RE:RE:Stay Put or Sell?Martyboss, Rockcliff Metals is a lot more than some long forgotten, road kill mess. But I do like your dead cat metaphor! LOL
The company sure could be promoted more! I don't see anything recently at all in the public domain.
You mention Glencore's interest in Foran Mining as a
hint that a bigger player's interest is essential in helping driving that share price higher. Foran has a huge VMS district scale development project in Saskatchewan on the border with Manitoba. And even Foran Mining has been exploring in eastern Saskatchewan, for many long years.
So perhaps it is not a fair comparison with Rockcliff Metals. Rockcliff is only an explorer with no present day aspirations to mine. Foran management has a much bigger scale, inclination to grow!
Foran's intention is to mine their assets! Rockcliff Metals still sits on the fence in this regard. But Greenstone Resources has access to additional capital, of a larger scale, to make this happen.
That decision would be up to Greenstone to make! Someone would have to get the ball rolling if this idea was to be taken seriously by the public markets.
However, in terms of a
hint, Hudbay did steal the Talbot deposit from under Rockcliff's nose. (the operator clause in their contract with Rockcliff allowed them to make this very key move!)
They feel that the Talbot deposit will be an important addition to their future mining prospects.
Some folks may regard some of Rockcliff's smaller deposits with some distain. Certainly, this kind of opinion may be presently reflected in the share price. However, remember that Ken strongly disagrees with that sentiment. So does Hudbay, as we know.
On one of his e-mails he sent me in response to my queries, he stated this fact:
"... I still am most excited about our copper upside... Presently, only 2 mines out of 31 mines in the Belt had initial pre-production resources greater than our Talbot, Bur and Tower-Rail resources. Only two! In my opinion, these 4 deposits one day will become mines AND they will grow as most are open in every direction. I believe that Hudbay will put Talbot in production. It is such an incredibly gold rich VMS deposit and remains open in every direction. I do understand that previous management did not properly get that total collective message out to the public. That is a shame. Nonetheless these are real numbers that are in our portfolio and one day we will see these resources reflected in our share price.
We are a copper company first...but explore for upside on any mineral/metal that we can discover within our portfolio. Thats just good business and the Snow Lake camp is truly a treasure chest of metals and minerals that has so much upside!
Its still worth fighting for!.." Ken will discover if there exists any lithium potential on any Rockcliff lands! He will search for gold. He will uncover more base metals, wherever they may occur! But already having discovered a one billion lb inventory of CuEq in four anchor deposits is already a very significant amount!
https://rockcliffmetals.com/site/assets/files/3910/february_2023_corporate_deck.pdf He also told me this:
"...I am a very patient person. The Talbot Deposit will not rust. In my opinion one day the Talbot Deposit will become a mine and at that point in time we will have the potential to be carried for a 35% interest in a producing high-grade, gold-rich copper deposit! That has a nice ring to it! In the meantime, we have our own "anchor deposits" to create critical mass and other properties within our portfolio to make potential significant discoveries. That also has a nice ring to it!
In my opinion, the Bur Deposit has all the upside for us and is by far our number one deposit. We own it 100%. There is 5.5Mt at almost 4.0% CuEq! It is open in all directions and l believe with more drilling will continue to grow. It almost sticks out of the ground. It has a boxcut and portal (in 2007 Hudbay was preparing to go underground and then they discovered Lalor). It has great infrastructure and like l said we own it 100%. It truly has tremendous upside. Additionally, we have the Tower and Rail Deposits that truly can be game changers as well.
I hold no ill will to Hudbay. They have provided us with option agreements to acquire Rail and Bur along with several other properties. For that l am very thankful.
This little company one day, in my opinion, will reach a tipping point and will give our shareholders reason to be happy that they held on and perhaps question why they did not pick more at these crazy low prices!!!..." It is understandable that Ken and the rest of his management team felt that an additional gamble at Bur, outside of its original domain of discovery, was an essential one to take. But
one small failure doesn't mean that all of its remaining upside is gone. Even Foran Mining managers understand this truth as they continue to grow their original deposits.
Rockcliff is still searching for that
more significant find.
