Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

Barksdale Resources (TSX-V: BRO)(OTC: BRKCF) CEO Rick Trotman on Positive Court Ruling Paving the Way for Phase-1 Drilling at Flagship Sunnyside Copper Project Next to South32’s World-Class Taylor Deposit

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Barksdale Resources — Mr. Rick Trotman. Rick, I joked off-air that it's great to be back in the office seeing good news get rewarded. You are on the receiving end of both good news and the reward from it, congrats! Welcome to the show. Great to have you back on. Let's talk about the news.

Rick Trotman: Thanks for having me, Gerardo. It's definitely a great morning.

Gerardo Del Real: Well listen, you just received a positive legal update, and it makes my heart smile to say that because we know it can be really challenging in the exploration business anytime there are entities that are determined to prevent any progress. Whether it's being done responsibly or not, there are a lot of groups out there that are funded that, look, they make their money by impeding progress. 

In this case, you received a positive order, and I just wanted to have you on so you could explain it because the market really, really likes the news.

Rick Trotman: Yeah, definitely. As you mentioned yesterday, we got word that the judge in our case basically denied the plaintiff's request for a preliminary injunction which, if granted, would've stopped us from drilling at the Sunnyside project until the entire court case had played out, which could take a year approximately. 

And so, obviously, this is fantastic news for us. This is why we brought in our counsel to adjoin ourselves to the litigation against the Forest Service. And they did a fantastic job. We made a compelling case to the judge. And obviously, her ruling shows. 

It's a great moment for us. It really allows us to start looking forward towards our drilling programs, and this is the first big step forward towards a fantastic, hopefully, September, October, November of this year.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, it's been a long time coming. The last time that you were on, we talked about how tedious a journey it's been to actually get to the point where you get to test the geology. 

So for those that are not familiar with Sunnyside, can you just provide a brief overview of the project, why it's so exciting, why you've been so patient and willing to go through the rigorous process that it's taken to get to this point, and why you're excited about these 16,000 meters at Sunnyside that you're going to be executing on here in the next several months?

Rick Trotman: It would be my pleasure. The Sunnyside project is pretty special. It's got a very large porphyry copper deposit on it called the Sunnyside Porphyry. This has been tested back in the '70s and '80s. It's a pretty large deposit but it isn't the star of the show. It was the heat engine that caused the formation of a really special deposit to the east called the Taylor Hermosa System.

And so for those of our listeners that have been following the story, this is the very large carbonate replacement deposit that's sitting on the neighboring property owned by South32. Our portion of this deposit extends from the porphyry to the property line. And ultimately, our job here is to get the drills in the ground and determine how much of this world-class system sits on our side of the property. 

Already next door, the carbonate replacement system is one of the world's largest, if not the world's largest carbonate replacement system. And our side of the fence hasn't really been properly explored. Our job is to get the drills turning here as soon as we possibly can, which would be in the next two weeks or so, and then go and prove to the world how much we actually have.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's talk analogs. Everyone in the space always likes to provide an analog. In this case, your analog happens to share a similar geology and similar property, obviously. It's your neighbor. What's the market cap of the neighbor and what's yours just to provide people an idea of the potential here.

Rick Trotman: Our neighbor is a multi-billion dollar market cap diversified mining company called South32. They trade on the Australian Stock Exchange. They would probably be something on the order of 15 billion Australian dollars as far as their market cap is concerned. 

They have mines all over the world, and the Taylor Hermosa Project is the star in their portfolio when it comes to North American assets. And they're embarking on a very major capital project to put that into production at some point in 2027… at least that's what the forecast is. 

On the other side of the fence, you have little old us… and we're sitting at approximately C$50 to C$55 million market cap. To give you further context, Gerardo, the neighbors bought that project for C$2.1 billion in cash back in 2018.

It's something where they have invested significant dollars in the past. They're currently investing significant dollars, and we have a piece of that world-class system. So we’re very excited to get started… very excited to get those drills turning… and very excited to see what we actually come up with once those drills get down towards the target depths.

Gerardo Del Real: 16,000 meters for Phase-1… I'm assuming that's fully-funded. How's the treasury looking?

Rick Trotman: That probably won't be fully-funded, Gerardo. But then again, we also have to see what the drilling conditions look like once we get going. The treasury is strong; we have about C$3.6 million in the bank right now. 

We also have a bunch of warrants that are sitting out that expire at the end of the year. So that's another funding mechanism that we have in place. All in all, we're going to be able to get drilling and get some initial results before we have to go to the market to finance.

Gerardo Del Real: Good stuff! Rick, anything else to add to that? I know you'll be in Beaver Creek next week. I'm looking forward to catching up with you in person. Anything else you want to add there?

Rick Trotman: Yeah, we've got a full slate at Beaver Creek, so it'll be fantastic to not only meet a whole bunch of new investors but can't wait to sit down and have that celebratory adult cocktail with you, my friend! 

Gerardo Del Real: Looking forward to it! Rick, thank you so much. 

Rick Trotman: Thanks for having me on.

Gerardo Del Real: Cheers.