Paul Matysek & Collin Kettell: The Track Record of a Billionaire Investor
Paul gives a general overview of his many past successes and why he is excited about his current venture, Victory Metals. He talks about how he developed and subsequently sold several exploration projects over a variety of locales. He explains how his first venture went sideways and the lessons he learned.
His next project was Energy Metals where he looked at the uranium space after having read that the US was very pro-uranium. He became CEO in a small company which then acquired several additional uranium companies. Uranium did spectacularly, and he was able to sell the company to Uranium One at the top of the market.
He realized that if he could do it once he could do it again. So he found an in-situ potash deposit near some existing mines. He drilled six holes and found a billion tonnes of high-grade potash. He kept de-risking the project and eventually it sold.
His next venture was Lithium One in Argentina where he bought a mine. Along with the help of a Korean partner, he began exploring. He realized that he didn’t have the people to move the project further ahead. Fortunately, a company called Galaxy came forward and bought it. Galaxy then turned the property into a two billion dollar company.
He bought a gold company called Mansfield Minerals in Argentina and after some government issues were able to sell it for a tidy profit. Recently, he got involved in the Lithium industry again and was able to flip a property to the Chinese in just two years.
His current venture is Victory Metals, which is a vanadium venture. Vanadium will be needed in China to improve the quality of their iron as they have passed laws requiring improved structural standards. They are focused on de-risking the project and awaiting an upswing in the vanadium price.
Talking Points From This Week’s Episode
• Paul has successfully bought, developed, and sold six large ventures.
• He has been involved in potash, uranium, lithium, and gold.
• Now he is betting that vanadium will do well with Victory Metals.
Paul Matysek is Founder and Executive Chairman of Victory Metals. He is a serial entrepreneur, geochemist, and geologist with over 40 years of experience in the mining industry. Since 2004 as CEO or Chairman, Mr. Matysek has primarily focused on the exploration, development, and sale of five publicly listed companies, in aggregate worth over $2 billion. Most recently, he was Executive Chairman of Lithium X Energy Corp. which was sold to Nextview New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited (“Nextview”) for $265 million in cash. He was awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Mining & Resources in September 2018.
Collin Kettell is Founder and CEO of Victory Metals and is also Founder and Manager of Palisade Global Investments Ltd., a resource focused investment company. He comes from a family with deep ties to mining, including co-founding AuEx Ventures, the company responsible for discovering the Long Canyon deposit, a project ultimately acquired by Newmont Mining for $2.3 billion. Founder of New Found Gold Corp; Co-founder of GoldSpot Discoveries; CEO of Casino Gold Corp.