Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: Gold Stocks

Headwater Gold (CSE: HWG)(OTC: HWAUF) CEO Caleb Stroup on Identifying High-Grade Gold Veins in Partnership with Newmont at Spring Peak Project, Nevada

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Headwater Gold (CSE: HWG)(OTC: HWAUF) — a great time to have ‘gold’ in the company name — Mr. Caleb Stroup. Caleb, it's great to have you back on. It's been a bit. How are you, sir?

Caleb Stroup:  I'm doing great. Good to be here.

Gerardo Del Real: And, ‘live from the field!’ I joked a bit off-air that I love it when geos actually get in there — they’ve got the maps, they're ready to cook, they're in the field, they're doing their thing.

You had some news today that the market is actually picking up on. Typically, we've been in a market where outcropping high-grade veins — even in Nevada — weren't getting a lot of love. You're getting a little love in the market. I think people are understanding the potential significance of today's news. I wanted to have you back on.

I'm not a geologist, but when I start hearing you — and I know you don't excite easily — start describing this as a compelling indication of scale and preservation of a mineral system, especially this type of mineral system, that gets me excited because you're in the newsletter. Tell me what today’s news means to you.

Caleb Stroup: Yes, you have to put this news in the context of the bigger district that we're exploring in. This is in the Walker Lane in Nevada — what's referred to as the Bodie-Aurora district — which is probably not as well known as it should be. 

But it's a fantastic high-grade past-producing district that produced over 4 million ounces of gold at very high grades. Much of that was well over an ounce per tonne of historical production. Most of that occurred in the 1800s, which is why it’s probably not as well known as it should be.

The opportunity that we see here is that the known mineralization in the district was effectively what was just sticking out of the ground. There's a much broader belt of favorable geology that's covered by either near-surface barren alteration or post-mineral volcanic units that are a shallow masking unit over the potentially mineralized rock.

We’ve had quite a bit of success out here over the last couple of years — drilling through the alteration into high-grade veins — and have been systematically putting together the larger-scale geologic framework of what the true district-scale target is for finding more of these high-grade vein systems within the broader corridor that we now have under our control.

The news today was a new target area at Doug, which is about 9 km away from our previous high-grade discoveries to the south. We think it’s along the same structural corridor that’s controlling mineralization to the south. And we’ve previously announced some vein float that we found in this Doug area that had multigram-per-tonne gold results. But we didn’t know the significance of it necessarily because it was not in place. We didn’t know — did it come from right here? Where did it come from?

Now, for the first time, we’ve found a small outcrop — but an outcrop — of true outcropping veins in place that have between 5 and 20-plus grams-per-tonne gold in them. It’s a little bit early to say exactly what that means in terms of drill targets at Doug, potential at Doug, in and around this outcrop as an example. But what is clear to me, at least, is this is a huge indication for the scale potential of the property where we have almost 15 km of strike extent of this structural corridor in our control.

So far, almost everywhere we see windows through that post-mineral rock, we see gold mineralization. The question is: is there something bigger going on here? As you know, this is a project that’s in partnership with Newmont — they're funding exploration out here. That really is the goal for both of us — is to discover a true Newmont-size, high-grade gold asset in Nevada.

Gerardo Del Real: I'm going to ask you a leading question that I know the answer to… but it’s a great answer. What is acceptable for Newmont when they come into an earn-in agreement? I know what they look for. For people that may not be familiar with what majors are looking for as far as target size — what's the bare minimum for them to keep skin in the game and keep going forward? What excites them?

Caleb Stroup: I'm always careful not to speak directly for Newmont because that's not my job. What they’re publicly talking about — they’re looking for new tier-one assets in favorable jurisdictions with top-quartile grade. Nevada is a place that can absolutely deliver that. It's definitely a multi-million-ounce-type threshold that they’re looking for.

Same with us — we’re really looking for these tier-one-type discoveries. And a place like Nevada, especially a well-endowed historic mining district, is a great place to be. News like today, where we’re seeing true scale potential on district-scale structures, I think is all pointing in the same direction. But when you interview them, you can ask them exactly what they’re looking for.

Gerardo Del Real: Let me ask you another question. You have a business model that I really, really appreciate because, yes, you do have a lot of partner-funded exploration where, sure, you give up a bulk of the project but you retain a significant amount. You mitigate dilution — which is great if you can find a tier-one asset in a great jurisdiction. There’s enough meat on that bone left for shareholders to benefit from that.

But you also have some 100%-owned projects that, in themselves, could potentially be company-makers. Can you speak to that strategy and just what the rest of 2025 looks like because I know this is an inflection year for Headwater. It’s a year of exploration that I know you want to turn into a year of discovery. This, I believe, sets the table well for that. Can you speak to the plans here moving forward?

Caleb Stroup:  Yes, first of all, with the Newmont partnerships in Spring Peak and the adjoining property at Lodestar — those are earn-in agreements where we’re carried all the way to pre-feasibility. We retain a 25% interest plus a royalty — which is a 2% NSR on all of the ground that we’ve acquired through claim staking in the area, which is the vast majority of it — and a 1% NSR on some small inlier pieces that we have brought into the projects.

That’s really the value proposition that people should be thinking about. With success, a company like Headwater — with its small market cap — has the potential to have a 25% interest plus a 2% royalty in a Newmont-size, pre-feasibility stage, new high-grade gold discovery.

Gerardo Del Real:  And you have the potential to do that many times over within the portfolio.

Caleb Stroup:  That's right. More broadly in the portfolio, we have about a dozen projects that are at various stages — several of which are completely drill-ready. The targets are totally fleshed out and ready to go test. Several of them are new acquisitions that are working through that targeting phase.

We’re working on multiple different fronts right now on our portfolio. I don’t want to disappoint you, but we’re not quite ready to offer our full guidance on exactly what and when we’re going to be out drilling and testing this year.

I will say, since the history of the company — since its inception — we’ve drilled something like three to five projects a year. 2025 is on pace for that. But there’s a lot of moving parts right now with all sorts of things: new properties coming in, potential partnerships on our existing properties, properties that we’re making a decision on… if we’re going to drill them or if we’re going to look to bring in another partner; things like that. 

There’s a little bit too many all-positive things in the air right now to give you guidance. I don’t want to tell you we’re going to drill one and then turn around and do something else. But expect a busy year and something on track with what we’ve delivered in the past.

Gerardo Del Real: I think your timing is absolutely perfect. Folks expect drilling. Now, which projects? We’ll find out. How much? We’ll find out. But you keep delivering news like today’s news, Caleb, and I think you’re going to get a lot of conversation and dialogue around Headwater and the projects and the districts you’ve been able to stake.

I know you’ve been busy setting up for a very busy 2025. I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out and how that develops now that you have a lot of the pieces in place. You sound like you’re finalizing some of the other pieces. I’m looking forward to having you back on for that. Anything to add to that?

Caleb Stroup:  No, I think that’s a good summary. Just as a reminder, we have between C$2.5 and C$3 million in the bank right now too. We’re funded to do some meaningful work as well. It’s not like we have to go back to the market to raise money anytime soon. Just be a bit patient as all of the pieces fall into play here.

Gerardo Del Real: Beautiful. Thank you for coming on, Caleb. Looking forward to more news… and congrats on the news today.

Caleb Stroup: Thanks, Geraredo. 

Gerardo Del Real: Cheers.

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