Can you describe your company and say what it does?
Glass Earth Gold (TSX: V.GEL, Stock Forum) is a junior New Zealand-based gold explorer, using science-driven exploration to discover new gold projects within its significant landholdings around the country’s two, world-class gold deposits.
What distinguishes your company from others in your space?
An unparalleled landholding, two major gold discoveries developing from our exploration, and quite uniquely for an explorer we have cash flow – cash generated from placer mining.
Can you explain why you have chosen to work in New Zealand?
There is huge gold potential in New Zealand – it has a strong gold mining history, and while there are two, world-class deposits currently in production (Newmont Mining’s 12Moz Au Martha Hill Mine, and OceanaGold’s 7Moz Au Macraes Goldfield… we have strategic landholding’s adjacent to both) the country has been underexplored and neglected by miners over the past two decades – giving us first-mover’s advantage in 2006. Politically the country is risk-free, we have excellent infrastructure, knowledge base and personnel, and we are experts in the country’s geology, so New Zealand is the perfect springboard for our gold exploration and development.
What are your flagship projects?
The two top projects for Glass Earth Gold today are the WKP gold discovery and the Muirs Reef gold project.
The WKP gold project is a joint venture with Newmont (65%), 10km from their 10Moz Au Martha Hill mine in Waihi, New Zealand. The project is steadily developing as a major gold discovery within a “big system” capable of hosting a significant gold deposit, it certainly has +3Moz Au potential.
We’ve struck both broad mineralization (e.g. the first hole WKP24 struck 156.1m of 1.6g/t Au) and high-grade intercepts (WKP29 intersected 3.2m of 37.0g/t Au).
Most recently the project gained a lot of attention with the release of results from WKP31 showing an unexpected high-grade intercept, 9.7m of 17.2g/t Au – it’s this sort of news that shows the real upside potential at WKP, and we’re proud to be working with Newmont to develop this.
TheMuirs Reef gold project is a 100% Glass Earth Gold project 65km southeast of the Martha Hill mine.
In 2011 we undertook a successful surface trenching campaign, demonstrating a 650m strike length of surface mineralization. We’re now undertaking a planned 2,500m DDH drilling programme, designed to identify the depth and strike extent of near surface gold mineralization, and have had some excellent results already: most recently we announced a high-grade intersect from MSDDH09, the programme’s second hole, of 2m of 38.4g/t Au). We’re now accelerating the programme and looking forward to the next results.
What are the main challenges that you face in operating your business?
The key challenge for us – attracting capital investment into greenfield exploration during a worldwide recession.
Who are your competitors?
Other junior explorers, in that we have to compete for funding in a limited market.
Who are the major shareholders of Glass Earth Gold?
Sprott, Auriferous, Galena, Redplug are some of our key investors.
How much cash do you have on hand and what is your monthly cash burn rate?
At present we have around C$2 million on hand with a burn rate of around $120k (net) per month (we invest much more than this each month in drilling and exploration work, but much of this is directly fundable from our placer gold mining profits).
Who are the key players on your management team, and what kind of experience do they bring to the table?
Our Chairman, John Dow, is an experienced exploration geologist and mining executive, whose most recent role was as MD of Newmont Australasia.
I have 30 years of experience in exploration geology and management, including at the Martha Hill mine but also throughout New Zealand and overseas.
Peter Liddle, our Company Secretary and CFO, has 30 years of experience in the financial world, including in resource companies.
Disclosure: Glass Earth Gold is a Stockhouse client