Blackrock Gold (TSX: BRC, OTC: BKRRF, FSE: AHZ): Targeting High-Grade Gold at its Silver Cloud Property in Northern Nevada; Interview with Andrew Pollard, President and CEO. PDAC Booth 2419B

By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 12/22/2019
Blackrock Gold (TSX: BRC, OTC: BKRRF, FSE: AHZ) https://blackrockgold.ca/ is a junior gold exploration company, targeting high grade gold at its Silver Cloud property, a low-sulphidation epithermal gold & silver project, located along the established Northern Nevada Rift gold trend in north-central Nevada, situated next to two prolific, high grade gold mines; Hecla's Hollister and Midas Mines. We learned from Andrew Pollard, President and CEO of Blackrock Gold, that they have just completed a five-hole 2,500-meter drill program, which was the first drilling the project had seen in over 15 years, following up right where Teck and Placer Dome left off, where two separate high-grade discoveries were made. Drilling by Teck between 1999 and 2001 cut multiple high-grade intercepts including 1.5m @ 157.7 g/t Au. With assays from this initial program still pending, near-term plans include identifying follow-up targets for a phase 2 program in Q1. Since a new management team stepped in May, the Company has been among the best performing gold equities on the Venture Exchange for the past six months, going from a low of 3c up to a high of 35c.

Blackrock Gold

Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, interviewing Andrew Pollard, who is President and CEO of Blackrock Gold Corp. Could you give our readers/investors an overview of your Company and what differentiates your Company from others?

Andrew Pollard:Blackrock Gold Corp. is a brand-new story in the eyes of the marketplace. We hold the keys to the Silver Cloud project, which is a low sulphidation epithermal gold & silver project on the Northern Nevada Rift. This will be the first time your readers/investors will have had exposure to this project in a clean vehicle and with a serious team behind it. Previously, it was in the hands of the likes of Teck Resources, Placer Dome and Newmont. It’s truly amazing that a project of this merit, in this jurisdiction has sat idle for so long, but that’s also the real opportunity here: we’re picking up right where Teck and Placer Dome left off, following up on their high-grade discoveries. A lot has happened since any drilling was done on our property, and we are benefiting from roughly 15 years of new data gleaned from recent discoveries on our gold belt which has led us to some potentially game-changing new insights for us.

Andrew Pollard: Our property encompasses roughly 45sq km’s (+12,000 acres) on the Northern Nevada Rift which is one of the highest-grade gold belts in North America. We're right next door to Hecla’s Hollister Deposit. We're about 15 kilometers away from the Midas Mine, which is also owned by Hecla. Midas was a huge discovery back in the 90s and was such a compelling project that it made Franco-Nevada change their business strategy and get into the mine building business. This is far more than a proximity play, the project stands on its’ own merits, but we’re certainly surrounded by some very notable mines and as jurisdictions go, it’s hard to compete with Nevada.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well that sounds excellent. I notice you have a very strong team. Maybe you could tell our readers/investors a little bit about your background and the team’s background?

Andrew Pollard: Mining companies really only come down to two things at the end of the day: projects and people. I stepped in as President & CEO in May and my only focus was on ensuring we built a team worthy of the project. Since coming in, I’ve made key appointments and re-constituted the Board, and it’s clear the Market has started to take note. We've traded something like 60 million shares and delivered some early investors gains beyond 10x. That's primarily due to the attention our project has commanded and the caliber of people we've brought in.

I've worked behind the scenes and in the boardrooms of mining companies for the last 15 years as a management consultant. My value has always been ensuring that the right people are behind the right projects. My real value added is my contacts, my little black book. When I stepped in here, the first thing I did was to turn my focus to getting the right people involved. I've always thought the Silver Cloud project was one of the most overlooked exploration projects in the business, and since then the market has started to agree with me. The first addition I made to the team was bringing Bill Howald on as our Executive Chairman. Some of your readers/investors may know him from his most recent company, Rye Patch Gold, which was sold for well over $100 million dollars Canadian last year.

Like Blackrock Gold Corp, it was also a Nevada focused gold company. His success there wasn’t the main reason I sought him out though. What drew me to Bill initially was the fact that that he used to oversee Nevada exploration for Placer Dome. Not only did Placer formerly make a discovery on the project (12m of 5.5g/t Au), but Bill was the one who oversaw it. In fact, he was the driving force behind Placer Dome entering into a joint venture with Teck Resources on it. To get someone like him back behind the helm of a project, 15 or 16 years later and directing exploration once again, was just too good to be true. Since then we've reconstituted the Board with some new members, and in fact, brought back other key members of the Placer Dome geological team to help at the project level.

Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds great. Could you tell our readers/investors some of the highlights of 2019 and what your plans are for 2020?

Andrew Pollard: The highlight of 2019, for us, is we've brought drilling back to Silver Cloud for the first time since in about 15 years. Effectively this project represents a time capsule. This project has effectively been tied up since1999, it was staked the same year the discoveries around it were made. The Hollister Mine was discovered around that point as was Midas. As those nearby discoveries were making headlines, it wasn't too long after that, that Teck and Placer Dome both took an interest in our project, with two small rounds of drilling, yielding two separate high-grade discoveries.

