Maurice Jackson: Joining us for a conversation is James Pettit, the president, CEO and director of Aben Resources Ltd. (ABN:TSX.V; ABNAF:OTCQB). Before we delve into today's interview, Mr. Pettit, please introduce us to Aben Resources and the opportunity you present to the market.
James Pettit: Aben Resources is a gold exploration company, and we're focused in really safe jurisdictions in Canada. Our flagship Forrest Kerr Gold Project is in the Golden Triangle, which is the northwest quarter of British Columbia. That is a very notable area where people are going. It's got a strong history, with some very high-grade discoveries in the past, and currently too.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, take us to your flagship Forrest Kerr gold project, and let's visit the North Boundary Zone, where Aben Resources just released an exciting press release regarding analytical results from the ongoing 2019 drill exploration program.
James Pettit: Aben Resources has released eight holes on the season. I do believe we're on hole 23, actually still drilling. And those holes were drilled just south of the high-grade part of the North Boundary Zone, trying to connect the dots between the high-grade zone in the North Boundary and the old Noranda hole, about 30 years old, which was a very high-grade hole. . .let's abbreviate it to 10 meters of 38 grams. Well over an ounce. That's never been duplicated there. [Noranda] is 300 meters south of the North Boundary Zone and we want to try to connect the dots, see if there's anything there in between them and then see what's around the Noranda hole.
[This will] give us some extension of the high grade, and so far it's got us a little bit baffled. You know, when we came out with our initial results, the market kind of sold off. People were expecting high grade because last year we hit a spectacular hole in our first hole of the season. And this year it's more along the lines of what you would expect from exploration in many cases. Rarely is an explorer lucky to hit super high-grade stuff constantly, but we're hitting a lot of mineralization. What we're seeing so far is a little lower grade than what we've done the last two years, concentrating around that North Boundary Zone.
But what we do know is when you put 30 some-odd holes into one area, you pretty much got it contained. And so our best opportunity is now to move south through the Noranda zone. Aben has been able to identify that the chemical alteration is changing and it's becoming actually better. As an explorer this is what you want to see. Important to note, you get this QSP, it's called. That's, from an explorer point of view, nirvana! The potassic influence there means we're getting closer to a heat source. We're in an environment that's heavily mineralized with high grade and lots of low to mid grade.
It's a big area. The boundary zone itself is about four kilometers long, two kilometers wide. Aben is going to start drilling according to the alteration, the geochem and the new geophysics that we've received, which is really quite something. And there's plenty of anomalies to work with, which we feel are intrusives just down below that could be feeding the system. As we get a little further along in our drilling and get the analytics back, shareholders are going to know more and more and more. The potassic environment that we're in, along with the alteration, leads us to believe there's probably a feeder zone, generally within a thousand meters.
We believe this is one of the best exploration programs around. We know we're still in a hydrothermal environment as opposed to a porphyry environment. But I'm not adverse to finding out that there's a big porphyry down below, because we do know we've got hydrothermal above. Could be very exciting.
Maurice Jackson: Well, the feeling is mutual on the merits of the future of Aben Resources. The company just reported on drill results identified as FK19-47 through FK19-54. What were you able to identify for shareholders? (Click here for full details of FK19-47 through FK19-54.)
James Pettit: The drill holes FK19-47 through FK19-54 have provided Aben a pretty good read based on the alteration, and we can see a bit of a change in the mineralization. We can confirm it is a little more polymetallic. We are not just getting gold and copper, but we're getting silver in there as well. And I know, in some of the holes that we haven't even reported on yet, we can see zinc as well. Aben's primary interest is the precious metals. We did hit some high-grade sections in these holes. They weren't spectacular, as our previous success on one meter of 300 gram stuff. We did have an 18 gram—those are really good—and that's keeping the hope alive. But I think we will hit more high grade as we go forward.
Those particular holes were drilled around the area that the old Noranda hole was drilled. And so the five of them, I think, is what we've done. One of them was oriented toward the south of the Noranda hole. Therefore, we have confidence that this mineralization is extended. We keep hitting. Obviously, we'd like to hit the high grade more often, of course, but we'll take what we get as long as we learned and know more and more and more.
Maurice Jackson: Well, there's nothing wrong with continuity either.
James Pettit: The second map on our news release shows the mineralized event in each hole—you can kind of see the trend. I mean it is widely mineralized. The whole area we're in is [approximately] about 500–600 meters long and every hole is full of mineralization.
Maurice Jackson: Mr. Pettit, while you're actually referencing that, can you walk us through the map please?
James Pettit: The first one that we're looking at is the whole area, the Golden Triangle. We are the long, narrow yellow property in the middle. It’s long and narrow because it's following a major fault. You can see the major fault from space, it's that pronounced and it's considered one of the engines of the whole area. Having this massive structural feature is paramount, and that generates a lot of fluids into the area, and the fluids bring the gold, the precious metals, with them. Aben has staked three large claim packages. That's what they look like when they're all put together.
The map above indicates drill holes. The first, you can see the upside-down V at the top. We are trying to fill a gap there in the North Boundary Zone. It didn't come out how we thought it would. Therefore, we believe we've hit the outer limits of that North Boundary Zone. The red dots are where we drilled from the platforms and inside that is the guts of the really high grade that we hit the last couple of years. And then, as you move south, that long narrow line is actually two holes, one below the other, and that cuts across the Noranda zone.
The drill holes on the bottom half of what appears like a sideways-looking V—those are following up on some alteration and touching on again into the Noranda hole down below it.
And when you review the third map on our press release, you can see that all the holes are mineralized—everything's mineralized, it's really quite impressive. The green is lower grade, but extends over the length of the hole.
