Dr. Keith Barron, President, and CEO, Outstanding Geologist and Discoverer, Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU, OTCQB: AUIAF, Frankfurt: 20Q) Discusses Exploring Precious Metals and Copper, in Its 208,000 hectares, Ecuador
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 7/26/2022
We spoke with Dr. Keith Barron, President, and CEO of Aurania Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARU, OTCQB: AUIAF, Frankfurt: 20Q). Aurania Resources is a mineral exploration company, focused on precious metals and copper, in South America. Its flagship asset, The Lost Cities – Cutucu Project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt, in the eastern foothills of the Andes Mountain range, of southeastern Ecuador. During the past 5 years, Aurania Resources has been doing early exploration work, including stream sediment surveys, geophysical surveys, and airborne surveys, all of which generated a number of drill-ready targets. Near-term plans include, finding gold and copper deposits, by exploring the Company’s Awacha and Tatasham porphyry targets.
Aurania Resources Ltd.
Dr. Allen Alper:
This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Dr. Keith Barron, who is President and CEO of Aurania Resources. Keith, could give our readers/investors an overview of your Company and what differentiates it from others? Also, can you tell us about some of the key accomplishments and your plans for this year?
Dr. Keith Barron:
I'm the President and CEO. I'm a Ph.D. geologist. I have 39 years’ experience, in mineral exploration, worldwide. This project is in Ecuador, it's down near the border with Peru, in southeastern Ecuador. It's 208,000 hectares, that's roughly 500,000 acres in size. My Company has been exploring it for five years now. A lot of the early exploration has been done. We've done stream sediment surveys, geophysical surveys, airborne surveys and generated a number of targets, which now, at this stage, are at drill readiness.
Our two best targets are for copper porphyry. We will be drilling those, probably in the fourth quarter of this year. One's called Awacha and another one's called Tatasham. We also have many gold/silver epithermal type targets, high level epithermals. We made some news, just recently. Ever since inception, the project has been called, The Lost Cities Project. That's because it was initiated a long time ago, back in 2001 looking for two lost settlements, of gold mines, of the Spanish Conquistadors.
We just recently rediscovered one of them. It's an alluvial mine, it's a placer mine. It's actually not directly on our property, but it is right downstream. Alluvial gold/placer gold has to come from somewhere. In the case of California, all the placer gold that was found by the miners, came from an area called the Mother Lode District, which is a very extensive zone. It goes for over a hundred miles of quartz veins that bury that gold and actually carry it far, far underground.
We think we have a similar sort of scenario, on our property, maybe not for a hundred miles. But in any case, we do believe that we have the sources of the gold that's been found downstream, from us. My claim to fame is that my previous Company, Aurelian Resources, discovered the Fruta Del Norte Gold Deposit, which is roughly 14 million ounces. We discovered that in 2006 and then sold the Company in 2008 for $1.2 billion CAD.
I was the largest shareholder and have bankrolled this Company, Aurania. I own 38% of the shares and I don't draw a salary and that certainly differentiates us, from every other junior you've ever heard of. There will be lots and lots of news generated, particularly in the third and fourth quarters of this year. We have geologists, on the ground right now, generating some new targets. We're also looking, potentially, to joint venture some of our projects. We have copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold, many different things, and lots of optionality here.
Dr. Allen Alper:
Well, that sounds great. I know you have an outstanding background of success. What are your key goals for the rest of the year?
Dr. Keith Barron:
I'm hoping we find both a gold deposit and the copper deposit. We have a competitor company, on our southern boundary, they’re 12 kilometers south of us. Their market cap has been as high as one and a half billion dollars, based really on one porphyry copper occurrence. We think we may have a copycat, this area called Awacha. We suspect it's a cluster of porphyries, but we'll certainly know, later on in the year, what we have here.
Dr. Allen Alper:
Well, that sounds excellent, to have such a huge property, with great potential. Keith, maybe you could tell us a little bit more about your Team.
Dr. Keith Barron:
I've been reinforcing the excellent Ecuadorian Team that we have, with some other top people. I have two gold specialists, who are expected to join the Company very soon. Steve Garwin, who is an international expert in corporate copper, has come on, as a consultant, to us. We also have a gentleman, with a lot of experience. He's Ecuadorian and has a doctorate from the University of Zurich, his name is Cristian Vallejo. He's an interesting guy, because he's an oil expert, as well as a minerals expert and it is hard to find that kind of expertise. The reason he's involved, is because our copper and silver and sediments are very much tied in with potential trap sites for oil.
Dr. Allen Alper:
That's fantastic! You have a great record of achievement. So that's excellent! Could you tell our readers/investors a little bit more about your share and capital structure?
Dr. Keith Barron:
We have 56 million shares out now. The Company has been around for 15 years and originally, we were working on a project in Switzerland, which is where I live, a gold project. Now that didn't end up being something commercial and it was kind of a holding place, until we could get property in Ecuador. That was the main event. But there had been a prohibition on getting new ground in Ecuador, which was lifted in 2016 and we took advantage of it straight away.
We've kept it nice and tight. There are not many juniors, you're going to find, that are 15 years old, with only 56 million shares out. We've been up and down in the markets, we've been as high as $7.50. We're trading around 70 cents right now, so we've had a pullback. All the concessions are paid for this year, so we have no property payments.
Dr. Allen Alper:
That sounds great. Could you tell our readers/investors, the primary reasons they should consider investing in Aurania Resources?
Dr. Keith Barron:
Certainly, our track record: We've worked up a number of targets here that are just about ready to be drilled. The only thing that's holding us back is some permitting, we have to file environmental impact statements and things like that, with the government. Just the bureaucracy in Ecuador takes some time to cut through. I think there are going to be a lot of catalysts, later on this year.
The other thing is, you know, we're pretty cheap. I think we have a lot of room to grow, in terms of the share price. We really have something for everybody, we have zinc, silver, copper, gold, we have all these different metals here. I've never sold a share, I've put more than $20 million, of my own money, into the Company and I'm a hell of a believer! I think it's going to work for us and at the end of the day, I think we're going to have both the gold deposit and the copper deposit. We'll wait and see.
Dr. Allen Alper:
Those sound like very compelling reasons for our readers/investors to consider investing in Aurania Resources. Keith, is there anything else you'd like that?
Dr. Keith Barron:
I'm here at the Prospector’s Convention in Toronto. The Ecuadorian government has sent a contingent here because they're very much pushing mining ahead. They want it to become a major part of the economy. They have two modern mines in operation, they expect to have a third this coming October, not from us, but another company. Of all of South America, I think this is the venue that's looking the best.
Dr. Allen Alper:
That sounds great! It sounds excellent, for someone who knows the region, has a huge package and has a record of success. So those are all strong reasons. And you are sitting right in a very prospective region. So, yes, they're all excellent reasons for our readers/investors to consider investing.
http://www.aurania.com/
Dr. Keith Barron
CEO and Chairman
keith@aurania.com
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