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

Bravo Mining (TSX-V: BRVO)(OTC: BRVMF) President Simom Mottram on Game-Changing Drill Results at Flagship Luanga PGM+Gold Project, Brazil

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president of Bravo Mining — Mr. Simon Mottram. Simon, it is great to have you back on. 

The last time you and I spoke, we were eagerly anticipating both the assay results and a full interpretation of some of the surveys that we continue to eagerly anticipate that we have some early, early smoke and potentially fire. So first and foremost, how are you? Great to have you back on. How are things going?

Simon Mottram: I am great, thanks, Gerardo. It's a pleasure to be here as always.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's get into the latest bit of news. You just announced thick high-grade PGM+gold+nickel mineralization at depths of up to 330 meters below surface. 

I commented off-air that it's clear to me that the market doesn't get it yet. I am certain the market will get it soon. But I thought I'd have you on to speak to why this release is so important for the company and, in my eyes, a game-changer.

Simon Mottram: Gerardo, let me start off on the obvious or the predictable part: We said we were going to go and drill from 100 to 150 meters depth. We did that. And now we're embarking, as you know, on the Phase-2 program. I think it's going fantastically, and I'll get to why this one is a little bit different. But I have hope, and as you can see, that the results are starting to come through now.

The last press release was entirely made up of Phase-2 drilling so you're seeing almost entirely deeper holes, deeper intersections, which relates to that. We're testing the next panel, if you like, from 150 meters down to 300 meters. The press release before that was about a 50/50 mix of the last of the Phase-1 holes coming through from the lab and the first of the Phase-2 holes. Again, they were good results.

So I think the news in the latest press release belies that; the results are coming through from Phase-2 and it is as we had hoped. You could say, no big surprises… and you could say, it's a great surprise. The results were fantastic to me. But I think, at the same time, we obviously always anticipated that the deposit was going to continue going at that sort of depth. And these results back that up.

I think in terms of Hole 175 [DDH23LU175]... and you're not wrong… it's a pretty special result. I guess I have the benefit of having all of these little tables and charts that some of us have. And I know you guys keep them too… I know you guys track it and track results as to what's going on. 

So I can sit here and quite comfortably say, ‘Well, I know for a fact that Hole 175 is the best intersection in terms of grams per meter, meter grams. It's the best intersection Bravo has ever drilled.’ 

I'm sure when Alex, and Junior, and Luis add on whatever the next presentation or roadshow is, you're going to look at that top-20, which I know Junior loves to show, and you'll see that hole at the number two position. The only hole that's above it is an old historical hole, which is in the oxide and has the benefit of some pretty spectacular supergene hits right up near the surface.

So this hole is spectacular. It's the best hole we've ever drilled in terms of results. But then, beyond that, you see that high-grade zone — and we see other companies out there talking about high-grade zones, and they're perhaps not that sort of grade and they're at much greater depths — we're basically right on that cuff of a 150 to 300 meter window. The high-grade zone is from about 300 meters. 

There are 30-something-meters, 32 meters, at 5 grams [per tonne]. I don't think you're going to get much better than that. I’d love to! But that really is a spectacular result. I'm sure that everybody is going to ask the same question, which is, ‘What do you think the hole below that is going to look like?’ Well, let's go and drill one… we'll find out! 

I don't think you're going to find any fear in this company of going straight back out there and drilling another one. We'll just stick back 100 meters and see what's there.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, I don't think that the fact that you have nickel and grades and widths… it's coming together beautifully… I don't think it's a coincidence that you have all of these things and that it seems like you really got a tiger by the tail. 

It seems like the company knows or has a pretty darn good idea of what the geologic model looks like, and you're trying to vector in to the higher-grade guts of the system, which, again, you continue to execute on.

What are the next steps? You talked about receiving the final dataset from the airborne electromagnetics. I know we're eagerly anticipating that because that's obviously going to aid the targeting process. How is that coming along?

