Maurice Jackson: Welcome to Proven and Probable. I'm your host,
Maurice Jackson. Joining us today is James Pettit, the president, CEO and
director of Aben
Resources Ltd. (ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB). Mr. Pettit, welcome to the show,
sir.
James Pettit: Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, we're glad to have you back on the show.
We have some exciting news coming out of your flagship project, the Forrest Kerr, which is located in the Golden Triangle of
British Columbia. But before we proceed, for someone who is new to the story,
who is Aben Resources and what is the thesis you're attempting to prove?
James Pettit: Aben Resources is a gold exploration company. We
basically have taken on some relatively new projects that at the same time
are old. They just haven't been worked for a long time but they all have a
lot of data. Our flagship is the Forrest Kerr. We have a project in the Yukon
called the Justin project and we have a project in Saskatchewan called the
Chico project. Our project portfolio is based in Western Canada, which is a
very good mining jurisdiction known to be a very safe, politically stable
jurisdiction to work. Canada has a remarkable mining history and there are a
number of discoveries from the past, and we have an extensive resource
database available to us on our projects and properties culminated with our
proven management and technical expertise.
Maurice Jackson: In our last interview, we discussed the discovery
of a new boundary zone at the Forrest Kerr. Today we will discuss Aben
Resources' two most recent press releases regarding high-grade gold discoveries at the northern boundary of
the Forrest Kerr and the final results of the 2018 program. Mr. Pettit, what can
you share with us?
James Pettit: In our last discussion, Aben had moved the rig a
kilometer and a half south of the North Boundary Zone from our initial
discovery, and we drilled three holes and we issued press release regarding
the results. We were very encouraged because we hit some very good
mineralization, in broad zones of lower grade, which excited us because we
know that may have been one degree or two degrees off to the north, south,
east or west and we could have hit potentially what we had already discovered
at the North Boundary Zone! This, in essence, tells us that the whole
Boundary Zone in general is alive. We have identified extensive
mineralization. We are in an area that's two kilometers wide by about four
kilometers long and everywhere we drill, we have been successful in hitting
mineralization. The mineralization does varies from low grade to very high
grade.
This year's drill program to date has been very encouraging, we were able
to see sections that are very high grade and in the surrounding area, as it
either carries on or diminishes. As a reminder, at the very beginning of our program this year, we hit very high
grade, 30 to 38 grams over 10 meters respectively. Thereafter, on our next 10
holes we drilled stepouts and we were continuing to hit some really good
intersections consisting of a lot of lower grade interspersed within it. I'm
talking 70 to 100 meters. As we get away, we're now into the last two news
releases that we're going to talk about now and as we moved away from the
high-grade North Boundary Zone, consisting of high-grade intercepts, they
tend to diminish, instead of being 30 grams, there may be 5 to 14 grams and
we also have intercepts that might be one to two meters wide and then they
are surrounded by a lower grade that could be anywhere from 0.5 gram, 2, 3
grams.
We have broad intersections in most of the holes. Some of the holes, we
didn't hit anything. As I recall, two press release ago we published the
results on holes 22 to 36. And now we have issued the results from holes 37
to 45 concluding this year's drill program. Most of those holes were exactly
indicating what I was referencing, very broad intersections of low grade with
the occasional high-grade spike. That definitely has our interest. Because it
tells us we are in an environment that's extremely alive. We have the right
rock package, in the right location, and we will continue with our efforts in
2019 to drill more.
A side note, all the drilling we've done since the initial discovery is
oriented core drilling, which is a technique that allows us to understand the
orientation, which is very important because it will indicate to us where to
drill. Also, another side note, the reason we went to the South Boundary Zone
for three holes is that we wanted to allow ourselves time to get some assays
back to provide us information on the North Boundary Zone where the
high-grade discovery was to give us an indication of where we should be
drilling. So those three holes, although it was a side note, turned out to be
extremely exciting for us because we know we can go down there and do a lot
more drilling.
Current and prospective shareholders should note, on top of everything
else, we have a lot more targets to work with in this total Boundary Zone
that we haven't conducted. The future is looking very bright for Aben
Resources. We believe once we get all the data compiled from this year's
drill program, we're going to be a lot smarter. We are permitted. We were
hoping to have the pad location permits earlier in the season, which would
have allowed us to move the drill around on new pads so that we get better
angles and orientation, but that wasn't the case. We got that permit after
the season and it was delayed specifically because of the amount of fires we
had in the area last year. The ministry stopped issuing permits, which was
unfortunate, because that limited us to 10 pads. We now have 40 permits for
40 new pad locations, all pre-approved, and that will get us through the next
few years.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, how would you grade the 2018 season's
work and the results on the Forrest Kerr?
James Pettit: I would say the work so far to date has been very
exceptional. We did discover a zone right out of the shoot and it was our
number 1 target out of about 15 for this whole area and we're still on it.
That's a big deal, because we discovered this essentially through the data
compilation and a little additional field work that we conducted in 2017. We
did come up with some success right away and we're still there and it brought
us to this very large zone, which was an old geochemical anomaly that was
discovered back in the early 1980s and we've made it bigger. We have filled
in some gaps. We are going to be doing a geophysical airborne survey with a
drone early this coming season, that'll probably be in May that will overlay
everything we're looking at. We've got several more targets to work with.
2018 really is the first season on concentrating on the boundary zone, and
I would say with the data we've accumulated, it's extremely good. I believe
we have a lot ahead of us.
Maurice Jackson: Moving on to the remaining project portfolio. Can
you please provide us with some updates on each of them respectively?
