Benton Resources (TSXV:BEX) - Striking Bonanza Copper & Gold Grades

[Music] hi there I'm Steven stairs I'm the president and CEO of Benton resources Inc uh we're LED on the TSX Venture exchange and we're a multicommodity company uh involved in copper nickel Platinum plaum lithium and gold along with the subredits of cobalt and silver and our main focus is uh advancing our high-grade great burnt Lake Discovery in New Finland Canada step good thanks for joining us first time you've uh been on the show uh with Banton um you've had a you've had a great few weeks of it haven't you yes Matt it's been uh wonderful um you know in my career uh you know since I've been in this industry 17 years old uh this is by far the best project we've ever worked on and I believe uh it will be a substantial resource by the time we're done right like so like you said we're going to get into it in a second um I I I'm going to start with the the the co copper go side of things and we can maybe you know get into some of the other Commodities including the lithiums pges ETC but before we do before we do um telling me a little bit about you what's your background what have you done uh so I started in the industry when I was uh 17 years old 17 years old my whole family uh basically are uh Prospectors in the industry my uncle my dad uh my two brothers run publicly traded companies or have run publicly traded companies uh and uh you know my latest uh uh Discovery here is great burnt Lake and we've been involved in many many discoveries across Canada and work worldwide in various environments and uh basically uh you know my my uncle and my first cousin uh discovered the new found gold uh Heat Z my mom is a Keat uh so um you know that's a major major uh thing that's happening in Newland right now with over 500,000 meters of being drilled um so yeah the whole family is involved and uh we uh we love what we do well keep it in the family yeah nice um and let's let's start off say with with the first project was with great and great brand copper um and gold project how did you pick it up why do you it uh well we've been following the project for quite some time um we' seen that John Ryan picked it up in 2016 uh prior to 2016 most of the exploration uh on great burnt was done in the 60s and 70s and after that work was done they anybody that went back into the belt tried to expand on new deposits and new resources kind of outside of the known drilled deposit uh what they didn't know is uh in in the 60s when they drilled it they had uh poor recovery issues uh they had asouth issues with actually not knowing where the winky size you know the size of your baby finger core uh you know where those drill rods were going um so therefore they didn't adequately test the deposit uh and from our understanding reading the old drill logs they were talking about poor recoveries uh grinding the copper uh or awaya because it's very soft and you know standard drilling it's pretty tough to to recover that stuff uh so in 2016 Spruce Ridge redrilled some of the deposit only to find their grades were substantially higher and their thicknesses were substantially wider uh in somebody's previously drilled sections um so they they done a campaign in 2016 2018 and 2020 uh all being very successful and expanding you know better grades and better thicknesses um in uh and then in 2021 they moved 16 kilometers to the north uh with that program they started drilling some gold intercepts uh didn't report to Copper interestingly enough uh but wide intercepts of gold you know 1 Point uh 1.7 gram gold over like 50 to 51 MERS and uh you know some three grams over 20 stuff like that so you know this is a very robust system um uh just north of where Spruce Ridge drilled the gold Zone we've done some trenching and we've uncovered you know up to 5 and a half% copper with six gram gold um historically there's five drill holes in that area over about a FL and meter strike length with very good grades of copper over significant widths um and sporadic assaying for gold because that they didn't originally assay for gold in that South Pound deposit so this is an area that we can Hammer with drill holes and expand on that resource and uh but this it would also have high grade gold so there's six known occurrences over 15 kilometers uh that really need new modern technology NE Drilling and uh and more geophysics uh to to chase these deposits okay just just unclear about how how you picked it up say spr R resources um had it there's even a kind of PA on it what um how had what what the what was the cost of it to you when did you pick it up you know yeah do you own it yeah so uh what ended up happening is uh Spruce Ridge um you know had some internal management changes the new CEO that came in Steve balsh great guy he's a he's a real good nickel guy um so I think they start focusing on trying to pick some nickel assets up and so I approached them and said look I'll give you a fair deal for for the project uh can we can we get on with uh with making an option on it and uh he was amendable to it uh so we paid 15 million shares uh which are periodically escro over 20 months uh um so 5 million came free trading or comes free trading in January uh and then another five million eight months after January so next like November and uh then after that another 12 months um so um we uh we are earning 70% interest by spending $2.5 million and we've already spent about 1.5 or 1.1 million to date on the uh current 6,000 meter program we just finished gotcha okay fine so so on the conclusion of the the the spend that the 2.5 million spend you will have a 70% position and that option will be will give you 70% right that's