Thomas Ullrich, CEO, Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY; OTCQB: ATBHF) Discusses Exploring for Gold and Base Metal Deposits in Virginia, USA, and Nunavut
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By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 12/13/2021
We spoke with Thomas Ullrich, who is CEO and Director of Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY; OTCQB: ATBHF), a mineral exploration company, exploring for gold and base metal deposits in Virginia, USA, and Nunavut, Canada. Aston Bay's exploration in Virginia is directed by the Company's advisor, Don Taylor, the 2018 Thayer Lindsley Award winner, for his discovery of the Taylor Pb-Zn-Ag Deposit in Arizona. In Virginia, the Company is focused on their Buckingham high-grade gold discovery, with drill-ready targets and no permitting lag. The other Virginia project is called Mountain Base Metals Project, a 60-mile mineralized trend, located on 2,072 acres (802 hectares) of private land, with direct access to both highway and rail transportation. The project has significant recent and historic drilling intercepts, with limited follow-up. The drilling is ongoing, at the Mountain Base Metals Project, with copper and zinc mineralization found in all holes, a new discovery of SEDEX mineralization in central Virginia. Aston Bay is actively negotiating to expand its land package in Virginia.
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Thomas Ullrich, who is CEO and Director of Aston Bay Holdings. Tom, could you give our readers/investors, an overview of your Company and tell them what's been happening with your Virginia Gold and base metal projects in Virginia?
Thomas Ullrich: Sure thing, Al! It's good to be speaking with you again, happy to give you a little update of our Company here. So just a bit of a background about Aston Bay, we're a very small Company. We only have two full-time employees, Sofia Harquail and myself, but we do have a great group of advisors. We've picked up these advisors, along with a Company that we've acquired, in the last couple years. And that Company was Don Taylor's private company, Jack’s Fork Exploration. Don Taylor, for people who don't recognize the name, is the Founder of the Taylor Deposit and the Founder of Arizona Mining, a great zinc discovery in Arizona.
Don's other Company was looking for base and precious metals in Virginia, and just to make a long story short, we got together with Don, came to the agreement that he would come along to continue to Direct the exploration and essentially continue along, we'll pick up where he left off with his exploration. And Aston Bay goes to the trouble of getting out there, raising the funds, and doing the promotion, and getting the drilling done. And Don and his couple other advisors, former principals of Don's private company, have come along to continue to direct that exploration. So, we're very excited, couldn't have a better and more proven group of geoscience and industry professionals here to direct the exploration for us.
Right now, in Virginia, we're focused on two types of mineralization, both base and precious metals, but we have three main areas of focus that we're working on. At the moment, we're drilling a brand-new property that we've just picked up in the last couple months. This is our Mountain Base Metal Project.
It's a new discovery of a new style of mineralization that's been unrecognized, or no one's ever found it before in Central Virginia. This is a SEDEX style of mineralization, that's sedimentary exhalative style, similar styles of mineral, similar mines, you can think of Sullivan. Or perhaps closer to home, up at the Balmat mine up in New York state that's been mined almost semi-continuously since, I think, around the 1930s. So, a great discovery here! We think we have the tiger by the tail, and we have expanded our land position. We've extended our drill program. We're going to be drilling right through to the new year and very happy to be working on this.
The other two properties that we expect to get to in January and in Q1 of 2022 are both gold plays. First off, another discovery by Don Taylor, just a few years ago, is the Buckingham Gold vein. It's a high-grade, steeply-dipping, mesothermal-style gold vein, some significant intercepts, ounce to two-ounce material. We think we have a very significant ore shoot, to continue to work up in this mesothermal-style vein. Mesothermal-style veins are important because they can go very far, and they can have significant down dip and long strike extends. So, we plan to get back to that vein. We did some drilling in 2019 with great results, and we expect to get back to that in early 2022.
The other gold play we would like to work on is a Brownfields project. It's a past producer, pre-1850s mining. They only mined it very shallowly due to the lack of technology and lack of capital available at the time. We think there's considerable chance for more unexploited mineralization at depth, and it's a very simple exploration thesis there. Just go to that old mine, that is only mined about a hundred feet down, and drill underneath it and see what's there. And so that's really the focus of what we're up to in Virginia.
Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that sounds excellent, sounds like great potential and sounds like a great property you have. Could you tell us a little bit more about your background and your Team and who you are working with?
Thomas Ullrich: I've been in geoscience for over 30 years here. I worked in everything from big mining companies to universities, academia, and junior explorers. Then in my previous job, before I came to Aston Bay, I was Chief Geologist for North America for Antofagasta Minerals. They're a large Chilean copper mining company. And before that, I was a senior geologist for Almaden Minerals, and I was lucky enough to be the geologist on the drill rig for their Ixtaca silver-gold discovery back in 2010.
