Brad Aelicks is deeply involved in the world of technology and sustainability—but in a previous life he was a rock-star geologist.
We asked Aelicks about his track record in resource extraction.
"I am a geologist by background, trained at Laurentian University and spent the early part of my career as a consulting geologist," recalled Aelicks in an exclusive interview with Streetwise Reports.
Aelicks was part of a team that pulled one of the most valuable holes ever drilled.
"The Eskay Creek discovery holds a world record," recalled Aelicks. "We were a group of young geologists at the time and it leveraged all of us into fantastic careers in the mining industry."
Following the Eskay Creek run, Aelicks managed a number of public companies, transitioning into founding his own merchant bank with B&D Capital Partners.
"We ran that for seven years and raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $600 million through the various different companies that we sponsored and took public," stated Aelicks.
Aelicks still has a deep affinity for the mining industry, though he now manages his investments from a private account.
"I spend a lot of my time looking at assets around the world, mostly in the junior sector, because of the leverage that you get," stated Aelicks.
"When you have a discovery, you are creating wealth at multiple levels—and not just for investors," added Aelicks, "If things go well, you're building a mine, town sites, small communities around these discoveries. So, it truly is wealth creation at all levels."
Today, Aelicks' biggest personal holding is in Getchell Gold Corp. (GTCH:CSE; GGLDF:OTCQB), a Nevada focused gold and copper exploration company, currently drilling Fondaway Canyon, a past gold producer with a significant in-the-ground historical resource estimate.
Getchell Gold is in the heart of Nevada, which is one of the best districts for gold mining in the world, rated number 1 on the most recent Fraser Institute survey. The project has over 1.1 million ounces of historical gold at up to 6 grams per tonne.
"In this day and age, six grams per tonne is classified as a high-grade deposit," explains Aelicks, "In the past, 10- or 15-gram/tonne gold was a high-grade deposit. But the world is switching to big bulk-mining environments where they can mine low-grade deposits profitably."
"At 6 grams/tonne gold, with this type of deposit, there is reasonable expectation that there are higher ounces available within the system that have never been qualified," added Aelicks.
Because the Getchell asset conforms to a bulk tonnage environment, its has never been seriously looked at as a high-grade environment.
"The 1.1 million ounces is contained within three zones within this large deformation corridor that has been traced over 3.5 kilometers," stated Aelicks. "There is mineralization in every crack and every fissure within that 3.5 kilometers. The main mineralization that's in the NI-43-101-compliant resource is within three zones: Colorado, Pack Rat and the Paper Weight Zone."
"Within this mineralized corridor, there is a lot of exploration to be done," explains Aelicks. "Previously about 700 holes were drilled on this property. So, it's been a massive undertaking to understand the plumbing of the system."
The 2021 program tested areas on the property that hadn't previously had any drill density, to see if the model held up.
The assay results included multiple intersections of high grade and also 40–60-meter intersections of 2.5-gram/tonne type material.
On June 1, 2021, Getchell announced the start of the 4,000-meter phase one 2021 drill program on the Central Area of the Fondaway Canyon Gold Project in Nevada.
Fondaway is an advanced stage gold property with a large historical resource located in Churchill County, Nevada, comprising 171 unpatented lode claims totaling 1,186 hectares (2,932 acres).
Gold was first discovered in Fondaway Canyon in 1977 and over the intervening 40+ years it has been the subject of multiple exploration campaigns along a 3.5km east-west gold mineralized corridor.
The historical resource estimate comprised Indicated resources of 409,000 oz gold contained in 2,050,000 tonnes grading 6.18 g/t and Inferred resources of 660,000 oz gold contained in 3,200,000 tonnes grading 6.4 g/t, is predominately localized on the Paperweight, Half Moon, and Colorado gold zones within the Central Area of the project.
The stated objective is to conduct infill and step-out drilling to further delineate and expand on the mineralization discovered during the 2020 drill program.
Initially the drill plan will target the newly named "Juniper" high-grade structural gold zone, shallowly located down-dip of the Colorado Pit, reporting from last year's hole FCG20-02.
"The stellar results from the 2020 drill program blew the potential of the Fondaway Canyon Gold Project wide open," stated Mike Sieb, president of Getchell Gold Corp.
"We have another project called the Star Project, about 65 miles north of Fondaway Canyon," explained Aelicks. "We've been getting it ready for drilling for over a decade. Through some of the tough and challenging mining times, you don't have budgets to go out and drill big targets."
"We've been methodically doing the geophysical work," added Aelicks. "I classify Star as a fault zone that sits at a critical contact between the upper plate sediment sequence and the lower plate sediment sequence."
"We have a system pregnant with copper, silver and gold," stated Aelicks. "There is a heat engine driving these minerals into the upper system."
Getchell plans to drill 12 to 15 holes at Fondaway Canyon, then move the drill rig up to the Starpoint property while the company waits for assay results.
We asked Aelicks about Getchell Gold's 2021 milestones.
"We'll have a minimum of 12 to 15 holes to start on Fondaway Canyon, focusing on two different areas," stated Aelicks.
"We'll also be drilling in an area to the west called the Pediment Zone, where there's no rock outcrop," added Aelicks. "But it's directly on trend with the deformation corridor. Two historical holes were drilled there. Both of those holes hit significant intercepts of gold mineralization—not high grade—but about 30 meters of 0.8 grams/tonne gold.
"If those were the only two holes on the property, you would believe you might have an opportunity to discover a Carlin style deposit. But the deposit in the central corridor is not a Carlin style.
"These Pediment holes indicate that there could be a significant secondary model, in addition to the existing model. So, we're going to add some exploration holes out in the Pediment area."
As well as being a shareholder of Getchell Gold, Aelicks is an advisor to the board of directors.
"My position in Getchell is my largest personal position in the mining sector," confirmed Aelicks. "My exposure in Getchell is about 1.8 million shares, and I have a warrant position as well."
"I'm comfortable with it because of the leverage to the price of gold with those high-grade ounces," concluded Aelicks.
Getchell has approximately 83 million shares issued, 21 million warrants and almost 6 million options. Fully diluted, there are about 110 million shares.
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Disclosure:
1) Lukas Kane compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. He or members of his household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. He or members of his household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. His company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: None.
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4) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Getchell Gold, a company mentioned in this article.
