Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

Barksdale Resources (TSX-V: BRO)(OTC: BRKCF) CEO Rick Trotman on Two Drills Turning at Sunnyside

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president and CEO of the now drilling Barksdale Resources, Mr. Rick Trotman. Rick, I got to say that up top every time for the next couple of times because we waited so long to see this property drilled. How are you doing today, sir?

Rick Trotman: We've got two drills turning, Gerardo. I'm fantastic.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Well listen, we talked a bit off-air. I know you've been on the road. I received a couple of reports from an anonymous source about Barksdale that had some glowing, glowing comments in there. So first and foremost, how has the reception been on the road?

Rick Trotman: It's been fantastic. I just got back from Toronto. We had a full docket there. We had overflow meetings on Monday, and yesterday when I arrived back in Vancouver, I had a couple of more, just people we couldn't squeeze in and it's just been great. The cool thing is that we haven't gone out and seen a lot of the different funds that are active in the resource space in a number of years because permitting stories really weren't their cup of tea. So now that we're drilling, ears are starting to perk up, and people are starting to get interested.

Gerardo Del Real: Well let's get right into it. You mentioned that second rig, the very first hole, you had an update about a week or so ago, and you mentioned that the geology was behaving exactly as you had planned. There was a slight hiccup with a 20-meter void. Can we speak to that and then of course I want to get into where the program is now and what you're seeing.

Rick Trotman: Yeah, totally. I guess I probably shouldn't call it a void. It's like a dissolution cavern that we hit in the limestone basically, right at the contact where we expected to go into mineralization. And so it's a really good sign from the standpoint that there's just a ton of fluid pumping around in that system to dissolve that carbonate and make such a void. And those types of voids are not uncommon in that deposit in that area. It is unfortunate that we hit that void using the NQ drill bits that we had to use to reenter the old hole.

So unfortunately, we couldn't put any smaller diameter steel down through that, say AQ or BQ to keep the hole going. And quite honestly, even if we did have that steel, it's probably unlikely we could push an AQ sized rod for another 2,000 feet. So it was just safer and the better place to start a new hole with actually, we started with PQ, going down a couple of hundred feet, stabilize the hole, and then we'll go to HQ and keep motoring from there.

So overall, it'll take us a couple of weeks to get back to the same spot, but we're going to be able to use that kind of mother hole, if you will, for geez, potentially a dozen daughter holes off of it. So look, it's setting up the foundation for what will be a great drill program going forward.

Gerardo Del Real: You touched in that press release back on October the 23rd, about the decades of experience drilling in similar conditions with your geologic and your drilling teams. You talked about the Hermosa project. Can you speak to the experience the team has, because I think whenever you have a property that has this much potential, where the geology is pretty well understood because you have a monster of an analog next door, how important has it been to have that type of experience on the team?

Rick Trotman: Oh, it's fantastic. I mean, Tom Simpson's, our VP of exploration. He's been doing this for 40 years. Not only that, but he's good friends with the folks from Asarco that drilled these holes back in the eighties. So that would be Fleetwood Coots, an old Asarco employee, as well as Fred Graybeal, the actual VP of exploration from Asarco. He's remarkably still kicking around in New Jersey these days, but we've been able to chat to them along the way and find these hidden tidbits.

And on top of that, we're using Boart Longyear as our drilling contractor. The drillers that we have have drilled the Hermosa project next door. They've been working years on that project, and they give us a lot of practical experience drilling to these various units. They know how they behave. They know how to push the rig or hold the rig back based on what they're seeing. And I think we've got the great team that we need to execute on this program.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. What comes next? When can we anticipate some results?

Rick Trotman: Yeah, well look, the second hole is already down over 3,000 feet deep. And so for our metric fans out there, that's pushing 900 meters if not a little over. And so we will be down to the target depths, assuming that all the drilling goes well, here in the next, let's call it two weeks. So once we get down there and we're able to test our first target, we will go back out to the market and we'll let people know how the geology is lining up with the projections that we made in our geologic model.

Gerardo Del Real: The stock has consolidated nicely after breaking out, heck of an entry point for those that don't have a position and want exposure to quality exploration drilling with a proven geologic model. And again, a monster of an analog next door. I know you're on the road. Where can people catch you on the road, Rick?

Rick Trotman: Yeah, so nothing for the rest of October, but once we get into November, we're headed down to Miami for a Capital Events management conference, and then we're off to Europe. I think we're doing the Swiss Mining Institute conference as well as the Deutsche Goldmesse conference in Frankfurt. And then we'll be stateside and in Canada for the rest of the year beyond that.

Gerardo Del Real: It's good to have drills turning. I see you out there working. Thank you for your time today. Great to have you back on.

Rick Trotman: Thanks for having me, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. Chat soon.