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Base Metals Energy Exclusive Interviews Junior Mining Metallic Group Precious Metals Stillwater Critical Minerals

Group Ten Metals – Maiden 43-101 Nickel-PGE Resource Update

Maurice:

Joining us for a conversation is Michael Rowley, the CEO of Group Ten Metals. Glad to be speaking with you today, as you have a big announcement for shareholders regarding the Black Lake–Drayton gold project. Before we begin, Mr. Rowley, please introduce us to Group Ten Metals and the opportunity the company presents to shareholders.

Michael Rowley:

Group Ten is focused on advancing our Stillwater West project as a premier source of low-carbon ‘green metals’ in Montana’s Stillwater district, beside Sibanye-Stillwater’s mine complex. Within the next few weeks, we expect to debut our maiden resource estimates of nickel, copper, palladium, platinum, rhodium, gold and cobalt, on that project which we expect will compare favorably with our peers and position us for growth based on this years drill campaign.

Along with owning half of the iconic Stillwater district in Montana, Group Ten also has two other district-scale land positions, the Black Lake Drayton gold project in Ontario that you mentioned a minute ago, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co project in the Yukon.  All three of these are big brownfield land positions in great districts, and they are 100% owned by Group Ten because we were acquiring them strategically during the bear market when great assets were available inexpensively. We are focused more than ever on Stillwater, and with that our non-core assets are effectively up for sale or spin-out in the first in a series in that regard.

Maurice:

Well, let’s begin today in Ontario is Group Ten Metals has just announced (Press Release) a letter of intent with Heritage Mining on the sale of the Black Lake–Drayton gold project. Congratulations, sir.

Michael Rowley:

Thank you, we are excited about the potential we see there.  Heritage Mining is a new listing with an excellent team, and they are well equipped to focus on Black Lake and give it the attention it deserves while granting excellent exposure to that success.

Black Lake is a rare asset that is hard to find in this current, improving market with increasing activity in junior exploration.  It checks all the boxes.  It is a big land position that shares an emerging district with a 3Moz development-stage high-grade gold project, yet is underexplored. So there is lots of smoke, someone just needs to find the fire.  Treasury Metals has done great work to the west of us consolidating the rest of the district, and Rainy River, farther to the west is now in production with New Gold. This whole belt was late to the game because of limited access and shallow ground cover, but developments at Rainy River in the 1990s changed that, and now there is over 14Moz in the belt, and growing.

Maurice:

All right, let’s get into the exciting stuff, sir. Please share the terms of the agreement with us and in particular, the cash and share compensation that group 10 metals will be receiving along with the carried interest in the potential for discovery payments.

Michael Rowley:

It’s a great deal for both parties. Group Ten will gain a major share position in a newly listed company that’s focused on precious metals and focused on developing tier one assets, developing resources. And we get that 10% free carried interest through to feasibility study. So we can be at the table at a later stage to negotiate the sale of that during a possible broader consolidation play in the district. We received $320,000 in cash payments in the first two years of the deal as well. And we receive bonus payments of $1 for every ounce of gold that is formerly brought on the books in any category at any time and even in multiple stages. That has a $10 million cap on that, the district already hosts more than 10 million ounces. So that figure is certainly possible given the area.

Maurice:

So that we better appreciate the terms. Would you please provide us with a quick bio on Heritage Mining and what they bring to the table?

Michael Rowley:

Heritage Mining is a very experienced team with an excellent track record of raising cash and advancing projects, especially in Ontario and Quebec. Heritage is familiar with this geology. They’re keen to hit the ground, which is very pleasing to us because the point of this deal is that we want someone else to raise the $5 million and advance this asset the way we think it can be advanced. So they certainly appear to be capable of that. They have an excellent record of proving ounces, developing mines, operating companies, and marketing, raising capital.

Maurice:

Where will this transaction put Group Ten Metals in terms of ownership, percentage on the share structure for Heritage Mining?

Michael Rowley:

Well, we’ll have to see what their first placement looks like once they’re trading and that’s a couple of months out from now. But we expect to be about 10% of the company initially, and then maintain between the 5% and 10% level from there. A key point on that note also is that we have that bonus structure having a carried interest. Therefore, we are not relying solely on our share position for value. We’ve got several avenues here to be exposed to that success that we expect them to have.

Maurice:

And when does Group Ten Metals expect the transaction will close?

Michael Rowley:

We look good to close around the 60-day mark around mid-October.

Maurice:

Leaving Ontario and onto the Yukon where Group Ten Metals has another non-core asset within his property bank that is equally has been receiving a lot of interest from prospective buyers. And I’m speaking of the Kluane PGE, nickel, copper project in the Yukon. Sir, any updates for us?

Michael Rowley:

The Kluane is another explored project. We have over 250 square kilometers in the under-explored Kluane Belt, which is a fantastic belt of deposits. Another ultramafic system like Stillwater reaching from BC through into Alaska. The most advanced one. There is Nickel Creek Platinum, formerly Wellgreen. And the news there is that they’ve been increasingly active in the past year. And that’s good to see. They’ve been drilling, they’ve been doing geophysics and they’ve been doing it up on the northwest end of the system towards us, which is music to our ears. We’ll be seeing them at Beaver Creek and we’re looking forward to further activity from them. You’re correct that we’re getting more interested in those projects and that they like Black Lake are effectively for sale. We just have low carrying costs. Then we’re taking our time looking for the right deals.

Maurice:

Leaving the Yukon less visit Montana, which hosts your flagship Stillwater West project. But before we get into the latest news on the Stillwater West, would you please remind us about the unique value proposition before us on your flagship project?

Michael Rowley:

The Stillwater West is fantastic.  In 2017, the opportunity was presented to us to own half of the iconic Stillwater District, which sounds too good to be true in a way. But thanks to several factors that came together at the right time. Most of all, a local vendor who had spotted a bankruptcy that left these claims available, and he was quick, he bought the data from the past operators and he tied up the claims. We’ve since tripled land position. We now own half the district we’ve built a terrific database, predictive geologic model. The point is that we are well on our way to proving ourselves as a primary source of green metals, battery-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, with platinum group elements, palladium, platinum, rhodium, and also gold.

In a US district beside three mines and a smelter complex. These are big disseminated, sulfide deposits. They convert easily and cleanly to nickel sulfate. And we are weeks away from our first resources on the project, which is a very exciting moment for any junior exploration company. This will be a solid debut, it’ll position us nicely among our peers. And we see terrific room to grow from there. If you’ve seen our news release back in April, where we related the 3D models from our IP survey, the emerging images of our Resource models, and the potential we have for expansion.

Maurice:

The Stillwater West is currently undergoing its largest exploration program to date, which is a 10,000-meter drill program there recently added a second drill rig, sir, take us on-site and get us up to speed on the program.

Michael Rowley:

We have 2 rigs turning, which is music to our ears. We’re hitting sulfide very nicely in both, massive sulfide in places, net texture, and disseminated in others. The predictive model that we’ve been working up the past few years is working beautifully. And that’s a key point. We’re now hitting with a high degree of predictability, which is what geologists want to see. The district is well mineralized.  Our neighbor has 87 million ounces in current resources, reserves, and 14 million ounces in past production of the highest-grade palladium-platinum in the world.

That’s a single magmatic pulse laid down across 40 kilometers. These things are staggering in scale, and it’s also a nickel-copper-sulfide deposit that is worth noting. We are just below them in that stratigraphy. And we’re seeing similar continuity of these horizons. We are hitting new ones all the time, they seem to run for great lengths and it’s easy to add ounces and pounds. The program that you mentioned that’s underway now should do very nicely for expanding the inaugural resources as fast as we can in 2022. So we’ll debut numbers here in summer 2021, and then look to expand them as fast as possible in 2022.

Maurice:

All right, you have two truth machines drilling away. Do you already have some core in the lab and any timeframe on when we may receive some assays?

Michael Rowley:

The first one and a half holes are in the labs, include some nice-looking core. The labs are saying six weeks though, give me into October to get those into a news release.

Maurice:

Now we will hold you to that, but we will hold the labs to that. All right, switching gears, let’s look at some numbers. Sir, please provide the capital structure for Group Ten Metals.

Michael Rowley:

Group Ten Metals has 163 million shares outstanding at today’s price. That puts us around a $50 million market cap. We feel that significantly below where we could be based on our peers. I think a good peer might be Canada Nickel, for example. Noting of course they don’t have the platinum group element component that we have. However, they are four or five times our market cap with a similar, large, lower-grade nickel project. And we think that makes it a compelling comparison. We have$ 6 million cash in the bank and we have $13 million in the money options and warrants. Those are priced between .21 and .30 cents. No placements are planned for the foreseeable future and a fully funded, fully permitted for this year’s program. And even into next year at this point.

Maurice:

Speaking of those warrants. Expect for me to go ahead and exercise mine. Speaking of the shares, Group Ten Metals recently upgraded its DTC eligibility. What does that mean for shareholders? I

Michael Rowley:

I had to look into it myself to be reminded. DTC is an electronic clearing service. This simplifies the process of trading and enhances liquidity For American traders, which we have a really good US shareholder base. So this is, meaningful in terms of fast and efficient settling of those trades.

Maurice:

Before we close Mr. Rowley, what would you like to say to shareholders?

Michael Rowley:

This is an exciting time for Group Ten Metals! If you’re familiar with the Lassonde Curve value creation in junior miners were at that just pre-discovery phase where you get that rapid increase in value. And it’s quite a privilege to be here. It’s exciting to be systematically exploring the Stillwater Complex, which is famously metal-rich, and yet also under-explored and it’s remarkable, but the 215 drill holes to date across 32 kilometers of claims, 61 square kilometers. That’s not a lot. And we’re testing things all the time that have never been drilled and we’re finding nice-looking sulfides there. So to be the ones systematically adding value and looking like, in terms of the market, that we’re on the left end of the Lassonde Curve, but knowing that we’re much farther along in terms of having comfort about some size and grade here. Pretty exciting.

Maurice:

Last question. What did I forget to ask?

Michael Rowley:

Well, it’s probably a good point to touch on the broader commodity markets and you know metal markets are going sideways at the moment but there are the fundamentals are in place perhaps more than ever for a really good steady increase. We’re looking for all the metals in our suite of commodity baskets to resume their upward momentum likely this fall. We’ve got the FED meeting behind us today. Things look positive the fundamentals are there and we’re looking forward to increased value for all our commodities, especially, in nickel. We’re hearing increasingly of the coming shortfall in nickel sulfide, in particular clean nickel that’s good for batteries or rather makes nickel sulfate in the most environmentally friendly manner. We’re excited to be part of that and we’re looking forward to that renewed momentum. This is a good buying opportunity to buy shares in Group Ten Metals. 

