Erik Wetterling – Record High Gold And Silver Prices Are Making The New Junior Producers And Advanced Developers Shine
Erik Wetterling, Founder and Editor of The Hedgeless Horseman website, joins me to review the opportunities he sees in some of the new smaller PM producers ramping up growing revenues at time of record margins and extremely high underlying metals prices. Additionally, he is seeing compelling value in some of the gold and silver developers expediting their process through the 2nd leg of the Lassonde Curve, on the pathway to construction and production in the next couple years.
We review the continued strange dichotomy between surging precious metals prices and the lagging reactions in many junior gold and silver stocks over the last couple years. Then we look ahead to why we may see more capital start rotating down into the PM junior stocks that are actively pursuing revenue growth as this year unfolds.
We start off discussing just how much more profitable even the small producers are today compared to what the mid-tier producers with much larger production profiles could have achieved in cashflows 6-8 years back.
- This current environment has taken what would be considered small tier 3 projects and mines and now turned them into cash cows for companies. By generating substantial revenues, instead of purely diluting through market financings, these junior companies can then fund further growth and development of their other projects.
- Erik points to new producers ramping up production like Talisker Resources, Blue Lagoon, and Kuya Silver as companies that are garnering attention on relatively small production profiles, because of just how profitable spot PM prices are for generating new revenues.
- We highlighted some of the junior resource companies that we’ve reviewed in prior discussions that blazed this similar path over the last couple of years like Integra Resources, Heliostar Metals, Discovery Silver, and Magna Mining. These companies have been solid case studies of this business pivot, through transforming their business models by going from developers to junior producers, and then they were positively rewarded by the marketplace.
With regards to the junior developers, he sees opportunities in the companies that are expediting their move through the 2nd leg of the Lassonde Curve.
- He mentions Amex Exploration, which is working towards trial mining a large bulk sample over the next year, to then fund going into toll-mining process for the first 4-5 years; before eventually building a larger plant and operations on site in a multi-phased mining approach. This is a way to self-fund at least a big part of their future growth through much lower initial capex moves into production.
- Scottie Resources is also taking a very similar approach and already has completed their bulk sample at the end of last year, bringing in non-dilutive capital and learning a lot through that real world trial mining process to apply to future economic studies and the move towards Direct Ship Ore production.
* In full disclosure, the companies mentioned by Erik in this interview, are positions held in his personal portfolio, and also may be site sponsors of The Hedgeless Horseman website at the time of this recording.
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The Precious Metals Complex Explodes Off The Blocks In The Seasonal Q1 Run
Excelsior Prosperity w/ Shad Marquitz (Written late on 01-12-2026)
Charts on Gold, GDXJ, Silver, SIL, SIL:Silver ratio, and expanded thoughts on seasonality and the #Q1Run
https://excelsiorprosperity.substack.com/p/the-precious-metals-complex-explodes
West Red Lake Gold Declares Commercial Production at Madsen Gold Mine
January 12, 2026
“West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV: WRLG) (OTCQX: WRLGF) is pleased to declare commercial production at its 100% owned Madsen Gold Mine, located in the Red Lake Mining District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada.”
“The Madsen Mine achieved commercial production as of January 1, 2026. The mill averaged 689 tonnes per day (“tpd”) in December 2025. This represents 86% of permitted throughput of 800 tpd and meets the Company’s internal commercial production requirement of 30 consecutive days of mill throughput at 65% or greater of permitted capacity. Operational stability, the other internal requirement, is also in place at Madsen. Consistent strong mill recoveries, which averaged 94.6% in December, enabled production of 3,215 ounces of gold.”
“We are delighted to announce commercial production at the Madsen Mine, achieved only seven months after completion of the bulk sample,” said Shane Williams, President and CEO. “Achieving commercial production is a major milestone for any producer and it comes after a strong December that saw tonnage, grade, recoveries, and production all perform to plan. Credit and gratitude go to the site operations team, who delivered a responsible and methodical mine ramp up. I also want to thank our partners the Lac Seul and Wabauskang First Nations and the community of Red Lake for their longstanding support.”
https://westredlakegold.com/west-red-lake-gold-declares-commercial-production-at-madsen-gold-mine/
West Red Lake Gold – January 12th 2026 – News Explained – Video Clip With Gwen Preston
In today’s KE Report interview with Erik Wetterling, we discussed how successful junior companies fast-tracking development into production have been rewarded, and so now 2026 will be West Red Lake Gold’s turn in the spotlight.
Erik and I also talked about just how many companies have benefited by doing a bulk sample to learn a lot about their average grade and metals recoveries, but also bring in non-dilutive capital. Talisker, and Scottie, also West Red Lake Gold all have used this approach. Amex is also going to be embarking a massive bulk sample over the next year, which is essentially trial mining.
I really like this bulk sample approach that many juniors are taking to earn while they learn and capitalize on these record high gold, silver, copper prices.
Now that WRLG has gone from bulk sample, to mining ramp up, to announcing full commercial production in just the last 7 months, hopefully this will silence those remaining haters and doubters that thought they’d never get this pulled off.
West Red Lake Gold is going to be absolutely printing money at $4,600+ gold, as are all these smaller producers.
To Erik’s point in the interview from today, now the revenues that these small producers are going to enjoy actually match the revenues of much larger mid-tier producers with multifold higher amounts or production output from 6-8 years ago.
I’ve been positioned in many these junior explorers that wanted to get into production and cash in on this bull market as it has been expanding the last few years, and they’ve been handsomely rewarded:
– Integra Resources
– Discovery Silver
– Heliostar Metals
– Magna Mining
– Mako Mining
– Thor Explorations
– Minera Alamos
– Talisker Resources
– Sierra Madre
– Luca Mining
– Cerrado Gold
– and now we can add West Red Lake Gold to their ranks
We are up over $90 Silver on the futures market, after tagging $91.34 recently in overseas trading.
Gotta love it!
On that note, one of the most important and telling charts for investors to keep their eyes on, which underscores just how much the silver mining stocks have lagged this rocket ride higher in silver is the SIL:SIlVER ratio chart.
It is totally crazy that the (SIL) ETF has underperformed the move in Silver to such a degree that it is back down near the 2015 Major low in precious metals and the 2020 pandemic crash low, where one ounce of silver almost buys one share of SIL.
Considering how much these producers margins are expanding at these record high silver prices, the silver equities should just be ripping higher on a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio to the moves in the metal, and yet over the last couple months the equities have actually been falling further behind the moves higher in the underlying metals price.
Come on silver silver stocks wake up and smell the all-time high silver prices already!
https://www.tradingview.com/x/O8SxdDzP/
DOLLAR : Ultimate Top Forming?