Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Bullfrog Gold (CSE: BFG) CEO David Beling on Promising Drill Results and Metallurgy from the Bullfrog Project in Nevada

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of Bullfrog Gold (CSE: BFG)(OTC: BFGC), Mr. David Beling. Dave, how are you this morning?

David Beling: Well, I'm doing very well and our share price is doing very well.

Gerardo Del Real: You're hitting 52-week highs on a lot of volume. You're up 24%. I get the sense and I suspect that this is just the start of what's going to be a very impressive run for Bullfrog. The last time you and I spoke, you ended the interview by saying that “this frog was ready to leap,” and leap it has. 

You announced assays on 9 holes at your gold project in the Bullfrog Mining District. Let me read the headline numbers, and then I'd love for you to provide some context and perspective. You drilled – one intercept came in 110 meters of 0.41 grams per tonne gold. You did have some higher grade intercepts as well. An 8-meter intercept of 3.23 grams per tonne gold and that was in a hole that actually was lost, I believe, at 73 meters. But let me get your take on these assays, what you accomplished and what we have to look forward to.

David Beling: Well, we had another hole that was around 300 feet of 0.33. So this Mystery Hill area that we drilled does have some very thick intercepts in it. It's lower grade than the main Bullfrog deposit but it's a tremendous supplement for expanding the Bullfrog pit to the northeast, where this Mystery Hill mineralization occurs. And of course the northern extension, the grade is basically almost three times greater than that, of what we've got in the Mystery Hill, but it's a matter of just laying back that part of the pit to extract the intercepts that we just drilled. 

There was only 6 interior holes in that whole area that were drilled 30 years ago or so. We added quite a few holes and now we'll be able to classify the resources into the inferred and measured and indicated categories. It was just too wide spaced. There wasn't much inferred resources in the area because of the wide spacing.

Of course, the other thing that's really exciting about this area is the best recovery we got from using fine crushing. Using what we call high-pressure grinding rolls, we got a 91% recovery on the bulk sample that was taken out of this Mystery Hill area. That bulk sample only ran 0.34 grams, and we got a 91% recovery. So this ore is highly amenable to crushing to a very fine size and getting a very good recovery. Everything is one hand washing the other. We're quite pleased with our results.

In addition to defining the final limits of the two pits that we have, we also got the opportunity to drill two holes in our new Paradise Ridge exploration target. I won't be getting those assays for at least two weeks, maybe three weeks. But we're looking forward to getting those because that target has great potential. It's got the identical host rocks as the 2 million ounce Bullfrog deposit, has the same rhyolite units. It's got gold on the surface. It's got structures in it. The only thing this exploration target does not have is drill holes in it, except for the two that I just put in.

Gerardo Del Real: That's the exploration upside obviously, right? We are awaiting more assays. Two important points you made that I want to make sure we hammer home. The first is the fact that the area resources are favorably oxidized. You talked about the recoveries. That's important because while some may look at a 110-meter intercept of 0.41 grams per tonne, there's the old saying that a lot of people mistakenly say that “Grade is king” when in fact “Margin is king.” 

The fact that these are shallow intercepts, that they're not in areas previously included in the measured and indicated resource, and that they're very, very favorably oxidized all lends credence to the theory that this can be a potentially very profitable mine in the future. Would you agree with that, Dave?

David Beling: Well, that's right. In fact, this deposit, when it was formed, had a little bit less than 2% sulfides when it was formed. The vast majority of that has been oxidized the deeper you go. There's drill holes out there a couple of thousand feet that still hit oxidation because you've had deep-seated faults that allowed oxidation to penetrate at great depth. Yeah, there is sulfides in there, but it's not very much. It really does perform very well metallurgically.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. What's next, Dave? I know we're awaiting assays and I believe that 21 of the 25 holes were drilled on the property leased from Barrick to fulfill that final work commitment, correct? So that you can earn in to that 100% interest, right?

David Beling: That's right. That comes up, actually it's September 23rd. At that point in time, we will have fulfilled the total work commitment that was required. We'll own that 100%, just subject to production royalties.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. Assays you're expecting in the next couple of weeks hopefully, Dave?

David Beling: Yeah, we may get some in I'd say in a week and a half, and then it'd be another three weeks from now before I get the final batch of assays. We'll likely have two more sets of drill assays coming in, separated by perhaps a week or two.

Gerardo Del Real: You're in Nevada. You have gold. Gold's headed to $1,800 and likely much higher. You have assays pending, you're funded. It's a heck of a start to this program, obviously, following up on what were successful results that you had already announced previously. So congrats. I know you must have a busy, busy day ahead of you, Dave. Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

David Beling: No, we're very pleased with our progress and we're looking forward to having more announcements. We're always looking at bringing things into the pipeline and getting them tested and refined and so forth and announcing them. So we see a very bright future for Bullfrog Gold.

Gerardo Del Real: A lot to like, Dave. Thank you for your time, sir.

David Beling: All right. Thank you very much.