Gold Bull Resources (GBRC) - Big Exploration to Small Production Plans

Gold Bull Resources is a US-based gold exploration and development company focused on discovering high-grade deposits in Nevada.

Gold Bull Resources Corp. announced on the 30th of August 2022, that it had concluded with its 2022 drill program at its Sandman project, and that all of its gold assays have been received. The reverse circulation (RC) drilling program consisted of 24 drill holes totalling 4,945 m. The highlights of the drill program included intercepting a high-grade feeder of 14.67 g/t of gold over 3 m within a larger mineralisation interval of 83.8 m @ 1.50 g/t gold from the surface at the Silica Ridge zone of the project. The company further encountered a 47.2 m mineralisation interval at a grade of 1.54 g/t gold which included a mineralisation interval of 6.1 m at a grade of 8.01 g/t also at the Silica Range zone. The company also encountered high-grade gold mineralisation at the North Hill zone of the project and extended the mineralisation of the Abel Knoll deposit.

Gold Bull Resources Corp. on the 12th of September 2022 published a Scoping Study for the Sandman project. The scoping study envisions a stand-alone and low-cost heap leach operation. The company only took into consideration the mineralisation above the water table of the project. The scoping study is based on 250,000 ounces of the total 494,000 ounces of gold resource the project hosts.

The highlights of the scoping study include a production rate of 2.1 million tons per annum producing 35,000 ounces of gold per annum. The pre-tax internal rate of return on the project is 99% with a payback period of approximately 1 year.

Management

The company is led by Cherie Leeden who has more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry. Leeden Is the former founder and CEO of Battery Metals as well as the private natural resources project generation company, NV Resources. She has been involved with the gold industry of Nevada for the last 5 years and has experience in negotiating and executing various transactions with Fortune 500 companies.

Gavin Cooper is the Chief Financial Officer of Gold Bull Resources Corp. and has more than 35 years of experience in finance, strategy and senior management roles. Cooper previously served as the CEO and Director of Standard Lithium Ltd. as well as the former Director of Nevada Geothermal Power Inc.

Craig Parry is the chairman of the company’s board and has a track record of executing successful mining transactions. Parry led both the geology and resources for Rio Tinto’s Kintyre uranium project and advised Rio Tinto on the sale to Cameco Corp. He is the co-founder and former head of Business Development for the Tigers Realm Group as well as the founder and CEO of Tiger Realm Coal, the co-founder and former Senior Advisor of EMR Capital and the co-founder and former Director of NexGen Energy Ltd.

Regina Molloy is the Exploration Manager of the company and brings with her more than 25 years of experience in multi-commodity exploration. She has been involved with companies such as BHP, Newcrest Mining Ltd., Barrick Gold Corp. and Battery Minerals Ltd.

Walter Coles Jr., Mike Cowin and Vince Sorace serve as directors of Gold Bull Resources Inc. Coles is the CEO of Skeena Resources Ltd. and has extensive experience in the resources sector including mergers and acquisitions. Cowin has more than 25 years of experience in the wholesale fund management industry of Australia and previously was an equity partner and Director of Northcape Capital, a boutique investment fund based in Australia which manages over AUD$ 10 billion. Sorace is a mining and technology entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in international business and capital markets. He is the President and CEO of Kutcho Copper Corp., Director of E79 Resources Corp. and Founder and Chairman of MineHub Technologies Inc.

Rounding out the team is Debra Struhsacker who is the Environmental, Permitting and Government Relations Advisor and Michael Konnert who serves as Advisor. Struhsacker has more than 35 years of experience as a policy expert and as a Hardrock mining advocate. She has a proven track record of securing exploration and mining project permits on a state and federal level. Konnert has more than 10 years of experience in resources and capital markets and is a co-founder and managing partner of Inventa Capital as well as the founder and CEO of Vizsla Resources Corp.

The management team is entrusted with advancing the company’s Nevadan projects.

Sandman project

The Sandman project of the company is a 117 km2 land package located in Humboldt County in Nevada, USA. Gold Bull Resources Corp. acquired the Sandman project in 2020 from Newmont Gold. The project was first discovered in 1987 by the Kennecott Exploration Company, from where the project became a joint venture with the Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation between 1994 and 1997. The project was convened to Western States Mining in 1997, with the company excavating a test pit on the property. The project was then acquired by NewWest Gold Corporation in 2005 and later by Frontier Pacific Mining Corp in 2007, where it became a joint venture with Newmont Gold. The project was put on hold between 2012 and 2016 due primarily to the low gold price at the time.

