Softrock Minerals Ltd. (SFT-TSXV)

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August 26, 2011 Issue

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With an Experienced Exploration Team Softrock Minerals Ltd. is Focused on Potash, Lithium, Diamonds as well as Oil and Gas in Western Canada

The Honourable Nick W. Taylor
President and CEO

Senator (retired) Nicholas W. Taylor born (1927) and raised in Bow Island, Alberta. Received a B.Sc. the University of Alberta (Edmonton) in 1949. A Geologist. Married to Margaret Davies on October 1, 1949. They have nine children: Patrice, Jennifer, Terrance, Cayt, Ian, Sheila, Alison, Susan and Sarah.
 

Private Career: Geologist with Cameron‑Frobisher in North West Territories from 1946‑49; Geophysicist with Cities Service in Western Canada from 1949‑55; Geologist with Honolulu Oil Corporation in North America from 1955‑60; Geologist/President of Taylor Exploration from 1960‑65; President of Lochiel Exploration in Canada and Europe from 1965-86, Director of Softrock Minerals Ltd., and President of Cariad Exploration, Northwest Sulphur and Citizen's Pipeline since 1979, President of Softrock Minerals and Lochiel Energy since 2003 Member, the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta. Member, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Recipient of the Alberta Engineers "Citizen of the Year" Award, 1985.  Chair of the National Aboriginal War Veterans Monument Foundation.  Deputy Chair of the Michel Trudeau and Kokanee Glacier Memorial Campaign, Director of Kerby Calgary Senior Centre.

Political Career: Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party from 1974‑88. First elected to the Alberta Legislature 1986, re‑elected in 1989 and 1993. House Leader and Opposition Critic for Native Affairs, Forestry, Agriculture and Energy. Summoned to the Senate on March 17, 1996. Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy the Environment and Natural Resources and the Senate Sub-Committee on Boreal Forests.  Member of the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce, the Senate Standing Committee on Human rights, Member of the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture, and the Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.  Chair of Alberta Caucus.  Co-chair of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Jobs and Small Business and of the Prime Misniter’s Task Force on Youth Entrepreneurship and Member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Future Opportunities in Farming and the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Canada-US Relations.  Retired from the Senate on November 17, 2002.

Address: #443 East Chestermere Dr., Chestermere, Alberta, T1X 1A3 – phone/fax: (403) 207-3658. Cell 403-461-5209

Company Profile:

Softrock Minerals Ltd. engages in the exploration and development of oil, gas and minerals in western Canada. It holds interests in oil and gas properties located in Manitou Lake area of northwest Saskatchewan; and central Alberta, as well as potash and Lithium permits in Northern Alberta The company was formerly known as 564016 Alberta Inc, incorporated in 1993 and changed its name to Softrock Minerals Ltd. in July 1997. and is based in Calgary, Canada.

Resources
Potash
(SFT-TSXV)

Softrock Minerals Ltd.
Suite 1010, 825-8^th Avenue S.W.
Calgary AB Canada T2P 2T3
Phone: 403-266-2605
 

Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFOinterviews.com, Published – August 26, 2011

CEOCFO: Mr. Taylor, what is the main focus of Softrock Minerals?

Mr. Taylor: We are strictly an exploration team. We are listed on the Canadian Toronto Venture stock market under the symbol SFT. We call it Softrock Minerals because we prospect in diamonds, potash, and lithium. We also do a lot of oil and gas exploration and production.

CEOCFO: Where is the team at Softrock Minerals looking?

Mr. Taylor: We are mainly looking in Alberta Canada and some in Saskatchewan; two provinces in western Canada next to the Rocky Mountains.

CEOCFO: Is it opportunistic as far as what you look at or is it a deliberate plan to diversify?

Mr. Taylor: It is a deliberate plan, but we are wildcatters. We do a little of the snuggling up in order to try to keep groceries on the table, but we take some very long shots. Right now our main long shot is looking for potash and lithium in northern Alberta. Potash is a good price and Alberta regulations have changed where you can acquire a good chunk of acreage before you do your drilling. We have been at it for about two years. We have not drilled or intersected any potash yet, but we have been doing the geophysical and geological exploration up till now.

CEOCFO: What do you like about potash?

Mr. Taylor: Potash has a very steady market particularly in Asia where they have farmed for many years and their soil is depleted of potash. Therefore, there is a great demand for potash in both India and China and neither have enough of their own potash. The second reason is potash in Canada is sold through a cartel so that there is no cut-throat competition between producers to try to get to market. The market is handled by a cartel of producers who decide what the price will be; not that dissimilar to diamonds in a way. There are one or two companies that can have a majority of Canadian potash, but they market through the cartel.

CEOCFO: What is the availability worldwide?

