Maurice Jackson: Joining us today is Michael Rowley, president and
CEO of Group
Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTCQB; 5D32:FSE), which is known for
platinum, palladium, nickel, copper and cobalt in the Stillwater district in
Montana.
Glad to have you back, sir. Michael, I can only imagine the excitement
that your team and mostly prudent shareholders must be feeling as the press
releases continue to show hit after hit of high-grade mineralization on your
flagship Stillwater West Project. Today's interview will be no different as
we have more exciting results to provide shareholders. But before we begin, Mr.
Rowley, please introduce us to Group Ten Metals and the opportunity the
company presents to the market.
Michael Rowley: Thank you, Maurice; glad to be back. We are indeed
looking forward to starting our work on the ground this year, which we expect
will be a break out year for Group Ten with our first drill program following
a year of compilation and targeting work.
Group Ten is one of two companies active in the Stillwater District in
Montana, which is world-renowned for its mineral wealth. The Stillwater
Complex is a layered magmatic intrusion that was formed about 2.7 billion
years ago when successive pulses of metal-rich magma laid down multiple
layers, then cooled and crystalized to become a package of rocks about 8
kilometers thick. Those layers have been tipped up by the mountains to the
south and they now sit at an angle of about 60 degrees, which is very
amenable to mining, and it means that mineralization we see at surface may
continue for many kilometers down along the magmatic layers.
The other company active in the Stillwater complex is Sibanye-Stillwater
Gold Ltd. (SBGL:NYSE), a company that was created when South African gold
miner Sibanye bought Stillwater Mining in 2017 for $2.2 billion. They operate
three mines on one deposit—called the Johns-Manville or J-M Reef deposit—which
is the highest-grade platinum group elements (PGE) deposit in the world, and
one of the largest, hosting 80 million ounces (80 Moz) of platinum and
palladium at over 16 grams per tonne (16 g/t) grade. To put in perspective,
we get excited when gold deposits have 10 million ounces at a couple of grams
per tonne gold. The J-M Reef deposit is eight times that size and also eight
times that grade. And it is open for expansion. It is a truly fantastic
deposit, and it speaks to the amount of metal that is in the system at
Stillwater.
Group Ten has a very large land position that adjoins Sibanye-Stillwater
across about 25 kilometers and covers the lower portion of the Stillwater
Complex. We also have claims above Sibanye in the layered geology.
We made our first acquisition there in 2017 and quickly expanded our
holdings as we got into the data and saw the potential. As of today we have
more than doubled that initial land position, compiled a terrific database
that includes data from over 200 drill holes plus physical core, and
geochemical and geophysical surveys. We are the first to bring the land
position together with the database and that has attracted a world-class team
that is familiar with new geologic models developed in a similar layered
magmatic system at the Platreef in South Africa.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Rowley, before we delve into the press
release, can you provide a concise summary of the series of technical news
releases Group Ten Metals has delivered starting in December 2018?
Michael Rowley: This is a big project and we have compiled a
substantial database. Our early work defined 14 target areas, so we basically
have gone west-to-east with a series of news releases detailing the eight
bulk tonnage "Platreef-style" target areas shown in blue ellipses
in our materials. These have attracted the attention of every major you can
name based on their size and potential. We also have six higher-grade
"reef-type" target areas, higher up the layered stratigraphy, shown
in red.
Geologists get excited when the "three Gs"—geophysics, geochemistry
and geology—correlate, and that is basically how we developed those eight
target areas. In each target we see kilometer-scale geophysical anomalies
(i.e., areas of highly conductive rocks) that correlate with large areas of
high levels of metals in soils. And, where we have data, we see rock and
drill data confirming that the conductive anomalies are indeed targeting
copper and nickel sulfide mineralization.
Five of the eight target areas have a substantial amount of past drilling
that defines known mineralized zones that are open for expansion in terms of
both grade and size based on our data compilation and targeting work. The
three most advanced of those areas—the Chrome Mountain, Camp Zone and Iron
Mountain target areas—will be our focus for drilling in 2019 as we see the
potential to quickly advance known mineralization in these areas to our first
formal mineral resources at Stillwater West.
Maurice Jackson: Looking forward, the company issued a press
release on the plans for 2019. What are goals for 2019?
Michael Rowley: Our news on June 4 sets the stage for our first
drill programs in 2019, where we will focus on expanding known mineralization
in priority target areas, and advancing those areas to formal mineral
resources. We also, for the first time, will look deep into the Stillwater
Complex with results of some 3D geophysical modelling work that shows
continuity of those same mineralized zones to over several kilometers depth
in some areas, which adds massive size potential to our targets.
Everything we have done to date confirms the potential for multiple large
and very large polymetallic platinum, palladium, nickel, copper and cobalt
deposits at Stillwater. We are calling these "Platreef-style"
deposits based on the similarities we see with the Platreef district in South
Africa, which has become a world leader in the supply of low-cost platinum,
palladium, nickel and copper since the 1990s, with the development of Anglo
American Platinum Ltd.'s (AMS:JSE) Mogalakwena Mine, and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s
(IVN:TSX; IVPAF:OTCQX) Platreef mine, which is now under construction. These
are truly massive deposits—collectively over 400 Moz of PGEs plus tens of
billions of pounds of nickel and copper—and they occur in the lower part of
the Bushveld layered magmatic system.
