Interview with James Buskard, President of Nevada Exploration (TSX-V: NGE): Making New Gold Discoveries in Nevada Using Groundwater Chemistry
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 10/20/2016
Nevada Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: NGE; OTCQX: NVDEF) is a Vancouver-based gold explorer, focused on making new gold discoveries in Nevada, through the application of the new and unique exploration technology called Groundwater Chemistry. James Buskard, President of Nevada Exploration, stated that approximately three hundred million ounces of gold have been produced from Nevada to date, yet the mining was only done near the areas with exposed bedrock which is only about half of the state. The geologists active in the state agree that there should be another three hundred million ounces waiting to be discovered underneath the valleys. The Nevada Exploration team developed a hydrogeochemistry approach to, cost effectively, explore the covered areas. According to Mr. Buskard, everywhere they have taken a groundwater chemistry target forward through early-stage drilling, they've found the sorts of targets, the sizes that you would associate with a large gold deposit. So they are very encouraged by their results to date. It seems very, very exciting!
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-chief of Metals News, interviewing James Buskard, President of Nevada Exploration, Inc. I see you've been having an excellent year, great exploration, a lot of acquisition of land. Tell us what differentiates your exploration company from others, your strategy, your goals and your focus in Nevada?
Mr. James Buskard: Nevada is a particularly important jurisdiction for gold. There's no jurisdiction anywhere in the world that produces more gold per area than Nevada. To date, approximately three hundred million ounces of gold have been produced in Nevada. What's exciting is those three hundred million ounces have been produced from or adjacent to areas in Nevada where the bedrock is exposed. That represents only about fifty percent of the state. Geologists, active in the state, agree that there should be another three hundred million ounces waiting to be discovered, in covered areas, beneath the valleys that are effectively under-explored.
We are using the latest in undercover exploration tools, methods and strategies to explore these covered basins cost effectively. What differentiates us, from others active in the state, is that our exploration program is one hundred percent focused on exploring these covered basins. We think this is the biggest prize to be had anywhere in the space.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent! I know you've been acquiring properties. Could you elaborate on how you are proceeding and what you're finding?
Mr. James Buskard: Our primary generative exploration tool that we use to take these large covered basins and reduce them down to discreet exploration projects, is called hydrogeochemistry, which is groundwater chemistry. Hydrogeochemistry has been used successfully, for a long time, for many other elements of interest in other portions of the sector. We have managed to overcome some of the technical hurdles needed to use groundwater chemistry to explore for gold. We advance these discreet exploration projects by using new, low-cost drilling technology, called small diameter reverse circulation drilling, to be able to collect early-stage drilling at these smaller targets, where we have found high concentrations of gold in the groundwater.
So, we start by using our groundwater chemistry in a basin that's in the order of two hundred or three hundred square kilometers. We focus it down to discreet targets, probably in the neighborhood of five to ten square kilometers. Then we use low-cost small diameter reverse circulation drilling to further focus these targets from several square kilometers down to targets in the one to two square kilometer range or even smaller. Then we can be very targeted in where we use higher cost conventional drilling.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds absolutely brilliant! An excellent approach! Could you tell me what kinds of results you've been getting and your plans going forward?
Mr. James Buskard: Yes. Everywhere we've advanced groundwater chemistry target through early-stage drilling so far, we've successfully encountered shallow hydrothermally altered bedrock with a geochemistry profile consistent with the mineralized systems found nearby. In other words, everywhere we've taken a groundwater chemistry target forward through early-stage drilling, we've found geologic systems of the size and geological character you would associate with a large gold deposit. So we're very encouraged by our results to date. With this conformation, the next stage on all of these projects is to tighten the net so to speak. We tighten the drilling density. We transition to drilling methods that provide more information, such as core drilling.
