Almadex Minerals (TSX-V: AMZ) CEO Morgan Poliquin on Additional Impressive Drill Results from the El Norte Zone at El Cobre

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is president and CEO of Almadex Minerals (TSX-V: AMZ)(OTC: AXDDF), Mr. Morgan Poliquin.

Morgan, thank you for joining me this evening.

Morgan Poliquin: Hey, thanks so much for having me on again.

Gerardo Del Real: I wanted to have you on because on January the 3rd you issued a news release from your El Cobre project in Veracruz. The news release reads, "Almadex heads 240 meters of .22% copper and .50 grams per tonne gold (g/t) within 646.38 meters of .15% copper and .30 g/t gold," which also included 469 meters of .18% copper and .38 g/t gold in hole EC-16-017 at the Norte zone. I'd love to get your take on the hole there and what you see and expect here for early 2017.

Morgan Poliquin: Excellent. Thank you very much for the opportunity. We're really excited to report this. We, in August, reported the first long interval of this mineralization in hole 10, which we considered to be the discovery hole for this Norte zone. Since that time, we've been drilling a number of holes at different orientations and depths. They're long holes and take a while to complete, to try to understand the orientation, if any, of this mineralization and a vector towards a possible core to a porphyry system.

We don't know where we are exactly, in the environment, but we know zooming back that there's four different areas of porphyry mineralization as identified on this very large property. We know there's a lot going on and now we've got a real sense of significant mineralization in this one area of the Norte zone. We think, again, that we're not in the core of that area.

What we're doing, the results speak for themselves. There's a big broad area of mineralization that we are defining. We're combining all the drill assays and core observations with more of a regional perspective. We're doing regional mapping and we hope that all this information will vector us in for what we expect to be a very aggressive year of drilling at El Cobre, where we hope to really focus in on where the source areas for this mineralization might be coming from.

At the same time, we think we're developing something with these drill holes that has the potential to be very significant in and of itself, so we'll continue to drill around the Norte zone while we also try to hone in on potential sources for this mineralization.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic. Now, a couple of takeaways. I visited the property there. I was lucky enough to be able to go out there with you and spend some time there. The one thing that stuck out for me was the infrastructure. It's absolutely fantastic. The other takeaway that I noticed from this release, Morgan, is that the two holes there, the mineralization starts pretty much at surface.

Can you comment on that a little bit because anytime you have hole 16-016 at the Norte zone was from five meters to 698 meters at .29 grams per tonne gold and .14% copper? Hole 16-017 was from three meters to 649 meters, totaling 646 meters at .30 grams per ton gold and .15% copper. I know that the grade isn't the highest grade but with the infrastructure present, those are pretty significant numbers. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Morgan Poliquin: Mineralized rock is exposed at surface, so that's right. Some of the higher grades were intersecting at depth in these holes but we think that the mineralization comes right up to surface. That, combined with the infrastructure, makes for a very attractive environment for the potential to develop something economic.

The threshold, arguably, is a lot lower than it would be in a lot of other places in the world. What I mean by that is the original discovery of the Caballo Blanco project from which El Cobre comes from through it's history, we found that in the Pan-American Highway. We're about seven kilometers from the Pan-American Highway, a gas line, a deep-sea port and about 10 kilometers away from a power plant.

We're 60 kilometers north by highway from Veracruz, which is the largest port in Mexico. The infrastructure is out of the park. There's a lot of development in the area already, such as the power plant and the gas line and so-on. It's got the best of all worlds. It's a developed area with excellent infrastructure and it is completely under-explored, which is why we have been able to define this El Cobre Norte zone area of mineralization.

All that together, we feel that there is the opportunity to develop something much like the Cadia District in New South Wales, which was perceived to be a very low-grade copper-gold porphyry deposit but has proven to be a very profitable deposit. It's, I believe, a little over 300 kilometers north of Sydney in New South Wales and again, has excellent infrastructure around it.

What we see in places in the world that have good infrastructure is it allows for lower grades to be economic, of course. While we're searching for a high-grade porphyry as anybody would, we think the grades that we've hit are very interesting in that context.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic. The other thing I'd like to remind listeners about is that Caballo Blanco actually appears to have some traction. That's a discovery that you made as well on a project that has been sold and has exchanged hands multiple times, but it does appear that the group that currently owns it, is actually moving that along.

It obviously would be a huge benefit to Almadex and the El Cobre project to have a project in Caballo Blanco that's permitted here within the next year or two. I think that would be of great benefit being that it's literally, I think, 500, 1,000 meters away, if I'm not mistaking.

Morgan Poliquin: Yeah. We border the current Caballo Blanco project. El Cobre used to be part of that project when it was held by Almaden Minerals (TSX: AMM)(NYSE: AAU), the predecessor to Almadex Minerals (TSX-V: AMZ)(OTC: AXDDF) prior to 2013 when we divided the properties and sold the portion which is now Caballo Blanco. You're right. It's in a public company that has put together a group of people around the project that expectations are such that they will have it permitted this year. I think that's their expectations, if I'm not misquoting them.

We feel quite optimistic about that. We think it would be, like you say, a game changer for the way that it to have a permitted mine in the immediate vicinity. All sorts of infrastructure is there and we believe that the local communities are, after 20 years of exploration, most of which it was done under Almaden, they fully understand about the proposition of mining and are, in general, supportive of that.

We don't see any significant red flags for the development of mines in this area. Certainly, there is a perception due to some past permitting history with Caballo Blanco but again, I think that was more specific to the permitting plan that the company initiated at the time. Not our company but the company that we'd sold the project to as opposed to anything to do with the actual proposition. My belief is in the hands that the project is in right now that there's an excellent chance of that being permitted this year.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Well, Morgan, I want to thank you again for coming on. It sounds like it's going to be an exciting 2017 and hopefully I can have you back on once drilling commences again.

Morgan Poliquin: Thank you very much. I would be delighted and I agree with you. It's going to be a very exciting year. We couldn't have asked for a better first year from the projects of Almadex and we had very much hoped that we'd get the kind of results early in the program that we got last year. Now, it's a question of following up those results.

We have a great team. We have our own diamond drills and we have the knowledge to explore these systems. We have full permits in-hand and access to the property, and we plan an aggressive drill program based on the results of a complete review of the information. I expect to be able to report on that shortly.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic. Morgan, thank you once again. Talk to you soon.

Morgan Poliquin: Thanks so much. Bye.