In today's uncertain economy, companies are holding their breath and waiting to see what happens next. But history consistently shows that companies who push ahead in spite of the risks are often those that succeed while others stumble.
Lakeland Resources (TSX-V: LK; FSE: 6LL) could be one of those companies. Recently, we spoke to Jonathan Armes, President and CEO of Lakeland Resources, and he told us about Lakeland's plan for growth. Investors will note that the company is strategically moving forward.
Lakeland has three main projects on the go right now. The Camlaren project, near Yellowknife Northwest Territories was Lakeland's Qualifying Transaction (required for listing). Although it is located in an historic gold-producing belt, Lakeland has shifted its focus from the Camlaren property and onto two projects in Ontario – Hannah and Midas. "We entered into a joint venture agreement with a company called GTA Resources on [the Hannah property] up near Hearst, Ontario north of Timmins. We'll earn up to a 70% interest in exchange for cash, shares and an exploration commitment."
It's a drill-ready property. GTA Resources is working out some final details with local First Nations bands that Mr. Armes believes will be concluded within months.
Not content to sit and wait for negotiations to conclude, Mr. Armes found another property to add to Lakeland's portfolio: "The Midas property is situated some 50 kilometers north of Wawa Ontario. It's proximate to other present and past-producing mines, including some larger deposits that have been discovered in the Wawa area. Geologically, we're situated in a belt that is known to have deposits and, in recent months, there has been a fair amount of activity up there."
Currently, this property has received the most attention from Lakeland. Mr. Armes detailed the work and their findings: "We carried out a series of tests and then drilled 5 holes in March. We intersected some significant intercepts, including 4.7 metres of 5.92 grams per tonne gold. We then initiated a second phase of drilling in August and are awaiting the results from that program. Concurrently the company carried out a prospecting and mapping program and made a new discovery to the west of the current focus area. Grab samples ran up to 130 grams per tonne and a stripping and trenching program will be carried out on this new area."
Mr. Armes reported, "This new discovery, it's at least 100 metres to the west of any drilling we've carried out. The work that we'll need to do in the coming months will help us get a better understanding (from an at-surface standpoint) of what kind of geological environment we're in. Wawa is notoriously complicated, geologically, so understanding things at surface will help us identify new and different opportunities to explore and advance the new discovery and property."
The property is ready to be explored further and, if necessary, infrastructure that doesn't yet go into the property isn't far away: "There are a series of logging roads that are easily traversed. We can drive right to the property boundary and then it's about a 15 minute ATV ride in to where we have been drilling. In the winter, we can drive right in with our pick-up trucks. At this stage of the game, we use a generator out there to run our equipment. If we set up a camp out there, we would bring in a diesel generator. There is power running to a nearby mine, so infrastructure is available."
And how is the company set up financially for all of this? Mr. Armes told us: "In the short term (once we've covered our invoices from this past round of exploration), the company should have $700,000 to $800,000 in cash. We'll probably look to raise more money if we add another project into the portfolio and get aggressive. An exploration budget for the Midas project could easily justify a half-a-million to a million dollar budget for 2012. We've only explored a very small portion of the property. We would like to expand our current grid and identify more targets through a mapping and prospecting program and then follow it up with more drilling."
While Lakeland waits for assays, Mr. Armes is hard at work: "I've been reviewing multiple projects that I'd like to add to our property portfolio, which helps with news-flow."
Driving this company forward is a very skilled team. Mr. Armes outlined his own experience and then briefly discussed some of the other management team, too: "I got into the business in 1993 as an investor relations consultant and consulted to several companies over a period of roughly ten years. After going through the investor relations mode, I went out into the field and worked for a couple of geologists. I did some prospecting; I managed a drill camp; I split a lot of drill core. I got a well-rounded mining background. Then a year ago August, I came on as the President of Lakeland Resources."
Rounding out the team are a group of skilled experts: "Bob Duess is a director and was involved in Band-Ore’s which made a significant gold discovery in Ontario. He's been a geologist for 30 years and he's very familiar with Ontario. He and I have known one another since the mid-1990's. Alex Falconer has just recently come on as our CFO. He's been involved in a number of junior resource companies as a CFO. Daniel Wilson has a marketing background which adds another element to the mix. Mike Tremblay manages the projects. He's been a prospector for the past 25 years. He's one of the vendors of the Midas property. He's a well-rounded field guy. He knows his rocks."
Lakeland has some promising new properties and a great team, making them a potentially exciting investment. Mr. Armes asserted that Lakeland is not only poised for great things but is also undervalued: "We've had a high of $0.25/share. That was prior to us acquiring any of the projects we have, and at the time we had $600,000 in the bank. Our project portfolio has expanded; we've advanced the Midas property; and our cash position is another $100,000 more than it was a year ago. Right now, we're about $0.12/share, so I would say that we are undervalued because we are dealing with a dramatically different market from a year ago."
For investors who want to get in on the ground floor, Lakeland seems to have all of the right ingredients.
REFERENCES
Lakeland Resources
http://www.lakelandresources.com
Lakeland Resources Corp.
Suite 1450 - 789 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC
V6C 1H2 Canada