Please give some background about Newrange – how the company came into being and the scope of your current operations.
The company started out exploring in Colombia, as Colombian Mines Corporation, in 2006. In 2016, it transitioned to the U.S. to focus on the Pamlico Project in Nevada and the name was changed to Newrange Gold Corp. I joined in 2018, initially as a director, then as CEO in January 2019 and president and CEO as of October 2021.While we continued to work on Pamlico, we acquired the North Birch options in 2019 and 2020, both of which we have exercised and now own outright, followed by the purchase of a 100% interest in the nearby Argosy Gold Mine in 2021.
You have operations in both the U.S. and Canada – in Nevada and Ontario, respectively. What are the advantages of exploring for gold in these jurisdictions?
Both of these are prolific gold-producing regions in their own right and are geopolitically safe. While every region has its challenges, the potential for new discoveries in areas where mining titles, permitting, etc., are reasonably secure and predictable removes a lot of risk.
Tell us about your winter drill programme at your North Birch and Argosy Gold Mine properties at Red Lake, Ontario. How has the drilling been progressing?
Winter programmes in the north are very weather dependent. In our case, we had to wait for consistently cold temperatures for the ice road to be completed over several lakes in order to get close enough to mobilize the drill into the North Birch property. We started drilling in mid-February and we have about 2,000m planned on a folded and sheared iron formation target that has never been drilled before. From there, we will be moving to the past-producing Argosy Gold Mine property where we are planning another 2,000m to extend the known high-grade gold mineralization along strike and to depth. The mine closed in 1952 and was only developed to 270 metres so there is lots of potential to extend that to depth.
In January, you announced some exciting results from sampling at your Pamlico Project in Nevada. Please give us some more background on this and explain what the next steps are for the project.
This mapping and sampling programme was part of a larger scale reassessment of the geological setting on the property. Recent drilling had been focused largely on the historic and high-grade Pamlico Mines area, but the recent sampling showed the potential of the historic Central Mine area just 1,300m to the northeast. We still have similar work to do at the historic LaPanta Mine and some follow up on the gold and copper targets elsewhere on the property. Last year, we enlarged our landholdings to more than 5,700ha as we interpret all these areas as being connected to one large mineralizing system. We hope to be drilling again by Q2.
How important are ESG considerations in your operations? Do you find more and more that investors are concerned about ESG or sustainability issues in the junior miner space?
ESG is definitely becoming more formalized and more in the forefront for institutional and some retail investors. As an industry veteran myself, I like to think that the companies I lead set a high standard for environmental stewardship, stakeholder engagement, and strong corporate governance. However, it is no longer good enough to just do it, companies have to demonstrate that they are doing it in a way that is fully transparent. At Newrange, we are starting to build a framework for this to better communicate our ESG strategy and accomplishments.
What are the next steps for Newrange for the rest of 2022?
The winter drilling programme in Ontario is the current focus but by spring this will shift back to Nevada. Summer will see additional exploration in Ontario, which could include follow up drilling based upon the success of the winter programme. As such, we anticipate a fairly steady news flow through 2022.
