Graphite prices under pressure

Speaking at the Benchmark Week conference in November 2025, Adam Webb, head of energy raw materials at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, explained why flake graphite prices — as well as the majority of the battery metals suite — saw weak prices through early 2025, despite a promising demand outlook.

“Essentially, what’s happened here is demand has grown very strongly, but supply growth has actually outpaced demand growth,” Webb said. “Therefore you’ve got the markets in a surplus, and that weighs on prices.”

As graphite prices sank in 2024, a ripple effect impacted supply, hitting the production side hard.

“With flake graphite, you’ll notice it’s actually supply has increased less than demand, and that is because prices were so low that in 2024 you had significant Chinese capacity come offline,’ Webb commented.

‘Also in flake graphite you have competition with synthetic graphite.”

Graphite anodes remain the dominant choice for lithium-ion batteries, but price divergence has sharpened competition between natural and synthetic materials.

Synthetic graphite is expected to retain the largest market share in the near term, thanks to its superior fast-charging performance, durability and electrolyte compatibility. However, natural graphite is gaining attention for its lower cost, higher capacity and lower energy intensity. This competition has divided the market as prices for flake graphite remain low, further pressured by weak demand in the industrial segment.

“Flake pricing on the other hand continues to feel the impact of lower steel demand in 2025 amid declines in Asian and European production in the first seven months of the year,” a September Fastmarkets report notes.

“Expectations among market participants are that production in China will continue to decline through the end of the year and continue to weigh on overall global production.”

Energy storage surge to underpin long-term graphite demand

Despite the market challenges noted by Benchmark’s Webb, the metals consultancy and price reporting agency forecasts 9 percent growth in graphite demand between 2025 and 2035.

This uptick will be strongly supported by a rise in the EV and battery energy storage system (BESS) segments.

“Flake graphite, you’ll see that that price is going up despite the oversupplied market, and that is because to meet that rising demand, there needs to be more supply coming online, and a lot of that supply coming online is high cost. So that’s going to push up the price support, basically, gradually through time,” Webb said.

The BESS market emerged as a major growth driver in 2025, reinforcing long-term demand for battery raw materials, including graphite. As Benchmark outlines, the market for BESS is expected to register roughly 44 percent growth for 2025, almost double the rate of overall lithium-ion battery demand.

As a result, energy storage is set to account for a quarter of total battery demand in 2025.

In North America, momentum has been uneven.

While interest in large-scale storage remains strong, BESS integrators faced mounting pressure in 2025 due to limited domestic battery cell supply, project delays and shrinking margins.

Several leading system providers reported weaker financial results, highlighting the risks of heavy reliance on imported cells and fragmented supply chains.

In Europe, deployed energy storage capacity surpassed 100 gigawatts by November, with batteries accounting for the vast majority of new installations. China, by contrast, saw a renewed surge in energy storage battery shipments. Policy reforms introduced under “Document No. 136” shifted renewable power toward market-based pricing and removed mandatory storage requirements, allowing battery projects to compete on commercial returns.

Together, these regional dynamics underline the growing importance of stationary storage in the global battery market. As BESS capacity expands alongside EVs, demand for graphite anodes is expected to remain structurally strong, even as supply chains and pricing face continued adjustment.

Establishing an ex-China anode supply chain

At Benchmark Week, industry insiders agreed graphite demand will continue to rise through the decade, but the anode supply chain remains constrained by China’s dominance and the high cost of building alternatives elsewhere.

Today, more than 90 percent of battery-grade anode material is sourced from China, a concentration that has become increasingly untenable for western automakers and cell manufacturers.

“Customers are actively looking for diversification,” said Michael O’Kronley, CEO of Novonix (ASX:NVX,OTCPL:NVNXF), noting that supply security has shifted from a long-term aspiration to an immediate priority.

Yet replacing Chinese supply is proving far from straightforward.

A panel featuring graphite executives highlighted that anode qualification can take years, requiring extensive testing to ensure materials perform consistently over a battery’s full lifespan.

“Battery materials aren’t qualified overnight,” O’Kronley said. “It takes years of co-development and patient capital.”

Cost remains the central obstacle. Building an anode plant in North America can cost three to 10 times more than in China, while customers remain reluctant to pay a premium. “A new supply chain has to be paid for somewhere,” O’Kronley warned, arguing that government support is essential if diversification is to scale.