Simon Mottram: Yeah, that's really starting to get some traction now. I know it’s been a bit painful to be able to wait… as these things are. I remember looking at the contract thinking, ‘Really, is it going to take five weeks to get the final data?’ But I guess it takes “up to” five weeks… but it's not going to be one week.

But you saw in the press release that we've got the data. And interestingly, we've got the microgravity program going on the ground, and we've got a very detailed ground magnetics survey. Even though the HeliTEM comes with its own magnetics, obviously, the ground magnetics are in a much closer spacing. So it all comes together and just makes a better set of data.

While we’ve been waiting on the HeliTEM final data, we've almost finished the other two programs. I think what you're going to see now is — and I don't think we even realized this ourselves — is that we'll actually end up with all three sets of data pretty much at the same time. 

We are starting to see the detailed interpretation of the HeliTEM now. I think the ground mag is probably not as important as the gravity but the microgravity should be really interesting. And we should end up with that interpretation to be able to work side by side or in combination with the HeliTEM.

I'd like to stick to what I've said previously, which is… towards the end of this month, I think we'll have drill targets. I'd like to think that we're out there drilling… maybe it's not going to be the end of this month… but we'll get a press release out, and we'll let you know when we're going to be out there drilling. 

From previous press releases, we've said that there are no shortage of interesting targets in the preliminary data. So we're just chomping at the bit now waiting for the final interpretations.

Obviously, the geophysicists are going to do their thing. They're going to pick which ones they like best. Then, we're also going to compare it against the geology, the drill database, what anomalies already have drill holes in or don't, and which ones are in the ideal geological structural positions along the deposit and along the footwall. 

Then, obviously, we'll rank them for which ones to drill first. As soon as that's done, I'm sure you'll see something out there saying there are this many targets, and we're going to go and drill this many of them or the best however many. And the date for starting is whatever the date is.

I think that's obviously the really interesting one to see unfold next in terms of drilling 150 to 300 meter depths. And I think you're right… I’d like to think we’ve got a pretty good handle on it… and things are chugging along the way they should be.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, I've always said that Bravo is on its way to being the next billion-dollar company. I started saying that when you had a market cap of C$100 million. You now have a market cap of roughly C$500 million. 

Simon Mottram: Yep, about C$500 million.

Gerardo Del Real: Roughly, yes. I think you're well on your way to, at the very least, a billion [dollar market cap] in pretty short order once the market starts realizing the scale and the potential at Luanga. 

You’re cashed up. How aggressive do you plan on being on the drilling? You mentioned a lot of potential targets. How many rigs do you plan on putting on these targets once you put together all of the data?

Simon Mottram: Well, there are two rigs basically sitting there waiting to go as we speak. So the drill contractor has some rigs up their sleeve at the moment, which is great. A few other companies have slowed down a bit in our neck of the woods in this region. So they've got some rigs. We've got two rigs basically ready for us when we want them.

That is essentially our plan at this stage unless there are any radical changes. The plan is to get out there with those two rigs since we’ve got two more rigs. We worked last year with six rigs, and it was hectic but we didn't have any major problems. So we've gone back to six rigs. The difference being, this time around, two of those rigs will be on exploration drilling, let's call it.

Gerardo Del Real: I'm excited for that exploration drilling. I can't wait for the results of all the surveys. I'm looking forward to seeing you this fall in person. Thank you so much for the catch-up, Simon. I suspect you and I will probably be chatting in the next week or two as you get more information.

Simon Mottram: The only thing I'd add to that, Gerardo, just to finish off, I should say, is that, well, anything could change. If we go out there and hit something spectacular with those two rigs on those first targets, we'll be back talking about more rigs again for sure. But you're right, it's been a pleasure… it's always good to speak to you.

Gerardo Del Real: I'll let you get back to it, Simon. We'll chat again soon, I'm sure.

Simon Mottram: Thanks, Gerardo. You have a great day.

Gerardo Del Real: You as well.