GoldQuest Mining: Finding Success through Low-ImpaCEO Interview
https://www.tmxmoney.com/en/news/interviews/Nov7-2008_GQC.html
By Justin Yan
Unlike most of us in Canada, Alistair Waddell, CEO ofVancouver-based GoldQuest Mining (TSXV: GQC), gets a lot more timeunder the warm sun these days. And, being at the helm of a juniorexploration firm boasting numerous projects in the Dominican Republic,Mr. Waddell’s travels to the Caribbean are not all about vacation time.
In fact, Waddell’s work in the mining industry has taken him acrossthe South American landscape. Originally from the UK, Alistair Waddellis a geologist by profession. His experience has been mostly in LatinAmerica spending several years with Anglo Group in Peru, Venezuela andBolivia. Waddell had worked all around South America before moving hiswork to the Dominican Republic.
After spending five years in the Dominican with GoldQuest, Waddellmoved to Vancouver close to two years ago, becoming CEO of the companyin June last year.
GoldQuest Mining is a junior exploration firm focused oncost-effective generative exploration in the Dominican Republic.GoldQuest was ultimately formed when three former employees of AngloGold formed a private company in 2001. “I was one of the founders ofthe private company that eventually became Goldquest…we did an RTO[reverse take-over] back in 2004 out of a company called WellingtonCove which then became GoldQuest”, explained Waddell during a phoneinterview in his Vancouver office.
In 2003, GoldQuest formed a strategic association with Gold FieldsInc., the company’s largest shareholder. Gold Fields fully funded thefirst phase of an exploration project in the Western part of theDominican Republic, earning them 50 per cent of the targets in theproject area. Gold Fields has continued this strategic alliance withGoldQuest by entering into a joint venture in 2006. “They’re earninginto a whole series of projects of ours by spending five milliondollars over a three year period to earn a 60 per cent interest in awhole series of projects that we discovered in the Western half of theisland”, said Waddell.
The company also boasts many projects excluded from the jointventure. One of those is their massive sulphide project called LasAnimas that, according to Waddell, has had “quite a bit of successdrilling and we’re still working on right now”.
GoldQuest is adamant on grassroots exploration - finding their ownprojects. “Everything we have with the exception of one property is ahundred percent owned, all found by old-fashioned generativeexploration, by getting good quality geologists walking the hills andtaking lots and lots of rock samples and stream sediment samples”,explained Waddell. “We’ve made a real conscious effort to find all ourown projects. We’ve made it one point of not going in and optioningthird party projects…we’ve systematically stream sediment sampled thewhole belt from east to west and I think there are very, very fewjunior companies out there doing true generative exploration”.
The company has taken a firm stance on continuing generativeexploration even though the market typically does not give explorationcompanies much respect for engaging in true generative exploration as awhole. “They prefer to see historical resource figures and historicaldrill results,” he says, adding that he believes this aspect of thecompany separates them from the competition.
Despite having its corporate headquarters in Vancouver, most of thework is carried out of its principal office in Santo Domingo. “InVancouver, we only really have a small office. There’s only four of ushere,” explained Waddell. Such a distance from the company’s operationscommands him to periodically fly back and forth. Meanwhile, a swath ofgadgets helps keep him in close contact with the team of geologists,managers, and employees on the ground. “I do a lot of travelling. Itactually works very well”, he said. Vancouver is obviously a hub forthe mining industry while technology and reliable employees make life alot easier, explained Waddell.
Nonetheless, GoldQuest is not unlike other junior exploration firmsin that it has faced difficulties in finding capable technical teams.“It’s finding geologists and then there’s finding quality fieldgeologists”, explained Waddell. “The thing is, there’re a lot ofgeologists out there that get quite comfortable sitting in the officethese days, but finding geologists that are prepared to walk the extramile and take that extra sample, those are the guys that are hard tofind because they’re always employed”. But unlike many otherexploration firms, GoldQuest requires Spanish and English proficiency.“It’s finding people that are bilingual and also recognize themineralization and alteration”, he said. “We’ve managed to find most ofour technical team from the Dominican Republic and South America”.
GoldQuest is also a company that believes in earning its sociallicense with the communities in which it works. “The vast majority [ofour employees] are actually from the Dominican Republic.” “We also havequite a considerable pool of local employees as well, depending on whatpart of the island we are working in. We make it a policy to employlocals from the communities in which we work”, exclaimed Waddell. “It’sa great place to do business. It’s got an excellent mining code andsort of working environment. We’ve got a lot of experienced employeesand geologists down there that help us out tremendously and it’s just agreat place to do business as a whole.”
GoldQuest has taken a step further in drafting and implementing anenvironmental policy, prominently displayed on its website. TheDominican Republic is a very popular tourist destination. As such, itsresidents are deeply concerned for its environment. “It’s veryimportant to the Dominicans, and we’re aware of that”, he said.Accordingly, the company’s focus on grassroots, generative explorationhas gone hand in hand with their goal of environmental responsibility.The vast majority of GoldQuest’s work in the Dominican Republic isearly stage, notably stream sediment sampling and soil grids. “It’sessentially low impact work so we have very minimal impact on theenvironment down there… Having come from the major companies, we’vebasically just applied their policies to GoldQuest”, said Waddell. Areview of the company’s partners and significant shareholders shows themajority explicitly engage in similar roles of corporate socialresponsibility.
Additionally, the company uses small, portable machinery in itsoperations that reduce costs and its environmental footprint. “We usethese mini portable diamond drill rigs to get into projects to testearly stage targets where you essentially carry rigs in on the back ofa mule or horse or by hand”, said Waddell. By using portable drillrigs, the company eliminates the need to build roads to get to theirdrill targets. “We can literally go into an area we’ve found, drill awhole series of holes, completely recover the area and reseed it andwithin a couple of months, you can barely see where we’ve been”, hesaid.
According to Waddell, the company’s conduct in the region hasfostered a mutually beneficial relationship with local communities.“We’ve had excellent relationships with the communities and I thinkthat’s in part a result of the way we look after the environment downthere. It’s low impact, you don’t upset anybody by building roads andthings and also it’s quite cost effective”, he said. “We hire lots ofpeople when we do a mobilization into an area. We hire people, mulesand things and it just gives a good injection of cash into thecommunity in which we work.”
As for challenges for the company in the near future, AlistairWaddell cites market valuation on its specific projects as the biggestimpact of recent market turmoil. “We’re not in production at all but Imean it’s obviously affected the market as a whole and we’ve struggledwith market capitalizations. It’s dropped off considerably over thelast month or so”, he said.
Despite the dismal state of commodity prices and the current stateof financial markets, GoldQuest remains confident in its promisingprojects in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, GoldQuest may facemany challenges on the market’s rocky road that lay ahead.