Natural graphite producers face similar pressures.

Financing has become more difficult amid weak prices, even as long-term demand expectations remain strong.

“We expect demand growth closer to 2030,” said Patrice Boulanger, vice president of sales, marketing and business at Québec-focused Nouveau Monde Graphite (NYSE:NMG), adding that government offtake agreements are increasingly critical to unlocking private financing.

Despite growing interest in silicon, lithium metal and other next-generation anodes, the panelists were unanimous that graphite will remain dominant.

“Graphite is clearly here to stay,” said Viren Hira of Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR,OTCPL:SYAAF), with both natural and synthetic materials expected to underpin battery growth through at least the next decade.

Adding context during his own presentation at Benchmark Week, Webb outlined how cost dynamics are reshaping the anode market, particularly the balance between synthetic and natural graphite.

“On the anode side, we’ve seen a move towards synthetic graphite,” he said, noting that the shift has been driven less by performance and more by economics. Producers, he explained, have increasingly turned to lower-quality, lower-cost feedstocks, enabling them to reduce production costs.

As a result, prices for synthetic anode material have fallen, making it more competitive and supporting its growing share of battery anode demand.

Cobalt chokepoints: DRC dominance, China and the Lobito Corridor

With the concentration of cobalt output stemming from two nations, supply chain security has come into focus. An issue Roman Aubry, nickel and cobalt analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence expects to last through 2026.

“2025 has demonstrated the risks associated with having a single country being

He added: “Looking ahead to 2026 it’s clear that the market has to anticipate continued uncertainty from the DRC. While they’ve announced a detailed quota system for the next two years, the DRC reserves the right to adjust it as it sees fit. Given the current ex-DRC cobalt stocks, Benchmark expects there to be significant risk of demand destruction as we approach the end of the year, therefore it is likely the DRC will need to adjust the export quota.”

Concern over China’s control of battery and critical metal supply chains is also likely to carry over through the year, as tensions between Washington and Beijing oscillate and the US looks to fortify its access to the metals.

Aubry pointed to the Lobito Corridor as a key factor in the US securing ex-China supply.

The major rail and port project linking the mineral-rich Copperbelt of the DRC and Zambia to Angola’s Atlantic coast, could reshape the global cobalt supply chain by lowering export costs, speeding transit times and diversifying routes away from China‑dominated infrastructure.

The US International Development Finance Corporation has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to modernize the corridor’s rail and port facilities, potentially boosting annual transport capacity by an order of magnitude and cutting costs by as much as 30 percent compared with existing routes.

“In regards to Western-China relations, we’ve seen the US become increasingly conscious of its reliance on China refining for critical minerals, taking steps to improve ties with the DRC,” said Aubry. “This has mainly come in the form of a strategic agreement to develop the Lobito rail corridor, which would allow the DRC to export cobalt directly to the Atlantic, as well as the establishment of a coordinated Strategic Minerals Reserve within the DRC.”

Is cobalt substitution in the cards?

Before the DRC levied export controls over cobalt exports human rights and child labour concerns around artisinal cobalt extraction plagued the sector.

Paired with the supply chain challenges, battery manufacturers began shifting chemistry away from cobalt-rich formulas, like nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium-iron-phiosphate (LFP) began growing in market share.

In 2025, demand for nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery cells remained strong in markets focused on longer driving range and performance, particularly in North America and Europe, but lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells continued their rapid ascent, driven by cost advantages and growing adoption in China and entry-level electric vehicles (EVs).

Industry forecasts project LFP’s share of global battery cell capacity to exceed 60 percent in 2025, reflecting broader shifts toward lower-cost chemistry amid affordability pressures, while NCM and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) cells continue to dominate premium segments where energy density remains critical.

Amid a shrinking EV market share, Aubry pointed to overall growth in the EV segment, as well as cobalt’s other end uses as factors likely to support demand.

“While battery chemistries are expected to shift towards lower-cobalt or cobalt- free chemistries, the volume of EV batteries is expected to more than offset this,” he explained.

