Q1 2021 Vista Gold Corp Earnings Call
The way the presentation, we will conduct the question and answer session at that time participants are asked to press star One to register for a question for assistance during the call. Please press star zero on your touch tone phone as a reminder of this conference is being recorded today is Tuesday may 4th 2021.
It is now my pleasure to introduce Pamela Solly, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead Sir.
Thank you for me Anne and good day, everyone. Thank you for joining the Vista Gold Corp, first quarter 2021 financial results and corporate update conference call I'm, Pamela Solly, Vice President of Investor Relations on the call today is Fred earnest, President and Chief Executive Officer, Doug Tobler, Chief Financial Officer.
During the course of this call we will be making forward looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results performance or achievements of vista to be materially different from results performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Please refer to our most of.
Recently filed form 10-K for details of risks and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward looking statements I will now turn the call over to Fred earnest.
Thank you Pam and thank you everyone for joining us on the call today.
We are pleased to report that during the first quarter of this year, our management team achieved solid cost and capital manage for performance.
And strong execution toward our core objectives, including advancement of the Mount Todd and mining management plan to the final stage of review and approval.
And excellent results from our ongoing drilling program.
Additionally, we continued efforts to seek a strategic partner for the development of Mt. Todd maintained our outstanding safety record, having achieved 1437 days without a lost time incident.
Substantially dewatered, the Batman pit and held the first meeting of the newly formed leaders for them what the job I Want Association Aboriginal Corporation.
Our corporate activities continue with the executive team of transitioning from working remotely to working in the office and smaller teams on a more regular basis and video conferencing continues to replace corporate travel and in person conference participation.
In the northern territory of Australia, COVID-19, 19 cases, or almost nil and control measures have been significantly relaxed. Unfortunately travel by international visitors into Australia remains very difficult.
Mt. Todd continues to operate on an approved COVID-19 management and mitigation plan that is presently less restrictive than originally required.
I'll discuss several important Mt Todd programs in greater detail in the call, but I will now turn the time over to Doug Tobler for a review of our financial results for the quarter ended March 31 2021.
Thank you Fred and thanks to those on the call today. We appreciate you joining us I am pleased to report we continued with solid financial performance that allowed us to close the quarter and a strong cash position.
I'll speak to a few of the highlights today, but please refer to our form 10-Q for more information.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $7 2 million at March 31, 2021.
This compared to $7 $8 million at December 31.
For the client cash during the quarter was expected given our ongoing drilling program and the significant amount of water that we were able to pump from the Batman pit during the first quarter.
We also benefited from receipt of $1 $1 million from prime mining and about $600000 from limited ATM activities.
By end of Q1 with the strong cash position, we were well positioned to proceed with our continuing drilling program.
Our results of operations were also in line with expectations, we reported a loss of $3 1 million for Q1 2021 compared to a loss of $3 5 million for the first quarter of 2020.
Narrowing our net loss resulted from a couple of things first we recognize the small loss of $30000 on other investments this quarter compared with a $1 $1 million loss for Q1 2020.
This year's loss was an unrealized loss for marking the newson terror shares to market last year of the loss was largely an unrealized mark to market loss.
The related mostly to the Midas gold shares held at the time.
And secondly, the on the ground programs at Mt. Todd were Expensed. According to our accounting policies. This included about $400000 for the drilling program and $200000 for water pumping.
We did see a negative impact from the strengthening of the Australian dollar, which was about 5% higher than expected that said other cost controls that remains strong allowed us to largely offset the FX impact.
Looking forward, we are of a couple of discretionary programs in process and being planned for the balance of 2020.
These include ongoing exploration drilling and of Mt. Todd Technical report to meet the newly required provisions of the SEC regulation SK <unk> hundred which replaced the SEC industry guide seven for fiscal years, beginning on or after January one 2021.
Of course, we will continue to focus on monetizing non dilutive sources of funding. This includes agreements in place for a final $1 million payment due from the crime minding the summer.
And an option payment from Nielsen Taro resources by the end of January 2022 of.
Our team is also seeking opportunities to monetize other non core assets.
That concludes my comments for today, So I'll turn the call back over to Frank Thank you.
Thank you Doug.
