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There’s gold in them thar hills! And in the case of a Vancouver-based junior explorer it’s in the hills ‘Down Under’ where they believe they’ve discovered a very rare opportunity – an underexplored 1,100 hectares with first mover advantage in the world’s hottest gold exploration district.
Outback Goldfields Corp. (OZ) (
CSE.OZ,
OTCPK:OZBKF, FSE:S600,
Forum) is an exploration mining company holding a package of four highly prospective gold projects located proximate and adjacent to the Fosterville Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia. The historic goldfields in this jurisdiction are home to some of the highest grade and lowest cost mining in the world.
In this exclusive C-Suite video podcast, Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson joined by Outback Goldfields’ Chairman Craig Parry to discuss recent company news, what’s on the horizon Down Under, and an intriguing investment opportunity in the gold exploration sector.
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: So to start off with, Craig, can you tell us a bit about yourself and the history of Outback Goldfields?
CP: So I'm a geologist, so I suppose a 20-year veteran in the mining business started out with Rio Tinto. I spent eight years with Rio Tinto before starting the Tigers Realm Group of Companies, including EMR Capital, where I'm a general partner there. And out of that group of companies, we started a couple of successful companies, including Nexgen Energy. So as a co-founder of Nexgen, we discovered the giant Arrow deposit. And since that time I've gone on to found and lead IsoEnergy, which was our spin-out, we discovered the hurricane deposit. And then you know, a couple of years ago we started a company called Vizsla Resources and now called Vizsla Silver, we've made some serious discoveries down in our Panuco projects in Mexico. So, you know, a purebred explorationist, if you like - we love exploration. I'm also the chairman of Skeena Resources, so a few sort of names that you, your listeners and viewers will know. But Outback Goldfields, we started that a year ago, and probably in my portfolio of companies, it's the company with the most exploration risk, and exploration upside potential there.
SH: Can you update our investor audience and your O-Z shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19?
CP: Yes, absolutely. We’ve had a massive six months, of course, we started out with a shell called Skarb Resources, and we had a deal brought to us to give access to that fantastic block of properties we've got down in Victoria in the Bendigo Ballarat Goldfields, probably now we should call it the Fosterville Goldfields as well, because that discovery of those high-grade Fosterville zones has really transformed that district. I was very keen to get involved in the area in that district play, because for me, there was a little bit of unfinished business there. Back in 2013-14, I was the underbidder on the acquisition of Crocodile Gold, of course, Newmarket, Doug, and Blane there at Newmarket made that acquisition successfully, discovered that high grade zone at Fosterville and transformed it into what I think is the best gold mine on the planet today - lowest cash cost or low lowest all-in sustaining cost for a fantastic outcome.
And of course, that's now the key asset within Kirkland Lake, a $10 billion gold company. So for me, unfinished business, I felt a little bit unfulfilled, so never in a million years, would I think that we would get a chance to have another go at that, another kick of the can or a bite of the cherry. And that's what happened about six months ago, some friends of mine that were the major shareholders of an Aussie company called Petratherm had put together a very impressive portfolio of properties over the last five years. Then they saw the success that guys like Brian Slusarchuk were having at his Fosterville South exploration company, that was at one point a $300 million market cap company. So they wanted to piggyback off Canadian market interest for projects in Victoria. So we managed to get a deal done.
We brought Chris Donaldson onboard as CEO. Chris was a head of Corp Dev at Western Copper and Gold. Its Chris' his first go at being CEO and I'm pleased to report that he's doing a fantastic job. We raised $11 million back in November last year, and we just kicked off drilling at the first of our projects, the Glenfine Project a couple of weeks ago. So we're one hole into that program, we're drilling in and around high-grade mineralization, so people can expect some results coming from there fairly soon. And then we've continued to grow from there. It’s been a sort of transformative six months for the company and we now have first mover advantage inherited by our deal with Petratherm.
SH: The Company has a drill program underway at Fosterville. Can you give some background info on the property and update us on any new developments there?
