Almadex Minerals (DEX) - North American Gold Silver Exploration

Almadex Minerals Ltd. is a Canadian exploration company, focused on its various projects and NSR royalties located in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The company’s asset portfolio is the result of many years’ worth of prospecting and deal-making and consists of the El Chato, Nueva Espana, San Carlos, Lajas, Mezquites, San Pedro, Viky, Yago, Merit, Nicoamen River, Lac de Gras, Ponderosa, Monte Cristo, Davis/Paradise Valley, Veta, Willow and recently acquired Logan projects.

Almadex Minerals Ltd. announced in May 2022 that it had commenced with a diamond drilling program at its Davis/Paradise project in Nevada. The project consists of 302 claims totalling a 2,400-hectare land package, which the company holds the right to obtain 100% thereof. The project is located approximately 8 miles southeast of Gabbs, Nevada and 5 miles northeast of the Paradise Peak gold mine. The diamond drilling campaign is focused on the Davis zone of the project, which hosts gold and silver in epithermal alterations and veining.

The company also announced in May 2022 that it had acquired 100% of the Logan Zn/Ag project in the Yukon. The acquisition, due to a bankruptcy receivership, has resulted in the company holding 100% of the project.  The Logan Zn/Ag project is located 38 km north of the Alaska Highway and 108 km northwest of Watson Lake in south-central Yukon and consists of 156 quartz mining claims, totalling a land position of 3,200 hectares. The historic inferred resource estimate of the project, prepared in 2012, reported 42.7 million tons of mineralisation at a grade of 2.76% zinc and 12.89 ppm silver at a 1% zinc cut-off grade. The deposit remains open along strike and down dip.

Company history and Management

Almadex Minerals Ltd. was created as a spin out company of Almaden Minerals Ltd. in 2016 after the company discovered the Ixtaca Gold-Silver Deposit in Mexico. The rationale behind the spin-out was to raise funds to advance the Ixtaca Gold-Silver Deposit, without diluting the shares of Almaden Minerals Ltd. The company combined its early-stage properties of the time as well as royalties and created Almadex Minerals Ltd. The company also created Azucar Minerals Ltd. in 2018 through the completion of a plan of arrangement between Almadex Minerals Ltd. and Newcrest Mining Ltd. Azucar Minerals Ltd. has the mandate of exploring and advancing the El Cobre project.

Morgan Poliquin, the President and CEO of Almadex Minerals Ltd. explains the company portfolio as follows:

“There are 3 companies in our portfolio, they’re all interrelated, they’re all doing different businesses and Almadex is focused on - it’s the incubator company. It’s where the ideas are, the next generation of early-stage prospecting that I lead, and also the result of that, the fruits of that, in the form of royalties, some of the projects are jointly ventured out, and we’re doing active exploration on our own projects.”

Morgan Poliquin, is tasked with navigating Almadex Minerals Ltd. through the waters of the mineral resource industry. Poliquin holds a master’s degree in Geology, obtained from the University of Auckland as well as a PhD in Geology obtained from the University of Exeter.

The Chairman of the company’s board and the founder of Almaden Minerals Ltd. is Duane Poliquin. Duane has been involved in the exploration of mineral systems across the globe since 1962. Duane discovered the Santa Fe gold property in Nevada in 1972, from where he created Westley Mines Ltd. The project was taken over by Homestake and placed in production. Duane has been involved with various discoveries throughout his career which have developed into producing mines, with one such discovery being the Trinidad gold deposit in Mexico, which Almaden Minerals Ltd. holds a royalty over still.

Doug McDonald is the Executive Vice President of the company and has more than eighteen years of experience in the resource, foreign trade and resource policy sectors. McDonald has been involved in an advisory capacity with various companies, advising on merger and acquisition strategies as well as various ways of accessing the capital market.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company is Korm Trieu. Trieu is a chartered accountant and has more than 15 years of experience in corporate finance, the natural resource sector, taxation and management He previously held the position of Vice President of Finance for Sprott Resource Lending Corp.

Darcy Marud, Tracey Meintjies and Larry Segerstrom are directors of the company. Marud has over 30 years of experience in precious metals exploration and is currently the CEO of Western Exploration LLC, a Nevada-based precious metals exploration company. Meintjies has been involved in the development of mining projects for more than 30 years and has held senior positions at various mining companies including Anglo American, Anglo Gold, Rio Tinto and Teck. Meintjies is also currently the Vice President of Engineering studies at Seabridge Gold. Segerstrom is a professional geologist with 30 years of experience in exploration and 20 years in management, He has held various senior management positions, including COO of Paramount Gold and Silver Corp as well as manager of Geology for the Grasberg Mining District of Freeport-McMoRan.

