Categories: Base Metals / Precious Metals
Topics: General Base Metals / General Precious Metals

Nevada Sunrise Metals (TSX-V: NEV)(OTC: NVSGF) CEO Warren Stanyer on Drilling for Lithium, Gold, Copper in Nevada in a Rising Commodities Bull Market

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the very patient president & CEO of Nevada Sunrise Metals — Mr. Warren Stanyer. 

Warren, I joke because we were joking off air about how you and I have had to exercise patience here in the new year as everyone gets back in the office and as drillers get back on the ground. But the good news is that the drill bit is once again turning at your 100%-owned Gemini Lithium Project in Nevada. 

We're all obviously eagerly waiting for water sample results. We're all eagerly waiting for Hole No. 3 to get complete results to have a better snapshot moving forward. And borehole No. 4 is now targeting a really strong conductive anomaly that I know we're all excited about because it's 1.17 kilometers northwest of Hole No. 2, and this is going to test the deepest part of the Gemini Basin to date. 

So that's a whole heck of a lot — but I'm excited. And if I need to be patient, we can be patient.

Warren Stanyer: Well, you seem to have a good handle on what we're doing… that's for sure. But what we're looking at is the first three holes; we drilled them all on a north-south line. So this is our first hole to the northwest of Hole No. 2 — sort of the middle of that line. And we do expect it to be deeper.

First of all, Hole No. 3 is the first hole that we've hit basement with. So the first two holes that we drilled, highly exploratory, not knowing what to expect. And when things got really tough and slow, we decided to terminate holes 1 and 2 at depths 1,000 feet for Hole No. 1 and 1,120 feet for Hole No. 2. 

So in this case, we got all the way to 1,600-feet-plus. We hit what we interpreted as basement. And that's a really important fact because what we can see — and we were right — is that when we drilled Hole No. 3 to the north of 1 and 2 that we were in a shallower part of the basin. It definitely is. We can see that in the alluvium, the sand and gravel that we first encounter. 

In Hole No. 3, which was completed in December, the alluvium ended at 285 feet, whereas, in Hole No. 2, for example, it ended at about 450 feet. So there's a steepening of the basin fill. In other words, the basin itself is getting deeper. Therefore, there was more of this alluvium sitting in these areas that are further south from where we just finished.

So Hole No. 4, which we put a map out on today, is kind of smack dab in the middle of this, call it, a parallelogram that's developing between holes 1, 2, and 3. And we've got locations to the north and the south of this particular Hole No. 4 that would give us, then, six holes forming a tilted square, let's call it that, or tilted rectangle. 

And then from there, perhaps, we just fill in… or do we go further upfield into some of the areas that we’ve permitted? And that's what exploration is all about. And we're the pioneers here in the Gemini Basin.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let's be very frank, Warren; you and I have chatted off air and we’ve talked about the company's approach to the assays. And I know that everyone, including myself — and I'm a biased shareholder; I've said it every time that I do one of these interviews or we chat on the record — I'm biased because I own shares, and I have exposure to quite a few, and I want to win on the lithium side and the gold side. And I'll ask you about that in a second. 

But what's the approach moving forward on the assays; the sediment and the water samples that we're waiting on for Hole No. 3 right now? And then, subsequently, what will the approach be for Hole No. 4 — if you can divulge that?

Warren Stanyer: Well, what we wanted to do with Hole No. 3 — and we put out some assays and some analyses in November — was to see how it matched to what we'd seen in holes 1 and 2. And it basically has. So I don't think we have to rush to put out any samples anymore. We just need to get samples to the lab as soon as possible because I think it's the most fair representation of what we're doing is to have the complete hole from top to bottom instead of potentially confusing the public with parts of holes or not consecutive analyses. So that's what we'll be doing going forward.

And if we can drill faster or maybe have two drills going in the future depending on what the budget for this project is — I mean, I'd like it to be in the tens of millions of dollars to outline a huge resource — it wouldn't be inconceivable to have two drills going. And that way, there'd be double the news flow… that's for sure. 

But right now, we just have to wait for these holes to be finished and for the results to come in and compile them. And then, we can tell everybody what we’ve got.

