Richard Williams, President of Waseco Resources (TSX.V: WRI, Frankfurt: WSE): Exploration Company Focused on Gold in Nevada with the Lead Property Strategically Located next to Newmont's Trenton Canyon Mine
|
By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 7/17/2016
Waseco Resources (TSX.V: WRI, Frankfurt: WSE) is an exploration company focused on
gold in Nevada with the lead property strategically located next to Newmont's Trenton
Canyon mine, right on the Battle Mountain trend, in the middle of gold country. Two
years ago the company did the initial drilling that was successful in hitting a high
grade zone of just under an ounce over 12 feet. The follow up drill program is now
subject to financing. We learned from Richard Williams, President of Waseco Resources,
that the company is very tightly held with management owning a fair bit of the stock.
There are two other projects waiting on standby: the uranium project with Areva in
Quebec is on hold pending a change in uranium prices; and a small interest in a diamond
property next to De Beers’ Victor mine up in Attawapiskat, Ontario.
Drilling on South Zone
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-chief of Metals News
interviewing Richard Williams, president of Waseco Resources Inc. Richard, could you
tell me a little bit about what's happening with your company? I know you have a gold
property in Nevada and other properties.
Richard Williams: Our Nevada property is our lead project. We've had it
for about 3 years. It's strategically located immediately adjacent to Newmont's Trenton
Canyon mine, about 5 miles away from the Marigold mine that Barrick recently sold to
Silver Standard. They have also acquired exploration property in between the two mines.
We're also about 9 miles away from Newmont's Phoenix complex, which is one of their
larger projects. We're right on the Battle Mountain trend, in the middle of gold
country. There's been historic drilling on the property that was successful in
outlining a non N-I 43-101 compliant resource of a couple of hundred thousand ounces of
low grade, disseminated gold.
My interest was tweaked by the fact that there was a stibnite zone crossing the
property. I worked on a project in Italy where the Italian government had asked the
South African government to assist them in researching whether there was potential for
precious metals in Italy. This was at the time when the oil companies took a little
foray into mining.
The Italian oil company, Eni, was charged with looking at Italy. One of the key
findings was that Tuscany is very similar, geologically, to Nevada. One of the markers
was that Tuscany had mercury and antimony mines. These are pathfinder metals for gold.
The Battle Mountain Ridge property reports made reference to a stibnite (antimony) zone
at surface, and I found that intriguing. That was the genesis of my interest in the
Battle Mountain Ridge property.
Dr. Allen Alper: Could you tell me a bit more about your plans for this year,
and going into next?
Richard Williams: We did an initial program 2 years ago, which involved
core drilling for the first time on the property. All the prior exploration had been
done with reverse circulation. We were successful in hitting a high grade zone of just
under an ounce over 12 feet. This is in the stibnite zone at depth. It fits our model.
We wanted to do a follow-up drill program. We have made application and put everything
in place to carry it out. The board recommended that we defer that program until market
conditions were a little more buoyant for the junior explorers.
Market conditions have improved and now it's a function of financing. We're ready to
go, we've just had some outstanding warrants exercised. We'll have another round of
warrants hopefully coming in, in August. That should allow us to do the follow-up
program, which has been laid out. Subject to modification, we're looking at doing a
six-hole program. Four of the holes around the discovery hole, and then two others
checking out another couple of zones that were identified earlier on.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Sounds like you're in a great location,
and you have a good plan to go forward. Could you tell me more about your background,
your team and your board?
Richard Williams: I'm a lawyer by education. I've been in the mining
sector for the last 30 years. I was in-house counsel to a group of mining companies,
one of which was the highest dividend paying mining company in North America. I've been
involved in a number of juniors that have brought in three mines over the last number
of years. I'm now on the board of a couple of other junior companies. This is the one
that has my name most closely associated with it. I'm anxious to make sure it's a
success.
Dr. Allen Alper: That's excellent.