During the quarter, we continued to Derisk Mt, Todd and undertook several programs to increase shareholder value in a cost effective manner.
We've been working with the NT government since late 2018 on the approval of our mine management plan the.
The mine management plan is similar to an operating permit in North America and as Vista is most important near term derisking activity.
The technical review process and preparation of the formal approval documents of our complete.
It is our understanding that the final anti government approvals are in process.
With final approval of the mine management plan Vista will hold all major permits required for the development of Mt. Todd.
We continued our drilling program during the quarter.
And I'm very excited about the excellent results to date as many of you may recall, our initial program of nine holes totaled 2640 meters and was completed during the first quarter.
The results of eight holes have been announced to date with each hole intersecting mineralized structures approximately as targeted.
Intercepts were generally thicker than anticipated and encountered higher than expected gold grades.
The first phase of drilling provided our geologists with greater understanding of the location and the interrelation of mineralized structures and crushed structures connecting the Batman deposit and the Gulf policy targets.
In March we made the decision to expand our drilling program by adding an additional 10 holes for approximately 3000 meters of drilling to focus on deep drilling from the structures and cross structures connecting the Batman and the golf course Penguin targets on.
Ongoing drilling is focused on the hinge points and the intersections of the structures, which typically provide the best conditions for the deposition of gold in courts, calcite and sulfide veins.
Our historical success and significantly increasing the known size of the Batman deposit through deep drilling in our recent success drilling deep holes, along known but unreal structural targets reaffirm our belief that there is opportunity for significant resource growth at Mt. Todd We believe that the potential.
To significantly extend the life of Mt. Todd is important to potential partners.
Our present drilling program is planned to demonstrate the potential and unlock the door to greater value recognition of.
Our next release of drilling results, we will focus on holes drilled approximately 500 meters north of the Batman resource model limits.
Drilling on this section has focused on two distinct structures that are separated by approximately 250 to 300 meters. We invite you to watch for that release.
Water management is a top priority for Vista and Mt. Todd during the most recent wet season and through the first quarter of this year, we pumped approximately two three giga leaders.
Yes.
Of water.
From the Batman pit in accordance with our water discharge permits.
This included $1 seven gig of leaders during the three months ended March 31 2021.
The remaining half of Giga liter of water will be pumped from the pit in due course, requiring only four to six weeks to complete.
Achieving this milestone reflects the long term success of our water management program and provides greater certainty related to timely future mine development.
Community engagement is another top priority for our company I'm pleased to report the since the start of the year. We have now held two meetings of the leaders for them with the Jawans Association Aboriginal Corporation as contemplated in our updated agreement with the German Association that was announced in November of 2020.
The Gentleman Association as a key stakeholder in the Leaders' Forum provides a direct opportunity for Vista and the javelin people to work together on a range of topics.
During the quarter, we continued to progress our efforts to seek a strategic partner for the development of Mt. Todd.
The pandemic has slowed our partnering efforts we continue to work towards the subjective we believe Mt. Todd's attributes provide a solid basis to engage with prospective development partners.
Key considerations and any potential partnership transaction include value creation by recognizing the intrinsic value of Mt, Todd and minimizing future dilution to the Vista shareholders.
Vista share price performance continues to outperform.
Its peers year to date Vista shares are up approximately 1% compared to the Gtx, Jay which is down eight 7%.
Looking ahead.
We're excited about ongoing programs that present significant opportunities to realize shareholder value more in line with the value of Mt. Todd.
A few of the important upcoming catalysts that used to be mindful of include the final approval of the Mt. Todd Mine management plan and ongoing drill results from the continuing drill program.
We continue to engage with potential partners and identify strategic opportunities to advance the development of Mt. Todd.
As a result of COVID-19, this process may take longer than anticipated. However, we remain focused on completing the REIT transaction.
One that achieves the structure that provides the appropriate opportunity for value creation by recognizing the intrinsic value of Mt Todd and.
And minimizes the potential for future dilution.
Our objective is to achieve of valuation for Mt. Todd that is reflective of the size of the gold deposit.
Together with its location in Australia's with low risk Northern territory.
Favorable low operating costs and robust project economics, and the fact that we hold the approvals for all major environmental permits and I expect to have the operating permit in the near future.
