Categories: Base Metals / Precious Metals
Topics: General Base Metals / General Precious Metals

Almadex Minerals (TSX-V: AMZ) CEO Morgan Poliquin Has Three Drills Turning on Multiple Targets at El Cobre Cu-Au Project

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), Dr. Morgan Poliquin. Morgan, thanks for joining me.

Morgan Poliquin: Thanks for having me on again.

Gerardo Del Real: It's been a busy start to the summer. At El Cobre the Norte Zone appears to be growing, and you seem to be dialing in there. Simultaneously, you're also now doing a lot of exploration drilling at some of the other targets that have also recently returned some good numbers. Can we talk about where the program is now and the most recent results?

Morgan Poliquin: Absolutely. We have three drills spinning on the project right now. We have three main focus target areas at present. There are multiple porphyries on the project, and there are other surface anomalies that we're following up, but we have three main drill focus areas. One is the Norte Zone where we announced our discovery almost a year ago and have been drilling there ever since. We have two drills there.

The second is the Encinal Zone where we have currently one drill, and we just recently announced the first results from that new target. The top of the hole started in one gram gold material, and we're following that up right now. That was Hole 25 that we announced. We will be drilling shortly at the Raya Tembrillo area, which is a brand new surface discovery that is yet untested by drilling. It's one of the best surface results on the project. Likely, by far the best surface results on the project to date.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's take those in order. You mentioned the hole at Encinal. Let's talk about the Encinal Zone a bit. The numbers were 100.47 meters of 0.44% grams gold and 0.15% copper, including 34.47 meters of 0.73 grams per ton gold, and 0.20% copper. Can we talk about Encinal and just kind of your thoughts there, and where you see that moving forward here, as you drill it out?

Morgan Poliquin: Absolutely, that's the first hole that we have drilled on a new area of outcrop that we discovered. We, interestingly, we love the stock work so much, we started drilling a hole on top of it. New outcroppings on a stock work veining, I should say, before we had the surface assays in hand. We had a fully permitted hole in that area, and we just put a drill on it. I think that should, for people, speak to the ability of the company to be very flexible and maneuverable which you won't find in too many other companies in the world. We found this outcrop and immediately put a drill on it. Any time you hit 300 meters of these sorts of grades right off the bat, you get excited, but what was really interesting is the first 6 meters were a gram gold, and it's clear to us that the top of the hole, where we started the hole, mineralization is most important.

There was another interval of nearly half a gram gold, 100 meters, a little further down. The top of the hole's what's really interesting, and again, it's exploration drilling. It takes a little while, sometimes, to understand what you're dealing with. We think we understand it better now. We're drilling another hole there. We will follow this up with additional results as quickly as we can.

Gerardo Del Real: Now, I should provide some context, because I believe that hole, the assays reported for the hole were down to a depth of 300 meters, with assays pending for the remainder of the hole. Is that correct, Morgan?

Morgan Poliquin: Yeah, that's right. What I'm happy to say is visually, it looks like we're moving away from what is most exciting, which is at the top of the hole, which I think the assays already reflect. Nevertheless, we think we have defined the direction of which mineralization is going and the zone is wide open.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent, and you're obviously following up and chasing that, I imagine?

Morgan Poliquin: We are indeed. The drill is still on the pad, and it's working away.

Gerardo Del Real: Perfect. Now let's talk about El Norte. The latest news release on June the 19th, you hit 153.5 meters of 0.68 grams per ton gold, and 0.27% copper. That included 84 meters of 0.96 grams per ton gold, and 0.37% copper. That started at approximately 93 meters. Can we talk about that a bit, Morgan? Those are really good numbers.

Morgan Poliquin: Those are really good numbers. I don't think it needs to be put into context, but I'll do so anyway. Porphyry deposits are the largest producers of copper and molybdenum in the world, and they are producing, I believe now, 70% of the world's gold. They don't do so in high-grade veins. They do so in large tonnage and relatively low grades. A gram or half a gram gold is a high-grade gold porphyry. A lot of people think of porphyries in terms of the copper grades, but you have to look at them together. Usually the copper and the gold, in our case we're confident they will, report together in very simple minerals called chalcopyrite and borate, which can be put into a good concentrate and there's no nasties in our system that we can see, and so we're right on tidewater and we're 6 kilometers from the nuclear power plant, highway, and a gas line. We're about 100 to 200 meters above sea level.

This is a spectacular location, and these are very good grades. What they mean will emerge here as we move towards defining a resource, and ultimately that's what the drilling is moving towards. We want to be able to put tonnages and average grades around these holes to understand the potential and what style of deposit we might be exploring. Is it a high-grade deposit? Because you pointed out, there's intervals that are higher grade, or is it a broader, lower grade deposit? We have the potential for both here. Should be clear from these drill holes, and what I can tell you is that with the drilling we're doing, we're getting very close to understanding precisely what type of system we're dealing with and how to define the resource with additional drilling.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Now, Morgan, you mentioned earlier, I believe, that three rigs turning right now? Is that accurate?

Morgan Poliquin: Three rigs are turning on the property right now.

Gerardo Del Real: Perfect. We can anticipate assays, I imagine, hopefully in the next two to four weeks?

Morgan Poliquin: We anticipate having assays at least every month or hopefully we'll get to a point where we'll be having them every couple of weeks. The biggest issue that I think companies in the world have right now is the market's been very poor, and all the service companies have reduced their capacity and now they're trying to increase their capacity as exploration increases once again, happily for everyone. We're using what we think is the preeminent lab in the world, Independent Laboratory, and they're taking three weeks at a minimum. I just heard from somebody, a large company, one of their staff the other day who was telling me, in Argentina, it's taking up to a month and a half to get assays.

When we have long holes like this, there might be three batches that go to the lab. What I'm saying is it's a month and a half just to get assays for a complete hole. These are the kinds of realities that you're dealing with, apart from drilling and in the rainy season, with mud and all that sort of thing. I can assure you, we're hammering away most efficiently and as quick as we can. We look forward to reporting results at least every month and hopefully more frequently than that.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Let me ask you one last question before I let you go, Morgan. I know these porphyries, a lot of times you're going to find some of the better stuff at depth. I know you have a drill that you own that can reach all the way down to two kilometers, if I'm not mistaken. How far are some of the deeper holes that you're drilling? How far down are you looking?

Morgan Poliquin: Some people line up right on top of their porphyry and drill long, deep holes and get spectacular intervals, but what you want to do is drill across a porphyry to understand its true dimensions. Our holes are angle holes. We're capable of drilling down to plus two kilometers, but right now we're trying to find the orientation and these systems can often be a little bit more complicated than otherwise, particularly the gold rich systems which are associated with narrow dykes as opposed to a large blob intrusive like many of the Laramide copper porphyries in your neck of the woods, in Arizona and so on.

We can test deep and we will when the time comes, but right now, we're defining high-grade material very close to the surface. Our shallowest hole to date, Hole 21, hit high-grade material essentially right near surface. The drilling we have will define where we can drill deep, logically, and we'll do that when the time comes, for sure.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Morgan, I look forward to having you back on as the assays come in, and thank you again for your time as always. I appreciate it.

Morgan Poliquin: Thank you for having me on, I appreciate it. 

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