Interview with Nick Appleyard, President & CEO of TriStar Gold (TSX-V:TSG)

TriStar Gold Inc is a gold exploration and development company listed on TSX-V. The company's 100% owned flagship project is the Castelo de Sonhos gold project, is located in Pará state, Brazil. The Company recently completed a US$8 million finance with Royal Gold Inc. TriStar Gold will use the proceeds to advance Castelo de Sonhos to completion of a feasibility study in 2020. The aim is to get into production as soon as possible; this is what Royal Gold wants too. Typically, the TriStar Gold model has been for someone else to discover the project, then the TriStar team can come in and develop it to production.

There is a PEA for Castelo de Sonhos, completed in November 2018. What are the headline stats at US$1,250/oz gold?

- AISC: US$687/oz (wow)

- CAPEX: US$184M

- Average Annual Production: 130,000oz gold

- IRR: 43% (post-tax)

- NPV 5% - US$264M (post-tax)

These are fantastic figures and this is just for "one corner of the project." The only real issue appears to be the short mine life: 8 years. However, this is only for one part of the project. What is Appleyard doing to extend longevity? The plan appears to be very smart. Appleyard aims to monetise the PEA-segment of the project as quickly as possible by getting it into production. Once the cash is flowing, he plans to raise separate capital to finance the rest of the project. He thinks the project will involve naturally in a reasonable timeframe. While Appleyard has heard some stories that might lead investors to worry about how institutional investors perceive RC drilling, he claims he is not concerned at all. He states he has had no pushback and that the results will speak for themselves.

Appleyard is current working on metallurgical work and other technical measurements as he works towards a PFS. This was originally intended to be completed this year, but COVID-19 has pushed it back a little. The second focus is on exploration upside, so when the PFS is delivered, the exploration component can be added on as a bonus to sweeten the deal for investors. Smart.

TriStar Gold currently has around US$5M in the bank.

Appleyard states that TriStar Gold is fully aware that Brazil is notoriously slow at issuing permits. He states that the company is currently on track: things are moving forward well, if not quickly. COVID-19 has been disruptive and TriStar Gold is operating a skeleton crew in the field.

What are the deliverables for TriStar Gold. For phase 1, the PFS, the aim is simply to replicate the PEA: c. 1.1Moz gold production. All the numbers will stay the same. What is the exit strategy? Before the PFS, TriStar gold wants to know a clear plan of who will bring the mine into production and how it will happen. While Appleyard states that TrioStar gold could bring it into production, there will be more able teams out there who are better equipped with a stronger skill set. He states the company will have its eyes open for opportunities that would be beneficial for shareholders over the next year. The PFS is aimed for Q2/21.

Appleyard thinks that the market has undervalued TriStar Gold. Insiders and associates hold 27% of TriStar Gold. How much skin the game does the management have? Appleyard states that management and directors probably hold around 12%. He holds just under 2M shares, all of which he bought. US Global is the biggest shareholder with c.18%, Gold 2000 (in Zurich) has c.7%, RBC Toronto holds 5%.  

Company Page: https://tristargold.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor

Interview with Pierre Léveillé, President & CEO of Deep-South Resources (TSX-V:DSM)

Deep-South Resource is a copper exploration company based in Namibia. The company is largely held by management and Namibian shareholders (24%) and by strategic partner, Teck Resources (23%). Deep-South is 'actively involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of major mineral properties in Africa.' The Deep-South growth strategy appears to be a focus on exploration and development of mineralised trends that are closer to infrastructure. Deep-South Resources claims to be 'committed to advancing its projects while operating in an environmentally responsible manner.'

Deep-South Resources holds 100% ownership of the Haib Copper deposit south Namibia (acquired in 2004). It is 'arguably' the oldest porphyry deposit in the world and one of the largest in Africa. Let's delve into this.

Deep-South Resources is down to its last C$200,000. The company needs around C$7M. What is the plan? In terms of track record, Léveillé is a stockbroker/investment banker by trade, but he has been involved in raising mineral exploration capital before. He has spent a lot of time in Namibia so knows the country well. The remainder of the team has vast mining and geological experience in Africa. What is the sort of company that Léveillé is building? He paints a favourable picture for the copper macro story. He claims copper supply is dwindling and demand is soon to grow.

The aim is to carry out some in-field drilling on the higher-grade zone of the deposit. Is Deep-South starting to get any traction in the market? Are investors interested in a low-grade bulk-tonnage copper operation? Léveillé claims the recent metallurgical test gave exciting results and the announcement of an announced PEA was creating positive share price movement before COVID-19. He claims there is interest from Europe in terms of potential financing, but these individuals are mostly on the sidelines at this moment in time.

