Transcription
Dinga Cambodia, here on the road for the Dingala Cambon show. We are presently at the Rick Rule Symposium. Uh, joined today by Colin Catel. He is the founder and CEO of Palisades Gold. Uh, they are one of the largest uh financiers in the mining sector right now, actively looking at the junior mining space. We're going to learn more about the company. Uh, Colin, thank you so much for being with us and for being our main sponsor, for making it possible uh for us to be here and bring incredible content to all our viewers globally. Thank you.
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me on. I'm really looking forward to having a conversation with you.
Colin, first and foremost, I mean, the fact that, you know, Rick handpicked you to attend a show, I mean, he does incredible due diligence. There's so many companies that want to present. So that that's just a testament to to what you've been building here at Palisades Gold. Now, your story is different than a traditional miner. So for our audience, in a, you know, in a nutshell, can you explain uh the company here?
Yeah, for sure. So I was actually on the phone with Rick, I think, three or four months ago. Yeah. He's been a great mentor of mine for some years, and I had not spoken to him about Palisades and what we were up to because we've been really doing things in a stealthy mode the last year.
But you've known each other for a decade, right? Sorry. I uh, I actually just gave a presentation this morning and put up a screenshot of an interview that I did with him back in 2013, and I told the story. I remember I was very nervous, and uh, he said, "Colin, just uh, take a deep breath, and you're going to do great." Sounds and the rest is history. So he's such a great mentor to young people in the space. Uh, but he heard what we were doing with Palisades, and he graciously invited us, which I said, "I will absolutely come to the show."
So how did the, how did it come about? I mean, I know you grew up in in a mining family. Your your father was was was involved in in the space. Uh, but how did you decide to put this together and why now?
Yeah, my my father was uh deeply involved in the space from about 2002 to 2012, and I saw him do very well, and then he also uh did very poorly during the bare market period. But that was really the best thing that ever happened to me because I had to go out and do it on my own. Um, and so I started Palisades. We were a private company at first. We were doing some consulting and IR. Uh, I never really enjoyed that that much because I was telling other people's stories, but it allowed us to build up a capital base. Uh, then we started companies actively. We started picking up ground in 2015 and 2016 in what became New Found Gold, Nevada King Gold, Earth Labs spun out of that, which is Gold Spot.
Um, and Made in America Gold. So all this umbrella of companies started there, and the big breakthrough was uh when New Found Gold hit the discovery hole in 2019, and it really changed the trajectory of what I was working on. So fast forward, I uh, I managed New Found Gold for four years while it was public, learned a lot, had a lot of fun during the discovery, but it was time to pass it on to mine builders and uh get up that second leg of the land curve that they're working on now. And that allowed me to focus back on Palisades, which is my real passion. And um, happy to talk about what we're working on the last couple years, but it's getting very exciting.
Well, right, because your company basically, you know, allows diversification in the mining space. So, basically, let's go over some of uh your most notable positions. Uh, you have 6.6 ownership in our Frank Gustra's uh copper giant. We've had them on the show. Uh, six and a.7% ownership in Eric Sprattz and First Majestic Silver. Um, you know, many other positions here. Um, how do you decide who you want to add to your portfolio here?
So starting back in early 2024, uh, we felt that a bull market was starting, and Frank Guster, for example, on your interviews, has been very vocal about this. There's not money coming into the junior space yet, but that is going to start. And so in 2024, even though gold was going up 50, 60% already, there was very little competition for capital in the space, which is a space we deeply uh believe in and value. So what we did is we started writing checks into various names. Um, and we've actually invested to the tune of 330 companies that we hold in the portfolio.
Um, and what we essentially did is we decided to focus on long-dated warrants uh that would allow us to get exposure to high-quality teams, high-quality projects. And so as you mentioned, uh, you know, Frank's Copper Giant, we own 6.6% of on a partially diluted basis. Silver Storm, uh, Serge Battery Metals, Talisker, uh, Southern Silver, some really high-quality names that frankly, uh, if somebody showed up today and said, "Daniel, we're going to go pick up warrants and build a portfolio," you can't do it anymore because those companies are now financing without warrants. Uh, the cycle is more developed, more competition has entered.