Maurice

Sir, for readers that want to get more information on Group Ten Metals, please share the website address.

Michael Rowley:

www.grouptenmetals.com

Maurice:

Mr. Rowley, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you today, wishing you and Group Ten Metals the absolute best sir.

Categories
Base Metals Energy Exclusive Interviews Granite Creek Copper Junior Mining

Granite Creek Copper – Resource Expansion on the High-Grade Copper Carmacks Project

Maurice:

Joining us for conversation is Tim Johnson, the CEO of Granite Creek Copper (TSX.V: GCX | OTCQB: GCXXF).

Tim Johnson:

Thank you, Maurice. It’s always a pleasure to be here.

Maurice:

What an exciting time to be speaking with you as Granite Creek Copper has just released some very exciting results to the market, which look to further extend the resource at the high-grade Carmacks copper-gold project. Before we begin, Mr. Johnson, please introduce us to Granite Creek Copper and the opportunity the company presents to shareholders.

Tim Johnson:

Granite Creek Copper is an exploration stage copper-focused company. We’re focusing on our Carmacks project in the center of Yukon, Canada, which is a great jurisdiction for development and we have excellent access to power and a highway. And just released some very exciting news of which we are very pleased and I appreciate this opportunity to discuss them and put them into context for readers.

Maurice:

Granite Creek Copper began its inaugural drill campaign back in November, which was quite successful, yielding 127 meters of 0.85% copper equivalent at Carmacks’s zone 13, and 4.6 meters of 7.5% copper equivalent at Carmacks north zone A, which was followed up in May with phase one of three drill programs slated for 2021.

In July, Granite Creek released the first string of asset results from phase one and the results were quite impressive. Just the other day, the company released a single hole, hole 11, which has some spectacular results. It would seem that there will be much more bluesky on the horizon on the Carmacks deposit. Mr. Johnson, I have table one from the press release before us. Please walk us through the asset results and in particular, hole 11.

Tim Johnson:

Hole 11 was a bit of an eye-opener for us. It was targeted in zone 2000 south. When we went into the campaign, we knew that there was some significant potential to grow the resources in 2000 South, and  I must say Hole 11 delivered, along with a few other holes drilled in the 2000 south zone all intercepted mineralization well below the current resource model, so giving us the potential to significantly expand that resource. We’re pretty pleased. We think not only can we expand the resource, but if you notice that, looking at the resource table in the news release, that just about all the intercepts are of a higher grade than what’s in the table. That gives us the potential to not only grow the resource and as far as tonnage, but also potentially deliver a higher-grade resource on an updated resource estimate that we’re working on right now.

Tim Johnson:

Hole 11 intercepted 105 meters at 1.18% copper on an equivalent basis and above 0.97% copper on its own. Within that, there were 22 meters of over 2% copper. Those grades are pretty spectacular, and we think, again, that’s going to make a significant upgrade to the resource once we can complete a few more holes and model that. We don’t think this is a one-off hole. We think from the geophysics and what we’re seeing that we will be able to expand the resource in a much higher grade. Of course, we’ve got some more drilling to do to be able to deliver that, but we’re pretty bullish about that. We’ve refocused our phase three program, which we expect to start in a week or two, to target that area of 2000 south, and also to see if we can connect the 2000 south up to some of the other zones at Carmacks to make a more continuous ore body.

Maurice:

Now sticking with zone 2000 south, I have table two before us. What do these results seem to indicate?

Tim Johnson:

Table two is a resource calculation done by previous operators. This was published in 2017. You can see it’s quite a small resource, about 600,000 tons in the sulfide domain, which readers should know that the sulfide domain is what we’re targeting. The oxide, there is limited oxide in 2000 south. I think this is one of the reasons why this target is still here, because previous operators, again, we’re more focused on a small oxide operation. So they weren’t targeting the sulfide, but we see the real potential here to be the sulfide. This hole seems to verify that. Again, the grade on this hole is above what the grade of the resource, the current resource is. So good delivery on a couple of fronts, both potential tonnage increase, and potential grade increase.

Maurice:

And I do wish to highlight the geological acumen of Granite Creek Copper, as the Carmacks has had over 50,000 meters of exploration in the past and they were not able to locate the success you have in hole 11.  What does that say about GCX and the success of the company moving forward?

Tim Johnson:

There’s a couple of reasons for that. The previous operators and there was nothing wrong with this, felt they had an economic resource in the oxide. The oxide is fairly near surface. Therefore, there was a lot of drilling done to prove up that resource, but there was very little drilling done to expand the resource into the sulfide material or to look for adjacent potential like we have at Carmacks North. Previous operators had quite a small land package for various reasons. They had to let some go in some of the tougher times in the industry, and we benefited from that, by having that land package available for us when we acquired it and then subsequently acquired coper north, of course, to consolidate the district.

Tim Johnson:

So yeah, you’re right. I mean 50,000 meters have been drilled, but a lot of it, as I said, was very near-surface, oxide focused, and left us the opportunity to come in and recognize the potential for significant expansion beneath the oxide into the sulfide, and really not that deep. The transition zone from oxide to sulfide occurs about 200 meters plus or minus below surface, so still well within an economic mining range, and really, a lot of bluesky left and a lot of discovery potential on the combined land package.

Maurice:

In previous interviews, we’ve discussed resource expansion. How does today’s press release increase the impact on the pending 43-101 mineral resource estimate?

Tim Johnson:

It significantly impacts mineral resource estimate.  When consider where Hole 11 fits in relation to the current resource, and the entirety of the 105 meters of significant mineralization is below the current resource. So giving us up to 100, maybe 120 meters of down-dip extension on that resource. Now, we do need to infill around it. You can’t build a resource on a single hole, but some of the other holes that we’ve had that we released in July also support that down-dip extension of the resource. So we see significant growth potential here in this zone.

Tim Johnson:

We did drill again this year on Zone 13. We’re still waiting for those assays, but we see potential to grow in 13 as well. We also see potential to grow in the sulfide portion of Zone 1, which some of those assays were also released in our first release in July. So basically, three zones that we have resource growth potential, and we’re working on modeling those right now. We’re working with a third party to bring that resource into view, and we hope to be able to deliver that to the market in a fairly timely manner.

Maurice:

I referenced that Granite Creek will embark on three drill programs this year. When can shareholders expect the remaining results from phase one?

Tim Johnson:

That’s a really tough question to answer. As we move into the fall, the labs get busier and busier. So it’s really hard for me to nail down, but we would expect hopefully by late September to early October, we’d have final results on phase one. The phase two program we’re currently going on is an RC or a reverse circulation program. It’s targeting some of the earlier stage targets both at Carmacks north, which is a northern extension of our land package, and some of the earlier stage targets around the Carmacks deposit itself. Then the phase three program, which is now being re-imagined in and around 2000 south, will be starting in the coming weeks. Then that should give us fairly good assay flow and be able to continue to deliver results to the market as we move through the fall and into the winter months.

Maurice:

By the way, is phase three, is that an RC or is that diamond core, sir?

Tim Johnson:

Phase three is a diamond program. What we did this year, we budgeted for 10,000 meters. We completed 6,300 meters in the initial program, and we kept back some meterage to get the results in and to understand the geology of the orientation of the deposits. Now that those results are coming in as I said, we’re refocusing our efforts to build out where we have the best results and try to get … increase the tonnage and increase the grade in the zones that we think are going to make the most difference to the resource.

Maurice:

When we last spoke, Granite Creek Copper announced that it had entered into a contract with Sedgman and Mining Plus. What are the latest developments there?

Tim Johnson:

We working forward with Sedgman and Mining Plus. One of the big reasons we brought them in is two-fold. One of the reasons we brought them in was to optimize the process for both the oxide and sulfide processing that was initially developed in the 2017 PEA, and then also to develop a mine plan that would bring the sulfide in as well. The previous PEA only spoke to the oxide resource. It contemplated about a 7 mine life. We saw at least double that in the sulfide resource, but there was no mine plan for it. Sedgman and Mining Plus are working very hard to bring that into view. What’s going to happen, we’ll take that information and that will inform our next economic study to be done on the project. We will look at updating the preliminary economic assessment once we have all the results in both from the work that Sedgman and Mining Plus are doing, and of course, with an updated resource that is being currently worked on to bring both the tonnage and the mine plan and the processing plan all into one economic study.

Maurice:

Leaving the Carmacks project, sir, please provide us with an update on the capital structure for Granite Creek Copper.

Tim Johnson:

Granite Creek Copper has 127 million shares issued and outstanding. We’ve have warrants that are right at the strike price of the warrants, about $4.8 million in cash value of those warrants with the strike price at 20 cents. We see strength in the market moving into the fall, and we expect those warrants to assist the company in continuing on with our economic studies and upcoming programs. Meaning that we won’t be looking to conduct a dilutive financing in the near term. We expect strength in the copper market hopefully will allow us to delay any large financing for a while.

Maurice:

Before we close, Mr. Johnson, what would you like to say to shareholders?

Tim Johnson:

I think the copper space is an excellent space for speculative shareholders to be to be looking we think that the copper market is going to have strength moving through the remainder of this year and into next year.  We’ve got an excellent project with excellent exposure to copper and to precious metals as well in a very good jurisdiction. I think it’s worth adding granite creek copper to your watch list and making sure you follow along with our story.

Maurice: Last question sir what did i forget to ask?

Tim Johnson:

Well as usual Maurice, you did an excellent job.  I think the questions you asked are very good and I appreciate your time.

Maurice:

Thank you sir. Mr Johnson for someone that wants to get more information on granite creek copper please share the contact details.

Tim Johnson:

Please visit us at www.gcxcopper.com.

Maurice:

Mr. Johnson is always a pleasure to speak with you wishing you and Granite Creek Copper the absolute best sir.

And as a reminder, I am a licensed representative to buy and sell precious metals through Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, where we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium, to offshore depositories, and precious metals IRA’s. Give me a call at 855.505.1900 or you may email: Maurice@MilesFranklin.com.  Finally, please subscribe to www.provenandprobable.com, where we provide: Mining Insights and Bullion Sales, subscription is free.

Categories
Junior Mining

NV Gold Commenced IP Survey at its Sandy Gold Project in Nevada

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 26, 2021 / NV Gold Corporation ( TSXV:NVX)(OTCQB:NVGLF) (“ NV Gold ” or the “ Company “) is pleased to announce that the Company has initiated its planned IP Survey at its 100%-owned Sandy Gold Project (“ Sandy “), located within the Walker Lane, Lyon County, Nevada, USA. Combined with the Leapfrog modelling and detailed mapping earlier in the 3 rd Quarter, the outcome of the IP Survey will be used for better target definition to guide a 2 nd Phase drilling program projected for the 1 st Quarter of 2022 or earlier depending on equipment availability.

