Drilling Deeper at Mother Lode, A Corporate Update from Barksdale Capital, and the Oreninc Weekly

Trevor Hall [00:00:08] A welcome back to Mining Stock Daily, it is Friday morning, means it's time for an in-depth interview. Hope everybody had a great week out there. Actually, a new face, well, a new voice to the show this week. I actually had a chance to interview Mark Reishman from Corvus Gold while I was on-site there, mother lode in North Bullfrog in Nevada earlier this week. So I was able to pull Mark aside after the site tour and have a quick conversation with him about his involvement. And he's got an incredible background and experience there in Nevada going all the way back to barrack days at the Bullfrog Mine. But so he's pretty excited what's going on there with Corvus. So we go through a couple ideas with him, a couple questions you're going to want pay attention to. Then we're also gonna wrap things up since we missed the morning Weekly update, earlier this week because I was traveling. Would you welcome Kai Hoffman back to give us that weekly update. And then finally, we welcome Rick Troutman to the show for a corporate update from Barksdale Capital. Rick, this will actually be the last conversation interview we have from the AME Roundup Show. Believe it or not, I think it did think over 20 interviews. And I think this one's the last one we hear. But Rick goes into conversation about Sunnyside in San Antonio now, four medals projects down there in Arizona. And so it's good corporate update from Barksdale Capital. Before we do get started, we would like to thank all of our sponsors. That does include Corvus Gold, Integra Resources, Pacific Empire Minerals and Western Copper and Gold. Thank you so much for supporting Mining Stock Daily. Also thank you for the support of the junior mining network who distributes the podcast on their newsroom page. Again, if you have not visited the Newsroom a junior mining network, I would very much encourage you to do so is just an incredible resource and where you can get as much news as possible throughout this sector. So alright my friends. That's it for me. This week I'm going to leave with my conversation. Have yourself a great weekend. We'll be back Monday morning with Mining Stock Daily news briefing.

Trevor Hall [00:02:29] Everybody, there's Trevor Hall, Mining Stock Daily. Thanks again for tuning in. Just wrapping up a site tour with Corvus Gold and I had the pleasure to take a quick few minutes and chat with Mark Reishman, who is the general manager for both the Mother Lode and the North Bullfrog deposits. Mark, we've seen a lot today, and so obviously we can't hash everything from a five-hour tour into 10 minutes. So I want to talk. We'll separate both Mother Lode and North Bullfrog because I know there's exciting things happening in both of those areas. But what we saw today was the ability to explore even further north and the Mother Lode land package. So give us an idea of what the drills are doing now and then what you plan to do with drilling up to the northern boundary of Mother Lode probably here in the next few months.

Mark Reishman [00:03:26] Well, we continue to chase the Mother Lode gold zone as we know it at depth. We have a very robust geologic model and we've been very successful at hitting it at depth. And now we've taken the next step to do our C pre collars and deep core tails to continue to find and continue to expand our quartz porphyry dike that's well, mineralized at depth at Mother Lode. And you know, we're still permitted on our under our notice of intent to go ahead and drill it right up to the property boundary with core mining. And that's what we plan to do in 2020.

Trevor Hall [00:04:06] So we haven't seen the assays yet for the deep holes that go into the deep, intrusive zone. But you have seen the core. I mean, just give us your sense of, you know what are your expectations? You know, are you seeing in the core what you wanted to see?

Mark Reishman [00:04:23] We're seeing exactly what we want to see in the first core tail at the northwest part of Mother Lode. Very similar to the nearest RC hole, high sulfide in quartz porphyry dikes and sulfidized tertiary sediments. It's exactly what we're looking for and we look forward to getting the assets.

Trevor Hall [00:04:46] So that's Mother Lode. Let's move over to North Bullfrog. We know that there's kind of the workings of an internal P.F. fest that's gonna happen to see what economics might be to create that project out for some cash flow. But there's a few things you are gonna do with the drill before you know, really to ramp that up PFI. So tell us exactly what the next drill program at North Bullfrog is going to look like. Pertaining with the yellow jacket vein.

Mark Reishman [00:05:16] OK, so it's him can impart follow up to previous drilling. We have a deep core tail or excuse me a deep RC pre coller that's been drilled underneath the yellow jacket vein system. That's scheduled for a core tail in the coming months. And the goal there is to hit the yellow jacket vein system 200 meters down dip of the yellow jacket structure with the hope of a stacked vein system.

Trevor Hall [00:05:43] So similar to Mother Lode you're gonna go deeper to see because you believe there might be something there.