“From all applications, cobalt demand is expected to grow almost 80 percent in the next decade,

He added: “Outside of the EV space, portables are an area of significant growth, particularly batteries for newer technologies like drones. Industrial applications also present a stable source of growth.”

Market volatility drives need for raw materials hedging

During a presentation at Benchmark Week 2025, Casper Rawles, COO at Benchmark Intelligence, highlighted the growing value of hedging for companies operating in the battery raw materials space.

According to Benchmark data, raw materials could account for 20 percent to 40 percent of battery costs by 2030, exceeding 50 percent for some chemistries.

For EV manufacturers such as BYD (OTCPL:BYDDF), annual spending on critical battery materials could exceed US$2 billion, leaving margins highly exposed to price swings.

Against that backdrop, Rawles underscored the need for more sophisticated hedging strategies, noting that shifts in sentiment, supply, demand and geopolitics can reprice these markets with little warning.

Hedging allows companies to manage commodity price volatility by offsetting exposure in the physical market with positions in the futures market.

Producers and consumers typically hedge either to lock in prices that protect margins or to secure fixed pricing tied to external contracts, buying or selling futures to counterbalance their underlying risk. In practice, firms can tailor these strategies to reduce price exposure partially or eliminate it altogether, depending on their risk tolerance.

As Rawles explained, cobalt’s 2025 price rebound emphasizes how exposed the market is to geopolitics, with the DRC’s export controls triggering a rapid reversal from oversupply to scarcity.

“Ultimately we saw an export quota being put in place. Now that quota is pretty limited,’ said Rawles.

‘When we think about the type of volumes we’re expecting to be needed by the market it’s really not going to be sufficient to fulfill market demand. That really shows how quickly the fortunes of these minerals can change,” he added, noting that the DRC’s dominance gives it outsized influence over global pricing.

Rawles stressed that cobalt volatility is no longer driven by supply and demand alone, but by sentiment and geopolitics, with major implications for battery makers and automakers, where raw materials account for a large share of costs.

“Even if you think you know the outlook at the start of the year, that can change in a heartbeat,” he said.

Markets and commodities react

Canadian equity markets were mixed this week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) gained 1 percent over the week to close Friday at 32,470.98, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) shed 5.38 percent to 1,015.34. The CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) dropped 1.22 percent to 167.56.

The gold price gained 4.84 percent to close at US$4,951.69 per ounce on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. The silver price didn’t fare as well, closing the week down 1.78 percent at US$77.32 on Friday.

In base metals, the Comex copper price recorded a 0.85 percent rise this week to US$5.93.

On the other hand, the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) was down 3.7 percent to end Friday at 587.55.

Top Canadian mining stocks this week

How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop?

Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.

Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.

1. Giant Mining (CSE:BFG)

Weekly gain: 69.57 percent
Market cap: C$27.51 million
Share price: C$0.39

Giant Mining is an exploration company working to advance its Majuba Hill District copper, silver and gold project north of Reno in Nevada, US.

The site consists of 403 federal lode mining claims and four private property parcels that cover an area of 3,919 hectares. Mining at the property took place between 1900 and 1950, resulting in the production of 2.8 million pounds of copper, 184,000 ounces of silver and 5,800 ounces of gold.

Extensive exploration work has been carried out at Majuba Hill, with 89,930 feet being drilled since 2007.

The most recent news from Giant came on January 30, when it reported that it planned to drill up to 10,000 feet in a multi-phase drill program at Majuba Hill, targeting three breccia zones.

Following the first phase of 5,000 feet of drilling, the program will include underground and surface sampling to support follow-up drill targeting for the remaining holes.

2. CGX Energy (TSXV:OYL)

Weekly gain: 64.71 percent
Market cap: C$66.02 million
Share price: C$0.28

CGX Energy is an oil and gas exploration company with 27.48 percent ownership of a portfolio of wells in the Corentyne block off the coast of Guyana. Frontera Energy (TSX:FEC) is the company’s joint venture partner in the Corentyne block and also holds 76.05 percent interest in CGX.

The Kawa-1 exploration well was drilled in 2021 and 2022 and encountered an active hydrocarbon system extending to a depth of 6,000 feet, mirroring trends in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. CGX’s Wei-1 well was drilled in late 2022 and is located on-trend between the Kawa-1 well and Exxon’s (NYSE:XOM) Pluma discovery.

