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Stockhouse metals & mining investors know that the copper market is starting to sizzle. And copper demand, and a potential copper bull, is backed by a push towards green energy and the electrification of world economies and is the reason one company is focused on large-scale projects with a chance to become future mines.
Libero Copper & Gold (
TSX-V.LBC,
OTCQB: LBCMF,
Forum) is a Vancouver, BC-based mineral exploration company that holds a collection of porphyry copper deposits throughout the Americas in prolific, mining-friendly jurisdictions. The portfolio includes:
- Big Bulk – a copper-gold target located 50 kilometres southeast of Stewart, BC.
- Big Red in BC’s Golden Triangle.
- Esperanza in the in the prolific precious and base metal-endowed Huachi mining district of San Juan Province, Argentina.
- and Mocoa – a copper-molybdenum deposit located in Putomayo, Colombia.
In this video podcast, Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson was joined by company President & CEO Ian Harris – a mining engineer with over 20 years’ experience leading mining projects worldwide – to talk about Libero’s intriguing portfolio of projects across the Americas, where he sees the copper market heading, and much more.
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: Ian, can you inform our investor audience and your Libero shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19?
IH: So we have a lot of luxury because we've developed very strong teams in every single one of the locations where we're working. So obviously COVID has been something we've had to manage, but we've got one season under our belt in the Golden Triangle already. We have a great crew working already in Colombia. We've had the luxury of finding an incredible exploration manager in Argentina. You know, Argentina has been one of the most difficult because there's no flights in and out of the country, but we've, we've managed this. We've now got a year underneath our belt. We had a successful season last year and we expect that that's now becoming a strategic advantage of the company is that we're, we're managing it well and we're moving forward well, we've got some great programs coming up and we know how to execute on them.
SH: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the history of the company?
IH: So I am relatively new to the company. I started in 15th of January of this year. But it's been a discussion over some period of time. My background, I am a mining engineer. I've worked over 15 years in South America over and lived over 12 years in South America and fluent in Spanish and worked at a was senior vice president and country manager for Corriente Resources and helped take those, the Mirador project through discovery all the way through sale and then start of construction with the new owners and the very same Jurassic porphyry belt as Mocoa and Mocoa is a very similar size and scale, but not with a new mining law or a new constitution or a lot of things we had to deal with an emotional roller coaster. That was Ecuador.
So it was always you know an important conversation and a discussion with the insulator on that project. So that, that's the big part of my background that showed, you know, this is something that we've been watching for a while. And then the next thing, you know, Terry has a brand-new porphyry discovery, the option of taking on Esperanza and bang, you have an incredibly impressive company and then added new management. So that's, I know that's, it's a mix of history and my history. But I mean, that's the kind of all the magic that just came together in a very short period of time for, for the company.
SH: The company just closed a $7 million-dollar private placement. What can you tell our retail investor audience about this raise?
IH: It was kind of the final checkbox, right? You know, the, the motors running, you got fuel in the tank now. And so the funding is ensuring that we can, that our three exploration programs are fully funded for the year. We have 12,000 meters of drilling planned between 5,000 meters in Big Red, 5,000 meters in Esperanza and 2000 meters in Big Bulk. It means we have the projects, we have the team, and we have the funding to, to go after them. And then the wind on our back is, you know, we're over $4 a pound in copper today. So I mean, things are really aligned. The stars have aligned for the company in many ways.
SH: You’ve also said that the Big Red Project in BC is the company’s current main focus with an upcoming drill program at the property. What are the latest updates here?
IH: So Big Red is important because of the very end of the year. Last year. Unfortunately, we only had an RC rig. We put one drill pad down to test out a porphyry anomaly and Kaboom, right from surface all the way through the holes. We had both golden sorry, copper and gold results, right? We 120 meters at 0.41, copper equivalent, 80 meters at 0.43 copper equivalent, obviously ending the holes in mineralization, but on the very edge of a very large geochemistry geophysics anomaly. So we have one season you know, complete. So next year we're looking at following up and really hitting hard, this Terry discovery. And then also looking at it's a very large land package, 26,000 hectares and to continuing to develop more and more and more targets while we're, we're focusing on Terry.
