Why has Oreterra made Trek South its primary exploration focus? Stephen Burega breaks down the layered data behind the target, including surface mineralization, IP and MT geophysics, and a planned 5,000-metre drill program. He also explains how the project fits into Oreterra’s wider exploration portfolio.
Video transcription
Why Trek South?
Tell me more about how Oreterra is thinking about Trek South within the Golden Triangle and what makes this first drill target so exciting.
So, Oreterra went through a process. This year has been a transformational year for the company, and it was part of the plan that, as previous CEO and President, I needed to think through how we were going to navigate debt, how we were going to navigate a weak market and raise capital, and a vastly overinflated outstanding share structure.
Building a New Team and Strategy
It was because of my meeting a gentleman named Kevin Keough, who formerly was sort of the mind and the brains behind GT Gold, which was another Golden Triangle story that was a huge success.
They drilled about $20 million worth of drilling, and they sold that Saddle project to Newmont for nearly half a billion dollars in a three-year window.
So it shows you where everyone talks about the hockey-stick effect, right? Where you can do some really valuable work early stage and see some tremendous returns.
Kevin was very interested in Trek South, as I've been for years now, since we started working at it in 2021.
I was able to convince him to come and join the team. So I stepped back as CEO.
Kevin was hired as CEO, and I stayed on as President. The idea really was bench strength, knowledge and market penetration, the ability to tell a story with a new name.
Restructuring Before Exploration
We did a ten-for-one rollback, and prior to that we got rid of all of the debt that the company had accumulated.
There was some significant debt north of a million dollars.
We were able to do that all for shares-for-debt prior to the rollback, and that changed everything for Oreterra because now we're coming into the market with some 32 million shares.
Nearly $10 Million Raised in a Week
We were able to raise nearly $10 million in a week.
It happened so quickly.
The first $6 million happened in 24 hours, and then we just kept on expanding it, and eventually we cut it off at $9.7 million.
We probably could have raised more, to be quite honest. There was that level of interest, but it was because we had all of these great assets.
Why Trek South Is the Primary Focus
We had this amazing target at Trek South in the Golden Triangle.
We have our Ontario project, which is north of Musselwhite, which is a producing mine, and then we had our Nevada projects.
But our primary focus is Trek South.
The reason for that was we think that Trek South is the straightest line to developing a resource.
Layering Geological and Geophysical Data
If we go back to that idea of layered data, if all of your geophysics are lining up and you have the surface expression like we do over a major area, it's a kilometre and a half by the better part of a kilometre, and it's expanding as the glaciers continue to recede.
We continue to see that mineralization under the glacier.
And you have all of this great data that just shows that there's a very significant target that runs, depending on which geophysics component you're looking at.
The IP shows it down 600 or 700 metres.
The MT shows it plunges two kilometres.
And it has all of the hallmarks of being strong potential porphyry mineralization at depth, and it starts at surface.
There are other targets at Trek South that warrant more work as well.
This could be the potential of a porphyry swarm.
The First 5,000-Metre Drill Program
So I think that this is positioning Oreterra extremely well to have a really cool year because, at the end of the day, we've got our first 5,000-metre Phase One program ready to go.
We'll be drilling straight as long as weather holds.
Hopefully we'll get well into September, maybe into October.
It's all dependent on weather and results.
But back to that earlier comment, these stories are made based on the drill bit.
You can have all the wonderful data in the world. If you can't show it in the drill, you don't have a story.
But if you do, then you have something extraordinary, and hopefully you can catch some lightning in a bottle.
Beyond Trek South: Nevada and Ontario
And the Nevada story is an equally exciting story.
There are two projects. One is called Kinkaid.
It's down in the Walker Lane, and it's very early stage. It's never been drill tested.
We're just finishing up some geophysics to give us a better sense of where we might put the drills down.
And then our last big project is in Ontario.
That's a project that we've held for many, many years.
It's the extension zone of a BIF, banded iron formation, which is the structure that the Musselwhite mine is built on, or built around.
And we think we've got the extension zone.
Why Oreterra Is Not a One-Target Story
Oreterra is a really exciting story because it's not a one-trick pony here.
This is not an opportunity where it's live or die based on one target area.
We think we've got an extraordinary target that's going to result in a discovery.
But if it doesn't show that, then we know we've got Nevada and we know we've got Ontario as well.
Why Porphyry Targets Matter
The timeline to bring a resource forward on a big porphyry structure is far less than if you have to put in that many more holes in order to prove up the continuity of a vein system.
I think that our priority of looking at lower-grade porphyry structures means we typically won't see those massive bumps of precious metals.
But the reality is that the continuity of material throughout the area allows us to get to a resource quicker and typically in a more cost-effective manner.