Recap of previously announced 2021 Sandy Project Highlights

  • The Company completed its expanded program of 17 RC (Reverse Circulation) drill holes totaling 3,811 m (12,505 ft) in 1 st Quarter of 2021.
  • The “maiden” RC drilling has encountered a large epithermal gold system. The alteration footprint at the surface has a strike length of 2.4 kilometers and a width of half a kilometer. Most of the property remains undrilled, and the system remains open at depth and under late volcanic cover.
  • A surface rock chip sampling program completed yielded positive gold values from anomalous to high grade. Of note, five samples yielded 11.3 g/t Au and 11.6 g/t Ag, 11.5 g/t Au and 14.1 g/t Ag, and 18.1 g/t Au and 43.2 g/t Ag (refer to Figure 1).
  • All seventeen of the 2021 RC holes intercepted anomalous gold and strong trace element geochemistry. Twelve holes were above a threshold of >3 meters @ >0.1 g/t Au. The strongest intercept was 22.9 meters @ 0.65 g/t Au from 29 meters to 51.9 meters (including 6.1 meters of 1.58 g/t Au at 38.1 meters) in SD-2 (refer to Figure 1).

Mapping Conclusions

Hydrothermal alteration at Sandy is predominantly clay to silica-clay alteration (of the tuffaceous rocks) in the Southwest Zone, mostly seen as float around epithermal quartz vein pieces, while stronger (massive and “near-massive”) silicification forms ridgelines and broader structural zones in the upper Northeast Zone (refer to Figures 1 & 3). Very white clay, possibly illite, is interpreted in the strongest silica-clay altered zones, both in the Southwest and Northeast Zones. The alteration is consistent with low sulfidation vein alteration and looks to be clay alteration developed on the margins or above epithermal veins. Based on the size, elevation range, zonation (silica above, clay below) and apparent geometry of the alteration, the Northeast Zone could be an altered cap overlying a preserved epithermal vein system.

The upcoming IP (refer to Figure 2) survey should be especially useful to interpret the 3D geometry of the alteration at the Northeast zone. Even if high resistivity is relatively shallow (shallow silicification) and any subsurface veins are too narrow to detect, the widespread clay alteration should produce moderate resistivity/conductivity anomalies in 3D and any roots or zones of greater resistivity or conductivity (near vein halo alteration) may be considered as vein drill targets. Deeper zones of greater chargeability may indicate broader sulfide rich zones around deeper veins and would also be potential drill targets. Once the IP surveying is completed, deeper drill targeting should be straightforward.

“The strike-length and amount of alteration and the presence of high-grade Au of up to 18.1 g/t Au from rock chips remain encouraging for an economic gold system at Sandy. I was pleased to have Mr. Myers and Ms. Teal (previously known as Pinto) involved in the program, which will provide an immediate upgrade in data quality. I have worked with Stan and Rita for many years together at Yanacocha, Peru, where we were engaged in numerous discoveries, including the Kupfertal Porphyry. Several Au and trace element geochem anomalies remain untested at Sandy, and the Leapfrog modelling suggests there may be open gold mineralization in the Southwest Zone. In addition, mapping has identified a highly silicified and altered cap, possibly overlying a preserved epithermal vein system at the Northeast Zone that is very encouraging. I am excited and looking forward to see the IP results soon to be included and guiding our 2 nd Phase drilling campaign in 1 st Q of 2022″,stated Thomas Klein, VP Exploration, NV Gold.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

John E. Watson
President & CEO

For further information, visit the Company’s website at www.nvgoldcorp.com or contact:

John E. Watson, President & CEO
Phone: 1-888-363-9883

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s planned exploration activities, the possible interpretations of the results of the IP survey, the geological interpretation of clay composition, of a cap overlying an epithermal system or of possible gold mineralization are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s plans or expectations include regulatory issues, market prices, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals, the lack of continuity of mineralization, the extent to which mineralized structures extend on to the Company’s Projects and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

Figure 1: Mapping-Sandy Project

Figure 2: Location of proposed IP lines at the Sandy Project

Figure 3: Silicified hydrothermal breccia ribs on the hilltop of the Northeast Zone, looking northeast.

SOURCE: NV Gold Corp.



View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/661435/NV-Gold-Commenced-IP-Survey-at-its-Sandy-Gold-Project-in-Nevada

Categories
Uncategorized

Irving Resources Reports Voting Results of Annual General Meeting

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Irving Resources Inc. (CSE:IRV; OTCQX: IRVRF) (“Irving” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its Annual General Meeting of shareholders was held in Vancouver, British Columbia on August 25, 2021 at which:

  • the incumbent directors of the Company standing for re-election, being Akiko Levinson, Quinton Hennigh, Kevin Box, Douglas Buchanan and Haruo Harada, were all re-elected as directors of Irving for the coming year; and
  • Davidson & Company, the incumbent auditors of the Company, were re-appointed auditors of Irving for the coming year.

About Irving Resources Inc.:

Irving is a junior exploration company with a focus on gold in Japan. Irving also holds, through a subsidiary, a Joint Exploration Agreement with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). JOGMEC is a government organization established under the law of Japan, administrated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and is responsible for stable supply of various resources to Japan through the discovery of sizable economic deposits of base, precious and rare metals.

Additional information can be found on the Company’s website: www.IRVresources.com.

Akiko Levinson,
President, CEO & Director

THE CSE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Tel: (604) 682-3234 Toll free: 1 (888) 242-3234 Fax: (604) 971-0209 info@IRVresources.com
Categories
Precious Metals

Physical Cash Stops Digital Theft – David Morgan

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com (Saturday Night Post)

Economic analyst and financial writer David Morgan says, at some point in the not-so-distant future, the world is going to have another banking crisis.  Morgan contends in the next financial crisis, the banks are going to take depositors’ money in what is called a “bail-in.”  Morgan explains, “We have this saying in the precious metals world, and that is ‘If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.’  Let’s move it over to the currency realm.  What if you had that same idea that if you don’t hold it, you don’t own it?  The reason why that is so important to me and many others is the bailout situation is over.  It will be bail-ins next time, which means you become an unsecured creditor of the bank.  This means that if you don’t hold it, you may not own it.  If we were to have a bail-in . . . they may not take all of your currency, but they would probably take part of it. . . . If you go to Argentina during one of their episodes, all the money in their banks was still yours, but you were limited to what you could take out.  You could be a millionaire or a multi-millionaire, but you could only take out 300 pesos a week.  So, what good is that?  If your mortgage was 4,000 pesos a month and you can only get 300 pesos a week, you would default on your mortgage.”

How much actual cash is out there for you to hold?  Morgan says, “M-Zero is the monetary base. That is paper money and coins, and in a round number it’s about $2 trillion.  That is a bigger number than what I thought.  Another interesting thing is there are 12 billion $100 bills.  (That equals $1.2 trillion in $100 bills.)  So, the vast majority of the supply of Federal Reserve Notes are in $100 bills.”

How much currency is sitting in the banking system that you could tap?  Morgan says, “60% of U.S. currency is sitting overseas. . . . So, of all the money out there, only 5% of the available physical money is actually there in the bank in America.”

Morgan suggests that you have one to three months cash at home for expenses like rent or mortgage, food and utilities.

Morgan also likes gold as an investment, but he especially likes silver.  Morgan says, “Silver is totally undervalued and is the most undervalued asset out there.”  Morgan contends that “silver is at near record lows” at around $23 per ounce if adjusted for inflation and massive Fed money creation.

Another reason to hold physical gold and silver is inflation is starting to take off in a way most people can clearly see now.  Even the Fed knows the inflation genie is out of the bottle, and it’s not going to be put back in anytime soon.

In closing, Morgan suggests holding some cash, gold and silver in physical form for safety and security.

Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with precious metals expert David Morgan, publisher of “The Morgan Report.”

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VIDEO Interview click link below:

https://rumble.com/vlies7-physical-cash-stops-digital-theft-david-morgan.html

After the Interview: 

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Categories
Base Metals Breaking Emx Royalty Energy Junior Mining Precious Metals Project Generators

EMX Royalty Announces Second Quarter 2021 Results

August 16, 2021

Related Document

Vancouver, British Columbia, August 16, 2021 (NYSE American: EMX; TSX Venture: EMX; Frankfurt: 6E9) – EMX Royalty Corporation (the “Company” or “EMX”) is pleased to report results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 (“Q2-2021”). The Company’s filings for Q2-2021 are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at www.sec.gov, and on EMX’s website at www.EMXroyalty.com. Financial results were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.

HIGHLIGHTS FOR Q2-2021

Financial Update

Dollar amount are in CDN unless otherwise noted.

  • EMX ended the three month period at June 30, 2021 with a balance sheet including cash and cash equivalents of $41,979,000, investments, strategic investments, investment in associated entities, and receivables valued at $34,777,000, and no debt.
  • EMX had revenue of $4,255,000 which includes royalty income, other property income including income from the sale or option of property interests and management fees, and interest and dividends earned on cash and investment balances. Included in revenues was royalty income of $284,000 and $3,801,000 for the fair value of equity positions and cash received on the sale and option of property interests. Revenues for Q2-2021 increased compared to Q2-2020 with an increase in option and other property income and interest income. Royalty income for Q2-2021 was comparable to Q2-2020.
  • Royalty generation costs totaled $5,378,000 of which the Company recovered $1,689,000 from partners.
  • General and administrative expenses totaled $979,000 which includes $177,000 in salaries and consultants, $250,000 in administrative costs, $298,000 in professional fees, $71,000 in transfer agent and filing fees, $46,000 in travel, and $137,000 in investor relations costs. General and administrative costs can fluctuate from period to period depending on activity and timing of comparable costs.
  • For the three months ended June 30, 2021, the Company had a net loss from operations of $2,039,000 including $260,000 in depletion, depreciation, and direct royalty taxes, and $2,845,000 in share-based compensation of which $1,479,000 was included in royalty generation costs. Other items affecting net loss and financial results in Q2-2021 include a gain from the Company’s investment in an associated entity of $158,000, a fair value loss on investments of $425,000, and a foreign exchange adjustment of $1,240,000. The foreign exchange adjustment was a direct result of holding cash and net assets denominated in US dollars.

Operational Update

EMX’s royalty and mineral property portfolio totals over 200 projects on five continents. The following summarizes the work conducted in Q2-2021, as well as subsequent events, by the Company and its partners.