And different exposure across metals. It's not just gold, silver, it's critical minerals.
Yeah, a gamut of diversification here. I would say our portfolio is generally representative of the uh TSX Venture Exchange. So there is a lot of gold and a lot of silver. Those are the two dominant ones. But then copper, lithium, critical metals, oil and gas.
So are you looking to, you know, with 330, are you, you know, saying this is it, or are you still looking to add more?
We're we're still active. I put up some charts this morning, and uh, they what they show is that we got most active in Q3 and Q4 of 2025 and Q1 of 2026. Since then, we've really petered off, and um, the reason is we've seen a deterioration in the quality of the unit financings, which is reflective of the fact that we're in a bull market finally. Um, so we're just not seeing as much juice to squeeze, and uh, we feel that with having 1.7 billion warrants now, >> it's time to partially sit back and let the portfolio blossom.
So for folks who are new to to warrants, right? When you say the power of 1.7 billion warrants, I mean, what does that, what does that mean?
So this is something that my my dad was a very high IQ individual and very uh into math. And so when I was at a young age, he obsessed over warrants in junior mining. He thought that they were uh a tool that one could use to really get a lot of leverage and an upside move. So he uh beat that into my head as at a young age. And then I saw people like Rick Rule also talking about it. So in my mind, I always thought I really want to focus on getting the upside of a warrant. Uh, just for any of your viewers that aren't fully in the know on on how a warrant works, there's two ways really to participate in a company. One, you can go and buy the shares in the public market. The other way is you can write a check directly to the company if they're raising money and get a unit. Uh, and a unit includes a share and a warrant. The share you can sell if you want, or you can keep it. And the warrant is good for however long the duration of the warrant is. Uh, Rick says it best when he says, "A warrant is an option, but not an obligation to buy another share for a set period of time."
Very simply, if you participate, let's use Copper Giant as an example.
Perfect.
Uh, I don't have the exact number in my head, but let's say that we participated at 20 cents and we got a full three-year warrant at 28. I believe that's accurate. Uh, we might have sold the shares around 20 cents. The stock's now at 70 cents. So the warrants are 50 cents in the money and growing, and we have another two and a half years to decide. Are we going to exercise those and hold the position, or at some point in the next two and a half years, do we think the stock's overvalued and potentially sell it and take the money fully out of the trade?
Interesting. Why are you surprised there's not more people doing this model?
Absolutely flabbergasted. Um, I think that there's a stigma attached in the industry uh to warrants. Ideally, uh, a company wants to be able to issue without a warrant.
They want to go straight share and they want an investor that is going to own the shares long term.
Yep.
But the fact of the matter is, warrants are there because it's a very risky business and capital is not always there. So, uh, we were able to fill a niche that we were very excited to fill. And for 2024 and 2025, we would wake up every day and tell each other, "Can you believe the opportunities we're still seeing even though gold's now at $3,000 or $3,500 an ounce?" We just knew that this was the trade of a lifetime. Like, it was so obvious.
Well, you know, let's let's talk about the gold presence. You've been in the industry so long. I mean, uh, what do you make of, you know, from last year to today? You know, we're trading around 4,000. And I know a lot of people want to see those January highs again, and I'm I'm confident we will get back to that. But just overall, the price action we have seen year to date in gold.
Well, it doesn't feel good. And um, I I joke with um.
It doesn't feel good.
No. Well, the the January till where we are now doesn't feel good. Okay. Sorry if I didn't line up correctly there. Um, you know, the past few months in particular have been a pretty steep pullback, but I I showed a chart today, and uh, this I I think it's so important to look at the objective data.
Instead of how you feel, because in a bull market, you can still feel horrible 90% of the time and make a lot of money.
That's that's true.
So the chart we showed is that up until August of last year, so 11 months ago, uh, our warrants were intrinsic value between zero and 5 million, nothing. Um, and then that move started, the first inning of the game, and our warrants went to $130 million of intrinsic value. Since then, it's pulled back obviously because we've been in this pullback, but we're at $60 million today. So, you know, you look at from August till today, we're up from $2.5 to $60 million, but you know, it's feels rotten. So, how does that work?