We believe that these factors coupled with the technically advanced stage of the project and excellent infrastructure place Mt. Todd on a short list of the most attractive development stage gold projects in the world.
Our exhaustive technical studies provide a solid basis for engagement with prospective development partners and current market conditions demonstrate the robust economics of the project.
We continue to believe Mount Todd and Vista Gold represents an exceptional investment opportunity for the investor looking for value growth potential low geopolitical risk exposure and strong leverage to the gold price.
At todays gold price and foreign exchange rate the Mt. Todd project economics demonstrate an after tax NPV with of 5% discount of approximately $1 5 billion.
And IRR of greater than 35% the.
The continues to advance and Derisk Mt, Todd and is well positioned in the current gold environment to consider prospective development partners, who we believe will recognize the value of Mt, Todd and appropriately reward shareholders.
In conclusion.
We find ourselves in the market with strong, although somewhat volatile gold prices and governments around the world of proving additional stimulus packages.
We believe this bodes well for sustained and modestly improving gold prices in the coming 12 to 24 months.
The work we have completed over the last several years, but especially in 2020 has positioned the Mt. Todd Gold project is the largest undeveloped gold project in Australia, with 585 million ounces of proven and probable reserves Vista controls the third largest reserve package in Australia.
Mount Todd is ideally located in the northern territory of Australia, and extremely mining friendly jurisdiction now Todd has favored with paper.
<unk> roads to the site and other existing infrastructure, including power lines of.
The natural gas pipeline freshwater storage reservoir and tailings impoundment facility the.
The project of improvements we have achieved along with our estimated mineral reserves and production profile have created the foundation for the leverage to gold price and improved shareholder value.
We have earned the trust of the local stakeholders and believe that our firm of our social license is firmly in hand.
We have worked hard to secure the authorization of the major environmental permits and believe we are close to receiving the authorization of the mine management plan. We believe Mt. Todd is the superior asset located in a politically stable and mining friendly jurisdiction and one of the most attractive development stage gold projects not just the NAS.
Australia, but in the world.
I reiterate our commitment to find a partner to advance the project and at the same time realized value for our shareholders for a more comprehensive assessment of the value accorded to Vista in the Mt. Todd project I refer you to our corporate presentation, which can be found on our website at www Dot Vista gold.
The dot Com, we believe that Vista gold represents an exceptional investment opportunity for investors looking for value growth potential low geopolitical risk exposure and the strong leverage to the gold price. We will now respond to any questions from the participants on this call.
As a reminder to ask a question you will need to press star one on your telephone to withdraw your question press the pound key please standby, while we compile the Q&A roster.
We have one.
We've received one.
The question by E Mail debt I would like to address before we open.
The the lines for <unk> for questions.
This is question is simply says could you. Please ask.
Mr. Ernest to explain the process of application and approval.
For the N T mine management plan in greater detail on the call today.
I am delighted to do that.
The mine management plan is the formal authorization by the northern territory government for the operations for any any mine in the territory. The process starts with the submission of an application and the presentation of the mining plan, which includes all of the management plans for mine operations.
<unk> tailings disposal.
Environmental management plans, our water management Aaron Aaron.
Air quality management plans all of these are prepared by third party independent consultants and experts that are compiled into a comprehensive plan that includes the.
The the reclamation bond calculations, which are submitted to the empty department of mines the.
The anti Department of Mines, then begins their exhaustive review of the documents in the plants and it often involves has in our case and extensive process of questions and answers and request for additional information and in our case of number of requests for independent third party validation of.
Of our recommendations.
I'm pleased to report that that process was completed in the fourth quarter of last year.
And at that point in time, we began to anticipate the <unk>.
Ultimate approval and final approval of the mine management plan.
In early December the minister of mines of the northern territory at a public.
Yes.
Luncheon.
Made a surprising announcement in which she indicated to us that the approval of the mine the Mt. Todd Mine management plan was imminent.
In hindsight I'm afraid that we placed a little bit too much emphasis on the Minister's communication.
And realize that the.
The political process of the final approvals has taken longer than we expected.
Subsequent to that announcement, we received copies of the.
The formal approval documents for review and comment our counsel has worked with the legal counsel for the Ministry of mines.
