Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Revival Gold (TSX-V: RVG)(OTC: RVLGF) CEO Hugh Agro on Building Value via a 6.2 Moz Au Resource Profile Across Two Key Past-Producing Gold Projects in the Western USA

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the president & CEO of Revival Gold — Mr. Hugh Agro. Hugh, great to have you back on. Interesting day to have you on. First and foremost, how are you, sir?

Hugh Agro: Very well, Gerardo. Thanks for having me.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's get right into it. I say it's an interesting day to have you on because we have some M&A in the gold space with some Idaho friendlies. On top of that, we have what I see as the beginning of a rotation into some of the small caps. I think that's going to benefit the resource space and the part of the sector that we speculate on — that being natural resource stocks and junior mining companies. 

And I think Revival Gold, with the recent acquisition and the exploration upside and the production profile that Revival now boasts, is positioned really, really well for the second half. 

I want to talk about all of the catalysts that you have envisioned for the second half for Revival. But before that, I'd love to get your take on the rotation from maybe tech into the small caps. Are you sensing that out? I know we talked a bit off-air but are you seeing some of that in your conversations when you talk to corporates?

Hugh Agro: I'm definitely seeing that. Not just the corporates but the retail crowd as well. You're seeing a pick-up in the Russell 2000 Index, which is indicative of small cap and value interest relative to the big cap tech names that have been so shiny over the last 14 years or so. 

That's a rotation that's been on the come for a while here but we're certainly seeing some indications that that's moving in our favor. You talk about corporate development in the sector, and there has been some activity. We're certainly very much on top of all the opportunities out there. 

If we see things that we think are a quality fit for good value, we're certainly looking at those. And with an active corporate development effort, nothing really has got us too excited here.

Post our Mercur transaction, we’ve brought in 1.6 million ounces of oxide heap leach material on a brownfields site right in line with our strategy. And we think that's a great fit for us at what we're building at Revival Gold. 

You mentioned the recent transaction that Florida Canyon Gold announced today. That's an interesting situation. It’s not really where we're focused but we'd like to see consolidation in the space, and we wish our friends at Integra Resources well with that. 

In this broad sector that's moving our way, we're seeing ETF buying in the space now, which is a good sign for gold equities, generally, and, of course, the expectation of rates coming off in the fall.

Gerardo Del Real: You mentioned the fall; we need to talk about the fall. What do you see happening with Revival in the second half? I know you have a lot of earlier-stage exploration work but then some more advanced-stage work that's going to lead into that, obviously. Break down for me what to expect in the second half as a Revival Gold shareholder.

Hugh Agro: Let’s talk about our recent press release first. We've been really busy building up the database for our geological model so that we can support that PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) at our Mercur project in Utah. We've gone through over 19,000 historical drill logs and have been getting that data scanned in as part of our geological model. 

On the exploration side, as part of our data review, we found four drill holes that had not been assayed. We got those sampled and have released some interesting intercepts there, including 0.9 grams per tonne gold over 26 meters in the main Mercur area. 

What's really interesting about that is, of course, we're taking it to the next level and also doing metallurgical work. We've got a really nice, cyanide-soluble fire assay gold ratio on drill hole EN086, which is quite favorable, at a 78% recovery. That's a good indication of where gold extractions will come out for that area.

We've got column test work underway, and we're seeing really good leach cycle times on that. We'll have the results from that full program out, I'm expecting, in September. Also, in September, we're going to be back in the field with more Mercur exploration. We've got our team heading out there under our chief geologist Dan Pace's leadership to develop targets for future drilling on the Mercur project. 

So a lot is happening on the exploration front and the metallurgical front. And, of course, in the background, we're busy with the PEA for the Mercur project, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year. And that's just at Mercur… so there is a lot going on at Revival Gold.

Gerardo Del Real: You clearly are now focused on developing a rich production profile, and I think you're going to capture the absolute sweet part of the gold cycle here; the profitable part. 

I think that's really key for people that dabble in the space to understand that you could be a gold company and completely miss the most profitable part of the cycle. I think that part is coming. I think your timing, as far as potentially putting this into production, is going to be excellent.

And I have to believe that with the enhanced production profile, you're going to be the subject of a lot of conversations with mid-tiers and majors looking to replenish their production profile. Any thoughts on that?

Hugh Agro: Absolutely. We have 6.2 million ounces of gold in total resources between our Mercur project in Utah and our Beartrack-Arnett gold project in Idaho. These are great locations to be in. 

The first phase at Beartrack, together with what we have at Mercur, gives us a scale at about a target size of 150,000 ounces a year of heap leach gold production. There are synergistic locations for our team. Given our location and our expertise and the similarity between the two sites and our common infrastructure headstart for both of these projects really gives us a nice platform to be working from. 

That 6.2 million ounces of resource is meaningful in terms of option value for higher gold prices and for future expansion and production. We're feeling good about things, and we're really happy with the way the portfolio is developing. The team is really excited about what we're doing. 

Gerardo, we’ll continue to keep you posted on that front. We have no ambitions to sell the company here as we’ve got a lot more value that we can surface, we believe, in this portfolio.

Gerardo Del Real: I’m looking forward to catching up in person at the Beaver Creek Precious Metals Conference. That's always a really well-attended and well-executed event. Of course, we'll have our camera crew out there… so I’ll be looking forward to chatting in person. If you happen to be around, everyone, please say hello. Anything to add to that, Hugh?

Hugh Agro: Thanks, Gerardo. We'll look forward to seeing you at Beaver Creek.

Gerardo Del Real: Alright, cheers. See you then.

Click here to see more from Revival Gold Inc.