Interview with Paul Lock, Managing Director, Flagship Minerals

Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/flagship-minerals-asxflg-gold-copper-potential-in-chile-7407

Recording date: 13th May 2026

Junior exploration company Flagship Minerals has announced a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Isidora Gold project, located in Chile’s premier Maricunga gold belt. The update effectively doubles the project's resource to 2.1 million ounces of gold (115.2 million tons at 0.56 g/t) without a single meter of new exploration drilling.

The dramatic resource expansion was achieved entirely through economic remodeling. Flagship optimized the cutoff grade from 0.3 g/t to 0.16 g/t in the oxide zones to reflect modern, elevated gold prices. Managing Director Paul Lock noted that the original 2010 NI 43-101 resource was calculated in a $1,000/oz gold environment, whereas the updated figures use a conservative modern baseline. Approximately 80% of the pit-constrained resource is now classified in high-confidence measured and indicated categories.

Flagship is targeting a mine life of over 10 years, with a production profile of 125,000 to 150,000 ounces per year. The development strategy heavily reduces upfront capital expenditure by deploying low-cost heap leach processing for oxide and mixed materials during the first 5 to 6 years, before transitioning to sulfide treatment.

The project's economics are heavily benchmarked against Rio2's neighboring Fenix project. Flagship projects all-in sustaining costs (AISC) to sit comfortably below $1,500/oz, positioning Isidora in the bottom third of the global cost curve.

Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/flagship-minerals