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Today I’m talking with Peter Ball, President and COO of NV Gold Corp.
(TSX.V:NVX, US:NVGLF). NVX, with its highly skilled and Nevada
experienced technical team, is focused on gold exploration in Nevada.
I joined the company in September of last year as President and COO, but
I've been a director of NV Gold since 2016 after I sold the assets into NV
Gold from another Company where I was CEO.
My mining career started in the late 1980s when I worked as a mining
engineer, having graduated from the Haileybury School of Mines in Ontario.
Since then I've held various senior executive roles at mining and exploration
companies including Redstar Gold, Columbus Gold, Hudson Bay Mining
& Smelting, Echo Bay Mines, Eldorado Gold, Adriana Resources
and Argentex Mining. My functions in those positions have spanned
corporate finance, securities trading, mine engineering, business
development, corporate communications, public relations and marketing.
AOTH: Please give readers the latest snapshot of NV
Gold.
NV Gold Corporation (TSX.V:NVX, US-NVGLF) is a tightly held Canadian
junior exploration company focused on the discovery of gold deposits in
Nevada. With under 38 million shares outstanding, and renowned gold investor
Eric Sprott plus management or insiders controlling almost 50% of
the company, we manage our treasury closely to ensure that shareholders'
dollars are maximized at the drill bit. We control a large portfolio of 15
gold projects in the right locations or trends throughout Nevada, and own two
extensive geological databases, where our goal is to systematically evaluate
and execute focused exploration projects with two to three drill programs per
year. Our management team and board of directors consists of a highly
respected team that brings an extensive geological knowledge base which has
specifically focused on discoveries, exploration, development and production
in Nevada over the past 30+ years.
AOTH: 15 projects? Which ones are your top
prospects?
Most of the projects we currently control were selected from the
geological database we acquired a couple years ago, and they are all within
the Carlin, Battle Mountain and Walker Lane gold trends. Our portfolio of
projects, when combined with two incredibly valuable geological databases
that we now control, continue to look more interesting.
A number of our properties within our portfolio are either
drill-ready or continue to become more interesting as we review them and
reference our databases. The Projects are ATV, SW Pipe, Seven Devils, Painted
Hills and Richmond Summit, to name a few. Additional projects such as Queens,
Long Island and Larus/Gold Cloud are also under the radar with
information we continue to discover with our team.
 
But the one that tops out is our Frazier Dome Project.
Frazier Dome is an interesting property, based on a small drill program we
completed in the fall of 2018. Initial results yielded notable runs of
detectable gold across altered and mineralized zones up to 150 meters in
width. Five of the eight widely spaced holes delivered gold intersections
greater than 0.10 g/t, and up to 1.035 g/t, pointing to what we believe could
be a robust gold system at depth. Over the winter we continued to model the
project, and the Company is currently evaluating a potential deeper drill
program at Frazier to test this concept, and also to accelerate
testing of an additional five known target zones on the property.
AOTH: Can you expand a bit more on Frazier Dome?
Has it seen much historical exploration?
The project is a
low-sulfidation, volcanic-hosted epithermal gold system with high-grade
mineralization in three settings. It's located about 13 km north of the Tonopah gold district, which
historically produced 174 million ounces of silver and 1.9 million ounces of
gold.
Drilling between 1980 and 1991 intersected significant gold
mineralization, but it was shallow – under 150m. Not all the outcroppings or
mineralized areas under ground cover were tested. Our primary target is the
gold mineralization adjacent to an intrusive rhyolite dome, especially at the
basement contact, known to be a setting conducive to the development of
high-grade epithermal mineralization elsewhere in Nevada.
AOTH: Are you looking to divest any non-core assets?
As we push forward, we will be looking to divest ourselves of certain
projects, as we are not a prospector generator. Interest in Nevada has
significantly increased since Barrick and Newmont started discussing their
expansion strategy in Nevada, and their recent partnership has really heated
up the market for all properties in Nevada, specifically interest in drill
programs to discover and develop new ounces for the larger-cap producers. At
PDAC I spoke to several mid-tier companies that are gearing up their western
US exploration teams to focus on Nevada. That’s great for NV Gold.
AOTH: I think that many readers might recognize one
or two members of your management and board. Can you describe your team?
