Cabral Gold - CEO Profile

About Cabral Gold

Cabral Gold is an advanced exploration company who controls the entire Cuiú Cuiú gold district in Northern Brazil, which has multi-million ounce potential. The Company has made several new discoveries in the last 2 years including three new near-surface oxide gold deposits, which opens up a pathway to near-term production via low-cost heap leaching. Cabral Gold already has 1 million ounces of gold.

The Company last updated its resource estimate in June 2018 and has more than doubled the amount of drilling on the project since that time. Besides identifying the new oxide deposits, it has also made two new hard rock discoveries which are currently being drilled off and has identified new zones of high-grade mineralization within the 2 deposits that comprise the existing resource base.

Click here to read the rest of the Cabral Gold Company Note.

Interview with Alan Carter, President & CEO

What’s your company, title, and role? For how long?

Cabral Gold Inc. President and CEO (and founder), 6 years.

What have you been charged with doing for the company?

Creating value for shareholders through setting strategy, building a team, raising capital and communicating our progress to shareholders and investors.

What characteristics do you think one needs to be a CEO?

Integrity, tenacity, technical expertise, an understanding of capital markets, and an ability to connect with people. Also having a clear vision is extremely important.

What has/have your position as CEO taught you: good and bad?

Good – anything is possible in terms of quickly building a mineral exploration company and creating value.

Bad – despite excellent drill results, the continued need for capital means that raising money during market downturns at rock-bottom share values is necessary.

What’s the one thing that a mentor/boss taught you that you still think about/use today?

Preparation – good pitches to investors take time and a lot of practice.

In a sector known for its ups and downs, what’s the hardest decision you had to make?

Letting people go during market downturns.

What are you most proud of?

Aside from my wife and my daughter, my involvement in 4 grassroots gold discoveries in Brazil, including TZ (which just secured US$481M in construction financing) and one in Bolivia. Co-founding Peregrine Metals, identifying and acquiring the Altar asset and building that team and taking it from a $1M valuation to a $487.1M exit.

Tell us something that few people know about you.

I am passionate about history and wine (as well as rocks) and spend my holidays visiting wine producing regions.

What does the future of this sector look like? What needs to change to get there?

I think the future of the gold mining sector in general looks excellent for lots of different reasons. Recognition that government spending is out of control in most countries and that currencies need to be backed by tangible assets.

What is driving the need to change?

High inflation, increasing levels of debt, political risk, declining grades and discovery rates.

What type of people are / should be attracted to this sector?

People with a high tolerance for risk. There are significant rewards but the risks are also high. For example, I went without a salary for 3 years during the downturn of 2012 – 2015. 

Which companies or individuals do you look up to?

Osisko – the original founders recognised bulk tonnage gold potential of historic district in Quebec and of course Great Bear for obvious reasons.

What is your educational background?

BSc in Geology (Hons), PhD in Structural Geology and Gold Mineralization.

Did you know what industry you wanted to work in straightaway. What did you want to do?

I always wanted to be a geologist and was passionate about rocks since the age of 10. The two big breaks in my early career were being accepted for a PhD project, based around a deep underground gold mine in Zimbabwe, and being offered a place with Rio Tinto’s South American Exploration Group. I have never looked back since then.

What is your professional background?

7 years with Rio Tinto, 6 years with BHP Billiton, 18 years with junior exploration companies mainly as CEO, Peregrine Metals, Peregrine Diamonds, Magellan Minerals, Altamira Gold, Cabral Gold.

When did you move into management?

1997 – I was appointed Exploration Manager for Rio Tinto in Bolivia.

When did you move into a board position?

2004 – when I left BHP Billiton to co-found Peregrine Metals and Peregrine Diamonds.

What do you think your best attributes are for running a company?

My experience and my knowledge of our project in Brazil and my ability to convince people that what we are doing could result in the creation of enormous value. My enthusiasm, motivation and determination I think also helps.

What kind of people do you surround yourself with?

Bright and effective people who understand how precious shareholder’s money is.

What are the KPIs that you focus on for yourself and for your team?

Financing and resource allocation, value creation, adding ounces, demonstrating the economic viability of what we have, and advancing our project in a timely manner.

Shareholders are nervous with current market conditions. How do you maintain confidence for current shareholders, and attract new potential investors?

By participating in financings alongside investors and investing my own capital in Cabral I am aligned with shareholders – I have invested $1.8M to date which is a large chunk of my net worth.

What do you think are the challenges currently facing the mining industry?

The industry has an image problem and is regarded by most people as a dirty polluter – most people do not understand that everything they need is either mined or grown and that current living standards and human development depend on mineral extraction. There is a massive disconnect and the industry has failed to address the issue.

Final question, what do you want investors to think of when they hear your name?

An honest, hard-working, experienced Brazil/South American expert with a discovery track record. Someone who puts his money where his mouth is!