating times for the gold market. Let's discuss nickel because this is a metal that flies under the radar for a lot of investors, but has a very compelling setup in my view. Can you walk us through the tailwinds that you see driving nickel and how you think the market will play out up ahead?
Speaker 2Well, nickel is quite a small market, as you know, compared to the first two we talked about, copper, gold, and at PTX, you know, where we are focused on W2 as a copper story, although the interesting part we'll get into later is there is a nickel sulfide component to it. So I think for nickel investors, yeah, you've got to focus on, because as you know, the supply scenario was quite different in the nickel market. There's a lot of supply available in Indonesia, and you're kind of betting on the fact that, you know, there's a lot of supply available in Indonesia, and you're kind of betting on the fact that something may happen, like in the uranium sector where some of the big, big producers of uranium, Kazakhstan, for example, Cameco, had to ultimately control the supply. I don't know if that's going to happen in Indonesia. So you've got to really focus on other metals in my view, because nickel isn't being driven by the EV market like other commodities. It's more of a stainless steel market, as you're aware. So anyways, yeah, I think again, you've just got to focus on maybe investing in nickel as a byproduct to other mines, like copper, as opposed to a pure nickel project play. But if you have a good nickel project in a good jurisdiction, nickel sulfide, somewhere like Ontario, Canada, yeah, that's certainly an investment opportunity worth looking at.
Speaker 1Platinum group metals. This is another area of the market that there's not a lot of light being shined on at present. Platinum looked like it was really going to run. It's pulled back a bit since it was going on that perceived to be a bull run for that metal. Do you see the platinum group metals as being in an upward trend at the moment in the long term? And I'd love to get your take on the investment thesis here behind the platinum group metals.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, I'd be bullish on the PGE market, very much like copper gold. It's got its own challenges on the supply side, as you know. A lot of production out of two jurisdictions, South Africa, Russia, you know, very old production. It doesn't necessarily have the bullish sort of new demand like copper does. It does to a degree. I think the one interesting thing about the platinum-pladium market is right now platinum is much higher than palladium, and I know they can substitute for each other. And then you'll see palladium price move back up. And so anyways, I'm not an expert on it. I'm not an expert on the PGE market. I do know we have a lot of PGEs at W2, but again, it's a byproduct. So yeah, I'm bullish on the PGE market because there's not a lot of pure production in platinum-pladium outside of those two jurisdictions. And then there is an investment case for platinum, as you know, and then there is the combustion engine, the EV. It seems like the hybrid vehicle is becoming the way to go. So you're still going to see that. So yeah, I'm not an expert on the PGE market.
Speaker 1use case for catalytic converters up ahead. And you're right, so much of the supply is concentrated in Russia and South Africa, very hard to get exposure to that metal through a miner. There's a few of them, but not many. And speaking of miners, let's now discuss PTX Metals and how you fit into the picture when it comes to all of the metals we've been discussing today. Why don't you start by giving us an overview of the company and some insight into your long-term strategy?
Speaker 2Sounds good. Yeah. So, as you mentioned at the beginning, we're focused in Ontario. And as you know, Ontario is the second best jurisdiction globally for mining. That's from the Fraser Institute survey. And regardless of where it ranks, it's certainly a top jurisdiction. And I'd like to say that we are in two of the three top geological structures in Ontario, arguably in Canada. We're in the Ring of Fire, where our copper project is, and then our gold asset is in the Abitibi, which, as you know, is the third largest. And we're in the Ring of Fire, where our copper project is, and then our gold asset is in the Abitibi, which, as you know, is the third largest gold-producing region in the world. And then, of course, we've also got Sunbury as well, another prolific copper-nickel camp that we're not in. But we're in those two jurisdictions. And, you know, what I like to tell investors is it's an ideal time to look at PTX. We trade, we're a fairly liquid stock on the venture exchange, as well as in the U.S. under the symbol PANXF. And we've been de-risking two very good quality assets, our copper asset, in the north. The one thing we really like about it is it's got the multi-metal, the ultramafix system. So you have copper, PGEs, gold, and nickel potential. It's a very significant strike length in terms of strike length over 90 kilometers, of which eight kilometers has been drilled off by two very good past Canadian operators. So we have a lot of historical investment put in the project. And we've been de-risking it. We've been updating all the geophysics. We've been putting together a big project. We've been putting together a big resource on it. We've been working with the communities quite closely. And now we're at the point where we're going to unlock a lot of that undervalued potential through exploration, and then ultimately M&A. And the same thing with our gold asset. It's a bit earlier stage, but it's in a very prolific gold camp, the Abitibi. We're on the ride-out deformation zone, probably the least explored of the three big structures in the Timmins camp. And we've been de-risking that project. You know, it's a huge land position again. We're going to unlock a lot of that undervalued potential through exploration. And I think now at the point where we're going to unlock a lot of potential through exploration, that's the focus now. And longer term, yeah, you know, M&A is always an option. And I can get into the specific strategies for each project a little bit later on in the discussion.
