American Pacific Mining Corp.
American Pacific Mining's flagship is the 100%-owned, past-producing Madison Copper-Gold Project near Silver Star, Montana. Kennecott Exploration Company (a Rio Tinto subsidiary) held an 11-year earn-in option to acquire up to 70% of Madison for up to ~US$30M in spend, but that option was mutually discontinued in February 2024 and American Pacific regained 100% ownership -- it is not currently a joint venture. A fully-funded, two-rig, 15,000m drill program is underway in 2026 testing near-surface skarn and deeper porphyry-style copper-gold targets, with the company's first mineral resource estimate for Madison targeted for 2027. American Pacific no longer holds the Palmer copper-zinc VMS project in southeast Alaska: it sold Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., the subsidiary that held Palmer, to Vizsla Copper Corp. in a sale that closed on December 4, 2025 for 13,888,888 Vizsla Copper shares (about C$15 million) plus up to C$15 million in milestone payments, leaving American Pacific with an equity stake in Vizsla Copper (~15.8% at closing) rather than any direct interest in Palmer or its mineral resource. The company's remaining projects are all in Nevada: it wholly owns Ziggurat (gold) and Gooseberry (silver-gold, a past-producing mine that operated between 1900 and 1990), and holds Red Hill (gold, Cortez Trend) under lease. No project American Pacific currently holds carries a current NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate. CEO is Warwick Smith.
Notable vs. Peers
- Financials score of 8.9/10 is stronger than the peer average of 5.5/10.
Lifecycle Milestones
Jurisdiction (40%)8/10
Montana: Fraser PPI 2025 is 69.00 of 100 (rank 40 of 68), which maps to 8 on this site's scale. The Madison copper-gold project is near Silver Star, Montana; the company's other projects are in Nevada. Montana has US rule of law, but mining executives rate its policy climate below the leading western states such as Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Infrastructure (40%)No verified figure
Researched with nothing found: no source we could cite confirms or rules out an existing mill, road access, grid power, or tailings facility at Madison Copper-Gold Project, Silver Star, Montana (checked Oct 2, 2026; recheck due Mar 31, 2027). Counts at a neutral 5/10 until one does.
Nearby producing mine (20%)8.6/10
Continental (Butte) (Montana Resources, LLP) is 40 km away -- within regional-platform range.
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:6/10
Nearest producing mine: Continental (Butte) (Montana Resources, LLP), 40 km
10 next to a producing mine, 8 at 20 km, 5 at 50 km, 0 beyond 200 km.
Weight 22.5% · 46% here - Lifecycle stageSub-score:1/10
Stage: Grassroots Exploration
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 31% here - JurisdictionSub-score:8/10
United States: jurisdiction score 8/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 14% here - CommoditySub-score:8/10
Primary commodity: Copper
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% 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
Chief Executive Officer and Director of American Pacific Mining Corp., appointed CEO in July 2017. Venture capitalist specializing in resources; led the acquisitions of Constantine Metals' Palmer VMS Project in Alaska and the Madison Mine in Montana. Nominated for S&P Global Platts' CEO of the Year (2022) and Deal of the Year (2021). Previously CEO of Western Pacific Resources Corp., overseeing its Deer Trail Mine acquisition.
President, Senior Strategic Advisor and Director of American Pacific Mining Corp. 12+ years' capital markets and corporate development experience in the resource sector. Former Executive Vice President at Maple Gold Mines. B.Com (Honours), Royal Roads University; Marketing Management Entrepreneurship diploma (Honours), BCIT.
Managing Director of Exploration and Director of American Pacific Mining Corp. Senior geologist with nearly three decades in the minerals industry; former Newmont Exploration Manager for the Western US. Worked on major projects including Bingham Canyon and Carlin, and on Yanacocha.
Chief Financial Officer of American Pacific Mining Corp. Finance executive with 20+ years' advisory experience; Partner at Quantum Advisory Partners since 2005, providing CFO and accounting services. Expertise in financial reporting, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
Independent Director of American Pacific Mining Corp. 45+ years' experience in worldwide diversified mineral exploration and mining geology. Former CEO and Chairman of Miranda Gold. Master of Science, Texas Christian University. Trustee of the Tonopah Historic Mining Park Foundation.
Independent Director of American Pacific Mining Corp. Managing Partner of Sequoia Partners Inc.; 25+ years' corporate financial services experience. CFA charterholder; B.Sc., University of British Columbia; MBA and M.Aq., Simon Fraser University.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
ASA Gold and Precious Metals, a well-known specialist closed-end mining fund, holds a small stake. Five different directors and officers made genuine open-market purchases between August and October 2025, with no insider selling on record -- a modest cluster of insider conviction.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
American Pacific Mining's flagship is the 100%-owned, past-producing Madison copper-gold project near Silver Star, Montana, which it regained in full in February 2024 when Kennecott Exploration's earn-in option was discontinued. A fully funded two-rig program of about 15,000m is under way in 2026, and on 9 September 2026 the company reported 30.8m of massive sulphide at 7.4 g/t gold, 9.62 g/t silver and 0.29% copper in hole M26C-02, including 20.1m at 11.15 g/t gold; its first resource estimate for Madison is targeted for 2027. On 4 December 2025 it sold Constantine Metal Resources, holder of the Palmer copper-zinc project in Alaska, to Vizsla Copper for 13,888,888 Vizsla Copper shares, about 15.8% of that company at closing, plus up to C$15M in milestone payments. In Nevada it wholly owns the Ziggurat gold and Gooseberry silver-gold projects and holds Red Hill under lease, and none of its current projects has a current NI 43-101 resource.