A Major Gold Discovery in Yemen? Exclusive CEO Interview with Charles Fipke.
CEO of Cantex Mine Development Corp. Gives Rare, Exclusive Interview to StockHouse. Will Cantex Become the First Major Success of The New Canadian Venture Exchange?
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Read what Forbes magazine wrote about Chuck Fipke one year ago. Click here.
In that same article, Forbes briefly mentioned Fipke's explorations in Yemen. Today's interview outlines what is currently going on with Fipke's latest publicly traded venture, Cantex [V.CD]. In this interview, Fipke weighs the possibility of the CD's current exploration efforts resulting in a producing Gold Mine.
Background on Charles Fipke. Between 1970 and 1977, Mr. Fipke worked as a geologist involved to a large extent in heavy mineral exploration and research for Kennecott Copper in New Guinea, Samedan Oil in Australia, Johannesburg Consolidated Investments in southern Africa and Cominco Ltd. in Brazil and British Columbia. Mr. Fipke was a key player in the discovery of favourable kimberlite indicator minerals north of Lac de Gras, now the site of the Ekati Diamond Mine. He founded C.F. Mineral Research Limited, a private company, in 1977. Currently, the C.F. Mineral Research heavy mineral laboratory, located in Kelowna, BC, is involved in heavy mineral exploration and processing on behalf of many international companies.
The starting point of this interview begins with CD's November 30th news release. Click here.
On December 1st, Cantex shares traded more than 4 million shares, more than doubling its market capitalization. For a company snapshot, click here.
Among its other holdings, Cantex Mine Development has acquired the exclusive rights to over 40,000 sq. km. in northwestern Yemen - about 8% of that country's total land area. On November 13th, the company commenced drilling on the Al Hariqah gold deposit in Yemen. It also plans to drill the Dhi Bin zinc-lead-silver prospect, also in Yemen, shortly.
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StockHouse:In your company's November 30th news release, you reported on mineralization of all nine holes that you have been recently drilled?
Charles Fipke: Yeah, except sometimes you hit barren dykes. When we hit those, those are unmineralized. But they're subordinate. Most of the nine holes, apart from those dykes and the quartz diorite that I mentioned, were continuously mineralized.
StockHouse: What was the spacing between the drill holes?
Charles Fipke: The deposit is over a two-kilometer long area. It (spacing) varies in width. It definitely averages at least 60 meters. But it's probably, in some places, 150 meters wide. Conservatively, it averages 60 meters between holes. The holes are all over the place. We're trying to test the zones on the two-kilometer strike length. Later on, we'll plan on doing more of a grid in the areas, which look most favorable.
StockHouse: Are you going to have all your drilling wrapped up by Ramadan (Muslim observance)?
Charles Fipke: We decided to leave the rig at Al Hariqah, and drill up to Ramadan, and at Ramadan we'll stop. Then we'll end up getting the results, and deciding whether to drill some more holes right at Al Hariqah, or move on to the silver prospect.
StockHouse: Do you have two separate crews going?
Charles Fipke:Right now, we have two different rigs. We have one core rig. That's just starting drilling the massive sulfide target area - the copper-nickel-cobalt-platinum group mineral deposit. We've done geophysics on it, and we've got conductors down-dip from exposed gossan mineralization. And so we're drilling these geophysical conductors. We would expect to get some intersections. We don't know what the gradings will be. Hopefully it will be mineable. We could hit on that, too.
StockHouse: Is palladium also part of this minerals group at this property?
Charles Fipke: There is. On the deposit, on the more northern part, we're getting more copper-nickel-cobalt, and the southern part, higher platinum group minerals. There's palladium. There's even some rhodium, too. A small amount. There's even gold.
StockHouse: Were the direction angles of the holes in Al Hariqah the same?
Charles Fipke: Sometimes the access wasn't quite where we wanted to drill, so we did drill some angle holes, like 70-degree kind of things. But predominantly we're drilling vertically.
StockHouse: Are you still drilling the 9th hole?
Charles Fipke: Oh, no. Now it's moved on. We're finished with the 9th hole.
StockHouse: There must be something exciting about this news release coming out at this point in time.
Charles Fipke: It is exciting. Both my geologists think it's a mine.
StockHouse: John Churchill and Peter Ogryzlo think it's a gold mine?
