You took over as CEO of BonTerra Resources in 2020. What are some of your key objectives to drive shareholder value?
BonTerra has a resources portfolio of over 3 million oz of gold from three deposits that were just updated in June 2021, as well as an operational mill within trucking distance from the three deposits. We have been actively drilling since 2019 with the aim of demonstrating our plan to develop our assets to the market. Our primary objective is to advance the geological knowledge of the three deposits through drilling, updating the resource, and preliminary economic assessment (PEA), which is scheduled for Q4 2021. Depending on the PEA result, we will then move to prefeasibility and feasibility as to continue to grow the resource and advance the engineering to eventually proceed with construction.
What are the advantages of Gladiator compared to other major discoveries in Québec and the region?
Gladiator is a high grade, narrow vein deposit. It is fairly young in terms of geological knowledge, and in 2019, when we released the resource we did not even have 200,000 m of drilling on the deposit. The deposit looks very promising and is open along strike and at depth. In June 2021, we expanded the resource to 1.4 million with a total of 246,386 m of drilling .
The Gladiator deposit is on the shore of Lac Barry, and we have two drill rigs on the water drilling through the summer into late fall. Being a narrow vein subvertical structure, it is more inclined to be mined through underground mining techniques. Therefore, we are in the permitting process to start a decline which will allow us to drill year-round.
What is BonTerra’s strategy with its other assets?
Our other assets are more advanced from a permitting perspective. The Barry deposit is on an existing mining lease and is already permitted, but we are still in the permitting process at the Bachelor mill to accept feed from the Barry deposit. In terms of engineering, the decline is already down 100 m below the surface. It is now a matter of completing resource estimate, doing the PEA, and then building the mine. We have a solid geology team working on the deposit and we expect some surprising results.
BonTerra has the only permitted mill in the Urban-Barry camp. What is the importance of this mill and how is this an advantage for the company?
In Québec, given our access to hydroelectricity, we have some of the lowest power costs in the world. The Bachelor mill is on the power grid which is a significant advantage in terms of operating costs. Having an existing mill and an existing tailings facility reduces capex significantly when doing an economic assessment and putting projects into production. It also reduces the timeline of the permitting process.
What support has BonTerra received in terms of the shareholder base of the company?
The largest shareholder of BonTerra is Wexford Capital, and they hold two board seats. The board is well aligned with shareholder interests, which contributes to our value driven approach. Our shareholder support is crucial to getting our assets into production, and 60% of our shareholder base are large intuitions such as Wexford Capital, Kirkland Lake Gold, Fidelity, Mmcap, and CDPQ. These institutions believe in the value we are working to unlock and are supporting us to execute the plan and get our PEA out in Q4 2021.
What is Bonterra’s long term vision and what makes you a compelling company to invest in?
Bonterra is located in a jurisdiction that is mining friendly and where there is ample support for the industry. We are in a young camp and there is still significant opportunity for discovery, which is extremely exciting looking forward. We already have an operating mill which makes it even more attractive for us to build out our three assets, and we believe we will create a lot of wealth for all stakeholders.
