Source: Gerardo Del Real for Streetwise Reports 07/16/2018
Warwick Smith, the CEO of American Pacific Mining, and Eric Saderholm, its president, talk with Gerardo Del Real of Resource Stock Digest about their highly prospective gold project in Nevada.
Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the CEO of American Pacific Mining Corp. (USGD:CSE;USGDF:OTCPK) and the president of American Pacific Mining, Warwick Smith and Eric Saderholm, respectively. Gentlemen, how are you doing this morning?
Warwick Smith: Good. Thanks very much for having us.
Gerardo Del Real: Now, Eric, a brief introduction on your background. I know that you’re a venture capitalist, I know that you’ve specialized in corporate finance and development for publicly traded companies. I would love if you could share just a tad bit more about your background and some of the companies you’ve been involved with.
Warwick Smith: I’d be happy to do so. I got involved in corporate finance, mostly on the mining side for most of my career. I got started in about 1999, had the good pleasure of working with Simon Ridgway’s group for about 10 years. I got a chance to see some success with Fortuna Silver Mines, started with Fortuna Silver when it was a shell, it was about a $4 million dollar market cap at that time, and I think it has over a billion dollar valuation now. We saw some nice success there.
Had similar success in a company called Northland Resources, although that was shorter lived. It was an enjoyable time and it did very well. From there I helped found a company called Riverside Resources run by John-Mark Staude now. He’s doing a great job and really banging away in Mexico. And then teamed up with Eric in 2010 on a company called Western Pacific. We worked together there until about 2014, at which point I took a little bit of time off and Eric went back to Newmont, having great success with Newmont. We had always talked about teaming up again and we were lucky enough to be put in touch together by NOVO to see the Tuscarora asset and decided it was time to team back up. So here we are and took American Pacific Public in March of this year.
Gerardo Del Real: Eric, it was mentioned that you were with Newmont and I understand that you were there for a total of 15 years I think and two different stints. Is that accurate?
Eric Saderholm: That’s correct. I started there in 1994 and then left for the junior market to go work with Rob McEwen at US Gold in 2006. I went on my own in 2008 and then Warwick and I teamed up in 2010. I went back to Newmont in 2016 and became the Manager for Exploration for the Western U.S. I enjoyed it a lot, but I had an agenda when I went and I think we accomplished it. When Warwick and I had this opportunity—I think we make a good team—I jumped ship and came back to work with Warwick.
Gerardo Del Real: Eric, you being the Carlin Trend Exploration Manager and Regional Geologist is important for the flagship. Let’s talk about the flagship, which, of course, you just mentioned. It’s the Tuscarora Project. It’s a high-grade gold prospect. It’s located between two major gold trends in Nevada. Can you tell me a bit more about the project?
Eric Saderholm: It’s unique in the fact that it’s an epithermal high-level system. So it’s a vein system, coarse gold, high grade. But the age of the mineralization is 39 million, which makes it about the same age as the Carlin mineralization. So it’s unique in that fashion. About that time, 39 million to 42 million years ago, is when probably 300 million ounces of gold was pumped into the crust. And I don’t think anyone knows exactly why, but the Cortez Trend, the Carlin Trend, and the Tuscarora area all got mineralized about the same time. So a tremendous influx of metal and that sets it apart from the smaller deposits around. It has potential to have a much bigger budget; it’s just a matter of exploring it well and staying funded and drilling and exploring.
Gerardo Del Real: That’s important, and another important point I understand is that the project has been drilled before by both NOVO and Newcrest. Is that accurate?
Eric Saderholm: Yes. It has been drilled by Newcrest and NOVO. In 1998, Newcrest decided to explore down into the gravel cover to try to find the high-grade Navajo vein. They were successful. They eventually walked away from the project as they became more focused on Australia and that’s exactly what happened to NOVO 18 years later. Quinton Hennigh, who did the drilling for Newcrest, came back and drilled some holes, had some success. And then the Australian projects that NOVO currently have, have taken their resources away from Nevada.
Gerardo Del Real: Were you able to access some of the data?
Eric Saderholm: Yes, we have data from a lot of different companies. We have Newcrest data, we have Terraco. There’s a bunch of companies that had the project. The good and the bad of it is between Newcrest and NOVO, people owned it, companies owned it, Golden Predator, a few others. But they didn’t do anything with it. They didn’t drill. Had they drilled, it could be much more advanced right now. It’s been sitting here ready for us to go with, since it is our main property. Other people have property here or property there, this thing just sort of sat on the back shelf for whatever reason. When I look at it—I’m looking at maps right now as I’m sitting here in my truck—it’s wide open in a lot of areas. The gravel cover is generally anywhere between 0 and 250 feet thick, on top of …read more
From:: The Gold Report