Categories: Energy / Precious Metals
Topics: General Energy / General Precious Metals

Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW) CEO Michael Hudson on Favorable Permitting Ruling & Highly Encouraging Assays at the Raja Gold-Cobalt Prospect in Finland

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the Chairman and CEO of Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW)(OTC: MWSNF), Mr. Michael Hudson. Mike, how are you this morning?

Michael Hudson: I'm top of the world, down under.

Gerardo Del Real: Yes sir, yes sir. Listen, it's been a bit quiet post-PDAC, but man, we got some news today from Mawson. I joked off-air that I was going to try to summarize it all in one minute and let you fill in the blanks, but we have drill results from 14 holes, 10 reported with gold and cobalt assays, 1 for gold assays only, and 4 for cobalt assays only. On top of that, we also have an update on a permit that was being contested, that I know is valuable to the company. And I would be remiss if I didn't read the headline which you drilled 31.3 meters of 6 grams per tonne gold equivalent at the Raja Gold-Cobalt Prospect in Finland.

That is the one-minute summary of everything here. A lot more color to provide. I'd love for you to do so, Mike.

Michael Hudson: Thanks, Gerardo. There's a lot of data here and actually, we tried to keep it brief by keeping it to just the one prospect area of the 4 or 5 that we have tested this winter. I think the best way to say it is the program itself is just coming to an end. We drilled over 15 kilometers as we planned, that was at 44 holes, but we still have 28 to report that are up on the logging tables and going through assaying. We've still got another 6 weeks at least of drill holes to come to the table. This is the exciting part of the project. We delivered on the meters as promised and starting to see the results as we hoped.

Gerardo Del Real: The other aspect is that, as you mentioned, there are still drill results pending and you have visible gold in 4 of the 28 drill holes that remain to be reported. Of course, we talked off air, visible gold, VG, doesn't necessarily always translate into grade or economic widths of mineralization. But man, I sure in the heck would rather have it in the core than not, right?

Michael Hudson: Yeah, absolutely. It's very nice to see and I've explored for quite a while now and there's nothing like seeing a bit of gold. Even the most hardened, crusty old geologist get a bit excited when they see it. Let's see what the assays say, but now everyone's on the playing field in terms of knowing what is potentially to come. We've got a lot of meters and we've got a system that's growing and seeing some spectacular grades and there's more of it today.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Mike, as far as the permit, can you provide an update there?

The last time we chatted, we talked about the fact that it somewhat affected, not on a major scale, but it did affect the approach the company was taking to drilling. That's been resolved positively in the company's favor. Can we talk about that and what that means?

Michael Hudson: Yes, simply put, we've got the best permit that we've ever had. We had a 3-year permit granted in January. There was a few shenanigans. I'd like to see your transcribers see if they get the spelling of that word correct.

Gerardo Del Real: Let me say it again. Shenanigans.

Michael Hudson: Shenanigans. In terms of some appellates challenging that. It went through the court. We had 4 weeks outside a nest area that was one of the specifics of an area that was being challenged within our larger area, but the court made a positive decision in our favor. Finland's not the most simple permitting system, but essentially we can see now a runway that we've never had before with this year and the next two years, where we've got more than enough drill pads. Hundreds and hundreds of drill pads that we can choose from to drill out.

Essentially, we've got next year and the year after. Winter, we'll be back there drilling again and preparing from October, which we've never had the chance to do before with drilling starting when there's enough snow in December. When I say preparing, I mean freezing areas that are a little soggy and you need to get in there very early when things start freezing.

It's a fantastic result, and for those who followed the story over the long term, they'll understand the significance of that.

Gerardo Del Real: I joked that there was a lot going on in the news release. One of the things that stands out to me is it seems like you're understanding the controls and the structures of the mineralization a whole lot better. That seemed pretty clear when I read through this.

Michael Hudson: Yeah, you've read lots of press releases, Gerardo, and you're starting to read between the lines. And that's very true. We started the field season drilling the conductors beneath the resource areas and in some of the areas where we just got earlier-stage hits. And it wasn't as simple as just drilling the conductors themselves. It was actually drilling on certain parts of those conductors that was controlling the grade.

I think this hole, the 31 meters at 6 grams of gold equivalent which is made up of 4.3 grams gold itself and just over 1,000 ppm in cobalt was one of the first holes that we really started to get ahold of and understand the controls on the grade. This was a hole that was between two holes 120 meters apart. We were able to target at 60 meters in between and hit it as we predicted, so that's very encouraging.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Next steps, Mike?

Michael Hudson: Next steps are to get to more than half the drill program back. That story will develop over the – I said at least 6 weeks to get the results back, so it's at least two months of news flow and pulling this all together. We'll start our summer work over the next 6 weeks and one of the main things is to try and find some drill areas and get some ore-grade hits in areas where we can drill summer and winter.

That remains a big plan, and then we'll come around very quickly. We want a program as big as this, 15 kilometers or bigger, to start later in the year and get back and start working up the results that still we have to come to the table. It's a growing, expanding resource project. We'll see where the results are going, but we're very encouraged that we're seeing an expanding system.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Mike, thank you so much for that thorough update. I'm looking forward to assays as you receive them, and hopefully you come back on and share those with us.

Michael Hudson: I certainly will, Gerardo. Thank you for so much.

Gerardo Del Real: Thanks again, Mike.

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