PrivatePlacements: Hi Tim, thanks so much for joining us today. We're a big believer in USGO, so it's always good to hear from you.

Tim Smith: Thanks for the opportunity to update your readers on U.S. GoldMining Inc., and to provide some more insights into our progress in advancing and unlocking the value in our Whistler gold-copper project in Alaska. 

PrivatePlacements: Let's start with the broadest possible overview of the gold market. What are your key takeaways from the gold sector today? Where do you see it going?

Tim Smith: Well in the broadest possible terms I see the gold price going higher. One very basic reason: over the long term, supply will struggle to keep up with demand. We have seen the reserves and resources of the gold producers decline over the past ten years, while over the same period the reserve currency status of the US$ has been declining and so investors, from private investors all the way up to the central banks, have accelerated their buying of gold.   

PrivatePlacements: The dollar has been putting pressure on gold, and rate cuts seem to be fairly far off. What's your take on those two factors?

Tim Smith: Through the summer of 2023 we’ve seen some short-term strength come back into the USD as the U.S economy has grown. However persistent inflation continues to erode the buying power of the dollar, the cost of borrowing remains extremely high which we’d expect would slow the economy, and in fact many financial institutions are still cautioning that the U.S economy could head into recession.   

These factors should drive investors towards ‘safe haven’ or ‘store of value’ investments within their portfolio, such as gold. I think that’s why we’re seeing gold continue to hold its value above $1900/oz over recent months, which is historically a great place to be. I think we’re building a great base here and, for the reasons already mentioned above, over the longer term I think we’ll see the trend head towards much higher gold prices as existing mines get to the end of their life and resource replacement is harder to find while demand continues to grow.  

PrivatePlacements: How do you think U.S GoldMining fits into the current gold market? Where's it fit in that larger story?

Tim Smith: U.S. GoldMining Inc. owns the large Whistler gold-copper project which is located in a supportive mining jurisdiction, Alaska. In addition to providing investors with exposure to gold and copper commodity prices, which we are very bullish on, we are also focused on delivering value by growing and advancing the project through our exploration activities and defining a feasible mining opportunity. We also believe Whistler is exactly the sort of project that existing gold producers – including the majors and mid-tier producers – want to have in their project development portfolio in order to be able to sustain their long-term gold production profile. 

PrivatePlacements: You recently attended the Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek and the Denver Gold Show in Colorado Springs. These can be an excellent way to take the temperature of the larger industry. 

What were your takeaways from these conferences? What was the general sentiment from the investors? Were there any key discussion points that you found particularly interesting?

Tim Smith: The predominant discussion point lately has focused around just how disconnected gold equities are to a historically high and relatively stable gold price. In other words, there are many undervalued stories out there. We certainly believe that this is the case for Whistler as well, which has traded between about $8 - $15/oz in the ground since our IPO. In comparison, we’ve seen that advanced de-risked gold projects can trade at much higher multiples of around $50/oz for compelling PEA stories, and north of $100/oz for projects that have a defined feasibility study. 

PrivatePlacements: Let's zero in further on U.S GoldMining. Can you give us your quick pitch for the company overall?

Tim Smith: Sure thing: U.S. GoldMining Inc. is a Nasdaq listed (Ticker: USGO) gold-copper exploration company, with its primary asset being the large Whistler gold-copper project located 100 miles west of Anchorage in Alaska, U.S.A. In fact, it’s the closest large undeveloped gold-copper project to the main city, harbor and workforce of Anchorage and neighboring municipalities in south central Alaska. U.S. GoldMining Inc. completed a successful IPO in April of 2023, raising $20M to undertake a multi-phase drilling program through to completion of an initial mine scoping study which will be completed to Preliminary Economic Assessment (‘PEA’) format. The company is now fully permitted and fully funded to deliver on its inaugural exploration program and we have recently commenced work with our maiden drilling program.

PrivatePlacements: We believe that one of the key factors that make you stand out is your team. You and Alastair come from both sides of the sector—one of you has successfully been taken out by a major producer, the other has worked for the majors on M&A and has been a steward steering major mines through to production. Could you detail the kinds of advantages that come from such experience? 

Tim Smith: Certainly. I think Alastair and I bring a complimentary combination of skills and experience that will help us steer the Whistler project forwards to unlock value for shareholders. I’m certainly glad to be working together with Alastair, who I first worked with in 2016 when I was VP Exploration for Kaminak Gold Corporation and Alastair was leading the Goldcorp acquisition of Kaminak in Canada for approximate value of C$520M. Together I think we know how to optimize the value within a project and de-risk it to ensure passage through the exploration, feasibility and permitting towards potential mine development. 

PrivatePlacements: What do you think are the key factors that differentiate your flagship Whistler project from other prominent exploration projects on the market?

