TOCVAN Ventures Corp. (CSE: TOC): Two Projects Under Development: in the Gold-Producing Sonora Region of Mexico, and in Southwestern BC; Brodie Sutherland, VP Exploration Interviewed

By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 4/7/2021
TOCVAN Ventures Corp. (CSE: TOC) is a well-structured early-stage natural resource company, with two projects under development: the Pilar Gold Project, in the gold-producing Sonora Region of Mexico, and the Rogers Creek Property, in the Lillooet Mining District of Southwestern British Columbia. We learned from Brodie Sutherland, VP Exploration of TOCVAN Ventures that in 2021 they will continue drilling at Pilar to expand on the Main Zone and then start to test some new target areas, slowly moving toward making a decision on whether to calculate the resource on the Main Zone or to begin bulk sampling to understand the ore better. According to Mr. Sutherland, the TOCVAN's stock is performing very well and will continue to do that.

The Pilar Gold Project

Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Brodie Sutherland, who is VP Exploration of TOCVAN Ventures Corp. Brodie, could you give our readers/investors an overview of your Company, what differentiates your Company from others. Also, what kind of process you are using. I noticed that you have been evaluating over 150 properties. Could you tell us about that and go on from there? I know you are a rather young Company.

Brodie Sutherland: That's right. We are a young Company. I recently moved into the position of VP Exploration.

Dr. Allen Alper: That’s great!

Brodie Sutherland: Yeah, I recently moved into that role prior to drilling at our Pilar property in Mexico. We are a young Company. We formed in 2018. In 2019 we were actively looking for gold-focused projects and we came across Pilar in Mexico, Sonora State. What we liked about that project was that it was in an advanced stage. It had seen over 17,000 meters of drilling, over 2 kilometers of trenching on surface and had good indications that mineralization extended across the property. So, we saw it as a great starting point for us in Mexico, and we have been actively exploring there since.

In terms of the Company, our focus is on minimizing share dilution and we do that by only spending money where we need to and that's primarily on exploration and on market awareness. We have seen in the past cycles, Companies start to lose focus, they start to get too many shares out. I think in the last cycle, if you looked at average shares outstanding in the public Junior Exploration Company it would be over 100 million. It just makes it more difficult to move things forward and create value for the shareholder, the more shares that you have out. We really focus on that; we currently have 27 million shares out.

We just started drilling at Pilar, we drilled there in December and released the results in February. We were extremely pleased, we hit 94 meters at 1.6 grams per ton gold and within that there were just over 9 meters, at 10 grams gold and an ounce silver. We are just getting things rolling at Pilar and we are looking forward to the next steps here.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good! Could you tell our readers/investors your plans for 2021?

Brodie Sutherland: For 2021, we are going to continue drilling. We have a drill program planned to start in the next month here and build on our previous program and expand on one area on the property called our Main Zone and then start to test some new target areas. We have completed some recent surface exploration and we expect those results to be out soon.

The past operators really focused on this Main Zone and for good reason, there's good mineralization there. But the rest of the property had been neglected. There is great potential for drill targets across the property. This year, we will continue to explore those areas and test them, with drilling. Then we will slowly move toward making a decision on the next steps, maiden resource calculation or more drilling and bulk test mining to understand the ore better.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds very good! Could you tell us about the region you're exploring?

Brodie Sutherland: The region is very well endowed for gold and silver. Sonora State produces over 37% of the gold in Mexico. We are on the western edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental, which is very well-known for epithermal gold deposits and we are in between two big projects. One is Argonaut's La Colorada Mine. It is a gold/silver mine, about 80 kilometers to the Northwest of us. Argonaut's been producing there since 2011. Fantastic deposit, big open pit right off the highway! We drive by it to get to our project.

Then on the other side of us, 50 kilometers to the East, we have Minera Alamos and their Santana Project. There has been a lot of attention on that project over the last couple of years and they are looking to bring Santana into production shortly this year. We are surrounded by operators that are producing or about to be producing and it is a great jurisdiction to be in.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Could you tell our readers/investors about your background and the Management Team?

Brodie Sutherland: Absolutely! I am a geologist and I have been working in the industry for over 15 years. I have been very fortunate to travel and see a lot of different types of deposits, but my focus has been on gold. I have worked in over 20 countries in a lot of remote jurisdictions and for me that is where I see the benefits of Sonora State, Mexico. It is very accessible and easy to work in. On the rest of the Board, we have Derek Wood, our CEO, strong financial background, passionate about keeping our share structure tight and making sure we are spending money the right way! To build on that we have Fred Jones, with another strong financial background, an excellent addition to our team. Recently we have added Rodrigo Calles-Montijo, a geologist with over 30 years' experience. He is from Sonora. He has worked for big companies. He understands how things operate in Sonora and he understands how these gold deposits behave. He is a great additional to the team and instrumental in our programs down there. So, a well-rounded team, both technical and financial! We are really happy with how things have been going the past two years.

Dr. Allen Alper: It is good to see the team is experienced and balanced, with financial and geological people, so that is great. Could you tell our readers-investors the primary reasons they should consider investing in TOCVAN Ventures Corp.?

Brodie Sutherland: The primary reasons are, we are fairly new. We are just getting started and we have lots of potential at Pilar to expand and explore. If you look at how our stock price has performed over the last year, we performed extremely well and we plan to continue to do that.

We are not a Company that takes advantage of a Bull Market to raise as much money as possible, we're a Company that is mindful of how we spend money. What we like to do is raise the money that we need at that time and do the work to get the share price up, so that when we need to raise money again, it's higher and we're minimizing dilution.

Dr. Allen Alper: Those sound like very strong reasons for readers/investors to consider investing is TOCVAN Ventures. Brodie, is there anything else you would like to add?

Brodie Sutherland: Yeah, we do have a project in BC, a porphyry copper target there. It has had a lot of work done on it and we think it shows a lot of promise. So, we will do a little bit of work to keep advancing that. On top of that, we really do like Mexico. This past year, operating down there, we think it is an excellent jurisdiction to be in and we are actively looking for other projects to add to our portfolio down there.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. We will publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.

https://tocvan.com/

TOCVAN VENTURES CORP.
Derek A. Wood, President & CEO
Telephone: (403)668-7855
Email: dwood@tocvan.ca