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With Low Cost Logistics Focused In
The High Reward Jurisdiction Of The Productive Abitibi Area, Cartier
Resources Has An Edge On Other Gold Exploration Companies
Exploration
Gold
(ECR-TSXV)
Cartier Resources Inc.
851-5e Avenue
Val-d’Or, QC, Canada, J9P 1C1
Phone: 819-874-1331
Philippe Cloutier, P.Geo
President and CEO
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
Published – April 4, 2008
BIO:
Philippe Cloutier, P.Geo, President and Chief Executive Officer
Philippe Cloutier, P.Geo is a graduate of the University of
Montreal (B.Sc. Geology 1988) and has over 19 years of experience in the
mining exploration and development business. Mr. Cloutier was most recently
Vice President Exploration for Alexis Minerals Corp., and has previously
worked for industry leaders such as Noranda Inc., Aur Resources Inc., and
Soquem. Mr. Cloutier has had a discovery-oriented career. He played a lead
role in the discovery and delineation of the Bell-Allard South Cu-Zn Mine
(3.4 Mt @ 1.26 % Cu, 13.94 % Zn, 0.67g/t Au, 42.34g/t Ag) in Matagami,
Quebec. More recently, as V.P. Exploration for Alexis Minerals Corp., he was
involved in the discoveries of the Montbray and West Ansil VMS Deposits
located in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. Throughout his career, Mr. Cloutier has
gained a vast experience in deep drilling (>1000m) techniques, Borehole
Pulse EM geophysical targeting, Titan24 surveying, and
geochemical/geological interpretation with respect to Gold and Copper-Zinc
Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Deposits. He serves as member of the Order of
Geologist professional inspection committee, is a director of the Quebec
Mineral Exploration Association (QMEA), and is a director of the Chamber of
commerce of City of Val-d'Or, Quebec.
Company Profile:
Cartier Resources
Inc. is a pure-play exploration company focused on gold in the prolific
Abitibi Gold Belt in Quebec. The Company's portfolio of properties consists
of wholly-owned projects which are managed by a team of geologists who have
a proven track record of making significant discoveries. Cartier Resources'
resolve is to increase shareholder value from acquisition to discovery
through the use of time-tested exploration technologies and proprietary
geochemical tools.
A major portion of the 2008 exploration budget will be
invested on the company's flagship Kinojevis property.
CEOCFO:
Mr. Cloutier, what is the focus for Cartier?
Mr. Cloutier:
“Cartier has a focus on gold in Quebec’s premiere jurisdiction which is the
Abitibi Greenstone Belt. We also focus on a wealth generation process, which
is called exploration. In a nutshell we explore for gold in the Abitibi.”
CEOCFO:
Why do you like that area?
Mr. Cloutier:
“The Abitibi area has a proven historical production of over 200 million
ounces mainly stemming from two world-class fault zones called the Cadillac
Fault Zone and the Destor-Porcupine fault zone. We have been able to acquire
100% ownership of 15% of the linear extent of one of the major producing
faults Destor-Porcupine.”
CEOCFO:
Where are you in the process of exploration on your projects?
Mr. Cloutier: “We have started exploring
this stretch of ground very recently in June 2007. We listed Cartier in June
2007 and very shortly thereafter completed a thorough 2600 linear kilometer
heliborne survey over the property; this generated over 100 drill targets.
Then we embarked on a very aggressive yet controlled prospecting and
trenching program and that led us to drilling in the fall of 2007. To date
we have completed over 5000 meters of drilling and in 2008 we plan on
focusing over 10,000 meters of drilling on the property.”
CEOCFO:
Are you able to get the people and equipment to do the services that you
need?
Mr. Cloutier:
“It is indeed a problem in our business these days. However, for companies
such as ours that have elected to focus our energy in the shadow of
established head frames, it is much easier to get contractors simply because
we have year-round access to the properties. This is important since
drilling, and the drillers required, are the main component of our
exploration. These men get to live a normal life that includes getting to go
to their son’s hockey or soccer tournaments. The supervisors on these rigs
can actually service the machine if it ever breaks down within an hour or
two of work, which is not the case when you are operating in peripheral
jurisdictions supported by helicopter. In essence, that lowers our cost and
ensures that we have the proper and appropriate amount of manpower and the
work gets done.”
