Latest / Kitco MINING / Tiger Gold Eyes Doubling Gold Resources in Colombia | Robert Vallis

Transcript

Tiger Gold Eyes Doubling Gold Resources in Colombia | Robert Vallis · Kitco MINING

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Kitco Mining with me, Paul Harris.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Monday, the 5th of October, and we are talking about gold development in Colombia.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Joining me now is Robert Vallis, president and CEO of Tiger Gold, which trades on the TSXV under the ticker T I G R.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Robert, welcome to Kitco.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, thank you for having me.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Really looking forward to this, Robert, because uh I've just come back from recording videos at the Precious Metal Summit and the Mining Forum Americas in Colorado.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's fair to say Colombia was the talk of the town with a wave of possibility on the back of newly elected President Albareda de la Elspria.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: What for you is so positive about the new government?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Paul, I think it it's multifaceted, but I think in general it's their stated and unwavering support of the industry in general.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: They recognize that they are emerging as a significant jurisdiction for the mining industry.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is evidenced through the rate of discovery, the amount of foreign investment that's going in there and continue to go in.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: They're recognizing that they have the right uh enablers to see that come to fruition, be it infrastructure, access to skilled labor, professional labor framework for permitting for taxation and things of that nature, they have.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's really just an effort on all parties to pull that together.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, with this particular government now, uh there's an enhanced focus on uh exercising their opportunity and uh and executing on that to make it happen.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent, and we'll be talking about that some more as as we progress with this conversation.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's what four or five projects that are looking to apply for their permits and hopefully get them during this term, including perhaps Tiger Gold and Kinshea.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you're exploring at Kinsia, which is in Rizo Alda Department.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your timing seems to be great because you acquired the project before the recent leg up in the gold price.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um you bought it for a I think a relatively cheap price in May 2025.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think you exercised the final option a year after that, just a few months ago, an initial 14 million Australian dollars and some contingent payments depending on project progress.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: For that, you got a number of defined deposits, including the Mirror Florist Deport and Tessorito, and a great head start on where to explore for more, such as at CBL.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Robert, how did this uh transaction, how did this deal come together?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think it came through first through a lot of the hard work that I'm used to doing and others are to really find where these opportunities are, but then peel the layers of the onion, if you will, to recognize if a project has the right enablers for constructibility and operability that can drive wide profit margins regardless of things like grade and so forth.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: So that identified itself very early in our evaluation process as being a project for that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Second to that is availability.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: The project was already on care and maintenance for about two years when we arrived in mid-24.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I should point out that uh it cost us in total 14 million Australian dollars, but to achieve 100% ownership, which we have now, uh, cost us 7.5 million in stage cash payments Australian dollars, of which we completed the last in June of this year.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we do hold 100%, and there's a 6.5 million payment at Gold Poor and a 1% NSR.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: So to realize that it's available, that we could negotiate a deal of that structure was a real opportunity for us.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then, of course, it's recognizing that we have the talent, the team, be it you know, quarterback by myself, but the a management team of sufficient global experience and reach in terms of depth, knowledge, and experience to move this project forward, get our arms around the ultimate size, scope, and scale of this in terms of ounces in the ground, but also ounces to be able to be produced, and of course, then realizing true value and return to shareholders through free cash flow generation, all of which we've been moving quite rapidly in and identified even at that stage when we acquired it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as so often is the case in the mining sector, timing is everything.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that the project had been on care and maintenance.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was previously operated by an Australian company, um, and during the low price environment, they struggled to raise finance.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: They've since pivoted towards Southeast Asia.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you came in as the price environment started to improve.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your predecessor, under your predecessor, Miraflores, was a marginal project.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, with a gold price more than$2,000 per ounce higher today, things are looking very different.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: What does today's price environment allow you to contemplate in terms of the size of the prize that you have in your hands?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, certainly what we've come out with when we were priced at uh our initial PEA in 2025 described just over 500 million post-tax MPV and just over 20% IRR.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: We increased that to long-term consensus prices today, somewhere around$36,000,$3,700 per ounce.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: The existing project in the ground we have today, described by that PEA, is a$1.2 billion project and over 50% IRR.