Sokoman Minerals (SIC) - Local Newfoundlander Chasing Gold

Sokoman Minerals Corp. is a discovery-oriented company with projects in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada. The Company's primary focus is its portfolio of gold projects: Moosehead, Crippleback Lake (optioned to Trans Canada Gold Corp.) and East Alder (optioned to Canterra Minerals Corporation) along the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt, and the recently acquired district-scale Fleur de Lys project in northwestern Newfoundland that is targeting Dalradian-type orogenic gold mineralization similar to the Curraghinalt and Cavanacaw deposits in Northern Ireland. Through recent acquisitions with Benton Resources Inc. (50/50 JV), Sokoman controls one of the largest land holdings in Newfoundland with over 150,000 hectares (1,500 km2) of highly prospective ground in Canada's newest and rapidly emerging gold districts.

The Company also retains an interest in an early-stage antimony/gold project (Startrek) in Newfoundland, optioned to White Metal Resources Inc., and in Labrador, the Company has a 100% interest in the Iron Horse (Fe) project that has Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) potential.

We recently caught up with Tim Froude, President and CEO at Sokoman Minerals, a Newfoundland, Canada-based gold exploration company. He believes that Sokoman is about to unlock a major gold resource and shared his company’s story with us.

Sokoman Minerals

Sokoman Minerals is a discovery-oriented, mineral exploration company. The company is principally engaged in activity in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its major focus is gold exploration in the up-and-coming Newfoundland Gold Belt. Sokoman now has one of the largest mineral holdings in Newfoundland with over 150,000 hectares of highly prospective tracts. In addition to gold, the company also has interests in antimony, iron, uranium, tungsten, and other base metals.

The company has a market capitalization of $146 M. Sokoman has 206 M fully diluted shares outstanding.

Management

As mentioned, Tim Froude is the President and CEO at Sokoman Minerals.  Other members of the leadership team include Eric Myung, CFO; Cathy Hume, Investor Relations; and Daniel Lee, Vice President Exploration.

The CEO’s View

Froude is clearly excited about the role his discovery-driven company has in the rapidly emerging Newfoundland Gold Belt. He told us that when people think of Canadian gold exploration, they tend to think of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec and the Golden Triangle out west, but now, the spotlight is on Newfoundland. He reiterated that they are not miners but explorers and they know Newfoundland extremely well. Froude has $15 M in the bank, and he said he is well financed to move Solomon’s projects along. The company has been delivering on its exploration work, he said.

Sokoman’s Projects

The company’s flagship project is the Moosehead Gold Project in Newfoundland. In addition, the company has 8 other projects: Kepeneck, Golden Hope, Crippleback, Startrek, East Alder, Iron Horse, Fleur de Lys, and Grey River.

Moosehead: The Flagship Project

Sokoman Minerals acquired the Moosehead Gold Project, an orogenic, lode-gold occurrence, in 2018. It consists of 98 claims covering 2,450 hectares adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway. Sokoman has a 100% interest in the ore deposit.

Historic sampling has returned assays of up to 442 g/t Au from float rock and up to 170 g/t Au over 1.50 m from drill cores. The ore system remains essentially untested below a vertical depth of 100 m and is unexplored along strike.

Within four months of the acquisition, Sokoman announced the discovery of a new zone of quality gold mineralization in its first hole drilled. They have already completed five successful phases of diamond drilling at Moosehead, consistently returning high-grade results.

The current phase 6 drilling program is designed to continue to prove up the size of the prize. It was originally planned to cut 10,000 m, but with the cash on hand they have expanded it to a 50,000 m program. Froude insists that the only real impediments that he sees may affect the drilling program are logistics, people, and personnel, given that the Newfoundland gold picture has brightened considerably creating somewhat of a Wild West atmosphere.

How Did All This Get Started?

As a local Newfoundland guy, Froude started out in 2018 with himself, a field guy and a pickup truck.  He didn’t even have a field office. The first hole they drilled cut 11.9 m of high-quality gold ore and the phones began to ring, he exclaimed. The property has gone from one zone when it was acquired to five distinct gold-bearing zones today. Now, with a full-time staff of seven people and a budget of $8 M for 20201, they have come a long way, he told us. But, there’s still a lot to do, he said.

Froude is a geologist by training. He has worked for several companies including eleven years at Inco. He came to Sokoman about 13 years ago and is the firm’s longest-serving employee, and worked his way up to his current position.

