Fox Tungsten Builds Financial Strength While Advancing a High-Grade Western Tungsten Project
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Fox Tungsten is currently strengthening its financial position through a significant advance payment from Metal Energy, which has provided the company with two million dollars worth of shares ahead of schedule. This transaction serves as a crucial financial backstop, offering the firm "hard dollars" that can be directly utilized to fund general and administrative expenses as well as ongoing exploration activities. By securing this non-dilutive financing, Fox Tungsten demonstrates its ability to raise capital for drilling operations without immediately diluting existing shareholder value, thereby creating a stable foundation for future growth and market confidence.
The core of the company's strategy revolves around its Western tungsten project, which boasts what is described as the highest-grade resource in the world with an average grade exceeding 1%. To put this exceptional quality into perspective, a 1% tungsten concentration is equivalent to approximately 22 grams per ton of gold or 25% copper. This high-grade deposit was originally discovered through traditional prospecting methods where a prospector identified glowing scheelite rocks under ultraviolet light in the woods. The mineralization is characterized as a "high nugget" deposit, featuring very high-grade pockets within a larger, lower-grade halo, and current drilling efforts aim to prove that these distinct zones are actually part of one massive single deposit.
To further validate this resource and transition from an exploration phase to a development stage, Fox Tungsten has launched an aggressive drilling program involving two operational drill rigs with plans to add a third by the second half of the summer. This extensive campaign, totaling 20,000 feet of drilling, is expected to continue through late October, with assay results anticipated by Christmas. The data gathered from this effort will form the basis for a comprehensive resource update and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), both scheduled for release in the first or second quarter of next year. These milestones are critical not only for technically advancing the project but also for engaging with government stakeholders in the US and Canada, who have shown philosophical support pending the availability of these detailed economic studies.
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>> Today I have the pleasure of speaking
with Steven Gray from Fox Tungsten, and
of course Tungsten is one of the
absolute hottest critical minerals in
the critical mineral watch list. Can you
give us an update about this new deal
that you have Well, it's not a new deal,
but your most recent payment from Metal
Energy.
>> Yes, so we sold the property to Metal
Energy a few years ago. Um it was a
copper project, and as part of that
transaction, Metal Energy owed us um
several deferred payments.
Uh so we recently received the payments
for actually this year and next year.
They They elected to pay early. Um so we
received $2 million of their shares.
Um and that's an important uh kind of
financial backstop for the company uh
because that's how we fund our G&A.
Those are hard dollars. Um and so
investors know that when we go to the
market when we raise money, uh we're
raising flow-through. We're raising
money to to drill and to put that money
into the ground. Um because we have our
those hard dollars, we have that
backstop.
>> So of course back to the discussion on
Tungsten, you have one of the highest
grade Tungsten resources in the Western
world. Okay? So are you getting a lot of
reach out from I'm assuming government
officials?
>> Yeah, that's right. We do have what is
to my knowledge the highest Tungsten
resource in the world. Um we're a little
over 1% Tungsten, and to put that into
context, what that means, 1% Tungsten is
the equivalent of about 22 g per ton
gold or 25% copper. Um so it's an
incredibly high-grade resource, and and
we're drilling now to expand it.
Um to get back to your question, yes, we
have had interest from both the the US
and Canadian governments. Um the message
that we've received is they're kind of
they're philosophically supportive, but
it's it's too early stage to come back
when we have the PEA. Um so that's
exactly what we're doing right now. Um
we're doing a big drill campaign this
summer, and we'll do a resource update
and a PEA off the back of that. And I
think that will be an important
milestone, not just advancing the
project technically, but also advancing
those discussions with government
stakeholders. Where once we have the
mine plan, once we have the economics,
uh we'll be able to demonstrate that
yes, this is a real project,
um and that will hopefully allow us to
secure some non-diluted financing down
the road.
>> Well, based on my observation of your
leadership, Stephen, you have been a
real machine. And according to one of
your news releases, your you're
targeting getting this PEA done by
second half of 2027. Is that correct?
