Great Northern Minerals (ASX:GNM) is the company behind The Catalyst Ridge Project in the Mountain Pass district California and the Iron Butte gold and silver project in Nevada’s Battle Mountain belt. The latter of these was only picked up in April 2026, but GNM has recently delivered a maiden MRE.

480koz gold and 11.47Moz silver

The MRE, comprises two components. First, a combined gold-silver (Au-Ag) zone contains 37.9Mt @ 0.4 g/t Au and 6 g/t Ag for 480,000oz Au and 6.67m oz Ag (Inferred, JORC 2012, ERM Australia Consultants). The silver-only zone adds a further 19.25Mt @ 8 g/t Ag for 4.8m oz Ag, giving total reported silver of 11.47m oz. Applying an 85:1 Au:Ag ratio, brings the total contained metal at Iron Butte is approximately 615,000oz of gold equivalent. Importantly, the resource remains open in all directions and the deposit geometry is consistent with low-cost heap-leach development. In other words, the company does not know where the mineralisation ends yet, and it is clear that a future development shouldn’t be complicated and costly.

A drilling program will happen next quarter

A Q3 2026 drilling program targeting both oxide extensions and deeper Carlin-style mineralisation below 500m will define whether Iron Butte has the potential to grow into a multi-million-ounce system. The company plans to begin this in August as soon as permitted is approved and a drill contractor is secured and investors could see results in Q4. Investors can be confident in the basis that there have only been 2 drill holes in the 4-500m range, but both have shown strong potential. The company has identified four compelling targets.

EV/Resource valuation implies A$0.07 per share

While it is still too early to apply a DCF model to GNM, we think we can now use an EV/Resource methodology to value the company. We have chosen to use neighbouring Black Bear (ASX:BKB) as a peer comparison and it trades at A$76/oz. Applying A$76/oz to GNM derives $0.07 per share. We see further upside beyond this if GNM can continue to grow the resource. Please see p.11 for further details on our valuation and p.13 for the key risks.