CGX and Frontera are currently in a legal dispute with the government of Guyana, which believes the petroleum prospecting license for Corentyne expired in 2024, a stance the joint venture disagrees with. The most recent update on the matter mentioned plans to meet and discuss the situation, with potential dates in November or December of last year.

Shares in CGX posted gains this week, but the company has not released news since November 13, when it announced its third-quarter financial statements. However, Frontera announced on January 30 that it divested its producing Colombian assets while retaining its interests in Guyana, news that may signal that the Corentyne block permitting situation could still be resolved.

3. Saba Energy (TSXV:SABA)

Weekly gain: 61.11 percent
Market cap: C$12.07 million
Share price: C$0.29

Saba Energy is an oil and gas exploration company with operations in British Columbia, Canada, as well as the Philippines.

The company’s primary Canadian operations consist of the producing Boundary Lake and Laprise oil and gas fields, which have a net present value of C$43 million as of its September quarterly report.

The most recent news from Saba came on January 27, when it announced a heads-of-agreement with Nido Petroleum for a farm-in arrangement on a pair of offshore assets in the Philippines.

Saba will earn 60 percent of Service Contract 54 (SC54). SC54 covers an area of 550 square kilometers to depths of 50 to 110 meters and hosts three discovery wells and one production well, which previously produced 270,000 barrels at 19,000 barrels per day before it was closed due to water encroachment.

The company will also earn a 52.73 percent share in the DPPSC Cadlao, which covers an area of 914 square kilometers to depths of 93 meters. The site has 6.8 million barrels in reserves and produced 11.1 million barrels between 1982 and 1992.

If the transaction is completed, Saba will become the operator of both assets. The company plans to open a US$7.5 million convertible debenture private placement to achieve the requirement of raising US$7 million by mid-April.

4. Copper Giant Resources (TSXV:CGNT)

Weekly gain: 60.66 percent
Market cap: C$157.77 million
Share price: C$0.98

Copper Giant Resources is an exploration company advancing its Mocoa copper-molybdenum project in Southern Colombia. It changed its name from Libero Copper and Gold last year.

The property covers 1,324 square kilometers and hosts a copper porphyry system originally discovered in 1973.

A November 2025 mineral resource estimate significantly increased its resource. Mocoa now holds an inferred resource of 7.6 billion pounds of copper and 1 billion pounds of molybdenum, at 0.31 percent copper and 0.039 percent molybdenum, from 1.12 billion metric tons of ore. The upgrade made the project South America’s largest undeveloped molybdenum deposit.

The most recent news from Copper Giant came on January 29, when it reported results from the first drill hole at the La Estrella target. While assays returned low-grade mineralization, the company noted that the significance was geological, as it confirmed continuity of the porphyry system beyond the established deposit.

The release also reported results from a second hole at the southern edge of the Mocoa footprint, which the company said were stronger than previously interpreted at the southern margin of the deposits. Grades in the hole were 0.13 percent copper and 0.01 percent molybdenum over 804 meters starting from surface, which included an intersection of 0.44 percent copper and 0.05 percent molybdenum over 33 meters.

5. Benz Mining (TSXV:BZ)

Weekly gain: 50.46 percent
Market cap: C$749.9 million
Share price: C$3.25

Benz Mining is a gold exploration company that is focused on advancing projects in Québec, Canada, as well as Western Australia.

Its Eastmain project consists of an 8,000 hectare property located in Central Québec within the Upper Eastmain Greenstone belt. The most recent resource estimate from May 2023 reported an indicated resource of 384,000 ounces of gold from 1.3 metric tons of ore grading 9 g/t gold, and an inferred resource of 621,000 ounces of gold from 3.8 metric tons grading 5.1 g/t.

In 2025, Benz acquired the Glenburgh and Mount Egerton gold projects in Western Australia from Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR). It spent much of 2025 exploring Glenburgh, which covers an area of 786 square kilometers and features 50 kilometers of strike. The site hosts six priority extension targets and 5 kilometers of exploration trend with over 100 parts per billion gold.

A November 2024 resource estimate for Glenburgh showed an indicated and inferred resource of 510,000 ounces of gold from 16.3 million metric tons of ore with an average grade of 1 g/t gold.

