feedback from CEOMost of us are frustrated about the stock performance. Here is the feedback from CEO I would like to share with you guys regarding to PEA and enough funding. Hope it helps bode well for us.
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Thank you for your inquiry about Eastmain Resources as a concerned and disappointed shareholder. As you know, the market in 2017 has been rough for us and continues to be so. Trust me when I say that I and the rest of the Eastmain Team are frustrated about the share price and market valuation of the company. Our Team is as committed as ever to the Company and its projects. We have been increasing our personal positions in the Company on a regular basis as we now own 2% of the company, and I am personally a shareholder with over 1.7 million shares of ER (note that I have put more money in the company since April 2016 than what I have been paid in salary & bonuses). Our Corporate, General & Administrative expenses are lean and mean and considered one of the lowest in the industry. Our current cash position is approximately $4.5M, enough to comfortably fund the next few months.
Our plan in the last two years has been very proactive and certainly not reactive. While we have progressed extremely well as per plan in the last year and a half, including issuing excellent drill results, 2 strong resources and announcing 2 discoveries, the investor market since November 2016 has been brutal, not only for us but for the junior gold sector in general, which has seen a decimation of values across the board. We have been marketing and following up extensively on all our positive news, but the reality is that the investors (both retail and institutional) mostly exited the gold equities in 2017 and have stayed away up to now in 2018. Investor fatigue in the Eastmain Resources name is also a major factor. We have consulted with well-established brokerage firms and banks to tell us whether we should be doing anything different and the resounding answer is "no… you are doing exactly what you should be doing"; as well, we have a very strong Board of Directors with many years of experience in the industry, under good and bad times. I consult with them regularly and they are fully supporting our current efforts.
Having said that, we see the rest of 2018 in a totally different light and believe that this year will be a breakthrough year for gold and gold equities, and for Eastmain Resources. I attended/participated in 3 different metals & mining conferences in Vancouver in late January and many investment "experts", fund managers and investors are saying the same thing. The mood, sentiment and positive outlook toward gold equities are better than anything they have seen in the last year and a half.
This bodes well for Eastmain as the most important catalyst for the company is scheduled to happen in the 2nd quarter of 2018 when we complete and issue the long-awaited Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the Eau Claire deposit.
Also in the 2nd quarter, we expect to issue new results on about 5,000 m of drilling (done in Feb-Mar 2018) directly on the discovery grounds, as a follow up to the Eleonore South Joint Venture's Moni Discovery announced last October. These events should position us very well as one of the go-to stock for investors coming back to the gold equities.
For the second half of 2018, we have plans for further exploration work and drilling on all 3 projects:
Clearwater, with the Eau Claire deposit expansion (400 to 800m deep), and other nearby surface targets;
Eastmain Mine, geophysical work and drilling near the new gold-rich VMS resource and along the Mine Trend for about to 2.5 km to the North-west; and
More extensive trenching and drilling on the Moni Discovery ground at the Eleonore JV.
We are also considering Strategic Alternatives for some of our key assets/projects, as long as we find the right interest, which has been very difficult up to now because of the market.
Our current extremely low value offers an opportunity for both current and new shareholders to benefit in the upcoming increase in our stock price in 2018. The presentation at the AGM in late April, which will be made available, will cover all of these points.
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