Gold Prices Hit Records. Where Are the Major Discoveries?

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1. Disclosure for the quote from the Stewart Thomson article published on September 8, 2026.

1. Eminent Gold has paid Street Smart (an affiliate of Streetwise Reports) a fee of US$4,000 for the preparation of an independent technical research report, published on September 8, 2026.
2. Author Certification and Compensation: Stewart Thomson was retained and compensated as an independent contractor by Street Smart for writing this article. Mr. Thomson is a retired Canadian financial advisor who has passed the Canadian Securities Course as well as additional technical analysis courses that were mandated by his former employer and approved by Ontario regulatory bodies. Mr. Thomson is not an investment advisor. He does not know the financial situation or risk tolerance of any reader. For the past 15 years, he has been editing and writing numerous financial newsletters that have a strong focus on charts. The recommendations and opinions expressed in this content reflect the personal, independent, and objective views of the author regarding any and all of the companies discussed. No part of the compensation received by the author was, is, or will be directly or indirectly tied to the specific recommendations or views expressed. Mr. Thomson owns no securities in Eminent Gold  and he has no direct financial relationship with the company.

2. Ownership and Share Structure Information

Ownership percentages, named holders, share count, market capitalization, and the 52-week range for Eminent Gold were compiled from company public filings and investor materials, exchange notices, insider-trade reports (SEDI / equivalent), and third-party data providers. Figures are as of 2026-11-13 unless a source was dated earlier. Pie slices are normalized to 100% of basic shares outstanding; retail is the residual after disclosed institutions, management, insiders, and strategic holders. Warrant terms are current outstanding series only. Restructures are historical consolidations, splits, and symbol or name changes. Insider buying and selling covers open-market trades from the prior six months through 2026-11-13 and excludes option exercises. These are public-source estimates and can differ from a later official register.

Gold cleared US$5,000 an ounce in early 2026. Yet just nine gold deposits discovered between 2020 and 2025 had reached the industry's major-discovery threshold, according to a September 25 analysis by S&P Global Energy. Higher prices have made more gold worth mining, but they have not made large, previously unknown deposits easier to find.

The nine discoveries contained a combined 38 million ounces in estimated reserves, resources and past production. S&P counted a discovery as major once its identified gold reached at least 2 million ounces, dating it to the original drilling that eventually established the deposit. Recent discoveries can grow as drilling continues, but the question remains: Where will the next generation of major gold deposits come from?

More Money for Gold, Less for New Ground

The problem predates this year's rally. In a January 7 assessment, World Gold Council researchers John Reade and Ray Jia wrote that "mined production lags the gold price by at least six years." Their analysis, drawing on Metals Focus projections, anticipated that mine output could gradually plateau over the following years. Higher prices can encourage expansions and the reopening of existing mines long before they can deliver new discoveries.

On March 10, S&P Global's World Exploration Trends 2026 research showed how exploration money was being allocated. Global nonferrous exploration budgets totaled US$12.4 billion in 2025, a third annual decline. Minesite exploration, conducted around established operations, received 45% of those budgets. Grassroots exploration, the riskier search for deposits away from established resources, received a record-low 21%. Those percentages cover nonferrous minerals overall, not gold alone.

Two days later, Reade and Jia examined whether the world was running out of mineable gold. They rejected that immediate conclusion. Metals Focus estimated 54,770 metric tons of economically mineable gold reserves at the end of 2025, and higher prices can convert some previously uneconomic resources into reserves. That can improve the industry's reported reserve inventory without adding a newly discovered deposit.

The gold-specific numbers showed an even sharper contrast. In a June 4 review, S&P Global reported that 2025 gold exploration budgets rose 11% to US$6.15 billion. But 51% went to mine-site projects, while only 18% supported grassroots work. Producers were spending more, just not primarily on the unfamiliar ground where genuinely new districts might be found.

Finding Gold Is Only the Beginning

Discovery is not the same as production. In a July 8 study of mining project lead times, S&P Global examined 232 assets and calculated an average of 16 years from discovery to production, including projects not yet operating. The 203 operating mines averaged 14 years; 29 advanced but nonoperating projects had estimated timelines approaching 30 years. The study covered mining projects generally, not exclusively gold. Permitting, financing, engineering, and construction can delay even a successful discovery's contribution to supply.

S&P Global's September 25 major gold discoveries review placed the shortage in historical context. It identified 371 qualifying deposits discovered from 1990 through 2025, containing roughly 3.2 billion ounces. Discoveries dated to 1990-1995 accounted for 1.3 billion ounces, compared with 38 million ounces for those dated from 2020 onward. The older deposits have had decades to expand, so those totals should not be read as identical stages of exploration.

The more recent discoveries were also smaller on average: 4.3 million ounces since 2020, compared with 7.3 million ounces for discoveries in the 2010s. S&P found that just 115 of 258 initial gold resource announcements during 2020-2025 came from greenfield assets, meaning projects outside established producing or resource areas.

