Cover Story
CEOCFO
Interview Index
CEOCFO
Current Issue
Cover Story
Archives
Future Features
Analyst Interviews
Corporate
Financials
Archived Interviews
About CEOCFOinterviews.com
Contact
& Ordering |
This is a printer friendly page!
Cornerstone Capital Resources has demonstrated that
they have the ability to generate new mineral exploration projects and bring them to the
stage where they can be funded by joint ventures
Metals
Exploration
(CGP-TSXV)
Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc.
PO Box 668
Mount Pearl, NL Canada A1N 2X1
Phone: 709-745-8377
John M. Fleming, P. Geo
Chairman and CEO
Glen H. McKay
President
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
January 27, 2005
BIO:
Executive Officers
John M. Fleming, P. Geo.
Chairman & CEO
John is a consultant in natural resources and environmental management. Prior to
initiating his consulting practice in 1996, he enjoyed a 30-year career with the
Government of Newfoundland & Labrador that included stints as Director of the
province's geological survey and Deputy Minister of the Departments of Mines, Environment
& Lands, and Environment & Labour. He is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier
University (B.Sc. 1962) and Memorial University (M.Sc. 1972).
Glen H. Mckay
President
Glen is a co-founder of Cornerstone and has been the President of Sealan Capital Corp., a
private investment and property leasing company in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland since 1979.
He is also the founder, a major shareholder and Chairman of Nfld. Hard-Rok Inc., a
manufacturer of explosives that provides explosives and drilling and blasting services to
the construction, mining and quarrying industries.
Company Profile:
Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration company active primarily in
Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, an under explored region blessed with a diversity of
geological environments. Through its portfolio of properties, Cornerstone has excellent
exposure to gold, copper, and nickel potential. The company
focuses on generating projects that can be advanced quickly and at low cost to the stage
where they can be joint ventured, thereby leveraging Cornerstone’s financial and
technical resources with those of our joint venture partners.
The growth of Cornerstone is evident in the increase in its property assets and financial
resources since it began in 1997 as a one project, private company to its status today as
a public company with a diverse range of projects. At present, the Company's holdings
include nineteen exploration projects, seven of which are subject to joint venture
agreements with six different partners.
Cornerstone’s 2004 exploration programs saw
total exploration expenditures over $3.5 million (Canadian $), 75% funded by its partners.
With the initiation of the Konrad project in Labrador, nickel was added to the list of
mineral commodities the company is exploring for and Falconbridge was added as a joint
venture partner on that project and as a strategic partner on the company’s broader
nickel exploration program in Labrador. Falconbridge joins a list of joint venture
partners that includes Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (TSX-AGE), Inmet Mining Corporation
(TSX-IMN)/Woodruff Capital Management Inc.(TSXV-WOO), Thundermin Resources Inc.(TSX-THR),
Moydow Mines International Inc.(TSX-MOY), and Kermode Resources Ltd.(TSXV-KLM).
Cornerstone’s shares trade on the TSX-Venture
Exchange under the symbol ‘CGP’. As of December 15, 2004, the company had
21,040,106 shares issued, and 4,856,806 options and warrants outstanding, for a fully
diluted share capitalization of 25,896,912. The shares have traded in the range of $0.19
to $0.62. Members of management hold an estimated 27% of the outstanding shares.
CEOCFOinterviews: Mr.
Fleming, why are you taking the role of CEO at cornerstone now?
Mr. Fleming: "We made some management changes in
December. We thought it was important that the people who have most at stake in the
company take direct control of management. Glen H. McKay, a large shareholder and one of
the company’s founders, assumed the role of President. I took on the role of CEO in
addition to being Chairman of the Board of Directors. Since then, we have had a lot
positive feedback to the changes that we made."
CEOCFOinterviews: What
is changing about Cornerstone?
Mr. Fleming: "As to basics, not much is changing. For
quite some time now, we have followed what we call the generative - Junior Venture model
for metal exploration. Cornerstone generates mineral exploration projects and we aim to
advance those very quickly to the stage where they can be joint ventured with partners who
will then fund the exploration expenditure. We have a very strong technical team in place
that has demonstrated its ability to implement that model."
CEOCFOinterviews: How do
you know what is a good project?
Mr. Fleming: "The mineral commodity or commodities that
the project is targeting must be of interest to the market at the moment. The property
must be one that can be advanced very quickly to the stage where it will be of interest to
potential joint venture partners. That usually means that it can be quickly advanced to
the drilling stage – ie, where there are targets that can be drill tested."
CEOCFOinterviews: How do
you know it is viable when whomever originally owned it doesn’t see that?
Mr. Fleming: "Our exploration department is staffed with
people that have long experience in the business and have demonstrated their technical
acumen. We have been successful over a period of several years in generating projects and
in doing exactly as our model directs us to do, which is to bring those projects to the
stage where they can be joint ventured. At the moment, we have nineteen projects, seven of
which are currently subject to joint venture agreements with six different partners. We
have demonstrated that we are able to do what we say we will do."
CEOCFOinterviews: Is
that helpful as you go forward?
Mr. Fleming: "Yes, immensely helpful. When investors and
partners are able to see that you have an effective business plan and are capable of
achieving that plan, it helps you enormously in gaining their confidence."
