KORE Mining Ltd.
KORE Mining Ltd. is a Vancouver-based gold explorer/developer advancing the Imperial Gold Project, a shallow open-pit, run-of-mine heap-leach deposit in Imperial County, southeastern California, USA, alongside the earlier-stage Long Valley gold-silver project in Mono County. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (effective 30 Dec 2019 resource, released 6 Apr 2020; base case US$1,450/oz Au) reported an after-tax NPV at a 5% discount rate of US$343 million, an after-tax IRR of 44%, an 8-year mine life averaging 146,000 oz Au/year (1.2 million oz total production), all-in sustaining costs of US$852/oz, and initial capital expenditure of US$142 million. The underlying resource totals 877,000 oz Au Indicated plus 1,336,000 oz Au Inferred. The company's shares were reinstated to TSXV trading in August 2025 following resolution of a Failure-to-File Cease Trade Order.
Notable vs. Peers
- Financials score of 2.9/10 is weaker than the peer average of 5.3/10.
- Jurisdiction risk score of 6/10 is meaningfully riskier than the peer average of 7.8/10.
- Trading within 5% of its 52-week low — weak recent price momentum.
Lifecycle Milestones
Not in place: mill, tailings facility. Not yet determined: grid power.
Combined view across 2 projects. Figures below are only combined where the underlying basis genuinely matches -- see the notes under each.
- 44%Imperial Gold Project, Imperial County, California, USA
- 8 yrsImperial Gold Project, Imperial County, California, USA
Jurisdiction (40%)6/10
California: Fraser PPI 2024 is 25.66 of 100 (rank 68 of 82; not rated in the 2025 survey), which maps to 6 on this site's scale. The Imperial gold project is in Imperial County, California. California has US rule of law, but its mining policy climate ranks among the lowest in Fraser's survey, and a new mine needs CEQA environmental review and county approvals.
Infrastructure (40%)4.3/10
No confirmed mill, confirmed road access, and no confirmed tailings facility at Imperial Gold Project, Imperial County, California, USA; grid power not yet researched, counted at a neutral 5/10 until established.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No project coordinates on file yet, so distance to a producing mine can't be measured.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score: Not scored
No producer holds a disclosed stake on file (holder register researched) See holders
Not scored: most juniors that do get bought had no prior toehold, so a missing stake says little either way.
Weight 25% - Distance to a producing mineSub-score: Not yet researched
Distance not yet researched: no project coordinates on file
Distance can't be measured without coordinates, so excluded rather than counted as far.
Weight 22.5% - Lifecycle stageSub-score:6/10
Stage: Preliminary Economic Assessment
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 57% here - JurisdictionSub-score:6/10
United States: jurisdiction score 6/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 26% here - CommoditySub-score:10/10
Primary commodity: Gold
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 17% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Management Team
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KORE Mining Ltd., which he founded. Also founder of Karus Mining and Stronghold Silver. Bachelor of Science in Engineering (1999), specializing in geological and geotechnical engineering, University of New Brunswick.
Chief Financial Officer of First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp.; also Chief Financial Officer & Director of KORE Mining Ltd. and Chief Financial Officer of Slam Exploration Ltd. (CA, CBV, CFA) Chartered accountant, chartered business valuator and CFA charterholder; founded CorpFinance in 1984 and was previously a Tax and Business Valuation Manager at Touche Ross & Co., assisting companies with financing, public offerings, and restructuring.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
Eric Sprott made two large cash investments in KORE in 2019 and 2020, building a stake that peaked above 25% -- but he fully exited his common-share position on October 12, 2022, selling 29,508,444 shares over the TSX Venture Exchange (mistakenly believing his holdings had already fallen under the 20% insider-reporting threshold), at which point he and his holding company ceased to be insiders, retaining only 1,095,000 warrants (about 0.9% partially diluted). No reconfirmation of any renewed position has been found in the more than three years since -- this is a confirmed historical exit, not an unconfirmed dilution. No open-market insider buying was found -- all recent insider activity is placement participation.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
KORE Mining owns 100% of two gold projects in California: Imperial, a shallow open-pit, heap-leach oxide deposit in Imperial County, and Long Valley in Mono County. Together they hold 2,094,000 oz of gold in the indicated category, with no measured category, made up of 877,000 oz at Imperial and 1,217,000 oz at Long Valley, plus 1,789,000 oz inferred. A preliminary economic assessment for Imperial released in April 2020, at a gold price of US$1,450/oz, gave an after-tax NPV (5%) of US$343M, a 44% after-tax IRR, an 8-year mine life and an all-in sustaining cost of US$852/oz, and Long Valley has its own 2020 preliminary economic assessment. The resource estimates date from 2019 and 2020, and neither study has been replaced by a newer one. In February 2026 the company closed the second tranche of a private placement to fund permitting and exploration at its California projects.