Collin KettellFounder & CEO

I first interviewed Rick back in 2013 when I was very nervous starting out. He gave me a piece of advice to take a deep breath and have a conversation, and he has been an incredible mentor to me and other young people in the space ever since.

Growing up in a mining family, I watched my father do very well and then struggle during the bear market, which forced me to strike out on my own. I started Palisades as a private company doing consulting and investor relations, which allowed us to accumulate our initial capital base.

The discovery hole in 2019 was a massive breakthrough that changed our trajectory. I managed New Found Gold for four years through the discovery phase, and once it was ready for mine builders, I stepped back to focus on my true passion at Palisades.

We focus on writing checks directly to companies during their financing rounds. This allows us to receive units containing both shares and warrants, giving us long-dated warrants to get upside leverage on high-quality junior mining projects.

We hold positions in 330 companies, which generally represent the TSX Venture Exchange. While gold and silver are our two dominant exposures, we also hold copper, lithium, uranium, critical metals, and oil and gas.

We were most active during 2025 and early 2026. Since then, we have slowed down because we have seen a deterioration in the quality of unit financings. With 1.7 billion warrants already accumulated, we are sitting back and letting the portfolio blossom.

A warrant is an option, but not an obligation, to buy another share for a set price and period. For instance, if you get a warrant at 28 cents and the stock rises to 70 cents, the warrant is 50 cents in the money, giving you huge upside leverage on the trade.

Ideally, companies prefer to issue straight shares without warrants to secure long-term shareholders. Warrants are sweetener tools used when capital is scarce. Now that the bull market has developed, companies can raise capital without offering warrants.

Up until August of last year, the intrinsic value of our warrants was between zero and 5 million. When gold moved, our warrants went to 130 million USD in intrinsic value. Despite the recent pullback, our warrants stand at 60 million USD in intrinsic value today.

Much of the gold price move over the last couple of years has been driven by central banks buying physical gold. This was largely triggered by geopolitical decisions, such as the US administration seizing Russia's reserves, causing central banks to rush into physical gold.

Central banks buy physical gold, not equities. Because retail and institutional investor capital has not yet rushed back into the equity markets, the junior mining stocks and producers have not yet played their leg of the bull market.

We own 90% of Made in America Gold. It holds the largest junior land position in the United States, focused entirely within Nevada's Battle Mountain trend, which is the most prolific gold trend in North America.

We are a one-stop shop managed by shareholders, for shareholders. We have returned 75 million USD to shareholders over the last four years, have high insider ownership of 45%, and have avoided diluting our share structure.

He was deeply mathematical and obsessed over warrants. He spent years explaining the math and leverage of warrants to me on long walks, which drilled the power of warrant structures into my head and formed the core strategy of my business today.