  • As a subsequent event, EMX entered into an agreement dated July 29, 2021 with SSR Mining Inc., and certain of its subsidiaries (“SSR Mining”), to purchase a portfolio of royalty interests and deferred payments (see EMX news release dated July 29, 2021). The portfolio consists of 18 geographically diverse royalties, with four royalty assets at advanced stages of project development, and also includes US$18 million in future cash payments. The transaction is expected to provide significant near-term cash flow to the Company and establishes a pipeline of quality royalty assets in numerous well-recognized mineral belts around the world. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.
  • In North America, EMX received provisional payments of approximately US$198,000 from the sale of 110 gold ounces produced at the Leeville royalty property in Nevada’s Northern Carlin Trend. On the royalty generation front, EMX optioned one copper project in Utah while adding new gold and copper projects to the portfolio by staking open ground. Partner companies continued to add value to the portfolio with encouraging drill results for precious metals projects in Nevada (3) and Idaho (1), including Ridgeline Minerals at the Selena royalty property, U.S. Gold at the Maggie Greek royalty property, and Gold Lion Resources at the Robber Gulch project.

    EMX’s royalty and mineral asset portfolio in key mining districts of Ontario and Quebec, including the Red Lake camp, generated $392,000 in cash and fair value equity payments.
  • In Fennoscandia, the Company acquired 37,500 hectares of mineral exploration permits in central Norway that cover the zinc-lead-copper-silver-gold occurrences and historical mines of the Mo-i-Rana district. The transaction with Gold Line Resources and Agnico Eagle closed, by which Gold Line can acquire a 100% interest in Agnico’s Oijärvi gold project in Finland and the Solvik gold project in Sweden for staged cash payments as well as shares of Gold Line and shares of EMX. Agnico will retain a 2% NSR royalty on the projects, 1% (half) of which may be purchased by EMX for US$1,000,000. EMX will receive additional share and cash payments from Gold Line as reimbursement for the EMX shares issued to Agnico. Subsequent to the end of Q2, EMX executed an agreement for the sale of its Svärdsjö polymetallic project in Sweden to District Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DMX) for share equity, annual advance royalty payments, and retained royalty interests to EMX’s benefit. As new acquisitions and deals were completed, partner companies continued to advance EMX’s royalty properties, which included encouraging results from District’s drill program at the Tomtebo polymetallic project in Sweden’s Bergslagen mining district.
  • In Australia, the Company expanded the land positions at the Yarrol and Mt Steadman gold projects through the acquisition of additional permits covering multiple historical drill defined zones of mineralization. Both projects are located in the goldfields of central-Queensland and are available for partnership.
  • In Serbia, Timok operator Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. continued on an accelerated development pace of the Upper Zone copper-gold project which is covered by an EMX 0.5% NSR royalty. As a subsequent event, EMX filed an amended and restated Technical Report titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report – Timok Copper-Gold Project Royalty, Serbia” on SEDAR authored by Mineral Resource Management LLC with an effective date of December 31, 2020 and report date of July 21, 2021.

CORPORATE UPDATE

EMX is diligently monitoring developments regarding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (“COVID-19”), with a focus on the jurisdictions in which the Company operates. EMX has implemented COVID-19 prevention, monitoring and response plans following the guidelines of international agencies and the governments and regulatory agencies of each country in which it operates.

EMX’s priority is to safeguard the health and safety of its personnel and host communities, support government actions to slow the spread of COVID-19 and assess and mitigate the risks to business continuity. Although various levels of restrictions remain in place for many jurisdictions where the Company operates (e.g., travel restrictions, etc.), EMX’s field programs are up-and-running principally with in-country based staff.

OUTLOOK

EMX ended Q2-2021 with $42 million in cash, $16 million in tradable securities, $7.7 million in private company equity and warrants, and $4.7 million in strategic investments. The Company continued to complete deals while adding new properties to the royalty generation portfolio, as well as new partners. In addition to the Company’s Q2-2021 successes, as a subsequent event the announcement of the SSR agreement represents an important milestone for the Company, as it seeks to boost its royalty cash flow streams and secure additional long-term optionality in its royalty portfolio.

EMX has been diligently pursuing royalty acquisitions over the last few years in what has been a highly competitive market. EMX has evaluated a large number of royalty purchase opportunities, but has been very selective in its acquisitions, with the Timok, Kaukua, and Gold Bar South royalties being prime examples. EMX sees a similar value proposition with the SSR royalty portfolio acquisition in that it will deliver near-term benefits (i.e. cash flow) as well as long term value to EMX’s shareholders.

The SSR portfolio includes four advanced stage development projects, namely, Gediktepe oxide and sulfide (Turkey), Yenipazar (Turkey), and Diablillos (Argentina), which are complemented by 14 additional royalty interests covering both precious metal and base metal assets in South America, Mexico, the United States (Nevada) and Canada. The SSR royalty portfolio acquisition is well aligned with EMX’s corporate growth strategy, whereby the Company leverages its in-region expertise to identify opportunities in jurisdictions where EMX already has a strategic presence, and hence a competitive advantage. This approach leads to value creation for the Company, as well as synergies with existing EMX initiatives around the world.

Meanwhile the Company’s royalty generation initiatives continued moving forward. EMX’s quick actions led to the acquisition of a 37,500 hectare position covering the historical mines, deposits, and prospects of the Mo-i-Rana polymetallic district in central Norway. This consolidated district-scale package presents enough opportunities to potentially support multiple royalty generation deals. In Australia, EMX expanded its property positions in the goldfields of Queensland at the Yarrol and Mt Steadman projects to yield significantly enhanced property packages available for partnership. In the western U.S., new gold projects were staked in Idaho and Nevada. Fennoscandia, Australia, and the U.S. are stable exploration and mining jurisdictions, and EMX’s royalty generation assets provide prime opportunities for potential partners.

EMX’s established partner companies continued to add value to the portfolio with encouraging drill results. In the western U.S. this included precious metals projects in Nevada (Ridgeline Minerals at Selena and U.S. Gold at Maggie Greek) and in Idaho (Gold Lion at Robber Gulch). In Fennoscandia, most notable were District’s drill success at Tomtebo (Norway) and Norden’s at Gumsberg (Sweden). These drill programs were either conducted with EMX’s technical support, provided on a 100% reimbursed basis, or independently by the partner companies in other cases.

EMX’s value-focused and long-term approach has allowed the Company to maintain its treasury while not overbidding for assets. This strategy allows the company to patiently wait for opportunities like the SSR royalty transaction (and similar future opportunities), which nicely complement its ongoing organic royalty generation. The Company’s progress so far in 2021 signals a number of Company achievements and milestones, and we enter the second half of the year with well-founded optimism for even greater success.

QUALIFIED PERSONS

Michael P. Sheehan, CPG, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and employee of the Company, has reviewed, verified and approved the above technical disclosure on the United States, Canada, South America, and Strategic Investments. Eric P. Jensen, CPG, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and employee of the Company, has reviewed, verified, and approved the above technical disclosure on EMX Capital (SSR transaction), Serbia, Fennoscandia, Turkey, and Australia.

About EMX. EMX is a precious, base, and battery metals royalty company. EMX’s investors are provided with discovery, development, and commodity price optionality, while limiting exposure to risks inherent to operating companies. The Company’s common shares are listed on the NYSE American Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol EMX. See www.EMXroyalty.com for more information.

For further information contact:

David M. Cole
President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (303) 979-6666
Dave@EMXroyalty.com

Scott Close
Director of Investor Relations
Phone: (303) 973-8585
SClose@EMXroyalty.com

Isabel Belger
Investor Relations (Europe)
Phone: +49 178 4909039
IBelger@EMXroyalty.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain “forward looking statements” that reflect the Company’s current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties, exploration results and budgets, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, timelines, strategic plans, market prices for precious and base metal, or other statements that are not statements of fact. When used in this news release, words such as “estimate,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “will”, “believe”, “potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which, by their very nature, are not guarantees of the Company’s future operational or financial performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company’s actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors may include, but are not limited to: unavailability of financing, failure to identify commercially viable mineral reserves, fluctuations in the market valuation for commodities, difficulties in obtaining required approvals for the development of a mineral project, increased regulatory compliance costs, expectations of project funding by joint venture partners and other factors.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date otherwise specifically indicated herein. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified in this news release, and other risk factors and forward-looking statements listed in the Company’s MD&A for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 (the ”MD&A”), and the most recently filed Annual Information Form (“AIF”) for the year ended December 31, 2020, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. More information about the Company, including the MD&A, the AIF and financial statements of the Company, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the SEC’s EDGAR website at www.sec.gov.

Categories
Base Metals Energy Exclusive Interviews Junior Mining

Hot Chili Limited – Developing a Tier 1 Asset- Attracting a Tier 1 Investor

Maurice Jackson

Joining us for a conversation is Christian Easterday, the CEO of Hot Chili Limited (ASX: HCH | OTCQB: HHLKF).  It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you sir, Hot Chili Limited is having, simply put, a banner year, as throughout the year it’s been one success after another as Hot Chili has released a string of successful press releases to advance the massive Cortadera Copper-Gold Project. Before we delve into the exciting news you have for current and prospective shareholders, Mr. Easterday, please introduce us to Hot Chili Limited and the opportunity the company presents to the market.

Christian Easterday:

Well, it’s been a very exciting time, not just in the copper space, but for Hot Chili, as we really transform ourselves from a corporate exploration company on the coastline of Chile to a full-fledged very significant copper developer and now very pleased to be welcoming Glencore as our largest shareholder through their participation in our recent $40 million capital raising, which was just announced during the week.

Christian Easterday:

None of this has been possible without the string of successes that we’ve had at a world-class Cortadera porphyry discovery on the coastline, which has allowed us to consolidate a major copper development hub sitting on the Pan-American highway right next to a port 600 kilometers north of Santiago in Chile. We are certainly hitting our straps after announcing our maiden resource last year, where I did my last interview with you Maurice, we now have some three-quarters of a billion tonnes at about half a percent copper equivalent in open-pit and underground resource space.

Christian Easterday:

And that Cortadera discovery, which is one of only two major copper discoveries that the world has seen since 2014 is seeing some significant growth in our drilling. And we’ve been able to put out some further world-class intercepts as we expand that resource base, and look to take our combined asset to over a billion tons. And hopefully, we’ll be looking to put that out later in the year.

Maurice Jackson:

Sounds exciting, sir. You referenced the $40 million funding. Can you go through the details for us on this landmark transaction, along with your new strategic partner Glencore Resources?

