Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Revival Gold (TSX-V: RVG) CEO Hugh Agro with a Busy Update from the Beartrack-Arnett Creek Gold Project: “This Team Is Moving on Multiple Fronts”

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President and CEO of Revival Gold (TSX-V: RVG)(OTC: RVLGF), Mr. Hugh Agro. Hugh, how are you this morning?

Hugh Agro: Excellent, Gerardo. Thank you for having me.

Gerardo Del Real: It's great to be able to catch up again. The last time you and I spoke, we talked about the fact that the very next time we spoke, which is now, we would likely be talking about the drills being mobilized. That certainly is the case.

I want to get into the details of the unanimously approved, $4.2 million exploration program that will see drilling not just at Beartrack, but some pretty aggressive drilling at Arnett Creek. But before we do that, we talked off-air just a bit about how challenging, and frankly opportunistic, the junior resource space is right now if you're able to buy into the better management teams that have proven assets.

There's very few teams that rank up there with the Revival Gold team. There's very few assets frankly, that have the infrastructure in place, and the resource base that you have.

Can you provide a bit of context of where the market is, in regards to the metrics? Even in this depressed market, if you take Revival Gold's per ounce share price and you kind of compare that with the industry average, even in today's depressed market, you offer a pretty compelling speculation.

Hugh Agro: Stats that we've been looking at, Gerardo, recently out of Beacon Securities, show us at roughly $6 an ounce, relative to our peers which are trading in the order of $11 to $20 an ounce. Lots of upside in the stock price.

Remember, Revival Gold is financed. We completed a $5 million financing last month that sets us up very well for the programs this year, and all the news that will come from that. Yes, it's an opportunistic time to be getting into Revival.

If you're already a Revival Gold shareholder, I think you can feel very good about the upside in the stock from here and beyond. We've got a great story.

Gerardo Del Real: You have approximately 2 million ounces across all categories, across both assets.  We're looking to add to that. I've gone on record saying that I anticipate that by year-end, there will likely be at least 3 million ounces.

I know that you are hoping to initiate an updated resource estimate by year-end and then hopefully commence a PEA study in 2020. Let's talk about what you're going to do to get to that resource update later on this year or early next year with the drilling at Beartrack and Arnett.

Hugh Agro: We put out a press release last night, as you alluded, that talks to the program for this year. The focus will be two-fold. At Beartrack we'll be extending the scope there in the Joss area, where last year we got some fabulous intercepts, a kilometer south of the existing resource. That kilometer south is all within mineralized materials. Clearly we're going to be adding resource at Beartrack from the drilling in 2018 and from the holes we'll do in 2019.

Then the second focus will be at Arnett, where last year we outlined about 400 meters of strike, at the Haidee zone, of near-surface oxide material.

We'll be back in there with 20 to 25 holes in and around, and expanding on the mineralized envelope there. That really will be the second source of material for our updated resource.

Yes, I'll say that we're targeting that 3 million ounces and we feel very good about our prospects to be able to accomplish that goal. As you know, we're already at 2 million ounces in the Beartrack area. We've got the 2018 drilling, we've got the drilling we'll do this year, and as we announced in our press release, we've brought on a first-class consultant in Roscoe Postle (RPA) to do the resource update and commence that work at the end of this year.

Gerardo Del Real: You're also undertaking a very important second phase of metallurgical test work. Can we talk a bit about that, specifically as it relates to the sulfide material, which I think is going to become increasingly important if we get the gold price and gold bull market that I see coming here, hopefully in the second half of this year.

Hugh Agro: A lot of option value in Revival Gold beyond what you see in the resource, in the measured and indicated. We do have a lot of sulfide material, which is the big mill concept that we think about. The metallurgy is important to that aspect of the project.

We'll be carrying forward a second phase of metallurgical test work, again, under the direction of RPA and all dovetailed with our resource estimate update work. The focus will be specifically on improving flotation rates. We want to come back and continue to look at recovery opportunities out of the flotation concentrate, so we can improve on that. It's not very exciting work, I got to say. The more exciting stuff is from the drill bit, but it's all necessary and important to the resource update work we'll be doing as we close out this year.

As you say, we've got it all budgeted in the program and so this team is moving on multiple fronts.

Gerardo Del Real: I always speak to the quality of management that Revival has and brings to the market. You have a very keen understanding of the capital bull markets, Hugh. You should be commended for that and something that flies under the radar. Some of the smaller fine print agreements that you work so hard behind the scenes that nobody really takes notice of.

I wanted to mention one because the news release talked about how you renegotiated the agreement, which will allow Revival to have a little bit more flexibility, just depending on the markets that included the NSR, it capped it and, again like I mentioned, it gave you some flexibility. Can you give us some details on that and the thinking there?

Hugh Agro: Sure. And I have to say, this is a collaboration with Yamana. They certainly understand the predicament that juniors are in today, with the tight capital market. What we've worked out with them is a win-win scenario where we reduce the amount of committed capital into the project and the amount of expenditure that Revival Gold has to make outside of exploration, so that we can get as much value out of the exploration dollars we do raise as possible.

For their benefit, Yamana will get an additional 0.25% NSR down the road. And we think that's fair value to give up for giving us more flexibility in a tough capital market.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. To recap, we expect drilling at Beartrack first in late May and then – of course subject to permitting, which I understand is coming along great – we're hoping to get into Arnett Creek sometime in June. Would that be accurate, Hugh?

Hugh Agro: It is. We'll be drilling here shortly and we'll certainly keep you posted.

Gerardo Del Real: I am looking forward to catching up with you in June. I understand you'll be at the 121 Mining Investment conference in New York. Is that correct?

Hugh Agro: Yeah, we've got a full slate of marketing. We'll be in London later this month for the 121 in London, and then with the Northern Miner in London, and then to New York for the 121. And we'll certainly catch up with you in person there, Gerardo.

We'll just continue on telling the story, because it's a great story to tell. As you pointed out earlier in the show, we've got compelling value here. There's a double in our stock price, just based on where our peers are trading.

Gerardo Del Real: If I know you, your team and the people behind the scenes, the long-term committed shareholders – and I'm going to date myself a bit here – but I've got to believe you're using that Rolodex in this challenging market to evaluate any accretive opportunities out there.

Hugh Agro: We keep our eyes open and we've got a lot of activity going on on that front. I don't think at current share prices we want to be doing anything with our stock but we do keep an eye on what's going on out there. Gerardo, we'll keep you posted on that front as we can, as well.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. You have the infrastructure, you have a 2 million ounce head start. You're drilling, you're fully funded, and you have one of the best teams in this space, so should be an exciting summer and second half of the year for Revival shareholders. Thank you, Hugh.

Hugh Agro: Thank you, Gerardo.

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