Dear Shareholder and Investors:
As you are probably aware, NV Gold has made some significant changes to its management. Mr. Peter Ball, formerly CEO of the Company has resigned to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Ball served NVX well and made many contributions during his tenure. We offer our thanks to Peter for his excellent service and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.
I want to introduce myself to new shareholders and many of the long-time shareholders will know me. I am John Watson, Chairman and Interim CEO. I served as President and CEO from the founding of the Company in 2009 through 2018, remaining as Executive Chairman during the period since. I am also a significant investor in the Company and one its largest shareholders. Rest assured, the Company will continue to move forward aggressively, as it has for the past several years.
The current status of NVX remains solid. The Company has 20 exploration projects in Nevada, with one under a $10MM joint venture with Hochschild, a large European firm, two that have seen active exploration during the past year and several strategic new additions to the portfolio that are likely to see drilling within the next twelve months. 2021/2022 will be a very busy year, and we are well financed to achieve our goals.
The Company has approximately 79 million common shares issued and outstanding. The current cash position is strong, with ~C$4.0 million. Our work planned for the next 12 months will include additional geophysical investigations at Sandy and elsewhere, geochemical sampling and geologic mapping at our new acquisitions, and of course, drilling.
Our shallow drill programs at Slumber and Sandy did return successful results, even though no high-grade intercepts were encountered in the shallower parts of the gold systems during the maiden drill programs. Both projects are targeting epithermal gold mineralization at moderate depths (300-600 meters). The 2020 and 2021 drilling at both projects utilized RC equipment (with limited depth capacity) to better understand the three-dimensional environment of the gold systems, which will help focus our future work on the deeper, high-grade targets. Additional geophysics will be employed at Sandy in the coming weeks. Deeper, follow-up drilling will follow with timing dependent on equipment availability. We expect to see the next drill work to commence in Q4 at Sandy (earliest) or Q1.
In the near-term, three new projects have been announced already and we are reviewing two other projects that are accretive to the portfolio. Each of these projects will undergo detailed field examination, geochemical sampling, geologic mapping and, where targets are identified, drilling. We expect the next 12-18 months will be extremely busy with a lot of news. This approach does mark something of a departure from our previous strategy of larger programs on properties with significant previous data, including drilling. This approach signifies a somewhat higher-risk, higher reward strategy that few juniors have the risk tolerance or the staff experience to handle. We have both.
So, what will this mean for the vision of NV Gold?
On a regional-scale, Nevada is thought by many to be a thoroughly-explored gold province. Much of the near-surface gold that has been found over the past 40 years has been mined or is being mined today. The way we see it, most of the easy gold has already been found. To find significant new deposits, a successful explorer will need to employ modern, sensitive sampling techniques combined with regional-scale structural interpretation and a willingness to drill, drill, drill. The deep and varied experience of our staff and advisors gives us our advantage.
Over 50% of Nevada is covered by recent basin sediments or volcanic cover, which can obscure the classic expressions of mineralization hidden beneath. These covered areas are comprised of the same rocks with the same temporal placement as the gold deposits found in the nearby ranges. There is no geological reason that the valleys and covered terraces of Nevada should not be similarly populated with gold deposits!
Most existing mines and deposits of gold in Nevada were found through straightforward hard work, employing well-established protocols. There has been a diminishing pace of discovery over time as more and more of the known trends have been minutely examined. It is now time to change our thinking and consider the areas that are more subtle, or perhaps totally hidden from surface view. But the conclusion from this observation is that significant discovery potential still remains in one of the preeminent gold provinces on Earth.
NV Gold is in a healthy position. We are well-financed for the 12-18 month horizon. We are lean, but possess the deep experience and strong expertise that improve the likelihood of a discovery. Our property portfolio covers a number of geologic environments and at varying levels of advancement. Holding costs for most of these properties are minimal, particularly those that are held as joint venture or lease-out possibilities. Newer greenfield projects will be the focus of significant fieldwork to further assess their potential and, where we see potential, drilling over the next 18 months.
In summary, NVX has a highly experienced staff, a diverse property portfolio, sufficient capital, a tight share structure and a solid plan for drilling multiple projects in the very near-term.
To our shareholders, investors and interested parties, we want you to know that we are planning an aggressive plan of acquisition, investigation, drilling and hopefully, discovery. We will keep you well informed of our progress along the way.
We appreciate your interest and investment in NV Gold. Thank you for choosing to invest with us. It should be an exciting year.
John Watson
Chairman
NV Gold Corporation