Kalo Exploration: Gold Exploration in Fiji's North Island, Large Land Package, 367 Square kilometers; Interview with Michael Nesbitt Co-Founder

By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 3/16/2020
We learned from Michael Nesbitt of Kalo Exploration, a privately held mineral exploration and drilling company based out of Fiji that they have a large land package of 367 square kilometers under license, including the Cirianiu (SPL 1464) and Coqeloa (SPL 1511) Prospects, located on Fiji's North Island, with an inferred resource of 158,831 ounces of gold. Kalo controls a 25-kilometer mineralized corridor that, according to Mr. Nesbitt, will turn out to be host to a very significant deposit.

Kalo Exploration, project location

Kalo Exploration, Camp and main resource zone

Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, interviewing Michael Nesbitt of Kalo Exploration. Could you give our readers/investors an overview of your Company and also what differentiates your Company from others?

Michael Nesbitt: Sure. Kalo Exploration is a Fijian, gold-focused, exploration company. We have two licenses in Fiji. We have quite a large land package, 367 square kilometers under license. We have some very large regional geological structures that control the mineralization in that area. We've established a small resource and we think we can expand that significantly, given the large regional geology. We recently picked up a new license and we're seeing some similarities between the geology there and the fairly well known mine at Vatukoula. We think it's a very promising area. I think we're unlocking a new mineralized region in Fiji that before we came along was largely overlooked. We've had grades up to over 300 grams per ton. 368 was our best intersection and we have good zones of high-grade and then long zones of a lower grade as well. We're a privately owned company, which allows for a lot of flexibility. We can make decisions quickly. We can do exploration quickly and that's been a great benefit to us.

Kalo Exploration, prospect location

Dr. Allen Alper: Excellent! Could you tell our readers/investors your primary goals for 2020?

Kalo Exploration, drill crew

Michael Nesbitt: I head back to Fiji next week and we'll be focusing on our new SPL Coqeloa (1511). We'll be doing a grid auger program to identify trenching and drill targets. So we want to bring that prospect up to a more knowledgeable base, from which we can plan more exploration. I should've mentioned, we have our own drill rig as well. So you know, if we see something we want to drill, we can drill it and it's quite easy. And then as well as that, we're also looking for a possible partnership with companies that have the technical and financial ability to bring this project forward and develop a mine.

Dr. Allen Alper: That's excellent. Could you give our readers/investors an idea of your background and also your Board and Team?

Michael Nesbitt: Sure. Kalo Exploration is a private company with just a few shareholders: myself, my father Richard Nesbitt and one other, a long time business partner and friend at Cam Grundstrom, who's also a mining engineer. They've been working in the mining industry for about 30 years now, developing different projects in Canada, Fiji and elsewhere. Myself, I've been involved in exploration for 10 years, working on projects in Fiji, Vanuatu and Palau, as well as other places. We also have a 700 million tonne bauxite deposit in Guinea, West Africa. So we have quite a bit of experience in Fiji. There's a bauxite mine on the same Island, which was developed by my father as well. So we have quite a bit of experience operating in Fiji and taking projects to production.

Kalo Exploration

Dr. Allen Alper: How is it operating in Fiji?

Michael Nesbitt: It's quite easy really. There're no security issues, and very, very, very friendly people. We have strong government support. We have good land owner support as well. The project is in an area that doesn't see a lot of economic activity, so people are quite keen to see jobs come in and projects developed. There's a good corporate, legal, accounting infrastructure, and there's good road access. We're about an hour away from the airport. It's a pretty easy place to operate logistically. There aren't too many significant challenges.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds excellent. Could you tell our readers/investors what makes Kalo Exploration important or significant?

Michael Nesbitt: I guess it goes back to what's in the ground itself. We have a 25 kilometer mineralized corridor that I think is probably going to be host to a very significant deposit. I think that's going to become apparent, over the next few years, as we do more and more regional exploration. I think it's going to start to pop up on people's radar as a very significant area.

Kalo Exploration, 25km mineralized zone

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good. Does your company do drilling for others or just for yourself?

Michael Nesbitt: We have considered doing drilling for others. Right now we're mostly focused on our own drilling, but we would consider drilling for other companies if it made sense logistically.

Dr. Allen Alper: Sounds excellent! We’ll publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.

https://www.kaloexploration.com/

info@kaloexploration.com