CP: Yeah, absolutely. So we have four properties, Yeungroon, is one of our most prospective properties. That's where we've just kicked off a regional geophysical surveying program and also our regional RAB roadside drilling program. We also have a number of very significant arsenic anomalies in soils, which is crucial as a direct targeting technique when you explore in this district. So we'll be following up on those regionally significant anomalies and should be drilling there in the next few months.
We're drilling, as I mentioned at the Glenfine property at the moment, Glenfine, you know, has had some very strong historical hits. The mine there produced nearly 50,000 ounces at a head grade of about 16 grams per ton. So we're following structures that host that mineralization or that mine mineralization. Our expectation there would be that we'll get some very good hits early on in the program. The program's going well. I think investors can expect some news flow over the next couple of weeks on to the next few months. So that's all happening.
We've got our Silver Spoon property, which sits right next door to the Fosterville mine. It's a fabulous location with defined mineralization. We've got a number of great targets there, but perhaps the thing I'm most excited about, Dave, would be our Ballarat West property. With Ballarat West we have a very large claim lot that’s underexplored, and it sits right next door to the Ballarat mine, and a number of other major mines. So within five kilometers of our property boundary that district, that area, those mines have produced over 16 million ounces of gold. On our property, where there is outcrops, produced over 400,000 ounces of gold historically. And then to the northern part of the property, you have very shallow basalt cover, that's prevented, you know, historic exploration. We have ways now of looking under that vessel cover. We’re, as I said, right next door to Ballarat and we are surrounded by mines that are produced 16 million ounces. To my mind, based on those things, the fact that there's a major structure running through there that hosts mineralization known mineralization. I think that property is possibly one of the very best places on the planet today to find a giant 5-million-ounce gold deposit. We've got to do some base level work on that property, but I'd like to see us exploring and drilling there in the next couple of years. So we're excited about that that project as well.
SH: You recently announced the commencement of an airborne geophysical survey over your Yeungroon Project. What can you tell us about what the exploration targets look like here?
CP: Yeah, absolutely. So the property there, again, the Western part of the property’s covered by fairly shallow colluvial, alluvial and basalt cover. So you need to drill under that or test under that, and a way of looking under that cover. So we've got that with the roadside pending RAB drilling and what we're looking for there is gold and economic prism and zeroing in on drill targets that way. We're also doing magnetics over the top of the property as well. And that will give us a better clue to where the structures are that host that mineralization. So those things combined should give us a number of direct walk-up drill targets. Then out on the eastern part of the property, you've got very clear structures running through there that host mineralization, there's been quite a bit of a very high-grade production from shallow veins on that eastern part of the property.
But the thing we're most excited about there is that the arsenic anomalies that have been explored been defined by previous explorers are very, very high tenor and they follow these host structures or what potentially host structures to the mineralization. So, you know, on Yeungroon we have a number of walk-up drill targets and the arsenic and nominalism is regionally significant. So they're, stonking great arsenic anomalies. We've got some very, very good drill targets to test out on that side of the property as well. So fantastic property.
I like to talk about my key exploration criteria, which are size of the prize, cost of the test, and chance of success.
Well here the size of the prize we know is right there…. it’s a Fosterville type discovery.
The cost of the test, well… Victoria is a very good place to explore, of course you’ve good access to people and drill rigs and it's not too expensive, and we're not drilling very deep holes to test that mineralization. And the chance of success. This district has produced over 80 million ounces of gold, historically. So we know it's an incredibly well- endowed gold district. The fact that we've got these very significant arsenic anomalies gives us a real chance of making a discovery. So to me our projects tick all of those key exploration criteria boxes.
SH: On February 16th, you announced the start of diamond drilling at your Glenfine project. What are some of the program updates at this site?
