"Richard (Rick) Mills
Ahead of the Herd
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
TNR Gold Corp (TSX.V:TNR) is a project generation company active in precious, base metals, Lithium, rare metals and rare earth elements (REEs)."
Clif Droke -- Interviews Mike Sieb of TNR Gold / International Lithium Corp.
Clif Droke, highly regarded editor of the three times weekly Momentum Strategies Report newsletter, published since 1997, interviews Mike Sieb on the latest progress on the South American lithium project, corporate updates, and what shareholders and investors can expect from the ILC IPO later this summer.
TNR Gold Corp. (TNR:TSXV) is a junior mining company actively exploring a portfolio of gold and copper properties in North and South America. Last year TNR acquired two Canadian Lithium and Rare Earth Elements (REE) properties around Thunderbay, Ontario, the Forgan Lake property and the Niemi Lake property.
Since our last interview and company update with TNR President and CEO Gary Schellenberg last year, TNR has had a major resurgence with its recent entry into the lithium market. TNR.s subsidiary, International Lithium, is in the process of being spun out into a separate entity. Junior Mining Stock Report recently spoke with Mike Sieb, Chief Operating Officer for TNR, who provided us with an update of the company's latest developments.
Q: How are things progressing with the company.s International Lithium spin-out?
Sieb: Excellent. We.re currently scheduled for our TNR shareholder vote for the spin-out of International
Lithium, which is the rare metals subsidiary of TNR Gold. The date of the vote is set for June 22.
So far it appears that we expect the vote to pass and following the short period of time pending
Exchange and court approval we should be trading on the Toronto Venture Exchange at some point in July.
Q: I understand that International Lithium recently commenced an exploration program at
Sarcobatus Flats, Nevada. Can you update us in terms of the progress being made?
Sieb: We have a fairly large land package encompassing three project areas adjacent to Clayton
Valley, Nevada, which is the Silver Peak operation by Chemetall Foote, the sole lithium brine production facility in North America. We have initiated a geophysical survey of all our projects in the area.
We are using a systematic exploration approach to the area and we.re treating Nevada as not just a number of properties but as a single project area. The geophysical survey we.ve just completed is a gravity survey. It.s the traditional initial tool to cover a large area to determine the geometry of the basement rock. We are looking for the low points in the basement tomography which would be the ideal structural in which to host an economic lithium brine aquifer. We are currently processing the gravity results and the primary purpose of the gravity survey is to identify potential drill targets. We'll be following up in the fall and testing the various projects with approximately 2-3 drill holes per property. Our goal is to advance a number of those projects toward resource delineation.
Q: What.s happening at the Mariana Lithium Brine project in Argentina?
Sieb: We've had a very successful spring program. We targeted three areas within the salars, or salt lake, there. We have positive initial surface samples of the brine. However, we need to test what the brine chemistry looks like at depth. We've completed three holes across the three different regimes in the salar. Currently the samples are at the lab and the results are pending, so we.re really looking forward to those results.
Q: From which countries do you see most of the demand for lithium coming from?
Sieb: I would expect that most of the demand is coming from the Asian realm with China, Japan and Korea primarily as the future demand centers for lithium.
Q: Have you seen a comeback in lithium demand in the last year or so since the credit crisis?
Sieb: Yes definitely. There is a palpable feeling in regard to demand and potential future demand for lithium just in comparison to the last 12 months. There have been some significant deals performed by end users in regard to development and exploration. We are talking about millions of dollars in development to access the strategic lithium resources.
Q: What are some of the latest developments at the Los Azules copper project?
Sieb: The Los Azules project is currently in litigation proceedings with TNR Gold and Xstrata and by association Minera Andes. TNR Gold is stating that we have a 25 percent back-in right to a certain portion of the project. We feel that we have justification in regard to our back-in right. If you look at our recent news in the public domain it states that we have served notice to exercise our 25 percent backin right and a court date has been set for the fall of 2010 to resolve the issue. Los Azules is one of the largest copper projects in the world; reporting a significant National Instrument 43-101-compliant inferred resource. So this is quite a substantial asset that can potentially benefit TNR Gold down the road.
Q: Is TNR doing any gold exploration this summer?
Sieb: Yes, we have two other projects that have been our primary focus in the past the El Salto and the El Tapau projects in Argentina consisting of an initial phase of exploration including a small drill program. We are looking forward to doing additional exploration work and follow-up drilling. The El Tapau project especially has a significant number of compelling geological and mineralizing features that we need to pursue.
Q: What can investors expect to see from TNR Gold and International Lithium in the near future?
Sieb: We are looking forward to going from one strong company to two strong companies. We.re looking at unlocking the value of our rare metal projects that.s currently mixed in the basket of TNR Gold's traditional gold and copper projects. So the division of these assets should definitely benefit the shareholder in terms of added valuation for the combined entities.
[For more information visit TNR.s web site at www.tnrgoldcorp.com. Visit www.internationallithium.com for info regarding TNR.s new subsidiary.]
Special Report
[Disclosure: This interview is not to be construed as a buy recommendation for TNR Gold Corp. It is intended solely for educational and research purposes and is part of an ongoing dialogue between the Junior Mining Stock Report newsletter and various junior mining and exploration firms that utilize unique and innovative approaches to metals mining and exploration. Investors should do their own due diligence before investing in any natural resource company. Neither Junior Mining Stock Report nor its affiliates received payment or compensation in any form for this interview, nor does the editor currently own shares in TNR Gold Corp.]
http://www.clifdroke.com/
We have a position in this company, please, do not consider anything as an investment advise, as usual, on this blog.
1 comment:
Thank you for this article! I wonder how this market will flourish as time goes on. I know that the gold and silver trading markets are flourishing but, I am curious to see where lithium goes. Thank you again!
Post a Comment