OROCO Resource Corp $ORRCF $OCO - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Ian Graham UPDATE Santo Tomas' Project

[Music] The following content you are about to review is paid for content. The particulars of my compensation on behalf of an entity is provided in the description below. I encourage all reviewers of this content to take note of those disclaimers and to understand that the information that is passed in the following video is aimed at information and is not to be misconstrued as investing information as there will be statements that are made based on the company's uh current operations as well as potential forecasts of where the company could be. Again, I encourage all investors to heed the disclaimers and disclosures provided in detail in the description below. Please enjoy. And we're excited to welcome everybody back to the Independent Investor Channel for the last couple of months. We've been coroning a story that has been developing uh in Mexico. And that story has been at the hands of Aroco Resource. It has been an honor to cover this company. And Ian has become a frequent guest of the independent investor channel. And for you guys that are lucky enough to to frequent these um offerings from Ian, you're getting a valuable insight to the company and the goings on uh that uh are happening at AOK. You you could not find this uh valuable of information online. So um I want to take a moment and thank Ian. Before we get started here, uh I just want to invite all uh patrons to the independent investor channel uh to review the disclaimers at the bottom of this video. Um all opinions and uh all things items discussed with regard to AOK resource is our opinion. Uh we will be talking about uh past uh present and future. And I just want to heed uh all investors to do their own due diligence. This is not financial advice. This is for information only. And I think we do a really good job of paying that information forward uh and allowing Ian a platform to come on and and discuss the um exciting developments uh as they happen with AOK resource. And I I just we were talking backstage, Ian, about the current environment right now, the the the geopolitical pressures, especially here uh in the United States with a new administration and Canada. The first 6 months of 2025 have been uh nothing short of remarkable. um some some global conflict has spurred up and and I think any investor can agree that this 6 months has been um quite a ride for investors. Um in the face of that year-to date resource is up uh close to 14%. And one of the things that attracted me to your story when I first looked at this, it looked like Arokco was going through a sentiment change a and and welldeserved as well. um that was at the hands of of a of a a governmental uh changeover in Mexico as well which I think has helped a and I think sharing your story h has really helped in understanding what you guys are trying to do uh with AOK. Uh AOK uh is uh Ian is um the uh president and director of AOK and we're in debt to you Ian for having you on the channel. I just want to welcome you and uh get your thoughts on the current goings on at Aroco and um uh for the for the uh wouldbe share owners and anybody interested in the story. So Ian, welcome. I'll kick it off with your uh opening opening thoughts. Well, thanks very much for having me back, Ryan, and yes, always good to chat about the sort of macro environment, but then to dive in on AOKO and what it is we're principally trying to achieve, which is to advance a copper project, a very large mining opportunity in northwest Mexico. and and I think a number of your uh your the people who follow uh I square will be aware of uh our principal thesis. That's right. The most exciting thing of late has been uh the news release uh we've just put out uh announcing that we've engaged Whittle Consulting Limited and uh this is exciting. It's it's been uh in development actually for a very long time. I first took a Whittle optimization course shortly before the outbreak of COVID and over the years since a number of our employees have taken their online course training and we've really been looking forward to the appropriate time to engage with Whittle on the Santomas project and I think they too uh have remained uh very vigilant around what we've been doing and remained informed. formed and we think the time uh to commence what is a strategic option study is now. Uh and the reason for that is we're preparing for a prefeasibility study. We're coming off last year's pea. We learned a lot about the project and preparing for that preliminary economic assessment. We made some uh assumptions. We chose some methods. We we scaled the project in in collaboration with engineering consultancies uh and our own team and put that pea out. But we think it's now appropriate to step back a little uh do the strategic option study perhaps make the thinking that we're doing a little more divergent. Look at possible tradeoffs. look at things we perhaps didn't consider in sufficient detail in the pea really step back think more broadly go to 60,000 ft again contemplate you know which things might work better together so it's a sort of step back in a sense before we step forward into the PFS the prefeasibility study and to really have some of that thirdparty experience the guys who are doing this optimization work for operating mines, expansion projects, new projects at all scales because they're very connected with some of the tradeoffs including for example new technologies, electrification of mine fleets and things that our project team uh perhaps doesn't have the same breadth of experience with. So this is I think a very opportune moment to just pull more experience in, incorporate this uh wealth of experience. But the the critical thing with Whittle is they do this, they look at all the tradeoffs, they test the potential hypotheses and changes in a link to a discounted cash flow model. It's a semi-realtime link. And so it's it's processing of multiple variables simultaneously. Uh they have a they have over 300 very powerful computer cores linked to just run this this mathematical process uh that that enables us to look at those tradeoffs and see