And why not? VMS deposits often are found in closely assembled clusters. So the Pennex assemblage of targets were determined by past airborne and ground based geophysics to be an excellent set of drilling sites to check. Their proximity to Lalor and the nearby Pen deposit are a key indicator of a good prospect as well!
With respect to a share roll back and potentially selling Rockcliff assets, Ken stated this to me:
"...A roll back if required will be for the benefit of the Company and its shareholders. Let me stress that at this time there is no interest in a roll back.
We are an exploration company and as such we must drill and make discoveries. Our goal is pretty straight forward…to continue to build critical mass in the strategic copper space by advancing our high grade copper deposits and to continue to explore for the next big discovery within a great mining jurisdiction and world class mining camp.
I am not in favor of selling the assets before we realize their true potential..."
In general terms about Rockcliff assets, he stated this opinion:
"...I would be very happy with a 35% carried interest in a producing mine.
Hudbay is the operator of the Talbot Property and hence any other targets on the entire property.
The Talbot and Tower depoaits are 40 km apart and hence would be considered seperate districts with their own potential for a big discovery. Chances are they would be hiding elsewhere nearby perhaps.
The Tower Property is associated with rocks of the Thompson Nickel Belt South corridor and "fingers" of Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt. Its complicated and has both opportunities of VMS and base metal-Pgm. The significance of the TGR Ni-Pgm prospect remains to be determined. More work. More drilling.
The Bur Deposit is an advanced stage prospect. The property is has great potential to significantly grow. In my opinion it remains our number one property open in all directions with several nearby untested targets to drill. To achieve critical mass on this asset would serve us well.
The Penex Property is a greenfields opportunity and would be a new discovery only 4 km west of Lalor. Maybe its the big one!
We have literally dozens of targets throughout our portfolio with exploration and discovery potential. All is not lost by any means.
The board brought me back in to focus on the exploration potential of our property portfolio. This was clearly stated in the NR when l was reinstated. I am an explorer first and foremost. I would be very happy to step aside if it was viewed that a new person with the mining experience was required to put a deposit in production. Certainly lt is a nice option to have..." In regard to the time duration for patiently waiting investors, exploring at the Sails property and about stock promotion he stated this:
"...I am the longest serving shareholder having founded this company in 2005. Sooner is better for me as well. [about selling the company. Page 18 of the above powerpoint presentation mentions that at least one management insider holds 2.1% of the company. I suspect that this person is Ken Lapierre. Over 8 million shares!]
However, Hudbay has been here for 100 years and are not going away. Kinross is back in the camp because they bought our gold assets (in Goldpath) east of Wekusko Lake. This was a strategic move l believe that will eventually attract more big players in the belt. This will only help us in the long run.
I wish l knew how big our hourglass is. All l know is l love the copper space and see more and more larger groups getting into the space. What better place to be then in Canada, in a world class VMS belt with assets that we understand and companies that are beginning to understand how truly difficult it is to have a portfolio of assets that are very special.
Thats the story and this year we will be marketing Rockcliff to a larger audience. Previous management were reluctant to talk to the retail sector. This in 2023 will change..."
"...As an explorer l get excited knowing that the Sails property has a low-grade gold bearing system in the middle of the Wekusko Lake Pegmatite Field. The plan is to explore both the gold and the lithium potential at Sails and to explore the lithium and copper potential at Bur.
We had a great PDAC with many interested groups looking at what we have accomplished in the copper space and now the potential for lithium at Bur and possibly at Sails did not go unnoticed..."
I do hope that the promise to more actively promote Rockcliff Metals,
will be carried out!
It's essential that an equal opportunity to buy at today's prices is offered to all!
Even if our share price only ever gets to a fraction of Foran Mining's price, say 32 cents, anyone buying in today at 2.5 cents will do remarkably well!
Foran Mining is presently trading at $3.23 per share and its price is rising!
There is a lot of renewed interest again in the copper space!
Maybe Rockcliff's exploration management may decide,
it's time to mine? Stay put or sell? That's your choice to make!
But if you are buying in today, buy as much as you can get!
For me, it's an investment risk, well worth taking!
All the best! Java