And I'm happy to report that the the approval documents are in their final form that they have been signed of.
The final approval of the mine management plan requires the signature of three government officials the.
The director of the Department of mines, who supervise the technical review of the document.
Secondly, the signature of the Chief executive of the Department of mines.
And third and lastly, the signature of the Ministry of mines.
To date, we now understand that both the director of mines and the Minister of mines have signed off and the approval package has been forwarded to the minister of mines.
Nicole Madison.
We continue to believe based on my conversations with her in the.
December debt there will be no reason for her to delay or impede the approval of our mine management plan.
The document resides with her and her department.
And we are at the present time waiting for an indication that the mine management plan has been has received the final signature and the approval that's required the according to the mining Act.
We continue to believe that this will happen in the near future.
We're frustrated backed I would say that we're more frustrated perhaps no one more of than I that this has taken as long as it has.
These approvals can be political in two of degree the timing of their announcement may be time to meet the best needs of the minister or the sitting government.
But regardless, we have great confidence that the mine management plan will be approved we continue to be hopeful that it will be in the near future.
And we encourage you to stay tuned.
We expect that this will have a very significant impact on.
On the value of the projects certainly it's a one of the most important derisking activities that we have going on right now and we feel that it will be something that will tremendously add to the value of our discussions with potential partners.
I believe that answers the question that I received and so to me if you would like to.
Open the lines for questions from participants I would be happy to take those at this time.
Hey, Fred and team. Thanks for that mine management plan update that was helpful.
Jay can you just get to hear from you. Thank you.
To hear from you and just looking at the expansion of the original exploration program. It seems like Youre accelerating things here a bit.
Do you think we could see another expansion of the program in the second half of the year or is it just too early to tell at this point.
Well, Jay you've known us for a long time and certainly we make decisions based on results.
Right now the.
The results that we saw in the first part of the program were were very encouraging the.
Continuity of the mineralization.
<unk> has turned out to be.
Very close to what our geologists expected in and in many of the holes exceeded our expectations.
With the.
As I indicated the current drilling in the next announcement of results will include results for holes that were drilled on an east West section of approximately 500 meters north of the limits of the the Batman deposit resource model and and we're very we're very pleased with the results that we're seeing.
Just to announce results when we get the the last assays in for the the one hold that's pending.
If we continue to see the kind of results that we have seen to date I.
I believe that it would be reasonable to expect that the program will continue through the latter part of the year, but I reiterate that that will depend on results in the.
And for that reason, we will we will be monitoring John Roselle, Our senior Vice President is in very close contact with the exploration team.
And trying to make sure that we are.
Appropriately, citing in locating holes to gain the maximum geologic information, but also to to thoroughly test and gain an understanding of the potential for.
The increase resource growth in for the.
The kind of growth that would actually change.
The Mount Todd project from being an isolated deposits to a bona fide.
Gold the district.
Okay that makes sense and I guess, just building off that a bit.
I'm curious if there's sort of the timeframe yet for a resource update and then even maybe moving down the line on a feasibility study I'm.
I'm just curious on your thoughts on maybe the timing of that as we move into the second half of the year.
Yes, so first of all I think it's very important that everybody keep clearly in their minds with the drilling that we're doing is not resource definition drilling.
This is really.
This is really resource discovery drilling and it's we're drilling the very wide spacings north to south of.
Along sections were drilling on somewhere between 75, and 100 meter spacings debt to understand the geology, but as I said, we've stepped out 500 meters and so we will not will not likely be doing it.
Huge amount of resource.
<unk> or resource estimating although.
Some of the drilling from the first the first program that the drill holes that were announced the latter part of the last year in the first part of this year.
We're of drilled up.
Very close to the pit in the north extension of the Batman deposit.
And it's it's expected that there will be of minor improvement in resource and that could affect the mine plan.
Second of all with regards to the question about an update.
Completion of the feasibility study.
For the U S listeners.
Many people may not be aware that as Doug tobler correctly pointed out debt, we have of new a new reporting standard here in the U S.
The SEC Reg S. K 2500 replaces.
The industry guide seven.
By the time, we file our.
10-K next February we will need to have and SK <unk> hundred compliant technical report.
We are currently evaluating whether this is the right opportunity to complete.
