Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW) CEO Michael Hudson on Best Drill Hole to Date at South Palokas, Acquisition of Central Victorian Goldfields in Australia, & Upcoming Catalysts

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the Chairman and CEO of Mawson Resources (TSX: MAW)(OTC: MWSNF), Mr. Michael Hudson. Mike, how are you reporting from the field?

Michael Hudson: I am reporting from the field this morning, Gerardo. We're in Northern Victoria doing the due diligence on Mawson's new Victorian Goldfield acquisition. So we're kicking lots of rocks and making sure it all is as it seems. So far so good, but we're here to talk about our flagship today.

Gerardo Del Real: We are. Two main takeaways I want to make sure that I highlight. The main headline obviously reads, “Mawson Drills the Best South Palokas Intercept: 8 Meters at 7.9 g/t Gold.” So we'll talk about that in just a second. You announced assay results from an additional five drill holes. We know there's five rigs turning. 

There is something in this release that you've made a point the last couple of releases to highlight, and this is a second point I want to hammer home. You continue to highlight how predictable this system is becoming. So obviously let's talk about the 8 meters of 7.9 grams per tonne gold, the step out, where it was at, why it's important, and then let's talk about that system that is becoming more and more predictable by the day, which excites me as a shareholder because that means I should probably expect more high-grade hits.

Michael Hudson: Exactly, Geraldo, in terms of the predictability. It is a very key point. And I'm going to address that first and then lead into the results, which is reverse to how you asked me to address it. 

But firstly, there's a lot in this release and one is we took a big step out. We took a 600-meter down-plunge step out, 400 meters from the previous resource, which was December, 2018 at a project called Palokas. We hit the mineralized structure. Now that that is very key, this wasn't though one of the flashier results in the release. It was around 10 meters at 0.6 grams gold. But that was a big step out and that shows the system continues 600 meters down and of course it will go beyond that. So that showed courage and skill to be able to do that on the behalf of our technical team. So that's one key point.

Second is that we are infilling updip from that hole in Palokas and South Palokas in this release and we hit what is our best hit in South Palokas. I've enjoyed some holes over the last few years, but we knew – and kudos again to our technical team – that we hadn't seen the better looking rocks. We hadn't seen the reduced rocks that we generally see the higher grades in at the other projects in the area. So every time we drill this system, it throws up better and better results and that doesn't happen very often in this business. That's what we've done here with an 80-meter step out, 8 meters grading just under 8 grams.

So fantastic there and then we had some other holes. Every hole hits in this release and then we had other holes that were on the margins but will add to the resource calculation we expect, because they are outside the current resource boundaries, each and every one of them and it's onwards and upwards. We're doing, as we said we'd do, build on the existing resource base.

Gerardo Del Real: Let me play devil's advocate a bit, Mike. Obviously the 8 meters at 7.9 grams per tonne gold from 303 meters is the best gold intersection to date from the prospect. Can we talk about that hole 202A that you said was significant for you? The 10.1 meters of 0.6 grams per tonne gold. That was down at 771.7 meters. So the good news there is it's mineralized way down there. Me playing devil's advocate I could say – and you highlight this – it's lower grade. 

What did you learn from that hole that encourages you moving forward as you continue to step out and drill to depth?

Michael Hudson: I'm sitting here in Victoria and of course very close to what is one of the world's highest grade mines and most profitable mines, Fosterville. I only bring that up because there was a story that a very famous geologist and friend of mine told me when they drilled the hole. They took a big bold step out in that system a number of years ago. It was a 500-meter step out and it had just had weak alteration, but the geologists were excited. Anybody else wasn't because there was no gold there, but the geologists said this is very significant, that system continues. That hole, that big step out at Fosterville, was only 15 meters away from the Swan Zone, which is 2.5 million ounces at 60 grams.

So the analogy here is that the mineralized system continues. Now we don't always hit the highest grades in the first hole. In fact, it's pretty tough but what we're really trying to do is drill for the structure. Then once we've got that structure, we can drill for the grade. And of course it would be nice if we hit grade first up in every hole but that's nirvana. 

So now we've got our finger where to drill it, down plunge 600 meters. We're infilling up-plunge from sort of 200 meters to 500 meters and that's where we're going now, and it really constrains it, it bookends it for us and we'll have a much better idea down at 600 meters when we've infilled up-plunge. So it's de-risking it, it's demonstrating the system is continuing, and it's demonstrating that we've been able to hit it from a long way away.

Gerardo Del Real: Well said. It's important to note that the cobalt and multi-element assays remain pending. Do you have an idea of when we'll start seeing those because they've been a significant credit to these grades and to these hits?

Michael Hudson: Yeah, they add maybe 10 to 20% in situ value, the cobalt traditionally from what we've seen before. But it's also adds continuity of the mineralized zone. We'll start to see those coming in in the upcoming releases over the next few weeks. The turnaround on gold is about a week and the turnaround for multi-elements, three to four weeks.

Gerardo Del Real: Five rigs are turning as we speak. Correct, Mike?

Michael Hudson: Correct.

Gerardo Del Real: How is the cash position looking?

Michael Hudson: It's going down daily because we're drilling lots but that's ...

Gerardo Del Real: That's what you raised it for.

Michael Hudson: That's what we're supposed to do, that's what we raised it for, but we're somewhere between $5 and $6 million and we'll end this program with enough cash in the bank of course to see us through the year if we need to. But this is a project that's growing quickly.

Gerardo Del Real: And last but not least, it's growing quickly and that cash that's being spent in the ground is of course leading up to an updated resource estimate. When do you plan on delivering that, Mike?

Michael Hudson: That'll be Q3. So after the summer we hope we'll be in a position to do that and we're on track so far.

Gerardo Del Real: You're cashed up, you're hitting high grade, you're hitting gold, you have some cobalt, and you have five rigs turning. It's a heck of an exploration story. Anything else that you'd like to add, Mike?

Michael Hudson: And we're in the shadow of the headframe of a new project that I'm just doing the due diligence on. So it's a busy time in Mawson.

Gerardo Del Real: In the world's hottest land. It's a good position to be in. Mike, thanks so much.

Michael Hudson: Thanks, Gerardo.

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