That same portion of the Stillwater Complex has never been systematically
tested for deposits of this type, even though the geological parallels are
well known, the setting is correct, and every indication is there in the
database, including drill results. That exploration process was basically
interrupted at Stillwater.
We took a big step forward in 2018 when Dr. David Broughton, a key member
of the discovery team at Ivanhoe's Platreef project, joined our team and
confirmed that potential at Stillwater West.
Maurice Jackson: Michael, take us now to the targets and
exploration plans news release, which included some very exciting 3D
modelling results.
Michael Rowley: We applied a technique called MVI, or magnetic
vector inversion modelling, to our geophysical data. This is a cutting edge
technique that has been very successful in recent years, especially at
Platreef where it was instrumental in identifying an extension of Ivanhoe's
Platreef Mine, and also at a number of other projects including some porphyry
systems.
The results show enormous size potential at Stillwater West. The magmatic
layers that we see at surface, and that host those five drill-defined
mineralized zones, appear to be continuous, and kilometers thick. At the east
side, under the Cathedral and Crescent target areas, the magmatic layers may
be one or two kilometers thick. As we move west it thickens to over three
kilometers under Iron Mountain, which includes the HGR target, where we have
our highest grades to date. And then at Chrome Mountain, farther to the west,
we see over six kilometers deep in some areas, which gets very interesting as
this may represent a possible feeder zone to the Stillwater complex. These
become very compelling targets for drill testing when you consider the
quantity of platinum, palladium, nickel, copper and cobalt seen elsewhere in
the Stillwater Complex—both on our ground in our target areas, and also some
hundreds of meters north in the J-M Reef deposit, where Sibanye-Stillwater is
now mining at depths of up to about two kilometers.
In addition to reporting the potential for size going down along the
magmatic layers of the system, the June 4 news release also summarizes the
five known mineralized zones as defined by drilling to date, and shows the
potential to expand these areas laterally. The key point here is that there
has been no systematic drill test of the geophysical highs adjacent to these
areas of known mineralization, which is to say that we see the potential to
expand the mineralized bodies in these areas in terms of both size and grade
by testing areas of highly conductive rock based on the relationship we see
with conductivity and metal sulfide content.
We are now finalizing our drill plans for 2019, which will target those
conductive high anomalies while also offsetting past holes to quickly advance
known mineralized zones to our first formal resources in the three most
advanced target areas. These are massive systems, and even a modest drill
program can quickly add ounces of precious metals and pounds of base metals
by tying together existing drill-defined mineralization and bringing the
whole zone into a NI 43-101 qualified inferred resource. Those initial
resources will then provide Group Ten an important base valuation to build on
as we expand and build out those initial resources in future programs.
Maurice Jackson: Sir, what is the next unanswered question for
Group Ten Metals? When should we expect results, and what determines success?
Michael Rowley: Our most recent news discussed our targets and
permit status, so the next release is expected to be the start of work. We
are currently in discussion with our major shareholders, who hold over $2.4M
of in-the-money warrants, with an eye to funding this years'work. This is a
very supportive group that we have a good rapport with and I look forward to
reporting on the results of those conversations in the coming weeks as we
ramp up to the start of field work. These are massive targets, and we have a
terrific base to build upon. I think it will be an exciting year.
Maurice Jackson: Last question, sir. What did I forget to ask?
Michael Rowley: Perhaps we could touch on the markets, and the
value proposition presented by Group Ten, which like a number of junior
exploration stocks is really undervalued relative to our target commodities
and a number of other metrics. Group Ten's market cap is about $9 million at
present, and yet we have great assets in three truly world-class districts.
At Stillwater we share very rare geology and a famously metal-rich district
with an asset that is valued at nearly $3 billion.
Another important consideration is the fact that Group Ten is focused on
an American asset at a time when the U.S. is recognizing a need to secure
supplies of strategic and critical metals within its borders. We saw this
recently regarding nickel and cobalt and in the past year with a broader list
of commodities that included PGEs. The Stillwater district has some of the
absolute best geology in the world for a number of the commodities listed—including
nickel, cobalt, platinum and palladium—and we are right there beside three
active mines.
Maurice Jackson: For someone listening that wants to get more
information on Group Ten Metals the website address is www.grouptenmetals.com.
And as a reminder Group Ten Metals trades on the TSX-V: PGE and on the
OTCQB: PGEZF. For direct inquiries please contact Chris Ackerman at
(604) 357-4790 ext. 1, and he may also be reached at [email protected].
Group Ten Metals is a sponsor and we are proud shareholders for the
virtues conveyed in this interview. As a reminder, I'm a licensed
representative for Miles
Franklin Precious Metals Investments, where we provide a number of
options to expand your precious metals portfolio from physical delivery,
offshore depositories, precious metal IRAs and private blockchain distributed
ledger technology. Call me directly at (855) 505-1900, or you may e-mail [email protected].
Finally, please visit provenandprobable.com for Mining Insights and Bullion
Sales.
Michael Rowley of Group Ten Metals, thank you for joining us today on
Proven and Probable.
[NLINSERT]
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