My Interview With John McConnell
posted on
May 18, 2011 12:23PM
The Company's Eagle Gold Project in Yukon Canada hosts a National Instrument 43-101 compliant Reserve of 2.3 million ounces of gold.
Please note that John’s comments are not direct quotes but they represent the facts as closely as I can remember.
Tom: Why is taking so long to get the final permits for building the underground decline in the Helen deposit?
Your recent press release mentioned “the environmental assessment process… is well underway and authorizations which will allow the construction of an underground decline in the Helen deposit and subsequent bulk sampling are expected to be in hand this year”. Last year our company was expecting to have all the permits in place by year-end 2010 with construction starting in the beginning of 2011 and bulk sample sales occurring in the 4th quarter? Do these long delays in getting our permits to build the adit have anything to do with our company’s major focus on our Eagle project?
Your “May” presentation is now showing a best case for receiving all permits by the end of the 2nd quarter and worst case end of 3rd quarter.
John: The delay in receiving permits is a function of two things: Understaffing at the “Bureau of Land Management” and our firm under estimating how long it would take to get the permits. The boom in drilling and mine development activity in Nevada has caused long delays in getting permits and part of that delay is attributable to mining companies hiring some of the people on staff at the “Bureau of Land Management”.
Tom: After receiving permits, how long will it take to build the underground decline (adit) and begin bulk sampling?
John: It will take approximately nine months.
Tom: So if we get the final permits by the end of the 2nd quarter or 3rd quarter 2011, the adit construction will not be constructed until end of the 1st quarter 2012 or 2nd quarter 2012, at which time we can expect to start doing bulk sampling.
John: Yes, that is correct.
Tom: You recently stated that our firm is going to start a 12-hole drilling program at the Helen zone. Please give me some details as it relates to this new drilling program.
John: The purpose of this drilling program is to test whether there are lateral extensions of the Helen zone. Depending on the drilling results, this could increase the resource estimates, and also impact the location of where the underground workings will be constructed.
Tom: When do you expect to start this drilling program?
John: We are currently in the process of mobilizing a rig, and we expect to start drilling at the end of May.
Tom: What kind of drilling will you be doing – reverse circulating or core drilling?
John: We will be starting out using reverse circulating until we reach the Helen zone, and then we will use core drilling.
Tom: What is the advantage of using a combination of reverse circulating and core drilling?
John: It is much cheaper and faster to drill. When we first drilled the Helen zone, we did 100% core drilling. It was costing us $340,000 per hole and each hole often took a couple of months to drill. Using a combination of drilling techniques, our cost of drilling each hole will be reduced to $100,000 per hole, and we can expect to complete all 12 holes and obtain assay results within four months – by the end of September.
Tom: Depending on the drilling results at our HelenZone, do you believe that they could be a major factor in forcing Newmont Mining to make a decision regarding their back-in rights to our Cove property?
John: According to Newmont Mining, the criteria for forcing them to make a decision regarding their back-in rights is contingent upon our company providing a feasibility report that indicates that we have 500,000 mineable gold reserves.
Tom: Please advise me if I am correct in the timeline for us to get to a point where we could actually provide a feasibility report at the Helen zone. Lets assume that we get are adit permits by the end of Sep 2010; then its takes 9 months to build; another 6 months to complete the underground drilling program; and another 6 to 9 months to complete a feasibility study; then a short waiting period for Newmont Mining to make its decision on its back in rights. If I am right, we are talking about end of 1st quarter 2013. The following statement is a parenthetic statement I have added after the interview: Newmont Mining has the option of exercising their back-in rights at anytime – they don’t have to wait for a feasibility study – if we continue to show good drilling results at he Helen Zone, they may decide to exercise their back-in rights much sooner than the time line I indicated above – the longer Newmont Mining takes in making a decision to do a back-in the more it will cost them because they will have to reimburse our company 2 ½ times all the money our firm has spent developing the Helen Zone or any other drill targets located on the Cove property.
John: Yes, your timeline sounds reasonable.
Tom: Please give me an up date on our drilling program at “Windy Point”.
John: We have completed drilling three holes, and the assay results were disappointing. We are now re-prioritizing our drilling to focus to test the lateral extensions at the Helen zone.
Tom: Please give me an update on our plans for Santa Fe and MillCanyon.
John: Santa Fe: We are in the process of compiling drill results into a comprehensive block model that will be used to identify potential drilling targets. Drilling should commence after our 12 hole drilling program at the Helen zone has been completed – approximately October 2011. MillCanyon: We are in the process of developing a database & GIA model assessing exploration targets. When this analysis is completed, will either do additional drilling or sell the property to another miner. Barrack Gold has previously indicated an interest in buying our property, but we declined their offer.
Tom: This statement was added after the interview contents were edited: John told me that our former chief geologist, Raul Madrid, never computerized his drilling details, calculations, etc. so our company has had to create a computer database of Raul Madrid’s information in order to build a comprehensive block model to identify potential drilling targets. I am sure that is one of the reasons why we haven’t done in any follow up drilling at Santa Fe or MillCanyon; however, I am equally sure that our company had other reasons for delaying follow up drilling at these two properties.
Tom: Please advice how many rigs to we currently have operating, and where are they located.
John: At Dublin Gulch, We have 3 rigs operating and plan on adding a fourth rig. We have two rigs at Steiner– one doing reverse circulating drilling, and one doing core drilling. Popeye- we have one rig doing core drilling.
Tom: John, I would like to thank you for giving me some of your valuable time to answer my questions.
Tom:The following comments were added after the interview comments were edited by John McConnell:
I personally believe that our stock, which is currently selling at $.71, is significantly undervalued. As a proof source that our stock is undervalued I would like you to access the following link to a new Presentation Slide show located on Victoria Gold’s web site:
http://www.vitgoldcorp.com/site/victoria_gold/assets/pdf/VIT_corp_slides_May2011v2.pdf
Please see slide #32: We have seven analysts that have published their 12 month target price for our stock – ranging from $1.35 to $5.69. If you through out the $5.69 target price and take an average price target for the remaining target prices, you will come up with an average 12 month target price of $1.68 – at our current stock price, it is selling 133% below this average target price.
Now, I would like to go to slide #36: Based on “Market Cap Per Total Oz” Victoria Gold is selling at $124 per total oz. and Victoria Gold’s peer group is selling at $497 per total oz. In other words, our stock is selling at 1/3 the cost of our competitors.
In my opinion, the market will eventually accord our stock a valuation that is closer to its peer group – this will happen as our company gets closer to gold production and achieves various milestones – such as obtaining a feasibility study on our Eagle project before year-end and obtaining final permits for approving the building of an underground decline at our Helen project.