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Eastmain Resources is focused on exploring the James Bay region of
northern Quebec, where three gold deposits have now been discovered in a new mining
frontier
Mining/Mining
Exploration
(ER-TSX)
Eastmain Resources Inc.
Corporate Office:
36 Toronto Street, Suite 1000
Toronto, ON M5C 2C5
Exploration Office:
R.R. #1 Orangeville, ON
L9W 2Y8
Phone: 519-940-4870
Donald J. Robinson
President, C.E.O.
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
July 28, 2005
BIO:
Donald J. Robinson, Ph.D.,has been President and director of Eastmain since 1994.
Dr. Robinson formerly operated a private consulting firm, Robinson Exploration Services
Limited ("RESL"), which specialized in the exploration of base and precious
metals within Canada, the United States and Australia. For two years he managed the
exploration of a gold-rich VMS discovery at Lewis Ponds, Australia for Tri Origin
Exploration Ltd. Prior to forming RESL, Dr. Robinson initiated an integrated base and
precious metal program, on behalf of Westmin Resources Ltd., which led to the discovery of
the Eau Claire gold deposit at Clearwater. Dr. Robinson earned a Ph.D. degree from the
University of Western Ontario in 1982. His thesis, based on the Redstone nickel-copper
deposit located near Timmins, Ontario was sponsored by BHP Minerals Canada Ltd. (formerly
Utah Mines Ltd.). Dr. Robinson devotes 100% of his time to affairs relating to the
Corporation.
Company Profile:
Eastmain Resources Inc. (TSX:ER) is a Canadian company whose primary objective is the
exploration and discovery of profitable ore deposits. With an emphasis on its search for
gold, Eastmain has maintained a Canadian focus, exploring in Provinces ranked among the
world’s top 10 places to search for mineral deposits. The Company currently holds
100% interest in a million-ounce gold deposit in Quebec.
Eastmain has formed partnerships and strategic
alliances with some of the world’s most successful mining companies. Endorsed by
Companies like Barrick, BHP Billiton, Goldcorp, FalconbridgeNoranda and Newmont, Eastmain
continues to garner the support of several long-term institutional investors in Canada and
abroad.
For more information visit www.eastmain.com
CEOCFO: Mr. Robinson,
what was your vision when you joined the company?
Mr. Robinson: “I joined Eastmain Resources Inc. in 1994.
The vision then, and now, is to make a discovery, which will eventually become a producing
mine. Ten years ago, we discovered a small gold deposit of 50,000 ounces. We now have a
defined resource of just under a million ounces and we own 100% of it. This resource is
still open, in other words, there is strong potential for a much larger, perhaps
multi-million ounce, gold deposit at this site”
CEOCFO: Will you tell us
about the company today?
Mr. Robinson: “The Company is based in Ontario. We have
been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1996. Our main focus has been exploring
gold targets in the Province of Quebec. We own 100% of a significant project, which has
road access and local infrastructure, including nearby power facilities, courtesy of
Hydro-Quebec. The Province is very supportive of the mining industry; and they provide a
45% rebate on our exploration expenditures. We purposely targeted the frontier areas of
Quebec where the right geological components for a major discovery exist, and little work
has been done to date. This is hunting ground for big ore deposits.”
CEOCFO: What makes the
area a good place to be?
Mr. Robinson: “Its geology. We have studied mining camps
in Canada and other places around the world. Mother Nature is consistent in that there is
a geological recipe that we can recognize for both gold and base metal deposits. We apply
that recipe to areas that have comparable geology but very little known about them. Our
focus is one of these unknown frontiers, the James Bay region of northern Quebec, where we
now own 100% of one of three newly discovered gold deposits, and have important land
positions around the other two. The region has geology comparable to many of the
world’s greatest mining camps.”