>> That's right. So we're drilling right
now. Uh we have two drill rigs operating
on the property. We're actually ramping
up to three. Um and that drilling will
take us through to late October. Um so
we'll have all our assays by Christmas.
Um and then the PEA will will start in
earnest. Um so we'll be doing a resource
update and a PEA, um and that will be
coming out in Q2 of next year. Um so
again, very exciting milestone for the
company as we transition from being an
exploration company to a development
company.
>> And of course, you're doing an
aggressive drilling program right now.
20,000 ft meter drill program. Is that
correct? Yeah, thank you.
>> Yeah, that's right. So like I said, um
we have two drills operating right now.
Um we'll be bringing in a third one for
the second half of the summer. Um it's
going very well on the ground. Um we
don't have any assays yet, but as we
press released a few weeks ago, um we
have visually been seeing consistent
mineralization in in the vast majority
of the holes that we've drilled. Um so
we're proving out our thesis that our
three distinct zones are actually one
big zone. Um and so that will be the
foundation of the resource update and
and the eventual PEA is what will
hopefully be one larger
um single deposit.
>> According to your 43-101,
your your tungsten percentage is
exceedingly high. For those of you out
there unfamiliar with Fox Tungsten, I I
urge you to take a look at these numbers
and if you can hit some of those high
points for us, we would really
appreciate it, Stephen.
>> Yes, so we do have what is to my
knowledge the highest grade tungsten
resource in the world at a little over
1%. Um and that's concentrated within
our our RC and BN zones. Um and so this
is a very high grade deposit, but to get
a bit technical, it's
it's a high nugget deposit and that the
grade is discontinuous. So we have these
very high grade pockets among kind of a
larger uh lower grade halo. Um and we're
seeing more of that as we drill. We're
seeing some very impressive grades and
so we think that we're going to be able
to maintain that grade as as we grow.
Um so very exciting to have what is
the highest grade tungsten resource in
the world and again, 1% tungsten our
average resource grade is the equivalent
of about 22 grams gold or 25% copper. Um
so this is something special and we're
looking forward to uh sharing more
results with the market as we move
forward.
>> And for those of us out there who are
not geologists, can you tell us how you
managed to secure the highest grade
tungsten resource in the world?
>> It was um it was prospecting. This was a
greenfield discovery. Um it was found on
the ground. Uh tungsten and scheelite,
the mineral in particular, it glows
under UV light. Um and so that's how
this deposit was found was a prospector
in the woods at night time with a UV
light and found some glowing rocks. Um
and it just kind of grew from there. Um,
so this was a again, it was a greenfield
discovery in the most traditional sense.
And uh, we're advancing now rapidly to
try and bring that uh, further into
development and ultimately into
production as soon as possible.
>> Now, just going back to this deal you
did in 2024 with Metal Energy. Um, you
were going to receive four tranches of
share payments and this would be the
second one. Is that correct?
>> Yes, uh, Metal Energy owed us a million
dollars of their shares this year and
also another million dollars in 2027.
Uh, they voluntarily elected to give us
next year's payment this year. So we
received two million dollars this year.
Uh, and they'll owe us another four
million dollars over the next four years
of future payments. Um, this represents
an important financial backstop for the
company
uh, because when we do sell those
shares, those are hard dollars and we
can use that to fund our G&A and the PEA
study that will be kicking off this
year.
>> Well, again, I want to congratulate you
on this uh, creative non-dilutive
financing. And what should we as
shareholders be looking forward to with
Fox Tungsten in the next quarter?
>> So we're drilling now. We have two
drills operating and we'll have a third
one soon. Um, so we'll be having assays
in the coming weeks. Um, so we'll have a
steady drumbeat of assays between now
and and Christmas. Uh, following that
we'll have a resource update and a PEA
in uh, Q1 Q2 of next year. Um, so
there're going to be a lot of news flow
as we release the results of the
exploration program and ultimately the
results of our our resource update and
technical studies.
>> And for those of you going tungsten,
highest grade resource in the world,
please go to the following website.
Thank you so much, Mr. Gray.
>> Thanks, Tracy. It was great to see you
again.
>> Mhm.