Categories: General Market Commentary / Precious Metals
Topics: General Market Commentary / General Precious Metals

Millrock Resources (TSX-V: MRO) Greg Beischer on Resuming 2,300-Meter Drill Program and Geophysical Surveys at the 64North Gold Project in Alaska

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President and CEO of Millrock Resources (TSX-V: MRO)(OTC: MLRKF), Mr. Greg Beischer. Greg, how are you this morning?

Greg Beischer: Very good, Gerardo. Good morning.

Gerardo Del Real: Back on the saddle, you had some news this morning. Well anticipated, obviously. You reported the resumption of drilling and geophysical surveys – and I want to talk about those – at the Aurora Target and West Pogo Block at the 64North Gold Project in Alaska. I have to ask, how is the weather there right now?

Greg Beischer: It's gorgeous as a matter of fact, Gerardo. A beautiful sunny day here at my home in Anchorage and I suspect it's pretty nice out at the drill project as well.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's talk about the resumption of drilling. When did drilling commence?

Greg Beischer: Just a few days ago. So, we're well into the first hole at this point. We'll be cranking on it right through to probably the end of July, by the time the currently planned program is completed. I guess it's possible that our partner will extend the program based on those first results, which I'd anticipate coming out perhaps around the end of July. There's some unknowns, of course, because we're not sure how efficient the assay laboratories will be. Like Millrock, they've got plans in place to manage safety and keep people safe despite the pandemic, but it might result in a slowdown. We're not sure yet.

Gerardo Del Real: You're targeting an initial 2,300 meters - I should say additional to the initial hole and a half that you drilled before. Correct?

Greg Beischer: That's correct, yeah. Part of the plan is to complete to 600 or 700 meters depth, the second hole that we had initiated, but abandoned or suspended in March. That one is down at a bit of a lower area where it's wet. So, we're waiting for that to dry out. In the meantime, there's three other excellent targets that were selected and they're underway now. 

This breather gave us a bit of time to reflect on the initial results and to adapt the program a little bit. We're more or less sticking with the original plan. We're in the system, Gerardo. We've got all the right geological features that we want to see, but we need the gold. It was just anomalous. So we're thinking we need to be closer to the heat source, that magnetic source of the hydrothermal fluids that can bring the gold.

So, we're moving northward first by 400-and-something meters and then by about 800 meters or 1,000 meters closer to this diorite magmatic intrusion that potentially could be responsible for gold mineralization. As I mentioned the last time we spoke, we've got the system, but we need to vector within and drill a series of holes to point us towards the deposition of goal.

Gerardo Del Real: I understand you're also undertaking some geophysical surveys?

Greg Beischer: Yes, two good things there. You'll recall that the Goodpaster deposit of gold on our neighbor's property, Northern Star, the new deposit they've discovered just on the other side of the claim boundary really was discovered by using a geophysical method called CSAMT. We had used the exact same method on our claims and saw very similar responses that we're drilling right now. However, that's an expensive survey and we're looking for less expensive ways to cover more ground. Last year, in between the CSAMT lines, we used a method called ELF. Very low frequency. It worked, especially with the control of CSAMT. But now we're going to try an airborne method called ZTEM. If it works, then we can use that method over huge swaths of the property. That would be a real competitive advantage, a real way to help us find more gold deposits.

Gerardo Del Real: How accessible is the new system that you're using? Is it something that if you're able to replicate the results, obviously, there's going to be efficiencies there. Can you immediately tap into that and go district-wide with that?

Greg Beischer: I think we would take the time to fully assess the results once they come, Gerardo, and really make sure that's what we want to do and that further expenditures would be done wisely. Geophysical surveys can be great tools, but they're just one tool in the explorer's toolbox. Before we would proceed, we want to compare those results with the other geophysical methods that we've applied already. So, I would look towards next year as a roll-out of a wider-ranging, district-wide type approach.

Gerardo Del Real: When do you expect results from the MAG survey?

Greg Beischer: They'll come quite quickly. In fact, we'll get a download every day from the contractor that's executing that work. Our partner Resolution has a very qualified geophysicist on contract, so he will evaluate those results as soon as they come from the field. But it'll take longer, some weeks I think, to really evaluate and compare them to other methods and really determine in this test survey, if you will, how efficient the method is.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. I know that you have, obviously, a good partnership with royalty owner EMX. Have you relied on any of their technical expertise in regards to the project? I know they vetted it when they decided to come in. Have there been any synergies there? I know that's a word that often gets tossed around rather loosely, but it seems like it could apply here.

Greg Beischer: Sure. I mean, we really enjoy working with the EMX people. They're very good geologists and very good business people. And we look forward to further collaboration. When we first presented this idea to them, I guess it was just over a year ago, they really got on board and got just as excited as we were. In fact, they made a big investment in Millrock so that we could execute this project. We keep them up to date generally, but we haven't so far brought them in to mine their expertise geologically, but we're definitely keeping them informed. They're a big shareholder of our company, so we want to make sure that they know what we're doing and that we're executing well.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. 64North is the flagship, obviously, and where the focus is. It's what has shareholders excited. But can we talk about the rest of the portfolio a bit? Any activity on that front?

Greg Beischer: Sure. We've noticed a lot more incoming calls now that the junior market has picked up. It's clear that things have changed. There's genuine interest from speculators in financing junior companies. It's interesting because we're not getting very many calls from major mining companies right now. It seems like they're still in cutback mode, or suspended much of their exploration, especially the early-stage greenfields grassroots type stuff that Millrock does. It seems like there is money available for new junior companies or re-invigorated junior companies. We anticipate that we'll be able to get partners on the rest of our portfolio here fairly quickly.

Gerardo Del Real: Fantastic. Greg, I want to thank you for the update. Anything else that you'd like to add?

Greg Beischer: Nope. Just happy to see the price of gold moving in the right direction. I think it's going to keep going. I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't moved quicker, given the situation. That just seems to be what drives interest in our space and makes everything a lot easier with the flow of cash. I'm happy to see it and hope it keeps on coming.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, I'll be happier if you're able to vector into that heat source and it results in some economic grades and with some gold in what is a massive, massive land package. Greg, thanks again for the update.

Greg Beischer: Yeah. I'll be very happy too, Gerardo, if we're able to make that a new discovery in the prevailing market conditions for junior stocks. It appears the market really is receptive. We've seen other companies be rewarded for good drill intersections. We're, of course, doing everything we can to make sure Millrock's the next one on the list.

Gerardo Del Real: All right. We'll chat soon. Appreciate it, Greg.

Greg Beischer: All the best. Bye, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Cheers.