correct and with the financing we just complete it with Sprat that that will get us our 70% interest and from there it'll be a 7030 joint venture uh a participating joint venture and if Spruce don't uh participate they will dilute to zero gotcha okay so they will dilute to zero and you have the chance of picking up 100% correct simple really simple beautiful okay great um so obviously you know you know a lot about this and there's a lot of data and let's say there's a PA what what when was that PA from actually uh they filed in in 2022 okay okay so see the grade the grades are good um but you got to go and find a bunch more of it so tell me more about this drill program yeah so the the grades uh in in the Pea is are really based on like 2 and a 12% copper and it's it's based on probably 80% of the storico drill holes which we now know are completely inaccurate um everywhere we we've drilling drilled and drilled outside of our grades have been much better uh than uh than what was reported so this is to us unbelievable and outside of that we've drilled out side the of the paa pit shell or or grade shell that they they counted the resource in and we've expanded on it and it's wide open up dip up plunge uh and certainly down plunge uh hole number 12 would have intersected uh which should be the next round of Z holes released holes 13 uh 12 13 14 um the the center of the the core of the high grade would have been right in were 12 plunges and that's wide open down plunge and we suspect that that hole well greed uh you know very similar to other holes that we've announced and we're pretty excited that uh you know that this thing is wide open down plunge and um and not previously recognized right okay now you like I said you you've had a s of exceptional exceptional month or so terms of reaction of the market you know and and not surprising when you're sort of you know hitting hitting of uh like like you are over you know decent widths too you know talking about you know 12.3 M of 7 two and um 18 me 18.8 meters at you know three 3% it's it's it's cing the eye um for sure um but it's all recent right and you know the attention has been recent so um clearly you're expecting some kind of reaction you must be I clearly pleasantly surprised by the reaction in the marketplace you've raised a little bit of money now tell meit about this the strategy that you're going to employ in terms of make sure you don't dilute the hack out of everyone but can get after this thing in a slightly more aggressive manner if that's the plan yeah for sure Bon got about 3.5 million in equities uh you know we got another uh uh just about three million in in uh cash uh so we're we're fairly well positioned to you know to to advance it probably for the next year uh realistically this needs 40,000 meters of drilling to get started uh you know with these zones to the north that are wide open uh there there is some structurally uh complexities to it that uh you know we we need to do trenching open this stuff up get some good mapping done understand the structure the folds uh you know the limbs and once we start getting this picture put together um I think the next uh summer is going to be remarkable for uh for Success um so drilling down plunge this winter just to show that the great burnt is open uh there's a there's a Zone called the north Stringer Zone which is 800 meters to 1,000 meters north of great burn that was uh that was drilled by uh Celtic minerals in 200 uh 2003 to 2007 Celtic went bankrupt in the 2008 uh uh CR and um you know that that Stringer Zone they had DPM anomalies outlined uh for drilling which they never tested so there's another big Target that we have they did have some high-grade copper in narrow wids on that North Stringer Zone and wide zones of low braid stuff um so this thing has gotten multiple chances to have multiple VMS deposits in this in this vector and uh if we can put all that together and and start coming up with some 6 to 10 million ton deposits um it's it's going to be a wonderful year for us yeah it's it's interesting these kind of um uh venic um massive sulfide deposits they you don't need a lot of them at the at these sorts of grades so if you get a sort of sense of what you're trying to build up here again and it comes back to what we're seeing in the marketplace where you know the the business model seems to be changing for companies you know G of days of maybe trolling to the edge of the envelope you've got to sort of take take advantage by sort of creating value quicker um and then sort of being able to communicate the market what what the kind of plan is for you as a company you are expiration guys right is that that's what you focus on so how do you build the story up yeah you build it up by keep delivering results there's just you know as as we know uh talk in the talk is one thing but walking the walk is a whole different story and um you know it took a long time to find a project of this this caliber to to be able to walk to Walk we've always talk to talk we've been involved in many many discoveries uh a lot of them small some bigger ones uh but uh you know it's it's we just got to drill and we got to deliver results uh and we got to do the work we have boots on the ground you know we're boots on the ground guys we we you know we we do the work ourselves um we built the camp ourselves I mean we you know we we we've done it all we only owned this project since uh September first we've permited the we permitted the drill program permited the uh the drill pads uh you know built built a 20-man camp uh and we drilled 6,000 meters by the end of November so that's uh add less than $200 a meter all in so pretty