We have a great team made up of Nevada-experienced geologists, an ex-head
of corporate compliance from the old Vancouver Stock Exchange, who is also an
investment banker and broker, and an engineer-broker-finance executive.
John Watson, our Chairman, CEO and NVX’s largest shareholder, has over 40
years of experience in the mineral resource industry. John was President of
Pan-Nevada Gold, and CEO of Horizon Gold, which built and operated two
open-pit, heap-leach mines in Nevada. John is also a director of Prospero
Silver.
Director Quinton Hennigh, a PhD in geology, is the CEO of Novo
Resources (CNS:NVO), which is developing a conglomerate gold play in Western
Australia. Quinton was the Chief Geologist of Evolving Gold where he is
credited with discovering the Rattlesnake Hills deposit and a gold discovery
three miles north of the ATV Project I mentioned as one of ours.
Director Odin Christensen, PhD, is another long-time geologist with over
35 years of experience in the industry. He was with Newmont Mining for 21
years. Between 1985 and 89, Odin was Exploration Manager for Newmont and
Carlin Gold Mining in northeastern Nevada until he retired as their head geo.
Director Alf Stewart has an extensive career spanning over 40 years in the
resource and investment industries. Alf has had stints as a geologist, stock
exchange regulator, investment banker, analyst and investment advisor. He's
worked for Bank of Montreal, Esso Minerals, Erickson Gold Mining, Canaccord
Capital, Haywood Securities, Golden Capital and Raymond James. Alf has been
involved in financing mining companies for over two decades, including
discoveries in base and precious metals.
Our latest addition to the board of directors is Dr. Marcus Johnston, a
PhD in economic geology, who joined the company in January as VP Exploration.
Marcus brings more than 20 years of experience in exploration and mining,
with an emphasis on mineral systems in Nevada. Over the last four years he's
consulted to a number of private groups, including NV Gold. Before
that he worked with Renaissance Gold, Victoria Gold up in the Yukon, and
Newmont. Marcus began his research on Carlin-type deposits in 1997, which led
to the discovery of the Helen Zone near the old Cove open pit in
north-central Nevada. It's got a current resource of 713,000 oz gold and
237,000 oz silver.
He also revitalized the entire McCoy mining district, now owned by Premier
Gold Mines. Marcus has evaluated over 500 properties in Nevada and played a
key role in advancing numerous exploration projects and active mines.
AOTH: Why would such seasoned professionals, six
gentlemen with over 125 years of combined experience in Nevada, be involved
in a tiny company with a market cap of just US$4 million?
Our team has known each other for many years, and after having worked for
larger companies such as Newmont in Nevada, I believe the entrepreneurial
spirit drives great executives to join forces with industry colleagues with
one goal - make a discovery again. Our team has an extensive background in
exploration and making discoveries in Nevada. We see this as an opportunity
to build something together, with a number of quality drill-ready
projects, and extensive geological databases. Should be a lot of fun.
AOTH: Can you talk about the geological databases
you've acquired? What do they do for NV Gold? Could you potentially monetize
them?
Well, our goal is to minimize dilution and to put dollars into the ground,
so yes, monetizing some of the assets is part of the strategy. The databases
are very valuable to other groups looking to explore in Nevada. They were
developed in the 1970s and 80s by USMX, which explored Nevada and built a
wealth of information, and AngloGold in the 1990s and 2000s.
The combination of these databases brings a new level of exploration
modeling and “Nevada 2.0” thinking about the multiple layers of opportunity
that remain buried in Nevada.
AOTH: NV Gold has a tight capital structure, under
38 million shares outstanding at the moment. Do you plan on keeping the
share count low?
Yes absolutely, corporate share structure is key to ensuring we can
maximize shareholder returns. We are focused on executing exploration
programs, completing the right-size financings when we need to top up the
treasury, while minimizing the share count. We are all shareholders, so it
starts from within the company.
AOTH: I see you announced on March 21,
2019 that you upsized and oversubscribed your financing? And it
looks like you are keeping it small?
Yes, with just under $900,000 in the treasury, we wanted to ensure we
could head into the season armed with a stronger cash balance. The
placement was quickly oversubscribed so we capped it at $1M to ensure we
minimize dilution at this level. We wanted to raise the bare
minimum to be ready for the season and watch out for unnecessary dilution.
