Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: Gold Stocks

Golden Cross Resources (TSX-V: AUX)(OTC: ZCRMF) CEO Matthew Roma on Second Drill Rig Mobilized at Its Reedy Creek High-Grade Gold Project

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of Golden Cross Resources (TSX-V: AUX)(OTC: ZCRMF), Mr. Matt Roma. Matt, it's great to have you back on. How are you, sir?

Matthew Roma: Thanks, Gerardo. Yeah, I'm very well, and I'm looking forward to giving your audience an update here.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, you have been busy since the last time you and I chatted. You closed a $5 million private placement, and that included an investment by a cornerstone investor, Jupiter Asset Management. And so I want to start there before we get an update on what everybody wants to know, right? How's the drilling going on? I know you added a second rig, but I definitely want to start with that $5 million private placement. I know it was strategic in nature, but it gives you a lot of runway, right? If we get some good results here with the drill bit.

Matthew Roma: Yeah, no, exactly, Gerardo. So we were in a position where, there was a window where we thought we could get a financing done and ramp up our exploration efforts, and we originally announced a $3 million financing with an opportunity to upsize to 5 million.

And honestly, the demand for that financing was well beyond what anyone expected. I think the order book at close was close to $20 million, with only room for five, with Jupiter Asset Management being the cornerstone shareholder, taking $2 million of that financing down, which just really gives this project and this company a stamp of approval we were looking for, bringing in such a strategic group.

And I think based on the level of demand and the amount of other institutional players that came into that financing, that as long as we do our job in the field, we feel like we have the financial backers now to really move this company forward, and as we get into larger and larger financings, we have just a strong institutional bench of support.

Gerardo Del Real: Well listen, let's get into where that capital is going. Gold, firmly above that $3,300 level, it seems to have put in a pretty, pretty good floor there. You're adding a second drill rig, right? That's been mobilized at the Reedy Creek high-grade gold project. Can you provide an update on the drilling? I know there's a lot of moving parts going on there.

Matthew Roma: Yeah, so when we first launched this company, we announced a fully-funded 6,000-meter drill program, and the intention was always to add a second rig. However, we had communicated that that likely would not be until September.

Based on the work that we've done to date, and the financing that we got done, we felt that there was an opportunity to bring a second rig in earlier. We have no shortage of targets, and we wanted to start to drill deeper and to drill more targets, and that's exactly what we're doing.

So basically, the first two holes were shorter holes, max 120 meters. But when we knew we were going to be able to put this financing away and fill up the treasury, we thought, "Let's go drill deeper, see what we can find. Let's target multiple vein structures." As we both know, that was really the turning point for Southern Cross, is when they started drilling those deeper holes, intersecting multiple vein structures, and being able to report those fantastic grades and widths. And that's exactly what we're doing now. So we are into, as of today, July 25th, we are starting to drill our seventh hole now, and the deepest hole to date is about 330 meters.

And we drilled about a thousand meters. And what we're starting to see is the geological signature you would want to see in the early stages of identifying a gold deposit that Victoria is known for. And that's really encouraging, and was really the proxy for why we wanted to add this second rig and ramp up our efforts. And with the cash we have today, we can drill well into 2026 without having to finance, and with steady news flow and no financing overhang, we're very excited for what the rest of this year looks like.

Gerardo Del Real: I'm excited for the second half of this year. It's off with a bang. I mean, everything is moving. There's activity in the space, there's capital that's been on the sidelines that now is starting to come in rather aggressively in the precious metal space. And I think your timing is great. I'm really, really looking forward to seeing those assays. Everyone knows that Southern Cross Gold’s Sunday Creek is just 10 kilometers away, and if you have anything resembling that project, it's going to be a fun rest of the year. Anything to add to that, Matt?

Matthew Roma: Yeah, I echo those comments, Gerardo. And really, what we've seen over the last few months is really the demand and interest in the precious metals space, all you have to do is take a look at the GDXJ and look at that stock chart. There is generalists moving into this space. I was just recently down in Boca Raton at the Rick Rule Symposium, and the amount of buzz and interest in these stories from people that have not historically invested in this space is growing, and we think we're at the right place at the right time, and if we can deliver on the drill bit, we're a 35 million market cap company today, and any sort of success, we think we are set for a real rerate. So yeah, as you mentioned earlier, exciting times ahead. Really looking forward to the second half of this year.

Gerardo Del Real: You got the cash, you got the drill rigs going, let's see what Mother Nature left behind. You got the rocks. Let's see what's in those rocks, right? Looking forward to it, Matt, thank you so much.

Matthew Roma: Thanks, Gerardo. Appreciate it.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. Cheers.

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