Beyond the Financing: 7 Builders & Partners Behind Atlas Salt's Great Atlantic Mine Plan

A Delivery Team Forms Around the Build

Atlas Salt (TSXV: SALT | OTCQX: SALQF | FSE: 9D00) holds a completed 2025 updated feasibility study, a provincial environmental assessment released with conditions, and an approved early works development plan for the Great Atlantic Salt Project, which the company describes as North America's first new salt mine in nearly 30 years. The study puts pre-production capital at C$589 million and after-tax net present value at an 8% discount rate of C$920 million, with an after-tax payback of 4.2 years. Financing letters of interest (LOI) above C$300 million have been received.

The next stage of work belongs to the people who will build the mine. Atlas Salt's delivery group spans 3 fronts: executives with prior mine builds, a board and partner network with salt and engineering depth, and an in-house planning function that tests the build plan. The management team combines mine development, construction and finance experience, and 3 executives carry quantified records: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director Nolan Peterson, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Robert Booth and Director of Project Strategy and Execution Andrew Smith, each with a record of assets advanced or projects built at earlier companies.

1. The CEO Combines Finance, Engineering & Development Experience

Peterson has more than 20 years of experience across mine development, operations, and finance, and holds a Master of Business Administration, a Chartered Financial Analyst designation, and a Professional Engineer designation. He is the former CEO of World Copper, where he advanced assets. That combination places project finance and engineering judgment in the same seat while the financing package for the build advances.

2. The Operating & Construction Leads Have Delivered Mine Builds

Booth has more than 30 years in engineering and project leadership, including mine builds for Newmont and Hudbay. Smith, Director of Project Strategy and Execution for Great Atlantic, has more than 10 years in underground mine construction and is the former Head of the Project Management Office at Dumas. He is also a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.

Great Atlantic's deposit lies about 180 meters from the surface and is accessed by declines instead of shaft sinking. Underground construction and project delivery experience matches that access design.

3. The Finance Team Has Lender Interest Above C$300 Million

Chief Financial Officer Mark Stewart brings more than 25 years of executive finance experience across public mining and industrial companies, including Yamana Gold, Barrick Gold and Aritzia. Endeavour Financial is engaged for project finance.

The lender work has produced financing LOIs above C$300 million. Senior debt LOIs total up to C$225 million, comprising C$150 million from Export Development Canada and C$75 million from an export credit agency wholly owned by its national government. A separate C$79 million Sandvik LOI covers mining equipment, including C$45 million of capital equipment.

Lender due diligence runs alongside those commitments. Management engaged Project Blue, an international market research firm, as part of that work, and Peterson said its long-term price model exceeds the price used in the feasibility study. Management is targeting more certainty on the financing package by the end of 2026.

4. The Board Adds Direct Salt Operating Experience

Director Rowland Howe is a salt industry veteran who led Compass Minerals' Goderich mine to a record 7.5 million tons per year. Goderich, which the company describes as the world's largest salt mine, lies about 600 meters under Lake Huron, while Great Atlantic is about 180 meters from the surface.

The rest of the board covers adjacent disciplines. Bob Kelly is a professional geoscientist with more than 40 years in senior mining roles, including as Vice President at Teck Resources, with experience in operations, safety, and mine development. Fraser Edison chairs Rutter Inc., is a former board member of Newfoundland Hydro, and has a background in finance and infrastructure. F. Carson Noel, a business consultant and former lawyer, has 2 decades of experience advising public companies and is a recognized governance leader in Newfoundland. Founder and Chairman Patrick Laracy has more than 30 years in resource exploration and development. Salt operations, mine safety, regional infrastructure and governance experience are all represented at a company moving from study to construction.

5. Hatch & Sandvik Add Engineering & Equipment Partners

A memorandum of understanding announced on November 12, 2025 establishes Hatch as Lead Engineering Partner and Integrated Project Delivery Partner for Great Atlantic. The company cites Hatch's experience delivering the world's largest soft-rock mines and its existing presence in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sandvik, a global engineering group serving mining, manufacturing and infrastructure, is the counterparty for the C$79 million mining equipment LOI. The 2 partners are named for engineering, project delivery, and equipment.

6. The Project Strategy Director Built an In-House Model to Test the Mine Design

Smith's work extends to the commercial side of the plan. He developed Meridian, a dynamic model built entirely inside Atlas Salt that maps every salt-selling node in North America, the road, rail, and barge networks between them, and every mine with its estimated production cost, then applies statistics and Monte Carlo methods to see which supplier can win each market.

The port is the bottleneck that capped the feasibility study sizing at about 4 million tons. Peterson said Smith wanted to prove that number to himself, and the model's uncapped run places up to 7 million tons in North America at a profit. The run uses last year's pricing and excludes this year's fuel price increases, which Peterson said would add further upside.

7. Management Frames Execution as the Remaining Variable

Peterson points to strong regional and government support, a strong jurisdiction and a logistics advantage, and places the remaining risk in execution, on the view that lenders who see financing as a risk resolve it by providing the funding. He describes what is left:

"Really all that's left is marginal cost increase risk, marginal delays on timing into a market where we would be a dominant market entrant once we're in production."

The company says the grade and recovery shortfalls that undermine other mines are not realistic outcomes for a salt mine, which leaves project delays and cost increases as the exposure. Those outcomes sit with the people who run construction: a COO with mine builds for Newmont and Hudbay, a project strategy director with underground construction experience, Hatch as lead engineer and a board member who led Goderich to record output.

Key Takeaways for Investors

• Atlas Salt has staffed 3 layers of delivery: an executive team with Newmont, Hudbay, Dumas and World Copper backgrounds, a board and engineering partner group with salt and soft-rock mine experience, and an in-house project strategy function that built the Meridian model to test the 4 million ton design.
• The financing letters of interest above C$300 million are paired with a Chief Financial Officer from Yamana Gold and Barrick Gold, an engaged project finance adviser, Endeavour Financial, and a management target of more certainty on financing by the end of 2026.
• Peterson describes the remaining risk as marginal cost increases and timing delays, which puts the weight on the construction record of the delivery group.
• Hatch is named Lead Engineering Partner and Integrated Project Delivery Partner under a memorandum of understanding, and Sandvik is the counterparty for the C$79 million mining equipment letter.
• The company's milestone priorities are securing the financing package, strategic partnerships, remaining permits, potential additional offtakes and equity participation, and finishing mine construction, with production targeted by 2030.

Atlas Salt has paired its feasibility economics with named builders, a named engineering partner, and an in-house strategy function that tests its own plan. Together, they form the delivery organization for constructing Great Atlantic, giving lenders and shareholders specific people and partners to evaluate as each milestone lands.