Mark Reishman [00:05:48] Going deep at yellow jacket and we're also going to test our spice right target in our eastern steam-heated zone deep. On the order of 200 meters deeper than any previous penetration.

Trevor Hall [00:05:59] You took us there. And it's funny because like it looks nothing like anything else in the entire land package you have. I mean, it's a very bright white rock that's obviously was well heated at one time. But you've got a little bit of a grin on your face right now. And I just kind of want to know, you know, give us a reason why this is exciting for you at the Spice Red.

Mark Reishman [00:06:20] Well, the eastern steam heated zone is is a very large area of surface alteration. That's very low temperature. It has essentially no metal in it, but it's typically typical of the style of alteration you see over epithermal gold deposits, very broad area, a very low-temperature alteration, assemblage, alunite, kaolinite, and low-temperature silica, and no metal. So there's really no better place to be looking for new blind, productive vein in this district right now.

Trevor Hall [00:06:54] That's gonna take a pretty deep hole, a deeper than a lot of first exploration discovery holes, right?

Mark Reishman [00:07:00] Yeah, we will be drilling to six hundred and fifty plus meters depth downhole, which is 550 to 600 meters below the surface.

Trevor Hall [00:07:11] You've been working that land package for a long time. That's what Ryan was mentioning. You've got a lot of history of North Bullfrog.

Mark Reishman [00:07:19] Well, I worked in the district for Barrick Gold back in 94, 95, 96, and had the opportunity to come back in 2010 for Corvus. And I've been here since 2010 and we've had a fair amount of success in the district. And I think there's toom for more blind high-grade veins to be discovered in this district and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Trevor Hall [00:07:46] So let's talk about the district as a whole because obviously everybody's watching all the players. You know, Corvus, Core, Kinross has moved in. You know, there's gonna come a time where we talk consolidation throws and it makes sense because it's there's a lot of activity right now. And we saw two or three drills from core moving while your two drills removing in Mother Lode. You know, what will it take for a big major miner to come in here, consolidate and just really ramp up production?

Mark Reishman [00:08:21] Well, I don't know what it's going to take at this point. I would have thought it would have already happened by now. But obviously, the gold market is better now. It hasn't been so good in the past years. It's going to take a new discovery. I can tell you that something new, new blind, blind Mother Lode style vein discovery, you know, in the Florspar Canyon area or a new bullfrog style vein discovery on the west side of the highway is what it's going to take. And, you know, Corvus is involved in both those things.

Trevor Hall [00:08:52] Well, it seems like obviously Corvus is a lot more nimble with their strategy of exploration here than a couple of the other companies. Why? That's I mean, it has to be such an advantage to you, because I would assume when you were with Barrick, you were not allowed to just be as agile as you are now with Corvus.

Mark Reishman [00:09:13] Well, I was in all of little different position with Barrick. I was a little lower on the pecking order, but you know, this is the kind of district, because of its exploration history and its history of blind discoveries that you have to think outside the box and programs that are going to be successful in this district are going to be drill intensive. OK. And so Corvus's philosophy is, you know, keep our drill costs low. Keep our burn rate low. Drill as many holes as we can. And that gives us a better probability of success in this district.

Trevor Hall [00:09:49] Mark, thanks so much for your time and for the tour today. It's a great time. It's Mark Reishman of Corvus Gold.

Kai Hoffman [00:10:03] Hello, my name's Kai Hoffman and welcome to another OrenInc Index weekly update. The OrenInc Index fell in the week ending January 30, to 36 points from a forty-four point eighty-five week ago as fewer deals were announced. Although the aggregate dollars announced actually increased, total fundraises announced almost doubled to ninety-seven million dollars, which resembles a two week high, including one broker financing for 15 million dollars, which is also two week high. One bought deal for financing as also an eight week high. The average offer size more than triple to five point four million dollars a 10 week high, while the number of financings almost half to 18, meaning we've seen larger deals this week and less smaller deals. One of the financing highlights was a 40 million dollar nonprofit private placement by Grand Columbia, issuing seven point one million units at five point six dollars. Each unit comes with one share in a warrant it's sizable at six-fifty for three years and will be used, the proceeds will be used for general working capital, including the repurchase of its listed warrens under its NCIB. Other major financings include African energy for twenty-six point four million dollars on a best efforts basis. Bahrain open to 15 million dollar offering underwritten by a syndicate led by Sprott on a bought deal basis. And each unit includes a warrant that expires in three years. Major closings were a lot smaller closings this week. Canadian Palladium Resources with the ticker CSC bull close to four million dollars offering on a best efforts basis. You're some closed three point three million dollar offering and get your gold close to one point six five million dollar offering. That's it for the week. Stay tuned. We'll be ready with another update soon. Sign up for our free newsletter or at OrenInc.com and receive our weekly next updates in your mailbox.

