by James Kwantes
Published first at Patreon
The names of some shareholder value creators in junior mining are on everybody's lips - and on everybody's podcasts.
Others exist in the shadows, financing and building businesses that create serious shareholder wealth, without fanfare. I've touched on a few in this space.
Elusive Scottish entrepreneur Harry Dobson is another. On Monday, Dobson was appointed executive chairman and a director of North Peak Resources (NPR-V), an exploration company focused on the Prospect Mountain mine project in Nevada.
You may not have heard of North Peak, but perhaps you've heard of Kirkland Lake Gold and Rupert Resources. Dobson was a founding shareholder in each of them.
Dobson grew up in the Scottish Borders and still returns there for shooting, a hobby (horse racing is another). One of his companies is an AIM-listed oil and gas play called Borders & Southern (BOR), with properties in the Falkland Islands.
The genesis of Dobson's billion-dollar fortune, once (still?) one of Scotland's largest, occurred at Yorkton Securities where he was a senior partner. Dobson and partner Ron Brimacombe (Ron's son Al Brimacombe is now a large shareholder in many of Dobson's plays) joined forces with a young hotshot named Frank Giustra to turn the upstart brokerage into a global mining powerhouse.
Dobson then left Yorkton and started running his own deals, often with business partner Brian Hinchcliffe. The two founded Canadian gold play Kirkland Lake Gold in 2001 and assembled several gold projects in the famed district from Kinross, taking the stock from $2 to $20 over the next 10 years. As of 2011, Dobson owned a 6% stake in Kirkland Lake. The duo exited to new adventures in 2014-15.
Kirkland Lake later merged with Newmarket Gold, adding production from the Fosterville mine in Australia to its high-grade Macassa mine. In 2021, Agnico Eagle (AEM-T) bought Kirkland Lake Gold for $13.5 billion in stock.
In 2004, Dobson and Hinchcliffe also turned their attention to Rupert Resources (RUP-T), then a small junior with a property in Red Lake, Ontario. Rupert assembled properties in Finland's Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, joining Agnico Eagle and Aurion Resources (AU-V) as early movers there.
In 2020, Rupert burst onto the scene with the high-grade Ikkari gold discovery, which hit 4 million ounces on just 36,000 metres of drilling. Rupert now trades at $4.27 for a market cap of about $1.1 billion; Agnico is a 13.3% shareholder.
Dobson was also involved in the early days of Mountain Province Diamonds (MPVD-V), which is backed by Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond.
Dobson is more well-known across the pond, largely a function of his stake in storied club Manchester United in the early 2000s. His golden touch extended to soccer -- he sold the 6.5% stake at a profit three years later, as part of a controversial takeover by American tycoon Malcolm Glazer.
"I knew it would attract attention," Dobson, who was living in Monaco, told a reporter during a rare 2005 interview in The Scotsman newspaper. "I just didn’t expect to find photographers running through my garden and jumping over the wall when I got home - I think one of your guys was one of the jumpers."
In addition to his mining interests, Dobson owns land in Scotland and Ireland as well as a stable of several dozen racehorses.
Dobson is also the founder and chairman of Western Gold Exploration (WGLD-V), which is exploring for copper and gold in Scotland.
He has yet to file a SEDI opening balance for his North Peak shareholding. The stock was at 87 cents before the Dobson announcement and traded down to 80 cents before rebounding this week.
North Peak Resources (NPR-V)
Price: 0.89
Shares out: 40.4 million (47.6M fully diluted)
Market cap: $36 million
Disclosure: I own shares in North Peak Resources and Aurion Resources. No business relationship with any company mentioned. This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial or investment advice. Do your own due diligence.
