Darin Wagner, President and CEO, of Balmoral
Darin Wagner, President and CEO, of Balmoral has a lot to celebrate, “Balmoral just celebrated our first anniversary. During the first year of the company's existence, we've made three significant discoveries on the Detour Gold trend, sandwiched between the big build at Eleonore for GoldCorp and the monster build at Detour.” This project, Martiniere, has just experienced a new development: not only has Balmoral been able to double the size of the West Zone, but they have also announced no fewer than 5 additional gold discoveries in close proximity. Said Wagner, “Most impressively, we have a project at Martiniere that has just moved into resource definition in its first few months. We are quite excited by what is going on there throughout the land package and we think we've had a great first year. We have set ourselves up nicely for resource growth and additional new discoveries in year two.”
While Balmoral does have other projects in the works, Martiniere is their flagship. Said Wagner, “The Martiniere project, which has become the lead project for the company, it’s a high-grade gold system. In a tough market, like the one we have all been experiencing lately, the focus on grade is a proven winner.” Drill results to date remain positive. Wagner said, “We've been able to trace the West Zone for about 400 meters and it is open in all directions. We are getting set to come back in 2012 with a 20,000-25,000 meter diamond drill program. On the adjacent projects we have a series of new discoveries predominantly on the high-grade gold side – anywhere from six grams on the low end to twenty to thirty grams showing on the high end.” These results bode well for the future of Martiniere. Said Wagner, “We have a really nice core asset in the Martiniere. We may have a series of assets in close proximity that could flow into that core asset and we think there is a ready appetite for what we are discovering and that we may be able to sell them or develop them in conjunction with the assets that are located nearby.”
Maybe the most interesting part about the Martiniere discovery is that it covers less than 2% of the land position held by Balmoral along the Detour-Sunday Lake Gold Trend. . Said Wagner, “It's a great area. It is one of the last really virgin areas left in the Abitibi, which is North America’s most prolific gold belt. On one end of the belt you have Detour and their 20+ million ounces and the other side is Balmoral’s project stretching for 80 kilometres. It's us and Detour up there now. Detour is currently constructing one of the largest gold mills in Canada and spending 1.2 billion dollars in the process. With this kind of infrastructure development, we see a particularly bright future.”
Financially speaking, Balmoral is solid. Said Wagner, “We have 70 million shares outstanding and $11.5 million dollars in the treasury which has us well financed for the $6-8 million dollar drill program we have planned for next year. We have warrants that are due next year which will bring in another $12 million dollars. This would set us up well to continue our aggressive pace without un-due dilution.”
With their financial situation set, Wagner is focused on the future, “Management continues to control over 20% of the outstanding stock. We are here to make this thing successful. If it is successful, then we'll be successful with it. We are very driven and very motivated.” Other organizations can see the potential of Balmoral as well. Said Wagner, “We have several of the largest precious metal funds already invested in Balmoral, providing us with a strong base. With additional results we believe a broader segment of the market will come to the story and help us move the Company forward.” In the short-term, Balmoral is planning on releasing additional results to the market. Said Wagner, “We'll have results for five projects coming out over the next six weeks or so and then we'll start the drills back up in January and have consistent news flow over the next few months. It'll be an exciting story for investors to follow and hopefully a profitable one as well.”
Key to Balmoral's success is their management team. Wagner is a geologist by training. “My first full-time role as President and CEO was with West Timmins Mining,” he said, “With our partners we discovered a 1.5 million ounce high-grade gold deposit, which resulted in the sale of West Timmins to Lake Shore Gold.” Following the sale of West Timmins, Wagner has been able to transition most of his team to Balmoral. He said, “Our technical and management team understand how to make discoveries and drive value in this space. They know how to be successful in this space.” In addition, the Balmoral Directors offer wisdom to decision making. Said Wagner, “Our Directors provide a breadth of talent which is what we are looking for in building a company. We don't want all geologists on the Board. We have a strong consensus builder on the Board, we have a financier, we have a lawyer on the Board and we have a veteran CFO whose 30 years of experience are highly valued. On the corporate development side, we have one of the most experienced guys in the business. It is a veteran management team backing a strong and successful technical team, which has already made numerous discoveries. This makes for a strong business.”
Wagner is circumspect about why investors might be interested in his company, “I think when you are looking at junior exploration deals you are looking at two aspects and those are: the team and the location. What have these guys done before? And are they in an environment where they can make a discovery which can drive shareholder value? Our team compares very favorably with any others out there. We have a track record of delivering value to our investors. On the location front, there is no better, or safer, area in which to conduct gold exploration than the Abitibi belt of Ontario and Quebec. Home to winning stories like Detour, Osisko, Queenston Mining, Kirkland Lake Mining, Lake Shore Gold, West Timmins Mining and others, this belt features some of the largest high-grade gold deposits on the planet. Add to that the fact that Quebec embraces explorers with open arms, including refunding part of our exploration costs to us. And there is no better place to do gold exploration. Add to that our on-going success, strong treasury and aggressive exploration approach and investors will see that there are many appealing aspects to what we are doing. It should be an interesting story to follow.”
With quickly developing resources, Balmoral is in position to offer high-grade gold discoveries to the market and the associated benefits to its shareholders.
For more information:
http://www.balmoralresources.com
General Inquiries:
Balmoral Resources Ltd.
Suite 2300 - 1177 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6E 2K3
Telephone: 604-638-3664
Fax: 604-648-8809
Toll Free: 1-877-838-3664
Investor Inquiries:
John Toporowski, Manager, Corporate Development
Telephone: 604-638-5815
Email: jtoporowski@balmoralresources.com
Exploration Inquiries:
Richard Mann, Exploration Manager
Telephone: 604-638-3664
Email: rmann@balmoralresources.com
Corporate Inquiries:
Sue Chipperfield, Corporate Secretary
Telephone: 604-638-5819
Email: schipperfield@balmoralresources.com