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: So the torque that's delivered through the metal price is significant.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: However, I will point out back to what I had said about enablers for constructibility and operability.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's knowing that you have those and knowing how to leverage those through sound engineering design and uh operation approach that really allow you to squeeze and create margin by keeping your build costs and your operating costs at a minimum, which is certainly something we're we've demonstrated already is the case, and we're on the cusp of doing that again.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now as mentioned, you're in a very different gold price environment, and that has enabled you to raise a substantial sum of money to be able to advance the project and drill much more aggressively than your predecessor.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so what have you done?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: What work have you done since you acquired the project, and what are your priorities?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: We set out a year ago to drill 20,000 meters in 2026 and two uh tranches, if you will, two phases of 10,000 meters.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: We completed the first 10,000 meters, but through again the the capabilities of our management team, uh we were able to squeeze efficiency and opportunity and deliver 18,000 meters.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And in doing so, we were able to answer one of the big questions we were set out to do, which was we need to understand more of the scope and scale and upside potential of this property.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: In drilling 18,000 meters, we did we identified exactly that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we raised uh funds in June, 21 million, to fuel a much more aggressive drilling campaign in the second half of this year, 19,500 meters, of which we are firmly in now, and we'll be wrapping up in early November.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: The majority of those uh meters is going into what we've identified as a massive extension to the gold system.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's an area called Seabell that we're aggressively drilling now with all three of our drills uh right now, and uh that is something we're targeting to come out as a brand new main resource uh that has the potential to be at least the scale of the existing Tessa Rito deposit, which right now is at about 1.5 million ounces.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a significant increase uh for us in terms of targeting growth in our resources, and then combining all of that into a PEA update uh towards the end of Q1 to demonstrate that not only have we found captured uh significant growth in ounces, but also crystallize that in the form of an updated PEA to demonstrate on an ongoing basis that we can and will target the increase of free cash flow and production potential and overall value of the project.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Robert.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh your approach shows um what a company can do when it's well funded for drilling and how quickly it can advance, and as you say, uh exploring on the upside.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: With the success you've had, particularly at Sabal, you mentioned the PEA update that uh you're going to be working on and coming out in 2027.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: How is the company's thought process about how the overall Miraflores projects can and will be developed?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: How is that changing, adapting, and evolving?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the this entire project started with the small Miraflores underground uh project, which by the way received its permit for construction and operation in mid-24, just around the time we arrived.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: But the fact that we have now described a project of such significant scale that's well beyond what was permitted with the PEA, including Tessa Rito, for 2 million ounces and about 140,000 ounces produced a year for a decade, is was our start point really to demonstrate that we can construct and operate in our land package and that we've explored and understood all the risks and opportunities of what we have to, you know, at that point.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's been around uh really expansion, scale, understanding how far we can go with this in a fairly reliable way that we understand can be delivered to in a predictable manner, reliable manner, again, but through discipline.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that is exactly what we're executing on.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: We're working towards a near double of our resources, working towards the same width in terms of production potential described in a PEA in a short order.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: That really brings us to a point where we can then feel comfortable that we've achieved a critical mass with this project, that this is something now we can move further down the tracks into the next level engineering pre-feasibility that would further inform the permitting process and ultimately towards receiving permits and then making a construction decision.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: That is the laser focus we're on.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: However, with all of the upside potential, we've only drilled 20% of our project to date.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: There's more targets immediately contiguous to the one we're drilling right now, known as Seabell.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Next to it, is something called Chooscale.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're done that resource drilling by November, we will be redeploying, repositioning our three drill rigs to go back to exploration and discovery drilling, both beneath the clustered millions of ounces we found near surface for deeper potential, but also further north and throughout our land package, where we believe there's tremendous upside to continue capturing and growing our resources substantively, as clearly we're about to demonstrate in a few months' time that uh this property can do in fairly short order.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that that's very good news, Robert.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um what what kind of um in terms of production potential, what kind of production potential are you now looking at?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: You you've spoken about uh doubling the size of the resource, potentially doubling the production profile.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So what are you potentially contemplating?