So it's kind of like the, the hand on the bird right now. And so we think it's a huge opportunity. I'm a mining engineer, so we really like those projects that have the large scale over, the potential to have over 200 million tons that the mineralization starts at surface. They have all these little check boxes that say they have the potential to become world-class mines. And so there's, there's our optimism. We know what time behind Big Red and that we know that that it's just going to be a wonderful flow of, of positive news.
SH: Big news with Newmont just acquiring GT Gold. Ian, with three of their deposits being so close to Big Red, do you believe has that kind of potential visa vis your Terry discovery?
IH: Yeah. So a GT was a copper gold, probably heavier a little bit on the gold than Terry the Terry deposit, but it shows that there's consolidation already happening within this area that people's eyes are on the Golden Triangle. We have a very similar style deposit. It has legs that a major could be interested in because it has the potential to become a future mine. Right. And so that's why it's our optics are always, does this have a potential to become a future mine. Right. And so it has all those things together and it's also look, there's already consolidation going on. So yes, I think it brings the optics to the project. And we're very excited about it and, and a person, sorry, sorry for the interruption. And a personal point is that we think that we're better, our location, our local relationships because the team that we have, we're actually very strongly positioned which is also important.
SH: Pivoting to your Mocoa project in Colombia, you said that this is a world class discovery with never ending drill holes. This is a bold statement. Can you elaborate?
IH: Well, it's, it comes from the experience that I, I worked, I ran Mirador project. It was a very similar size and scale, 600 million tons, 600 million tons, and a project that sold for over $600 million. Right. So that it's not, it's not a, it's not based a baseless statement, but Mocoa right now has had drill holes 634 meters at 0.67 equivalent copper, 779 meters at 0.59, equivalent copper. It's open at depth. It's open in all directions. There's a very large geochemistry anomaly directly to the East. Experience in this Jurassic belt is that these deposits can be twins. So we know it's only the beginning of the story for Mocoa, and it's already standing on its own its own legs. It's 636 million tons. So I mean, quick math that 30,000 ton per day mine requires 200 hundred million tons to run for 20 years. So you're already, that box has already is already checked. So it's only going to be a story that gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And it's got a very component, a very important component that it's, it's a very solid Molly project also. And today there's very few projects that can leverage the opportunity in Molly. And so we, as we're seeing Molly strengthened and strengthened and strengthened and so we think it's an additional added advantage for the project
SH: The President of Colombia has made some very positive comments regarding mining in the country, with an ambitious goal is to make Colombia the third largest producer of copper in Latin America. How is this achievable and what is Libero’s stake in developing the resource?
IH: So you know, the Fraser Institute came out and for the first time in history Colombia is ranked number one in Latin America for, for mining investment potential. And then that is combined with the story that you hear coming out of the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, China. That the future is green energy, that their, their restart of their economies is going to be based on pumping the investment required and, and, and moving things forward. And we all know that the, the essential metal in this case is copper. 2022, sorry, 2020 production. And copper was about 20 million tons anticipated in 2035, 5 million tons alone, just for electric vehicles. So we know that this is a very strategic and important metal. Colombia recognizes it. And I think one of the biggest differences here based on experience, right? Sometimes you see higher prices and we're going to increase; we're going to change the mining law. We're going to increase royalties. We're going to make sure that we get… no, Colombia is saying that they understand the importance of investment into their country and that they need to bring in that foreign investment, that they know that it's an important driver of their economies. And, and I think that's the most significant difference. You see the president saying the same thing, the minister saying the same thing, the vice minister saying the same thing that the director of the national mining association saying the same thing. You see the articles coming out in the country, that they get it, they understand how to, to, to bring in that investment and drive it across the finish line.
And there’s Mocoa it's, if there that is going to be an integral part of that goal of becoming the third largest producer. There are other deposits with a Colombia, but the size and scale of Mocoa means that it's a strategic project and we're ready to, to, to deliver on, on the president's goals.
