Ewan Downie, President and CEO, Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX:PG): Eight Active High-Quality Properties, Producing Assets: South Arturo Mine in Nevada and Mercedes Mine in Mexico
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 10/4/2016
Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX:PG) is a Canadian based junior gold producer with a high-
quality pipeline of projects in safe mining-friendly jurisdictions in the United States, Canada
and Mexico. We learned from Ewan Downie, President and CEO of Premier, that the company currently
has eight active properties in their portfolio, two of which are producing assets: South Arturo
Mine in Nevada and Mercedes Mine in Mexico. To help spread the risk for shareholders, Premier is
partnering with some of the bigger mining companies including Barrick, Goldcorp, Centerra Gold,
and Kinross. According to Mr. Downie, the four things that Premier offers are: proven management,
world-class districts, safe jurisdictions and sensible partnerships.
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-chief of Metals News, interviewing
Ewan Downie, President and CEO of Premier Gold Mines Limited.
Ewan, could you tell us what differentiates Premier Gold Mines from other companies?
Mr. Ewan Downie: I think the primary thing that separates our company from others is the
fact that Premier has several active projects. A lot of the so-called junior sector are focused
on only one asset. We currently have eight active properties in our portfolio, two of which are
producing assets. We're a brand new producer, having our first production in Nevada in South
Arturo this year, and taking over the Mercedes Mine. I think we're truly a company that has a
different future growth profile than you'll find in almost any other junior, given the two
producing assets and several others that are moving towards, what we hope will be future
production.
Dr. Allen Alper: I notice you have some pretty important and impressive joint venture
partners. Could you tell me a bit about that?
Mr. Ewan Downie: Yeah. Especially in the market we've seen in the last several years, to
be active as a junior on eight properties would be a pretty daunting task to do on our own. To
continue advancing our projects, we look at joint ventures as being a way of spreading risk and
keeping us active on many fronts. You never know which property is going to end up being a home
run, so we spread the opportunity and the risk.
Barrick is our partner at South Arturo. They operate the mine, and they also have the roaster
where ore is processed. Barrick is a world-class operator, saving us time on the project and
doing a really good job keeping costs down. We acquired that project from Goldcorp, and we have a
relationship with Goldcorp in Red Lake.
Years ago we put our properties together to form the Red Lake Ray-hill Bonanza joint venture, and
we explore that with them. We have a 44% interest in that asset. We also are advancing a
feasibility study right now at our Hardrock deposit, at our Trans-Canada Project. That's a fairly
large deposit we're looking to develop and one that would be difficult for Premier to do on our
own, especially in the market we've seen in the last few years. So we brought in Centerra Gold to
assist in the funding and advancing of that property.
Elsewhere, we have a joint venture in Nevada with Kinross. It's brand new, and we're just
embarking on an exploration program on a project down in Nevada with Kinross. We've been
fortunate to be able to work with some of the bigger mining companies to help spread risk,
multiply our opportunities and keep our company very active as we go forward.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds great. It sounds like you have some rather fantastic
locations that you are exploring, developing and mining.
Mr. Ewan Downie: Yeah. We have a producing asset now. We just started production August
1st in Nevada; so a brand new producer down in the US. At the end of this month we're taking over
the Mercedes Mine from Yamana. That will be our second producing asset in the company. Then we
also have feasibility, ongoing at the Trans-Canada Project, the Hardrock deposit. We expect to
deliver that feasibility study in Q4 of this year. Assuming all that's good and we get a permit
next year, that's one of our future growth projects. At McCoy-Cove in Nevada we're having a lot
of success and looking to move towards development there too.
Yeah, we’re having a lot of activity and a lot of success on various projects. We're also
expecting to deliver a new resource for the Hasaga deposit. It's a project we bought from
Goldcorp a year ago, and we've been having a lot of success on an open pit target there. Quite
exciting times here at Premier!
Dr. Allen Alper: That's excellent. Could you tell me a bit about your background and your
team?
Mr. Ewan Downie: As for myself, my father's a geologist, so as a kid I always started
working summer jobs in the mining industry. I've grown up in mining. Formerly, in university, I
took business. I started a company out of university in mining, so I've essentially been in
mining all my life. I founded my first public company. It went public in 1998. It was called
Wolfden Resources, Inc. Premier was actually spun out. So if you were a Wolfden shareholder in
2006, Premier was a free share to you at the time. Subsequent to that, Wolfden was taken over in
2007, and Premier has now been around for ten years. We marked our ten-year anniversary with our
first gold pour. That's my background.
On our board of directors, four of seven directors are mining engineers or geological
engineers with experience in building and operating mines. So I think we're very strong now on
the board of directors’ front to build what we hope is going to be the next mid-tier gold
producer in the market.
Our chairman, John Begeman, is also a director and a mining engineer. He had a very
successful history in mining. He ran Avion that was taken over. Charlie Ronkos, a well-known
geologist in the Glamis Goldcorp fold, joined us this year. Steve McGibbon, who leads our
exploration in the company, was with Goldcorp for over 20 years. He was a key component in their
discovery of the high-grade zones. A very well-balanced team, and we provide a lot of experience
and strength from grassroots exploration right up to mining production and development.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Could you tell me a bit about your share
structure, capital structure?
Mr. Ewan Downie: Currently, we have just over 180,000,000 shares outstanding. We have
several large funds. Several of whom have been with Premier since day one. So they've been
shareholders for a decade. We have very few warrants outstanding, and auctions are pretty
reasonable, so we're, I'd say, a company. If you look at the structure of the acquisition of
Mercedes, we didn't go out and just issue a ton of shares. We're pretty cognizant of keeping our
share count down so we can realize future share appreciation.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. What are the primary reasons our high-net-worth
readers/investors should consider investing in your company?
Mr. Ewan Downie: Our company slogan right up front is, Premier is a company that has a
proven management team. We operate in world-class districts, like the Carlin in Battle Mountain
Trends of Nevada, the Red Lake Camp in Ontario and the Sonora District down in Mexico.
We offer safe jurisdictions. There are not many places more favorable for mining than
existing mining camps. So all the places we're working are known as being some of the more
favorable places for building mines, and we believe in having sensible partnerships. We have
partnerships with some of the most respected gold producers. Those partnerships give our
investors exposure to multiple projects and also provide additional opportunities.
If you look at our portfolio, two of the properties, on which we are very active, we
acquired from one of our joint venture properties. We are in the process of acquiring a third
from Goldcorp. Partnerships often lead to other opportunities. I think those are the four things
Premier offers: proven management, world-class districts, safe jurisdictions and sensible
partnerships.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Very strong reasons why people should consider
investing in your company. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Mr. Ewan Downie: As you look to the future with Premier, there are a lot of major
milestones happening in the next couple of quarters. We have first production, taking over a new
mine, a feasibility study, new resources for two projects. A lot of growth is coming in the next
six months. We hope that shows us outperforming share price in the Q4 of this year and Q1 of next
year.
Dr. Allen Alper: That's excellent.
https://www.premiergoldmines.com/
Premier Gold Mines Limited
Suite 200, 1100 Russell Street
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Canada P7B 5N2
(807) 346-1390
(888) 346-1390
info@premiergoldmines.com
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