On January 28, the company announced a shallow, high-grade discovery at the Glenburgh project’s Icon trend. Assays returned grades including 29 g/t gold over 13 meters starting at a depth of 60 meters. Additionally, results showed wide mineralization as well, including 200 meters grading 1 g/t gold starting at 76 meters.

The most recent news from Benz came the next day, when it announced it received firm commitments for a AU$75 million bought deal placement, which it said was led by strong demand from two global institutional fund. The company said the investment increases its pro forma cash position to AU$94 million, which will be allocated across its portfolio, particularly focused on the Glenburgh project.

FAQs for Canadian mining stocks

How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?

There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.

The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.

These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.

How do you trade on the TSXV?

Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.

Investor Insight

Sun Summit Minerals is targeting the delineation of a multi-million-ounce gold-silver resource at its flagship JD project. With strategic positioning in an emerging consolidation hotspot, compelling valuation metrics, and a track record of discovery, Sun Summit is primed to deliver substantial value creation in the coming quarters.

Overview

Sun Summit Minerals (TSXV:SMN,OTCQB:SMREF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on developing its district-scale gold and copper projects in British Columbia.

The company has completed its 2025 exploration programs at the flagship JD Project and its inaugural exploration program at the Theory Project, located in the Toodoggone District.

Complementing JD and Theory is the company’s Buck project, a large, bulk-tonnage gold-silver system near Houston, BC, with an initial NI 43-101 resource estimate and significant exploration upside.

With capital in hand, a five-year exploration permit secured, and a camp established at JD, Sun Summit is executing a focused strategy to build scale, unlock resource potential and drive shareholder value. Under the leadership of its new CEO, the company has re-focused its strategy with a sharpened vision, a strengthened technical and leadership team, and a portfolio of high-quality, strategically located assets positioned to drive long-term shareholder value.

Company Highlights

• Tiered Exploration Strategy: Sun Summit Minerals is advancing a focused portfolio in British Columbia with its flagship JD Project in the Toodoggone District as the primary discovery driver, supported by early-stage exploration at the nearby Theory Project, and complemented by the Buck Project in central BC, a strategic asset with a published mineral resource estimate.
• Strategic Location: Sun Summit’s assets are located in well-established and mining-friendly regions of British Columbia. The flagship JD project and early-stage Theory Project are situated in the prolific Toodoggone district—home to Thesis Gold and Centerra’s Kemess Mine, while Buck lies in Central BC near the Blackwater, Huckleberry, and Equity Silver mines.
• Potential for Multiple Expansion: Trading at approximately US$38/oz gold equivalent (EV/oz) based on Buck alone, with no value currently ascribed to the JD Project, the company represents a deep value opportunity compared to its next-door neighbour, Thesis Gold, which trades at approximately US$136/oz. Success at the drill bit from ongoing exploration at JD could support a higher valuation over time.
• Experienced, Capital Markets-Savvy Leadership: CEO Niel Marotta brings 30 years of capital markets acumen, including experience from Fidelity and Orezone. The broader team includes senior geologists and advisors with decades of success in gold discoveries and mine development in BC.
• Positioned for Consolidation: With majors like Freeport, Centerra, and Skeena investing heavily in adjacent properties, Sun Summit’s flagship JD Project is strategically located and advancing at the right time in the Lassonde Curve to benefit from industry-wide M&A and consolidation trends.

Key Projects

JD & Theory Projects

The JD & Theory projects span more than 25,000 hectares in the heart of the Toodoggone mining district in north-central BC, one of Canada’s most prospective belts for epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold systems. The district is home to Thesis Gold’s Ranch and Lawyers deposits (4.6 Moz gold equivalent, C$700 million market cap), Centerra’s Kemess underground development, and TDG Gold’s Shasta-Baker project. Infrastructure around the project includes hydroelectric grid access, the nearby Sturdee airstrip and all-season roads.