Trevor Hall [00:11:59] Everybody, welcome to Mining Stock Daily. Trevor Hall here once again from the Association for Mineral Exploration, the Roundup conference here in lovely Vancouver. Sitting with me now is the president and CEO of Barksdale Capital. Mr. Rick Troutman. Rick, good to talk to you once again.

Rick Troutman [00:12:13] Yeah. Thanks for having me, Trevor. Good to see you again.

Trevor Hall [00:12:15] You got an interesting play in Arizona, copper play in Arizona that's Sunny Side project. It's basically South 32's portfolio surrounds the whole thing. So there's a little bit of a land deal there, some with some land candy, I guess you could say.

Rick Troutman [00:12:31] Yeah, that's close ology, one at one. And what we have is a world-class mineral system. And the Barksdale Ground effectively has the extension of this mineral deposit that goes onto our ground where we think that we have the source of the entire hydrothermal system. So we're excited to find high grades and show that this extension is very meaty and very big and hopefully can provide a lot of value to our shareholders.

Trevor Hall [00:12:57] Can you walk us through what you did in 2019 and then what does 2020 look for Barksdale?

Rick Troutman [00:13:03] Yeah. So 2019 was really setting the foundation. So we did a bunch of consolidation in the district. So, you know, this is very exciting, very noteworthy exploration district that's getting a lot of press over the past couple of years. So we really focused on grabbing as much ground as we possibly could. So we did a big deal with tech resources. We effectively bought all of their mineral claims in the district, gave us a very nice copper porphyry target. And aside from that, we've been working on getting permits in hand so that we can actually go forth and drill and really prove that, you know, we've got a couple of discoveries lying in wait.

Trevor Hall [00:13:46] How does the timeframe for drilling look like?

Rick Troutman [00:13:48] It depends on which project. So Sunnyside is a much bigger permit that we're going after, you know, very long-lived, a very large amount of drilling. And so we expect to kind of finish that up, you know, at the end of the year and be drilling in 2021. San Antonio is a grassroots porphyry exploration target that we've picked up from tech. And we look to be going in and in there probably in the late summer or fall if things, you know, hold together on the timelines. I'll give some more guidance here to the market in the next couple of weeks on that. But, you know, be a lower level permit, you know, kind of a quick exploration test to see if we have system, really.

Trevor Hall [00:14:29] So do you need to go back to the markets and finance this?

Rick Troutman [00:14:33] No, no.

Trevor Hall [00:14:34] Good now?

Rick Troutman [00:14:34] So we've got 3 million on the balance sheet. So we did financing with Teck last year as well as with Osisko Gold Royalties. So we raised five and a half million. We've got over three left on the balance sheet. So we're good until we drill. And then even on like, say, San Antonio, we'd be able to drill off of our balance sheet.

Trevor Hall [00:14:51] So give us your thoughts on the outlook, the copper right now. We're in an interesting time. You know Phase 1 deal signed the gate, copper, a little bit of boost. I was talking to Paul West-Cells from Western Copper and gold a little bit about this earlier this morning. But what're your thoughts? I mean, it was at the floor of copper to get that deal signed and the outlook looks good for a continued move up or what do you think?

Rick Troutman [00:15:15] Yeah, I think so. I think we've had a coiled spring here. You know, my personal thought is that the trade war will end in a more earnest way as we get closer and closer to the U.S. election. You know, Donald Trump will either provide himself a little bit of a tailwind by ending it on his own accord or potentially he'll lose, and the Democrats would most likely end it there shortly thereafter. So I think that'll give a nice push towards the whole base. But it's complex and copper specifically, inventories are dropping. So everything that you want to see is is happening on the copper supply-demand side. So, yeah. And you know, the big copper projects still take a lot of time to permit and a ton of capital to get under production.

Trevor Hall [00:15:59] Well, there's a supply and demand factor there for the metal itself. But there's also a supply and demand issue with projects getting copper projects throughout the world.

Rick Troutman [00:16:09] Yeah. Yeah. Well, what you saw was a whole series of consolidation a couple of years ago when copper development and exploration companies really couldn't finance themselves. So the majors went and picked up some of the good ones and kind of inventoried them. And there wasn't a lot of money out there for explorers. So not very many people have gone back to basics and really worked up high-quality copper projects over the past couple of years because investors weren't paying them to do it. Right?

Trevor Hall [00:16:36] Right.

