Categories: Base Metals / Precious Metals
Topics: General Base Metals / General Precious Metals

K2 Gold (TSX-V: KTO)(OTC: KTGDF) CEO Stephen Swatton on Significant Discoveries of Gold & Copper and Potential M&A in Nevada & Utah

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president and CEO of K2 Gold, Mr. Steve Swatton. Steve, it's been a bit. How are you?

Stephen Swatton: Very good. Thanks, Gerardo. Thanks for having me back.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, you had some news that I have to believe is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you have significantly expanded the mineralized footprint at what John Robins has called the best early stage gold camp he's ever seen. We now know that it's a gold-copper camp and we also now know that you have mineralized targets across many new trends that you've discovered here recently. I say a curse because this looks like something that is just ripe for the taking as far as drilling goes. We know that you've been expecting a favorable response from the BLM. We know that's ongoing. I don't want to put you in a situation where you have to comment on that too in depth because hopefully we're getting closer. But the news that you just put out yesterday has to be positive in the sense that yes, it's taken longer to start the drill program, but man, it seems like you're really refining the targets and it seems like you have a lot more than you thought you did.

Stephen Swatton: Absolutely, Gerardo. What situation happened is last year when we did the drilling and we could see that as we were looking at the tips when they were coming out, we were pretty optimistic we were going to get good results. And obviously 87 meters of four grams is nothing to sneeze at. We were very happy with the results but of course, we applied for another 30 holes, knowing full well that it would take some time. In the meantime, I basically gave the geologists and the geological staff almost free rein to go and follow up on some other smaller soil anomalies that we've seen in previous work and some of the work ourselves. And these results are, it's the result of them going out and extending the trends. And it doesn't matter what they sort of hypothesized, it came out with gold or copper.

What we know here, Gerardo, in basic terms is on the eastern side of the property there's about two and a half kilometers that now trend of mineralization of which only a small portion of it, maybe less than a third, we started to drill. And on the western side, we have what looks to be sediment hosted copper and base metal trend with the possibility of maybe a porphyry sitting alongside it. This is becoming a whole mineralized district and geologists just keep coming back with one sort of significant target after another, which is great. And as you alluded to our biggest impediment right now is not getting other permits to drill at another 30 sites.

Now, just to give your listeners an update, it is going through the process. We talk with BLM constantly. We don't see anything coming out that is going to impede us but it's painfully slow. And I think because it's a high profile project and quite frankly, there is now another COVID surge down in California, the BLM offices are closed and everybody's working from home again down there. Everything's taken a little longer than I would anticipate. They take a long time anyway, based in California but I think they're even taken longer and they're being careful. This project has the potential to be quite large, as you quite rightly say. We're finding all this stuff. I think they're making sure that they got their T's crossed and their I's dotted at this stage.

Gerardo Del Real: I'll make sure to include an image of the figures that you shared in the release. I am not a geologist but if I was, that looks like a Christmas wishlist of targets. There is gold, there is copper, there's silver, there is lead and zinc. I can't wait to see the drill bits turning. What metal endowment seems to be the most prolific? Is it the gold and then the copper and then followed by the silver, lead and the zinc?

Stephen Swatton: Well, it is a zonation. I would say that what we can see currently Gerardo, is the gold. The gold is what is driving our program, if you like. But when you get such high levels of copper in soils, you know that copper is somewhere very close. Now, one thing I wanted to point out the geomorphology of the area is that on the eastern side, it's kind of elevated. Then you go through a valley and then it's elevated again on the western side and in the middle of that, there's this huge valley and we had no idea. It's not soil, it's colluvium. The only thing we could do is what's called ionic leach, which is you're basically trying to get a sample of whatever is beneath are being transmitted through the layers to the surface in what's called ionic soil sampling.

It's a different slightly technique. It's not testing the sea horizon. It's a different type of technique all together. And the results coming out of there are phenomenal, which is leading us to believe that underneath this what we call Upland Valley in the middle there, is also mineralized. I would say the second most common is copper that's coming through now. The base metals we knew about, there's a Pete Smith mine, which you know was around in the 1900s and these were the old timers when they were working. And it's all zonation. You start from the east with gold, then you go through a copper zone, then it kind of looks like a lead zinc zone. And then it comes back into a copper zone. It's absolutely fascinating and it's all cut by northwest southeast faults throughout the whole thing.

Gerardo Del Real: I know that you're very respectful of the process with the BLM but I also know you to not be a person that sits idle waiting for approval on things. I have to imagine that you likely are entertaining looking at other properties in other jurisdictions to diversify the exploration potential on a year round basis. Would that be accurate?

Stephen Swatton: Very accurate. We're advanced on two situations in Nevada right now. And I would say that obviously I can't really say too much, but yes, we're not sitting idle on our hands here. We've got our eye on two different projects. And John Robins was actually down last week looking at one of them. We like them both. And Jodie's come up with a third one and myself, I'm working with one of the majors on a completely different asset altogether and this one will be in Utah. We actually got Nevada and Utah that we're looking at right now.

Gerardo Del Real: I thought 2021 was going to be a spectacular year for K2 Gold. I premised that on the fact that this amazing property was going to see the drill bit in more significant fashion. That hasn't happened yet. The fact that you're out in Utah and Nevada and still going through the permitting process here, leads me to believe and allows me to double down on that prediction for 2022. Wrong so far this year, let's see what 2022 brings and it sounds like you and I might be chatting here sooner rather than later.

Stephen Swatton: I really hope so. And I expect it to be, so let's check back in a couple of months, whether it be a different picture altogether. Let's call it a date two months from now and it'll be a different story than today.

Gerardo Del Real: Sounds good, Steve. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for that update. We'll talk soon.

Stephen Swatton: Thanks very much, Gerardo. It's been a pleasure.