The project holds a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate of 494 Koz of gold in the indicated category and 60.8 Koz of gold in the inferred category. Cherie Leeden explains the history of the project through the company as follows:

“We started off by acquiring the Sandman project in December 2020. We paid USD$ 4 million for the asset from Newmont. It had 290,000 oz of gold at the time. Since that time, over the last 18 months, we’ve done quite a lot of drilling, about 10,000 m of drilling, and we’ve increased the resource to the current resource, just shy of 500,000 oz and we were on a mission to get over 1 million ounces via exploration”

Sandman project drilling completion

Gold Bull Resources Corp., on the 30th of August 2022, announced that it had concluded with its 2022 drilling program at its Sandman project. The company further announced that it had received all of the gold assay results from the drilling program. The reverse circulation (RC) drilling program consisted of 24 drill holes totalling 4,945 m. The highlights of the drill program included intercepting a high-grade feeder system of 14.67 g/t of gold over 3 m within a larger mineralisation interval of 83.8 m at a grade of 1.50 g/t gold from the surface at the Silica Ridge zone of the project. The company further encountered a 47.2 m mineralisation interval at an average grade of 1.54 g/t gold which included a mineralisation interval of 6.1 m at an average grade of 8.01 g/t also at the Silica Range zone. The concluded 2022 drilling program has resulted in the company having encountered high-grade gold mineralisation at the North Hill zone of the project as well as extending the mineralisation of the Abel Knoll deposit.

Sandman Project Scoping Study

Gold Bull Resources Corp. on the 12th of September 2022 published a Scoping Study for the Sandman project. The scoping study envisions a stand-alone low-cost heap leach operation. The scoping study is based on the mineralisation above the water table of the project, which accounts for approximately half of the project’s mineralisation. The mineralisation above the water table equates to approximately 250,000 ounces of the total 494,000 ounces of gold resource the project hosts. Leeden explains the company’s rationale behind only conducting the scoping study on half of the total gold resources, as an easier path to production.

“When you start looking at extracting ounces below the water table, it’s no big deal but it requires additional surveys and baseline work, and that adds over 1 year of time. So, for the sake of getting this thing into production as soon as possible, we looked at only half of our resource, and we looked at a 35,000 oz per annum operation, and the numbers came out to be amazing…”

The highlights of the scoping study include a production rate of 2.1 million tons per annum which results in the Sandman project producing 35,000 ounces of gold per annum. The pre-tax internal rate of return on the project is 99% with a payback period of approximately 1 year. Leeden states that the company is confident in its scoping study and believes that the project’s historical drill data and its exploration potential will only add to the project economics down the line.

“We’ve got an extremely high level of confidence because courtesy of Newmont again, we inherited about CAD$ 30 million worth of data on this asset. Newmont predominantly drilled a wide-diameter PQ core, and we’ve still got all that core. We inherited all that core for the project. So, we’ve predominantly been doing RC drilling, and infill drilling for our exploration holes. But the resource is based on over 1,000 drill holes, which is quite extraordinary for only 500,000 oz. Resource-wise, we’re super confident. If anything, I’d say there’s upside because there are some high-grade shoots that haven’t been included in the resource because there’s only 1 hit of super high-grade gold materials.”

Future plans

Gold Bull Resources Corp. has begun procuring various long-lead items as the company develops its feasibility study. Leeden explains that there are certain legislative criteria that the company needs to adhere to before it can start the application for a mining permit.

“We’ve decided to essentially commence the long-lead items for production, and in parallel, be working on some of the FS components. There are certain monitoring surveys that just take time, for example in the US, you have to do four-quarters to water monitoring regardless of whether we’re staying above the water table. We need to prove the negative. So, that needs to start essentially before you can submit your mining permit. Just knowing we’re looking like we’re going in that direction, we’re going to start that in Q1 next year.”

The company will conduct additional drilling initiatives in 2023 according to Leeden, with the aim thereof being to gather geotechnical information from where the samples may be used in metallurgical testing initiatives.

“My gut feeling is that have we to do a couple of holes. I don’t think it’s going to be many, but there’ll be some geotechnical question marks that I’d like to know. What is the angle of our pit wall? Is it 60 degrees? Is it 80 degrees? And I think we’ll need a couple of diamond holes to really ascertain those things before production anyway. So, we could probably do 2-for-1 holes where we’re getting metallurgical information and geotechnical information.”

Leeden believes that the Sandman project will reach production in the future due to not only the project’s economics but also the mining jurisdiction in which it is located. Gold Bull Resources Corp. believes that through generating cash flow the company will not only be able to fund itself but also differentiate itself from its peers and create shareholder value.

“I firmly believe it will be a mine one day. So, not every company is sitting on a project like Sandman that is located in such a mining-friendly jurisdiction - it’s pretty low-risk when I look at a start-up operation in terms of the technical aspect. Sandman comes down to the gold price. Your view on the gold price will depend on whether you think Sandman is going to become a little cash cow, and 35,000 oz per annum is not Gold Bull’s endgame, but we think it could really differentiate us and set us apart from the rest by being a cash-flow producer.”

To find out more, go to the Gold Bull Resources website