Fremont Gold Ltd. (FRE: TSX-V; FR2: FSE: USTDF: OTC): Controls Three Gold Projects in the Prolific Cortez and Carlin Trends in Northern Nevada; Interview with Blaine Monaghan, CEO
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 9/27/2019
Fremont Gold Ltd. (FRE: TSX-V; FR2: FSE: USTDF: OTC), who's mine-finding Management Team has discovered more than 4 million ounces of gold, and controls three gold projects in the prolific Cortez and Carlin Trends in northern Nevada. We learned from Blaine Monaghan, CEO of Fremont Gold, that this summer they sold their Gold Canyon project to McEwen Mining for 300,000 shares and are now looking to add several more advanced stage gold projects to the portfolio. Near term plans for the end of 2019 going into 2020 include strengthening the Company's property portfolio by bringing in more advanced stage gold assets that have the potential to host a minimum of a million ounces of gold and are economic. With the experienced team of mine finders, the projects located in great jurisdiction, and attractive capital structure, Fremont Gold is well positioned for a strong gold market.
Fremont Gold Ltd.
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, interviewing Blaine Monaghan, CEO of Fremont Gold.
Blaine, could you give our readers/investors an overview of your Company and also what differentiates your Company from others?
Blaine Monaghan:Fremont Gold is a relatively new company. It listed in 2017 by a group of mine finders; Dennis Moore, Alan Carter and Clay Newton.
Dennis Moore has had a number of successes in South America. He's been behind a couple of significant discoveries totaling 4 million ounces of gold. He had been in South America for a number of years. He decided it was time to start looking to other jurisdictions to leverage his expertise, and he settled on Nevada. Early in 2017, he and Clay Newton started accumulating a portfolio of early- stage gold projects in Nevada. Later on, we acquired some more advanced stage projects in and around and close to McEwen's Gold Bar mine. We just sold one of our assets, Gold Canyon, to McEwen in August for 300,000 shares.
What I think really differentiates us is our team. Not only do we have Dennis Moore, who is the current President, I replaced him last year. Dennis is really a geologist's geologists, boots on the ground. I have more of a capital markets background. That was the first time Dennis was in the driver's seat. I think he realized his talents were best utilized trying to make new discoveries, which is what we're working on right now.
So I think what differentiates us really is our team. Dennis Moore and I have a couple of great advisors. Douglas Hurst, who was recently with Northern Empire that was acquired by Coeur Mining. Also, Andy Wallace, with whom I worked a number of years ago. He works for Cordex, which is a private company in Nevada. Cordex has been responsible for nine discoveries that went into production, and Andy was involved in five of them. So we have a great team. We're in a great jurisdiction and we're looking forward to some success.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds great. Could you give us more details about your properties and what you've found to date?
Blaine Monaghan: When we listed in 2017, we started off with two projects, Goldrun and Hurricane. We added a third project called North Carlin, which is located at the Northern end of the Carlin Trend. I'm pretty excited about that project. My analogy for North Carlin is Gold Standard, who were exploring for gold at the southern end of the Carlin Trend and came up with a brand new discovery. I would look forward to getting to work and drilling North Carlin at some point in the near future, but it's going to be based on what future acquisitions we make.
We had acquired some ground in and around McEwen's Gold Bar mine and we just sold Gold Canyon to McEwen. So we're back to those three original projects. Right now I'm looking to add more advanced stage gold projects to the portfolio. I hope to announce something soon, which could represent the first of several. I'm looking to strengthen our current property portfolio. The projects that come in will help determine what projects we're going to start first.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds great. I've noticed that you've done some soil anomaly work. Could you mention a little bit about what you have found?
Blaine Monaghan: The three assets that we currently have in the property portfolio, after selling Gold Canyon to McEwen, are Gold Canyon, Hurricane, and North Carlin, and I imagine you're probably referring to North Carlin. I like the project very much. It's at the northern end of the Carlin Trend. Its proximity is fantastic. The work we've done includes soils and some geophysics. We have a gold in soils anomaly, right where you might like it in relation to a mag high. So that represents a great drill target.
We'd probably need to do a little bit more work there refining that target, but it is something I would like to test at some point in the near future. If you have success in the Carlin Trend, the returns can be absolutely spectacular.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Could you tell our readers/investors what your plans are for the remainder of 2019 going into 2020?
Blaine Monaghan: Our focus right now is augmenting the property portfolio with more advanced-stage assets. The three assets we have in the portfolio right now are fairly early stage, and although I do really like North Carlin, I'd like to see us strengthen our property portfolio by bringing in more advanced stage gold assets. And when I say advanced stage, I mean projects that have a number of drill holes, a current or historic resource, with a pathway to grow. Ultimately, we're looking for assets that have the potential to host a minimum of a million ounces and that are economic.
I'm looking for projects that have more data. It's easier to finance and provide a valuation on projects like that. Although the price of gold has improved dramatically, it's happened very suddenly and we're still not seeing the benefits of that increase on the junior side. It's still important to have assets that can attract capital and that's why I like advanced stage gold projects.
Dr. Allen Alper: It sounds like a very good approach. Could you tell our readers/investors a bit about your capital structure?
Blaine Monaghan: Our capital structure is attractive. We only have 53 million shares issued, insiders have close to 20% of that. US global, a large fund out of the US, owns 8%. I keep track of our shareholder base and I can account for close to 60% of the shareholders. So it's relatively closely held amongst insiders and people that I would consider supporters of the Company.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Could you tell our readers/investors the primary reasons they should consider investing in Fremont Gold?
Blaine Monaghan: I think the market is looking for some guidance. We sold Gold Canyon to McEwen at the end of August and we haven't provided any updates since then. I think the market would like to see what's next for the Company. We've let a few projects go, we've sold a project to McEwen, which is great because we've added some shares to our registry that we can convert into cash, so we won't have to look to raise money down at these levels. Now the market wants to know what’s next.
I'm hoping to announce several new acquisitions over the weeks and months ahead. I would think that sometime between now and then our performance should improve, as we continue to put out news regarding these acquisitions and our plans moving forward.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Blaine, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Blaine Monaghan: I want to thank you for interviewing us. I think we have a great team for the size of our Company, we're in a great jurisdiction, our share price is attractive, and our share structure is in great shape. If you believe, as I do, that we're going into a strong gold market, these are the types of companies you want to invest in.
Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds excellent. We’ll publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.
https://fremontgold.net/
Blaine Monaghan, CEO
Telephone: +1 604-676-5664
Email: blaine@fremontgold.net
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