Tell Us About the Rest of the Team

We asked him to tell us about the other people involved at Sokoman. The VP of Exploration, Daniel Lee, has a tremendous amount of experience including the defining of the Voisey’s Bay property in Labrador as well as the Golden Hope project, which Sokoman now has in house. The rest of the prospectors are experienced Newfoundland explorers, working in their own backyard in an efficient and effective manner, he told us.

Because they all know the area like the back of their hand, Sokoman has one of the lowest cash burn rates of any exploration company in Canada, the CEO said. The money goes a long way, he told us: All-in assay costs are under $130 per m.

They also consider the government of Newfoundland to be an extension of the team, as it were. The authorities have a goal of putting five new mines on the Newfoundland map before 2030.

Project Selection

We understand that you are local, knowledgeable people, we said, so tell us about your views on project selection. He responded that all along the Moosehead project has been their focus. It had a 20-year history prior to its acquisition by Sokoman so they knew that gold ore was present there. The property does not have an outcrop, so the mission was to take this opportunity and intelligently evaluate it without it becoming a money pit. As mentioned, the first hole they drilled proved up resource, in what they now refer to their Eastern trend, now their largest zone, which is still being evaluated.

He then went on to say that he and the team are quite savvy about other nearby properties. Some of these will be discoveries, he thinks, other probably not. New arrivals might not know it, but there are actually several auriferous trends in the Newfoundland Gold Belt. The Moosehead project sits directly on the Marathon trend, he told us. He alluded to the possibility that many newcomers might not know that, referring to the recent arrivals.

Sokoman has partnered with another Newfoundland-based firm, Benton Resources, which is run by Stephen Stares. They realized that there are more opportunities to be had and have recently put together a few joint ventures with them. 

At this point, Sokoman has over 150,000 hectares of land and more than 6,000 claims. But those numbers aren’t the most important, Froude said. Instead, it is the quality of the assets, he told us.

Are You a Geologist or a Businessman?

We clearly understand that you like to do things from a geologic, bottoms-up approach, and that seems to be working so far, we said. But we continued by asking Froude how cognizant he is about the market and the business side of things.

He was ready for the query. He told us that it was he who brought Eric Sprott into the Newfoundland Gold Belt. Additionally, he realized that they needed to put more funds into marketing, so they have done that.

He may be a geologist by training, but they have continued to deliver substantial results. Of the top 20 holes drilled recently in Newfoundland, 17 of them belong to Sokoman and another company, Newfound. Sokoman Minerals stock price is at an all-time high, he said, but he thinks it’s still undervalued. There’s plenty of room for the company to grow its market cap, he believes.

The Rest of the Portfolio

We asked Froude to speak a bit about the other projects in the company portfolio. He told us that they have finished two deals over the last few months, both of which were acquired when prices were much cheaper. The East Alder project has been optioned out to Canterra and the Crippleback project to Trans Canada Gold. Both lie on the Marathon structure, but the company wasn’t doing the justice that they deserved, said the CEO. He likes the idea that he can get quality partners for the betterment of shareholders.

Fleur de Lys is a different animal altogether, he said. The gold-bearing trend actually picks up across the Atlantic in Ireland in the Dairadian Belt. The type example is an Irish Mine with some 6 M ounces of gold at a mine called Curraghinalt. The rocks at Fleur de Lys, where Sokoman Minerals has over 47,000 Ha, are identical to those at Curraghinalt.  

Golden Hope is another project that they have in house and they have over 3000 clams on that. The rocks are related to the ore-bearing units at Moosehead. The property is extremely unexplored, said Froude.

Deploying Cash Properly

We then turned to use of capital and asked the CEO how he was going about allocating his funds. He responded that for him, it’s a “traditional boots and hammer” approach. Most of their projects are in their early stages, he said. Therefore, they will be doing “wall-to-wall” sampling programs by conducting proper drilling programs.

At Moosehead, where they have identified 5 good zones, the plan is to conduct step-out drilling in a logical and sensible way. We learn with every hole drilled, he said. They are looking to define the high-grade zones as quickly as they can with the diamond drill bit, he continued. He believes that there will be additional discoveries at Moosehead. The cost for that additional drilling will be the proper deployment of capital when at the end of the year they have expanded all their ore-bearing zones, he believes.

Final Thoughts

Froude clearly believes that additional home runs are going to be made at Moosehead. Their drilling has revealed some great gold-bearing intercepts and Froude is certain that more are on the way. Based on their geologic knowledge, closely spaced drilling is required in this gold province, and they intend on doing that to add the most value for their shareholders. And they have the patience and persistence to do just that, he told us.

To find out more, go to the Sokoman Minerals Website