Categories: Energy
Topics: General Energy

Cosa Resources (TSX-V: COSA)(OTC: COSAF) CEO Keith Bodnarchuk on Advancing Multiple High-Potential Uranium Prospects in the Prolific Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Cosa Resources — Mr. Keith Bodnarchuk. Keith, it is great to have you on. How are you today, sir?

Keith Bodnarchuk: I'm doing terrific, Gerardo. Great to be here.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's get right into it. I joked a bit off-air that our audience would love this story for several reasons. The first one being I think we have a uranium market that's going to be one for the books. I think that we're right on that second leg higher. 

And the second being that you have a record and the team has a record of doing exactly what it is that you're trying to do with Cosa Resources. And so I think that's probably a good place to start.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and the experience that you bring? And then, maybe we could touch on the team a little bit as well because I think it's important to set the table in that fashion.

Keith Bodnarchuk: Yes, certainly. So my background is, I started off as an exploration geologist. I worked for Denison Mines for about 10 years. I joined on the back of the Phoenix discovery in the Athabasca Basin and was there with the group when they ultimately discovered Griffin. I worked on some of their projects in Africa; Zambia, specifically. I then moved on to take my MBA and kind of pivot to the business side of things.

And that's where I connected with Craig Parry at IsoEnergy. I joined IsoEnergy in a corporate development role; that was about 2019. We were obviously about a C$0.30 stock at the time. We discovered the Hurricane deposit and rode that up to about C$6 before I ultimately moved on and started to build up Cosa Resources, which is where I'm at today.

Team-wise, I mentioned Craig Parry; obviously, IsoEnergy. Well, simply put, our group is the entire IsoEnergy discovery team back together again. That's exactly who we have working at Cosa and, really, that starts at the top with our chairman, Steve Blower. 

So Steve Blower, I think, really has an unmatched track record of discovery in the Athabasca Basin. He was the VP of Exploration at Denison Mines when they found Griffin. That's where I first connected with him and where they expanded Phoenix. He moved on to help NexGen with their initial resource. And then, he ultimately ended up at IsoEnergy where he was the VP of Exploration when they discovered the Hurricane zone.

Out of IsoEnergy, we sold some assets to 92 Energy where Steve moved on to as a technical advisor and director. And they ended up with the GMZ zone. So I think over the past 15 years, he's really had an unmatched track record of discovery in the basin. He and Andy Carmichael, our VP of Exploration, are really the brains behind the land package we’ve put together at Cosa Resources.

Craig Parry, I mentioned his name, he's the strategic advisor for Cosa. His office is right next to mine here. He's heavily involved. Craig was a cofounder of NexGen and a co-founder and founding CEO of IsoEnergy. So two name brands in the space here and two excellent track records of creating shareholder value.

Next up, Andy Carmichael, who's the VP of Exploration of Cosa Resources. He took over as the VP of Exploration of IsoEnergy after Steve. He was part of the discovery team and he led them through their initial resource, which is the highest grade resource in the history of the Athabasca Basin.

Justin Rodko is the final member of that IsoEnergy discovery team. He was a senior geologist at IsoEnergy and has come over to Cosa, too.

So, really, it's the band back together again! We're looking to do it all over again with this new venture called Cosa Resources.

Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned several of the companies that you and the team have been involved with. And it's kind of coincidental, you mentioned a company that was 30 cents when you got involved that went to C$6. That's actually exactly the share price of Cosa Resources right now [C$0.30]… so I think that's interesting.

The second part that I really want to highlight and provide context for the audience — because it is a new story to our audience — are the market caps of some of the companies you mentioned. 

When we talk NexGen, we're talking about over a C$3.5 billion market cap. When we talk IsoEnergy, over a C$400 million market cap. When we talk Denison, over a billion and a half. I could go on. But Cosa Resources’ market cap right now is — and this is fully diluted — at a paltry C$17 million.

So there are few stories in the market, very few — and if anyone has one, send it my way, please — that have this kind of track record of discovery and monetizing assets and taking companies from very early stages, like Cosa, all the way through across the finish line with a market cap below C$20 million.

I think the management team alone, if you came to me and said, ‘Gerardo, we want to raise some money. We'd like your group to participate. Okay, we have a C$20 million market cap. We don't have assets yet but this is who’s involved,’ I would write that check every single time. And so that is worth noting.