SH: You commented that "With the copper price over $4 per pound, 2021 is going to be an exciting year for Libero Copper.” Can you expand on that?
IH: You know, a lot of it has to do with, we look for cycle independent projects. We look for the size and scale that has the potential to become mines. We're hopefully going to touch a little bit about the team that's been put together behind the company. So we have the projects, we have the funding, we have everything ready, and we're looking for projects that are cycle independent. So having a $4 per pound copper price right now is just like the rocket fuel. So that's why we're so excited about it because we believe that we're a solid company, independent of price. So the pricing is just going to be we're, we're perfectly aligned to take advantage of this potential coming comparable.
SH: Can you tell our audience a little bit about your corporate management and board teams, along with the experience and innovative ideas they bring to the metals & mining space?
IH: Soit's for the projects that are all in the Americas. We're looking obviously in Canada and we're looking at South America between Colombia and Argentina. We have an extremely solid team specifically, right in the Golden Triangle. You know, Brad Rourke is this CEO, Scotty, he's a native to the area. He's lived his entire life there. And it's amazing what he can bring to the table in terms of relationships all the way down to, Oh boy, we need to make some drill pads. And the season, this is so hot this year that the Golden Triangle everybody wants as these big programs. And we feel that we're way ahead of the competition in terms of already securing our drills, support, everything else that we need. We have Bill Bennett, who has decades, was the former Minister of Mines for BC as a board member, Rob Pease, who helped build the Mount Milligan Mine, and Thomas Mumford, who has decades of experience directly in the Golden Triangle as our VP Exploration.
It’s a solid punch. And then you look at the South America, myself, I've spent living, working in, in South America project and the, you know, porphyry copper gold deposit in the same belt as, as Mocoa. On top of it already, Ernie Mast was CEO of Inmet’s Cobre Panama, which was the first operating copper mine, a large-scale operation in Panama and the same copper porphyry. The second, you know, the, the closest two operating mines to Mocoa where the leadership is part of the Libero team today.
And then we can't forget Ian Slater, right? He's a a guy who has multiple years of experience working in Colombia and actually has the first, was the first person ever to have a successful mining license granted to him. And it was the first one in 30 years at the San Ramon mine. So, I mean, it's, it's really surprising to see the strength of the team in the Golden Triangle, the strength of the team in South America
SH: Ian, it looks like Libero has a very large portfolio in relation to your market cap. How does this translate into real shareholder value?
IH: Well, I mean, this has been a transition that has had happened very quickly between the discovery at Big Red, the acquisition of Esperanza, the addition, a very, some very strong management in terms of directors. And I like to put myself in that same category. So this is something that's happened very quickly, you know, copper prices shot up, but we're still very strongly valued, right? So our valuation is, is about $20 million. So we're still right at the beginning of a launchpad. We're sitting on that launchpad. Programs are fully funded, but we have multiple projects that we are working. We have four different copper porphyry projects, which means that there's multiple paths to create some serious value. I mean, you can see how any one of these projects will create serious value for, for the company. And we have multiple different projects that we're pushing on. It's not a one-stop shop. It's just, it's not a, a, a punt, as many people describe in the industry. I mean, this is serious. We have serious opportunities, and we have the ability to advance them.
SH: And finally, Ian, what can you tell our investor audience regarding the current valuation of your stock and why you think it’s a good value buy right now?
IH: Yeah. I like the description of that. It's a rocket that's sitting on the pad and the countdown is starting. It's got everything going for it. It's got multiple projects, it's got gold, the gold price. It's got the management team. It's fully funded. It's got a plan to deliver that, that, that value, but because it's a fresh and new story, it's been a very quick transition that the company has gone through that now is the opportunity we have about our valuation, although it's done well over the last couple of weeks of previous, it was about $20 million. We have a very tight share structure, and we have a very high volume we're trading over 500,000 shares a day. So that liquidity is very important. So it's just you know, I am buckling my seatbelt because I'm a strong believer. Obviously, I joined the team because I was a strong believer in the potential that is here. So I think that it's perfect timing.
For more details about the company, visit
www.liberocopper.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article of Stockhouse Publishing.