Banyan Gold (TSXV:BYN) - Franco-Nevada Backs AurMac Gold Project Ahead of PEA

Interview with Tara Christie, President & CEO of Banyan Gold Corp.

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/banyan-gold-tsxvbyn-undervalued-investment-series-with-tara-christie-9788

Recording date: 24th September 2026

Banyan Gold Corp. (TSXV:BYN) is moving from exploration into development at its AurMac gold project in the Yukon. The project hosts a pit-constrained resource of 3.64 million ounces Indicated at 0.68 g/t and 4.98 million ounces Inferred at 0.58 g/t. It benefits from an unusual level of existing infrastructure for a northern Canadian project, including all-season road access, a grid-connected power line and cell phone coverage. A maiden PEA is due in the fourth quarter of 2026.

CEO Tara Christie describes the PEA as a conservative waypoint rather than an end point. It is built on drilling to the end of 2025 and is expected to assume a large-scale operation of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes per day using a CIL circuit with gravity recovery. It will also assume on-site power from LNG and diesel. Christie argues that publishing now allows Banyan to begin substantive conversations with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, local communities and the territorial and federal governments about the project's footprint, power needs and roads ahead of permitting.

The 2026 drill programme, at 70,000 metres, was designed around the PEA's pit phases. About 60,000 metres at AurMac target high-grade conversion to improve grade, strip ratio and the early-year production profile. Hole AX-26-874, drilled in the previously untested gap between the Airstrip and Powerline deposits, returned 13.03 g/T gold over 14.2 metres. Christie believes it could reshape pit sequencing and potentially form a new starter pit. Deeper drilling is also testing mineralisation below the roughly 200 metre depth limit of historical holes. Banyan plans eight drills from mid-January and a 2027 programme of 100,000 metres at AurMac and 20,000 metres at Nitra.

Funding is the other pillar. Banyan announced a C$50 million LIFE offering and a concurrent C$8 million placement at C$2.00 per share on 20 September 2026. Franco-Nevada, which bought a legacy NSR royalty over AurMac for C$52.2 million earlier in the year, is subscribing for 10 million shares. Christie said the treasury should reach around C$100 million, funding the company through 2027 and into 2028. She is investing C$500,000 personally, and she said all but one of the largest shareholders took up their pro rata share. Banyan also joined the GDXJ ETF on 21 September 2026.

The company is building its development capabilities, adding a Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development and recruiting a Vice President of Engineering. Baseline environmental work has run since 2021. At the Nitra project, 25 kilometres to the west, the first two of 11 targets drilled in 2026 produced discoveries, including 5.70 g/T gold and 544 g/T silver over 0.5 metres at Seattle Creek.<