by James Kwantes
Published first at Patreon
There's an old joke that the quickest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire and start up an airline.
Junior mining is a similarly hazardous pastime, especially in a bear market. It features risks aplenty, high failure rates and headwinds that blow in out of nowhere. It can also create fortunes.
Those characteristics make serially successful entrepreneurs in the sector worth following. Recent insider buying put a few of them on my radar.
Jack Lundin
Jack Lundin is mining legend Lukas Lundin's third oldest son. Adolf Lundin, the father of Lukas and Ian, established the family fortune, which grew dramatically under the stewardship of Lukas, who died in July 2022 after a battle with brain cancer.
Sons Harry, Adam, Jack and Will, the third generation, have now picked up the deal-making torch. With a flourish.
Lundins 3.0: Well-Fed and Hungry | Oct. 11, 2023
The brothers' prowess has already created billions in shareholder value, notably the $4.1-billion acquisition in 2024 of Filo Corp. by BHP and Lundin Mining (on a 50-50 basis) to create Vicuña Corp.
NGEx Resources once traded at a $40-million valuation. Through spinouts, and over decades, Lukas and sons have turned that into $13 billion in market capitalization, and counting. The most recent spinout was LUNR Royalties (LUNR-T), market cap $2.26 billion, spun out by NGEx Minerals (NGEX-T).
Jack evidently grew up privileged. But how many billionaire kids have worked in the field on multiple exploration projects? He later obtained degrees in business administration (Bachelor) and engineering (Masters).
These days, Jack is chairman of Lundin Gold (LUG-T), market cap $21 billion, and president and CEO of Lundin Mining (LUN-T), which has a $28.3-billion valuation. In the latter role, he led the acquisition of Filo Corp. He's also involved in philanthropic ventures and a director of Vicuña Corp. and Talon Metals (TLO-T).
Lately, he's been loading up on shares of Talon, which operates the underground Eagle nickel mine in Michigan - America's only nickel mine.
On Aug. 21, Jack spent about $441,000 at $7.74/share adding to his Talon stake. He followed that up on Sept. 16 by buying another $2.3 million worth of Talon shares at $9.15/share. He owns 707,000 shares, directly and indirectly, and the Lundin trusts own about 18.1% of the company.
Driving value for Talon have been world-class massive sulphide intercepts at its Tamarack project in Minnesota, where it holds 51% (buy-in right to 60%) in a JV with Rio Tinto. Drill hole 25TK0562A, announced Sept. 9, returned 46.43 metres grading 13.37% nickel, 16.54% copper, 0.10% cobalt, 7.85 g/t palladium, 14.49 g/t platinum and 8.56 g/t gold (27.39% NiEq or 54.78% CuEq).
Tamarack is in Minnesota's environmental review process, with a feasibility study nearing completion (expected in Q4). Talon plans to process Tamarack ore at its existing Humboldt mill in Michigan - bypassing the need to permit a mill in Minnesota, one of America's most difficult permitting environments.
Talon Metals (TLO-T)
Price: $8.88
Shares out: 162.9 million (173.25M fully diluted)
Market cap: $1.45 billion
Richard Warke
Richard Warke, the chairman of Highlander Silver (HSLV-T), is renowned in the sector for engineering more than $4.5 billion in M&A wins. His wins have included:
Ventana Gold ($1.6-billion exit, 2011)
Augusta Resource ($667 million, 2014)
Arizona Mining ($2.1 billion, 2018)
Augusta Gold ($197 million, 2025)
He's also known for taking large stakes in companies he backs, as well as buying in the public market.
Lately, Warke has been buying shares of Peru-focused Highlander Silver (HSLV-T), which has the high-grade San Luis project and the Corani silver deposit. Highlander also operates the Mercedes gold-silver mine in Mexico.
Since Aug. 21, Warke has spent $294,502 buying Highlander shares at prices ranging from $7.22 to $7.54. He owns 20.07 million shares, a 9.86% stake worth about $152 million.
There's another familiar name on the shareholder registry: the Lundins. The Lundin family and affiliates own about 15% of Highlander's shares. Highlander's general counsel, Tom Ladner, has also been buying in the market, spending about $69,000 at $7.28 a share on Sept. 28.
