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Rock Talk Session with Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources http://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/resource-sector-news/inte… March 14, 2013 Explore in the shadow of the head frame- a term both familiar and favorable to seasoned geologists. Just ask Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: BAR), who in just three short years has built what was a prospective land package into what has the potential to become a high-grade, multi-million ounce gold resource. Building on his success at West Timmins Mining, which was purchased by Lake Shore Gold (TSX: LSG) for $424 million in late 2009, Wagner turned his focus in 2010 to northern part of the world-class Abitibi Greenstone belt of Quebec. More specifically, Wagner helped launch Balmoral Resources and immediately acquired a large land package adjacent to the Detour Lake Gold Project. Detour Gold (TSX: DGC) poured its first gold doré in February and has proven and probable gold reserves of 15.6 million ounces. Balmoral’s land package, which spans 82 kilometers along the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone, begins immediately east of Detour Gold’s claims and shares obvious similar geological traits. Since acquiring the land package Wagner has focused on putting money in the ground through drill-heavy exploration. Balmoral completed 26,000 meters of core drilling in 2012 and has commenced a 40,000 meter program for 2013. And results to date have not disappointed. Balmoral is quickly defining a large, high-grade mineralized gold system that could potentially make the company a future buyout target for the likes of a mid-tier producer like Aurizon (TSX: ARZ) or Detour Gold. We sat down with Mr. Wagner to gain some further insight into his long-term vision for Balmoral as well his thoughts on the current state of the junior resource sector. JMN: Tell us about your experience as a geologist. How did you become involved with the junior resource sector? Wagner: My schooling was in the east- B.Sc. from University of Waterloo and M.Sc. from Carleton in Ottawa working with members of the Geological Survey of Canada. My first full time positions were with major companies- first Noranda and then Cominco for 8 years. It was my time with Cominco, as a member of their Project Generation Team, that really laid the ground work for where I am today. I had the opportunity to work with an extremely experienced and successful group of explorers and to look at things on a big- regional- scale which is my preferred approach to exploration to this day. I was a victim, or beneficiary depending on how you look at it, of the merger between Teck and Cominco in 1999 and landed a job with a junior platinum explorer through the ex-Cominco network which served as my intro to the junior sector. That company would merge within another junior to form Platinum Group Metals (TSX: PTM) and from that base both Mag Silver (TSX: MAG) and West Timmins would be born. That core group, that started with 5 bodies in 2002, discovered and helped to fund one gold mine which is now in production (West Timmins- former Thunder Creek deposit) and both silver and platinum mines which are under construction- not a bad track record. JMN: You created great returns for shareholders of West Timmins. How do you plan to do the same for shareholders of Balmoral? Wagner: The path to shareholder value in WTM, and in MAG and Platinum Group for that matter, turns on one principal factor- GRADE. High-grade deposits, in particular those in politically stable, mining friendly jurisdictions, are the most sought after assets in the mining business and also the most difficult to identify. Like West Timmins before it, Balmoral has made several high-grade gold discoveries in Quebec and is driving value (and market permitting valuation) through the growth and definition of these discoveries. JMN: These are obvious tough times for many junior mining companies. What sets Balmoral apart from the rest? Wagner: Grade, location, scale, experience and cash. The grade of our gold discoveries in well up in the upper quartile, we work in what is arguably one of the best locations on the planet and in the shadow of what will soon be Canada's largest gold mine and control over 80% of the entire belt. We have an experienced team with multiple successful ventures to their credit and we have the cash to go out and continue to grow despite a very tough market. Much like WTM during the financial crisis in 2008, we haven't shut the drills down and gone turtle as we believe in what we are doing, in the assets we are building and continue to work to grow value for our shareholders. JMN: Of all the discoveries you have made to date along your land package, which excites you the most and why? Wagner: The most exciting discoveries are the ones at Martiniere. We have two intersecting high-grade gold bearing structures on the property, which is a rare thing in the gold world and as a result we are seeing the emergence of a large, high-grade gold system characterized by multiple zones and local bonanza grades. Despite almost two years of drilling in and around this system we still don't know where the boundaries are on it and any time you can't find the edges of a new discovery, the exploration team and the President are pretty happy campers. JMN: Apart from the obvious gold potential at Martiniere, tell us about prospects for a VMS discovery of merit. Wagner: While our principal focus is on the gold potential in the belt, we are very cognizant that there is potential for other styles of mineralization within our vast land holdings. Just to the south of our Detour Trend Gold Project sits the former producing Selbaie Cu-Zn-Au-Ag mine- a 50+ million tonne (Mt) company maker of a deposit, and to the east the rich Mattagami camp which has hosted a number of VMS discoveries. We have intersected a couple of smaller VMS systems to date in our exploration as well as a zone of anomalous nickel-copper-PGE mineralization which needs follow-up. We've also seen some evidence of a Lac des Iles type Pt-Pd system on the property, all of which sit in our pipeline moving forward. Our former chairman at WTM, the late Wayne O'Connor, used to refer to Abitibi as the earth's treasure box because of the abundance of opportunities presented by the geology and that's very appropriate to our project. JMN: What major milestones do you expect Balmoral to accomplish in 2013 and 2014? Wagner: Our current drive is to outline the full extent of the Martiniere high-grade gold system