Tim Smith: Location and size are perhaps the first things; there are very few large projects in Canada or the USA that are not already owned by a mid-tier or major producer/developer. We’ve seen a recent trend of consolidation, acquisitions and investments into these jurisdictions which we expect to continue. Secondly, Whistler is on state land, which means that we deal with one regulator; as opposed to some other projects in the U.S. that have a patchwork of ownership including state, federal and Native corporation. Thirdly, Whistler is a gold-rich copper porphyry, combining the benefits of two metals that we predict will see growth in demand and therefore value: gold, for all the reasons outlined earlier, and copper because it is a critical component to the ‘greening’ of the reduced-carbon economy. 

PrivatePlacements: A big part of the Whistler story is the supportive State of Alaska. But the area may have some investors gun shy. Could you explain what makes Whistler different from other projects in Alaska that may have experienced delays or challenges with advancing development or production?

Tim Smith: The Alaska Government is certainly overall supportive of resource development projects. Alaska is, after all, a natural resource-driven economy. Whistler in particular is potentially set to be a major beneficiary of the State’s ‘Roads to Resources’ policy which locally comprises the proposed ‘West Susitna Access Road’ which could link Whistler with transportation infrastructure including road, rail and port in and around Anchorage. The State made a major announcement about that recently, with funding set aside for the Alaska Department of Transportation to potentially commence construction on the first sector of the West Susitna Access Road in 2025. 

We differentiate Whistler from some other Alaskan resource projects as we enjoy being located only on State land, as opposed to other projects which sometimes cross a patchwork of State, Federal, Native Corporation land and even National Parks. In contrast to projects that may be close to large commercial or subsistence fisheries, Whistler is located within a basin that drains into Cook Inlet, already home to the industrial and population hub of Anchorage.

PrivatePlacements: Are there any peers in the sector, or other success stories, that you believe (or hope) to be comparable to the U.S. GoldMining story?

Tim Smith: As far as recent northern stories that are resonating right now, we see Snowline in Yukon getting a lot of market attention at present. Whistler and Snowline projects appear broadly to be the same family of deposit style, being intrusive hosted broad bulk tonnage styles of mineralization. Whistler has the added advantage of a significant component of copper mineralization that occurs with the predominant gold mineralization, and while Snowline has not yet announced a mineral resource estimate, Whistler is currently more advanced with a mineral resource estimate comprising approximately 3 million gold equivalent ounces in the indicated category and 6.4 million gold equivalent ounces classified as inferred. 

PrivatePlacements:  Your team IPOd back in April. How has the company evolved since then? What has been your biggest focus in the intervening months?

Tim Smith:   Our biggest focus has been on executing our plan for the use of proceeds from the IPO, which is to drill around 10,000 meters core over the course of the 2023-24  field seasons, then to update the geologic model and the resource estimate which will ultimately feed into the proposed commencement of a PEA in the second half of next year. 

We had already made significant progress prior to the IPO in terms of ‘re-booting’ the Whistler project, getting our geologic database in shape, appointing key contractors and lining up our exploration permit. So, post IPO we were able to hit the ground running in May with the startup of work to reopen the Whistler exploration camp. Camp was fully refurbished, up to code, and ready for exploration to begin by the end of July, so we brought our first drill into site in early August and began drilling by about the middle of August. 

PrivatePlacements:  You've begun ongoing exploration at your flagship Whistler project. How has that been going? What is the timeline on drilling? Anything you've uncovered so far that you can share?

Tim Smith:   We announced back in August that we intend to drill around 10,000 meters over the course of 2023 – 2024. The drilling is currently focussing on the Whistler Deposit, which is the namesake and largest of the three gold-copper porphyries that make up the mineral resource inventory for the overall Whistler Project. We want to fully delineate the margins of the deposit and test for expansions, and in particular to improve delineation of higher-grade zones within the deposit. It’s exciting to see the progression of the first drilling program on the project in over a decade. Drilling is progressing, the core is being processed and sent for assays. We will have more news once assay results become available.

PrivatePlacements: Can we get a sneak peek at what's coming next for USGO? What catalysts can investors look forward to?

Tim Smith: We expect our 2023 maiden drilling season to wrap up about the end of October / early November, and we’ll be monitoring the drill production and safety of our crews as the fall weather starts to turn to winter up in Alaska. We plan to commence metallurgical test work over the winter with drill samples we’ve collected, work on updating our geological model with all the new drill data we’re collecting, and also look forward to compiling our assays results to assess opportunities for follow-up drilling next summer, 2024.

PrivatePlacements:  Excellent! Thanks so much to Tim for taking the time to speak to us today. 

For a comprehensive look at what makes U.S. GoldMining such an attractive investment, make sure to read our full report on the company. In the meantime, we'll keep you abreast of any updates as they arrive.