CP: So we kicked off drilling, we’re one hole in. I think that, you know assay turnaround times all around the world have slowed down in recent times, but we're probably four weeks away from having some assay results from that drilling. We are drilling on known mineralized structures, so the chances of getting good results, I think, early on into the program are very, very good and we'll keep drilling there, we've got a number of targets. So I think the plan will be to keep drilling there for the next six weeks or so, before we then look at what we do beyond that, moving up to Yeungroon and some of our other projects.
SH: Craig, for investors – particularly Canadian – who may be unfamiliar with this jurisdiction, what can you tell them about Victorian Goldfields?
CP: Victoria, of course, is one of the world's gold producing districts discovered back in the 1850s/60s, it produced 80 million ounces, the bulk of which it did to World War I. And then the mineralization started getting deeper, water ingress became a problem at all of those mining operations. And really, we saw a hiatus to a large extent of exploration and production from about 1920 all the way until recently. They've been producing mines there from these sort of saddle reef and deep lead type deposits. But in recent years, the discovery of this structurally controlled epizonal mineralization at Fosterville Mine has really transformed people's view of the district. It looks like these things you know, firstly, they haven't been broadly explored and widely recognized.
We now know that they can be very large and incredibly high-grade deposits. And so it really opened the entire district up for a recut of exploration for that style of mineralization. It's a very exciting time for the district. We've seen new money invested with a lot of money coming from guys like Kirkland Lake, Fosterville South, now ourselves having raised 11 million dollars, sets us up very well to get in and test these great targets we've got. So there's been an influx of exploration and the value of those properties has gone up dramatically. The thing that sets us apart here is the fact that we've inherited that first mover advantage. And we've got some of the best properties in the district by doing a deal with Petratherm that gets us ground that was acquired five years ago.
SH: And for company shareholders and potential investors, what kind of future development, partnerships, and progress reports can we expect at your four key assets in the region?
CP: Yeah. So look, you know, we've got a fantastic property package there now. We are looking at a number of other acquisitions in potential earn-in type deals. However, at this point in time, we really have an outstanding suite of properties and plenty of work to do on those properties. Whilst we'll keep looking at deals that are reasonably priced and workable, our main focus right now is just to stick to our knitting and continue to test all of these projects and properties that we've got.
SH: It’s been an up & down year for your stock price. What can you tell our investor audience regarding the current valuation of your stock and why you think it’s could be a good buy right now?
CP: Yeah, absolutely. So I think our market cap today is about, where are we today, Dave, I think about 40, $45 million. You compare that to some of the other explorers in the district, you know, Fosterville South, probably the most well-known market cap north of a hundred million dollars today. I think we've got ground that's every bit as good as, as Brian and Fosterville South. They've done a fantastic job, of course, you know, putting together their projects. But I think that's where we head over the next little while as we get the story out about what we're doing here. And certainly, if any of our drilling results in the discovery, of course, we're off to the races that will be transformative for the company and a share price. So, you know, I think Chris is doing a very good job as CEO of getting the message out there as well. It's a crucial time for an exploration company, of course, our first maiden drill program. I think based on what I've seen there, the fact that we're drilling in and around known high grade mineralization, the chances of us getting good results and seeing our share price, really travel, travel very well over the next few months is very, very strong.
SH: Can you discuss the long-term strategy for the company moving into 2021 and beyond, and what retail, institutional and private equity investors should be looking out for?
CP: So there's a very simple strategy again, sticking to our knitting, continuing to explore those properties we’ve got. Our projects range from advanced stage exploration where we're drilling on known mineralized structures all the way back to more greenfield exploration on that Ballarat West property, where no work to penetrate that shallow basalt cover has ever been done historically. So we’ve got all of those things in train and progressing each of those projects up the pipeline.
SH: And finally, Craig, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked please feel free to elaborate.
CP: No, I think that covers pretty much everything. Dave, I think you know, we're cashed up, having raised $11 million late last year. We've got a drill rig on the ground. Now the team's doing a fantastic job. So I think it's a great time for people to look seriously at investing in the company. Our share price has come off a little bit as well, so that will, I think provide a very neat entry point for investors.
For more information, visit
outbackgoldfields.com
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.