Gerardo Del Real: I look forward to those results. I understand and fully agree with the lithium being the primary focus for Nevada Sunrise Metals right now, being that this is a 100%-owned project that has the potential in a red-hot lithium bull market to really prove out some scale and potentially maybe even — and we'll talk about a basin when we get the results — a brine basin.

But look, you have a gold project that you still have a substantial interest in — close to 20% — that I am also very, very keen on. I love the project. The operator and 80%-owner, CopAur Minerals (TSX-V: CPAU)(OTC: COPAF), has done some really, really good geophysics work; work that both you and I had encouraged for a long time. 

They've done a great job outlining some exciting targets to the north. And look, with gold at US$1,900 an ounce and the dollar index above 100, I think we're in for a pretty exciting 2023 in the gold space. Do you have an update on Kinsley Mountain?

Warren Stanyer: Well, we just had a meeting yesterday, and I don't want to get into too many details. But first, with the rise in the gold price, I think there should be a focus on the Western Flank where there are areas that are in between holes where you can add to the resource and add to the confidence in the resource estimate. So that's probably where we're going here early in the year. 

And should the gold market continue to rise and be stable at this price, then there's a better opportunity for CopAur and for us to raise money for the project and have some larger budgets and more prospecting holes, shall we say. 

So at this point, I think bringing up the confidence in the resource estimate is a good thing. And the Western Flank is where there's a high-grade system.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, I like the Western Flank… I like the targets to the north… I love a gold bull market. And look, lithium was very kind to me in 2022. I suspect it will continue to be kind to me in 2023. And I suspect you and I will be chatting soon. 

Warren, thank you so much for the update. Is there anything else to add to that? You have a copper project that I really like as well but we'll talk about that maybe another time — unless you have an update for me.

Warren Stanyer: Well, we'd like to get out there. Again, it's just people, time, and budget. So right now, the focus is on lithium. But I think to go to Coronado and put a couple of holes in it in the spring to early-summer would be a good thing. 

I mean, we want to know what we have there, and we haven't been lucky in just getting to basement through this overburden. So we've got some ideas about how to do that and prove the project to be what we think it could be.

Gerardo Del Real: And just for those of you that are new to that project, the Coronado Copper Project is a VMS project. Big Mike is the past-producing mine. We know that mines of these types, these deposits, typically happen in clusters, which is the signature for VMS deposits. 

They've only discovered one; it's in Nevada. The historic resource was very high-grade. I'd love to find another one of those, make a discovery at Kinsley, add to that resource, and outline a significant lithium resource in Nevada on the lithium side. That would make for a pretty wonderful 2023, Warren.

Warren Stanyer: Yes, and just one more thing about Coronado, and it's really a tribute to the persistence of exploration and people taking chances and taking risks. So in the 1930s, I believe it was, someone sampled an outcrop sticking up out of the dirt and it ran a few grams of gold. 

Well, that wasn't really exciting in 1938, I think it was. But it was interesting because, I mean, at that time, if you were mining gold, you pretty much had to be mining an ounce per tonne or close to it when gold was US$35 an ounce. But somebody thought, ‘You know what… why don't I try and put a hole right in the middle of this little flat spot here?’ And that's how they found Big Mike.

So that mineralization — that little pinnacle sticking up out of the dirt that had gold in it — was actually the key to a copper mine… one of the highest-grade mines probably in the history of the United States. Small, but the ore was so rich that you could ship it direct-to-smelter, which they did, all the way to West Germany back in 1970. 

So there you go. Some guy took a chance and drilled a hole. People thought he was crazy, no doubt!

Gerardo Del Real: That's why we've been writing checks for many, many years, Warren. Let's see what 2023 has in store. I think I've said the name Nevada Sunrise Gold — and now, Nevada Sunrise Metals — so many times to my wife that she's probably tired of hearing about it. 

But look, it's also Nevada Sunrise Gold that was very good to me several times, and I suspect it's going to be very good to me in 2023. So cheers to that, and we'll chat again soon. Thanks, Warren!

Warren Stanyer: Thanks, Gerardo. It's been a pleasure.