Maurice Jackson: Well, before we leave your project portfolio, are there any updates on the Justin and Chico projects that you'd like to share with us?
James Pettit: Well, other than what we put out, I've got to tell you, I wasn't overjoyed by the results. The RAB drill we were using, which is a rotary air blast drill, can give you results relatively cheaply. The one thing about these percussion type of drills, it's got to be dry, and the environment we were drilling in, it turned out [there was] a lot of alluvial water underneath and that might have made it a little more difficult for us to get proper assays. If there's water in there, it all drifts to the bottom and it's difficult to achieve representative values in those cores. It needs to be dry, because this isn't solid core, it's crushed and pulverized.
I've accomplished a number of RAB drills in Nevada over the years and it works great. Then every now and again, when you need geology, you'd put a diamond drill hole in and it gives you some really good geology of what you've been drilling. And then we also conducted diamond core drilling up there. We did four holes, which one of them was exactly what we're looking for. The other three were not as good, but that one shows us that there is life there—because we did drill it in 2012 and there's a big intrusion-related gold system. That's what we found back then with this area that we're using the percussion drill in. That's an area that's much older—orogenic in nature, so it's much older. And that intrusion-related system came up through it. We thought there'd be a connection between the two. But unfortunately the RAB drill didn't really work for us the way we wanted it to.
We may give it another shot, or somebody else [may]. We may auction the property and somebody else can do that. Aben is pretty focused on the Forrest Kerr. And then the Chico—we haven't done anything for going on a year and a half now because we got all set up to do some drilling there. We really would like to go back, but we ran into a little influence from the Natives. They're having band elections and I guess they were pretty sensitive, even though all the communications we had with them didn't seem to make any difference. So they wanted us out of there, so we left. And now they're asking us to come back.
So that's something I'm going to analyze going into the new year, because that's something we can drill in the winter. We'll see where that goes. In the meantime, I've got a few other very-good-potential-looking projects that could be year-round for us. So we'll just wait and see how those play out for us.
Maurice Jackson: Switching gears, Mr. Pettit, what does the current capital structure look like for Aben Resources?
James Pettit: Issued and outstanding, we're about 117 million shares right now, and as of two days ago we got $3 million in the till. This year's drill program is basically three quarters paid for already. Aben is going to end the season in good shape. Fully diluted we are at 137 million shares, and that could bring in a substantial amount of money. Should we hit a high-grade hole on the pending drill results, as we have about 17, 18 more holes to report on, we could easily get a lot more money taken down in warrants.
Maurice Jackson: Readers should note, a buying opportunity is when the thesis makes sense and the price is low, and that's exactly what we have in Aben Resources. The company recently had a sell-off for no material reason, and we look to be active buyers at these prices. Did you want to make any comments regarding the current movement?
James Pettit: Well, most of the calls I'm getting, you know. . .yes, it did sell off when we put out the original, initial news this season on the first three holes, because they didn't stand up to last year's first couple of holes. And that's. . .this is exploration. Most of the calls I'm getting right now are asking me not why did it—they know why it came down. They're asking if this is when they should be in the market buying, and we're getting in at basically December prices. And I would say yeah, because nothing's changed. Zero.
Maurice Jackson: Sir, in closing, what is the next unanswered question for Aben Resources and when should we expect a response, and what will determine success?
James Pettit: Well, the unanswered question is vectoring into that heat source that we're now aware of from the alteration. That's the unanswered question. Where is it? We'll know a lot more at the end of this season. And along the way we could well hit, when we get our assays back. There is core in the lab that Aben sent in on rush, but the lab will not take any more rush orders because they're so backed up. Therefore, we're waiting patiently for the next batch and the next batch and the next batch. We'll be putting out news well into November.
Maurice Jackson: The last question I have for you, sir, and that is my favorite one, and that is, what did I forget to ask?
James Pettit: Well, you know, we could have talked a little bit about the current gold market.
Maurice Jackson: Let's touch on that.
James Pettit: It's exciting! The price of gold is up $300 since the middle of May. That's increased expectations out there, in particular in the retail market, not so much institutional. The retail market expectations are way up. Could be why the market's sold off the way it did. The retail market wants good news and then there's way more of retail buyers in the market. And most of the people that are calling me are asking me, is this the time that I should be in the buying in the market? I'm not advising anybody, but if you are not a shareholder, consider that we are trading at CA$0.10 per share. Why wouldn't you be?
That kind of heightened awareness is creating a bit of a frenzy, you know, but the juniors, they're not really getting the glory yet. That'll come. The midtiers are starting to move and the majors are getting, you know, big price swings up.
Maurice Jackson: Well, prudent capital is moving your way, sir, because I'm heading your way to buy additional shares. I said this earlier, we're looking to be active buyers at these prices. Mr. Pettit, for someone listening who wants to get more information about Aben Resources, please share the website address.
James Pettit: It's abenresources.com. It's a really good website, too. There's a lot of info on it.
Maurice Jackson: For additional inquiries about admin resources, please call Don Meyers at (604) 639-3851, or you may e-mail [email protected]. Aben Resources trades on the TSX.V: ABN | OTCQB: ABNAF. Aben Resources is a sponsor of Proven and Probable and we are proud shareholders for the virtues conveyed in today's message.
Before you make your next bullion purchase, be sure you call me. I'm a licensed representative for Miles Franklin, precious metals investments where we provide a number of options to expand your precious metals portfolio from physical delivery, offshore depositories, precious metal IRAs and private blockchain distributed ledger technology. Call me directly at (855) 505-1900 or you may email [email protected].
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Disclosure:
1) James Pettit: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Aben Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: Aben Resources.
2) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Aben Resources. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Aben Resources is a sponsor of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below.
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