Cash position  

Almadex Minerals Ltd. holds a cash position of CAD$ 17 million, with no debt. The cash position of the company is largely due to the sale of the net smelter return (NSR) royalty it previously held on the Elk property. The SNR royalty was sold to Star Royalties Ltd. for the gross proceeds of USD$ 10.5 million. The transaction furthermore allowed Almadex Minerals Ltd. to hold a position of approximately 2.3% of the issued and outstanding shares of Star Royalties Ltd. Poliquin sums up the transaction as follows:

“…we were able to monetise the existing quite mature portfolio from early-stage right through to royalties by selling the Elk royalty for USD$ 10.5 million, which is obviously a major part of our cash. We view that particular transaction as enabling the exploration model and being able to enhance our ability to make that next discovery…”

The company has been implementing the proceeds of the transaction towards the generative exploration and prospect drilling of more advanced projects in its asset portfolio, Poliquin explains:

“...that cash allows us to actually advance our projects aggressively from the early stage, and of course, as I say, very few projects, or maybe I didn’t say this - very few projects go from early stages to being a mine, and that’s the point of the more pucks on net. We’ve reduced the costs of that value creation stage of drilling by owning our own drills, but at the end of the day, it’s still dollars out the door.”

Davis/Paradise project

Almadex Minerals Ltd. announced on the 24th of May 2022, that it had initiated diamond drilling at its Davis/Paradise project in Nevada. The project consists of 302 claims, totalling a land position of approximately 2,400 hectares. The project is located approximately eight miles southeast of the town of Gabbs Nevada and five miles northeast of the past-producing Paradise Peak gold mine.

The drilling commenced at the project’s Davis Zone, where the company identified mineralisation that showed epithermal alteration as well as veining. The project also hosts mineralisation in its Northern Section which shows a sinter and breccia mineralisation system. The exploration drilling is aimed at following up on historical mineralisation that was encountered at the project. The historical mineralisation includes highlights such as a mineralisation intercept of 12.2 m at 6.2 g/t of gold and 21 g/t of silver.

The Southern Paradise portion of the project has recently undergone a WorldView remote sensing study, with the data of the study indicating that the area represents a large lithocap with the potential to host gold and silver high sulphidation mineralisation and porphyry mineralisation at depth.

Logan Zn/Ag Project in Yukon

Almadex Minerals Ltd. announced on the 26th of May 2022, that it had acquired the Logan Zinc and Silver project, located 38 km north of the Alaska highway in the Yukon territory. The Logan project was acquired by the company through a bankruptcy receivership. Almadex Minerals Ltd. was previously a minority shareholder of the project and for years attempted to advance the project, but was unsuccessful due to the inactivity of the previous majority shareholders. The project is now 100% owned by Almadex Minerals Ltd. which will enable the company to advance the project as it sees fit.

The project has a historic inferred resource of 42.7 million tons of mineralisation at an average grade of 2.76% zinc and 12.89 ppm silver.   The resource was created with a 1% zinc cut-off grade, with the deposit open along strike as well as down dip.

Poliquin explains that with the Logan project added to its portfolio, and the company’s cash position, Almadex Minerals Ltd. will be able to pursue discoveries at the project, he states:

“…we now have the optionality of exploring whether we want to drill that ourselves or advance that ourselves, move it potentially into a current resource or even further. We have that optionality now with the cash. That’s what I would say, the cash allows us to do what we’ve always done, and we’re known for, which is making discoveries.”

Future

Almadex Minerals Ltd. will continue to pursue its exploration initiatives in the coming year. Poliquin explains that the company will be focused primarily on three jurisdictions in the coming year, namely Mexico, Nevada and Canada, he states:

“We feel there is the possibility - we’re focused really on the western side of North America, so it’s always going to be for us, due to our capacity and knowledge and so on, Mexico, the US and Canada. I think the drills, in theory, could be somewhat flexible between those 3 jurisdictions.”

The company will also continue to drive its exploration drilling services side as well, with four of the six drill rigs the company owns, currently being implemented at third-party contracts in Mexico.

Poliquin explains that he will continue to drive the company’s exploration initiatives going in to the future, with the aim thereof being value creation for the company and its shareholders, he states:

“…my focus will be long term focusing on prospecting and creating that value through the drill bit at Almadex.”

To find out more, go to the Almadex Minerals website