remarkable uh my opinion yeah um can I just talk about this s you I know you w to say rubbishing it but you I guess questioning the the the quality of it how do you use that or how do you Analyze That historic data there's got to be some benefit in there and this say how how do you come at it how do you interpret it uh the stock performance no the the the historical data you you talking about some of the drilling that previously was not necessarily exceptional historical data is uh is just that I mean you use it to your advantage uh there's there's obviously some really good data in there I mean the deposit was found and uh and drilled so therefore you know that's you know the first step um now we have to take the you know the drilling with a green assault uh and uh and and improve on it and uh either um you know proved that it was was wrong or so that's going to take more drilling uh and uh Andor prove that you know some of it was good and some or some it was bad but um uh you know from our drilling to date we've certainly proven that that we need to to to redrill this whole deposit right okay okay I guess you you'll work out how to reinterpret that data um with a bit of supporting um AC as well okay okay even the geophysical data we've you know we've we've started to engage geophysicist to relook at you know every bit of geophysical data that's been that's been completed in the past from the 60s all the way up to you know the 2000s when Spruce Ridge flew a new Airborne I mean there is hundreds of untested conductors uh you know with with known copper occurrences from historical prospecting for instance so now tying the old historical data on top of new conductor that were were discovered with you know V1 and and and newer type surveys you know that's all coming together so and that this is the reason why we start to do some trenching to the north because you know that's never been done I mean the great bir deposits never been stripped off and it's you know it's within two kilometers of a huge power Dam um that's uh you know that our camp sits on uh accessible um so you know this summer we're going to strip that thing right off off and wash it so we can get a good look at the geology the structure the you know uh how how the how the zoning is looks on Surface um all this data is going to help us uh you know find more deposits and also uh Define you know the ones that we're drawing off okay well look and maybe you can come back on and um dive into the the drilling and the drill data and the interpretation of the historic data with one of our Goos and we can kind of we can get into it so start a s of you know what you're seeing there um one of things you did mention and so so great so we look forward to that um but you like say there's a lot of moving Parts here say as well you've also got lithium right so you know people do want Copper and gold you know and silver and and z and Cobalt but they definitely are interested in lithium at the moment youve got you got your vland uh lithium project with pedmont is involved they've put some C capital in there um again where's that come from yeah so that uh that started 20 21 uh and a joint venture um partnership with socum and minerals um basically we we you know during the the gold rush in Newland we thought there's opportunities to uh to find new gold uh deposits on large scale structures that nobody was really looking at so Tim and I uh the CEO of of soan we put together a proposal along with my brother Mick uh you know uh looking at Large Scale structures we Stak a whole pile of large land positions and um and we started to look you know immediately take a helicopter in and and start prospecting uh the very first day on the golden hope gold project we discovered a series of lithium dkes uh first ever on the island um and since that time we've discovered very high-grade cesium dkes also first ever on the island uh uh and you know in a thesis this the lithium should have been there because it's it is the same belt as the Carolinas that go up into Nova Scotia and across Newland and into Ireland where the Linder uh lithium deposits are so in theory they should have been there uh but nobody had ever found them so uh this was the very first uh Discovery since that time uh New Finland and Atlantic Canada federally have been uh you know I think there's like 16 geoscientists working on this this area uh looking at the lithium potential we own about 60 kilometers of favorable Horizon we've got soil geochemistry anomalies now for about 30 kilometers uh that is very similar to the signature on the mean uh Kraken and KCK Discovery um and we've recently brought in pedm lithium as our partner they're going to spend $12 million over 54 months to earn uh 67% interest in the project directly and they financed uh venin lithium which will be the mother company that holds the project uh $2 million cash at a dollar per share and Benton owns 4 million shares of Vinland and so does soan at PM owns 2 million and our plan is to take that company public in January or February uh with the blessing of pedmont which we're currently working with so uh that's um uh you know that's where we're going with that this will be the tightest Lithium company on the exchange with only you know two to three million shares tradable uh after the IPO so uh pretty exciting times um and uh you know we'll I think the opportunity for lithium and new FL has just begun as well yeah I spoke to ter a couple of days ago and he's equally excited about what that what that holds and okay so so there we go so we got that component but you that that's uh when it goes public that's not something you're looking to offload or monetize in