Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Revival Gold (TSX-V: RVG) CEO Hugh Agro on Improved Metallurgical Results from the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project in Idaho

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 afternoon?

Hugh Agro: Thanks for having me, Gerardo. Great to be with you.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, thank you for coming back on the last time you and I spoke, I referenced that I was really looking forward to the metallurgical results from the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project. Specifically, I think I highlighted that the sulfide portion of the resource was something that a lot of people were waiting to see if you could recover and what those recoveries look like. You announced that today.

Congratulations to you and your team because the announcement is a very, very favorable one for Beartrack and a great start over at Arnett. I would love for you to highlight the work and the details. And again, congrats.

Hugh Agro: Thank you very much. So the headline is 94% recovery for the Beartrack mill sulfide material. That is a big improvement for us. That's an improvement from 84% in our prior resource estimate. Of course, 10% higher recovery goes right to the bottom line because you're spending the same amount of dollars to recover the gold. So that's a big plus for us.

Gerardo Del Real: Not insignificant when you have a total across all categories of 2 million ounces. You're headed, I believe you're well on your way to 3 million ounces and I know we'll touch on that in just a bit. You have a resource estimate scheduled for Q1 of 2020.

Can we talk about Arnett and the opportunity there? The gold recovery there, I believe, came in at about 75% was the recommendation. So I'd like to talk about that and I want to talk about who you hired to do these tests because that's important. We know in our industry you can hire someone that will be a little bit friendlier on the estimate and you can always hire firms that tend to be more conservative but bring with them a lot more credibility. I would love for you to explain the group you hired and why you chose to go that route.

Hugh Agro: Well, let's start with that first. As you know, this is a team at Revival Gold that very much plays by the mantra of underpromise, overdeliver. So the consultants that we work with fall into the same vein. I think this particular group on the metallurgy is first-class.

We've got Roscoe Postle Associates. We've got a SGS doing the test work and a gentleman by the name John Marsden advising. John has literally written the book on metallurgy, resides in the US, has worked on projects around the world, and has been very helpful in working with us and RPA to optimize on our test work and our plans going forward.

So first-class team and on the same principle of underpromise, overdeliver. And so in that vein, I think what we've got on the Arnett metallurgical results is an indication of a very good recovery in the material that's had been tested at Arnett.

This is very favorable, to have 85 to 95% extraction rates in the bottle roll test from that material. And the recommended recovery for the purposes of our resource which you know we're doing is 75% for that material. That's a very respectable number. We're really happy with that. We think there's some scope to improve that, certainly. But as a baseline it's a really good place to start.

Gerardo Del Real: I don't think it's a coincidence that not just one, but several of the analysts out there have a target price of $2 per share on Revival Gold shares. And I'd like to highlight that at least one of those groups is doing so with a discounted target multiple of $30 an ounce, which is a pretty big discount to the current peer group average, they're using $46 an ounce. And that's based on a target of 2.5 million ounces. I'm on record as saying, I think you're well on your way to 3 million ounces. And I think that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add, Mr. Hugh Agro?

Hugh Agro: You put me on the spot. Look, the geologists are doing their work, the consultants are doing their work and there's a lot to it. We've got cost estimates, we've got pit slopes to sort through. We've got obviously all the drill data and that work is progressing on plan for completion in Q1.

I will say that we have about 15,000 meters of drilling going into the a resource update, which is an increase from 71,000 meters on the prior estimate. So that should give some indication as to where we're going in terms of potential on the resource.

As you point out, we've got better recoveries, we're in a better gold price environment. All of those things will be taken into consideration as we put together this updated resource next quarter.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. I think 2020 is going to be a game changer for Revival Gold, not just on the execution front, which frankly you and the team have executed beautifully. You mentioned the mantra of underpromising and overdelivering. You've done that perfectly, I think.

But I think 2020 is going to be the year where you really get the attention of the mainstream and the bigger institutions. I know people are starting to notice because I can't help but notice the share price has recovered quite nicely here in the past month. I think the announcement today is really going to fast track. So congratulations again, Hugh.

Hugh Agro: Thanks, Gerardo.

Gerardo Del Real: Appreciate the time.

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