Analyst Cesar Pastrana wrote, "The discovery challenge has become increasingly technical and costly." Accessible deposits have been extensively explored, leaving deeper targets, geological cover, and more difficult interpretations.

That has changed the exploration toolkit. Gravity surveys can map buried density contrasts and potential faults. Airborne geophysics can trace structures where surface mapping is incomplete, while soil chemistry, alteration minerals, and geological age dating can help prioritize areas for drilling. These tools identify patterns consistent with mineralizing systems; they do not measure an orebody or establish economic grades. A geological model still has to survive the drill bit.

Near-term supply has not collapsed. The World Gold Council's November 3 report recorded third-quarter 2026 mine output of 1,071 metric tons, up 3% from a year earlier and a third-quarter record. It projected a possible annual production record, while noting that industry all-in sustaining costs, a broad measure of ongoing mine expenses, had reached US$1,930 an ounce in the second quarter. A thin discovery pipeline raises questions for future replacement of depleted mines, not an immediate shortage of mined gold.

In an updated November 10 analysis, S&P Global researcher Eloisa Lanuza added another complication. Even though 2025 gold prices averaged US$3,444 an ounce against average all-in sustaining costs of US$1,615, strong margins did not automatically translate into free cash flow after capital expenditures. A profitable mining sector does not necessarily produce a larger budget for risky first-time discoveries.

Nevada's Buried Geological Clues

Eminent Gold Corporation (EMNT:TSXV; EMGDF:OTCQB; 7AB:FSE) is testing that challenge in Nevada. At its Hot Springs Range and Celts projects, the company combines drilling, geological mapping, soil chemistry, and geophysical surveys to search for systems obscured by younger rocks. The data can suggest where to drill, but cannot establish a deposit without subsurface evidence.

At Hot Springs Range, Eminent has reported gold mineralization at Otis. Initial core drilling included 9.2 meters grading 3.2 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold. Its September 17 assays included 57.9 meters grading 0.3 g/t in hole HSR2601, ending with 3.0 meters at 2.1 g/t when the reverse-circulation rig reached its depth limit. Alteration and associated elements have guided plans for deeper core drilling; no resource has been established.

At Eden, approximately 10 kilometers from Otis, a three-kilometer gold-in-soil anomaly overlies geophysically interpreted faults. The company is testing whether those structures belong to a broader Carlin-style system, a Nevada deposit type involving fine-grained gold in sedimentary rocks. The separation makes the regional interpretation worth investigating, but does not demonstrate continuous mineralization between Otis and Eden.

Celts offers another clue: geological age. An October 15 announcement reported an alunite alteration-mineral age of 11.73 million years, plus or minus 0.12 million, similar to the mineralization period at AngloGold Ashanti Plc.'s (AU:NYSE; ANG:JSE) Arthur gold project roughly 100 kilometers away. Shared timing can help identify productive regional events, but does not mean equivalent deposits formed. Eminent disclosed that the result was preliminary, pending a formal laboratory report.

At Celts, mapping identified a bend in a major fault and a down-dropped block that may have provided pathways for mineralizing fluids. Selective surface samples outside historic mine dumps returned up to 1.5 g/t gold, and the claim area expanded to 1,020 hectares. Vice President of Exploration Justin Milliard said, "It shows Celts was active during the same event that formed the major gold system at the Arthur Project." Whether the interpretation points to economically significant gold remains untested.

Technical Analyst Identified Bullish Signals

¹In a September 8 technical analysis, Stewart Thomson assigned Eminent Gold a "Speculative Buy" rating, identifying short-, medium-, and long-term share-price resistance levels of CA$0.63, CA$0.76, and CA$0.87, respectively.

Examining the company's daily chart, Thomson wrote, "A flag-like drift is in play. A breakout could be imminent." He also identified bullish divergences in the money flow index and relative strength index, along with a potential moving average convergence divergence buy signal.

Thomson cited drilling progress, initial gold intercepts at Otis, and Kinross Gold's strategic investment as supporting factors, while cautioning that financing requirements and exploration uncertainty remained significant risks. 

The Tests Still Ahead

The company's October 17 investor presentation scheduled further Otis drilling and Eden's first holes for the fourth quarter of 2026 into early 2027. At Otis, core work would probe beneath known intercepts. At Eden, inaugural drilling would test buried faults beneath the soil anomaly. The timetable did not confirm that Eden drilling had begun.

At Celts, five holes totaling approximately 2,500 meters were proposed: two along Cool Boy fault targets and three in a potentially favorable layer-hosted setting near Gold Button. The first two were permitted as of October 15, while the others required approvals and financing. The presentation targeted the first quarter of 2027 for initial drilling. Those holes will test whether the geological clues identified at Celts extend into a significant gold system at depth, the kind of discovery that has become increasingly difficult for the broader industry to make.