Highlander bought the San Luis project from SSR Mining in late 2023, then merged with Bear Creek Mining in late 2025. The latter move gave Highlander the Corani project, one of the world's largest primary silver deposits.
On Sept. 23, Highlander announced a $330-million project finance facility with Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking for Corani. The company had about $100 million in cash as of June 30.
Highlander Silver (HSLV-T)
Price: $7.45
Shares out: 203.6 million (218M fully diluted)
Market cap: $1.52 billion
Dave Lotan
Investor Dave Lotan has figured prominently in these pages thanks to his prolific insider buying over the years, mostly in Aurion Resources (AU-V) but also Fox River Resources (FOX-V), Chibougamau Independent Mines (CBG-V) and Olive Resource Capital (OC-V).
Earlier this month, Lotan put another $120,000 into Olive, a publicly traded resource investment fund, at 12 cents. That followed an Aug. 14 purchase of 1.8 million shares at 11 cents. Lotan owns about 15.14 million Olive shares, an 11.1% stake.
Lotan is flush after a 2026 of M&A success that he helped engineer. In April, Agnico Eagle paid $481 million to buy Aurion, which Lotan chaired, and its 30% stake in the Fingold JV with B2Gold as well as its 761-sq-km land position in Finland's Central Lapland Greenstone Belt. The purchase was part of Agnico's consolidation of the belt and purchase of Rupert Resources (RUP-T) and its Ikkari deposit for $2.9 billion.
Agnico Steps Up in Finland, buys Rupert & Aurion | April 20, 2026
The following month, Agnico subsidiary Avenir Minerals bought Steve Case's Fox River Resources and its Martison phosphate project in Ontario for $94.3 million.
Those two takeouts yielded almost $50 million for Lotan, who owned about 9.5% of Aurion and about 8% of Fox River and chaired both companies.
Lotan's latest move was to agree to be a director nominee for Barksdale Resources (BRO-V), which owns 67.5% of the Sunnyside copper porphyry project in Arizona, which is adjacent to South32's zinc-lead-silver Taylor development project.
It's part of sweeping changes at Barksdale that include:
a name change to Arizona Standard Copper
George Ogilvie named chairman and Chris Stewart as president and CEO
a $14-million financing
a 10-for-1 share rollback
Ogilvie is an experience operator with a history of wins and turnarounds. Among them:
HudBay's 2026 acquisition of Arizona Sonoran Copper (ASCU-T) for US$1.48 million. Ogilvie was Arizona Sonoran's president and CEO.
Evolution Mining's 2021 acquisition of Battle North Gold Corp. (BNAU-T) for $343 million. Ogilvie was president and CEO of Battle North, formerly Rubicon Minerals, and turned the company around after Rubicon's disastrous decision to start mining after publishing only a preliminary economic assessment.
Barksdale's working thesis is that its Sunnyside porphyry project hosts the extension of the neighbouring Taylor deposit, where South32 is building a mine.
Adding Ogilvie and Lotan to the mix should help Barksdale get to the finish line, whatever that looks like.
Olive Resource Capital (OC-V)
Price: 0.115
Shares out: 136.46 million (143.7M fully diluted)
Market cap: $15.7 million
Barksdale Resources (BRO-V)
Price: 0.29
Shares out: 234.87 million (341.9M fully diluted)
Market cap: $68.1 million
Michael Gentile
I have written a few times about insider buying at Galway Metals (GWM-V) by CEO Robert Hinchcliffe, most recently on Aug. 14 in Superpower, Proxy Battles and Power Players, with the stock at 53 cents.
Hinchcliffe is an experienced operator who was formerly CFO of the original Kirkland Lake Gold and ran Galway Resources, which sold for US$340 million to Eike Batista's AUX.
On Sept. 22, Hinchcliffe landed an important backer in Michael Gentile, and the stock ripped higher, rising from 66 cents to 89 cents that session and closing at $1.03. In this case, Gentile took down $12.36 milion of a $14-million brokered financing of flow-through units. The investment give him 11% ownership of the company, 19.9% including warrants.