Richard Williams: Our Chairman Emeritus is Peter Howe, who was the
founder of A.C.A. Howe International, which is one of the premier international
consulting geological firms based out of Canada. We started working together when he
was asked to get involved in a project in Indonesia, and wanted a vehicle for it. I
provided the vehicle.
Derek Bartlett, with 50 years of geological background, is an officer and a
director of a number of other juniors, quite successful.
D. Bartlett at Drill Hole
Peter Sever was one of Canada's premier impresarios. He is a very successful
businessman and an entrepreneur. He was involved with me about 20 years ago with a
company called Minefinders, which was quite successful.
James Richardson is a director and our CFO. He is the retired interim Chairman
of Argus Corporation. We have been working together for the last 20 years.
Rick Ekstein, who is CEO of one of Canada's largest privately owned lumber
companies, brings additional business insight.
We have a good diverse board with backgrounds in other ventures, but all have
exposure to mining, and successful track records.
Dr. Allen Alper: Looks like you have a strong board and strong support to go
forward. That sounds very good. Is there anything else you would like to add about
your property?
Richard Williams: We just re-negotiated the advance royalties and the
leases, so the annual maintenance costs are reduced. We issued some shares to the lease
and royalty holder, and now, as shareholders, our interests are more closely aligned.
Our focus, in terms of funding, will be on exploration of the property.
We think that this high grade intercept that we made is very interesting. In
the past, attention was focused on the disseminated gold at surface. I'd like to
concentrate on how the gold was put in place. I think we're seeing a lot more of that
in Nevada. A lot of companies are going a little deeper and looking toward the higher
grade gold as well as the disseminated gold on surface. I think we're going to be
successful.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds great.
Richard Williams: Derek Bartlett oversees our exploration program. Marko
Moudrak has been overseeing the field work. We use a number of consultants as well. As
you know, I have a close association with Lee Barker, who knows the property well. We
also consult with a couple of other geologists, whom we've worked with in the past.
There's a good brain trust that is called upon before we spend the money and drill the
holes.
Lee Barker Prospecting
Dr. Allen Alper: Okay, that sounds good. Could you tell me the main reasons why
high-net-worth investors should invest in your company?
Richard Williams: One of the things that we've done consistently since
founding the company is limit the number of shares that have been issued. We haven't
really done financings. We did one financing in the past 20 years and it was very
small, just to sustain the company in the recent downturn. It is very tightly held.
Management owns a fair bit of the stock. It has very good upside. On a risk/ reward
basis, I think we're going to succeed.
Dr. Allen Alper: Could you tell me where your shares are listed and that sort of
thing?
Richard Williams: Waseco Resources (TSX.V: WRI, Frankfurt: WSE) is listed
on the TSX Venture Exchange. We're also listed in Frankfurt.
I should mention our other project that's on standby at the moment is a project with
Areva in Quebec. We have a uranium property where they've earned 50% interest having
spent over $2 million. That's on hold pending an improvement in uranium prices.
We also have a small interest in a diamond property that is next to De Beers’
Victor mine, up in Attawapiskat in Ontario. We have a number of targets there. That's
been put on the back burner as well.
We have a number of excellent projects, but the main focus right now is the
Nevada property, which I think we can advance fairly inexpensively, fairly quickly, and
generate good results, and move the stock forward.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that property in Nevada sounds like a great property in a
great location. You have excellent neighbors there. It's historically a very rich gold
region. It sounds like, now with gold prices increasing and people investing more in
gold and in gold exploration, you're ready to move forward.
Richard Williams: That’s the board's view as well. We were a little
reluctant to drill when there was no audience. We're an exploration company, so we do
have to go to market from time to time to generate the funds to drill. It's nice when
the market comes back. We're still in the early days of the exploration companies
getting the attention, but hopefully that will pick up soon.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, I think most people feel the recovery is on, and this
will last for some time. I think you are getting back into it at the right time.
http://wasecoresources.com/
Waseco Resources
c/o Blaney McMurtry
2 Queen St. East, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario Canada M5C 3G5
tel: (416) 364-3123
|
|