Christian Easterday:

We have been very busy in staging the next steps for Hot Chili, as we seek to align ourselves with the rest of the copper porphyry developers in the America’s. Currently, we’re the only major copper porphyry player that is not listed on the TSX and TSX.V and we’re looking to, dual list, the company in the coming months over on the TSX.V in Canada. So, a very exciting time as we transform the company and look to align to a set of copper developers, which are seeing market capitalizations in the range of $500 million to $1.4 billion with some of the leaders over there in Canada being Filo Mining, Solaris, SolGold and several resources that they control, obviously Hot Chili’s resource bases is comparing extremely favorably.

Christian Easterday:

We see a real value gap that exists with the only non-TSX/TSX.V player in our peer space.  The $40 million capital raising that we’ve just completed was well supported out of Australia and also overseas with significant support seen from North America. But most importantly, when we put that capital raising together, that was all about taking our last real key milestone, which is the purchase of Cortadera itself. We had one remaining payment that was due in one year of $15 million U.S. or roughly $20 million Australian. And the asset has grown so rapidly and was really sitting on a world-class discovery here that there was significant interest in taking out that final ownership payment, which we’ll be making immediately, and once we close this raising in the coming week or two. So that’s some color on the reason for the raising outside of the purchase of Cortadera, the rest of the money is going in to continue our aggressive resource growth drilling program.

Christian Easterday:

And also now to start stepping out and start testing some very exciting growth potential in what looks like an opportunity to unlock a cluster of high-grade porphyry targets in and around our two key assets at Productora and Cortadera.  Part of this raising as you well said, we’ve now attracted the support of one of the largest mining companies in the world in Glencore. And they’re, as is being announced, they’re coming in now as a 9.99% shareholder in Hot Chili, which will make them the largest shareholder in Hot Chili. And we’ll be shortly welcoming their support with a board member coming on to Hot Chili’s board technical steering committee. This will allow us to tap in and utilize that strong capability and experience of Glencore in developing large-scale copper assets in jurisdictions, such as Chile.

Christian Easterday:

And I’m looking forward to the new relationship and our new large shareholder in Glencore. They’ve certainly given the company a significant endorsement of our assets. Effectively, the due diligence by the world has just been completed by one of the largest copper producers in the world, one of the largest mining companies in the world, and a really key aspect of that is where we’re looking forward to negotiating over the coming months, which is an off-take arrangement for the first eight years of our targeted 25 to 30-year mine life that we’re trying to build out on the coastline. That will be for about 60% of the off-take out of our combined Costa Fuego project. And we really look at that as a significant de-risker for the company in terms of actually having a partner there to take a benchmark component on the pricing of our offtake. We view this a strong hedging position. The company is putting in place with the largest global trader of copper concentrates. And now our largest shareholder.

Maurice Jackson:

Having Glencore as a strategic partner is a big, big feather in your cap and puts Hot Chili in the driver’s seat. I would say on the Autobahn, you’ve really, you’ve done several things here for shareholders. That, and again, just this off-take, it’s something that may be minor when you look at all the successes here, but that off-take agreement as well is just another strategic step. And it just demonstrates the business acumen and the leadership here. And I have to just give you a big kudos, sir. Switching gears, let’s look at some numbers. Please provide us the capital structure for Hot Chili Limited.

Christian Easterday:

Look at the moment. Our pre-capital structure was about 3.1 billion shares. We’ll come over the 4 billion mark after this raise, where we have about 1.1 billion shares that we’ll be issuing to Glencore and to other institutional investors. We’ve also been able to give the shareholders a Hot Chili, a slice of the capital rising at 3.2 cents. And I suppose that’s sort of something really important from the board that we wanted all of the shareholders to be able to participate at the same level of investment that Glencore and the institutional investors are coming in at. And that’s certainly seen a very good response day one, day two, day three in the market over here in Australia. We’ve not just a raising that an 11% discount to our closing price pre capital rising, but we’ve been able to get the stock to have a very positive lift after that announcement.

Christian Easterday:

We’re trading at around 40% or 50% higher than the issue price for the rising. We are very pleased to be able to allow all of our shareholders to participate in a share purchase plan. We now have a firm opportunity to rewrite Hot Chili into the billion-dollar-plus market capitalization space. And we believe that we can do that in short order, particularly with our realignment now, and being able to take Hot Chili into the North American market with a dual listing on the TSX/TSX.V and to be able to compare ourselves very favorably with some of the names I’ve mentioned, the Oracles, the Filos, the Solaris’, which have seen spectacular increases in their share prices in association with the lifting copper price environment.

Christian Easterday:

When you have a copper price environment over $4 per pound, and you have an upper-tier copper asset that is rapidly approaching a tier-one asset, and there’s very few of those available in the world to be able to leverage that value and to be able to come into a dual listing and now with Glencore on our register. We believe that we have a significant rewrite ahead of the company. And now the ability in the market’s eyes to be able to execute and transition Hot Chili into a large scale or major copper producer.

Maurice Jackson:

In closing, sir, what would you like to say to shareholders?

Christian Easterday:

I’d like to thank all of our shareholders for ensuring that Hot Chili was one of the survivors of the last downturn in copper, to support our vision, to build out a new copper player of substance globally with the project that we’re positioning in the plus 100,000 tonne per annum, copper production space. Very few of those available in a world where there’s very few major copper discoveries being made.

Christian Easterday:

Now our shareholders, undoubtedly, will start to reap the rewards of what has been a 13 year vision by myself and our founders to build out something that you don’t see very often. And the last time the Australian stock market had anything in this space was, of course, Equinox resources. And we all know knew that a real key element in the rewrite of that company from a $400 million company to a $7.2 billion takeover was their ability to be able to transition into production. And most importantly was to be able to position Equinox into the north American markets at the right time.

Christian Easterday:

They did that in the last copper cycle, and they were able to extract that significant rewrite in valuation. And we were simply following a very well-worn path that has already been done before.

Maurice Jackson:

Last question, sir, what did I forget to ask?

Christian Easterday:

I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time for further questions down the road, Maurice. We’ve got some pretty exciting drilling results coming out of our expansion program that we’ll now be able to start getting out to market now that I’m out of a blackout period following about four or five weeks of no sleep completing the transaction that we’ve just announced.

Christian Easterday:

But most importantly, we’ve got a lot of very exciting news flow in the lead up to our dual listing in the TSX.V, which is scheduled for around late October, and then shortly to follow that hopefully a significant upgrade at our Cortadera porphyry discovery and Chili.

Maurice Jackson:

Mr. Easterday, it’s been an absolute delight to speak with you today, wishing you and Hot Chili Limited the absolute best, sir.

And as a reminder, I am a licensed representative to buy and sell precious metals through Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, where we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium, to offshore depositories, and precious metals IRA’s. Give me a call at 855.505.1900 or you may email: Maurice@MilesFranklin.com.  Finally, please subscribe to www.provenandprobable.com, where we provide: Mining Insights and Bullion Sales, subscription is free.

Categories
Base Metals Energy Junior Mining Nevada Copper

Nevada Copper Announces Filing of Q2 2021 Financial Statements and MD&A, Operational Update and Management Change

YERINGTON, Nev., Aug. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nevada Copper Corp. (TSX: NCU) (OTC: NEVDF) (“Nevada Copper” or the “Company”) today provided an operations update and announced filing of its Q2 2021 financial statements and the related management’s discussion and analysis.

Operations Update

  • Mining of First Stope: During Q2 2021 the Company successfully mined approximately 9,500 tons at a grade of 1.5% Cu out of the first stope mined since the restart of the mine in the East South area. Tons mined and ore breakage was consistent with the plan, indicating that the mining method was appropriate for the ground conditions where the stope is located, although mining of the stope was later than originally planned. Subsequently, the stope was successfully back-filled and the Company is now preparing to mine the next stope in the East South area.
  • Mine Infrastructure: Mine infrastructure works were further advanced during the quarter albeit slower than expected, including the final two sets of underground fans installed and commissioned as planned in Q2 2021, allowing for an increase in development rates. Commissioning of the surface ventilation fans continues to be planned for Q4 2021.
  • Material Hoisting: Following completion of the Main Shaft material handling system in Q4 2020, the Underground Mine achieved a peak daily hoisting rate of over 3,000 tons by February 2021 and has since achieved a hoisting rate equivalent to 5,000 tons per day (“tpd”) on a shift basis, demonstrating capacity of the shaft and associated materials handling system. Due to slower development rates in Q2 2021 through the water-bearing dike structure, the Company now expects to reach sustainable hoisting rates of 3,000 tpd in Q4 2021 and for hoisting rates to continue to ramp-up beyond that.
  • Lateral Development: Lateral development continued on multiple headings, providing access to ore mining zones in the East South orebody and advancing development towards the East North orebody. During the Q2 2021 the Company continued development of the East North area through a dike structure located between the East South and East North orebodies. A second heading crossing the dike is 90 feet below the first heading. Additional ground support was required to complete dike crossing and the Company is almost through the water-bearing dike structure.
  • Processing: The process plant maintained average concentrate grade over 21% along with 81% recoveries. While batch processing ore through the processing plant, the Company achieved a weekly average of 3,271 tpd. 87,211 tons of ore was processed through the concentrator in Q2 2021 with an average feed grade of 0.51%. Approximately 1,514 tons of concentrate was produced at a 21% average copper grade for Q2 2021. During June, Sedgman successfully completed C5 testing of the processing plant for grind size and moisture of concentrate and tailings.
  • Production ramp-up and Mine Planning: The Company continues to advance its mine planning process and has made revisions to the mine plan. The revised mine plan incorporates the recent experiences during mine development, including the geotechnical conditions of the East South area. In light of the impact of the water-bearing dike structure, expected equipment utilization rates and the remaining infrastructure projects to be completed the Company now expects that the Underground Mine will reach a hoisting rate of 3,000 tpd in Q4 2021 and 5,000 tpd in H1 2022.

Property Development Plans

  • Underground: The Company has progressed its life-of-mine planning aimed at operating its underground mine at an ultimate production rate in excess of the originally contemplated 5,000 tons per day rate. Mine planning work further supports the potential for the mine, once ramped-up to steady-state, to operate at higher long-term rates of 6,500 tons per day milled, increasing long-term annual copper production potential.
  • Open Pit: The Company reviewed its longer-term development targets for its Pumpkin Hollow property, including a solar power study, electrification and emissions reduction analysis, follow up work on scaling opportunities to improve economics and plans for infill and extension drilling.
  • Exploration: The Company plans to follow up on new exploration targets added through recent expansion of the Company’s properties to the east and analysis of geophysical surveys.

