Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: Gold Stocks

Southern Cross Gold (TSX-V: SXGC)(OTC: MWSNF) CEO Michael Hudson on Receiving Work Plan Approval for Exploration Tunnel at Sunday Creek

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president and CEO of Southern Cross Gold (TSX-V: SXGC)(OTC: MWSNF), Mr. Michael Hudson. Mike, how are you today, sir?

Michael Hudson: Gerardo, I'm very well. Thank you for having me back.

Gerardo Del Real: Listen, congratulations are in order. I just got done writing the monthly newsletter on the publishing side for a service that I write and manage. I cover Southern Cross. It's done phenomenally well. We're up almost a thousand percent on it. And every month when I provide an update, I tell subscribers and shareholders to expect more of the same the next month, which is high grade gold, high grade antimony, some of the best hits that you've ever seen, and a continuation of what you've been doing essentially now for well over a year.

But there was some news on November the 27th that I think went over the market's head. And that was the work plan approval for an exploration tunnel at Sunday Creek. That is a big, big deal, not just right now, but for what it literally opens up exploration wise and development wise in the future as it relates to targeting, drilling, more efficient targeting, more efficient drilling.

There was also like a very huge government endorsement that came with this. So first off, congratulations. Phenomenal work. Second off, I would love for you to explain what this tunnel and this approval means for the company here moving forward.

Michael Hudson: Thanks, Gerardo. It was a milestone. It was a milestone to get the permit. It came in rapid time. Victoria, which hasn't been known to be a mining state for many years in many ways. Despite hosting Fosterville, the highest grade gold mine on earth four of the last 10 years and the back of the expansion of the English empire, even going back into the 1800s was funded by gold from Victoria. It competed with California as the largest gold producer on earth. It was producing something like a third of the world's gold at the time. So it's got a pedigree, but it'd been forgotten and lost. And then Fosterville came and re-sparked the flame in a slightly different geology, something that was more amenable to modern day mining.

And of course, we found another one of these systems and we've been working on it for the last three years, essentially, putting a lot of drilling in. We've got 10 rigs there. We're going to 22 rigs. It's going to be the biggest drill out in Australia on a pre-development project and probably the world. I haven't done the stats and tried to work that out, but you're not going to find many more rigs on any project outside of mine in many places. So that's the backdrop.

And then we have now a project that obviously has multimillion ounce, 10 gram potential. We're running resources internally. We're drilling all this to put out a first resource by Q1 '27, which will have a substantial size to it. But we want to get underground. And the reason for going underground is to drill out the mineralization quicker. Time is our greatest enemy here. So getting more rigs on the project is possible by going underground. And then you can de risk it on every level from a resource point of view, et cetera, mineability point of view by going and touching the ore. And there's many, many other benefits, progressive permitting and taking a lot of the permitting risk off the table early.

So we went down and started the process of collecting all that data internally earlier this year, late last year. And then four months ago, we applied for this and it was granted four months. And that just shows how responsive and honest the Victorian government is.

But just as impressive as gaining that permit and what a great team, I must say, that everyone who succeeds in this business has an amazing team behind them. And that we do at with so many levels of expertise now from engineers to hydrogeologists to fauna and flora, dust and sound experts, et cetera.

The decision for the decline was announced by the head of our state government here, the Premier, at a key economic forum. So it was one of the pillars of her economic platform was critical minerals, and our permit was the one she showcased to demonstrate that they're getting on with business. The other two, by the way, were AI and data centers.

So it was anointed from the very top levels of government. The project's very exciting. And now we have so much flexibility once we get under there, of course, to do lots of different things and seek different permits in terms of bulk samples and eventually utilizing this access that's only permitted for exploration today for lots of other things.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, Mike, congrats. I would ask you what comes next, but clearly what comes next is 22 rigs and a whole heck of a lot of assays for the next several years. If you are able to stick around and manage to not be taken out, though I know we have had conversations and then you have previously stated that with the shareholder registry being as strong and substantial as it is, that would likely have to be at a pretty substantial premium of today's price. Is that still accurate?

Michael Hudson: Well, remembering the people we've got behind this company, Pierre Lassonde, Darren Morcombe, Kiril Sokoloff, who own 30%, are some of the best brains and value investors ever in the gold space, 25% backing from super funds and institutions. And so there's a very aligned group here who see the opportunity of what we're trying to do, which is to produce not the world's largest mine, but certainly one of the highest margin mines on earth. And that you can do with 10 grand material, which is where we're heading and sort of put out exploration targets, all drill constrained. And that's sort of the sweet spot of where this deposit looks like it's heading. And it's multimillion ounce scale. So it's a unique asset.

I should say, just as a matter of interest, I just picked up on your point, it's gone under the radar a bit. Unfortunately, we were working to government timing on the announcement of that permit, and it was the Premier who announced the key economic forum, as I mentioned, and she didn't think about Thanksgiving in North America. So the news came out on a Thursday afternoon in Australia and the Friday morning, I think, in Canada. So it was during a major break for you over there.

So there's still a lot to absorb and the significance of this decision from a permitting, from a government anointment to de-risking, touching the ore is still really to be soaked up and the value for what this represents to the project really understood.

Gerardo Del Real: No, listen, great work, a lot of news flow to come. Have a great end to the year, and I suspect you and I will be chatting often in 2026, Mike. Thank you so much for your time.

Michael Hudson: Thank you, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. Let's do it again soon. Cheers.