Gentile is an influential junior mining investor whose involvement can move stocks. In the case of Galway, meme stock mania may also have provided a lift - Galway's OTC symbol is GAYMF, which didn't go unnoticed on Reddit.
From Oct. 19-23, Gentile is hosting the inaugural Gentile Mining Investor Forum/Road Show in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich and Munich. Galway wasn't on the initial program but that could change.
On Sept. 19, Galway wrapped up a 13-hole, 5,000-metre drill program at the Estrades VMS project, a former mine, in Quebec's northern Abitibi. Japan's DOWA METALS & MINING holds a 10% participating interest and can earn up to 45% of the project.
Galway's 100% owned Clarence Stream gold project in New Brunswick hosts 1.42 million ounces of gold (Indicated) at 1.62 g/t Au and another 1.29 million oz (Inferred) at 1.4 g/t Au.
Galway Metals (GWM-V)
Price: $1.01
Shares out: 135.87 million (155.87M fully diluted)
Market cap: $137.23
Cal Everett
I last touched on veteran junior mining entrepreneur Cal Everett back in April 2023 after he was appointed chairman of upstart Mexican gold play Angel Wing Metals (AWM-V).
Lately Everett has been adding to his stake in Carlin Gold (CGD-V), a Nevada gold-copper play whose flagship Cortez Summit property is in the Cortez trend, a mile east of Fourmile. On Sept. 29, Carlin closed a $9.8-million financing; back on Sept. 8, Carlin announced a $21.5-million financing with Electrum Gold Exploration that has yet to close.
On Aug. 24, Carlin Gold announced plans to spin out a 5% NSR royalty on Cortez Summit. The company also has the Ivy copper-gold project and the Willow gold project, both also in Nevada.
Everett put $143,000 into Carlin Gold's recent $1.30 unit financing and has also spent more than $96,000 buying Carlin stock at prices ranging from $1.24 to $1.69 since the beginning of September. He owns 2,935,700 shares, a 9% stake.
As for Angel Wing, the company has failed to take flight and the stock is grounded at 3 cents, shell company territory. Insider buying has perked up in the past few months, however. CEO Marc Prefontaine spent $5,115 buying stock at .0341 back in June; director Mark Santarossa spent $12,475 picking up stock at 2.5-3 cents in June-July.
Carlin Gold (CGD-V)
Price: $1.52
Shares out: 59.9 million
Market cap: $91 million
Angel Wing Metals (AWM-V)
Price: 0.03
Shares out: 107.9 million (135.7M fully diluted)
Market cap: $3.24 million
Michael Kosowan
I last touched on Michael Kosowan back on Aug. 14, when he was adding to his stake in TDG Gold (TDG-V). He's still buying - in September, Kosowan, the company's chairman and a director, spent more than $208,000 buying TDG shares at 44-48 cents. He owns about 7% of outstanding shares.
Lately, Kosowan has been loading up on shares of Coast Copper (COCO-V), which has a portfolio of B.C. copper projects and is run by CEO Adam Travis. Fletcher Morgan, the CEO of TDG Gold, is chairman of Coast Copper.
Since July 27, Kosowan has spent more than $381,000 buying Coast Copper shares, at prices ranging from 22.5 to 35 cents. He owns 13.424 million shares, a 15.6% stake.
Coast Copper has been adding ground to its Copper Kettle project, which is on northern Vancouver Island between Northisle's North Island project and BHP's formerly producing Island Copper mine. North Island qualifies for expedited mine permitting as an "advanced project" under B.C.'s Critical Minerals Office.
Coast Copper also has the Empire Mine project to the south, which hosts several past-producing copper-gold-magnetite-silver mines.
TDG Gold (TDG-V)
Price: 0.465
Shares out: 281.17 million (308M fully diluted)
Market cap: $130.75
Coast Copper (COCO-V)
Price: 0.34
Shares out: 86 million (101M fully diluted)
Market cap: $29.26 million
Disclosure: I own shares in NGEx Minerals and LUNR Royalties. No business relationship with any company mentioned. This article is for informational purposes only and all investors need to do their own due diligence.
