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

Latin Metals (TSX-V: LMS)(OTC: LMSQF) CEO Keith Henderson on Major Ground Expansion in Argentina with Multiple Partner-Funded Drill Programs On-Tap for 2H 2023

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Latin Metals — Mr. Keith Henderson. Keith, how are you today? It's been a bit since we chatted. It's great to have you back on.

Keith Henderson: Yeah, it's great to be here. I think it's been four or five weeks so good to reconnect and there's lots going on on this end.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's get right into it. You had some news that I found pretty interesting, which is why I reached out. You've had several releases setting the table for what's going to be a very important second half of the year for Latin Metals. 

You're going to have what looks like multiple drill programs funded by partners that provide Latin Metals shareholders great exposure for a potential discovery in both the gold and the copper space. Some of those partners are very well-known, deep pocket names that are looking for home runs — not singles or doubles. 

So that's what gets me excited when I look at a company like Latin Metals and I see a market cap of sub-C$10 million. So I just wanted to reach out and let you provide some context on the news that you just released and see if you could walk me through what the rest of the year is going to look like.

Keith Henderson: Yeah, we're expecting three drill programs this year to be kicked off before the year is out. Hopefully, that's going to be AngloGold, Barrick, and Libero Copper on three of our projects in Argentina. Like you say, for these bigger companies, they really are looking for big discoveries. And so that is exciting, and we're really looking forward to those getting started. 

Part of our core business here is just to continue to develop projects that are going to attract investment from major companies, and that's really what today's news release has been all about. A little bit earlier this year, we announced the acquisition of a project called Mirador, which is a sedimentary-hosted copper project in Argentina. 

And this project that we've announced today called Solario is basically an add-on to that. It's a very significant ground expansion. It's another 170,000 hectares of ground, which is, we think, prospective for sedimentary-hosted copper.

These types of targets are just right in the wheelhouse for major company partners. They like it because these deposits, when they're discovered, tend to be very large. The grade tends to be very good. It just ticks all the boxes for a big company. And so our model is to partner, so far, to big companies. But, therefore, it ticks all the boxes for us as well. So it's really, really good. 

For us, we're absolutely a first-mover in Argentina on this deposit type. As far as we've been able to determine, nobody has ever looked for this type of deposit in Argentina. When we first started looking in January with the Mirador deposit, or the Mirador project, we basically went out and tried to get some proof-of-concept. And we were able to pick up exactly the right kind of mineralization in exactly the right host rocks; grading 2.4% copper.

We really, really wanted to get that proof-of-concept… and that tells us, yes, we were right… there is potential for these kinds of deposits. And now we have this huge land position, and I would call that a big company position. It's really, really big. It covers a huge area, and the next step for us now is just to get out there and do really big regional geochemical surveys. And that'll take the form of stream sediment sampling. 

It'll basically screen the entire area. It'll tell us where the hotspots are. And then, we can go and focus on those hotspots and try to develop those targets further until we get to the point where some major company is sitting there going, ‘You know what… we just need to jump in here… we can't wait any longer.’

So that's the game for us, and we think we can get there with this kind of project.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, it sounds like there's going to be, potentially, at least three, and it's sounding like, potentially, four major drill programs in the second half of this year. It's already June. 

So anyone that is looking at the recent weakness in the stock due to the consolidation in the space — and just it being summertime and people being checked out for the most part — I think it's a heck of an opportunity and a heck of an entry point. 

And I would encourage everyone to go to the Latin Metals website. It's not too often that you have the likes of Anglo and Barrick… and I know that you have conversations with other potential major partners. It's testament, I think, to your approach. 

Argentina is red-hot and attracting a lot of capital. And I think before I let you go, Keith, I'd love for you to credit the gentleman that kind of pioneered, as far as I know, looking for these types of deposits in Argentina because it's mind-blowing to me that, as much exploration as has gone on, especially recently, that nobody thought to look for this type of deposit.

Keith Henderson: Yeah, that's Eduardo Leon. He's our exploration manager. He's a tremendously talented geologist and he combines that with being a very entrepreneurial thinker. And when he came to me with this idea last year, I just was blown away and I said, “We've got to act on this right away.” And it's a work of genius. 

The most interesting thing about what we're looking for is actually ‘where’ we're looking for it. Because if you go to Salta province in Argentina, and you go to the areas to look for typical gold deposits and things like that, you'll find that everything is staked up. 

What's really interesting about this copper idea is that when we look to see if there is any ground available, the answer has been a resounding yes. Basically, everything was available. Nobody thought about it. Nobody staked anything. It was super cheap to make the applications and to stake the ground. And so here we are… sitting with this massive position. 

And there are other companies in the world looking for this kind of deposit. There's a company in Peru doing exactly what we're doing here in a different type of terrain. In that case, that company is supporting a C$25 million market cap on just this idea. 

So not just this idea but plus everything else that Latin Metals has on the books… and so that's a very, very interesting concept for me. This copper idea is supporting real market caps in the marketplace. We've got this going on and we've got everything else going on as well — and I think that makes us really interesting. 

And yes, people do check out a little bit in the summer. You're exactly right. But nothing stops in the exploration world, and you can be pretty sure that AngloGold, Barrick, and Latin Metals have not stopped at all. We're going flat out here. And we hope to have lots more news coming through the summer and into the fall.

Gerardo Del Real: I keep preaching to everyone during consolidations… it's called buy-low, sell-high. To get the sell-high part, you have to do the buy-low part, everyone. I have a feeling this is the buy-low part for Latin Metals.

Keith, always a pleasure. Thank you for the update. Looking forward to seeing how you advance this massive, massive land package that your team was able to put together for Latin Metals shareholders at dirt cheap prices. 

And I think it's going to be an exciting, not just ‘second’ half of the year… I think you're going to have a couple of years of potentially game-changing discoveries that Latin Metals shareholders will have exposure to. Anything to add to that, Keith?

Keith Henderson: Nothing, except I hope you're right. I think you are. That's it.

Gerardo Del Real: We'll leave it there. Appreciate it! Thanks again.

Keith Henderson: Good. Thanks a million. Cheers.

 

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