Mr. Taylor: Western Canada is to potash what Saudi Arabia used to be to oil reserves. Most of the mineable potash is in western Canada. There is a lot of potash that can be solution mined as well as conventional mining. In solution mining, you pump down water to dissolve the potash salt, then you pump up the liquid and separate the potash from it by heat. However, most of the potash in Western Canada, you sink a mine shaft and you mine it the same way you would coal or gold. It is nearly as valuable as gold and there are huge reserves out here and a marketing mechanism, so that is one of the reasons we look at it.

CEOCFO: Are you looking at additional properties?

Mr. Taylor: Yes, we just made an acquisition. We came in under the hood the last couple of years while we narrowed our search because we did not want everybody crowding in and staking ground. In the last six weeks, we have filed for additional land that we know is prospectable because of our research work in the last couple of years. Our reputation must be spreading, because there has been hundreds of thousands of acres filed all around us in the last week or two, so I hope we are as smart as they think we are by filing all of the land around us.

CEOCFO: What are you doing with oil and gas?

Mr. Taylor: We have an approach on acquiring oil and gas reserves that are very long term, but on the depleting end of their twenty or thirty year cycle. Big companies do not want to buy production that has to be nursed to the end of its life, so the only competition is the little fellows and that is fair enough.

CEOCFO: Why do you like that part of the industry?
Mr. Taylor: The thing about that part of the industry is it gets stable income coming in to pay the lawyers, accountants and technical and that is what you need now days with all the changes and hoops the government makes you jump through. All of that is necessary when you run a mineral company, so the oil can pay for all those and keep you alive until you really hit something rich in mineral land.

CEOCFO: I see you hold the title of The Honourable Nick Taylor; how did you acquire the title?

Mr. Taylor: The title of “Honourable” is because I used to be a Canadian senator. We are the opposite of the U.S. In the U.S.,I understand you keep the title of senator until you die, but take away the Honorable title once you are no longer in the senate. We are the other way around, we take away the title of senator as soon as you are retired, but keep the Honourable forever.

CEOCFO: What is the financial picture like for Softrock Minerals today?

Mr. Taylor: Financially we are just limping along. We are trying to do a public underwriting. We want to issue a convertible debenture based on the oil income, but there is a wait and see due to the combination of summer and the doldrums in the worldwide market. Everybody blames the Greeks for it. They have been blamed since the time of the Olympics, but there just seems to be a combination in the U.S. and Western Europe, if it is not exactly pessimism, it affects the financial markets in a lot of ways.

CEOCFO: What is your timetable going forward, how will you progress in the next couple of years assuming whatever you expect to happen, happens?

Mr. Taylor: We expect to do quite well in the next couple of years. We will raise some money. We have some prospects in the minerals side for potash as well as lithium, and it looks like if we get the right financing we will have the basic income. So I look to see some peaks in the next couple years; it may be speculation and maybe not.

CEOCFO: How do you reach potential investors?

Mr. Taylor: In Canada once you are publicly listed, there are very heavy regulations. Every move you make has to be announced to the stock exchange and to the different authorities, and that in turn is picked up by the press as well as the analysts so that part I must confess is looked after fairly well. You do not have to get out there and pound up and down the streets looking for investors. There is a general rule that investors or agents for the investors are looking up and down the street all the time.

CEOCFO: Why should potential investors pay attention to Softrock Minerals?

Mr. Taylor: We have been low-priced over the last two or three years, so any positive news we make in potash, lithium, and/or oil should give it quite a kick. It has traded between a nickel and fifteen cents the last two years. It has been up over $1 when it was rumoured we had a diamond show, but we have not found anything otherwise the stock would not be that cheap. We think we are at the low end of the cycle and there is a good volume out in the market so that you can buy and sell without worrying about being stuck with something you buy.

CEOCFO: Final thoughts, what should people remember most, or what might they miss when they look at Softrock Minerals?

Mr. Taylor: They might miss the value of potash. We have a lot of acreage, but it is not like oil or gas where acreage pays off. It is more like gold mining where it only takes about three or four square miles to make a very profitable potash find. Therefore, what they might miss is that the potash is highly speculative, but it is very rewarding if encountered.

disclaimers

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Western Canada is to potash what Saudi Arabia used to be to oil reserves. Most of the mineable potash is in western Canada. There is a lot of potash that can be solution mined as well as conventional mining. In solution mining, you pump down water to dissolve the potash salt, then you pump up the liquid and separate the potash from it by heat. However, most of the potash in Western Canada, you sink a mine shaft and you mine it the same way you would coal or gold. It is nearly as valuable as gold and there are huge reserves out here and a marketing mechanism, so that is one of the reasons we look at it. - Nick Taylor