The other member of our Team, Sofia Harquail, is working on IR and corporate development for us. Again, we're the only two full-time employees. I like to keep my fixed costs nice and low. We have a half-time CFO that takes care of the books and all the filings for us.
Our advisors, again, I have already spoken a bit about Don Taylor, the founder of the Jack's Fork Exploration. That was the Company that we picked up, doing the Virginia exploration. But he's much more famously known as the founder of Arizona Mining. Again, a great win for the shareholders there. That Company was sold to South 32 a few years ago for, I believe it was $1.6 billion.
The other advisors that have come along with Don, again, principals at Jack's Fork Exploration, Don's private company. Lamont Leatherman, a seasoned geologist for sure, has been working in this area, with Don and with other companies since the '90s. Again, fantastic experience as a field geologist and somebody, who really knows the area well, and with a few discoveries of his own in the area that are on their way to becoming producing mines. And also, Elaine Ellingham, as an advisor. She's a geologist as well, but also has great experience with the exchange and financials. So, that is our Team, and we really couldn't have a better group come together to direct this exploration in Virginia.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds excellent, an excellent group, with a record of discovery and achievement, so that's really great. Tom, could you tell us a little bit about your share and capital structure?
Thomas Ullrich: We have about 164 million shares out. That's part of the risk of working in this business, but we do have a plan to clean that up in the near future here. Our share price is sitting right now around $0.06, and we have a number of warrants coming due, but they are all coming due, within the next six months or so. We are working on three discovery plays down here in Virginia. We think we have a good chance of getting those warrants into the money and we look forward to doing that.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds great. Could you tell our readers/investors a little bit about your plans for 2022?
Thomas Ullrich: Absolutely! Our number one plan is to continue drilling on our Mountain Base Metal Project. Again, it's a brand new SEDEX discovery. We're very excited about finding this style of mineralization, in Central Virginia. You can think about something like the Balmat, just up in New York state, slightly different rock, but the same style of mineralization. And it really shows the size potential and great potential of what we may be on here. We're also very excited that not only is it a zinc-lead style of SEDEX mineralization. We seem to be getting some significant copper mineralization associated with it as well, and that adds some significant value. So as far as the base metals go, at the Mountain Project, we will continue to drill through to 2022, we think we'll get two more drill holes in, before the holiday break here in 2021. We are actively looking to expand our land package, so those negotiations are ongoing right now.
And then when we come back in 2022, I think we'd definitely want to get to drill our brownfields gold project, and then also to get back to the Buckingham vein. Not only do we have a significant down dip and the long strike potential to expand that discovery, I'm also currently looking at getting close to some land deals to expand that land position and perhaps work up an extension of that Buckingham vein. We have a couple of property owners, with over 500 acres of land that we hope to add to our Buckingham Gold land position. So, 2022 looks pretty bright for us. Early in the year we'll be drilling on two potential discovery plays, both gold and base metals, and I think that's a great position for a junior explorer to be in.
I should also mention, for people who have been following the Company, we do still have our Storm and Seal Copper and Zinc Projects up in Nunavut in the Far North of Canada. Last year, I found a partner for that, American West Metals, and they're currently in the final stages of their IPO process. But even pre-IPO, they got together the funds and we did a ground EM geophysical program this past summer. Those results will be coming out in December this year. And then early next year, I expect to see some plans, targeting for a summer '22 drill program, conducted by our partner up in Nunavut.
Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that sounds excellent, sounds like 2022 will be an exciting time for Aston Bay shareholders and stakeholders.
Thomas Ullrich: That's right. I agree.
Dr. Allen Alper: Tom, could you tell our readers/investors, the primary reasons they should consider investing in Aston Bay?
Thomas Ullrich: At Aston Bay, our business model is discovery. We believe that it's through discovery that we add the most significant value, over the shortest period of time, for our shareholders. And we're not just working on one project. Right now, we actually have three active drill programs early in 2022. Any one of these could be a significant discovery story, with just a few good drill holes. So, we definitely have the exposure to a significant number of potential discovery plays. And of course, you can't forget the story up in Nunavut, too. Again, a few drill holes up there to demonstrate that there is potentially significantly more mineralization, than the already significant amount of copper mineralization we have up there, but that's another potential discovery win for the shareholders.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Those are very strong reasons for our readers/investors to consider investing in Aston Bay. Tom, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Thomas Ullrich: I think that covers it very well. You asked excellent questions. Just add, “Hey, watch Aston Bay coming into 2022.” A lot of work has gone into getting the deals signed and getting things organized to have these properties in play. I do think we can look for good news coming from Aston Bay in 2022.
Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds excellent! We’ll publish your press releases as they come out so our readers/investors can follow your progress.
https://astonbayholdings.com/
Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer
thomas.ullrich@astonbayholdings.com
(416) 456-3516
Sofia Harquail, IR and Corporate Development
sofia.harquail@astonbayholdings.com
(647) 821-1337
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