Darin Wagner, the President and CEO of Balmoral Resources (TSX: BAR), visited with Metals News at the Vancouver World Investment Resource Conference to discuss the progress of the Martiniere gold project located in Quebec.
Wagner and his team are enthusiastic about the progress they have made on their flagship project, the Martiniere gold project, located in Quebec. Said Wagner, “Our recently completed winter exploration program was designed to test the limits of the Martiniere gold system, and I am glad to see we didn’t find any (limits that is)! Said Wagner, “We pushed the boundaries on the system on multiple fronts and successfully expanded the system everywhere.”
The result of this work included adding to the size of the explored area and investigating the existing strike length areas. Said Wagner, “Effectively, we have extended both of the strike lengths at Martiniere.” Their suppositions have come true to date. Wagner said, “We thought that this was a very large gold system. That is exactly what we were able to demonstrate during the winter and will be returning during the summer season to continue drilling out the high-grade core areas of the system. ”
Currently, the Martiniere gold deposit is still under exploration by the company. Wagner said, “It remains open in every direction.” The work that has been done has focused on several areas of interest by geologists. Wagner said, “We’ve got two major trends that intersect each other. The Martiniere Trend is 2,000 meters in length. There are a number of high grade zones along on it.” While the first trend is formally called Martiniere, the other trend has been named as well. Wagner said, “We have a second trend that is called Bug Lake, and if you come visit the property in the summer you will understand why, that we have intersected for over 700 meters in length. It features a core zone that is quite wide, about 20 to 25 meters wide.” The most striking features of the Martiniere discoveries to date are their high-grade and shallow depths.
The work at the site continues with the goal being to continue to analyze how far and wide the mineralization occurs. Said Wagner, “It is a very quickly expanding system. It needs some infilling in order to bring it to a resource stage.”
Financially, Balmoral Resources is in a strong position. Said Wagner, “We are currently sitting with approximately $10.0 million in working capital and should have roughly 5.0 million at the end of the year after our summer/fall drilling program.” Wagner and his team have learned that the quality of their projects has given them financial strength despite the challenging markets. Wagner said, “One of the advantages of working in a place like Quebec is the ability to attract funds. Our neighbour, Detour Gold, just got $15.0 million dollars in equity financing despite a very difficult gold market.” For companies that have strong resources and an excellent management track record like Balmoral’s, getting financing is not necessarily dependent on current market conditions. Wagner said, “Good projects will typically be financeable – even in very tough markets.” 
Balmoral Resources developed this project out of an earlier discovery made in the area. Said Wagner, “We put the project together following the sale of West Timmins Mining. That WTM experience prepared us for dealing with a high-grade gold discovery in tough markets as we had to weather the 2008 crash after making the discovery. ” Wagner and his team are very familiar with everything about the area they are working in, which gives them a distinct advantage. Said Wagner, “This is an area we know well, we know the players in the space and we know what a mine in this area looks like.” Given this background, Wagner and his staff are excited with their upcoming exploration plans. He said, “We are very comfortable spending four million dollars this summer in a very dreary resource market because we believe it will result in value for the company and shareholders. High-grade Canadian gold deposits are one of those things that never go out of style.”
Currently, the company has an average amount of shares out on the market. Wagner said, “We have 84 million shares out which would be 91 million shares fully diluted.” A large percentage of the stock is held by the management team, which Wagner believes shows the confidence that they have in the Martiniere project. He said, “Our core group holds approximately 13% of the outstanding shares, which shows our commitment to make this a successful deal for our shareholders.”
Why should investors take a close look at the progress that Balmoral Resources has made? Said Wagner, “The thing that differentiates us is that we have a new gold discovery of scale with a high-grade core. It is growing and it is in a good place being adjacent to the developments at Detour Gold and the recent acquisition of the Casa Berardi gold deposit by Hecla.” Wagner believes that his team is another characteristic that makes the company different. He said, “We have a management team that works as hard or harder than any other group in the business with a track record of delivering discoveries and creating value. We are well financed, financeable and active.” 
The next steps for the company include more work at the Martiniere gold deposit in the near term. Said Wagner, “We’ll begin some of the infill toward our initial resource statement this summer. That’s part of the four million dollars we are spending. We will also look to continue to expand a number of our high grade discoveries as well. .” The size of the project will help the company to decide when to pursue turning Martiniere into a resource. Said Wagner, “If it continues to grow, we will wait to bring the resource when it is ready. If it wants to keep growing, we’ll let it keep growing. We have about 220 holes into the broader Martiniere property. There are 180 holes into the primary zones. That’s not a lot of holes given the number of zones and size of them. There is a lot of work to do as we work forward. That is a good problem to have. And the best part may be that all this excitement is occurring on about a 2 square kilometre piece of our 600+ square kilometre wholly owned project.
For more information on Balmoral Resources, visit
http://www.balmoralresources.com/
Balmoral Resources Ltd.
Suite 2300 - 1177 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6E 2K3
Telephone: 604-638-3664
Fax: 604-648-8809
Toll Free: 1-877-838-3664
Investor Inquiries:
John Toporowski, Manager, Corporate Development
Telephone: 604-638-5815
Email: jtoporowski@balmoralresources.com