JRI This Week #32: Company Intro, Drill Campaign Review, and a Site Visit During Drilling
Lots of great content this week, starting with a carryover from last week and ending with a site visit for perhaps my most anticipated stock of 2024. Plus an overdue shoutout to another newsletter.
tl;dr:
Three projects this week: I will release the interview recorded last week with Colin Padget of Founders Metals (FDR.V), I sit down with MD Mike Schwarz of Aussie iTech Minerals (ITM.AX) to recap their recent drill campaign, and I travel to northern Saskatchewan to visit Fathom Nickel’s (FNI.CN( Albert Lake property during drilling.
Overview
Part 1: A Shoutout
First off - I wanna give a long-overdue shoutout to Miner’s Wingman (you can find him on ceo.ca as @wingman). It is a newer newsletter that complements my own work pretty well. Where I produce detailed longform work, Wingman mostly dedicates himself to creating a curated newsfeed of recent news. It allows you to stay current on major industry events and news from the past couple of days and he does a good job sifting through a lot of noise to pick out some interesting bits for you. He also does a pretty good job of his own deep dives. Definitely worth a follow if you’re looking for new content from fresh eyes.
Part 2: The Week in Preview
Alright, this is week is going to be a busy one as I finally head for home from a little tropical vacation and have a wide range of content planned for my return.
First off, I will finally release the second company intro interview I teased last week with a gold explorer that keeps producing fantastic assays.
Then, I have a Managing Director on to walk me through a three-dimensional model of the results from a freshly-completed drill campaign that could push a project over the line into economic viability.
finally I end the week by making a site visit to one of my favourite current plays.
I have got some pretty big news on top of that - a well-known and respected mining name has agreed to start making semi-regular appearances on my show – but I will save that announcement for next week.
1. Founders Metals Interview
Intro Interview as I Officially Initiate Coverage
I am very excited to announce I am officially initiating coverage on these guys. I won’t spend too much time reintroducing them here as I went over them last week, but suffice it to say, they’re gonna be good. This interview is recorded, and I should have it out within a couple days after I am done editing it and finishing my write-up. My audio has been a struggle away from my office studio, so I’m trapped in a bit of a post-production time suck that is delaying things.
Regardless, I was very impressed by my first formal interview CEO Colin Padget. He’s a sharp guy, honest and doesn’t shy away from challenging topics or rely on waffling “CEO speak” to avoid questions he doesn’t want to answer. And boy does their Antino project in Suriname look incredible. I’m of the rapidly-developing belief that this story is just getting started despite its strong gains already. Normally I refuse to chase hype as the balloon gets popped, but knowing when a story is truly exceptional and will continue to grow is key. This is absolutely one of those stories for me.
2. iTech Minerals Drill Campaign Review
Recapping Their Lacroma Campaign and What it Accomplished
MD Mike Schwarz of iTech Minerals will be returning to the show to discuss the final results from their Lacroma/Campoona graphite project drill campaign. If you remember from the fall, there were some disappointing drill results that let the air out of iTech’s tires a bit despite lots of positive company news otherwise.
However, Mike is very optimistic that their results from their southern traverses will be a bit of a redemption tour for iTech and put them back on track to putting together enough tonnes to make Lacroma an economic deposit worthy of progressing to production. Michael joins me to discuss the final results with a shiny new three dimensional model to help investor understanding. iTech remains a smart company and Mike a capable MD.
Mike joins me this week to work through a three dimensional model of their drill campaign and results so far to show the market what they’ve managed to accomplish.
3. Site Visit to Fathom Nickel
Visiting their Albert Lake Property During Drilling
All three of my projects this week are uniquely interesting in their own rights, but this is one I am distinctly looking forward to. On Friday I will be heading up to northern Saskatchewan for a date with a Twin Otter to fly into Fathom’s Albert Lake project during their imminent, hotly-anticipated, drill campaign. If you aren’t aware of it, you really should be – take a look back at my previous articles and interviews for an intro to it, but to call it high potential is putting it lightly.
Anyway, I will be spending the weekend in their drill camp, watching, discussing, writing, recording. It will be my first site visit – with a few more booked in the coming months – and I am obviously excited. I’ve got a new drone, been practicing my piloting, and hope to be creating a fairly polished little sneak peak of the property and drill campaign for my followers and readers.
I expect the full product will be some time getting released, but I hope to be able to produce at least a written preview by early next week.
That’s it from me. I have a busy few weeks leading up to PDAC and am excited for the content I will be producing in that time. As always, I sincerely thank you for reading. I believe I can produce honest work with integrity in an industry with a tough reputation sometimes, and it means a lot to have people who seemingly agree with me.
Till next time.
-Matthew from JRI