Episode Details

Interview with Chris Beer, Interim President & CEO of ATEX Resources

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/atex-resources-tsxvatx-2-billion-ton-copper-with-near-term-development-9780

Recording date: 28th September 2026

ATEX Resources (TSX:ATX) is advancing the Valeriano copper-gold project in Chile's Atacama region, one of the larger undeveloped porphyry systems in the Americas. The 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate outlines 475 million tonnes of Indicated resource at 0.88% CuEq and 1.51 billion tonnes of Inferred resource at 0.75% CuEq. Together these contain about 34 billion pounds of CuEq and 14.2 million ounces of gold. Metallurgical testing to date indicates high copper recoveries and no deleterious elements such as arsenic. According to Interim President and CEO Chris Beer, around 25% of the value at a 1% copper equivalent threshold comes from precious metals.

The near-term focus is the B2B breccia. ATEX discovered this zone in spring 2024 while drilling the high-grade porphyry core. Beer puts it at roughly 30 to 35 million tonnes grading approximately 1.4% to 1.5%. It begins around 400 metres below surface, shallower than the porphyry core, and remains open to the east and south. The Phase VI programme, summarised in September, returned some of the highest-grade intersections in company history. Directional drilling from deep mother holes saved more than 10,000 metres of drilling, according to Beer.

Phase VII is the next catalyst and is due to begin within weeks. Drilling will step out to the south and up-dip towards surface. The objective is to establish whether the breccia can support an underground starter mine. Beer offered an illustrative scale of around 15,000 tonnes per day, or roughly 5 million tonnes per annum, at grades of 1.5% to 2%. No economic study has yet been completed, and the capital cost of such an operation is unknown. Beneath the breccia sits a high-grade, long-life copper resource that would suit block caving over the longer term.

Valuation is central to the story. Beer says ATEX trades at around one cent per pound of copper in the ground, compared with two to three cents for peers. Companies closer to production or with a completed economic study can command four to five cents. The market capitalisation reached around C$1.5 billion in 2025 before easing to roughly C$1 billion. ATEX held C$141 million in cash as of June 2026, and its shareholders include Agnico Eagle and Pierre Lassonde, who holds around 10%.

The second lever is district growth. In January 2026 ATEX acquired two porphyry systems at auction to the south, known as Nuevo Horizonte. Management believes they share Valeriano's geochemical signature and plans geophysics before drilling. The company is using the Vicuña district, 80 kilometres to the north, as its road map. There, successive discoveries created a multi-billion-tonne district that attracted BHP as a partner.

Chile's policy environment is also turning more supportive. The government of President José Antonio Kast, in office since March 2026, is moving to accelerate permitting and is reviewing tax measures that affect explorers.

Investors should weigh the upside against clear risks which includes no economic study, development would be underground, the Nuevo Horizonte targets remain untested, and ATEX is led by an interim CEO. Phase VII results, geophysics at Nuevo Horizonte, and the MRE update expected in the second half of 2027 are the key milestones to monitor.

View ATEX Resources' company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/atex-resources-inc

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