Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Kincora Copper (ASX & TSXV:KCC), Managing Director and Co-Founder Joe Oliver
Lel Smits: Kincora Copper is a gold copper explorer and hybrid project generator advancing projects in both Mongolia and Australia’s world-class porphyry mining districts and recently closed an oversubscribed $4 million Canadian dollar financing with a 12-month hold period lead by high-profile North American natural resource investors Rick Rule and Jeff Phillips. In Mongolia, Kincora has re-secured 100% ownership, including the Bronze Fox project host to a large JORC resource, existing mining license, a year-round field cap and a proprietary nationwide database. Kincora’s primary focus is advancing its portfolio of seven projects in New South Wales.
This includes in partnership with Anglo Gold Ashanti across two earn-in agreements where Kincora receives a management fee income and has drilled 27 holes over the last year across three projects. Self-funded exploration is also shortly commencing. President and CEO Sam Spring joins me ahead of the Mining Rockstars investor event in Sydney to discuss the company’s progress and outlook.
Sam, welcome back to the Stock Network.
Sam Spring: Thank you for having us on, Lel.
Lel Smits: Now, the recent financing has been a real catalyst for the share price and trading volumes and Kincora has been recently bulking up the team with some high-caliber appointments to a newly formed advisory board.
Can you update us on Kincora’s strategy, really, and the thoughts behind the advisory board?
Sam Spring: Yeah, it was really pleasing to secure that financing. Obviously, a 12-month hold period with a couple of leading North American investors backing, that’s quite unusual. That’s really accelerating our strategy and I think that’s what’s being recognised in the share price reaction.
There’s lots of different catalysts and value-add activities that we’re now embarking on and that capital enables us to achieve. I guess bulking up this advisory board like what we are is really pleasing. We’ve got some really high-caliber names like Brent Cook, obviously a world-renowned veteran geologist.
He’s helping us as we gear up for this busier period of exploration, doing more deals and more corporate initiatives and really looking to engage with that North American capital market as well. So, it’s really trying to get prepared for what the next 12 months in this capital provides us.
Lel Smits: Fantastic. Now, with Orb Minko withdrawing from its earning agreement, Kincora now controls 100% of its Mongolian copper gold portfolio. What are your plans for this project? Also, really, where does it fit in within your broader project pipeline? And finally, can you talk to current investor sentiment towards Mongolia?
Sam Spring: Yeah, we’re really pleased to get these assets back because they’re advanced. There’s a mining licence.
We’re just applying for a second mining licence. There’s an existing JORC resource. And the landscape in Mongolia is changing a fair bit.
You’ve seen Xanadu with its flagship Karmatai project, which is probably the best analogue for our Bronze Fox project, recently get bought out for $160 million. And based on the existing small resource that we’ve got on Bronze Fox, that would imply a circa $30 million valuation for that asset. So, what we’re really doing at the moment is understanding the results of this field season’s activities, which has generated some really interesting near surface high grade targets.
Looking at the easy wins that we can achieve without much money and looking at how do we position that within the wider portfolio. Again, this financing that we’ve done gives us the capacity to add value to our 100% owned projects as well in a very focused way.
Lel Smits: Brilliant. Now, Kingcora is ramping up drilling in partnership with Anglo Gold Ashanti in New South Wales, for which it receives a management fee income. Can you provide an update here on drilling activities? Also, how they support the vision of proving up a new province scale copper gold opportunity?
Sam Spring: We kicked off our first drilling campaign with Anglo Gold Ashanti in the fourth quarter last year, and we’ve pretty much been drilling nonstop since. We’re up to hole 26.
That’s the third project within this portfolio that we’re drilling. We think that the covered extension of the Macquarie Arc potentially is the biggest part of the whole district. It’s a really new province scale opportunity, and it’s great to have a partner like Anglo Gold Ashanti that’s helping unlock that.
As you mentioned, we receive a management fee for operating that. We’re expecting the next corporate deal that we do for one of our flagship projects, and we’re in pretty advanced conversations for Trundle and Fairholme to get us to that self-funding business model. In the meantime, we’re looking at ramping up drilling at our 100% owned Condobolin project in due course, too.
Again, there’s plenty of activities in New South Wales, and there should be a fair bit of news flow to come with some new developments we’re working on in due course.
Lel Smits: Certainly a very busy period for Kincora Copper. Thank you for the update and look forward to hearing more at the Mining Brockstars Investor event in Sydney later this month.
Sam Spring: Thank you, Lel.
Ends