the impacts on the project's value. Yeah. Almost in real time. So we believe the time is now to do that piece of work. It's going to run through into September, October. Uh results will come through through that period. Uh this is not something that will culminate in a fundamental uh release of a detailed report. That is not what this will do. This will help us properly scope the PFS as we prepare to kick that off and make sure that we're leaving none of the tradeoffs that should be in the PFS uh un un scoped to make sure that sort of all the no no stones left unturned as to what we should pay our attent pay attention to through the PFS. And so we believe that is going to make the PFS uh more robust um hopefully you know more complete in terms of its considerations. Yes sir. It will also make sure that as we mobilize to do PFS preper prep drilling uh geotech drilling hydraological drilling that there are none of those small areas that we should pay attention to left unscoped. Um so you know all project teams have their piccadillos their preferences etc. This is an attempt to have a neutral party advise on where the value will be delivered on the pfs. So we think the timing is now. Uh we're thrilled with the engagement from Whittle. um they they have looked forward to helping us with uh with Stomas. Uh folks in North America will know Raziel Zman. He has remained in touch with me every quarter since I took the course uh which I did along with Craig Diel, our chairman um on when would be appropriate to kick this work off. So we're we're thankful for their patience uh and their engagement and helping us adjudicate when the maximum value could be derived from doing this piece of work. So I'm thrilled and uh and the team is uh and our engagements with Whittle and their technical team over the last week or two as we've prepared um leaves me really uh quite pumped up and and excited about the work we're about to embark on. So, yep, we're thrilled and uh can't wait to to see what it what it teaches us, which is what the purpose is, right? To learn what we might do with this project to improve it, make it more valuable, and capture recent technological innovation in mining globally. Yeah, it sounds like a real value added proposition. you know, as a share owner in Orokco, for me, it's really encouraging that you guys are taking all steps to to bring in that. I called it the third party perspective. I I I I think that's a fair fair deal and it's really cool. You guys are excited to engage in this. So, we're thinking around September uh for you guys to to to kind of look to wrap up your engagement as it lends itself to the uh the PFS, which is really the key in in making sure that that product uh you know is is generated, having unturned all stones really. And we were talking backstage about, you know, you guys with your wealth of experience in mining only see what it is that you see and you only deploy I I guess your own personal biases and then and sometimes that can come back a little bit to say you know you look at each other are we doing the right thing guys and I I think this really helps to bring in that third party. Um so well that's going to be excellent. So in in the interim what what exactly does that mean? I mean, you know, I I mentioned the year-to- date performance in the stock and um it looks like you guys have gained a little dabble of of favor uh in the market, which I'm satisfied with. Um th this project with Oracle, I don't want to speak for other share owners. I can speak for myself. The AOKO project for me is actually fairly simple uh to to understand. And what you guys are looking to do is is fortify the project. So, how is it that you see this project lending itself as we enter into the back half of of 25? And let's just talk from a perspective of maybe post September, you know, going into the holiday and entering into uh 2026 as an AOC share owner. Well, the engagement of Whittle keeps our team engaged technically and and in this this sort of review of the strategic potential. So that's great. It gives me Andrew wear QP Richard and and the technical team on site uh something to really sink our teeth into. So I think it's good in the background in that sense. It does get us ready for that PFS that we discussed and I think we'll see the major findings in September and into October and this will tee us up I think for fully scoping the PFS. So I think those are good. In the interim, uh, we have continued the political engagement which you've followed and been aware of very much. You most recently saw a statement coming from the president in Mexico that there will be a bycase consideration of mining projects. There will not be just a blanket um mandate to move all mining projects forward. And so in that regard, we're in the process of becoming filed with the designated project registry, which is part of plan Sinaloa and the overarching plan Mexico that the president has as her, you know, mandated wish to grow the the economy in Mexico. and and as far as we can tell that is moving forward uh steadily and somewhat aggressively and so to be part of that is is wonderful. Beautiful. Um and so we have recently filed a second draft of of our project description with all its options and and social and and environment etc considerations. Uh and you know there may be a need to update that. will see we're engaged with with uh the political process in the background. So that too is an ongoing uh project that we expect will shortly have us on that registry and then uh there will be an expectation from the community from the state and from the federal representatives who've engaged with us that we'll begin to move this project forward into PFS into environment baselining and start walking forward forward as a an enterprise that intends to be developed uh at at in one way or another on a reasonable time frame. And so that's what this is teeing us up to do. And Ryan, we you know getting this assistance from Whittle. We will be very engaged with them. They are going to continue to educate us on their process and we are going to do everything we can to be part of the technical and and tradeoff reviews etc. So, you know, I think it's going to be a