Léveillé himself as personally invested C$200,000 before the company was listed. The total management investment before the company was listed looks like C$700,000.

What's the strategy going forward? It's to continue developing the high-grade zone at Haib while not forgetting about the potential of the scale of the copper deposit. As copper prices rise, Deep-South is hoping its path to capital becoming much clearer.

Deep-South Resources closed a private placement in April, raising c. C$600,000, and has already burnt through two-thirds of that. Deep-South has a low burn rate, but needs to go back to the market to raise at least C$2M to work on updating the PEA.  

Company Page: https://www.deepsouthresources.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor

Interview with Gianni Kovacevic, CEO of CopperBank Resources Corp. (CSE:CBK)

CopperBank is a copper optionality player. What's that mean? They are not miners. If copper price goes up, they expect buyers for their assets to acquire them. Simple plan.

It was founded in 2014 by a group of entrepreneurs, geologists and engineers. The business model is to consolidate high-potential, established copper properties and offer investors 'maximum optionality' to higher copper prices in the future.

CopperBank's 100% controlled projects act as the asset base in its 'low-overhead' “pounds in the ground” strategy. CopperBank controls 2 advanced projects, located in the United States: Contact Copper, at the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) stage in Elko County, Nevada, and Copper Creek located in Pinal County, Arizona. CopperBank states it would cost more than US$120M to replicate the work already done at these projects.

CopperBank aims to strategically advance each of its projects via 'accretive exploration' and development, or JVs. Let's dig a little deeper. Does the market understand the strategy? The share price has been on a sharp downward trajectory. Why? Kovacevic claims that when he launched the strategy, the company put together C$1.6M at C$0.10 per share. "At the last minute," the people who were buying the projects wanted a warrant. The warrant price was set "way out of the money" a C$0.50. The next, CopperBank issued shares, and the next day it went to C$0.03. He claims the company bought back c. 70% of the shares issued it issued after it traded sideways for 16-months. Kovacevic claims he acquired his first 15M shares from the open market. He went on the road for over a year telling the CopperBank story with an "explosive upside," and the share price started tracking up. He claims there have been several periods since where, in 2-weeks, CopperBank's share price doubles. This appears to be a case of a confused market and a lack of effective, consistent storytelling. It's clearly frustrating for Kovacevic who is heavily invested along with his team. He needs to find a way to articulate the value proposition more clearly if this is possible.

What types of deals are being considered for monetising Copper Creek? US$85M has been spent in it, and it was taken through to PEA level by the previous owners in 2013. CopperBank is looking for a partner to come in and move things forward. The company treats it like a real estate holding and admits it is not qualified to build a copper mine. With a market cap like CopperBank's, any company coming in for a JV will likely feel like it is on the front foot. However, Kovacevic believes he can find maximum value on a per-share basis. The best possible exit strategy is clearly to be taken over, but Kovacenic and his team will always be on the lookout to do something new and progressive in the copper space.

CopperBank has negligible overheads. How? Kovacevic claims he doesn't pay a single dollar in compensation to his technical group. They are all aligned with the shareholder. Kovacevic doesn't even pay rent, he just pays a few thousand dollars of property tax, and there is no company office in Vancouver. Kovacevic appears to have tight control of the pursestrings.

Kovacevic claims the copper asset will have a significantly higher price in the future than it has today because it has lots of historical data and development. He believes it is a 10-bagger (did investors' ears just prick up?). He claims that the optionality on an NPV basis, once the copper price rises above US$3, for every additional C$0.25 the copper price goes higher, the NPV of the portfolio goes up by C$300M. These are exciting numbers.  

Company page: https://www.copperbankcorp.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor

Interview with William Sheriff, Exec. Chairman of enCore Energy Corp. (TSX-V:EU)

enCore Energy Corp. (TSX-V: EU) (OTCQB: ENCUF) is a uranium developer and explorer. They have a portfolio of ISR and conventional uranium assets in the United States.

enCore Energy's management team is impressive and features an array of uranium experts with a track record of building value within the domestic uranium sector. The enCore team was instrumental in advancing Energy Metals Corp. to compile the 'largest domestic uranium base in US. history.' The company was built for US$1.7M and sold 30-months later of an astonishing US$1.8Bn to Uranium One during the last major uranium bull market. He got out of uranium after Fukushima in 2011, but got back in the saddle pretty quickly. However Sheriff that the market was not going to recover for upto 10-years and told his shareholders that they were not going to waste their money until the uranium market recovered.

enCore Energy holds a 100% interest, with no holding costs, on +115,000 acres of private mineral rights in New Mexico. The primary focusses are the Crownpoint and Hosta Butte uranium deposits. Both are large and a portion of these resources are under NRC license. In addition, enCore Energy holds the Marquez and Treeline projects in New Mexico as well as a number of other properties in Utah, Arizona and Wyoming along with a strong position in the 'high-grade' Northern Arizona Strip district. On paper, this all looks promising. But let's dig into the business model a little deeper.

