Oreterra Metals’ Kevin Keough Provides a Copper-Gold Drilling Update from Trek South

[music] >> I'm speaking with Kevin Keough from Auratera Resources. You're out in the field today, yes? >> Yes, I am, Tracy. I'm in the center of attention for the company at the minute, which is the Trex South camp. Uh core shack, where we've been geo-logging, geo-tagging a lot of core lately from the ongoing drill program. >> And for everybody who's new to Auratera, you are you are of course in the illustrious BC's Golden Triangle, and you put out breaking news yesterday. How about we start there? >> Sure. Yes, we've, you know, had a very active drill program starting early in August, and it's the first-ever drill program on a totally new to science project, Trex South, which shows all kinds of promise. And yes, the news we put out yesterday was really an update in terms what we've accomplished so to date, and what we have accomplished to date is really pretty impressive for the limited amount of drilling that we've been able to accomplish so far. But, um we tried to be very factual and truthful in what we released yesterday. We tried to show the market, tell the market exactly what we ourselves have seen, and that is describing the minerals that are important to this project. Um I've had some some parties who seem to think that maybe we should avoid all the geo talk and just say we found stuff. Well, you know, that's not how it works. We've we've got a We want the market, and I understand a lot of people don't understand what bornite is or chalcopyrite is, but they should look it up on the internet because those are the key descriptives in our case that indicate we're close to the major porphyry body that we're looking for. So, at this point in time, Tracy, the market really understands everything we do, and that generated a lot of excitement, a lot of buying yesterday. It was, I might say, also met with a lot of warrant-related selling activity. And for those of your viewers who don't understand that, there are, and we do have certain shareholders that their business model is to advance capital pre-discovery. They typically will sell your stock in order to hold the warrant, so it becomes a quick win for them without any future risk. And you know, we have to deal with that when you're an early stage company and don't have a discovery yet, but we, and I can assure our shareholders, can overcome all of that selling with a substantial discovery here, and I believe we're very close to one, and that's what we said yesterday. So, stay with the story because everything looks really good. >> I used the word exciting because, and I quote, "There was real excitement in the core shaft among all of us when bornite was first identified in core." That is a quote from you. And for those of you out there, they're going, "Okay, we want to find out more about this." Tell us why this was so exciting. >> Yeah, again, I mean, I think some elements of the market, I'm thinking of some of the Stockwatch journalists, shall we say, who maybe don't know that much about the business. They seem to think that um we shouldn't use terms like bornite or anything else that it's somehow that it's somehow promotional or they think that we shouldn't talk about being excited because they think it's promotional. Well, I'm telling the truth. We've got two uh myself and John Bitsack have been here non-stop for the last month just because this program is so important and we know we're spending a lot of shareholder money and we're spending a lot of my money, too, I might add, my actual cash money. And we want this thing to succeed, so we're focused on it. Um the excitement comes in and it was very genuine. I'm actually in the core shack right now uh Tracy and I'm just going to turn the camera. Pardon to viewers because, you know, I don't have my normal camera on me as I would have at home. But basically um we knew from the start of this program that we've got a lot of beautiful looking changes in the rock visible over a large area on surface. That's why we've been excited. But so we started and we described in yesterday's news release what our drilling approach has been. We set up a drill fence along the sort of bisecting that uh vast area of alteration and we've been progressively drilling from the outside in to try to locate what we believe will be the root of a porphyry system, a big intrusion, right? So, the excitement happens because um we can drill a lot of good looking rock, but it's the sulfide minerals that indicate you're getting close to uh the source. And the source here would be that carrot-shaped root. So, the bornite that we talked about, the chalcopyrite, but especially the bornite, the magnetite, and the garnet are temp- these are minerals that only form when you're close to or in the actual intrusive body, right? So, when we see that in the core, it means we are getting close to the source. And that's why it's exciting, cuz I'm not interested in just drilling a bunch of pretty rock, right? It's got to have the right sulfides. It's got to have copper, and that's why we got excited. And I can tell you uh we did a little bit of hugging here, quite honestly, because that's how excited we were, and that's the truth. >> Well, for those of you out there, we're always trying to widen audiences and get people more interested in this sector. Auratera is drilling at its Trak South property in the British Columbia's Golden Triangle, and this technical news release is saying that they believe they're getting closer to the center of a large copper gold system. That's the message, correct? >> Correct. Yes. >> Okay. But, as we all know, this is not confirmation yet uh of a commercially viable copper gold deposit, and laboratory uh labora- laboratory results are still pending. Can you give us an update on how that process is going to work? >> Yeah, you know, uh we can't tell based on visuals alone whether what we've hit so far is economic or not, you know? And by economic, that would be pardon me, Tracy, uh a helicopter is coming in outside right now, and can you if you can hear that, we might just I may speak a little closer here, but um so, visuals alone won't tell us whether uh uh we've hit an economic body. I can tell you at the minute, we think we're close. It doesn't mean that we think we're in the core of the system. And I think to be um to have a viable project, one that could become developed going forward, we need to be in the core of the system. What I can tell you, though, is that we do expect that the drilling, and maybe all of the drilling that we've done to date, will have copper and gold and silver values at some level within it. Um, and again, I would emphasize that it doesn't mean that those values will be, you know, potentially of the grade that the market might want to see in order for it to be economic. But, it's early days. I would flip that around a bit by saying we do think that some of what we've seen is probably going to have economic value in it. But, um, we're seeing a lot of magnetite, for example, Tracy in the current hole. And why that's important is, you know, that stuff often carries with it copper and gold. We know that on this property, but you can't see it visually. Therefore, you have to