321's Moriarty praises EVG's head geologist
While writing a promotional piece in favor of Gold Canyon Resources yesterday, 321 Gold's Bob Moriarty has some really nice things to say about Quinton Hennigh, Evolving Gold's President andCHIEF GEOLOGIST (see below) while making it appear as though Hennigh was being misused or underused by being strapped to a desk at EVG HQ. Nothing could be farther from the truth as Hennigh spends the great majority of his days during drilling 'season' at Evolving Gold's resource sites in Wyoming and Nevada.
Excerpted from Moriarty's essay:
While I am a firm gold bug, we have had a giant run up in gold and silver over the last month. Both act like they want a rest. I am not saying this is a top for all time but way too many Johnny-come-latelys who never heard of gold in 2001 yet now think they are experts. Nothing goes straight up or straight down. When everyone starts knowing something, it usually turns out to be false.
That was a long and somewhat convoluted way of introducing a company and a person that I have high regard for and who is about as close to a sure thing as I know of investing. That person is Quinton Hennigh, advisor to Gold Canyon Resources (GCU-V).
Many companies in the junior resource business consider geologists as interchangeable parts. A company will raise some money for a drill program, hire a few geos and go to work. At the end of the day they have some results that may or may not mean anything. Their attitude is that geos are all the same. It shows in the business model. Most juniors never come up with a mineable resource. They exist to mine investors, not minerals. It's a rotten business model even if they make interesting lottery tickets.
I met Quinton Hennigh almost two years ago when I traveled to Colorado to drive with him to Wyoming to see the main project for Evolving Gold. EVG was selling for less than the cash they had on hand but Quinton was what seemed to me to make it a real buy.
If you think of George Bush, like him or despise him, you have to think incurious. He had no interest in anything outside his little sphere. I thought he was clueless and certainly had no interest in learning anything about anything.
Quinton Hennigh is the opposite. He wants to know about everything. He is curious and constantly thinking about things, all sorts of things. When it comes to geology, he questions everything. I've seen some really good technical people but to a greater extent than anyone I know in the industry Quinton is interested in more things than anyone I've come across. He used to be a schoolteacher and he's constantly sharing information. Not teaching or talking down to you as is so common but he shares what he has learned and he questions everything.
The issue is how you use someone like that. Quinton is presently the President of Evolving Gold. I think it's a waste of his time. He isn't a pencil pusher, he's a geo who wants to get projects cranking forward. There are people who are good administrators. Companies need management who can administer. But mining companies need people who can manage projects and move them forward. That's what Quinton Hennigh does best.
So let's be clear. Quinton Hennigh as President of Evolving Gold adds a lot of credibility to EVG but he's poorly cast. He should be a technical advisor, that's his forte.(edit: QH's 'role' from a geological standpoint as HEAD GEOLOGIST is considerably more than that of a mere "technical Advisor or "pencil pusher" at Evolving Gold. He is, without a doubt, "The Man!")
I visited a company last month that uses Quinton effectively and efficiently. The company is Gold Canyon Resources (GCU-V), headed by Ms Akiko Levinson. Akiko has been associated with Gold Canyon for 21 years. Her husband was President and CEO of GCU until his death when she took over. Gold Fields, Noranda and Santa Fe Pacific Gold have extensively explored the property during those 21 years but everyone was presuming it was similar geology to the Red Lake district some 115 km to the Southwest.
Ms Levinson always believed the project was more than the short term geologists were suggesting. The brilliant Keith Barron of Aurelian Resources fame (and used to be author for 321gold) did his dissertation on the project in 1987 and suggested that instead of it being a small mesothermal gold system it was more likely an alkaline gold project similar to Cripple Creek and Rattlesnake Hills in Wyoming.
Akiko knew of Quinton Hennigh's work at Rattlesnake Hills and asked him to come on board as a technical advisor. I'm going to be very critical of most junior mining companies here. The TSX requires them to have certain staff positions filled and every three man shit-for-brains company has a President and a CEO and a CFO and a Chairman of the Board but does their accounting on an iPhone using Quicken. All of them have technical advisors, many of which have a major problem spelling technical.
Quinton Hennigh is a technical advisor to GCU. He isn't CEO or CFO or Chairman of the Board and he doesn't use Quicken. He is a technical advisor; nothing less and nothing more. His time is limited(edit: for obvious reasons) so he hired a highly qualified contract geologist named Alan Roberts from Alaska who shares similar technical beliefs with Quinton.
Alan spent the last 18 months going over all the data from the previous drill holes; he relogged all the drill core and sent out thousands of samples from core that had never been sampled because it didn't fit into the mesothermal gold model. Well, Keith Barron had it dead right back in 1987. It is a large intrusive related hydrothermal alkaline system. Once Quinton and Alan stood back and looked at the new data, they realized it was a lot bigger than anyone had imagined.
A new 6000-meter drill program began in July. Results began to appear in August and they were barn burning. One hole showed an intercept of 1.57 g/t over a true width of 153 meters. More results released in October were even more impressive with intercepts of 305 meters of 1.03 g/t.
Gold Canyon and Akiko Levinson have hit the jackpot. The stock that had been limping along at $.25 a share in August and was a pitiful $.03 a share during the dark days of late 2008 shot up to over $1 a few weeks ago.
The performance of this company is due to Akiko Levinson being smart enough to hire the right technical advisor, Quinton Hennigh and then listening to him. Without spending 40 hours a day peering at drill core, Quinton managed to find a good technical partner in Alan Roberts and steered him in the right direction. This was all teamwork of the very best kind.
In my view, Quinton Hennigh saved Evolving Gold with his brilliance at Rattlesnake and he's just pulled it off again at Gold Canyon. I just wish I had been smart enough to pick up shares back in July when he told me I should own some. My mistake.
I think Gold Canyon has another giant alkaline system similar to Cripple Creek, Livengood in Alaska and Rattlesnake Hills in Wyoming. The share structure is sill under control at 72.5 million share but the shares are no longer cheap. I suspect they are on to something very big and if you time your purchase correctly, GCU will reward shareholders greatly.
Gold Canyon is an advertiser and we own shares. We are biased as Quinton is a personal friend. I am pleased and proud to be associated with Akiko Levinson and I see a bright future for the company. The company is very approachable and you should feel free to contact them as part of your due diligence.
Bob Moriarty
President: 321gold
(click on link below to view the entire essay)
https://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty101510.html
From Evolving Gold's website:
Evolving Gold Geology Team
Quinton Hennigh, Ph.D. President and Chief Geologist
Quinton Hennigh is one of the most imaginative and visionary gold exploration geologists in the field. Prior to joining Evolving Gold,Quinton served as Senior Research Geologist with Newmont Mining. He has worked throughout North America, in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America with Newmont Mining, Newcrest Mining and Homestake Mining. He balances the pragmatics of business with bold innovation. He has spent years developing regional concepts for the exploration for buried gold deposits, particularly in Nevada. Quinton comes from a long tradition of gold seekers – his great-great grandfather followed the gold rush to Colorado in 1859.
https://evolvinggold.com/geo-team/