The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that winning the Nextgen Prospect Challenge was a big deal in itself for Ryan Burke, a young geologist just out of university in 2020. The Post's Tom Blackwell writes that the unique Dragons' Den-style contest had students and recent graduates pitching ideas for greenfield mines to mining bosses. The winner claimed a $17,000 prize, connections with industry insiders and the chance to further pursue their dream proposal. Within two years, however, Mr. Burke had done much better. Barely launched on his career, the Whitehorse native inked a deal in 2022 with one of the sponsors of the event to develop what could be a rich deposit of gold, silver and copper he found in the Yukon mountains. The option agreement pays Mr. Burke, 29, an upfront $150,000 and one million shares in TSX Venture Exchange-traded Transition Metals over four years, while committing the Sudbury, Ont., company to spend $1-million to develop the site. More tantalizing is what will come his way if Transition beats some fairly steep odds and one day establishes a mine at the property. Mr. Burke would receive a $1.5-million payment when production starts and a 1-per-cent royalty on what the mine extracts.