CEOCFO:
Your geologists have a very successful track record; please tell us a bit
about your team.
Mr. Cloutier:
“Our vice president of exploration is Philippe Berthelot. Mr. Berthelot
comes with over twenty years of exploration experience in the Abitibi. He
has explored for gold, copper, and zinc and he has been associated with many
significant discoveries and deposit delineations. These include the
Discovery project, which is currently held by Strateco and the Lac Pelletier
project that is currently held by Alexis Minerals. Mr. Berthelot is head of
exploration for our company and he is the one that pilots all of our
exploration work. Then there is Henry Morisette, who is a prospector with
over thirty years experience. He is the watchdog that ensures that all of
our fieldwork gets done in a low-cost high reward fashion. I, as president
and CEO of the company have over 20 years experience and credited with the
discovery Bell Allard South copper/zinc deposit in the Matagami mining camp.
We believe that all of this experience factored together, gives the
shareholders a team which is better equipped to manage the risk which is
inherent to exploration.”
CEOCFO:
How much is science and how much is experience or gut feeling?
Mr. Cloutier:
“It is greater than 80% science. A lot of it is supported by very robust
historics. If we discover on the Destor-Porcupine fault, we can support that
discovery with hundreds of masters in Ph.D. thesis’ that have been written
on deposits and showings along the faults zones which are within trucking
distance of our property and that enables us to more rapidly uncover the
puzzle and delineate the occurrence and the deposit. 20% is a good dose of
luck in that we were able to attract the right partners and the right team
members to this new venture, which is Cartier Resources.”
CEOCFO:
What is the financial picture of the company?
Mr. Cloutier:
“We are a new company and when we listed we had a private placement which
generated over $4.5 million in cash. Currently we still have $3.8 million in
the bank and therefore have sufficient cash to weather the storm, which
appears to be brewing right now. Our low-cost high-reward program, about a
million dollars per year, gets us roughly 40-50 diamond drill holes or one
drill hole per week. We have sufficient cash to stay on for the next couple
of years at this rate of aggressive exploration.”
CEOCFO:
Do you own all of your properties 100%; and what is your philosophy in joint
venturing?
Mr. Cloutier:
“We own all of our current assets 100% and that in itself is high value for
the shareholders. We will seek partners to joint venture non-core assets of
our portfolio. However, we currently focus on one project, which is the
Kinojevis project. This asset is a continuous 50 kilometers along a major
tectonic zone that has produced over 80 million ounces of gold. In itself,
roughly 15 to 20 different companies would traditionally hold this
«project». Our next move is to chop down the project into much more
manageable units, «properties» and potentially joint venture these portions
to other companies.”
CEOCFO:
There is a lot of opportunity to go in a lot of directions!
Mr. Cloutier:
“Exactly, and we could see a lot of potential stemming from our efforts. We
would like to remind people that our efforts are focused on gold in the
Shadow of head frames, where we explore. This is where we believe is wealth
creation in the mineral industry. There is a lot of opportunity if one
decides to focus on Cartier.”
CEOCFO:
In closing, why should potential investors pick Cartier out of the crowd?
Mr. Cloutier:
“My answer stems from a scientist point of view and as a former exploration
manager, and currently CEO of a mining company; I think there is extremely
high value in people that focus on one process, one commodity, and one
jurisdiction. Some teams may be able to focus on a lot of jurisdictions and
processes, for example they may have a uranium property in Africa, a copper
property in high north and a gold property in Nevada and then they try to
manage all of that in one year. We feel that the lowest cost logistics stems
from people that can focus in one jurisdiction, especially a jurisdiction
that lets you mine what you find. We feel the highest reward goes to people
that focus in a proven prospective and productive area such as Abitibi. We
also feel that gold offers the company that finds it the opportunity to
develop and maintain 100% of its development and its destiny.”
disclaimers
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