Puma Exploration Leaps Ahead with Kinross Deal and Second Gold Project in New Brunswick

• Puma Exploration signed an option agreement with major gold producer Kinross Gold to explore the Williams Brook gold project in New Brunswick, Canada
• Kinross can earn up to a 65% stake in Williams Brook by spending $16.5M over 5 years, with a firm $2M commitment in year 1 including 5,000m of drilling
• Puma will be the project operator and receive a 10-15% management fee on exploration spending by Kinross
• Puma have also acquired a new gold exploration project called McKenzie, covering 33,660 hectares with similar geology to Williams Brook, to explore in parallel
• In 2025, Puma plans to drill 5,000m at Williams Brook in Q1 funded by Kinross, then focus on field work at both projects to generate new drill targets

Junior explorer Puma Exploration has taken a significant step forward at its flagship Williams Brook gold project in New Brunswick, Canada by bringing on major gold producer Kinross Gold as a partner. In October 2024, Puma signed an option agreement with Kinross whereby the major can earn up to a 65% stake in Williams Brook by spending $16.5 million on exploration over 5 years. Importantly, the deal includes a firm commitment of $2 million in exploration in year 1, including 5,000 meters of drilling.

Puma's CEO Marcel Robillard emphasized the validation that Kinross' involvement provides for the potential of Williams Brook to host a significant gold deposit. 

They won't sign deals everywhere just for fun. They are really believers of Williams Brook holding some nice decent ounces.

The Williams Brook project has seen approximately $12 million in exploration spending by Puma to date, resulting in the discovery of multiple gold zones along a 4 km trend. Despite getting encouraging results, Robillard believes the exploration has just scratched the surface at Williams Brook. 

Interview with CEO Marcel Robillard

Leveraging Kinross Funding While Retaining Operatorship

A key aspect of the partnership is that Puma will remain operator of the project and oversee the exploration spending by Kinross. This allows Puma to direct the work while leveraging Kinross' financial resources. Puma will receive a 10-15% management fee on the exploration spending, providing a source of income to minimize dilution.

Under the terms of the option agreement,Kinross will have to fund $16.75M in exploration expenditures as follows:

• $2.0 M in the first 18 months with a commitment for 5,000 metres of drilling (Firm Commitment);
• $3.0 M in the second year;
• $3.0M in the third year;
• $4.0M in the fourth year; and
• $4.75M in the fifth year.

With $12 million spent at Williams Brook to date, the $16.5 million earn-in by Kinross has the potential to significantly grow the project value for a strong return to Puma. However, Robillard emphasized that Puma does not want to be just a passive partner dependent on Kinross. 

We don't want to be just a partner with Kinross, we want to be our own exploration company on 100% owned projects.

Parallel Exploration on New McKenzie Gold Project

To that end, Puma has acquired a new +30,000 hectare gold exploration project called McKenzie, located just 10 km from Williams Brook with similar geology and high-grade gold samples up to 300 g/t in surface sampling. Puma plans to take the exploration approach that succeeded at Williams Brook and apply it at McKenzie - starting with mapping, sampling and trenching to identify the most prospective targets before drilling.

The McKenzie project spans  33,660 hectares of strike length along a regional fault zone that has seen limited gold exploration to date. Historical work has identified over 30 gold occurrences with grab samples up to 331 g/t gold and anomalous gold-in-soil samples over several kilometers. Puma believes the project has potential to host deposits similar in style to Williams Brook.

In 2025, field work will begin at McKenzie in May or June once snow has melted, running in parallel with a 5,000 meter winter drill program at Williams Brook funded by Kinross in Q1. The summer field program will then shift to Williams Brook to follow up on the Kinross-funded drilling with additional field work to refine targets. Drilling at McKenzie would then commence in the fall.

Robillard sees strong potential for new discoveries at McKenzie. 

This is all now negotiated. The news will be done probably before Christmas. Everything should be signed, but we already have a letter of intent and the team since October, September has been working on the field to get brand new veins similar to the Williams Brook because we have selected McKenzie according to what we know is the epithermal orogenic gold deposit and they are just about 10 kilometers away.

The Investment Thesis for Puma Exploration

• Exposure to significant gold discovery potential in the underexplored province of New Brunswick, Canada
• Flagship Williams Brook project significantly de-risked and advanced by partnership with major Kinross Gold
• Fully funded 5,000m drill program at Williams Brook in early 2025 with potential for share price catalysts on results
• Second 100%-owned gold project in same district provides additional discovery upside potential
• Prospect generator model allows Puma to leverage partner funding for exploration while minimizing dilution
• Experienced management team with track record of discoveries and ability to attract major partners

Macro Thematic Analysis

Despite volatile financial markets, the gold price remained strong in 2024, spending much of the year above US$1,900 per ounce as economic uncertainties supported safehaven investment demand. This environment makes gold exploration projects increasingly attractive, supporting the flow of capital into drilling campaigns with potential for new discoveries and resource growth.

Robillard believes the current gold price environment is positive for explorers like Puma. 

The market is actually not too bad for gold projects. Yes, it's not easy to raise money for sure, for the juniors, but the gold price is okay. And the appetite for new discovery and good assets is there.

Puma is well positioned to benefit from this environment, with funding committed by Kinross for 2025. This gives the company sufficient resources to execute on its planned exploration programs at both Williams Brook and McKenzie.

With a market capitalization of C$12+ million, Puma has plenty of room for upside if its exploration delivers positive results.