The feasibility study and move the move the project to that stage or whether we should remain at the at the level that it is but the bottom line is that we will be publishing of new technical report that will be compliant with that new standard as well as.
Meeting the.
The current the Canadian standard, which is the Ni 43 101.
So I would.
That decision will be made in the near future, but the.
The bottom line is that there we will be completing a new technical report in order to be compliant with the U S standard prior to the end of the year.
Okay that makes sense.
That's all on my end I'll hop back in the queue. Thanks again.
Very good thank you Jake.
Next question.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question Press Star then the number one on your telephone keypad again Thats Star one.
Your next question comes from Heiko Ali of H C. Wainwright your question. Please.
Hi, guys. This is the Marcus Giannini, calling in for Heiko. Thanks for taking my question.
Mark Good morning, Thanks for being on the call.
Yes.
<unk> you.
The states that you plan to close the gap between your market cap and the intrinsic value of Mt. Todd.
By continuing drilling the demonstrate the potential of the significantly expand gold resources and advancing the feasibility studies can you just.
I guess you can argue that this GAAP is already narrowed the stock up 36% over the past 12 months.
You may be walk us through some of the investor outreach and other methods you guys are utilizing to further enhance shareholder value.
Yeah absolutely.
Pam Solly who's on the call with Us this morning.
<unk> worked very diligently to.
To maximize the benefit that we received from <unk>.
The conference participation and other outreach programs.
So far this year, we've participated in a number of conferences that have been held virtually most the most recently we participated in the <unk>.
C Wainright mining conference and also the World Gold Forum, which is sponsored by the Denver Denver Gold group.
In addition, we continue to undertake participation in.
And the virtual meetings that replace the lunches that we would have held debt two years ago.
We participate in Webinars.
And now we continue to do many things to reach out to investors in a in a close net the type of forum. Unfortunately.
All of that outreach is still occurring virtually.
And while we have.
All of us on our team here in Denver, and now I've now been vaccinated or have.
Have had COVID-19.
We're prepared to travel and willing to do so when that when groups begin to open up and feel comfortable having a.
Having that visitors come in come and talk I think another important outreach aspect is the.
Is the aspect of social media and over the course of the last 12 months Vista has taken steps to significantly increase its social media footprint.
And the amount of traffic that we're seeing in the amount of the number of readers.
People that are reading blog posts and the.
In visiting our website has increased substantially over over the last year and we certainly appreciate the pam's efforts in that regard.
I would just I'd just conclude by reminding the listeners on the call today that.
There is tremendous opportunity here as we execute on our strategies and as we as we move closer to.
A value of valuation that represents or closer to the intrinsic value of the project right now as we indicated in the call the.
At todays gold price the NPV of the project on an after tax basis with the 5% discount range of approximately $1 5 billion.
And we're trading at about 10% of that and that's our that's our that's our goalpost is to see our shares increase.
Without being a producer it's not reasonable to expect that we will achieve that full valuation, but we see that as where we're headed and as we as we can.
<unk> some of these activities that make the project.
First of all.
The lower risk, obviously getting the mine management plan approved does exactly that it eliminates one of the most significant risks in the development of any of any project and that's permitting and with that with the.
When that's approved we will hold all of the major permits for the project. The second of all of completing other programs that have been raised as questions or points of interest by potential partners.
We're using this time, when we can't travel and we cant get people to the site to further check those boxes, we believe that we're adding value for a future potential transaction with the partner so the.
Those are some of the things we're doing.
Okay Awesome I appreciate that and then.
Switching back over to drilling I guess can you guys elaborate on the significance of the most recent results at Mt. Todd from a structural standpoint, and maybe how some of this data shaping.
Drill plans going forward.
Yeah. So we were very successful in our in our early exploration at Mt. Todd.
At the Batman deposit there by drilling approximately 60000 meters of drill holes that all of them core that range and depth from 200 debt over 800 meters, we were able to essentially triple the resource of the deposits.
There has been a significant amount of historic drilling conducted in the area of the the Mount Todd project. However.
Most of it was very shallow.
Less than less than 100 meters in almost all cases and almost all of it was completed using RC of rotary Airblast drilling.