“The political and socio-economic conditions of
the area are positive and stable. We know the governments we are dealing with will not
change their minds midway into the life of a project. And, there is a knowledgeable and
supportive workforce in the area. One that has been steeped in the history of mining and
exploration. Combined with financial incentives offered in no other mining jurisdiction,
these factors make northern Quebec one of the best places on the planet to explore for
world-class ore bodies. ”
CEOCFO: Where are you in
this process?
Mr. Robinson: “For our advanced project, Clearwater, we
are in the process of completing a scoping study on the Eau Claire gold deposit. We are
currently putting all our drill information into mining software that allows us to look at
it in three dimensions, and allows us to give a preliminary estimate of what the mining
costs might be. The scoping study also includes the processing of a bulk sample. To
complete the bulk sample we would extract 10,000 tonnes of rock, truck it to a mill and
determine what the milling parameters are, how much gold can be recovered from the rock,
what the grade would be and what it would cost to mine gold from Eau Claire. Our other
projects range from entirely grassroots exploration plays, where no one has even walked
the ground with a rock pick to properties that have had some drill testing.”
CEOCFO: Will you tell us
about some of your other projects?
Mr. Robinson: “We have quite a number of projects. To
better explore some of these we have built partnerships where our partners manage project
operation. We formed such a partnership with FalconbridgeNoranda a year ago, to utilize
new high-technology exploration tools. FalconbridgeNoranda developed one of the
world’s strongest and most powerful metal detectors, and invited Eastmain to be a
partner with them to test their technology in an extension of one of the world’s
richest mineral belts- the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. We are using this airborne metal
detector to search for a new base metal mine, which would be within trucking distance to
one of their existing operations. Last year we flew 14,500 line-kilometers using the
MegaTEM survey and now we are in the process of testing targets defined from that
survey.”
CEOCFO: Are there
diamonds in your future?
Mr. Robinson: “Our focus is not diamonds as it is not
our expertise. However, we do have a partner that is exploring for diamonds in an area
that we have an interest in as a joint venture. Mother Nature left a vast array of
deposits, whether diamond, gold or base metal and sometimes they overlap and occur in the
same settings, therefore you might be looking for a diamond mine, and find a nickel mine.
There is an element of luck in the exploration business.”
CEOCFO: How do you make
the decision whether you want to own fully or partner on a project?
Mr. Robinson: “The reason to have 100% ownership of a
project is that should you find an ore body or a mine, you are in control and can then
pass the largest gains to your shareholders. The size of these targets can range from a
low of a half-a-billion dollars worth of metal sitting in the ground, to an upper-end of
perhaps $50 billion dollars sitting in the ground. Our principle objective is to be
successful for our shareholders. If we own 100% of a project, we can offer more value to
our shareholders. We are mine finders, not miners ourselves, and what we hope to do is
find a deposit that will become a mine, and perhaps sell it outright or form a partnership
with a senior company who will become the miner. The earlier you form that relationship,
the earlier you sell the blue-sky portion of the discovery. It is a game of finance and
funding vs. ownership, and you have to weigh the pros and cons in terms of your business
position. In some cases, having a percentage of a possible future discovery outweighs
owning it entirely. You distribute the risk and preserve your own treasury by using
partners’ money. Partners can also maximize your chances of discovery and success
through their technical expertise and/or marketing abilities as well as their financial
contributions to a project. Eastmain believes that the best philosophy is to have a mixed
basket approach; hold 100% interest in your key projects and joint venture others”
CEOCFO: Will you tell us
about the team at Eastmain that gives you the expertise to find the properties and to make
that balancing decision?
Mr. Robinson: “Everyone in the company, including many
members of the board-of-directors, is technically based with a geological background. We
have learned, with the help of other directors and advisors, the corporate and business
side necessary to be able to raise money to execute our ideas. Eastmain is a group that
has experience and training in ore deposit geology. We look at the business from a
technical base as opposed to the business base of just being a promoter. We believe the
largest gains to our shareholders will be through discovery of real assets in the ground.
It may be a slow process, but we feel it is the only way to build an exploration
company.”
CEOCFO: How you are
funding all of your development?
