Freddy Brick · partner at Muddy Waters Capital (Carson Block's activist short-selling firm), co-running its resources strategy — a concentrated junior-mining fund led by Darren McLean. A fund manager talking his own book: the names he rates Positive are positions the fund holds or has publicly promoted, including one where it controls the board.
His example of backing that de-risks a junior: Lundin-family support, a CEO the fund already trusted, bought after four or five flat years "at much lower prices than today"; the asset is "getting better." Current holding not stated.
His fund's biggest public holding (~20%, proxy fight won, new CEO/CFO): a straightforward Ontario gold project with manageable capex, Oaktree and family offices on the register — "incredibly asymmetric" and "totally dislocated from the market," timing unknown. Talking his own book.
Snowline Gold (Yukon — Rogue project / Valley deposit)
"A no-brainer takeout" — a world-class Yukon gold project that could open a district for a major replacing depleting reserves. Caveats he names: somewhat consensus, long-lead, needs infrastructure; the stock probably has to rise before a buyer pays a premium.
Retrospective case of narrative lag: seen at a half-empty Denver Gold Show ~3 years ago as a project that would "just work"; built, rerated, now consensus. No position.
Not a view on the ETF: a poor hedge for true juniors, since macro inflows can lift GDXJ while an orphaned junior is sold down — short leg up, long leg down. Hedge with index shorts, the metal and options instead.
Delisted (acquired by Newmont, 2021). The fund's template long: a ~10% stake built by disproving each consensus objection, public letters, then a takeover the acquirer is happy with.
Retrospective (heard as "IM Gold"): a project doubted on capex that got built and rerated — the same lesson as Artemis. No position; identification probable.
Galiano Gold (formerly Asanko Gold — heard as "a Senko")
Historic Negative: the 2017 Muddy Waters short on Asanko Gold (now Galiano), built on block-model smearing and shifting management explanations — "a very successful short." No current view on Galiano.
In one line: Brick's edge is structural, not a metal-price call. Since the 2011 peak the junior-mining sector has lost its financiers, its talent and its institutional access, so decent, de-risking development projects sit mispriced; Muddy Waters buys the "unspectacular but not hairy" ones that work at any metal price of the last decade, verifies the bear narratives itself, and waits three to five years — for a rerating or for a cash-rich major that must replace depleting reserves.
No metal-price view, by design. "We actually don't have a huge view on metal prices." An asset must work "at any commodity price observable within this metal in the last 10 years"; the book runs ~50% net so drawdowns become buying chances (2026-SEP-13).
Capital starvation is the macro framework. Materials fell below 1% of the S&P; sector mutual funds lost to ETFs and underperformance; allocators "annihilated in '08 through '11" won't fund specialists; talent went elsewhere. Good projects "have been somewhat discarded by the wayside."
Structural exclusion creates the mispricing. Thin liquidity, TSX Venture listings and sub-$5 share prices bar many institutions until a stock has already rerated — "very few people are there as the value is created."
Screen: unspectacular but not hairy, then find the kill factor. Moderate grade, ~2 Moz with room to grow, modest capex, credible permitting — and discard anything near "a one-of-one salmon fishery" or in a jurisdiction where the mine can be "stolen from you or the economics… recut."
Verify the consensus bear case item by item. GT Gold's objections (steep ravine, First Nations, infrastructure) all failed on inspection; a ~10% stake ended in a takeover by a major.
Fraud shows up in the block model. The 2017 Asanko Gold short matched the pit being dug against zones where the model had been "smeared," plus a log of shifting explanations. Post-Bre-X drill-hole disclosure makes this checkable by anyone willing to model it.
Capital raising is a skill. Juniors always raise; the metric is shares outstanding when the mine is built. Strong backers (the Lundin family at Faraday Copper) and teams that raise at rising prices lower the cost of capital.
M&A wave ahead. Producers "are eating themselves from the inside… similar to drug companies and patent cliffs"; clean, often net-cash majors will buy the permitted and in-construction projects funded through the quiet years — but with restrained premiums, as last cycle's write-downs cost CEOs their jobs. Snowline Gold is his "no-brainer takeout."
Metals read (as of Sep 2026). Copper's structural bull case "makes sense," timing unknowable — if you only want that call, "own the producers." Gold has become "much more of a momentumy risk-on trade"; silver is "frankly insane." Sentiment was "just dead" with gold near $4,000 after the January-to-summer pullback.
Hedging is hard; patience is the risk control. Shorting GDXJ can lose on both legs when an orphaned junior is sold down; the fund underwrites permanent-impairment risk, sizes binaries small, trims beta-driven gains and uses index shorts, the metal and options for tails.
Read the conflict. Muddy Waters owns just under 20% of Mayfair Gold and controls its board after a proxy fight; it has publicly talked up Snowline. Take the method at face value and the Positive stances as an owner's pitch.
The product
What it is: Muddy Waters' resources fund — the firm's first vehicle outside short activism, run by Darren McLean with Brick, for fund investors (not a retail subscription). As described on 2026-SEP-13: concentrated positions in junior miners, "about 50% net," structured "with a lock-up" to hold illiquid names through 3–5-year theses; "very happy with it being subscale."
Trade type
What it is
How he runs it
Seen in the index
Concentrated junior long
Large stakes in pre-production development assets
Ten-year-price underwriting, kill-factor screen, 3–5-year hold behind the lock-up
MFG, SGD.V, FDY.TO
Long activism
Engagement, public letters or a proxy fight when heavily invested
Done twice (one supporting, one led); aim is the fewest shares outstanding at build
MFG, GT Gold
Short (occasional)
Shorts found while diligencing longs that don't hold up
Evidence-based — block-model reconciliation, statement logs — then a published report
GAU (Asanko, 2017)
Hedges
Tail protection for a ~50%-net book
Index shorts, the metal, option structures; wary of GDXJ basis risk
GDXJ
How it serves retail investors: not directly — it is a locked-up fund. The useful public output is the process he describes (and the firm's published reports and press releases on names like Mayfair), which retail investors can apply themselves, with the caveat that the named holdings are the fund's own book.
Possible next step he floated: a hybrid public/private vehicle with earlier, more concentrated positions and a longer lock — constrained by hiring engineers and metallurgists, not capital.
Transcripts
One dated page per appearance — each has its stock table, talking points, and the saved transcript. Newest first.