Let's get right into what you're looking to do again. You are an exploration company looking to make discoveries of significance. That's exactly the track record and the history the team has. Tell me about the land package and what the approach is.

Keith Bodnarchuk: Yes, so all of our assets are based in the prolific Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. That's home of the highest-grade and best uranium deposits in the world. That's obviously where NexGen is, Iso is, Denison is. It's where we've sunk our teeth in in the past. 

We have just over 160,000 hectares, all 100%-owned. It's taken us probably just over a year to piece together a land package that we're really proud of at this point. And now, we're starting to actively explore.

And not every land package is created equal. And I think with our past success, we are able to kind of pick out projects that make a lot of sense for us and where we think we can set ourselves up, really, for giving the best opportunity to make that next great discovery. 

And we feel very strongly about what we've been able to piece together. And, like I said, now it's time to get back to doing what we do best — and that's really exploring.

Gerardo Del Real: When you talk about 160,000 hectares, that's a whole heck of a land package. How do you prioritize the drill targets, and what's the approach to get those priority drill targets drill-ready?

Keith Bodnarchuk: Yeah, so I think Steve Blower, our chairman, always has said that, locally, it's very difficult to find these deposits but, regionally, there is a pattern to these things. 

You have these long, great northeastern trends in the eastern side of the Athabasca Basin where you've had all of the operating mines — the McArthur Rivers, the Key Lakes — and you can really trace them almost like a string of pearls going from McArthur River past Denison’s ground and all of the way down to Key Lake.

What Steve has said is, ‘Let's set ourselves up within the long uranium corridors,’ which we've interpreted. And so that really sets us up to have success with the drill bit. And we took another step back and started looking at, ‘Okay, where could that next great elephant-sized deposit be found… the McArthur River, the Cigar Lake, the Arrow by NexGen?’

And the east side in and around these mines is terrific; great infrastructure and stuff like that… but it has also been heavily explored. And so we wanted to find that next great trend. And so we've decided to head deeper into the basin into the Cable Bay shear zone. 

And that's where our Ursa project is. It's a top priority for us. It's what we view as that next great trend where they haven't had a significant discovery as of yet but has all of those same ingredients that you see in the McArthur River areas. We have over 60 kilometers of that trend. It was held by Orano, which was a major, until about 2013. And then, really, post-Fukushima, it hasn't seen extensive exploration.

It's one where we said, ‘Okay, this has all of those same ingredients. Now, let's start applying some modern geophysics and modern techniques that can help us prioritize drilling.’ And that's what we’re doing right now. You'll see over the next few weeks here, we’ll start to have a bit of news flow on our results from the summer exploration such as geophysics.

And what we’re going to show to the market is that, in the past, the technology wasn’t there in order to target in this area. And now, it is there. And there’s just so much space out in this area. And so we're really excited about what these results can show, and we're really excited to get drilling as soon as we can. 

And that's essentially how I prioritize: modern geophysics, doing good work that way, and, then, really, just getting out and drilling as aggressively as you can.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, again, it sometimes is as simple as writing a check or investing or speculating alongside teams that have a history of success. 

This is as good as it gets, to me, for a sector that I think is about to get red-hot. It’s been hot. I think it’s about to get red-hot. And a company, with a market cap under C$20 million, that hasn’t yet benefited from the luxury of being able to market and tell the story and really explain to speculators out there the success of the team and the approach that it’s taking. 

You have the scale with the land package, you have the background, you have the capital markets expertise, and you have a tiny market cap. That checks every single box for me.

Anything else to add to that, Keith?

Keith Bodnarchuk: No, I just encourage people to start watching news flow here as we head into early 2024 when we plan to get drilling because it’s really going to be us explaining to the market about why we feel so strongly about the Ursa project and why people should be excited about what we could potentially do in that area.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic! Listen, thank you so much for your time. As that news progresses, I hope to have you back, and I think it's going to be a fun ride here.

Keith Bodnarchuk: Awesome.

Gerardo Del Real: Appreciate it!

Keith Bodnarchuk: I'll come back anytime, Gerardo. Appreciate it.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, Keith, looking forward to that. I'll hold you to it. Take care.

Keith Bodnarchuk: You too.

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