Rick Troutman [00:16:38] So I think we're starting to see a little bit more activity on that front. And the groups that are doing really good work are, you know, selling their projects and their stocks are performing well. So I hope that we just keep that momentum up. And, you know, people really start going back to the coverage to look for new inventory.

Trevor Hall [00:16:58] Do you feel like there's any sort of time crunch for Barksdale to kind of get these projects maybe moving faster, as fast as possible, just so you don't miss some sort of potential bigger move with copper and then you're still sitting there without funding drill results?

Rick Troutman [00:17:15] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think you would know that they're often our equity windows. You know, that open up and availability perhaps related. Exactly. It's an exact story. Yeah. So I don't think from a timescale standpoint, we're too concerned with, you know, doing our work and ultimately selling the company to someone who wants big, high-quality projects. But as far as, you know, financing along the way and making sure that you have enough capital to get all of that high-quality work done and show that your project's potential is, you know, capable of being crystallized. Absolutely. And so, you know, making sure that you have enough news out there is just it's a constant worry. And for a company and permitting, we kind of have to get a little bit creative. And so that's why we're always out, you know, not only looking for new things to bolt onto our existing land package, but new deals and ways to kind of speed up our own project portfolio.

Trevor Hall [00:18:13] Tell me about working in Arizona right now. I mean, it's obviously a prolific copper jurisdiction. And, you know, there's obviously, you know, the acquisition of the Taylor deposit was that, you know, from South 32. That's actually really big. I mean, resolution copper still seems to be trying to find its way. What do you think the outlook for Arizona copper is? You know, here in the next couple of years, it will continue to move forward.

Rick Troutman [00:18:40] And I do. I do. So, you know, Arizona has a number of very large mines that probably have 50 plus year reserves. So I think Arizona will continue to be the anchor for U.S. copper production well into the future.

Trevor Hall [00:18:54] Both the America first type of agenda continues to move forward.

Rick Troutman [00:18:58] Exactly. And you know, that ranges from cathode production to sulfide production. There's a number of you know, there's a smelter or two in Arizona. And, you know, like you said, resolution is a monster. And so that project will take a lot of time, has taken a lot of time to kind of fully explore and to get it permitted. And then ultimately, you know, they'll have to be in the right environment to get the capital in there to build the thing. But, you know, that will be a monster project when it's on. And, you know, all of the majors, maybe that's a little bit too broad brush there. But most of the copper, large copper companies are in Arizona looking for porphyries because it's porphyry country.

Trevor Hall [00:19:41] What are you hearing from South 32 at the Himosa project? What's the activity been like?

Rick Troutman [00:19:46] Yeah. So last year was a very active year for them. They put once it was close to 100 million dollars into the project in pre-development and de-risking activity. So they built the big dry stack tailings facility. Underground development was going on and they're working on a pre-feasibility study and so they forecast releasing pre-feasibility before the end of their fiscal year, which is June 30. So here in the next couple of months, they're going to be putting out to the public, I hope, you know, the designs of a future mine. And hopefully along with that, their expected timeline. And you know how it's all going to kind of play out.

Trevor Hall [00:20:29] Is there potential for a passive bump for Barksdale there?

Rick Troutman [00:20:33] Yeah. Yeah. You know, with a close ology played to a certain extent. So, you know, we have the same mineral system and, you know, good news for them is good news for us.

Trevor Hall [00:20:44] Right.

Rick Troutman [00:20:44] Put it that way.

Trevor Hall [00:20:45] Well, here's the interesting question for you, Rick. I mean, you can't always just play one exit strategy, right? So other than potential acquisition, I mean, obviously by somebody like South 32 that surrounds you, you know, what is the, what is what can be plan B or plan C?

Rick Troutman [00:21:03] Yeah. The key thing for us is to push the projects forward. And San Antonio really comes in to plan B and plan C from the standpoint that if it turns out to be a copper discovery under shallow gravel covers, it could be one of the only real perfect copper discoveries in the U.S. in the past decade or two. And at that point, you know, we would go from having South 32 being our key, you know, potential acquire to having multiple companies looking at us from the porphyry perspective. So we always want to make sure that we have all the windows and doors open and everyone can look inside.

Trevor Hall [00:21:43] Right. Right. Rick, thanks so much for your time. Always good to see you here in Vancouver. And maybe someday I'll see, well, I'll probably see you back in Denver, eventually. Your home away from home.

Rick Troutman [00:21:55] Yeah.

Trevor Hall [00:21:55] All right. Rick Troutman of Barksdale Capital. Have yourself a great day, everybody be well.