CEOCFOinterviews: Will
you tell us about the projects that are most active for you?
Mr. Fleming: "We are active primarily in the Province of
Newfoundland &Labrador, on the east coast of Canada. It is a politically stable area
with a history of mining and a history of putting mining projects into operation.
Our most advanced projects are on the Island of
Newfoundland. We have several projects that target gold. Four of these are joint ventured
to three different partners: two to Thundermin Resources (TSX-THR), which is a Toronto
based company. These are the Cape Ray and Green Bay Gold projects. The Cape Ray project
was drilled last year and we were successful in demonstrating solid potential for
discovering additional resources. We haven’t drilled at Green Bay yet but we have
done geological and geophysical surveys that enable us to identify drill targets. Adjacent
to the Green Bay property, on the northeast coast of Newfoundland, we have another major
project called Colchester, which is joint ventured to Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX-AGE), a
medium sized Canadian gold producer. We drilled the property last year and will likely do
more drilling in 2005. Our other major joint ventured gold project is in south central
Newfoundland, our True Grit property. That is joint ventured to Moydow Mines International
(TSX-MOY), which is listed on the Toronto exchange but based in Ireland. They are in a
drilling program on that property as we speak.
Another focus for us is Central Newfoundland where there has recently been a reactivation
of interest in finding new base metal deposits. The area has a history of production from
deposits characterized as Volcanic Massive Sulfide deposits, which typically contain zinc,
lead, and copper, with associated gold and silver. Just recently Aur Resources (TSX-AUR)
announced that they are going to put the Duck Pond deposit into production. Also, there is
a new discovery in the area announced recently by Messina Minerals (TSXV-MMI). For some
time now, we have been expecting a resurgence of interest in this area and have been
assembling a land position. We’ve just acquired some new ground that we call our
Victoria Project, which is on strike with the Messina’s Boomerang discovery. We have
also staked claims around the Bobby’s Pond deposit, which is held by Inco (TSX-N),
and hold all the prospective ground surrounding that deposit. And we have a more advanced
project in the area called the Noel Paul’s Brook project, which is joint ventured to
Inmet Mining Corporation (TSX-IMN) and Woodruff Capital (TSXV-WOO). That project was
drilled last year and may see more drilling in 2005.
We developed a major new initiative in Labrador last year, when we started to focus on
nickel deposits. Labrador is the site of one of the major new nickel developments in the
world at the moment, the Voisey’s Bay deposit, which is owned by Inco (TSX-N). Early
last year we brought a geologist on staff who has a lot of experience in nickel
exploration and in Labrador. He quickly developed our Konrad project, which is in the
Voisey’s Bay area, and we were successful in joint venturing that project to
Falconbridge Ltd. (TSX-FL). Falconbridge will also make private placements in Cornerstone
in a strategic alliance to enable us to explore an area between our Konrad property and
the Voisey’s Bay nickel property, an area we call the Voisey’s Bay Corridor.
Those are our major projects and you can see that
they represent quite a diversity of metals and a diversity of geological settings.
Collectively, the properties give us a portfolio of projects with excellent potential for
discovery of economic mineral deposits. I should add that although we’ve been focused
on Newfoundland & Labrador to date, some of the potential new projects we are
considering are in other areas of Canada and internationally."
CEOCFOinterviews: How
are you funded?
Mr. Fleming: "We want to keep dilution of our shares to
a minimum. We are well funded right now; with sufficient funds for about two years without
any new financing. We have reduced our burn rate significantly with the recent management
changes. Our objective is to fund most of our exploration expenditures through joint
ventures. As I mentioned, we currently have seven joint venture projects but we have
several additional properties that are ready for joint venture and we fully expect to
announce additional joint venture agreements over the course of 2005."
CEOCFOinterviews: Having
two years worth of funding would certainly set you apart from many of the other companies
in your industry; why should people be interested in Cornerstone?
Mr. Fleming: "What sets us apart is our emphasis on
process. We have excellent projects but, more importantly, we have demonstrated that we
have the ability to generate new projects and bring them to the stage where they can be
funded by joint ventures. That is very important because it is not just the projects that
we have right now, but our ability to continue to generate and joint venture projects that
is important to our shareholders.. We have demonstrated that we have staying power and we
are sustainable. We have demonstrated that we have excellent technical and management
expertise. We also have a highly qualified board of directors of very well respected
people. For all those reasons, we think we have a good story for people who are interested
in investing in mineral exploration."
CEOCFOinterviews: Is
investor relations a focus for you?
Mr. Fleming: "Yes, in fact with the recent changes, our
President, Glen McKay, has taken on direct responsibility for investor relations. We feel
that is an appropriate measure at this time because we want to deal directly with any
questions that may arise in the light of the management changes. We encourage any existing
or potential shareholders to contact Mr. McKay with any questions they may have."
CEOCFOinterviews: On
your website it reads: "We leave no stone unturned." Could you finish our
interview by telling us what that means for Cornerstone?
Mr. Fleming: "It means that we are persistent and
thorough, two qualities we think are essential for success in our business. The slogan is
a signal to our shareholders and joint venture partners that we do things well. We are
people you can be rely on."
disclaimers
Any reproduction or further distribution of this
article without the express written consent of CEOCFOinterviews.com is prohibited.
|