Corporate

  • Payroll Protection Program Loan (“PPP Loan”) Forgiveness: on August 6, 2021, the Company received confirmation for the approval of the forgiveness of the PPP Loan in the amount of $2.4 million. The loan was received in 2020 as part of a United States government COVID-19 pandemic program to assist companies to retain their employees.
  • KfW Credit Facility Amendment Discussions: On June 30, 2021, the Company received a waiver from KfW IPEX-Bank (“KfW”), the lender under its amended and restated senior credit agreement (the “Amended KfW Facility”), which provided for a 60-day extension to the project completion longstop date (the final date to meet the requirements of the project completion test under the Amended KfW Facility) (the “Project Longstop Date”) from June 30, 2021 to August 31, 2021. The Company has requested and expects to receive a further short-term extension of the Project Longstop Date from KfW. The Company is also in discussions with KfW to achieve a longer-term extension of the Project Longstop Date to a date in 2023, the deferral of debt servicing by twelve months and the temporary deferral of compliance with certain financial covenants under the Amended KfW Facility as the Underground Mine continues to ramp-up. The Company expects to have the short-term extension finalized in the next few weeks and the other proposed amendments finalized in the next few months. However, there can be no assurance that such extension and amendments will be finalized by such times or at all. Failure to finalize the extension or these amendments would result in the Company being in default under the Amended KfW Facility.
  • 2021 Promissory Notes: The Company received a loan of $15 million under a promissory note with Pala Investments Limited (“Pala”), the Company’s largest shareholder, in June 2021 (the “2021 Promissory Note”) providing additional liquidity for the ramp-up of the Underground Mine and addressing the reduced development rates associated with crossing the water-bearing dike structure. The 2021 Promissory Note has a maturity date of June 30, 2022, and bears interest at 8% per annum on amounts drawn. Subsequent to the end of Q2 2021, Pala agreed to provide the Company with additional loans of up to $27 million (of which $19 million has been received) pursuant to a series of amendments and restatements of the 2021 Promissory Note (the “Amended and Restated Promissory Note”) on the same terms and conditions as the original 2021 Promissory Note. Further draws by the Company are subject to agreed use of proceeds and regulatory approval of the Amended and Restated Promissory Note.
  • 2021 Credit Facility: On February 3, 2021, the Company entered a credit facility with Pala, for $15 million to be drawn by the Company (the “2021 Credit Facility”). The 2021 Credit Facility also provided $15 million under an accordion feature. The full $30 million has been drawn by the Company.

Senior Management Changes

Mike Ciricillo will be stepping down from the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective August 14, 2021.

Mike Brown will assume the role of Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brown has been a non-executive director of Nevada Copper since 2013 and has over 35 years of underground and open pit mining experience, including as Chief Operating Officer of De Beers Consolidated Ltd., where he was responsible for five operating mines. Mr. Brown has also managed a number of major projects, including the $750 million Finsch block 4 project, the $1.3 billion Venetia underground feasibility study, and a $200 million construction and commissioning of the Voorspoed mine.

Mr. Ciricillo will continue to provide support at the Pumpkin Hollow site for a transition period.

“The board of directors would like to thank Mr. Ciricillo for his contributions to the Company, including execution on ramp-up of the Underground Mine, and look forward to his ongoing support,” stated Chairman Mr. Gill. “The board of directors is pleased to welcome Mr. Brown as interim President and CEO and look forward to his leadership in that role.”

Q2 2021 Financial Statements

The Company has filed on SEDAR its condensed interim financial statements and the related management’s discussion and analysis for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. These documents are available on the Company’s website at www.nevadacopper.com and the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Qualified Persons

The technical information and data in this news release was reviewed by Greg French, C.P.G., and Norm Bisson, P.Eng., for Nevada Copper, who are non-independent Qualified Persons within the meaning of NI 43-101.

About Nevada Copper

Nevada Copper (TSX: NCU) is a copper producer and owner of the Pumpkin Hollow copper project. Located in Nevada, USA, Pumpkin Hollow has substantial reserves and resources including copper, gold and silver. Its two fully permitted projects include the high-grade underground mine and processing facility, which is now in the production stage, and a large-scale open pit project, which is advancing towards feasibility status.

NEVADA COPPER CORP.
www.nevadacopper.com

Mike Ciricillo, President and CEO

For further information contact:
Rich Matthews, Investor Relations
Integrous Communications
rmatthews@integcom.us
+1 604 757 7179

Cautionary Language

This news release includes certain statements and information that constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to statements and information that relate to: Nevada Copper’s plans for the Project; negotiations with KfW regarding amendments to the Amended KfW Facility and waivers thereunder; the Company’s mine development, production and ramp-up plans and the expected timing, costs and results thereof; the need for additional funding; the resolution of hydrogeological issues; the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy and the Company; future ore and concentrate production rates; expected commencement of positive cash flow from operating activities; the ongoing exploration activities and the objectives and results thereof; and the other plans of Nevada Copper with respect to the exploration, development, construction and commercial production at the Underground Mine.

Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding the expectations and beliefs of management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “potential”, “is expected”, “anticipated”, “is targeted”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “believes” or the negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements or information should not be read as guarantees of future performance and results. They are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and events to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information.

Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, those relating to: the ability of the Company to complete the ramp-up of the Underground Mine within the expected cost estimates and timeframe; requirements for additional capital and no assurance can be given regarding the availability thereof; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business and operations of the Company; the state of financial markets; history of losses; dilution; adverse events relating to milling operations, construction, development and ramp-up, including the ability of the Company to address underground development and process plant issues and penetrate the dike at the Underground Mine; failure to obtain extensions under and amendments to the Amended KfW Facility; ground conditions; cost overruns relating to development, construction and ramp-up of the Underground Mine; loss of material properties; interest rates increase; global economy; limited history of production; future metals price fluctuations; speculative nature of exploration activities; periodic interruptions to exploration, development and mining activities; environmental hazards and liability; industrial accidents; failure of processing and mining equipment to perform as expected; labour disputes; supply problems; uncertainty of production and cost estimates; the interpretation of drill results and the estimation of mineral resources and reserves; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; possible variations in ore reserves, grade of mineralization or recovery rates from management’s expectations and the difference may be material; legal and regulatory proceedings and community actions; accidents; title matters; regulatory approvals and restrictions; increased costs and physical risks relating to climate change, including extreme weather events, and new or revised regulations relating to climate change; permitting and licensing; volatility of the market price of the Company’s securities; insurance; competition; hedging activities; currency fluctuations; loss of key employees; other risks of the mining industry, as well as those risks discussed in the Company’s Management Discussion and Analysis in respect of the year ended December 31, 2020 and in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Information Form dated March 18, 2021. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements and information. The forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: no adverse development in respect of the property at the Project; no material changes to applicable laws; the ramp-up of operations at the Underground Mine in accordance with management’s plans and expectations; no worsening of the current COVID-19 related work restrictions; reduced impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the medium-term and long-term; no material adverse change to the price of copper from current levels; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. The forward-looking information and statements are stated as of the date hereof. Nevada Copper disclaims any intent or obligation to update forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. Readers are referred to the additional information regarding Nevada Copper’s business contained in Nevada Copper’s reports filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that could cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. For more information on Nevada Copper and the risks and challenges of its business, investors should review Nevada Copper’s filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Nevada Copper provides no assurance that forward-looking statements and information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

Categories
Base Metals Energy Junior Mining Project Generators

Skyharbour Receives $1.2 Million from Warrant Exercise and Partner Company Valor Announces Radiometrics Reveal New Anomalies at Hook Lake Project with On-Ground Work Underway


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: SYH) (OTCQB: SYHBF) (Frankfurt: SC1P) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that partner company Valor Resources Limited (“Valor”) has provided an update on results from the recently completed high-resolution airborne radiometric survey and the commencement of on-ground work at the Hook Lake Project (previously the North Falcon Point Project). The radiometric survey was completed in late July and covered the northeastern third of the Hook Lake Project including the Hook Lake/Zone S historical high-grade uranium occurrence. Numerous anomalies have been identified from the survey (see Figure 1 below). Total count radiometric anomalies were ranked with the highest priority anomalies being strongly correlated with the uranium channel count.

Hook Lake (Formally North Falcon Point) Project:
https://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/projects/Falcon-Point-Project.jpg

The survey was flown by Special Projects Inc. (“SPI”) from Calgary, Alberta who are considered an industry-leading provider of high-resolution airborne radiometric surveying. SPI flew the radiometric survey that delineated Fission Uranium’s PLS boulder field which eventually led to the discovery of the high-grade uranium Triple R deposit.

The Hook Lake Project consists of 16 contiguous mining claims covering 25,846 hectares, located 60 km east of the Key Lake Uranium Mine in northern Saskatchewan. Skyharbour signed a Definitive Agreement with Valor Resources on the Hook Lake Uranium Project whereby Valor can earn-in 80% of the Project through $3,500,000 in total exploration expenditures, $475,000 in total cash payments over three years and an initial share issuance of 233,333,333 shares of Valor.

Highlights:

Airborne Radiometric survey highlights several new targets:

North-western area identified as new area of interest with a cluster of Priority 1 and 2 anomalies

Several other Priority 1 and 2 anomalies identified away from known historical occurrences

Hook Lake/Zone S historical high-grade uranium occurrence confirmed as Priority 1 target

On-ground work underway to:

Follow up and confirm historical uranium occurrences

Follow up areas of interest from the recent Airborne magnetic and VLF-EM survey

Follow up anomalies identified in recently completed Radiometric Survey

Figure 1: Hook Lake Airborne Radiometrics Ternary Plot – Priority Anomalies
https://www.skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/20210805-Figure1.jpg

Of note is the cluster of Priority 1 and 2 anomalies identified in the northwest of the Project area where no uranium occurrences have previously been identified. The historical high-grade uranium occurrence at the Hook Lake (or Zone S) prospect was confirmed as a Priority 1 radiometric anomaly, with a Priority 2 anomaly located approximately 3km to the northeast along strike. There are additional Priority 1 and 2 anomalies away from known occurrences that require on-ground follow- up.

On-ground follow-up work has commenced which is being conducted by Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd. This work is focused on validating and developing the geological understanding of the historic uranium occurrences, such as the Hook Lake (or Zone S) prospect. The field crew will also follow-up on the new targets generated from the magnetic/VLF-EM survey completed in April and the priority anomalies identified from the recently completed airborne radiometric survey. A field crew supported by a helicopter is carrying out the field program over a period of 2-3 weeks.