Mr. Robinson: “We do not have the cash flow. We are
typical of most junior companies in that we complete private placements to fund the
company. We’ve been in business for over ten years and in that period have raised
about $20 million for exploration. In the last two years, we raised 10 million dollars. At
the moment, we have $6.1 million in cash, and almost a million dollars in rebates form the
province of Quebec, giving us about $7 million in the treasury. Compare that to the lean
periods where there would be a tenth of that in the company. What is happening in the
industry right now is that companies are much better funded to do exploration work than
they have ever been before. Part of our business plan is to form partnerships with
companies like Goldcorp Inc. (GG: NYSE; G: TSX). In November of 2003, Goldcorp completed a
private placement in the company, which catapulted Eastmain to another level in terms of
recognition in the mining industry. With that shot in the arm, it gave us a lot more
capital and recognition in the industry than we’d ever had before.”
CEOCFO: Is being on the
Toronto, as opposed to the Venture Exchange, important to you as well?
Mr. Robinson: “Absolutely! Every junior company is
striving to get that senior listing. It is just like a senior partnership in that it is
recognition of credibility. Within eighteen months, we took a shell that had nothing to a
fully approved exploration company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We are very proud
of that, and we aim to keep that TSX listing.”
CEOCFO: What is ahead in
the next few years?
Mr. Robinson: Our objective is to take a million-ounce gold
deposit, which has a metal value in the ground of about $USD 400 million, and unlock some
of that value for our shareholders. We currently have a market capitalization of $CND 20
million dollars. Clearly, we have not been given any credit in our current share price for
the Eau Claire deposit. By taking that deposit and completing our bulk sample, seeing if
we can make a mine out of it, we will then be in a better position to attract a
partnership with an intermediate or senior miner. We believe that’s when the market
will really take notice. At the same time, we want to keep our exploration projects
developing, and explore for other deposits at Clearwater and elsewhere in the
shield.”
CEOCFO: What are the
challenges in making it into a mine?
Mr. Robinson: “The principle issues are grade, currency
and price of gold. Those three factors determine whether you are going to extract gold at
a profit. Part of the rationale of doing a bulk sample is to determine the grade. It is
clear that the industry consensus is that the price of gold is going to go higher not
lower in the next six, ten or twenty years. There is an impact with the currency; as the
dollar goes up, you water down the advantage of the rising price of gold, so we would like
to see a lower Canadian dollar, a higher gold price and a higher grade at the flagship
project.”
CEOCFO: In closing, why
should potential investors be interested in Eastmain and what should they know that
perhaps does not jump off the page?
Mr. Robinson: “We have a gold deposit. We are finding an
ounce of gold for the price of a cup of cappuccino. Our discovery cost at Eau Claire is
about $3.00 Canadian per ounce. Think about it…a cost of a cappuccino buys you an
ounce of gold. That is a phenomenal discovery cost!”
“We have a significant discovery already, one
that most companies are only hoping to find. We are now taking this discovery from an
early-stage project to an advanced level. Eastmain has a basket of opportunities to offer
a shareholder. We have all aspects of exploration covered, from a more advanced project to
real blue-sky potential. We are drilling 30 target anomalies this year alone with our
joint venture partner FalconbridgeNoranda. Any one of those targets could become a company
maker.”
“Eastmain has partnerships with the
‘who’s who’ of the industry - Goldcorp, FalconbridgeNoranda, Barrick Gold
Corporation, BHP Billiton, Newmont and other significant players. We formed these
partnerships with senior companies because they realize that Eastmain is a serious
explorer and has a chance of finding that ‘world-class’ discovery through its
systematic approach to exploration.”
“Eastmain has a solid treasury with no debt. Our
business plan is funded for this year and next year.”
“In terms of the trading cycle, the resource sectors are at a low. The time to buy is
when no one wants these stocks and when trading is soft, that is the buying opportunity.
When trading is active, and when the share prices are up, that is perhaps the time for
profit. Now is clearly an opportune time to invest in a junior explorer.”
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