Q&A: American Eagle CEO sees funding, permit gaps 

Canada’s pro-mining rhetoric has yet to make a clear difference on the ground for explorers, says American Eagle Gold (TSXV: AE; US-OTC: AMEGF) CEO Anthony Moreau.  

He sees encouraging signals from Ottawa and the provinces but says it is still too early to judge whether the promises will cut delays or speed development in a meaningful way.  

Moreau joined The Northern Miner Podcast Host Adrian Pocobelli to discuss Canada’s exploration climate, American Eagle’s rise around its Babine district copper-gold project near Smithers, B.C., and the Young Mining Professionals scholarship fund, which has grown from $12,000 in annual awards to $265,000 this year.  

Adrian Pocobelli: Politicians have talked up mining for the better part of a year. What are you seeing in practical terms? 

Anthony Moreau: We’re an exploration company, not a producer, so our experience differs from that of a large miner. At this stage, I’d say the signs are positive, but it’s still too early to judge. Governments are talking more about natural resources, funding and development, and the pressure coming from the United States on trade and tariffs is forcing Canada to think harder about standing on its own. That should help oil and gas, mining and other resource industries. 

For explorers, Canada has already been a good place to raise money because of flow-through financing. That has helped us. The bigger test will come later, when companies need permits and development support. That is when we’ll really see whether governments are delivering on what they’ve promised.  

AP: Has anything actually become easier yet? 

AM: I wouldn’t say life has become easier, but it hasn’t become harder. We’re not yet at the key permitting stage, so I can’t claim a big improvement. In a year or so, when we’re further along, I’ll have a better answer on whether the government is truly helping. 

What I would stress is that people focus too much on Ottawa and the provinces. The most important governments in this business are often First Nations. If you have a good relationship with the local Nation, and it wants the mine to happen, that helps bring everyone else on side. That is where the real work gets done.  

AP: Have you seen any change from Indigenous communities? 

AM: I can only speak from my own experience, and I’ve been lucky. Our main project is in the Babine district near Smithers, and we work with one First Nation, Lake Babine Nation. That has made things simpler than on projects where several Nations overlap. 

The relationship has been very good. They want to build their economy. They want to understand who is stewarding the asset. It is not a transactional relationship. It comes down to trust. In our case, I’ve had nothing but a good experience.  

AP: Give listeners a sense of your project and how American Eagle got here. 

AM: We were in trouble a few years ago. We had a failed project in Nevada, little money in the bank and not many options. My uncle Gary, who helped discover Grasberg, told me this project would save the company. I turned it down twice. Then he told me, “Tony, you’re a bean counter, you’re a CFA, you’re not a geologist. Trust your uncle that loves you.” 

We took the project, reached out to the local Nation before doing anything and laid out our vision. I told them if they did not want us there, we did not want to be there. They said they supported mining and wanted us there. We started drilling, hit on the first hole, and my uncle died two weeks later. Our stock was about 3¢ at the time. A few months later, after results came out, it had multiplied sharply. Since then we’ve brought in Teck, South32 and Eric Sprott, and built the treasury from about $1 million to more than $55 million. This year we plan to drill as many metres as we drilled in the last four years combined.  

AP: More broadly, what is funding like for explorers right now? 

AM: Good projects can always find money. We were able to raise capital even in weaker markets because we had a strong asset. The problem now may be that too much money is chasing too many stories. 

That hurts in two ways. First, it pushes up costs and strains the supply chain. You see companies struggling to find drills, geologists and quality contractors. Second, it funds projects that are not very good. Investors get pulled into weak stories, the holes disappoint and they get burned. When that happens, they do not rush back into the sector. I’d rather see capital move in more slowly, toward the better projects, so investors make money and keep backing the space.  

AP: What should governments do better when they allocate money to mining? 

AM: They need the right people judging the projects. That is the heart of it. I don’t want funding decisions made by people who are only checking whether the right boxes were ticked on an application. I want projects judged on merit and quality. 

So find the best people who understand geology and development, and pay them properly. If government cannot do that directly, then find another way to bring expert judgment into the process. If public money goes into weak projects that never get built, that will make governments hesitate the next time. Better decisions help everyone.  

AP: Let’s switch to Young Mining Professionals. What is new there? 

AM: YMP Toronto exists to attract smart people into mining and, just as important, keep them in mining. That second part matters a lot. We’ve all seen good students and young professionals leave for consulting, finance or tech. 

One of my favourite examples came after Mark Bristow spoke at one of our events. He wanted two YMP scholarship winners at his table. One of them was heading to Accenture instead of mining. Bristow called him directly and convinced him to go to Nevada. That is exactly the kind of thing we want. We want great people to stay in this industry.  

AP: And the scholarship fund has grown fast. 

AM: It has. We started in 2017 with $12,000 from two companies. This year we gave away $265,000. We’ve grown from two corporate sponsors to nearly 30, and every dollar companies give us goes straight to students. 

The response has been huge. More than 3,100 applications came in across the scholarships. For one Kinross scholarship alone, we had 275 applications. We now tailor scholarships for companies and schools. Franco-Nevada, for example, came to us and wanted a scholarship that would support students through their whole degree. We built that with them. We’re also working on trade-school scholarships, which I think the industry underrates.  

AP: What should students know? 

AM: Start with the website. If you want help paying for school, go to YMPscholarships.com and apply. There are scholarships by discipline, by province, for women, for First Nations students and for people who want to work around mining from fields like finance or earth sciences. 

We push the program hard because we want students to know these opportunities exist. We work through social media, mailing lists and universities to make sure the message gets out. It is a simple first step, but it can open real doors.  

AP: What is top of mind for you as we wrap up? 

AM: Advancing our company and delivering returns. But I’d leave investors with one thought. Junior mining can offer huge upside, but it is risky, and people need to do their own work. 

I always joke that I have two stock tips. The first is never take a stock tip. The second is never take a junior mining stock tip. If you want exposure to the space, talk to an adviser, talk to a geologist and do the research. The upside can be enormous, but you need to know what you own.