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Gaia Metals (TSX-V: GMC)(OTC: RGDCF) President Blair Way on IP Work at Flagship Freeman Creek Gold-Silver-Copper Project, Idaho, and Next-Steps for Corvette-FCI Gold-Copper-Silver-Lithium Project, Quebec
Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president of Gaia Metals — Mr. Blair Way. Blair, how are you? I know you have a lot going on.
Blair Way: Yeah, we sure do Gerardo. It's great to catch up again.
Gerardo Del Real: You had a couple of recent press releases I want to get into as they relate to Freeman Creek, the gold property, in Idaho. And then, after we touch on Freeman Creek, I also want to talk about the Corvette-FCI Property, which is one that is really, really compelling to me as well.
But as it relates to Freeman Creek, you accelerated the property option agreement. And then Gaia also will be looking to complete an IP survey at the property. Walk me through what that's looking to set the table for because it sounds like you want to identify additional targets.
We talked a few months back, and I know that you stumbled upon, I believe, it was an outcrop, right, while you were working on a road. How are things at Freeman Creek?
Blair Way: So Freeman Creek – as the press release where we accelerated the option agreement – that's a reinforcement of our confidence in the property. The drill program really gave us just a great deal of information and data, which was both some of what we expected but it also opened up some new ground.
So originally, we planned to do our IP more at Carmen because we thought we fully understood or had a great deal of understanding of our Gold Dyke prospect. But given that our Carmen Creek is a higher grade, we were planning on some IP to help us target around some of the adits and other finds that we've identified up in that area.
But because of the drill program and what it has yielded or revealed to us is that we actually have that trend, or seeing a trend, of the Gold Dyke prospect up into the north and to the east. So we're going to throw a bit of IP over that.
So given we were doing IP or had planned to do IP at Carmen Creek — it made sense to add a few more kilometers and also do it over the Gold Dyke prospect simply because of what we found, as you mentioned, from the outcrops that we uncovered whilst putting in our roads for the drill platforms.
Gerardo Del Real: And just for some context here, that outcrop discovery sampled 5.7 grams per tonne gold and 49 grams per tonne silver. Do you anticipate a follow-up drill program?
I know the initial one was a twinning of a hole or two that confirmed the mineralization and actually exceeded prior results. But as you mentioned, it did open up some other targets for you. Do you plan on testing those this year?
Blair Way: That's certainly the plan. The IP will help us better target that drill program and then, of course, we do have some challenges. What we're seeing over the summer here is that drill rigs are at a premium simply because everyone is on the ground and will most likely be this summer. But we do have an expectation that we'll be able to put some holes in the ground at some point this summer.
Certainly heading in that trend that we're seeing, as you mentioned, 5 or 6 grams of gold a tonne and almost 50 grams of silver are all numbers that we'd like to see. And, ideally, following those sorts of trends make sense.
So given the IP continues to reinforce what we're seeing at Gold Dyke as well as… we can't forget about Carmen Creek. We know that's a different type of structure; I think you spoke with Darren, my VP Exploration, in respect to that. Certainly there's some higher grade potential up there. And we believe the IP – because of the sulphides associated with the higher grade material – we believe the IP will be quite helpful in targeting both the extent of it and, to some degree, the depth or at least get some feel for the depth.
So the IP is going to give us, we believe, a number of targets and allow us to refine that targeting so that when we do put a drill rig on there — we're getting the most bang for our buck.
Gerardo Del Real: Excellent! Talk to me about Corvette-FCI, right? This is a property and targets that have the potential for – the way I understand it in speaking with Darren – it's gold, it's copper, it's lithium, it's base metals. It's a suite of commodities, frankly, that are in high demand right now, right?
Blair Way: It's a veritable smorgasbord of very desirable components. So yeah, we are certainly very keen on Corvette-FCI – and it's a Greenstone Belt.
You look at the overall geology, you can sort of see why it has this smorgasbord – if I'll continue to use that sort of terminology; not very geological, I know, but it's always fun to throw some normal terms in with the geology talk – but certainly we have three very solid trends on the western side of the property, which is our gold, copper, and lithium. And then, on the eastern side is gold and lithium.
And we haven't spent a great deal of time on the ground there. Last time we were on the ground in Quebec, due to COVID, was 2019. We have full expectations to be on the ground as soon as the snow clears this year. And we have a number of plans for that property.
But it's certainly with the various trends… and the lithium is one that probably people aren't aware of; it's not our sort of core business. However, when a property has such incredible numbers for some of the pegmatites that we've identified out there… we're very excited to follow, probably, the copper trend because that's got a great deal to reveal. And our exploration program at 2019, we only really discovered that in the last few days of our field program. So we want to continue to explore that. And we're expecting some interest from that as well as we have the gold and lithium.
So the amount of work that we can do on Corvette-FCI; it's a massive property; it has a great deal of potential. And we're really keen this summer to get boots on the ground and take a much closer look at all of these various trends that we've identified in the 2019 program.
Gerardo Del Real: And you have the option to earn into, what is it, 75% of the property?
Blair Way: Yes, it's a relatively quick acceleration spending money on the ground, which is great because putting money on the ground is the best place to put money. So that gets us up to 75%. But there is capacity to move beyond the 75% by continuing to do work on the ground and diluting that ownership.
And given the nature of the industry, there's also opportunity to take a closer look at that with the vendor and see if we can't work towards a more sensible outcome. But certainly, 75% is a nice chunk. And then, as I said, we can earn closer to 100%. But certainly, we've got a lot of work on the ground to get to there.
Our first step this summer will be getting to the 25% wholly. And then, after that — a drill program will push us into 75% pretty quick.
Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic! It's a lot of irons in the fire for a company with a market cap of $3 million. I remember a market, once upon a time, where just the caliber of the management team would command a $30-$40 million market cap, right, if you had some good experienced geologists and some good technical people on the team. That would be enough, right… you went and got the assets afterwards.
Definitely not that market right now despite gold being at $1,700 an ounce, copper being at $4.15 a pound, lithium surging, and every other metal you have exposure to seemingly moving higher.
So a lot of opportunity; a lot of upside there. Anything to add to that Blair?
Blair Way: No, I was just echoing your statements there. It still continues to boggle the mind that we haven't… I mean, we certainly have seen a great deal of interest in the company. And when I came onboard, we were aware of the fact that many people just were not aware of us.
We've increased that awareness. But I guess there's some people that are sort of moving in and out of the company a little bit so we haven't seen that forward movement that we'd hoped.
But as you said, we’ve got exposure to all of the right commodities, and we're going in the right direction. We’ve got a ton of work ahead of us to do… all for the right reasons. And, yeah, we're still confident that we're going to see the recognition of the assets and the team that we have together here with Gaia Metals and look forward to discussing it down the track as we move into summer.
Gerardo Del Real: Looking forward to it, Blair. Thank you so much for your time… I appreciate it!
Blair Way: Thanks, Gerardo… always great to catch up!
Gerardo Del Real: Alright, chat soon!
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