About Hook Lake (previously North Falcon Point) Project:

Valor has the right to earn an 80% working interest in the Hook Lake Uranium Project located 60 km east of the Key Lake Uranium Mine in northern Saskatchewan. Covering 25,846 hectares, the 16 contiguous mineral claims host several prospective areas of uranium mineralization including:

Hook Lake / Zone S – High grade surface outcrop with reported grades in grab samples up to 68% U3O8; a bio-geochemical survey carried out over the trenches in 2015 responded positively with along-strike anomalies 2 km to the northeast

Nob Hill – Fracture-controlled vein-type uranium mineralization on surface outcrop with up to 0.130% – 0.141% U3O8 in grab samples; diamond drilling intersected anomalous uranium in several drill holes with values up to 422 ppm U over 0.5 m

West Way – Vein type U mineralization within a NE-trending shear zone; grab samples taken from the surface showing contained variable uranium values including up to 0.475% U3O8 and drilling of the structure intersected the altered shear zone at depth, along with anomalous Cu, Ni, Co, As, V, U, & Pb

Grid T – Fracture-hosted secondary uranium mineralization in sheared calc-silicates and marbles in a 100 m x 20 m zone of anomalous radioactivity with grab samples having up to 800 ppm U

Alexander Lake Boulder Field – 30 biotite-quartz-k-feldspar pegmatite boulders NE of Alexander Lake; the best results include 360 ppm U, 1,400 ppm U and 1,600 ppm U respectively

Thompson Lake Boulder Field – Numerous radioactive boulders and blocks of pegmatized meta-arkose, pegmatite, and granite; the best value obtained was 738 ppm U from a granite boulder

NE Alexander Lake – Several calc-silicate, plagioclase-quartz granulite, quartzite, and meta-arkose boulders with up to 4,800 ppm U, 7,600 ppm Mo and 1,220 ppm Ni

The Project area is in close proximity to two all-weather northern highways and grid power. Historical exploration has consisted of airborne and ground geophysics, multi-phased diamond drill campaigns, detailed geochemical sampling and surveys, and ground-based prospecting culminating in an extensive geological database for the Project area.

Warrant Exercises:

Skyharbour also announces that it has received an aggregate $1,204,713 from the exercise of share purchase warrants recently. A total of 4,461,900 warrants have been exercised since late June with a strike price of 27 cents with this batch of warrants expiring on August 10th. Skyharbour is fully funded for its ongoing and expanded drill program at its flagship Moore Lake Uranium Project with a total of over CAD $8.5 million in cash and in shares of partner companies. Partner companies Azincourt, Orano and Valor Resources are funding the bulk of the exploration programs at the Preston, East Preston and Hook Lake (previously North Falcon Point) Projects, respectively.

Qualified Person:

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Richard Kusmirski, P.Geo., M.Sc., Skyharbour’s Head Technical Advisor and a Director, as well as a Qualified Person.

About Valor Resources Ltd:

Valor Resources Limited (ASX: VAL) is an exploration company focused on creating shareholder value through acquisitions and exploration activities.

About Skyharbour Resources Ltd.:

Skyharbour holds an extensive portfolio of uranium exploration Projects in Canada’s Athabasca Basin and is well positioned to benefit from improving uranium market fundamentals with six drill-ready Projects covering over 240,000 hectares of land. Skyharbour has acquired from Denison Mines, a large strategic shareholder of the Company, a 100% interest in the Moore Uranium Project which is located 15 kilometres east of Denison’s Wheeler River Project and 39 kilometres south of Cameco’s McArthur River uranium mine. Moore is an advanced stage uranium exploration property with high grade uranium mineralization at the Maverick Zone that returned drill results of up to 6.0% U3O8 over 5.9 metres including 20.8% U3O8 over 1.5 metres at a vertical depth of 265 metres. The Company is actively advancing the Project through drill programs.

Skyharbour has a joint-venture with industry-leader Orano Canada Inc. at the Preston Project whereby Orano has earned a 51% interest in the Project through exploration expenditures and cash payments. Skyharbour now owns a 24.5% interest in the Project. Skyharbour also has a joint-venture with Azincourt Energy at the East Preston Project whereby Azincourt has earned a 70% interest in the Project through exploration expenditures, cash payments and share issuance. Skyharbour now owns a 15% interest in the Project. Preston and East Preston are large, geologically prospective properties proximal to Fission Uranium’s Triple R deposit as well as NexGen Energy’s Arrow deposit.

The Company also owns a 100% interest in the South Falcon Uranium Project on the eastern perimeter of the Basin, which contains a NI 43-101 inferred resource totaling 7.0 million pounds of U3O8 at 0.03% and 5.3 million pounds of ThO2 at 0.023%. Skyharbour has signed a Definitive Agreement with ASX-listed Valor Resources on the Hooke Lake (previously North Falcon Point) Uranium Project whereby Valor can earn-in 80% of the Project through $3,500,000 in total exploration expenditures, $475,000 in total cash payments over three years and an initial share issuance.

Skyharbour’s goal is to maximize shareholder value through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration Projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.

Skyharbour’s Uranium Project Map in the Athabasca Basin:
http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/SYH-Athabasca-Map.jpg

To find out more about Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: SYH) visit the Company’s website at www.skyharbourltd.com.

SKYHARBOUR RESOURCES LTD.

“Jordan Trimble”

Jordan Trimble
President and CEO

For further information contact myself or:
Riley Trimble
Corporate Development and Communications
Skyharbour Resources Ltd.
Telephone: 604-687-3376
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@skyharbourltd.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.

Categories
Breaking Exclusive Interviews Precious Metals

StrikePoint Gold – Exploring High-Grade Gold and Silver Projects in the Golden Triangle of B.C.

Maurice Jackson:

Joining us for conversation is Shawn Khunkhun the CEO of Strikepoint Gold (TSX.V: SKP | OTC: STKXF). Glad to have you on the program to share the opportunity before us at Strikepoint Gold. Before we delve into company specifics, Mr. Khunkhun, please introduce us to Strikepoint Gold and the opportunity the company presents to shareholders.

Shawn Khunkhun:

Strikepoint is an exploration company, advancing high-grade properties in safe jurisdictions. I repurposed the company back in 2016, the gold price had been cutting out and majors were not exploring, nor developing. And the thinking was we could buy it projects for pennies on the dollar. We could advance them. And in the future, we could move those projects along to the Major that are looking to secure development pipelines.

Maurice Jackson:

You have a reputation for having astute business acumen and great use of optionality on how you establish the company. Looking at the map before Strikepoint Gold has the property bank situated in the prolific Golden Triangle, get us acquainted with the region and some of your neighbors.

Shawn Khunkhun:

Okay. So, near the Triangle, it’s an area that exploration has been going on for over a hundred years. It’s produced some of the richest gold mines in the world. If you look at the Premier Mine that Ascot is currently holding, that was one of the richest modern mines in the modern era, in terms of several ounces, in terms of grade. Eskay Creek, a strong gold and silver mine. The Golden Triangle is known for large deposits, high-grade deposits, and is one of the hottest mineral exploration hubs on the planet..  There’s just, it’s a flurry of activity with the discovery of Pretivm’s Brucejack, we’re seeing large companies like Newmont and Newcrest come into the area.  Noteworthy of mention, there is also tremendous infrastructure throughout the Triangle.

Maurice Jackson:

Let’s go on-site and find out more. Sir, take us to the flagship Willoughby Project and introduce us to the value proposition before us.

Shawn Khunkhun:

The Willoughby Project is a spectacular world-class discovery that was originally explored in 1989 to 1996 time period. There were about 120 drill holes, and there were some robust grades of 20-gram gold over 20 meters thickness that were discovered. During that time the Bre-X scandal happened and you also had the gold price heading down to just under $200 an ounce in 1999. So it was a very, very difficult time for the mineral resource industry.  e acquired the property in 2018.. There’s a lot of grade on the project and we are excited about the opportunity before us. We are trying to connect the dots in-between zones. So, that’s the value proposition, linking these zones to show that this is a mineable project.

Maurice Jackson:

I referenced business acumen, when and under what terms was Strikepoint Gold able to acquire the Willoughby Gold Project?

Shawn Khunkhun:

That’s an interesting story. So back in October of 2018, the gold price got sold down to about $1,100 an ounce. And at that moment, we were able to acquire Willoughby for $85,000 in cash. And by issuing three million shares of Strikepoint, which at that time was valued at about half a million dollars. Considering the amount of drilling that was done on the property, its proximity to Red Mountain, which was subsequently acquired by Ascot. It was a once-in-a-generation acquisition for the company.

Maurice Jackson:

Germane to the value proposition and exploration thesis is an important stratigraphic marker known as the Red Line. What is the Red Line and where is it in relation to the Willoughby Gold Project?

Shawn Khunkhun:

There are two BCGS geologists, Jeff Kyba and JoAnne Nelson, and as they were looking at this tremendous area that’s produced very high-grade deposits. They were trying to look at a model, a geological model to identify where to look for the next giant gold, silver, and copper deposits in the region. So Kyba and Nelson came up with this theory and it’s a theory that has been widely accepted by the scientific community and identifies a contact. The big deposits in the Golden Triangle are found within two kilometers of where two different rock types meet. So this is the Triassic to the rocks and the Jurassic Hazelton formation. These are two different rock types that meet within two kilometers of that contact, which have produced some of the biggest deposits in the region are found.

Maurice Jackson:

Thus far, we’ve been able to determine that Strikepoint Gold is in a friendly mind jurisdiction, located in the prolific Golden Triangle, neighboring some very prominent names, and the project is along the Red Line. Two prong question, can you delve a little further into historic resource and share some of the grades with us?

Shawn Khunkhun:

The Willoughby does not have a formal 43-101 compliant resource on the property, however, the historic resource has about eight different areas throughout the Willoughby property where there’s tremendous grade and there’s been a lot of drilling. So, on the back of a napkin, I don’t want to speculate in terms of ounces, but what we’re looking for here is the neighboring Red Mountain deposit, which is just under a million ounces at about 7.5 grams per ton. We think this is analogous to Red Mountain. And if you look at the footprints of the mineralization from surface, it leads us to believe that we’re onto a very, very large gold system here. So, this season is going to be crucial. We’ve done some significant work on the property to date.

Shawn Khunkhun:

We’ve got assays pending and we’re trying to accomplish two things. Number one, link different zones of mineralization. Number two, we’re looking for where we could fit a deposit into the system. And we are drilling somewhat I would describe as Wildcat holes into areas that should host a very, very large system. There are two opportunities on the property. One is for a KSM style disseminated large system. These are two systems, one’s 40 million ounces of gold and the other is 10 million ounces of gold. And then the other opportunity is for a higher-grade epithermal vein-rich system. We have seen both types of mineralization on the property. And if you look at what Ascot is doing in terms of their hub and spoke model, along Ascot you also have Yamana and Newmont. So there’s a huge appetite from a larger gold entities for consolidation and acquisition.

