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The New Green Economy is now one of the investment community’s most attractive sectors. And part of achieving sustainable climate control depends on low-emissions global electrification…all the from compact electric vehicles to massive power plants.
Azincourt Energy Corp. (AAZ)(TSX-V.AAZ, OTC:AZURF, Forum) – a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration, and development of alternative energy-fuel projects, including uranium, lithium, and other critical clean energy elements. The Company is currently active at its joint venture uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin, along with a uranium-lithium project located in southeastern Peru.
In this intriguing video podcast, Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson joined by President, CEO & Director, Alex Klenman, to discuss recent company news, what’s on the horizon for Azincourt Energy, and investment opportunities in the green, renewable energy sector.
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: So to start off, can you tell us a bit about yourself and the history of the company?
AK: Azincourt went public as a uranium specific company, I came along in the summer of 2017, when the throws of the uranium bear were probably at the worst, and we looked for ways to revitalize the company, we changed the name to Azincourt Energy, expanded the scope, as you mentioned to some additional clean energy alternatives. And this entire time we've remained true to the mission, which is to develop the East Preston Project. It's a fantastic project for a small cap like us, and we never gave it up. We worked through the bear and subsequently earned our 70%. So that's our focus. And that's really where we're at.
SH: Can you update our investor audience and your Azincourt shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19?
AK: It really hasn't affected our ability to work the project at all. We have a Saskatchewan-based geologist, our exploration manager, Trevor Perkins, who's new to the company as of last fall, he lives in Saskatoon, Ted O’Connor, our long-time director, also lives in Saskatoon. So we have local representation, it's made it quite easy to continue to work project or in COVID.
SH: You just announced the winter drill program your East Preston uranium project in Saskatchewan finished early due to weather. Can you update our investor audience on the progress to date and what they should be looking out for down the road?
AK: You know, it's hard to sort of summarize the size and scope of the project too quickly here, but we did have to pull out of the drill program that we were currently working. Spring breakup came, mother nature rules, and there's not much you can do. You're running the risk of dunking a rig in a water supply. We're not gonna take that chance. It came a little quick, it came mid-month. We were hoping to get it all done, we got 1200-meters done, so all is not lost, and we'll make up the missing meterage as we move along here. We're looking at potentially doing a summer program here in a couple months, and maybe we'll get those holes done then, but either way we're funded, we're going to continue to drill, and fundamentally the story hasn't changed whatsoever.
SH: You have a 70-percent interest in the project as part of a J-V with Skyharbour Resources. Can you tell a bit about the partnership and its benefits?
AK: As I mentioned, we've stuck to our guns, we’ve been able to complete the earn in, so it was 2.5 million (dollars) in property expenditures and a million dollars cash over four years – we’ve done that. So for us to be able to say we've earned 70% of this massive project surrounded by companies like Orano and NexGen, I mean this is a really good place for us and we're controlling interest now, so that's good. Skyharbour and Dixie Gold are the partners. Jordan at Skyharbour is a fantastic partner is very willing to offer knowledge and offer his help in getting things done. And we're happy to have him.
SH: You recently announced the completion of a $4.2 million-dollar private placement. Can you walk us through this raise?
AK: Fantastic. Because one thing, listen, you and I were talking about this earlier. You know, you can go from goat to hero, or hero to goat within milliseconds in this business. So last fall, we were trading under 5 cents, we were running out of money, we were looking at how we can raise money and there wasn't much going on, and fast forward from November to basically February and everything's changed. So we managed to attract - we have already attracted institutional investment over the years - we have some funds that have invested into Azincourt to primarily to help us drill East Preston, but we've got a lot of support, as soon as the calendar turned to 2021, we were able to get as you mentioned, a little over $4 million in. Combined with flow-through financings that we've also done; we've got a little bit over $5 million in the bank.
So we've gone from dead goat to a much better situation, and very happy that institutional funds see us as a valid place to put their money, which is quite rare for a company that is really just in drill stage and haven't made discovery yet. Typically in funds, will wait until that risk is off the table and they'll put their money in once you've determined. But I think what that does, is speaks to the validity and the legitimacy of East Preston as an exploration project. We all feel we're onto discovery there, it's just a matter of time. And I think that's the reason that we've got such strong institutional support. At this point funds own about 30% of the company, so that's pretty good for a little small cap.
SH: We published an article last August detailing “Compelling Results” at your Peruvian Uranium-Lithium Project. Any updates here, Alex?
