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General Market Commentary
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General Precious Metals
Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW) CEO Michael Hudson on High-Grade Results, Upcoming Resource Update from the Rajapalot Gold Project in Finland & Closing of Central Victorian Goldfields Acquisition in Australia
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, first and foremost, how are you? Do you find yourself in good health?
Michael Hudson: I am in good health fortunately at the moment, touch wood, Gerardo.
Gerardo Del Real: It's good to hear. I know that you had quite a busy month. There was PDAC, I know that you were on the road prior to and immediately afterwards, so that's great news.
There was also great news earlier this month from Mawson. You put out, I believe it's the best drill hole of the 2020 winter season for Mawson. It was 7.2 meters at 21.7 grams per tonne gold. That included 2 meters at 52.7 grams per tonne gold. More importantly, this was a 120-meter step-out hole.
Can we talk about the release from March 9th and how things are progressing there?
Michael Hudson: Yeah, that was probably pretty much timed with the start of the fall of the market. So, it got a little lost in that week when everything went pear shaped as this virus news started to spread globally. But that doesn't change the gold in the ground and what this asset is building out to in Finland.
We've had an initial resource, as everybody probably knows, back in December, 2018, just a little north of 400,000 ounces. We drilled in 2019 and extended that but didn't have enough drill holes to put a resource together.
Now this year we've infilled and extended that resource and tripled the meters from that initial 2018 resource. We'll put out a new resource mid-year going into Q3 that will have triple the drill meters. Those triple the drill meters will include results like this where they've been big step-outs.
We're finding other high-grade trends. We've got basically each of the three bodies now drilled down to 600 meters down plunge. There's three bodies. The growth of the volume at least and now we can start to talk about some tonnes when we get grade. The step-outs will add to those initial resources without a doubt. It's just growing so nicely, Gerardo.
It's so pleasant when a body, and bodies in the geological world, continue to get better. That's what we're seeing. The grades are getting better and we're following it and have continuity. And that continuity is because we understand the controls on gold as much as much as we can. And that doesn't often happen in our space, right? These things don't always grow like that, but you can take a take pause and say, thank goodness this is looking very nice.
Gerardo Del Real: Well, that's got to be exciting for yourself and for shareholders, obviously. You've reported, I believe, 13 out of the 34 holes as of that news release. And drilling was ongoing there.
What's the status of assays and what are we expecting in terms of news flow over the coming weeks and months, Mike?
Michael Hudson: Well, I put out a release yesterday on our Australian assets. As part of that release we announced that drilling had ceased around all this whole virus and COVID and making sure everyone was safe. We took the decision to stop a few hundred meters short of our planned 15 kilometers. So, I think we drilled a just short of 14.2 kilometers. We finished 37 holes and we haven't released anything since March 9th yet. We've still got 13 holes only, out of the 37, released so far.
So, some good news flow to come. We're working away in shifts in our drill core facility, or the guys and girls are working from home. So it has slowed things down a little but not hugely. The assay labs are still working as far as we've been told, so those results will continue to flow through until April/May.
Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned news out of Australia, massive, massive land package. You announced the execution of the agreement for the central Victorian gold fields investment and acquisition in Australia. Close to home, obviously.
Can we talk about that? These are projects that I'm excited to see developed and I know it's earlier stage for some more than others. But, can we talk a bit about what the approach is going to be once things get back to normal?
Michael Hudson: Well, with the world shutting down, it seems like a smart move getting some projects only a hundred kilometers north of where I'm sitting right at this stage. A little more accessible and easier to work perhaps than a lot of places around the world. As we've just talked about, the Finnish projects create such a solid base for Mawson. You can see that our resource base is growing and continues to grow and we're very excited. It looks like a big system there that we're banking per drill hole, if you like.
Now, the Australian side of things is earlier stage, but it creates a huge optionality. This has essentially added very little to our market cap at the moment. We just closed yesterday. We signed the definitive agreements and actually we'll be closing over the next day or so in terms of just the mechanics. But, that's done now. So, that creates huge optionality in the headframe of what is the best and highest grade and most profitable goldmine in the space, being Fosterville.
Gerardo Del Real: Well said. 3,600 square kilometers. Am I correct? I'm working off a memory here, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Michael Hudson: Yeah, your memory is still holding up there. So, it's a three-tiered project or three-tiered deal. We have the right of first refusal on the largest contiguous tenure position in the state of Victoria. 3,600 kilometers. That's huge, right? That's something like 100 by 100 kilometers n terms of just putting boundaries around those permits. And, they're all contiguous.
They include the mine that was mined by Perseverance before they went to mine Fosterville. So, that's number one. And that first right of refusal was gained by taking a 10% holding in Nagambie Resources, which is an ASX-listed company that holds this ground.
And then we purchased outright a project called Clonbinane, that in itself has drill holes just as good as Finland, but only being looked at the very surface in the oxide profile. It's open over 11 kilometers. There's holes like 17 meters at 7 grams gold at 50 meters untouched in that. So, that's a fantastic project in its own right.
Then we've joint ventured into two projects not too far from Fosterville and immediately along strike from Mandalay's Costerfield mine, literally along the same structure. Once again, they haven't ever been looked at from more than the top 50 meters. So, high-grade targets going to depth is the aim in all of these areas. It was a forgotten area until Fosterville put it back on the map and we know it pretty well.
Gerardo Del Real: Well, that's a lot to look forward to. What's the market cap for Mawson look like right now, Mr. Hudson?
Michael Hudson: That's a good question. It's so volatile that you put me on the spot, but I can tell you it's $36 million Canadian.
Gerardo Del Real: $36 million Canadian. When will we have that updated resource estimate? You said mid-year?
Michael Hudson: Yeah, I think July, August. Something like that.
Gerardo Del Real: Well, I believe we are on the verge of what will be looked back at as a historic gold bull market. We're currently right around the $1,650 level. We're seeing $100, $120 moves on a daily basis now. I got to believe with all of the liquidity and stimulus that's being provided on a global scale that we're just getting going on what I think is going to be a phenomenal time to have millions of ounces of high-grade gold in a stable jurisdiction. So, keep us posted. Thank you for coming on. Anything you'd like to add, Mike?
Michael Hudson: In two stable jurisdictions actually, being Finland and Australia. We're really branding ourselves as an explorer in two safe, highly prospective parts of the world.
Gerardo Del Real: There you go. Well said. That's why you get the last word. Mike, thank you so much, appreciate it.
Michael Hudson: Thanks, Gerardo.