In December, Headwater Gold (CSE:HWG), a Canadian company focused on high-grade precious metal exploration in the Western USA, announced a US$25 million earn-in agreement with Centerra Gold.Headwater specializes in generating new projects on open ground and attracting major mining companies to fund exploration. The company currently has six projects partnered with majors, including two with Newmont, three with OceanaGold, and the recently announced deal with Centerra.Yesterday, President & CEO Caleb Stroup was interviewed by Mining Stock Daily.The conversation dove into the prospect-generator model, why “multiple shots on goal” matter in a rising gold market, and how Headwater minimizes dilution while keeping a large amount of drilling funded by partners. Stroup also discussed the following:What’s driving majors back into early-stage explorationThe ongoing discovery potential in the Western U.S., including NevadaHow technology—from drones to hyperspectral tools to LLMs—is changing exploration workflowsShifts in U.S. permitting and why sentiment toward domestic mining is improvingGold’s outperformance vs. Bitcoin in 2025, including the surprising entry of Tether into the gold sector