The challenge with that drilling is that it grinds up the rock and the material is evacuated from the whole as chips in the previous owners of the site.
We're looking at grade, but not seeing the structure.
This is a structurally controlled deposits.
And we've learned many things from the 60000 meters that we drilled in the Batman deposit of <unk>.
Playing that knowledge and taking that that understanding and realizing that we only gain that knowledge by drilling core.
Our geologists have spent a lot of time working over the last 24 months to understand the structures that project.
And our continuation of the structures in the Batman deposit spin.
Specifically, we focused on two sets of structures the.
The northern trending structures the project North from the Batman deposit and then also are found and kind of an epsilon or parallel pattern to the northeast.
Net.
Debt, we believe our similar similar to the structures in the Batman deposit and second of all of the cross structures. The connect these and generally north of trending mineralized structures to one another.
With diagonal intercepts.
One of the things that we see in the Batman deposit is that the intersection of one of these structures and the main Batman structure or structural zone. The.
Created a point of swelling and it kind of the core of the Batman deposit.
This is typical when we see the intersection of structures like this or hinge points and the structures.
The ground is generally more or was more fractured and hence created greater opportunity for the formation of the courts calcite.
Sulfide veins that are the hosts to mineralization in the at the Mt. Todd project.
We are following the structures and presently we are moving from the Batman deposits to a target debt has two very shallow.
30, 35 meter deep book open cuts called the golf tell us target.
There's almost no drilling underneath this this diesel that he sold the open cuts and we are right now drilling at the south end of that.
We will continue to move to the north and drill underneath it and continue to advance our understanding.
We're basically drilling on widened up spacings that of potential partner will be able to look at this and connect the dots and understand the.
The significant potential that we see in the project, we believe that the seeing this potential will will help people understand.
And have greater confidence in our statements that we believe that the life of the Mt. Todd project will easily be over 20 years.
And then with their involvement in the project more detailed drilling of resource definition drilling at a greater investment will be made but it will be made with far greater dilution to the vista shareholder than if we were to undertake it ourselves.
Okay and that was really helpful. And then last question here.
Dewatering of the Batman pit is done.
For us on what that will do to your cash burn I'm, assuming some pumps will still need to be running but it should be of much more minor expense right.
I'm going to let Doug Tobler, our CFO answer that question Marcus.
Hi, Marcus how are you.
Doing well.
Yes, so just to put it in context, we pumped one seven giga leaders during Q1 and that cost is just a fraction of over $200000. So it's basically the cost of the electricity the remaining water in the pit is about a half of gig of leader.
As Fred said, we can take that down in a matter of weeks so the.
The cost is to remove that water is very low it'll be less than half of million sorry, less than $100000 and then going forward there'll be very very little need for any pumping. So you can almost put it as the zero in our budget as we move forward we'll be incidental.
Okay perfect.
I appreciate the answers guys thats it from.
Okay.
Very good thanks, Marcus of a great day.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Christophe rise a private investor Your question. Please.
Could you and me.
Hello, Yes, it's around yes, we hear you kind of stuff.
Good morning in the round.
Participants.
Good morning, Brett.
With the fed.
First one the con.
Concerns about the <unk>.
Mining plan approve of.
It is the question of weeks of months, what do you think and the second question is about the.
The negotiation with the the.
Potential partners when we get the Green light with the approval of what do you think the.
<unk> begin.
All of pre path with many potential.
The patent office.
The only waiting for the Green light of the approval of do.
Do you think then that the concrete.
Negotiation Act and it with perhaps last 12 to 18 months.
Could you explain it a little bit more.
I would be happy to Christophe. Thank you. Thank you for those questions first of all with regards to the the mine management plan.
We've.
We've.
Erroneously now in hindsight communicated to the market that we are anticipating the approval of the mine management plan.
Weeks for.
For now nearly at nearly a quarter and now we feel remiss about that but based on the information that we've had at each juncture for making a statement. We believed that was the case as I indicated that in response to the the question that I received by E Mail.
No that we are now down to the last approval and.
And we are not aware, we've not been made aware of any reason why this would be delayed however, the.
The minister and the government.
For their own reasons.
May choose to make an announcement during the sitting of parliament over the next couple of weeks. They may choose to wait until after parliament finishes sitting and making the announcement then.
