Categories: Base Metals
Topics: General Base Metals

Manning Ventures (CSE: MANN)(OTC: MANVF) CEO Alex Klenman and Chairman Etienne Moshevich on Start of Phase-One Exploration at the Copper Hill Project in Nevada’s Prolific Walker Lane Mineral Trend

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today from Manning Ventures is the CEO Mr. Alex Klenman and the chairman of Manning Ventures Mr. Etienne Moshevich. Gentlemen, it's great to have you on a new story with familiar people. How are you both today?

Alex Klenman: Very well. Thanks for having us.

Etienne Moshevich: I'm doing great, Gerardo. Thanks a lot.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, Etienne, let me start with you. You and I now have participated in multiple ventures. Clearly, we're of the same opinion, I think, that we're in a commodity supercycle that's going to run for some time. And I think you've done a really good job of positioning ahead of a lot of megatrends. 

And obviously, one of those megatrends is the battery metals space. There’s demand as far as the eye can see. Lithium and copper are going to play a huge part in that. Manning Ventures — and I'll let you provide the overview here — is a vehicle designed to take advantage of that. 

For those that aren't familiar with the story — and because it is a new story at least in its current incarnation — can you give us an overview of the company and why you decided to put it together?

Etienne Moshevich: A hundred percent. We initially started Manning a couple of years ago, and the company has grown tremendously since then. And just recently, just so your viewers know, the structure has been totally recapitalized. 

We rolled it back four-for-one, and we raised some money. Right now, there are 34 million shares outstanding. We're sitting at about a C$2.3 million market cap. And out of that, about half is sitting in cash. 

And we think we're in an incredible position to take advantage of the entire mining market and more specifically in the battery energy space / energy metals space. We had our iron ore assets initially. We have lithium assets as well. And then, we got this copper asset called Copper Hill. And it's in Nevada, and we thought it was an incredible asset.

I'll let Alex walk you through it in a little bit more detail. But as a vehicle itself, with the structure that we have, with the cash that we have, with the rollback that we just did, and especially with the price of copper where it is right now — over US$4.20 per pound — I think we're in an incredible position to take advantage of the market. 

And that's why we wanted to get the story out there right now just because we think it's a perfect time to do that. And we just announced that we’ve started to do work on our copper asset. So I think this is the time for all of your viewers to be watching the company.

Gerardo Del Real: Good overview. Alex, again, you and I have been involved in multiple deals. It's been a tough couple of years but a great couple of years to go get quality assets in position for the years where all of this is fun. And it's starting to get really, really fun in a lot of sectors. So I wanted to get your take on your involvement and the direction that you see for Manning moving forward.

Alex Klenman: Obviously, as Etienne spoke to and as you have alluded to, the energy space is critical. And if we are into this supercycle that we're speaking of — commodities are going to fly. We know that once interest rates start to come down, we're really going to see a boost. We're positioning ourselves for that. 

And copper is going to play a huge part over the next 12 to 24 and even 36 months out. And Copper Hill, the project that Etienne spoke to, we like it because it establishes a footprint for us in the copper space. It's in the Walker Lane Trend in Nevada, which is well-known for massive mineralization. 

We're only about 30 km east of the Yerington Copper District, which hosts multiple deposits, including Anaconda's old prolific Yerington Copper Mine. We're in a really good place for this type of exploration. We know that the project itself is a past-producer.

During the early part of the 20th century, a million pounds of copper was produced from shallow underground workings — up to 11% Cu in those shipments. More recent sampling from the 2000s got as high as 12.7% Cu. It's giving us what we want to get on the ground and get the work done, so we've started a program. 

We're looking for dual targets. Right now, we're doing a property-wide soil and rock geochem program. We're going to do geological mapping and good-old rock sampling. And we're also doing a property-wide gravity survey. And the results of all of that will give us some prime targets to drill that we hope to get to late summer, early fall. 

As Etienne mentioned, we have the capital to do so. And we're also, I should mention, looking to expand in the copper space. We've got our eye on a couple of more advanced projects. We're certainly not resting on Copper Hill alone as our only copper asset. We're in a good position to go shopping for something more advanced and something that's also going to add value.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, you answered my next question. And the reason I was going to ask it is — and this is important for people that may be new to the resource space — share structure is everything, especially at the inception of a company. And the way you've positioned the structure allows the company the flexibility to go and enroll in multiple assets without getting too diluted. 

Often with juniors, you're an exploration company, and before you know it, you have a hundred million shares without a real flagship asset. And that's a recipe for future dilution and a recipe for shareholders not getting the most out of even a good bull market. I like what you've done in regards to the structure. 

I hope the structure stays and is maintained in a good place. And obviously, you're in the right jurisdiction and you have the right metals. I'm excited to see what Copper Hill provides. I'm also excited to see, with the vast network that the two of you have, what you're able to bring into the Manning portfolio. Anything else to add to that, Etienne?

Etienne Moshevich: Yes, if you look, I’ve yet to find another copper company with an asset like ours, with a structure like ours, with the cash in the bank. You see a lot of these companies with a C$2M market cap but either they don't have an asset or they have no cash to do any work on them. 

And in this market, obviously, copper has been moving higher… but I think it's going a lot higher. And you need to be able to take advantage of it. And we're in a position to take advantage of it with the cash that we have in the bank and with the work that we're going to be doing. So I think 2024 for Manning is going to be a very, very exciting time.

Gerardo Del Real: Good stuff. I'm looking forward to having the both of you on. I'm looking forward to the developments. I think you definitely have the copper price on your side. And let's see how Copper Hill performs, and let's see what you're able to dig up, literally. Thanks again, gentlemen. Appreciate the time.

Alex Klenman: Awesome. Thanks so much, Gerardo.

Etienne Moshevich: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Gerardo Del Real: Cheers, fellas.