Excellon Resources enters May with a widening gap between its most powerful backer's conviction and the direction of the stock — a tension worth watching in any junior miner, but sharper here given the scale of the recent insider move.
The dominant story of the past six weeks is Eric Sprott's open-market purchase on March 12. The veteran mining investor bought 8.33 million shares at CAD $0.60, committing roughly CAD $5 million and lifting his stake to 9.2% of the company. Three insiders — CEO Shawn Howarth, CFO Daniel Hall, and COO Paul Keller — also added to holdings in April, with Howarth building to 2.06 million shares through a combination of awards and prior accumulation. Total net insider buying over the past 90 days amounts to 8.37 million shares. That's a meaningful show of alignment from management. Yet the stock traded this week at CAD $0.39 — a full 35% below Sprott's cost basis from just seven weeks ago.
The short side has been moving in the opposite direction, and the pace of that move is the clearest signal in the positioning data right now. Short interest has more than doubled in the past month, rising 160% to roughly 2.16 million shares, equal to 0.65% of the float. In absolute terms that's a small float fraction. But the rate of change is notable: a 61% jump in the past week alone, coming after estimated short interest ran as high as 2.38 million shares in mid-April before easing slightly. The ORTEX short score is running near 30 — moderate, not extreme — which means this isn't yet a crowded short situation. The cost to borrow has actually eased considerably, dropping nearly 49% over the past week to 3.1%. That's consistent with ample capacity in the lending market; availability is not tight. In short, the new shorts are getting in cheaply, with room to run.
The stock's price action frames the week bluntly. EXN closed at CAD $0.39, down 3.7% on the day and 16.1% on the week — one of the sharper weekly drawdowns among its closest peers. AGX on the TSXV fell a comparable 15.5% on the week, and NEXG dropped 17.2%, so sector-wide pressure on junior silver names has been real. But EXN's one-month decline of 2.5%, set against the sharper weekly drop, suggests the week's selling was concentrated. On the fundamental side, the only recent corporate development was the April 13 filing of an NI 43-101 technical report for its Mallay project and the issuance of stock options on the same day — both routine for a development-stage miner, neither a near-term catalyst.
The earnings picture adds some context. The two most recent prints both produced positive next-day moves — the April 14 result delivered a near-9% one-day gain, and the November 2025 print added 4%. Five-day moves have been more variable. With no next earnings event currently dated, the calendar is quiet. Analyst data is stale (last updated late February) and the mean price target of CAD $0.69 is not presented as current, though the gap between that figure and the current price roughly echoes the gap between Sprott's cost and today's market.
The setup heading into May is a direct read on whether Sprott's March conviction holds or whether continued selling pressure tests it further. The key variable to watch is whether short interest continues to accelerate from its sub-1% base, and whether the cost to borrow follows — any tightening in availability would signal that the short build is becoming more competitive.
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