Not have any firm indications I don't have a date.
I suppose like many of you who get up every morning and look to see if Vista has made the announcement as to whether it's been received I get up every morning and check my email to see if I have received an email from our general manager telling me that it was approved overnight.
So we continue to be first of all very confident that it's not a matter of if but it's a matter of when and it's completely asked the minister's discretion at this point in time I personally remain very hopeful that it's within weeks. It has drug on its been a lot longer than what we have.
Expected and what we were honestly led to believe by statements from government officials going back to December.
However, I do know the minister of mines I've had numerous interactions with her I have no reason to doubt her word and I placed a great deal of confidence in the fact that she has no reason to sit on or delay the approval of the plan.
So that being the case I would say that personally I continue to be hopeful that it will be in a matter of weeks.
But in the meantime, we continue to do all of that we can.
Second of all addressing your question with regards to how this effects the our process and the work that we're doing to two.
To attract and reached an agreement with a potential development partner.
First of all.
The approval of the mine management plan will be a very important very important event for those who are undertaking due diligence.
As I indicated it's a very significant derisking event and it removes a considerable amount of risk in doubt that's associated with any with the with any mining project. It provides great clarity because all of a sudden we know exactly what the what the requirements the stipulations the.
<unk> of the company will be with regards to the operation of the project.
Unfortunately, this is not going to be the catalyst that moves everything forward as quickly as we would like it's a very significant event.
But the biggest factor that's holding us back right now.
Is the fact.
That Australia has not opened its borders for international travelers.
And there's no indications that that will happen anytime soon in fact projections are that it won't be till after the end of this year.
The restriction is the FX us in the following manner.
One of the potential.
Any of our potential partners has indicated that they will not be completing any M&A activity until their CEO and executive team members.
Can actually visit the site.
And so that that's the driving factor right now, but in the meantime, this gives us opportunity I mean, obviously getting the MMP approved the mine management plan approved as one.
Completing the drilling that we're doing in.
Courage, you to stay tuned and watch for the next press release in the next couple of weeks.
With the results of.
The the drill holes that have been drilled on two structures two of these north trending structures I believe that the drilling program that we're undertaking is going to be of.
Significant interest to potential partners and we will.
The answer and begin to or begin to answer questions that they've had.
About the potential to ultimately increase the life of the project.
These things at the time that we have is is something that's beyond our control, but I think the message that I would leave with you Christophe as debt.
Is that we as a management team are using this time very wisely to continue to answer other questions. The potential partners of raised and to eliminate doubts in their minds and to further de risk. The project. So that when we are able to host of those visits that were able to quickly engage in substantive.
The negotiations and discussions about what a partnership might look like.
Thanks, Brett.
Thank you and thank you for joining us on the call today have a wonderful day.
Now for me, it's very easy because every year in the past my best friend is the living there.
I know the region.
Well good.
Good well thanks again.
There are no further questions at this time I would like to turn the call back over to Frank for closing remark.
Very good thank you Tammy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for joining us on the call. This morning. This is Ben.
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And the interested call and we appreciate your interest in that and participation. This morning.
As Doug indicated we continue to be very careful and cautious in the and the expenditure of the resources.
Of the company and we're trying to maximize the value of this return for that we're very pleased with the progress that's been made for frustrated by the fact that we have not yet received the the approval of the mine management plan, but we have no reason to give up hope and we believe that this will be coming.
In the near future. We encourage you to stay tuned watch for results.
And the announcement to the effect that we gained that approval and also as I indicated. Please please be mindful of the.
The drill results that will be announced in the coming weeks, we have two drill rigs running.
And so we're drilling.
At a faster rate and now we're very encouraged and pleased by what we're seeing in and look forward to the getting the last assay results. So that we can share those with you.
We continue to be encouraged by the current gold market and the tremendous leverage that we enjoyed at the price of gold in and certainly continue to believe that the Mount Todd and Vista gold represent.
The remarkable investment opportunity for those seeking growth in value and leverage for the price of gold in the politically stable jurisdictions. We thank you for your time. This morning, and we wish all of you of very Pleasant day Bye.
Bye for now.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating you may now disconnect.
Okay.
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Okay.
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