fairly busy and very exciting summer uh into the fall when we will, I hope, crystallize the PFS scope, the means to execute the PFS, meaning to go into the market and finance the company. Um, and so be ready to have an exciting late part to 2025 and hopefully a way more exciting 2026 to boot. So that that's what this is about and and why getting this engagement announced and crystallizing its scope uh is so exciting. I I'm thrilled and uh we're really looking forward to this. Just you know really really thrilled. That's a that's a a truncated time frame if I'm hearing you correctly. I guess on the onset of the interview, you know, I understood engaging in this would take a few months and then the PFS would take a few months, but it sounds like and we talk about the timing of this, you're really looking for these things to kind of converge at that at that right moment. I I guess in my mind I was thinking we're we're looking at 2026 and and anybody who understands the mining industry, it it doesn't happen overnight. And and I think for those share owners out there who may be looking at this and and maybe exercising a little bit impatience, I guess this really adds a lot of color, Ian, for for for what you guys are are are trying to do and inevitably move to in your timing and the decision making and what you're trying to do to to bring them on and then PFS all within the confines of 2025. That that's really exciting. Agreed. and and that is the aspirational goal to fully scope and and prepare for APFS this calendar year so that we maximize 2026 in terms of getting work done in the field preparing baseline surveys for the environmental etc. So we're scoping all of that and pre presently also doing some work on environment preparation, permitting preparation in particular how that will operate in the sort of new dispensation uh that is mining in Mexico. Um so you know we've just had Canada Day. We've put up a little blog uh for that and uh refer people to that um just again as uh a bit of a discussion there about where we believe we fit in respect of the recent announcements by Miss Shambal in in Mexico regarding mining. So none of what she said was a surprise to us. It's a very very consistent and coherent theme uh that we have heard since we really began our engagement specifically with the congress uh the depo the secretariat of the economy at the federal level uh and with the state. So um yep it's it's exciting that uh that environment is crystallizing for us. It it hasn't changed since our first engagements in March. Uh and uh is now basically repeated from from the president herself. Uh and uh we're we're uh pulling everything together as sort of expeditiously as we might to prepare to move this project forward and and to do substantial work next year. It's beautiful. I you know I what Ian's talking about for you guys that are new to the Arokco story, I want to invite you to the website. You can see uh the ticker symbol on the screen. I I made sure that that was upfront for you guys. Um is in fact the sentiment shift. Okay. Now you mentioned March. Ironically, February of 2025 is where the stock bottomed. Okay. And we found some really good performance off of the bottom again on an aggregate year-to- date, you know, up 14%, I mentioned that. But I I think that sentiment shift and you providing that update for share owners like myself to understand that that positive reception that you guys are getting is still intact and is fortified with your ongoing conversations. It is just huge. I mean, your efforts are going to be for not if you if you are not wellreceived and and I think that the um you know, the local municipality, it's really going to be fun when this really does open up the envelope there locally uh for the project. I I think for what it means for those um local inhabitants of the area um to see this project kind of come to fruition and actually start to um to to really turn back its value there locally is going to be huge for you guys. I really do. So, thank you for that color. Um Ian, is there anything else that's going on that you want to report out uh direct to share owners now? Um I could talk to you forever. uh you know we're we're getting down to the final minutes here in in your update of AOK, but uh anything you feel like we've missed here in this update? Ryan, I think we've covered the context of today's news release. Uh you know, hopefully we'll have a little more news in the not tooistant future and and perhaps at that point we can get together and sort of drill down into that. Uh I'm quite content, I think, to that that we've sort of discussed the the political stuff in the news recently and what I believe to be the significance of engaging Whittle. I I think for me what I take out of this Ian in summary is you guys are adding uh the value proposition now uh and as it lends itself a couple months down the line as a patient share owner I will be eagerly standing by for those updates and and when they happen they happen and uh any investor needs to understand that um you know things do take time but these interviews provide an insight that you guys are really working hard. you really are and I think you guys in the management need to be commended for your efforts. Um I I think discussing the the timing of what you're trying to do with a lot of moving parts, Ian, you know, the mind doesn't go any anywhere, but the moving parts surrounding what you guys are trying to do is is quite dynamic and I I think this back half of 2025 is going to be an honor to cover for you guys and I'm I'm glad to do it. I really am. Um, I'm really rooting for you guys and we'll be standing by here uh to to continue to convey uh the exciting uh news that you've got going on at OCO Resource Corp. Guys, I want to invite everybody to the website uh check out the story. The June investor presentation is there uh for your review. If you're unfamiliar with the story, a lot of fantastic information uh on a ROCO resource, just check out their website. It's absolutely fantastic. On behalf of the investors, the independent investor channel, Ian, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule and updating us on the goings on at Aroco Resource. [Music]