Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Gold Mountain Mining (TSX-V: GMTN)(OTCQB: GMTNF) CEO Kevin Smith on Becoming the First Permitted B.C. Gold Mine in Nearly a Decade

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of Gold Mountain Mining, Mr. Kevin Smith. Kevin, congratulations, sir. Less than a year ago you told me that around October, November, you would be permitted and looking for your first little bit of production. And here we are on November the 2nd, signed, sealed, delivered. You should be commended, you and the team have done a phenomenal job of getting this across the finish line. Congratulations, sir.

Kevin Smith: Gerardo, thanks so much. Really appreciate the positive feedback. We've been grinding hard over here. A lot of people told us our goals and ambitions were a little bit aggressive but we continue to drive forward. This is the first domino of many to fall over the next couple months here but we're extremely pleased to deliver this permit to our shareholders.

Gerardo Del Real: No, listen, I said initially it was aggressive and I also said I liked aggressive, especially when companies deliver on aggressive. I think that your timing is excellent and you not only have now received your permit but you're also in the midst of some pretty aggressive exploration that you have to be excited about.

I know that it's been a quiet few months behind the scenes getting this across the finish line or I should say a busy few months behind the scenes, a quiet few months on as far as interviews and news releases. But I want to talk a little bit about the exploration program because I don't think that the market is fully appreciating how aggressive the current program is and the potential there. Can you speak to that a bit?

Kevin Smith: Yeah, absolutely. We built on our phase one program, we decided to do another 10,000 meters that was targeting some more ounces in our Siwash North. We're also drilling in three new zones, the Gold Creek, the Lake Zone and the South Zone. Those are all similar high grade sulfides that we're targeting that had already been drilled, just needed some spatial data gaps. Goal there is to add more ounces in the Siwash North and hopefully delineate new resources in three new zones, which would obviously show the market the scalability, which has always been a critique of this project.

So, we're really excited to see the results that come in and hopefully we're able to quell some of those fears. And then we're also drilling in the elusive zone, which is completely different geology to our high grade sulfides. We're looking for more bulk tonnage style targets. We've had some really exciting core come out of the ground there and we're looking to make a new discovery out in that zone, which is similar rock type to what they have at Kodiak MPD, which is our neighbor to the Southwest. So a lot of prospectivity here and we can't wait to share some of these assays when they get back from the lab.

Gerardo Del Real: I am looking forward to those. I'm also looking forward to you releasing your first mineralized material, which I understand will happen in the next few weeks, from the 1,100 vein?

Kevin Smith: Absolutely. We're driving hard right now. Our construction permits allowed us to develop a quarry. That quarry just so happened to be right on top of our mineralization so we've got a great jump on our waste rock mining. We've stripped about 450,000 tonnes off of pit two there, where we're going to be mining first, and we're anticipating hitting ore any day now. Really looking forward to that milestone as well because it won't be long after that and we can start shipping ore to New Gold's facility in Kamloops New Afton.

Gerardo Del Real: Moving into 2022, you're looking at an initial production profile. And I say initial, because again, you've delivered on everything you said you were going to deliver that builds a certain amount of credibility. I'm going to take this number and assume that it's conservative, but right now, as it stands, year one production profile looks to be about 19,000 ounces per year. Is that accurate?

Kevin Smith: Yeah, absolutely. We've got an 11-year mine plan. We put out a PEA in August on 19,000 ounces for the first three years. That's a strategic number in that if you stay below 75,000 tonnes per year in British Columbia, you can defer the environmental assessment process. So we're going to immediately jump into our environmental assessment process in the new year and start looking to scale our project up to a minimum of 65,000 ounces. At which point the mine plan becomes a hybrid of multiple open pits and an underground scenario.

So, lots of expansion in the future for us, but we just wanted to get up into cashflow so we could have some funds kicking off that will allow us to continue aggressively exploring and developing this project in a non-diluted fashion. So, not the traditional model, but we're extremely excited to be awarded this permit and to be one of the few mines that actually gets into production here.

Gerardo Del Real: It's the first gold mining permit in BC in nearly a decade. Congratulations again to you and your team. Look forward to the assay result as they trickle in and looking forward to that first mineralized material from that 1,100 vein, a lot to celebrate. Congratulations, Kevin.

Kevin Smith: All right. Thanks so much, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. Chat soon.