Junior mining doesn’t move randomly.
It moves in steps.
Each step reduces uncertainty - and the market tends to assign a higher valuation range at each stage.
In BC copper porphyry projects, that ladder looks roughly like this:
Regional target stage: $5M–$30M EV
Geophysical anomaly defined: $20M–$80M EV
First drill holes: $30M–$150M EV
Discovery intercept: $100M–$500M EV
NI 43-101 resource: $200M–$1B+
Each transition is not incremental.
It’s often 2x to 5x re-rating, depending on results.
Right now, NovaRed sits around ~$51.5M CAD (~$37M USD).
That places it between the regional target stage and confirmed anomaly stage.
In other words, the market is starting to price in that something is there — but not yet pricing drilling success.
The 2026 geophysics program matters because it’s not just “more data.”
It’s a step on the ladder.
And historically, each completed step doesn’t just add information.
It changes the valuation framework entirely.
That’s the structure behind how juniors re-rate.
NFA