Speaker 1Sure, let's do that. Before we do, could you shed some light on the team behind PTX Metals, how you plan to leverage their expertise, starting with yourself and your own background in the industry?
Speaker 2Okay, yeah. So, I mean, my background's in finance. I've always been involved in financing mining projects based in Toronto. And also, I've got a lot of experience on the mining side, mainly in Ontario and other jurisdictions as well. I've worked in the U.S., Australia, South America. And yeah, so my expertise really has been, you know, putting this portfolio together, you know, dealing with a lot of issues. We didn't own the main deposit, you know, getting the community support, getting the right technical team in place, and getting that initial capital. And so, you know, I've been involved in a lot of to unlock the hidden value, and that's where we're at today. And we've recently brought on a new vice president of exploration. He's a doctor. He's got a lot of experience with these porphyry systems, a lot of experience with gold projects as well, processing, resource modeling. So, really starting to increase the expertise that we need now to take it from sort of, you know, a junior company, assembling the portfolio, now bringing it, you know, through resource and into feasibility and unlocking all that value. So, and I really think he's going to do a great job, Dr. Walker, in sort of working with the really good younger team I put together in all facets of it, you know, metallurgy, resource modeling, guys in the field. So, I think that's going to be a big success. And then if you look at our board as well, you know, for a small market cap company, we've got a lot of great expertise in terms of, you know, portfolio managers in different parts of Canada. We've got a lot of CEOs that work in the industry. We've got a lot of individuals that have a lot of good governance, M&A experience. We have individuals that worked at Valet. They've been involved in working with companies like Alamos, for example, IAM Gold, you know, all kinds of different expertise on our board as well.
Speaker 1Great. Well, let's now dive into the drill campaign you've got going on. You had an active drill campaign at the W2 Project. Walk us through those details and what you're hoping to accomplish with this drill program.
Speaker 2Yeah, sure. So, as mentioned at W2, you know, we've been de-risking that project. We bought the main deposit. We put together an exploration target. So, that is all the historical drilling by two past producers did. They both got acquired and we put it back together in the last few years. That came out with about 2.3 billion pounds copper equivalent. That's a 43-101 on our website. Keep in mind that doesn't take into account recoveries. It's just, you know, your basic kind of like an inferred type resource. So, what we're doing, is we're going out and drilling that to make it a compliant 43-101. So, we're focusing on the CA1, CA2 zone or inco-drilled and getting that into hopefully a measured category resource and starting to think about putting some economics around it because we've also done the metallurgy, which came out quite favorable. We had very strong copper recoveries, 97% recoveries with a 28% grade and very strong byproducts of palladium and gold. And I'll get into that in a minute. The plans for the nickel sulfides, as we get more drilling done, we're then going to start looking at putting together a separate nickel concentrate, trying to determine where the cutoff is in terms of what grade you need to make it economic. Because as you know, nickel sulfides under a certain grade are not going to be able to be mined economically. And then the other big interesting thing about W2 is, you know, we believe there's a significant expansion potential. So, that's why I don't think this company should be rushing into doing a feasibility. I think what we want to do is, as the camp is being developed by the Ontario and federal government, they're putting a lot of infrastructure. I believe that's going to bring in a lot of capital. A lot more producers will come into the region. I think we should focus on expanding the deposit as well. So, what we're also looking to do is expand that CA1, CA2 zone. And as well, we believe that whole open pit and mineralization at surface, over eight kilometers, we can continue to fill in a number of other areas of the project. And then, in addition, these are ultramafic systems. So, they're layered intrusions. And every hole, you hit disseminated sulfide. So, the copper, the PGEs, and the nickel is disseminated within the sulfide. But you also get massive sulfides in every hole. Sometimes it's a few meters. Sometimes it's 20 meters. Sometimes it's 50 meters. So, we believe we found a higher grade zone at depth. So, we're going to start testing some of the higher grade zones to see if we can do that. So, we're going to start testing some of these zones to see if there is, in fact, a higher grade layer below it. Or just how does the, you know, why do you see massive sulfides in every drill hole? Like, where is there