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I should clarify a bit that you know when you're talking about pittable grades and and open pit type operations, which is really the the mass of this project.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Miraflora, as was originally permitted as a small underground, but the bulk of the potential so far that we're discovering is open pit, but those resources as well are wide open at depth.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Drilling we haven't gotten into yet, as I've said, we will redeploy for it.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: So the game is is really about scale, getting tonnage and and upping your production, where you can hit levels of of uh of efficiencies, if you will, um, where you know you're able to generate significant free cash flow with modest lifts in production and extensions of the mine life.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we are focused on that in terms of delivering a potential production scale that would be north of 250,000 ounces a year.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's pretty significant in terms of what we started with with our initial PEA last year.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Describing what we've acquired and what's in the ground and discovered today and what it can do.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: We're demonstrating in less than a year where we can go with this with the investments we've made, the focus and discipline in terms of peeling the layers of the onion and capturing that scale that I've just spoken about that that really uh drives profitability and cash flow levels that are not only competitive in this region, but competitive throughout arguably the entire Americas, if not uh on a global scale in terms of production scale.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Robert uh Tiger Gold Kinchia is in a very productive part of what is known as the middle Calcutta Belt.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just to the north of you, you have Aris Mining, which is building a very large underground mine.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're looking at what 200 to 250,000 ounces a year production.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Just next door to them is collective mining.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: They recently, uh a month ago, put out a maiden resource with more than 5 million ounces in all categories.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're potentially looking at a 400,000 ounce a year production uh scenario.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you coming in at around 250,000 ounces a year, that's bang on with uh your your neighbors.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what other sort of takeaway?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're more advanced than you are in some ways.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the things or encouragement you're taking away from how they're advancing their projects?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it starts with shared knowledge.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, just to be clear, um Aris is currently producing a 250, working to increase to 500,000 by the end of the year, as they've publicly stated.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is rarefried territory for production anywhere in the world, and that's just 25 kilometers up the highway from us.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so that is significant, but it also attracts a significant quality of contractor and consultant and skilled labor and professional labor, all of which we are absorbing and benefiting from.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Our neighbor across the street from them, collective, uh, with their Guy Ballas Discovery, as you mentioned, hugely significant, great team as well.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of knowledge that we're learning geologically from them about this system that we're in, and clearly this is unveiling itself as a significant part of the of the Central Kaka Belt, if not a district all to itself geologically.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but as we are earlier in the process of peeling the layers of the onion again, understanding and making discoveries of what we have, we are folding in that knowledge that has been gained by our peers close by.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And using that, of course, with with the fact that we're sharing the same drilling company with collective uh and some other benefits that really accelerate and act as catalysts for us to really move as efficiently, as quickly as we can, but in the right directions.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, what we're doing geologically is with purpose.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: We know where every drill hole is going and why.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we don't always know the result, obviously, of those drill results, but we know that from knowledge gained from our neighbors geologically, that there's a lot of similarity in the geology to where we are.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's just that for whatever reason we're uncovering millions of ounces near surface as opposed to making very uh rich uh higher grade discoveries at depth, as our neighbors have as well.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got a lot more work to do, but we are benefiting from that synergy, if you will, of having those established uh very high-level, high-valued projects just right by us.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: A number of companies in Colombia are accelerating their permitting efforts in order to file their permits and hopefully receive their permits during the current administration.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: As you mentioned, Robert, uh Miraflores received its environmental license in 2024, but you're now thinking of a different concept.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, what permits or amendment amendments would be required for you to develop a larger integrated project such as the one you envisage in your PEA?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one of the benefits of having that permit in place means a greater portion of the existing footprint of the project, even the expanded project, is already vetted environmentally.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a lag up for us.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: However, uh, given the amount of time that's gone by with formal engagement with the stakeholders on the ground, uh, and the fact that, as you mentioned, we are moving the goalposts and already have moved the goalposts considerably from what was originally permitted.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: We actually see a significant opportunity really to reboot the permitting process, but leverage off of gains that have already been made.