Defiance Silver (DEF-V)
www.defiancesilver.com
21.7 million o/s
Insiders own 37%
<$0.4 million cash (as of Dec 31, 2012)
Key people
W.D. Bruce Winfield – President, CEO and Director
Mr. Bruce Winfield, M.Sc., P.Geo, has over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. Following 14 years with major mining companies Texasgulf Inc. and Boliden Inc., he focused on exploration in Central America as VP Exploration for Greenstone Resources and Eldorado Gold Corp. leading to the exploration and development of five gold deposits. Subsequently as President and CEO, Mr. Winfield has led companies exploring primarily in South America for the last 14 years.
Richard Tschauder – VP of Exploration
Mr. Richard (Rick) Tschauder M.Sc. has over 30 years experience in exploration, development and production in the mining industry, both in North America and internationally. For 15 years, Rick was chief geologist for Hecla Mining Company. From 1984 until 1995, he was involved in acquisition efforts that led to a ten-fold increase in Hecla's gold reserves, and was instrumental in bringing a number of mines to the production stage.
Since 1996 Mr. Tschauder has specialized in providing evaluation, acquisition and project management services internationally with a focus in Mexico where he has extensive knowledge of geology and the mining industry.
Darrell A. Rader – Director
Mr. Rader is the founder of Defiance and is responsible for the company's marketing and financing. Mr. Rader is currently the President and CEO of Minaurum Gold Inc., a Mexican gold and silver explorer. Having raised over $50 million for mineral exploration and development over the past 5 years, Mr. Rader has significant contacts with institutional investors. He previously served as the Manager of Corporate Development for Energold Drilling Corp and IMPACT Silver Corp. Over his eight year tenure, Energold grew from three drill rigs to over eighty in its fleet and IMPACT was transformed from a grass roots silver explorer into a profitable silver miner. Mr. Rader is also a director of Mexican focused Source Exploration Corp.
George A. Gorzynski – Director
Mr. Gorzynski, P.Eng., has been a geologist with over 30 years of experience in the exploration and development of mining projects in Canada and internationally. His experience encompasses a wide variety of commodities with an emphasis on precious and base metals. Most recently as Vice President of Exploration for IMPACT Silver Corp.,
Mr Gorzynski was instrumental in identifying, acquiring, and expanding the profitable Royal Mines of Zacualpan Silver Mine in Mexico. Mr. Gorzynski also serves on the board of several other junior companies.
Fred W. Davidson – Advisory Board
Mr. Fred Davidson, MBA, CA, has been a senior executive in the mining industry for over 30 years, and is currently the President and CEO of IMPACT Silver Corp, a growing silver producer in Mexico. He also holds the position of President and CEO of Energold Drilling Corp., a drilling contractor serving the international mining sector.
Mr. Davidson has played key roles in the financing and development of a number of significant mining companies including Total Energold Group, Erikson Gold Mines and Wheaton River Minerals.
Company presentation
defiancesilver.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Defiance Silver counts on new technology to restore
For most emerging junior mining companies, at this point in the cycle, it has become very difficult to secure adequate funding in
order to move business plans forward. The entire sector is mired in slump, with typical stock valuations approaching bear market lows
and speculative capital hard to come by. Completing exploration work is both time consuming and expensive. Thus it has become
a race to the finish line for some juniors when trying to advance a project and achieve production so they can begin earning revenues.
Defiance Silver Corp. (DEF-V) has arranged option deals to acquire a superb property in an established Mexican mining
district and a processing plant located in close proximity. The San Acacio Project encompasses a large portion of a vein system in the
State of Zacatecas. Several significant historic mine workings have been encountered within the property area. The nearby Santa
Gabriela mill was in operation for several years and currently requires a thorough refurbishment along with engineering work
to improve the tailings pond, but it represents a head start for processing.
These assets can become the foundation on which to build a mining company. The challenge therefore is to survive the current
funding drought and navigate through a difficult market while moving the project forward. Ideally, Defiance aspires to restore
the mill into efficient operating condition and then begin processing lower grade, near surface, feedstock material to generate
enough cash flow to advance the project into a larger scale mining operation.
Zacatecas has long been one of the most prolific silver producing areas in the entire world, with several hundred years of productive
mining history from dozens of mines. The key to understanding the potential for a successful operation in this area comes from the fact
that most of the historic mining activity was limited to the near surface portions of epithermal vein systems. Using low tech methods
the miners basically extracted what they could see, following the veins until they pinched out. Only the highest grade zones were
mined and the remaining rock was discarded. And because there was no efficient pumping technology available, as the mines progressed
down to the water table, underground workings flooded and the mines were abandoned.
The use of modern exploration methods has led to a bonanza of new discoveries that had been overlooked around the old mine
workings. Improved equipment has allowed mining activity to progress to much deeper levels, opening up the full elevation of a
vein system where productive silver zones were beyond the reach of prior mine operators. Lastly, the advance of processing technology
has made it possible to generate a profit running much lower average ore grades due to improved recovery efficiency, as well as enabling
processing of sulphide ores that are typically encountered further at depth in a vein system. These factors have contributed to the
restoration of successful operations at many historic mining districts.
Defiance has been very successful in proving up silver resources from a number of sources at San Acacio. There are several waste
dumps at surface to supply a tonnage of broken rock with sufficient grade to provide positive economics for restarting the mill.
In addition, waste rock from historic mine operations was used as backfill in underground workings over many years of mining.
This material averages 236.7 g/t (6.9 oz per short ton), and it represents ore grade feedstock for a modern milling facility. Defiance
has outlined a large tonnage that can sustain the early years of processing and generate additional cash flow.
Meanwhile, drilling programs have been completed that demonstrate entirely new discovery zones within the main vein
system that extends across the property. It should be noted that while approximately 200 million ounces of silver are estimated
to have been mined from this area in past operations, only about 30% of the productive vein system has ever been exploited. This
opens the door for a great deal of potential upside for further discovery as more systematic exploration work is completed in the
years ahead.
If all goes according to plan, Defiance needs to raise about $5 million to complete the first phase of its long term plan. This
money would enable the company to refurbish the mill and to process surface stockpiles to generate income. Thereafter the
company plans to expand on its currently defined resources by testing new discovery targets below the historic mine workings
at San Acacio. The clock is ticking and there are big challenges ahead, but the company has already delivered notable achievements and the
potential upside is considerable, if they can resume production from this historic district. |