AOTH: What’s always good to see if
management participation in a financing. Is management putting
some money in the financing?
Great question and yes, I am personally taking 15% of the PP, and
management in total will be participating likely close to 30% of the entire
funds raised. We will also see a group buy up to 9.9% of the
company in the PP, and upon closing the week of March 25-29th, we would have
around 46 million shares outstanding and cashed up for the year.
AOTH: How about acquisitions, what metals and what
jurisdictions might your team be interested in?
We are focused on Nevada, but always keeping our eyes open. Our team, with
their extensive contacts, are often presented with opportunities so if we see
something of merit, we'll go after it. Other than Nevada, we like Canada, and
Australia.
AOTH: Interest in Nevada has gone up recently.
First there was the Newmont-Goldcorp
merger, then the Fraser Institute named Nevada as the number one mining
investment jurisdiction in the world. Has NV Gold been approached by
prospective acquirers or JV/earn-in partners?
Investment Attractiveness Index,
Fraser Institute 2018
Absolutely. As I mentioned, the Newmont-Barrick discussions have really
opened the eyes of the market and opportunities in Nevada. This year's PDAC
was a reversal of what I've seen in previous years. The optimism was
palpable. We were very busy with a lot of groups wanting to talk about our
project’s portfolio.
AOTH: How much drilling do you plan to do in 2019?
We are just putting together our exploration budget for a solid drill
program or potentially two this year. The market will be advised soon on our
next steps, and we look forward to building momentum. It also helps that the
market appears to be headed in the right direction. I listen to the street,
the herd, boardrooms, and the experts. It appears that they're all mostly
aligned for a positive gold sector once again. As a fifth
generation mining guy, these swings come and go and looks good for a
potential bull run in the metals sector.
AOTH: How does your cash position look?
We have roughly C$900,000 in the treasury, and just announced a C$750,000
(upsized to $1M) private placement that will be oversubscribed as discussed.
The placement will be at $0.12 per unit, with a half-warrant exercisable at
20 cents a share up to 30 months from the issue date. Shares currently are
trading at $0.12, as of Monday's close.
AOTH: Are there some near-term catalysts for
readers to watch out for?
Right, as a shareholder of any company, you want to see action, catalysts,
news flow and milestones reached. NVX will have a very busy year regarding
news flow, specifically related our drill programs, assay results, geophysics
and potentially, some accretive acquisitions over the next few months if
something catches our technical team’s eye. We expect the momentum to heat up
starting in April.
AOTH: Why should readers consider buying shares of
NV Gold?
I believe the market should take a look at NVX based on the
investment checkmarks that I personally use when evaluating a resource
company to invest in micro-cap grouping, and apply it to NV Gold... First is
our tight share structure, and management and insiders should have skin in
the game. In our case, we own about 30% of the shares. In addition, NVX has
quality shareholders like Eric Sprott, who owns close to 20% of NVX,
including warrants, along with US Global Investors
and Redstar Gold.
Second and nearly a close tie with structure is the management team and a
board that participates in the over all strategy. Our team has
directly related, extensive experience in the jurisdiction we are operating
in…key is that intimate knowledge of Nevada our team brings. Third is
jurisdiction. Nevada is the top jurisdiction in the world for gold
exploration right now…need I say more.
I also like to see a low burn rate, as my fifth checkmark. We're focused
on discovery, allocating as much money into the ground for exploration as
possible.
And finally, transparency. It's
important for shareholders to know they can easily reach management to have
their questions answered. Our door is always open to investors. As a matter
of fact here is direct access to myself, Peter Ball, President and COO
of NVGold, at 1.888.363.9883 (links directly to my cell phone), or email
me anytime at peter@nvgoldcorp.com.
AOTH: Thank you Peter
Legal Notice / Disclaimer
This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or
the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he
believes to be reliable but which has not been independently
verified. Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and
accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness.
Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to
change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or
guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any
information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the
consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any
omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct
or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you
may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided
within this Report.
NV Gold Corp (TSX.V:NVX), is an advertiser on Richard’s site
aheadoftheherd.com. Richard owns shares of NVX
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