Pretty promising stuff right?! Well nothing has happened at the project level since about 2004, 2005. The reason for that was that the project was saddled with extremely onerous royalty obligations, a full 10% NSR, making it prohibitively expensive to invest exploration dollars into. What has breathed fresh life into this project is the fact that Blackrock has managed to clean up that underlying deal entirely. The Teck and Placer Dome royalties have since been extinguished (leaving only a 3.5% royalty remaining), meaning we are now able to hit the ground running and get exploration moving again. This is a project that has sat idle despite some incredible initial results but that’s working to our advantage now. It’s akin to a time capsule, because it hasn’t been touched in over 15 years, over which time the understanding of the regional geology has changed immensely. The highlight of 2019 is that we now have a a great deal on this exciting project, and a serious team behind it, and we’re now making up for lost time.

We've done more at the project level in the last six months than it has seen in the last 15 or 16 years combined. We've hit the ground running and we're looking to end 2019 strongly. We just completed a five hole 2,500 meter drill program and we're awaiting assays for all of those holes, which are expected shortly. We’re already thinking strategy for next year, which will surely include a lot more follow-up drilling, in addition to drill testing some other high-priority, un-drilled sections of the property, which as targets go, look to be wildly compelling. We actually found a section of the project that is directly adjacent to the Hollister deposit, with 8 veins outcropping at surface, atop a geophysical and large geochem anomaly we’ve pegged at about 1,200m by 800m or so. This is almost too good to be true as targets go, so we’re going to be looking at doing something up there, in addition to following up in the area of our current drilling early on in 2020.

Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that sounds very good. Could you tell our readers/investors about your share and capital structure?

Andrew Pollard: I believe right now they're 62 million shares outstanding and we're trading at roughly 24 to 25 cents Canadian. So we're valued at around $15 million market cap currently.

Dr. Allen Alper: Excellent! Could you mention some of the backgrounds of your shareholders?

Andrew Pollard: This has largely been a retail movement so far. When I stepped in, the Company was trading at around 3 cents. Since then we've gone up to a high of 35 cents. But most of that's just been through people purchasing in the market. We have a very diverse shareholder base. So far we've been very strategic about our private placements. On a fully diluted basis, I control roughly around six percent of the Company, so I have a lot of skin in the game here. Management is very well aligned to running this as methodically as possible to ensure return on investment and every dollar spent for shareholders has a purpose. I'm not here for the day job, I'm here to make this a win for everyone.

Dr. Allen Alper: That's excellent. It's nice to hear that Management has skin in the game, that's very important. Could you tell our readers/investors the primary reasons they should consider investing in Blackrock Gold?

Andrew Pollard: Yes, I'd love to. The same reasons your readers/investors would be interested in this would be the same reasons that got me into this in the first place. The only thing the market seems to care about, over the past few years, is high grade discoveries in good jurisdictions. We are in one of the best jurisdictions in the world when it comes to gold mining. We're right at the top of the Carlin Trend and on one of the most productive gold belts on the planet.

There's no political risk. We know that it's a pro mining jurisdiction. The Northern Nevada Rift is known for the high-grade nature of the mines on it. So we're targeting high-grades, in a great jurisdiction. Those are two reasons. But, the reason we've been able to gather so much interest in the marketplace is that this is the first time any retail or institutional audience has ever had a chance to get behind this project. This project is a former major mining project that is now wrapped in a one asset junior. We have a former major mining company Head of Exploration directing exploration of the project once again. This is a former Teck, Placer Dome, and Newmont project. We’re truly standing on the shoulders of giants here.

We know there's gold there because they've encountered it on very limited drilling previously, with grades up to 158 grams per ton over a meter and a half. It's been idle due to a really onerous royalty deal on it previously. We've now cleaned up that deal. All the obligations are much more palatable. We have a new understanding of our gold belt which has led to a new geologic interpretation for us. As this project has sat idle for so long, much of it hasn’t been looked at closely, and once started, we’ve identified a brand new target area, with 8 veins outcropping at surface, directly next a prolific, operating mine. Everything is lining up for us. Drills just stopped turning as of a week or two ago.

Dr. Allen Alper: Those sound like excellent reasons for our readers/investors to consider investing in Blackrock Gold. Anything else you'd like to add, Andrew?

Andrew Pollard: We're targeting high-grade gold in Nevada. It's a former major mining project that's now wrapped in a very good deal, within a junior, one asset Company. Good projects tend to attract good people, and the caliber of our team speaks volumes. We think we have a phenomenal project here and we’re doing real work. Exploration is about stacking the odds in ones favor. Jurisdiction. Grade. Historical data. New ideas. Team. We’ve stacked the odds as best we can and now we’ll leave it to the results to do the talking. It’s an exciting time and we look forward to what 2020 brings.

Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that sounds excellent. It could be a great opportunity. We’ll publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.

https://blackrockgold.ca/

Andrew Pollard, Chief Executive Officer
Blackrock Gold Corp.
Phone: 604 817-6044
Email: andrew@blackrockgoldcorp.com