AK: Yeah, we're going back. COVID really had an effect on what we can do in Peru, you just can't get into the country. But we do have some work brewing, we're going to get a late summer program done this year to follow up on that. What we found is about six to eight kilometers worth of very interesting uranium trends on our Escalera Project in particular, and some great surface sampling numbers that popped up in that program. We also have some lithium at surface in the Southeastern portion of the property. So we're going to go back, we're going to get into that Southeastern portion, do some more work there. You can define what the size of that anomaly really is and follow up on the uranium and surface. The Picotani plateau where we're located has an amazing array of base metals, uranium, lithium, you've got Plateau Energy Metals up the road, companies like Rio Tinto with big land positions in there, so the endowment of metals and materials is quite strong. And we're lucky, this is an early-stage project and the work that we've done has been very positive.
SH: The Company looks set for strong growth in 2021. How are you placed to expand operations in both North and South America to meet this demand?
AK:
You're talking about expansion, we're really focused on East Preston. That's our primary project…our flagship. Now that we've earned that 70%, we're going to drill it instead of doing a 2000-meter program once a year, we're going to try to up that to even three times now that we have funding and we have strong support of institutional holders, and everybody realizes we really want to move the needle that we're going to have to spend more money and drill more holes. We're only, you know you know, a dozen holes in a little under 4,000 meters drill to date. The results of the drilling data has shown that we have the right profitic conductivity, the right host rock in, and it's down just a question of finding where the uranium’s pool, you know, it's there, we're headed towards it, vectoring towards discovery.
It's just a question number in our opinion as to when, as, as opposed to if, so we're focused on East Preston will continue to push the Peruvian projects forward as best we can. They're a nice side card deal for us. But really East Preston is the focus. And listen, we're not done looking for other uranium projects, we're not saying we want something, but we keep our eyes open for something that's already perhaps mineralized and something that would maybe add to our portfolio. Listen, we think we're headed into the big bull that everybody's been waiting for. So the stronger we have a stronger uranium presence we have moving forward, I think will be a benefit to our shareholders.
SH: I have to mention your stock has had a very nice bump since early February…nearly tripling in value since then. What can you tell our investor audience regarding the current valuation of your stock and why you think it’s still a good buy right now?
AK: Yeah. You know, what's great about us. Listen, we have a boatload of stock out there, there's no doubt that that's something that people see. But one thing you have to look at is liquidity and true evaluation. And I believe when you have a share structure like we do, what you see is a true evaluation, as opposed to a certain super tight structure that we're selling is essentially control. You can put a market cap together, your manufacturer mark. Whereas what you see with us is really, probably very true evaluation. I think really if anybody's lived through a uranium bull, and I was lucky enough to be involved in 2011 when spot hit $70, and there's nothing like it. So you know, for us to have a quality project to be funded, to perhaps be in a position to announce discovering later on at some point in a bull market, I think our evaluation will certainly tend to the upside. Right now it's good. I think we're under. It looked like the floor was sort of set at about 10 cents. Post run ran up to 18 and settled back. Now we're a little dip today on the postponement of some meters. But I think overall there's always room for growth. And if we continue to do what we're doing and make a discovery and develop East Preston that that market cap will grow.
SH: Can you discuss the long-term strategy for the company moving into 2021 and beyond, and what retail and institutional investors should be looking out for?
AK: Well, you look at what we have. We have 25,000 hectors in the Western Athabasca. Why that's important is the basin itself. You've got sandstone, overburdened drill through, and that could be four or five to 600 meters worth of drilling before you get to your harder area. On the western side, in the western fringe, we don't have that overburden. So we're typically drilling 200, 250-meter holes, and we're intersecting these graphitic structures, these host environments, that you need to. And so we're doing that in the right place, preliminary results to date are very strong, are indicative of confirming we're in the right area. So when you look at that, where we're surrounded by billions of dollars in market cap, we have a massive district scale package, twenty-five kilometers where active trends that we've just barely scratched the surface in terms of drilling, less than 4,000 meters in, so you know, those are good things.
Those are real positives to have hang your hat on those fundamentals. And typically you want to have explorers in your portfolio, and have safe money with developers and producers, very safe money. But you get typically massive returns for the little explorers that hit, especially in a real strong market. So that's our goal. That's what we'd like to deliver to our shareholders. And we're funded to do that. And we have dozens of targets to hit over time. And that's our plan moving forward. Keep drilling, increase the amount of drill holes we put down and get to discovery sooner rather than later.
SH: And finally, Alex, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked please feel free to let our audience know.
AK: I think we've covered all of the relevant points that I think need to be made, size, location, and scalability. We're funded and we're heading into a massive bull market. We just need spot to move. It's beginning to move, it's starting to show signs of life. And if you haven't lived through a uranium bull market, things happen fast, valuations explode overnight, and it's a good place to park the money. I learned that firsthand in 2011 and I've been waiting quite a while for this one. So I think we're here, and a good time to be involved with Azincourt.
For regular updates, visit
www.azincourtenergy.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.