Charles Fipke: They both do. Peter, he's got 35 years experience. He was the mine geologist at Twin Peaks. He's worked in South America on gold projects. He's got way more gold experience than me. He said that Al Hariqah was "the best gold property he's ever been on." They're both there in Yemen. Peter's overseeing things. John's the on-site geologist.
StockHouse: What does John Churchill think of the property?
Charles Fipke: He thinks it's a huge low-grade heap leachable deposit. He's from Nevada. He's worked all his life on gold in Nevada. I've hired him to make sure that the sampling is done properly, the drilling, everything. We want to do a good job. He is the best guy I know. So is Peter. They're the two top gold geologists that I know of.
StockHouse: When you come out with the Bondar Clegg announcement, are those really going to be check assays, or those going to be the first assays?
Charles Fipke:No, they'll be the first assays. All these deposits - they were all discovered by us using heavy minerals. In fact, Twin Peaks was actually discovered on methods that we used in Nevada. The very deposit that Peter was working on was actually discovered by discovery consultants using our heavy mineral procedures that we use to find deposits. The Queen of Sheba stuff was found earlier, around 1000 BC.
StockHouse: A few pundits are saying that this is a four million-ounce deposit. Isn't that a little premature?
Charles Fipke: I think so. I don't want to quote on how many ounces yet. I'd wait till everything's back. I think we would think something very large, something in the order of a couple grams. That's what I'd anticipate. Maybe we'll get higher. I think we'd be very happy if we got a huge deposit that averages a couple of grams per tonne.
StockHouse: I've heard this concession is mineralized throughout and Cantex owns about 8% of Yemen at this point, right? Looks like there will be several mines here, not just at Al Hariqah?
Charles Fipke:That's what we're hoping for. We have 41,000 square kilometers. We could even hit it on the lead-zinc-silver thing. It's more of a long shot. I worked for two years for Cominco [T.CLT] on lead-zinc-silver. It's possible. We have a zinc-lead-silver deposit in [carbonate] rocks in the area, in Yemen. It's not too far from Al Hariqah.
StockHouse: Are you excited about what you reported on the November 30th news release and how does your excitement compare to your diamond discovery?
Charles Fipke: I have to say I'm pretty excited. I went through the diamond thing. I was pretty excited, too.
StockHouse: Nobody believed you back then. Now you have the name.
Charles Fipke: We've only been trading at $.08 or $.09 in the summer, with the gold price down. We have Swiss people that back us. Even though the gold price was down, they pretty well knew that it was going to rise in September. At least we got the rig off, and we're going to start drilling at that time. They now say that gold has bottomed out, and it's just going to be going up now. I'm not saying at a rapid rate, but they say it's bottomed out. We think it's a good time to be drilling for gold.
StockHouse: Do you think it'll be economically viable?
Charles Fipke: Yeah, the only thing is, it's not quite like Nevada. We stopped counting when we saw 70 visible gold showings in the rock. We probably found more like a hundred. The problem is the grade sizes. Some of the gold is going to be bigger than in Nevada. And so, we may have to put it in a gravity concentrator to take out the big gold before it would be heap leached. There are some differences. But in general, the guy who says it's a huge open pittable heap leach is from Nevada. The recovery system might be a little different.
StockHouse: What kind of a contract does Cantex have with the Yemen government, and when does it expire?
Charles Fipke: All our licenses are in good standing. We have to pay US $68-70,000 per year. We just paid. The taxes, we have to pay 36% on net profits. I think there's a 1% net smelter. It's been a while since we've negotiated the agreement. It's very, very favorable - the taxation. There's no withholding tax at all. The only other tax is tax on employment, income taxes.
StockHouse: Is Yemen a favorable country in which to do business, with regards to their recent past?
Charles Fipke: Occidental Petroleum, they've been there for 12 years, and they've invested literally billions of dollars in oil. Five or six years ago, there was a civil war, and there's never been anybody ever kidnapped from Occidental - never anybody harmed. During the civil war, some of the expats just left. But there was no disruption of their production. In fact, they actually made more money, because their costs were lower -because some of the people left. Their production was not ever interrupted. It's never been interrupted. I think they've been there about 12 years. So, the environment is very favorable. I know when we signed the agreement, we get a 3-year tax holiday. So there's no taxes for three years at all.
StockHouse: After you go into production?
Charles Fipke: Yeah.
StockHouse: Do you think you're going to go into production here?
Charles Fipke:I have to say I have two geologists that have a lot more gold experience than myself. And they both feel it's a mine.
StockHouse: Thank you very much. |