Sheriff adopts a contrarian view of the uranium space. He has currently put very little effort into marketing and he doesn't value it in a down market! He claims that the company has had offers for dilutive financing. Shareholders right now appear content for Sheriff to batten down the hatches and wait for the market to turn. Is it any surprise with his track record? In terms of raising funds, and given the market cap, Sheriff is seeking solutions that shy away from stock issuance.

Sheriff appears to be a pragmatic man who doesn't overpromise, which makes this next statement all the more encouraging. He is confident that enCore Energy could be up to half as successful as the Energy Metals Corp. venture. He thinks most shareholders will be more than happy with a US$500M market cap.

What is the crux of the business model? Sweat the current assets, or drive growth through M&A? Cash flow and production is the plan, which would "separate (them) from the crowd."

IMPORTANT: The strategy is to acquire a producing uranium asset to get the ball rolling (when the time and price is right) and using the cash flow to finance the development of the larger portfolio projects. The company's larger portfolio assets once they are ready 3-5 years after they get the go-ahead.

The most important existing portfolio projects are the high-grade breccia pipes in Arizona and the large deposits in New Mexico. 

Company Page: https://www.encoreenergycorp.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor

Interview with Peter Dasler, President & CEO of CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSX-V:CVV)

CanAlaska Uranium is a uranium-focussed explorer in and around the Athabasca Basin. The company also has a nickel project that it has farmed out. With C$1.5M, CanAlaska has been doing what most uranium juniors have been for the last few years: hunkering down and waiting for the market to turn. Dasler also regards CanAlaska as a project generator: what does this mean?

Dasler explains that CanAlaska has 3 uranium strategic partners: Cameco, Denison and, Northern Uranium. The company owns 500,000 acres of land across 12 projects. The most significant recent event is the discovery of high-grade uranium at the West McArthur property, in addition to the nickel JV and potential fundraising effort to drill West McArthur.

A project generator and explorer? Dasler claims he and his team have been explorers for the last 40-years. In 2004, when the team took a look at the uranium market for the first time, the team acquired some uranium projects in the basin. CanAlaska was rapidly approached by other groups to share the projects, which created the project generation description of the company. The focus has always been on finding a new uranium zone akin to McArthur River or Cigar Lake. With 2.5M acres of land, this was sufficient to bring in strategic partners from Korea, subsidies by the Korean government. Mitsubishi Corporation also funded exploration on CanAlaska's properties.

CanAlaska Uranium only has a market cap of c. C$9M, but is sat on a huge land package. Should it be worth more, especially with the kinds of partners that are involved? Dasler believes the company is significantly undervalued and the true value will be revealed when the nuclear fuel industry starts buying more uranium: "it is early days, now is a good time to get in." The company has struggled since 2016. Dasler states the key to adding value will be finding more investors in the resource industry. He claims crypto and marijuana returns in the last few years have been much larger than what natural resources can offer, but this is now changing.

CanAlaska is currently sat on C$1.5M cash and has cut back a number of costs, like most uranium juniors. How can Dasler shake up the kinds of deals CanAlaska is negotiating? Investors won't want to see more of the same. Investors will want to see bigger positions in JVs, more cash upfront and more authority across the board. Dasler states he is reaching more people than he has reached in the last 5 years because of recent promising developments in the uranium space. Will these new conversations change things? Dasler states he doesn't need to change the model "at all." He states a rising uranium market will solve CanAlaska's problems. He says COVID-19 has made the uranium waiting games a hot potato, and he thinks the utility companies will blink first, "once you get this thing rolling, it will move VERY quickly."

Dasler believes the capital will be made available to CanAlaska for exploration because the company is in a similar position to where uranium-giant NexGen was 7-years ago. Are these comparisons valid? CanAlaska has been around longer than NexGen but Dasler states the uranium mineralization ("halos of uranium" and "long intercepts") and size of the project are highly comparable. Investors will want to see CanAlaska prove the nature of this "tier-1 type" uranium target. Dasler claims it looks like McArthur River or Cigar Lake and will be hit in the first planned drill programmes this summer; there are only currently a dozen holes in the structure.  

Company Page: http://www.canalaska.com/

Make smarter investment decisions, subscribe here: https://www.cruxinvestor.com

For FREE unbiased investment information, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/cruxinvestorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/crux-investor/https://www.facebook.com/cruxinvestor

Take advantage, hear it here first: https://www.youtube.com/CRUXinvestor