Categories: Precious Metals / Energy
Topics: Gold Stocks / Lithium Stocks

Lion Rock Resources (TSX-V: ROAR)(OTC: LRRIF) Chairman Nav Dhaliwal on Major Permitting Milestone, Offtake Interest, and Upcoming Drill Program at Volney Gold-Lithium Project, South Dakota

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the executive chairman of Lion Rock Resources (TSX-V: ROAR)(OTC: LRRIF) — Mr. Nav Dhaliwal. Nav, it is great to have you back on. How are you today, sir?

Nav Dhaliwal: Absolutely fantastic. Always a pleasure, Gerardo, and thank you so much for having me back.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, listen, thank you for coming on. It's been a busy summer thus far, and we're starting to see the fruits of a lot of the behind-the-scenes labor. Just last week, you announced you’d received — and I think it caught the market by surprise — a conditional use mining permit for the Volney Critical Minerals Project.

I know you're on your way to meet with prospective offtake and capital partners at a critical metals conference. I want to touch on that here in a bit. But first, I want you to explain to the audience what this conditional use mining permit means for Lion Rock and for shareholders because it's a big step.

Nav Dhaliwal: Absolutely, Gerardo. This is one of the bigger milestones the company has achieved. Like you said, there's been a lot of work being done behind the scenes, and soon all of this is going to start coming forward. Shareholders and the investing community can take a look at a company that has massive upside to it, not just on the critical minerals side of things, but also — and I have to keep mentioning this — our gold discovery and the expansion upon that.

To discuss the conditional use permit, or CUP, we've got to identify where it all came from. We've got to bring the listeners back to the fact that Nav, the team, Dale, and everybody acquired the town of Tinton. Tinton has history. Tinton has the historical production of tin, tantalum, and high-grade hard-rock lithium. It is world-class, and it's sitting in the heart of America right now.

The infrastructure is already there, from the water to the roads. This CUP has been in place since 1995, and recently the Lawrence County Commission granted us the transfer of that CUP to 10 acres. Ten acres is what we need so far. We want to take the 342 acres on a 10-acre parcel-by-parcel basis.

This covers our Volney pegmatite, and it's going to allow us to really expedite a lot of the work that we need to do, right down to taking bulk tonnage off the property. They look at hard-rock lithium the same way they do aggregate, like a gravel pit. This is more advantageous than I can express right now. This is a game changer for the company itself.

Now, that's fine. We can talk about getting into it and moving a lot of material, but what's important to note as well is that there's a lot of work happening right now. Having completed our 15-hole drill program at the end of last year and getting the results out in the first quarter of this year, it's important for us to identify how clean this product is. We have now collected samples to send in for metallurgy.

Historically, we can already see that this is probably one of the greener initiatives to be sought after within America's critical metals search because it doesn't take an aggressive approach to separating the metals.

Gerardo, we've spoken about the elevated grades that we feel very confident discussing. We have seen other elements, but we don't want to really speak to those until we do some more investigating and determine whether there is potential for mineable grades.

We want to be realistic with everybody and make sure that when we come forward and say something has potential, we've done all the steps. As I just explained, that means getting the proof through a report that shows that, by crushing, you can separate the high-grade hard-rock lithium, the tin, the tantalum, and potentially a couple more critical elements that America is in desperate need of.

That's really the name of the game here — feeding into the American system with what we can provide from the hills of South Dakota and raising that South Dakota flag as part of the fabric of America when it comes to the hunt for critical metals.

Gerardo Del Real: You have the local permit. You have now commenced the application process for the state mining license. How do you anticipate that playing out?

Nav Dhaliwal: Yes, that all runs in sequence, and that's a great question. The county granted us the CUP, and in tandem you apply for the mining license as well. As part of the mining license, there are certain requirements, including posting a bond.

We've looked at it from the standpoint of working with 10-acre parcels, completed the calculations, and understand what is required. We believe we'll be receiving that mining license in relatively short order. The two processes go hand in hand.

With the relationships we're building and the work we're doing out there, I don't foresee any issues obtaining that mining license. It's the next layer we need to add to the company, and we're definitely looking forward to it.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. You're on your way to Nevada to speak with and meet prospective offtake and capital partners. Can you explain what the goal of those meetings is?

Nav Dhaliwal: Exactly. I've kind of referenced it already, Gerardo. The demand within America right now is significant. Geopolitically, we're seeing how important these critical elements have become. Between data centers, the AI push, and broader industrial demand, a lot more critical metals are going to be required.

My hat is off to the administration for looking inward and focusing on domestic supply. We want to be part of that because we see something viable here that isn't a project that's 10 years away from production.

Again, I have to reiterate that we're resurrecting a mining district that was already established. The town of Tinton contributed to the war effort through the production of tin and tantalum concentrates. We're not reinventing the wheel. We're looking to expand on what was already there and apply today's technology to move things forward. The goal is to help define how quickly we can become part of the solution to meet current demand.

At this conference, there will be a lot of knowledgeable and experienced people in the industry. We're excited to sit down with them, discuss our project, and determine what opportunities may be the best fit for the company and for the market's needs.

Part of my job is not only explaining what we're doing but also finding the right fit for what we have. What's unique here is that most exploration stories are commodity-specific. We've been fortunate to have a property that offers exposure to both critical minerals and gold.

On the critical minerals side, we have a compelling opportunity. On the other side of the property, as we've outlined in previous news releases, we have a gold discovery that continues to strengthen as we advance the groundwork.

There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm excited to get the drill turning again. After spending the last month preparing the ground, cleaning things up, and making sure the site is set up properly, I'm really looking forward to getting back to drilling.

Gerardo Del Real: I know the Phase-1 program was successful. We also believe — and I say ‘we’ because I'm a substantial shareholder of the company — that the best parts of the system have yet to be drilled and that the best grades and widths on both the critical minerals side and the gold side have yet to be defined. We know a lot was learned during the Phase-1 program. Can you briefly touch on what Phase-1 informed and how that impacts your approach to Phase-2?

Nav Dhaliwal: Yes, exactly. With Phase-1, we were trying to get our first holes into these projects to better understand the system and demonstrate its strength. At the end of the day, those 15 holes were very successful because they showed us just how large this system may be.

One of the key aspects of this project is that we're not chasing depth. The most expensive part of exploration is often at the end of the drill bit. Both the gold and critical minerals targets are at surface.

The Phase-1 drilling, combined with additional surface work and mapping, has given us a much stronger understanding of the system's orientation and strength. By removing small amounts of overburden to expose more of the structure, we're putting ourselves in a better position for the next phase of drilling. 

When we get back to drilling, we believe we'll be able to better target the system and continue demonstrating the strength we're already seeing in our models.

Gerardo Del Real: I’m looking forward to what's going to be a very busy rest of the year for Lion Rock. Nav, thank you for coming on. Looking forward to having you back on here soon.

Nav Dhaliwal: It's a pleasure, Gerardo. Thank you so much. We look forward to being back.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, safe travels. Let's see what comes out of the conference in Nevada.

Nav Dhaliwal: Wish us well. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Gerardo Del Real: Cheers.

Click here to see more from Lion Rock Resources