Maurice Jackson:

Speaking of Wildcat drilling, last month Strikepoint Gold announced the commencement of a 3000-meter drill program. How’s the program coming along and when can shareholders expect results?

Shawn Khunkhun:

The program’s going well. I was just up in Stewart, along with our technical advisor Rob McLeod.  Strikepoint Gold is blessed with one of the best teams in the exploration business. These are professionals that have worked on a lot of the big projects in the Golden Triangle. Originally came out with a 3000-meter program at Willoughby where we’re halfway through that program. It’s going exceptionally well. It’s on time, it’s on budget. It’s very difficult to speculate on assays because you are dealing with third-party labs. And if 2020 taught me anything, we were exceptionally delayed in assay times, but I would suspect that we’re going to have a very results-rich autumn season, a very result-rich fall after Labor Day and that we should be reporting ongoing into Q1.

Maurice Jackson:

Sounds very intriguing. If you enjoyed the value proposition of the Willoughby, wait till you hear about the Porter. Mr. Khunkhun, please introduce us to the Porter Silver Project.

Shawn Khunkhun:

But before we get specifically into Porter, I want to share with readers this goes beyond Porter. This goes more to why silver, and my last experience in a bull market for gold, when gold prices went from hundreds of dollars up to thousands of dollars into 2011, it was the silver stocks, the silver equities that delivered the best returns for resource investors. I was very deliberate during this cycle. In 2018, the company acquired Porter, we acquired it from Skeena resources. I was very deliberate in positioning the company with a high-grade silver property. If you look at the number of pure high-grade silver properties in the world, you could count them on a couple of hands. There are very few opportunities for resource investors in the silver space and even fewer outside of Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru.

Shawn Khunkhun:

The Porter is in a safe jurisdiction. It’s a past-producing silver mine and one of the highest-grade silver mines I’ve ever come across in my career. The average production grades at Porter were 2,500 grams per ton, but it’s the exploration thesis. It’s the opportunity before that really has us excited. The high-grade mineralization is on both sides of Mount Rainey overlooking the town of Stewart. The Porter two kilometers from the town. but you’ve got this high-grade mineralization that’s at either side of Mount Rainey. We can see the Petro Canada Gas Station. the Deepwater Seaport going into the Portland Canal. Highway 37A.  So all the infrastructures there. So, you’ve got the Silverado Mine on one side, you’ve got Prosperity Porter Idaho on the other side. They’re separated by about two kilometers and there was a large glacier, the Silverado glacier that prohibited exploration in the past. That glacier is pulled back.

Shawn Khunkhun:

It’s opened up a new exploration corridor and we believe those two systems are going to meet. And when you have two systems meeting, you usually have exceptional grades. The opportunity there is to link up these two past-producing mines by drilling into the center of the mountain. And it’s an opportunity that previously was not accessible. And this is the season that Strikepoint test that theory. In addition to stepping out from each of the mines on either side, we’ve got step-outs where we’re trying to extend the known high-grade resources and known areas that were once in your production. But the real opportunity is a target that we call Big Flex. The Big Flex opportunity is a series of drill holes right into the center of the system where these two systems should meet. And, if we’re successful and if the assays come back anywhere in the neighborhood of where historic production grades were, this is going to be a transformational year for Strikepoint.

Maurice Jackson:

You referenced 2,500 grams per ton on the historical work. Let’s put that into perspective for readers.  What kind of grade would you a need to go into production?  

Shawn Khunkhun:

Not all deposits are the same. You’ve got underground mines and open-pit mines. Typically what you’d see at an open-pit silver mine is one-ounce material or 30 gram material. At an underground mine, you’re probably closer to 200 grams per tonne, which is about eight ounces roughly. So, we’re talking about a system here that is 10 times richer than most underground mines. That’s the opportunity here. And, just so you know that this isn’t the exception in the area. If you look at some of the giant silver mines in the area like Eskay Creek, they produced almost 200 million ounces of silver at better than 2000 grams per tonne. There’s a lot of precedent in this area for mines like this, Eskay is one example, at the Premier Mine there was a lot of high-grade silver recovered, at Pretivm’s Brucejack there’s a lot of high-grade silver that’s coming out. And just to the south of us is Dolly Varden Silver.

Maurice Jackson:

I see that Porter has a historic resource, is the goal to twin the holes?

Shawn Khunkhun:

No, the goal is not to twin the holes. The goal is to extend the known band. While we were drilling the Willoughby property last season in 2020, we sent a team out to do some surface work at Porter. They were looking to extend the veins at surface. This was the deep vein, the blind vein. This is on the Prosperity Porter Idaho side. We were successful. At surface, we had come up with new extensions, we’ve discovered new veins. And so the goal here is to extend and expand the known veins at both Silverado and Prosperity Porter Idaho. It’s to uncover new veins around that. But the big prize here is if we were able to come up with some structure, some mineralization in between those two zones that had never been explored.

Maurice Jackson:

You’ve also been busy doing some field mapping and grab samples, what were the results?

Shawn Khunkhun:

Recently, we’ve had up to 3,800 grams per tonne, but when we first acquired the property. At the Silverado side we’ve had up to 44,000 grams per tonne. This is one of the most exceptional specimens I’ve ever come across in my career and so up to 44,000 grams per tonne, that’s 20 times the average production grades.

Maurice Jackson:

All right. So let’s discuss some important topics that you’re main to your projects, and that is, are the projects 100% owned?

Shawn Khunkhun:

They are 100% owned.

Maurice Jackson:

And what is your relationship with the first nations?

Shawn Khunkhun:

There are two first nations groups in the area. South of Treaty Creek, we’re in Nisga’a territory. And so we’ve got a very, very strong relationship with the Nisga’a Nation. About a third of our workforce comes from Nisga’a and everyone from our team had a long history of just a very, strong relationship there. I’ve said this before, they’re our brothers, they’re sisters, they’re our friends. They’re truly our partners and it goes beyond Nisga’a, it’s everybody close to the Stewart community. These are non-first nations. These are non-indigenous peoples as well. We are truly from the north for the north and that’s our policy.

Maurice Jackson:

We’ve discussed the good, let’s address the bad, what can go wrong? And what are your action plans to mitigate that wrong?

Shawn Khunkhun:

In 2020, we had one of the worst weather years up in the Golden Triangle that we’ve seen in about a decade. And so that’s hasn’t been the case this year. But last year, if you scanned about two dozen junior resource companies and went through their financial statements, what you’d see is some companies we’re operating at a 30% production because of weather. I’m happy to report that Strikepoint last season, we combated the weather, and we were operating at about 90%, 95% productivity. So, we overcame weather, but weather can be a challenge in this part of the world. Apart from the weather, we went through the COVID pandemic in terms of more regulations and just a stronger adherence to health and safety.

Shawn Khunkhun:

We are always on high alert in terms of COVID outbreaks. And lastly, just with the scarcity of certain supplies. We started the season, we saw some trends in lumber in late 2020. We made all of our wood purchases in Q4 of 2020 and in late Q3, and thankfully so, because how do we try to secure lumbering in Q1 and Q2? We would have paid twice the price. Now, thankfully things like lumber and other costs have come down, but there is a shortage of certain goods and items. Sometimes there are some delays, but, those are the types of things that can go wrong.

Maurice Jackson:

All right. Let’s discuss the people responsible for increasing shareholder value. Mr. Khunkhun, please introduce us to your board of directors and management team, and what skill sets do they bring to Strikepoint Gold.

Shawn Khunkhun:

Strikepoint Gold has a diverse group, but, if you look at the skills and experience matrix, we’ve got a lot of boxes checked here. We’ve got a mining engineer, Ian Harris. Ian, was instrumental in the sale of Corriente Resources for about $690 million. We’ve got an exploration geologist, Adrian Fleming. I don’t think we have enough time to go through all of Adrian’s successes, but he’s just a tremendous mentor to the beyond geologists that work for the company. We’ve got a tremendous mining engineer. We’ve got a great exploration geologist. Carol Li, who is the chief financial officer for Ascot Resources and is on the board. And then beyond the board of directors, we’ve got advisors like Rob McLeod, Ryan Weymark, myself. To round things out, I come from a marketing and capital reserve background. So we’ve got all the right elements you need to move a company like Strikepoint forward.

Maurice Jackson:

Let’s get into some numbers. Please provide us with the capital structure for Strikepoint Gold.

Shawn Khunkhun:

Strikepoint has about 200 million shares issued and outstanding. Eric Sprott as the largest shareholder at close to 20%. We have a couple of corporate shareholders in Ascot, and Skeena. In terms of institutional ownership, I believe it’s around 40% and you’ve got tremendous names in the institutional leadership. You’ve got firms like Delbrook, Crescat, US Global, Gold 2000, Sprott. So, it’s all the who’s who in the resource fund space.

Maurice Jackson:

How much cash and cash equivalents do you have?

Shawn Khunkhun:

So, we’ve got about $10 million in the bank. And, we’ve got about a $4 million budget here. We should start the year with roughly $6 million. We should start January 1st, 2022 with about $6 million after all of our exploration expenditures and spending.

Maurice Jackson:

How much debt do you have?

Shawn Khunkhun:

Zero.

Maurice Jackson:

And if you can just remind us one more time, what is the float?

Shawn Khunkhun:

The float is roughly 40 million shares.

Maurice Jackson:

In closing, sir, what keeps you up at night that we don’t know about?

Shawn Khunkhun:

When our crew is in the field, they’re on my mind. I sleep like a baby come December when the crews are off the property. When you go to work with people, you start to care about them. And until everybody’s gone home to their families at Christmas, that’s the one thing in the back of my mind. And it’s part of the reason that we make our best efforts to go up and to spend time with our crews. Team morale is important.

Maurice Jackson:

Last question, what did I forget to ask?

Shawn Khunkhun:

One of the things that you should know is that I’ve personally invested about $500,000 dollars in Strikepoint, for me, that’s a material amount of money. And so my interests are aligned with shareholders’ interests, my family, and my friends. There’s a lot more in terms of reputation and then in personal a skin in the game. So, that’s one thing I’d like your viewers to know.

Maurice Jackson:

Mr. Khunkhun, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you today, wishing you and Strikepoint Gold the absolute best, sir.

And as a reminder, I am a licensed representative to buy and sell precious metals through Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments, where we have several options to expand your precious metals portfolio, from physical delivery of gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium, to offshore depositories, and precious metals IRA’s. Give me a call at 855.505.1900 or you may email: Maurice@MilesFranklin.com.  Finally, please subscribe to www.provenandprobable.com, where we provide: Mining Insights and Bullion Sales, subscription is free.