any way anytime to say right no we think this is an opportunity you know a rare opportunity to have a company that uh you know could be a leader in the space we got you know most lithium companies you find a deposit then what do you do with it you got to you got to make a concentrate that can only be to a maximum of 7% lithium in a spine concentrate then you got to get some sort of an off-take agreement which is it's very tough to do that as well I mean we we've got that built all into Vinland with pedmont building a Refinery down in in uh in the US uh we're we're on the south coast of newand on the Atlantic Ocean where we could easily put you know concentrate on a boat and get it down to the Carolinas and uh and in into their into their facility uh in Tennessee so you know we've got this all built in uh you know as a strategic you know pile so again this is a rare opportunity for shareholders uh uh that we've we've kind of built all that into one but we haven't stopped yet we haven't finished there's more p pgus as well so uh again tell us a little about about that project or that so that interest should yeah so a couple years ago we uh we spun out a company at a Benton called clean air Metals uh essentially we purchased a deposit from real Tinto Explorations and another company in uh in Australia called panoramic resources um we we merged the two deposits together uh as they sit Side by each they magmatic conduits very similar to the in Russia a very highgrade copper nickel pges I think somebody intercepts in an escape Lake were greater than 40 MERS at greater than 8 grams Platinum plaum with over 2% combined copper nickel um I mean these are again very rare discoveries highgrade um cleaner had some internal problems they made a mistake under initial resource estimate and then had to cut it by 30% % a year later uh which kind of they got punished in the market down to four uh 4 cents uh it's run by a a guy by the name of Jim Gallagher who was the CEO of North American plaum which of course is only 60 kilometers north of the Clean Air Metals deposit thunderbay North deposit uh which is the Impala uh Canada plaum mine now um so in theory they could probably mine this deposit and Mill it in you know at the impella plant uh but that certainly has not come to fruition because we thought that was the the the key to this deposit being a very very viable deposit um so you know with that clean air recently has been making strides uh trading high volume gone from 4 and a half cents to 7 and a half to eat as of today um and it's been mentioned by a few uh few uh Brokers and analysts in the last little while as being a bottom feed uh you know opportunity uh so maybe that's what's moving it but they did uh Mak an announcement a few months ago that they hired P um um a group out of Paradigm Capital out of Toronto to see if they could find a Suitor for uh the deposit you know somebody else that's in the coppernick go platinum plaum space I mean you couldn't get better infrastructure it's 40 40 kmet North of Thunder Bay you know which is a mining town uh so infrastructure you a paved Highway goes through the project it's got it all and your 60 kilm so you had to drive through the project to get to the lacil pedium line which is the only primary pedium producer in North America um so I think there's great opportunity there Benton is the biggest shareholder at 24.6 million shares my friends and family own probably five million shares uh uh including myself um so I think again I'm I'm really bullish on clean air metals and uh the fact that Benton owns 24 million shares uh I believe is is is going to be a Payday for us outside of that we own a half perent royalty uh on that uh on that deposit um um so yeah other opportunities of course we spun out to or or just sold a uh a gold project up in Red Lake uh near uh on the same structur as the grape burnt or grape bear Discovery uh to uh Renegade gold uh we we received our last payment of $300,000 we kept a 2% royalty on that so Benton's got a lot of irons in the fire including past royalties that we still hold on various uh projects we've generated um but ultimately I think great burn is going to be is going to be our major major Discovery yeah yeah for sure and I guess um also you got a lot going on um sakan um as you know Tim frond San as well but but the key is as you say focus focus focus focus so and you focus your car for because your time money and effort on uh great brand and you know that's the thing I think people are getting excited about for for sure look I'm Stephen I as as I first passed through the company I've enjoyed actually hearing you talk about it there are a lot of moving Parts but um it they're all great optionality for the future um but for now uh we look forward to staying in touch with the gust of great bur and everything that you're doing with it thank you yeah no thank you Matt great burn is uh is going to be our 100% Focus moving forward here so um yeah it's going to be some fun times ahead

Channel: Crux Investor

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Keywords: mining, gold, nickel, cobalt, uranium, vanadium, lithium, precious metals, crux investor, cruxinvestor, silver, TSX, ASX, AIM, LSE, investing in uranium, investing in mining, investing in stocks, investing in stocks for beginners, investing in gold, invest in stocks, invest in stocks for beginners, invest in gold, invest in mining, analyst's notes, analysts notes, analyst notes, battery metals, electric vehicles, net zero, carbon neutral, carbon credits, nuclear, best mining stocks, TSXV

Id: Bz47w69IYrI

Length: 26min 56sec (1616 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 24 2023