Results from the 2025 drill campaign at Creek Zone

The JD project hosts a 4.5 km mineralized corridor, known as Creek-Finn, with multiple underexplored targets showing evidence of both high-grade veins and broad disseminated gold systems. Historic and recent drill highlights include:

• 2.1 grams per ton (g/t) gold over 122.5 m including 121 g/t gold over 1.5 m (CZ-24-004)
• 11.7 g/t gold over 22 m including 61.2 g/t gold over 4 m (CZ97-008)
• 7.3 g/t gold over 35.7 m including 215.4 g/t gold over 1 m (JD95-0472)

The Creek Zone features high-grade epithermal veins within broader disseminated zones, supported by strong IP anomalies and gold-in-soil results up to 12.2 g/t gold. The Finn Zone hosts near-surface mineralization with extensive historical drilling (~270 holes) and is open in all directions. Other targets include McClair (porphyry copper), East McClair (copper-gold skarn) and Moosehorn.

Sun Summit Minerals has completed its 2025 21-hole, 6,864 -meter drill program, successfully intersecting gold mineralization in all holes. The results have defined a northwest-trending, structurally controlled zone measuring approximately 750 meters by 300 meters and extending to a vertical depth of around 150 meters. The zone remains open both along strike and at depth, highlighting significant potential for further expansion. A five-year permit secured in April 2025 provides exploration continuity through 2030.

Sun Summit can earn 100 percent of the JD project by making staged cash/share payments and completing work commitments through 2029. Following the completion of its 2025 exploration program, the company closed an $11.5 million financing on December 23, 2025, fully funding the 2026 exploration program and strengthening its ability to advance the earn-in without near-term dilution.

Buck Project

The 100 percent owned Buck project spans 52,000 hectares and is located near key deposits, including Artemis Gold’s Blackwater (8 Moz gold), Imperial’s Huckleberry copper mine, and Newmont’s historic Equity Silver mine. Buck features near-surface bulk-tonnage gold-silver mineralization with porphyry copper-molybdenum potential at depth.

In February 2025, Sun Summit published its inaugural NI 43-101 mineral resource:

• Indicated: 1.15 Mt @ 0.519 g/t gold equivalent (19,100 oz)
• Inferred: 52.2 Mt @ 0.489 g/t gold equivalent (820,400 oz)

Mineralization remains open in all directions.

Buck is considered a strategic asset providing leverage to rising gold prices and future transaction potential, but currently receives minimal capital allocation as JD is prioritized.

Sun Summit can earn 100 percent of the JD project by making staged cash/share payments and completing work commitments through 2029. With ~C$6 million earmarked for the project this year alone, Sun Summit is expected to fulfill its 2025 and 2026 earn-in obligations without additional equity raises.

Management Team

Niel Marotta – Chief Executive Officer and Director

Niel Marotta has three decades of capital markets experience, including a successful tenure at Fidelity (FMRCo.), where he managed the top-performing Select Gold Fund and oversaw >$1 billion in AUM. He was previously VP at Orezone Resources, where he helped lead its C$350 million acquisition by IAMGOLD. Marotta has raised over $1 billion in financing and is driving Sun Summit’s transition from a legacy explorer to a discovery-focused value generator.

Brian Lock – Executive Chairman

A veteran of the mining industry with 40+ years of executive experience, Brian Lock has led multiple public companies, including Castle Peak Mining and Scorpio Gold. His expertise spans project development, M&A and corporate governance.

Waseem Javed – Chief Financial Officer

A seasoned mining CFO, Waseem Javed ensures disciplined capital deployment and financial controls. His experience spans junior explorers and mid-tier producers across Canada and the US.

Ken MacDonald – VP Exploration

Ken MacDonald is a registered professional geologist with over 30 years in mineral exploration and permitting in BC. Formerly with the BC Mines Branch and multiple juniors, he leads Sun Summit’s technical programs and NI 43-101 compliance.

Christopher Leslie – Technical Advisor

An expert in porphyry and epithermal systems, Christopher Leslie led the discovery of the 8 Moz Blackwater deposit while at Richfield Ventures, and later served as VP exploration for Tower Resources. He was instrumental in advancing the JD-Theory project during its prior ownership.

Robert D. Willis – Senior Advisor

Founder of several successful exploration companies, including Pioneer Metals and Manhattan Minerals, Robert Willis has 35+ years of technical and executive experience across North and South America.

Terry Salman – Strategic Advisor

Founder of Salman Partners and one of Canada’s most influential mining financiers, Terry Salman has backed dozens of successful juniors over a 40-year career in mining investment banking.