a zone of massive sulfides? So, those are the three things that we're focusing on W2. And then, our gold project, Shining, Trehean, and Mallard, they're a bit earlier stage. But they're in a very prolific camp. As mentioned, you've got Ion Gold's Cotain mine on one side. You've got the Juby deposit on the other side. These are, you know, significant deposits. And we own about a 300-square-kilometer land position between it. And then, we're going to start testing some of the higher grade It's highly prolific for gold. And we have kind of a two-prong strategy in the central area. We believe we're continuing to develop sort of a bulk tonnage, lower grade area in the central area. So, we're looking to expand that. I think we've now found about eight different zones. Some of it was historical operators. And we've drilled Herrick, Caswell, and now Rhonda. And we'll announce those results shortly. And then, more importantly, up in the deformation zone, we own a huge chunk of that mine. And it's been underexplored. No one's ever worked up there. And we've, you know, with logging companies sort of putting in roads, opening up that area, we've finally been able to start doing, you know, the typical Canadian grassroots exploration. So, we've done all the magnetic surveys. Now, we're doing the soil sampling, the sampling. And then, we'll start doing some stripping and drilling. And I think we'll find some very interesting gold and copper mineralization at this project.
Speaker 1Great. And very exciting times, obviously, for the company. Why don't I open the floor to you to end things? And have you let us know anything else that we haven't yet touched on? Anything that you think it's important to emphasize to potential shareholders of PTX Metals?
Speaker 2Well, yeah. I mean, I think we're really well positioned right now because, as mentioned, we're really focusing on the exploration now. We've kind of done the de-risking. We've done the building. We've put in the team, as we discussed. And now, it's about delivering good exploration results. I think there's a the two camps we're in. You know, we could be looking to expand our positions. We could look on lock value, both through exploration and M&A. And, you know, I still view both the projects as flagship. It's nice having two, you know, very high-quality projects in one company. Eventually, we probably will want to focus on one of them. I guess other hidden value, well, we've got a very There is a bit of a transition in the market. You're always seeing kind of new shareholders coming in, other shareholders leaving. Our financing whole period came off two months ago. So there's always a bit of churn when that happens. So there seems to be a lot of liquidity picking back up. So that's a bit of a focus we're on right now. We also have 19 million shares of a uranium company that just began trading. It's called Dream Canada Uranium Corp. It's on the TSX Venture Exchange. And we've sort of a spin out so we could focus on our Ontario portfolio. As you can see, there's already a lot in the company. And that has made it an early stage discovery in the Athabasca Basin. So I think that's one for the market to watch because those are very valuable projects, albeit from a risk perspective, it is early stage. So we need to continue sort of stepping out and drilling that depth. But making the discovery in the basin, finding the right rocks of uranium mineralization is quite strategic. And these are deep projects, as you know, if you think about next gen, for example. You know, they're deep, you're really drilling down 800 meters. So that's quite exciting and having a big position of that. So we could potentially monetize that to fund our operations, or we could distribute those shares. So we'll make that decision in the future. Yeah, and then, yeah, I mean, I think the other thing just to quickly talk about is just Ontario. I mean, there's a lot of, it's a great jurisdiction, you're seeing a lot of improvements in the federal and provincial government, supporting the sector, reducing permitting tax, and so on. So I think that's one of the things that we need to do. Attracting investment globally, you know, making sure that all the participants, you know, including the First Nations, which I spend a lot of time working with and have a good relationship with them, you know, making sure they're involved in the services and the equity ownership. I think, you know, that's very important. And I think that really benefits companies with projects like this in Ontario, because I think they're doing the right things to make it an even better jurisdiction. And that'll ultimately lead to, you know, more discoveries, you know, more investment in the sector, and more M&A.
Speaker 1Great. Well, I'm going to put a link in the description below to the PTX Metals website, as well as social media for people who want to follow along with the company. Greg, great having you on the show. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2Yeah, thanks, Jesse. Take care of yourself. All the best.
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