Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

Libero Copper & Gold (TSX-V: LBC)(OTC: LBCMF) CEO Ian Harris on Exploration at the Mocoa Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Deposit

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President and CEO of Libero Copper, Mr. Ian Harris. Ian, I bumped into you last week at Beaver Creek. It's great to follow back up. How are you today, sir?

Ian Harris: Doing wonderful. Things are getting really exciting. We've put a lot of work to get to where we are today, so obviously a little bit of a celebration.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's get to it. You had some news. Let's talk about where you are today. You had some news announcing mobilization for exploration at the Mocoa Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Deposit. This is a deposit that's got obviously some phenomenal hits that include 1,228.5 meters averaging 0.58% copper equivalent. That includes 840.3 meters of 0.72% copper equivalent. All of that is fantastic. The project, I think geologically has tons of merit, and then the question has always surrounded the permitting process. And so I really wanted to have you on to talk about the work that you've done to date, and then let's talk about what comes next.

Ian Harris: So I want to take a little step back, and to say we have a huge luxury at Libero that myself and working with people like Ernie Mast as a director, of actually taking large scale projects of this size and scale all the way across the finish line. And it seems, I get questions because there's a normal way of doing things in this business. But we go back off of experience on actually how to do things. So the last drill hole into the project definitely demonstrated the potential of the project, right? It has a significant resource, we're seeing a huge intersection of copper, which just speaks to its size potential. And then we've obviously followed that up with lots of work in the field through geochemistry and geophysics. But we were in a political charged environment in Colombia, and we knew the quality of the resource we wanted.

So in Colombia, you have a drill permit when you get the title, you submit guides. So there's no drilling permit. It was more, we wanted to construct a base that would allow this project to move forward, not just for a couple of drill holes, but obviously with a vision of moving a project towards development. And it's that longer version that you're a little bit more conservative. So we've been working with the new local and regional government that's been installed since January, working on lots of things in the background, working on our relationships, working on our engagement, working on our transparency, getting people on board.

And really a big catalyst for us was seeing our ranking and all that work was paying off. The reputation, especially within the government and the municipalities means a lot to us. It's a clear demonstration of the work we do done on the ground. So it was a little more intangible to this decision to say, this is now the moment, this is the moment that we've been waiting for. A lot has gone on internally, getting ourselves organized, a larger vision within the Fiore Group and Frank Giustra, and we feel we have a solid base to kick off.

Gerardo Del Real: I like the project a lot. I love the scale, I love the commodity mix. I am a huge copper bull. Can you talk about your take on copper here moving forward? Because I think you're hitting the sweet spot with this project, with the conversations now that are being advanced, and obviously with the track record of success that you and the group have, right?

Ian Harris: Yeah. So I like to think that I've been obviously very bullish and believe the need for copper, independent of the drive of overall demand. My biggest excitement is actually around AI, because it's not something you can slow down. It's a race between companies, it's a race between countries, and each one of those chips is drawing a massive amount of power. The overall infrastructure on the planet is stretched, and that obviously means more copper. And whether we believe individually on global warming, etc. You know the energy transition is obviously happening, but maybe could be throttled, but AI cannot.

So looking into the future and understanding and working in this industry now for 25 years, a total lack of investment in copper exploration, it means that we need a lot more copper to come online. I think that we at Libero share a unique experience. There haven't been that many big copper projects built in the last 20 years. And having that experience and getting things along and across the finish line, and seeing those things now in production is special. But independent of how often my ear is to the ground, we're now in Fiore Group and Frank Giustra definitely has his ear to, or the pulse, is world renowned for his pulse and understanding timing that hearing him in Beaver Creek talking about how he loves copper and is extremely bullish on copper, makes it feel like the time is coming.

Gerardo Del Real: I couldn't agree more. Tell me what comes next.

Ian Harris: Obviously the next big steps for us are working and drilling, starting our program, looking at not just expansion of the existing resource because it's open in all directions, but also trying to tag into some of the additional targets that we have defined. We love the grade of the project, we know it's potential scale. There's very few very large copper projects of the potential of Mocoa out there in the world, so we know how special it is, but we have to be able to demonstrate that. The world needs a lot of copper, but it can't be building 500 different projects. So we have to, especially at Beaver Creek, we had obviously lots of different conversations with lots of the majors out there, what they look for, what they're looking for, and obviously trying to make sure we're navigating the project in that direction. So a combination of expansion at the existing resource, testing new targets, and really working to demonstrate the scale potential at Mocoa is our upcoming goals.

Gerardo Del Real: How do you continue to unlock the value here for yourself, for the team, for shareholders? Again, I mentioned the scale of the project, right? Clearly there's a lot of value waiting to be unlocked here. What's going to be the approach?

Ian Harris: Well, I think that if you look at the numbers, Mocoa is already a very valuable project. So just demonstrating it's moving forward I think creates a lot of value for shareholders. The other big one for me is demonstrating the expansion potential at the project, right? Although we already have over 600 million tonnes, companies are looking for that billion plus size project and demonstrating also, I've had a lot of discussions on this, a starter project that is highly economic that then can be expanded upon, right? I think there's a little bit of gun shyness right now of starting that immediately, a $10 billion construction. So you want to see projects that can start very effectively and then quickly expand on the existing resource.

And so developing that pathway, showing that pathway, putting out drill results. I mean, we obviously have multiple triggers to create significant value at Libero in the medium term. And I would even add, when you look around the space, there's very other few projects of a similar size and scale, and the majority of them are kind of stuck in the mud, either through a lack of experience or lack of access to capital. The pounds in the ground have never been cheaper, but the outlook has never been better. So I think that also creates some additional opportunities and avenues to create some value at the company.

Gerardo Del Real: Couldn't agree more. Looking forward to seeing you and the group work this cycle. Ian, thank you so much for your time. It's great to catch up again.

Ian Harris: You too, as always.

Gerardo Del Real: All right, cheers.

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