Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Aben Resources (TSX-V: ABN)(OTC: ABNAF) CEO Jim Pettit on Exploration, Drilling & Potential JV’s in 2022

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President and CEO of Aben Resources, Mr. Jim Petit. Jim, after a little bit of a silent time, we chatted a week or so ago, and here you are again. How are you doing, sir?

Jim Pettit: Doing great. Thanks. Thanks for having me on again. Things are moving forward. We've got a lot more in the go than we've had in the past, so four projects instead of one. It's going to have our hands full this coming year, starting probably in April, I would think, once we start getting some groundwork going in on the graphite property near Castlegar and the Kootenays. And Red Lake, that property's... we've got guys already working on that, basically looking at the structural complexity of it all.

And then up in Justin, the news release we just put out was focused on that. We got a technical 43-101 technical report done based on the work we've done over the last 11 years or so. It's a good looking report. It highlights some of the key findings like the POW Zone, which is one type of mineralization, and the Lost Ace Zone, which was another type of mineralization. But they're side by side and quite possibly associated to what's going on next door to us at the 3 Aces Project. And we've just applied for another five-year permit up there. So things are coming together pretty good. When will we get up there next? Well, it may be somebody else getting up there next, to be honest with you.

Gerardo Del Real: Interesting, interesting. Listen, anytime I see a 43-101 report being filed and a bigger checkbook right next door, with the type of success that you've had at the Justin Gold Project, it always sparks my interest. And I got to believe that it's likely going to spark the interest of several groups near you. Tell me a bit more about the Justin Gold Project. And tell me a bit more about what the approach will be for exploring that this year because the last time that you and I spoke, it seemed like you were still prioritizing 2022. And with this release from this morning, it seems like the team is, at least publicly, a lot more clear about the direction it wants to go in. Is that an accurate assessment, Jim?

Jim Pettit: Well, yeah, it is. Whether we do the work up in the Justin or someone else does is up in the air. We just wanted to get the report out that really does a good job of bringing everything up to the current status. And we also want to get the permitting underway, just in case. I think the first place we're going to get into this year will be the graphite project, and then right after that, or at the same time, will be Red Lake. And we'll see what happens up in the Justin as interest will start swirling now. There's some very quick solutions to getting up there and getting working. The report's that good. It shows you where to go and it tells you what to do.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, we always say on the show here that exploration is inherently risky, right? You never know what Mother Nature left behind. But when you have a blueprint to go in and figuring that out, I have to believe that you're going to have several potential partners speaking with you about possibly joint venturing that project, and it sounds like you're receptive to that conversation. It also sounds like you're excited about your graphite project.

Jim Pettit: Well, I'm very excited about that. And yes, you're right, there will be people receptive to what we're doing up in the Yukon, for sure. We are continuing to assess the Forrest Kerr Project. There's so much data there. We're having it reviewed by some new eyes and that we could find ourselves back in there again next year with some new theories and things to work on. But the graphite is very... the possibilities there are great, and it won't take a lot of money to figure out what we're going to do there. We've got sampling at surface that so far has been positive with large flake, and you've got a big two kilometer long anomaly that they're associated with. We can go in there and... well, we'll see how it goes. I mean, we're going to do some more sampling. We could do trenching and then get right into drilling.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Sounds like a busy 2022. Thanks again for the update, Jim. And again, I think we'll be chatting sooner rather than later. Anything to add to that?

Jim Pettit: Great. No, that's a good start.

Gerardo Del Real: Wonderful. All right, Jim. Take care out there. We'll chat soon.

Jim Pettit: Thank you.