James Pettit: At our Justin property in the Yukon, very quietly, we have done
some trenching and more soil sampling work up there this year, which actually
started last year. We ended up with some really good results from golden
soil, an anomaly and so we did a golden grain count where you actually
extract the gold grains from a 30 kilograms bulk sample, and it came back
incredibly high, approximately 1,200 gold gains. They were jagged, meaning
they're pristine, indicating they haven't traveled very far through
glaciation. So we're sitting on what we feel is very close to or on top of
the source.
Select Coarse Gold Grains from Justin Project, Lost Ace Zone, Yukon
We went in this year with a small mechanical excavator that we took up by
helicopter and we did some excavating and channel sampling throughout that
whole area. Specifically, two targets were 125 meters apart. Both targets had
a tremendous amount of coarse and visible gold in the soils and what you
extract from the channel samples. So we sent in a lot of assays. Those
results are expected very soon. They may in fact be in the hands of the geo
right now. Aben will be coming out with some information on that in the near
future. You can see some of the gold analysis on our website. We have visible
gold on the website from the Justin project. It's pretty incredible. We may
have an extension of Golden Predators' 3 Aces project, which is very
high-grade gold, and that ties in nicely with what we drilled several years
ago back in 2012 on that property. We may very well have an intrusion related
gold system, which is generally lower grade, but large like Fort Knox or
Virginia Gold.
These are very structurally controlled elements. They can prove to be very
large, but we seem to have an overprinting of two different mineralizations
happening because they're very close to each other. So this is exciting for
us. We're going to spend more time and effort up there in the offseason for
Forrest Kerr. We can probably get up there hopefully by March even though
it's in the Yukon, the project is located inland and to the east. So it's
away from the coast where you get some tremendous weather that is not
conducive to doing any work.
In Saskatchewan, the Chico project is drill ready. We have some final
negotiations that have been tied up. Everything's looking good with the local
native group. We should be good to go late February, early March there.
We expect to have a good drill program, probably no more than 10 holes,
but we know where to drill. That was all set up last year and it's following
a model that SSR, which used to be Silver Standard, is doing on our northern
boundaries. It has a very large program going on there because the company
bought Claude Resources, which had the Seabee Mine and the Seabee and Santoy
deposits in its property, right down to the Chico and it's doing 40,000
meters of drilling. Half of that is for exploration, to increase the resource
so it can keep the mine open for an additional 10 years or whatever it's
planning. But we're following its exploration model as well.
In fact, I think basically this year was good enough that we raised the
money we need to probably do everything we want. We may do another smaller
financing next year, but we're well positioned with cash. We've got $6
million in the till and that was raised at higher prices during the season
this year, 30 cents and 45 cents (CAD).
Maurice Jackson: Well, that's very encouraging to hear. Switching
gears, the value proposition for Aben Resources in our view has only improved
as management continues to meet and/or exceed timelines and goals with very
positive results. Yet the share price has responded counterintuitively. What
would you like to tell current and prospective shareholders regarding the
stock price?
James Pettit: The reason I want to advance the Justin and the Chico
projects is to keep that cyclical event from happening because if you look at
the chart, you can see it. Last summer, big spike in share price and by the
end of October the season is up in the Golden Triangle. It's a very, very
severe winter. It's high altitude and it's coastal mountains and you can get
30 to 40 feet of snow. So you're not doing anything up there and you got to
get out and that also coincides, like it or not, with tax-loss selling. So if
you only have the one project, then you're really going to subject yourself
to this cyclical nature and the best time to buy the stock has always been
November. Then you hold it and wait until you get going again, but what we're
doing is adding in these other two projects, which are going to add some life
and I think you're seeing it right now.
The stock did not come all the way down the way it did last year. As a
matter of fact, I think I'm starting to see it bounce a little bit because
tax-loss selling is pretty much over and I wouldn't be surprised at all if
you see this stock back up in where it should be, in the twenties.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, can you please share the last time you
purchased shares and at what price?
James Pettit: The last time would have been a financing, last year,
18 months ago. I just took down the warrants on that one. I didn't sell
anything. As a matter of fact, I've never sold anything. It was probably at
12 cents.
Maurice Jackson: For the record, we're looking to continue to add
to our position in Aben Resources in the near future as we like the
proposition before us at the current share price. Before we close, Mr.
Pettit, multilayered question, what is the next unanswered question for Aben
Resources and when should we expect results and what determines success?
James Pettit: Well, the next unanswered question is when can we get
back in there to do more work and that's going to be next June, if not
sooner. I think going forward in the immediate future, what's on the horizon
and that's going to be the Justin project.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, we've covered the good. What keeps you
up at night that we don't know about?
James Pettit: Well, right now, I'm starting to like gold. The gold
price kept me awake for a while. This was what was going on for gold and I
think we're seeing a bit of relief and that's a consequence of other external
factors, macro, and I think we're going to be looking at probably a good year
for gold. But that has traditionally been what what's kept me awake is the
fear of gold dropping more and it's actually held beautifully, I think.
Maurice Jackson: I would agree with that sentiment, sir. Finally,
what did I forget to ask?
James Pettit: I think you got it. To be honest with you, I think
you've got everything.
Maurice Jackson: Well, Mr. Pettit, for someone listening that wants
to get more information on Aben Resources, please share the website address.
James Pettit: www.abenresources.com.
Maurice Jackson: As a reminder, Aben Resources trades on the TSX.V,
symbol ABN, and on the OTCQB, symbol ABNAF. For direct inquiries, please
contact Don Meyers at 604-639.3851. He may also be reached at info@abenresources.com.
As a reminder, Aben Resources is a sponsor of Proven and Probable. We are
proud shareholders for the virtues conveyed in today's message. Last but not
least, please visit our website www.provenandprobable.com where we interview the most
respected names in the natural resource space. You may reach us at contact@provenandprobable.com.
James Pettit of Aben Resources, thank you for joining us today on Proven
and Probable. Thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable.
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