wait. So, um, you know, I'm just saying we are really, really pleased with how this program has gone. We do think we've hit. We will have values of metal in what we've done. It'll be up to the assays to to determine to what level. Um, and that will help us vector. Those assays will help us vector to uh the best of what we think is here somewhere. >> Can you talk about drilling depths uh and the significance of them? >> Yeah. Well, you know, the plan that we announced further to our 43-101 earlier in the year this year, it was kind of a a first attempt uh because understand that nobody's ever drilled this area before. So, you really have no idea what kind of how many holes you need, what depths, what azimuths, right? It's kind of a shot in the dark. You work up your best estimate of what you need to do to find what's under there. So, the holes that we announced in the 43-101, eight holes approximately, certain azimuths drilling predominantly to the southeast, certain depths, they were all uh approximations, shall we say, of what we thought we needed to do. But, obviously, as we start to drill and we indicated this in our previous news releases, we would adjust the number of holes, the depths, so on and so forth, depending on what each hole actually gives us. So, um I can tell you that the concept and the current holes that are drilling now are targeting about 600 m of depth as an initial stab. And the idea is to find near surface where we really need to be, and then in a future phase of drilling, we will go deeper than that. But, first, near surface, you know, from from surface to say 600 m, we're trying to find where we need to be in plan view, and then we will follow what we hope to be the root of the system to depth and potentially to much greater depths, but that would happen next year. >> Well, I have to say, there's definitely the vibe of a bunch of treasure hunters >> [laughter] >> searching for a treasure right now. So, this of course is is the reason why so many people get involved in this sector. Um so, let's talk about your timeline. While your news releases are incredibly technical, uh they're also very methodical and thorough. And it seems like your timeline is right on track. Is that conclusion correct or how are you feeling about it? >> Well, I would say that um yeah, our program overall is on track. I would say that our drilling pre- pays one drilling has been a little slower than we anticipated. Uh that's for a number of reasons. One is that, you know, on a first program like this, there's a lot to learn. Just to give your your viewers a simple Tracy, you may you may in your planning think, "I'm going to put a drill hole at point X." But when you go out in the field and actually look at point X, it may be impossible to build a drill pad on. And we need to drill we need to build drill pads before we can drill. That's the way it works here, right? So, there are these practical kind of logistical issues in the field that can slow you down. So, overall, our rate of drilling has been slower than anticipated, but the results have been every bit as good as we anticipated. Um there are of course equipment issues. Sometimes there are personnel issues with drillers. All of these factors come into play, right, in these programs. And you expect them. So, I'm not I'm not surprised by anything like this. Um we are though very happy with what we've seen to date. So, we will be drilling as mentioned out into September. Uh there are key holes that are underway right now, and another one or two that are hopefully really going to do it for us. Um cross your fingers. >> So, what should we be looking forward to next? I mean, clearly you're out in the field right now. How long How long do you plan on staying there? And what should we be anticipating next? >> Well, um you know, the weather's going to be changing here. It is uh mountain country, gorgeous country, but really rugged. And so, we will probably have to start demobbing from here just because of weather around the 15th of September. Um we'll we'll progressively demob, and that depends on the weather outlook. Um the we will update the market in terms of what we've seen in the holes that we're currently drilling and continuing to drill and the next one coming up. Um after that, we will all have to await assays. And at the minute, that's a bit unpredictable because this is the very busiest time of the year uh for the assay lab. So, it'll be assays will take well, let's say at least a couple of months from the time we submit them. Again, it's a bit unpredictable. Um so, that's the near term. Uh Only other thing I would say is that um we're focused on achieving this discovery here, obviously. Uh we do have another property, another porphyry property nearby called JW. And JW, as we announced early in the year, we're doing work there, too. And all the this JW property is totally surrounded by Newmont and by Teck. And um so, we've got big big neighbors, and they're watching what we're doing. We have found some beautiful um mineralization at JW. We've been prospecting heavily there that we're rather excited about. We'll see what the assays come back there. These are potentially there's a a really exciting target developing there and it's that that that target is very close to the Galore Creek mine development. So, a lot going on. The main focus here at Track South, but we're complementing that as well with the JW work. >> And of course, I don't want to put you on the spot by having you talk about yourself, but I always tell shareholders out there and interested parties check out management and check out their track record. But because of your track record, what do you think you've learned in the past that is proving to be very advantageous for the team at Orezone >> Well, you know, firstly you have to pay a lot of attention to the core. That's why I'm in the core shack, right? The more eyeballs, the more knowledgeable eyeballs on the core, the better because a lot of what you're looking for requires a close look at the core. So, we have a team that's got a lot of eyeballs in what we're doing and that's really why we're all excited because of what we do see. The other thing I've learned is you've got to be flexible on these programs. You've got to be adaptable. You've got to be able to adjust day-to-day. So, it's it's it's tough, you know, that's why we're here because that's why I'm here because it's helpful to have several technical people focused on what's coming out of the ground because you literally may adjust the next hole based on what you see in this hole and that's sort of the way it works and that's why you know, management on these important programs should be in the field looking at stuff and understanding what's going on, understanding the problems you're facing as well as the stuff that's coming out of the ground. That's the best way to ensure success, and that's what I'm really here for, you know? >> And for those of you going, "Okay, that makes sense." Experienced and knowledgeable management with their feet on the ground, currently in the core shack. For those of you seeking more information and or Terra Resources, please go to the following website. Thank you, Kevin, and good luck this summer. >> Thanks a lot, Tracy.