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Candente, a diversified
copper and gold exploration company, focuses on increasing shareholder value through
discovery
Minerals Exploration
Copper and Gold
(DNT-TSX)
Candente Resource Corp.
Suite 200, 905 West Pender Street
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 1L6
604-689-1957
Ms. Joanne C. Freeze
President and CEO
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
July 14, 2005
BIO:
Joanne (Joey) C. Freeze is President, CEO and co-founder of Candente Resource Corp. Since
entering the mineral exploration business in 1979, Ms. Freeze has managed exploration
programs and evaluated projects for both junior and major international mining companies
such as Queenstake Resources Ltd., Arequipa Resources Ltd., Mountain Province Mining Inc.,
Placer Dome Inc., Dia Met Minerals Corp., Hughes/ Lang Group and Utah Mines Ltd. (BHP).
Ms. Freeze lived and worked in Peru from 1994 to 1997 where she carried out both project
generation work and property evaluations for Canadian and Peruvian companies. Because of
her experience in Peru, a partnership was formed with Fredy Huanqui, and a new mineral
exploration company was born. Candente Resource Corp. was established in 1997, which
operated privately until going public on May 15, 2000.
Ms. Freeze obtained a B.A. in Geography from the University of Western Ontario in 1978 and
a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of British Columbia in 1981. She is a Fellow Member
of the Geological Association of Canada and is registered with the Association of
Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, Canada.
Company Profile:
Candente has an advanced exploration stage copper project, Caņariaco, and several other
gold and gold-copper projects in Peru and Newfoundland. Candente’s directors have
individual track records in both the discovery and development of multi-million ounce gold
and silver, and multi-billion pound copper deposits. Candente subscribes to principles
which ensure that its exploration and development activities are beneficial to the local
communities.
Candente was co-founded in
1997 by Joanne Freeze and Fredy Huanqui after their involvement in the discovery of the
Pierina mine in Peru. The Company became publicly-traded in Vancouver on the TSX Venture
Exchange in May of 2000,and graduated to the Toronto Stock Exchange in November of 2004.
Utilizing management’s extensive knowledge of both the geology and business culture
of Peru, Candente acquired and advanced several bulk-tonnage gold and copper projects in
the region. In 2002 Candente’s exploration activities were expanded to Newfoundland,
on the recommendation of director Larry Kornze, where world-class, bulk–tonnage gold
targets are now being explored by Candente.
CEOCFOinterviews: Ms.
Freeze, what was your vision when you started Candente, and how has that played out?
Ms. Freeze: “The vision was to make a discovery of huge
mineral potential and increasing shareholder value. Today, we have some excellent projects
with huge mineral potential in copper and gold.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Will
you tell us about the main project on which you are working?
Ms. Freeze: “Our most advanced project is a copper
project with some gold and silver credits to it. It is in northern Peru, on the eastern
shoulder of the Andean Mountains. We just came up with a preliminary resource estimate on
what we consider probably less than 15% of the actual deposit. So far, we have found a
billion pounds of copper and a quarter million of gold. We have not even figured out how
big it is yet. We are estimating another 50 drill holes before we would be ready to be
really calculating how much is there.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
is Peru like to work in; how friendly are the people?
Ms. Freeze: “I lived in Peru from 1994 to 1997 and I
started the company with a Peruvian geologist. Therefore, we are seen as a Peruvian
company and because of that, we did very well there. My partner, Fredy J. Huanqui,
Director and Vice President Exploration for Latin America, really knows the Peruvian
people and how to deal with them. We find it a great country in which to be.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
are the timetables at that project?
Ms. Freeze: “We should be drilling again by the middle
of May, and advancing quite significantly in 2005 with quite a few drill holes.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
else are you working on?
Ms. Freeze: “We have a gold and copper project near
Trujillo, which is still northern Peru but a bit further south than Canariaco. The next
one Alto Dorado is not very far from a major gold discovery of Barrick Gold Corporation
(NYSE:ABX)(TSX: ABX). It has a huge gold and copper potential. We have a couple of drill
holes into it, and a lot of geochemistry and geophysics, which show us a huge mineralizing
system.”
CEOCFOinterviews: How is
your funding to go forward with your projects?
Ms. Freeze: “We have enough money right now to carry on
to a certain degree and we are being offered money from institutions right now. It is
likely that you will see us doing a financing in the near future.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Why
are these institutions coming to you with these offers?
Ms. Freeze: “They can see the potential in our projects
and that we have a proven management team. We have Freddy Huanqui and Michael Casselman,
M.Sc., P.Geo. General Manager Exploration and Director of Candente, who has 32 of
experience with Cominco Ltd. I have been in the business for over 24 years; I was the QPO
in a major discovery called PIERINA. Freddy actually named the discovery after his
daughter and Michael has got involved. In addition, we have five other people on our Board
who have huge experience from the mining business and discovery. People see us as solid,
not only in experience but in success as a management team.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Do you have property in Canada as well?
Ms. Freeze: “Yes, we have some gold projects in eastern
Canada, in Newfoundland. We are just completing a drilling program on a project called
Staghorn. The joint venture partner is Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G) (NYSE: GG), and they are
funding most of our exploration there.”
CEOCFOinterviews: Why
should potential investors be looking at Candente?
Ms. Freeze: “Investors should look at Candente because I
think we are undervalued. If you look simply at our Canariaco project alone, we have that
deposit and we can compare ourselves. If someone goes on our website and looks at our
presentation, we have a comparison of the various projects. There are three, which have
market caps of $150 million to $250 million, with similar copper/gold systems to us. Those
put more drill holes in. I think we are undervalued just based on that one project alone.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
should potential investors know about Candente that does not jump out at them when they
first look at the company?
Ms. Freeze: “They should look at how long we have been
in the business as individuals and how many successes our people have had as individuals.
They should look at the fact that Candente has been in business since 1997 and public
since 2000. We have longevity and we are very solid. Either we will be sold for a big
price or we will be in business for another five to ten years. We are not just here today
because the price of copper happens to be good. Having said that, profits went from around
$95 million in 2003, to over a billion in 2004 because of the price of copper. It is a
very good time to be looking at companies such as ours that have an asset in copper and
gold.”
CEOCFOinterviews: What
are your challenges in the future?
Ms. Freeze: “I think the most frustrating thing is the
current market and the fact that junior companies are so undervalued. It is difficult to
know when people will start giving us the recognition we deserve.”
CEOCFOinterviews: In
closing, would you like to comment on your move to the Toronto Stock Exchange?
Ms. Freeze: “The fact that we moved up from the Toronto
Stock Exchange from the TSX Venture lends a lot of credibility to our projects and our
people.”
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