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: That way, of course, we're introducing something that is specific, it's clear, it's supported with engineering and and other uh data that is necessary to sufficiently inform a permitting process.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's also a different project, as you pointed out.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, really, it's an opportunity for us to present and permit a different project.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: It just happens to include a small piece that that's already been through the through the process.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Mira Flores was permitted as an underground mine, and the concept you're now advancing includes an open pit component as well.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: How confident are you that the the current administration will permit an open pit in uh in the middle Calcutta Belt?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we know that there's already been a permit issued for a copper project open pit in Colombia.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: We know only that Colombia has been clear that they will not permit open pit coal mining.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they've been very clear in saying everything else in terms of the metals is open for business.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: That said, like all of the permitting framework supports, uh, is a very well-thought-out permitting process that does require a company to do their homework.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, permitting, you can rush into it if you wish, just like you can rush into defining and constructing a project.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but when you rush into things, you can cut corners.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And in this industry, they invariably come back to bite you.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so in a permitting process, in order to assure that what you're requesting to be permitted is viable, is safe, is predictable, is reliable as an operation, requires that work uh and data.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we've been working on for several months now in parallel with our drilling, and we'll continue that engineering set of programs that will eventually sufficiently inform the start of the pre-feasibility, probably by mid-next year, as well as the start of preparing for the permitting process.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we do believe that not only our experience and knowledge with this, but the process of which you move through to prepare for permitting is half the battle, at least.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so you've got to you've got to do the work in the heavy lifting.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: A number of uh the companies that we've talked about also have found a critical metals or critical minerals component in their projects, and Columbia is very keen on advancing on that as well.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any sort of critical minerals, copper, uh, molybdenum, things of that nature in in your projects?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: You is that something you're starting to look for?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, primarily we're we're focused on tracing and following the gold, and with gold, there's a small silver credit coming along with it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we are finding trace amounts of things like copper and uh molybdenum, some other things, but they're not at payable levels at this point.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh what's interesting is the deeper we drill, the more of that we start to find.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Again, not at payable levels, but it's starting to come into the picture, and that usually indicates that you're getting near some sort of a much larger, what we refer to as a feeder system at depth, which we know is lingering down there somewhere.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but for now, we're not encumbered with um challenges or opportunities that may come from significant amounts of that in our resources, like you would see with our neighbor, for example, and their new resources.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it does require uh a more challenging, more costly to build and operate processing uh approach, but at the same time, with payables where they are today and the demand for such metals, uh it's it's also an opportunity.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: But short answer is no, we're not seeing any of that other than the precious metals right now.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, fair enough.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Robert, we've covered quite a bit of ground in our conversations so far, and you've got a lot of work going on.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe let's end with uh if you can recap some of the key catalysts that our viewers can expect to see from Tiger Gold over the next 12 to 18 months or so.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh we are uh working to wrap up our 2026 drilling, uh second half this year, 19,500 meters by uh sometime in November.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh from that, we will be issuing an updated uh resource for the Tessorito deposit, given we've completed just a couple of weeks ago the infill drilling program for that that we were drilling throughout 26.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the first uh item to be delivered, followed by probably mid-Q1 in 27, the maiden resource for Seabell, followed by that towards the end of Q1, a updated PEA that will pull all three of these deposits together: Meraflores, Tesserito, and the new Seabell resource.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: The new Seabell resource that we'll be releasing will also leapfrog inferred mostly and be mostly, likely, in the indicated category, a measured category.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that allows us to move then immediately from PEA, once we've sufficiently completed enough engineering, into the pre-feasibility level of de-risking and engineering, as I mentioned earlier.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, sounds like the first quarter is going to be a pretty exciting time and a big flag in the sand uh with that updated PEA that includes uh SIBO.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, it's been fascinating to talking with you.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Robert Vallis, thank you very much for joining me today.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Paul.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, Tiger Gold trades on the TSXV under the ticker T-I-G-R.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, if you like what you see, don't forget to hit that subscribe button.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Paul Harris, and this is Kitco Mining.