We're really taking a portfolio approach to this. We have a handful of projects where we've completed the early stage drilling and are now tightening the drilling density. Also, we have an inventory of targets that we don't currently control, where we're conducting early-stage work such as range front mapping, soil sampling, and those sorts of things, to narrow down exactly where we want to acquire land positions. Our ultimate goal, as a company, is to be advancing ten projects at a time. We feel that’s the scale in which we need to operate in order to have a reasonable chance of being successful. So we're in the process, as you've seen by our recent news, of adding the ground to build this portfolio.
Dr. Allen Alper: Yes. I was very impressed to read you doubled your land position.
Mr. James Buskard: I don't have the most recent statistics. But I believe in these last three quarters, we were one of the most active claim stakers in Nevada, just based on anecdotal discussions with our claim stakers. I don't know of any other group that's been more active in acquiring larger claim positions than we have in 2016.
Dr. Allen Alper: Excellent! It sounds like your group is doing excellent work exploring and using new techniques in Nevada to look for large gold bearing deposits. Could you tell us a bit about your background, management team and board? I know you have a very experienced and very knowledgeable team, but could you tell our readers more?
Mr. James Buskard: Absolutely. I come from an environmental science background, modeling groundwater chemistry. I joined Wade Hodges and Ken Tullar on our technical team. Together, our team has been involved in discovering more than thirty million ounces of gold in Nevada. We have a team that's spent the last several decades doing nothing but discovering gold in Nevada. With this experience, we've collectively decided we believe groundwater chemistry is the key to discovering the next major series of discoveries in Nevada.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Could you tell me a bit more about your board?
Mr. James Buskard: Our board is chaired by Dennis Higgs. Dennis' last major company was a uranium company called Uranerz Energy Corp, which he helped to build from an initial resource all the way to production, and ultimately sold the company. He's a long-time resource industry financier. On the technical end, we have an independent director named John Larson, a former high-level, BHP geologist who works around the world. He's also a geochemist. John brings a lot of industry experience and contacts. We're lucky to have both finance oversight through Dennis and technical oversight through John. Also, Wade Hodges is our CEO. Benjamin Leboe, CA, CPA, chairs our committee. Mr. Leboe was most recently Chief Financial Officer of Uranerz Energy Corporation before Uranerz merged with Energy Fuels. We are fortunate to have support from a well-rounded group of professionals.
Dr. Allen Alper: Great! Sounds like a very strong team of experienced, knowledgeable people in finance and exploration. Excellent! Could you tell me a bit about your Share and Capital Structure and your finances?
Mr. James Buskard: We just published our first quarter financials, and we're sitting at just over forty million shares outstanding, approximately a million and a half dollars in the bank. We're using the money to execute our small diameter RC drilling program over the winter and into the spring, as well as continuing to add to our property portfolio. We'll continue to add money to the treasury and explore and advance toward acquiring property that seems to have the potential to host large gold-bearing deposits.
Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds very exciting! What are the primary reasons our high-net-worth readers/investors should consider investing in your company?
Mr. James Buskard: There's no jurisdiction in the world that produces more gold per area than Nevada. From a geopolitical standpoint, there's no jurisdiction I'd rather be involved with. You could look at exploration projects in British Columbia and it's not unusual for half of the exploration budget to go to the helicopter company. Whereas exploring in Nevada, we can drive anywhere we want. So more dollars actually get into the ground in Nevada.
Geopolitically it's a great place to be. Geologically it's a great place to be. We think this huge carrot of potentially another three hundred million ounces waiting to be found in the basins, is the biggest prize anywhere in the industry. There's no other group one hundred percent focused on exploring in Nevada's covered basins. So for investors, who want an opportunity to participate in the upside of this treasure hunt, we offer the best exposure.
Dr. Allen Alper: Wow! That sounds great, a very strong reason for our high-net-worth readers/investors to consider investing in Nevada Exploration.
http://www.nevadaexploration.com/
Suite 1500 - 885 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
CANADA V6C 3E8
604 601 2006 (tel)
604 683 8125 (fax
Info@NevadaExploration.com
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