Large Gold

Large Gold

Midway Gold Tops 4.5Mm Oz Gold Under The Investor Radar

Watch the video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GleFv_5f3IU

Our next guest's company has 4.5 million ounces gold in the measured, indicated and inferred categories, a JV with one of the largest mining companies in the world, and four advanced stage projects in Nevada and Washington. This is a company we've written about in the past, too, back when Midway Gold had just a fraction of the ounces it has today and yet was trading much higher. It's all a little perplexing considering the price of gold and the developments the company has made, but there you go—markets are fickle that way. For investors though, this presents an opportunity. President and COO of Midway Gold, Alan Branham, explains the significance of his company's advanced stage projects to investors.

Resource Intelligence: Your company has found a lot of gold, Alan. You have Spring Valley, an excellent project in which Barrick has taken a big part as an explorer, earning towards a 60% interest. You also have a new project with 1.9 million more ounces of gold. I don't think the market is taking all this into consideration. Why do you think that is?
Alan Branham: The last year has been a tough time for a lot of companies, and to be honest, during that period we really haven't promoted the company very much. Now that the markets are seeing strength again, particularly in gold, we have decided we need to let the market know what we have developed and discovered. In the last year we have announced three updates in our gold resources: 1.8 million ounces at Spring Valley, 1.9 million ounces at Golden Eagle and a little over 600,000 ounces at Pan, so you can see we've been hard at work this whole time.

RI: Your Spring Valley agreement with Barrick is impressive. Any time Barrick gets involved in a project like this you've got to imagine that they're looking for a world-class deposit.
AB: I would guess that Barrick's corporate strategy is to find something in excess of five million ounces. Spring Valley offers opportunities like that. It's a very large and new discovery. It's over a mile (1.6km) long and half a mile (0.8km) wide and over 1,700 feet (519 metres) deep.

RI: How long have you been working on Spring Valley?
AB: We made the initial discovery in January of 2006. We've been drilling steadily there ever since.

RI: What attracted Barrick to the project specifically?
AB: I think number one, the size. It is a very large gold deposit, it's brand new and it's a new type of deposit for Nevada that has a very large upside—a gold porphyry. We have over 400 holes on it and it's still open in three directions.

RI: Can you explain a little bit about the porphyry, about the type of deposit, in a way that investors can evaluate.
AB: Imagine a very large volcanic eruption where you have magma moving up and it gets trapped in the earth's crust and around that edge of the magma are veins full of quartz and gold. Then bury it over with about 50 feet of gravel and that's what you have at Spring Valley. It comes up very close to the surface and that's why it is still there—the old timers couldn't see the hidden deposit.
So far, we only have holes down about 2,000 feet (610 metres) with continuous mineralization from 50 feet (15 metres) down to 1,700 feet (519 metres) and it's still open.

RI: It's going to cost a lot to develop this project but your partner Barrick has deep pockets.
AB: That's right. They have five years to spend $30 million to earn a 60% interest in the project. Last year they spent $4 million and completed about 37,000 feet of drilling. This year they're scheduled to invest $5 million to keep the agreement in place.
RI: A good question for investors is what is the rock value? Looking at the rock evaluators at www.shareknow.net, I see $20 per tonne rock. So this is a low cost operation?
AB: That's right. It's a heap leach type operation where the mining and milling costs are typically less than $5 a tonne.

RI: At your other advanced stage project, Golden Eagle, you've proved up 1.9 million ounces gold in a very short period of time.
AB: Yes, historically it was held by two different companies and had about 250 drill holes in it. When the economy sputtered in 2008 we had the opportunity to acquire both sides of the project and then put it together as a 43-101 compliant resource. This is something that years ago, at $350 gold, wasn't considered economical. But at $1,100 gold it has far greater potential.

In the inferred category, Golden Eagle has 4.6 million tonnes at 1.3 or so grams per tonne. The indicated category really adds to our bottom line, though, with 28.5 million tonnes grading 1.89 grams per tonne. So 1.7 million ounces of gold are actually in the more certain indicated category.

RI: What do you know about the metal? How amenable it is to mining and costs?
AB: A lot of scoping level work has been done. There is an oxide cap and we know that's very attractive. The sulfide ore body at depth is amenable to at least three different recovery techniques. We're in the process now of optimizing that to see how cheaply it can be done. We're going to apply some new techniques that may make this very attractive.

RI: Golden Eagle is in Washington. What is that like as a mining jurisdiction?
AB: Permitting will be more difficult because it's not as commonly done in Washington as it is in Nevada or Wyoming, for example. But Kinross Gold Corporation opened their Buckhorn mine last year just forty miles away from this project, so we expect that permitting can be done. The beautiful thing about this is that it's situated on 100% private ground that we own outright.

In terms of infrastructure, Golden Eagle is located three miles from the town of Republic and there is a paved road that goes right up to the ore body. Many of the miners that work for Kinross work and live in the town of Republic.

RI: What sort of time frame are you looking at to get you through feasibility and a mining decision?
AB: There are two options in that regard. There is a short term cash flow possibility here, where we could mine off the high-grade oxide cap and ship it to a nearby mill to generate some revenues right away. In the longer term, we would consider developing the much larger sulfide orebody. In the meantime, we'll possibly start a scoping study later this year after we do more metallurgic work.

RI: What is your current cash position?
AB: Currently, just over a million dollars in the treasury, which will keep the drills turning for now, but we'll soon take this to the markets for a financing to move us forward to the next development stage.

RI:  Who are your major shareholders? How much do you hold and how much do institutional investors and companies hold?
AB: Our shareholder base is about 40 to 50 percent institutions, insiders, friends and family. Barrick Gold Corporation holds a little over 8% and we also have Kinross and Coeur as shareholders.

RI: What is it about your team's experience that has so many of your friends and family and other investors holding on?
AB: We have four geologists that work for the company and most of these fellows have 20 to 30 years experience each. They have all come from large scale mining companies that have proven track records. So my team knows how to find gold. That's what we do well and you can see it in the resources that we put together through discovery and acquisition.

RI: You have other projects as well. Are you actively exploring on those as well?
AB: We do have a very nice set of deposits called Pan and Gold Rock. There is a lot of good exploration potential.

RI: You've got a lot of projects on the go to work with and you're pretty focused on the Golden Eagle and Spring Valley. Summarize for investors what makes this a worthwhile investment and something to look at?
AB: As an investor, I know what I look at, which is management and opportunities for growth. Five years ago we had a twinkle in our eye and an idea that we could find gold. Now five years later we have a little over 4.5 million ounces in four distinct deposits.

I think that the advantage that Midway has over many companies is that we have multiple opportunities for growth. Our Spring Valley deposit is being carried by one of the largest gold mining companies in the world, with no share capital equity dilution to our shareholders whatsoever. We have Golden Eagle with 1.9 million ounces of gold already and a lot of room for growth. And we have exploration discoveries at Pan and Gold Rock that have yet to be followed up. So we have multiple ships out on the ocean bringing back treasure for our shareholders. Our team has demonstrated its ability to find and prove up gold discoveries and build a solid portfolio for growth.

Milestones:

* 2010: Complete a financing
* Q2 2010: Midway project drill results
* Q3 2010: Spring Valley
* progress update
* Q4 2010: Golden Eagle drill results
* 2011: Pan scoping study

About the Author

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