Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals / Gold Stocks

Banyan Gold (TSX-V: BYN)(OTC: BYAGF) CEO Tara Christie on Hitting High Grade on the Way to 10 Million Gold Ounces

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the President, CEO, and largest single shareholder of Banyan Gold (TSX-V: BYN)(OTC: BYAGF). I'm talking of course with Tara Christie. Tara, it's great to have you back on. How are you today?

Tara Christie: I'm well, and yourself?

Gerardo Del Real: I am well also. Really, really nice to see you. You had some news this week, 15.9 meters of 9.2 grams per tonne gold. You announced results from 16 diamond drill holes. Obviously the market liked what it saw. You're getting closer to that big, big next step, which is of course, your PEA. This has to be really, really supportive and encouraging for what you're going to be able to do with next steps.

Tara Christie: Absolutely. We're really excited about what 2025 is going to bring because we're going to have our first snapshot of the economics of this project. And meanwhile, the results that we show have shown that there's this large grade core to it that we've identified. And you can see it in some of the maps that we've put out that are really showing that this deposit is different than everybody's perceived it. That there is this 16 meters of nine grams. That's significant.

And we're seeing in all of the releases, both in airstrip and power line, you will have noticed we really achieved what we said we were going to do, which was to delineate and increase the confidence, understand the geological model in these zones, which are our higher grade areas. Which will be so important as the starting pits of our PEA, which will come out in fourth quarter. So, lots of news planned for Banyan for this year.

Gerardo Del Real: Let's talk about that a bit because I love setting the table, especially with PDAC coming up. And I know you'll be there, the team will be there. I know you're meeting with your team, talking exploration and next steps there. What does 2025 look like as far as setting the table? We touched a bit on the PEA, which is a major milestone, but there's a lot happening before that.

Tara Christie: Yeah. Right now, we're in the thick of looking at the adaptations we've made to the geological model that goes into the resource. We think that that's really key. It's going to give people more confidence in the resource model, and it's something that we heard. We'll have some indicated in our updated resource, which is coming here in Q2. So, that's coming fast.

We're excited about it because we think we've really hit... We did what we said we were going to do last year. We're modeling the deposit, we're getting it ready to send off to the QP to get that resource. And in the process with that, we're really seeing the opportunities for where we can add ounces, where we can continue some of that higher grade. Our whole team is getting together in person and we're looking at all of our exploration options. And quite frankly, our biggest problem is we have so many options on what we can do. Now that we understand this higher grade, we can continue to convert stuff to indicated.

We know we can see a lot more mineralization in areas for growth. So do we grow the existing ORMAC to 10 million? We did some ZTEM geophysics and we've got some other targets on our property, so should we be drilling those? I love this part of the business where you get your smart people all in the same room. And you're looking at the ideas and you're looking at the geology. And it's kind what spring always is in this business. It's exciting the art of the possible. And the more work we do on it, the better we improve our odds of success. So, I'm pretty excited.

So, then we'll start drilling. We've already contacted our crews and let our drillers know we'll be drilling, starting in May. Then we'll have our PEA. And of course, none of the stuff that we drill this year will make the PEA. The news release that we put out this week is kind of the, that's the end point. So we know that the work that we do is going to continue to make this project better with the drilling that we do this year. So, it's a great position to be in. Thankfully we were well financed last year, so it's put us in this position where we can just put our head down and really think about how we generate the most value for our shareholders. And the price of gold is sure working in our favor.

Gerardo Del Real: You actually stole the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say, it's a whole heck of a lot easier to be excited when the price of gold is near record highs and you have a base of 7 million gold ounces. And it looks like you're on a clear path to double digits on that front. Anything else to add?

Tara Christie: Well, the results that we've put out really, I think, are changing the profile and the perception of our deposit. We've had that, “Oh, it's low grade.” Well, I think people are going to take another look and we're seeing that in that, but there's some real significant high grade. And it hangs together and they've really hit an understanding of this deposit in this area that I think's going to be game changing for us. We're well positioned for this year and this gold price is pretty fabulous, so what a great time to be sitting on 7 million ounces with a view to potentially 10 in a jurisdiction where you can permit a mine and mineralization starts right on surface with infrastructure. That's a pretty great place to be.

Gerardo Del Real: Checks a lot of boxes. Thank you so much for your time today.

Tara Christie: Thank you.

Gerardo Del Real: All right, we'll chat again soon. Cheers now.

Tara Christie: Yep. Bye.

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