and on that path we are aiming to have our first NI 43-101 resource published on the property be the end of 2013. We've put this off a couple of times after new discoveries significantly expanded the scale and scope of the system- and we just announced another 500 metre expansion- but will still aim to provide a resource on the more advanced parts of the system this year. Then it's about further expansion in 2014 and obviously seeing what we can do to add to that resource inventory through new discoveries in the area. JMN: What about for 2015 and beyond? Wagner: If Martiniere continues to produce the kinds of results we have seen over the last 18 months then there may very well not be a "beyond." High-grade gold deposits are rare, highly sought after commodities and with many cashed up producers in the area looking for the kind of asset we are delineating (look no further than the current battle over Aurizon, a similar type of deposit just south of us) there is a good chance as this project gets further outlined that there will be a buyer out there and a reward for the shareholders who have been patient through a tough market JMN: Your neighbor to the east, Detour Gold, just commenced production at its Detour Lake Mine. How do you feel this could affect the future prospects of Balmoral? Wagner: First of all Mr. Panneton and his team deserve congratulations for reaching that milestone on budget and on time- a rare feat in the industry today. Detour will be the focus of a great deal of attention over the next several months, a bright spotlight on the horizon which we can use to help focus investors on what we are doing, in particular with a grade several times what Detour will be mining. Over the longer haul the $1.5 billion in infrastructure in place at Detour provides a tremendous magnet for other operations and opportunities in the belt where Balmoral controls roughly 80% of the ground. The value in the large land holding will be unlocked over time with that size an asset sitting next door. JMN: Moving our attention to the junior resource sector, what is the biggest challenge it faces right now? Wagner: I think there are two major challenges, one external, one internal. On the external front the "trade driven mentality" which has seen the creation of multi-layered derivatives and their second cousins- ETF's- on the big stage has seen the junior resource space invaded by traders, rather than investors, over the last several years when resources were "the place to be". The unprecedented nature of this activity on our space has created the kind of volatility and short timeline investing which is very difficult for the more traditional high-risk/high-reward investor to stomach. Fewer investors = less capital, simple equation. Not sure what the answer is on that front but it's impact has been dramatic- both to the upside through 2006-2007 and to the downside over the last couple of years. The second is internal and related to quality. Funding will still find quality projects and teams. As a sector we have simply not been putting enough quality assets and opportunities in front of our investors to have earned their trust (or maybe just putting too many low quality assets out there). This reaches all the way through to the majors where the drive to increase gold production has led to mining lower quality, higher cost deposits and despite higher prices has not produced the kinds of margins one would expect. On the junior end there are too many projects being re-hashed (as opposed to re-thought) due to higher metal prices or projects touted that are solely dependent on those prices. Even if those prices are maintained these are low margin projects which shouldn't see the light of day. We are seeing a fairly rapid sorting of companies with those combining better quality projects and sounder management teams attracting a shrinking capital pool. Unfortunately the result of the two is a widening gap between value, as defined by what is in the ground, and valuation as defined by the market which makes it even more costly to finance good projects reducing the upside for the resource investor. Typically this is a short term (2-3 year) situation and part of the "normal" business cycle for the industry. Marginal projects simply not are getting built or moved forward which- for the long term health of the industry, is probably a good thing. In the precious metal business, to quote Dan MacInnis whose an advisor to the Company, there is a saying that "not all ounces are created equally" and that has become very clear over the last several years with company's touting sub-gram, half gram gold deposits when most major companies core assets are in the multi-gram range, like Goldcorp's Red Lake and Eleonore deposits. Which ounces would you rather own and which are likely to be more profitable. JMN: That aside, what excites you about the future of the junior resource sector? What major trends do you see forthcoming? Wagner: The same thing at always excites me- discovery. There is really no other sector of the market where a single event, a single drill hole, can change the fortune of a company and unlock so much value for its investors as the junior resource space. As significant discoveries become rarer this will likely be truer than ever. In terms of trends I think the math is pretty simple. With discovery rates down signficantly, and demand steady or growing, I see a longer term picture which is very bullish for the diligent and successful explorers and for those willing to look beyond the headlines and short term political agendas and invest in quality opportunities throughout the junior resource space. We aren't creating any new mineral deposits today but during our lifetimes we will exhaust hundreds. Thus the value of each new discovery will only become more significant over time. JMN: Anything else you'd like to add? Wagner: Just to thank you for the opportunity to reach out to your readers and to remind them that some things never go out of style- and that high-grade Canadian gold discoveries like the one that Balmoral is outlining at Martiniere remain as stylish today as they were a 100 years ago when the first discoveries were made in the wilds of northern Canada. FANTOMAS |
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| aus der Diskussion: | Balmoral Resources - eine neue Gold-Perle im Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebeck/Ontario? |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Fantomas96 (14.03.13 11:44:15) |
| Beitrag: | 125 von 255 (ID:44251241) |
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