Ascot rebrands under new CEO to restart troubled Premier gold mine in BC

Ascot Resources (TSXV: AOT.H) plans to rebrand in a fresh start under new leadership to advance two projects in British Columbia including what was once the continent’s biggest gold mine. 

Cambria Gold Mines — its new name — originates from the “spectacular icefield” located adjacent to the Red Mountain project, new president and CEO Robert McLeod said on Tuesday. McLeod, a mining executive and geologist from the nearby town of Stewart, wants to restart the Premier mine, at one time North America’s largest, that Ascot briefly operated in 2024 before setbacks. 

“Management has been rapidly developing key permitting, geological and engineering elements to develop the Premier and Red Mountain deposits with the goal of a high-grade, hub-and-spoke gold mining operation to feed the recently constructed mill,” McLeod said in a release.

Ascot Resources’ shares gained as much as 7.5% on Wednesday in Toronto for a market capitalization of $55.6 million. The stock has more than doubled this year.

Challenges

Located 25 km from Stewart, the underground Premier mine produced over 2 million oz. gold and 45 million oz. silver between 1918 and 1952. Ascot has been working to return the historic site to production and successfully poured its first gold in April 2024.

However, operations were put on hold after just five months due to insufficient underground development. The company has since faced multiple setbacks in its attempt to restart the operation, eventually placing the mine on care and maintenance in summer 2025 and initiating a strategic review.

Last month, Ascot was also penalized $142,000 by B.C.’s environmental regulators for failing to prevent wastes stored at the shuttered gold mine from leaking into a local river, Business in Vancouver reported.

Hub-and-spoke plan

Under the new plan, ore from the Red Mountain project would be blended with high-grade mineralization from the Premier-Northern Lights (PNL) deposit and/or the potentially bulk-mineable mineralization from the Big Missouri deposit, both located at Premier.

According to company estimates, the Red Mountain property hosts measured and indicated resources of 3.19 million tonnes averaging 7.63 grams gold per tonne gold for 783,000 oz. contained metal. The deposit is amenable to long-hole stoping, has existing production size underground workings and would provide the majority of mill feed for the Premier mill.

Work to advance permitting of the Red Mountain access road to transport material to Premier was initiated last fall, led by the new management team, and included consultation with the Nisga’a Nation. Construction of the road is expected to begin this spring, upon regulatory approval, the company said.

The rebrand follows the company’s recent fundraising of $175 million and debt restructuring to keep the business running. It also amended its agreement with Sprott to waive deliveries and missed royalty payments in exchange for equity.