But we'll get back. We'll get back. That's that's what all the experts say. You know, most people I speak to, you know, are saying, you know, we'll easily get to 6,000 at year end. How do you feel about that?
You know, I I I think that probably could happen. Um, what I feel more confident in >> pontificating on is that the juniors >> have not really played yet. And even one could argue that the miners haven't played. And I know a lot of people have said this, so I'm not saying anything new, but a lot of what has driven the U move the last couple years has been central bank buying. That really poor decision, maybe of the Biden administration taking Russia's money from them, and then you've had this rush of capital going into uh from from the central banks buying gold. Well, central banks don't buy equities. So, you haven't seen uh the investor interest that is going to drive these stocks, but we started to get a taste of it late last year, and it was a lot of fun while it lasted.
While it lasted. Um, look, you you your your your goal is very clear. You want to become one of Canada's most active uh financiers, period. What are the next steps? You know, if I ask you a year from now, where would you like to be, Colin?
Yeah, I I think that uh if we look back, we're going to say during 2025 and 2024, we were the most active financier aside from maybe an Eric Spratt. I'm not sure how active we're going to continue to be doing private placements at least moving forward because we just don't see um, you know, the same opportunities where we want to go. We've always been a company that's been built by shareholders for shareholders, and we're here to make money. Um, I haven't touched on it yet, but there's 45% insider ownership of the company. We've returned $75 million to shareholders over the last four years. We haven't diluted a single time since we've been public, except to increase the position of our second largest shareholder. Um, so we're all we're all about making money, and if an opportunity comes up again where we see the ability to participate in more financings, we will. But I think what's going to happen over the next few months is we're going to let the portfolio really start to take hold.
Does 1.7 billion warrants take off and see >> yeah, is this going to become worth uh X Y or Z?
So what would you like, you know, the people at home to know? I mean, when when they're looking at, you know, buying physical gold or, you know, certain mining companies, why should they pay attention to to Palisades Gold and add that to their portfolio?
Yeah, I think it's important to come back to what Palisades has always been, which is an active company builder. Uh, we're a competent group that has a good eye for things. We started New Found Gold. Uh, now within the portfolio, we have 90% of Made in America Gold, which is a portfolio I've been building for 10 years.
It's a good name.
Thank you. It's the my favorite name we've come up with. Uh, we're the largest junior landholder in the United States of America, and we're entirely in the Battle Mountain trend, which is the most prolific gold trend in North America. Uh, we have 100% of Radio Fuels, which owns 100 million pound uranium uh and rare earth project up in Ontario. Uh, and then we also have the the warrants that we're getting very active talking about. So I think what it offers is it's a one-stop shop where investors are quite literally playing alongside uh myself managing it, and I own 22% of the company. It's my largest position. So.
Okay.
I would love.
So you're in it. You're in it to win it. Um, uh, Colin, finally, um, what was the best piece of advice do you think your dad gave you?
Oh, boy, put me on the spot. The one thing in business that I've taken the furthest is, uh, every night for a couple years, I remember going on an hour-long walk with him when he would come in the door during that bull market and tell me, "I made $100,000 today. I made a quarter million today." And he would explain to me a warrant. And I'll tell you, Daniel, it took me like a year for my adolescent brain to understand what a warrant was. But because he beat that into me, I think that's going to be uh.
So by the time you were 18, you were like, you were a warrant genius.
A warrant genius. Yeah.
Yeah. That's awesome. Fantastic. Well, I wish you continued success. It's a great story, and uh, yeah, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of you.
And like I said, the fact that, you know, Rick Rule gave you his endorsement says a lot. So I I I urge everyone to check out uh Palisades Gold. Thank you, Colin.
Absolutely. And I'm always available. Colin, C O L I N at Palisades.ca CA if you'd like to email me directly.
Wow, there's not many CEOs who who share their their private emails. So that's awesome. All right, send your emails to Colin, and thank you all for watching. We'll have more great content brought to you. Thank you, Palisades Gold. And uh, we'll see you all very soon.