Firesteel Resources Inc.(TSX.V: FTR):Gold Production in Finland Scheduled for2018, Interview with Michael Hepworth, President and CEO
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, US
on 4/2/2018
Firesteel Resources Inc.(TSX.V:FTR) is a junior mining company, engaged in the acquisition and exploration of prospective precious and base metal properties in Finland and Canada. It is the owner of a 100% interest in the past producing Laiva Gold Mine near Raahe in Finland and holds a 49% interest in the Star Property, a highly prospective property in British Colombia and JV with Prosper Gold. We learned from Michael Hepworth, President/CEO of Firesteel Resources, that Laiva Gold Mine is a fully built, fully permitted, funded to production gold mine and will be back in production around August this year. The mine has about 600,000 ounces in the ground, about a seven-year mine life, and plans for 2018, which include drilling to upgrade the resource as well as building a senior management and operating team, and releasing the PEA toward the end of this month. According to Mr. Hepworth, the project is almost completely de-risked with full infrastructure, top of the line equipment, and very low financial risk.
Michael Hepworth, President/CEO of Firesteel Resources
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, interviewing Michael Hepworth, President/CEO of Firesteel Resources Inc. Could you give our readers/ investors, an overview of Firesteel Resources?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: Firesteel has recently acquired the Laiva mine in Finland. It's a fully built, fully permitted, funded to production gold mine that was a past producer, and will be back in production around August this year.
Dr. Allen Alper: That's fantastic! What kind of production are you looking at from the mine?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: I'm not at liberty to give you exact answers, because we don't have a PEA on it, although we made a decision to go to production, and the financing was based on our modeling. I can tell you, we have about 600,000 ounces in the ground and about a seven-year mine life, so you can do the math.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds great. What are your plans for 2018?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: 2018, we've already started doing infill drilling, so we hope to upgrade the resource. We're busy recruiting an operating team. We have a general manager in place. We have a mine manager in place. We have an experienced metallurgist in place. We're currently building a senior management team, and then we'll move to the second phase of building the supporting layers of management and operating people. We'll have a PEA released, probably around the end of this month or early April. We should be in production, probably around August this year.
Dr. Allen Alper: That's very rapid. That's excellent.
Mr. Michael Hepworth: Well, it's fully built. It's a past producer. It's been well maintained while it's been out of production. It stopped producing in 2014. The mill ran for two years. The paint's barely worn on the mill. These are very, very good conditions. We don't have to spend a lot of money to return the mine to production. There is roughly four and a half million dollars’ worth of capex. The biggest challenge we have, probably, is recruitment. Finland has a dearth of experienced mining people. Our plan, where we can’t find locals, is to initially recruit suitably qualified expats and train local people.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds great. Could you tell me a bit about your background, your team, and your board?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: I'm not a traditional mining person. I've been in the mining industry about twelve years. I'm a business person, but we have a very strong board. We have three geologists on our board. One is a PhD consultant out of Australia. The other two are Canadians. We have Basil Botha, who's our executive chairman, who's been in mining for forty years, myself, and then Ernest Cleave, who's our financial person on the board, ex-Goldcorp, currently with Largo Resources. We've got a very strong board and a very good management team that we're putting together to bring this mine back into production.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Could you tell our readers/investors where your shares are listed? What is your share structure and capital structure?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: On a fully diluted basis at the moment, we have 170 million shares. We are listed on the Toronto Stock Venture Exchange, and we're also listed on the Frankfurt Exchange. We're currently trading at ten cents, which a number of research reports indicate is significantly undervalued. In fact, the lowest estimate suggested that we should be at is twenty-five cents, another report said forty-five cents. If you believe in buying shares at a bargain price, right now there are shares that appear to be undervalued.
Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds like an excellent opportunity for our high-net-worth readers/investors. Could you tell our investors how it is operating in Finland?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: Finland is a great country to operate in. The workforce is very well-educated. There's a good rule of law. We've operated all over the world--Africa, South America, Canada--and so far Finland has more to offer than almost anywhere. As you know, the Fraser Institute just recently said that Finland was the number one mining jurisdiction in the world.
Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds excellent! What are the primary reasons our high-net-worth readers/investors should consider investing in Firesteel Resources Inc.?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: I think the primary reason is that it's almost completely de-risked. There's virtually no financial risk, because our finance is production. We've had a number of consultants look at the company, and the financing was based on all of the modeling, so despite the fact that we don't have a PEA, we were able to raise $20 million to acquire this. The equipment is top of the line. The mill is in almost new condition. It was a past producer; it used to produce about 3,000 ounces a quarter. There's very little risk related to this project at the moment. I think that's the key issue why I would invest, and the price, and very low risk.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent! Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Mr. Michael Hepworth: I would like to invite readers to follow us on our website, get regular updates, and see what's going on. We'll be posting updates on a regular basis. Our website is firesteelresources.com.
Dr. Allen Alper: Okay, that sounds great.
https://www.firesteelresources.com/
Michael Hepworth
President and Chief Executive Officer
(416) 419 5192
mhepworth@firesteelresources.com
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