Categories: Precious Metals / Mining Stocks
Topics: Gold Stocks / Copper Stocks

Hannan Metals (TSX-V: HAN)(OTC: HANNF) CEO Michael Hudson on Early Drilling Results at Vista Alegre, a New Porphyry Discovery at Ricardo Herrera, and Advancing the Flagship Previsto Gold Project, Peru

 

Gerardo Del Real: This is Gerardo Del Real with Resource Stock Digest. Joining me today is the chairman & CEO of Hannan Metals — Mr. Michael Hudson. Mike, how are you today?

Michael Hudson: I'm great. Thanks, Gerardo. Thanks for having me back.

Gerardo Del Real: No, listen, it's great to have you on. You and I have known each other for — and I'm dating myself now — but it's something like 15 or 16 years. And one thing I’ve learned from you, through several different projects and approaches, is that you’re methodical and that exploration is in your blood.

Now, we got some results that the market clearly didn’t like because everybody wants to hit a big discovery right off the bat. You reported on three holes from Vista Alegre. This was the first-ever drilling of these targets in Peru. 

And so when you say frontier exploration, that’s exactly what it is. I want to get into what you learned from the first three holes at Vista Alegre, and then talk about the potential of the target because the way I understand it, it’s far from a dead target, right? It’s only three holes in.

Michael Hudson: Yes, it’s all part of the normal process of exploration. Everybody, no doubt, wants a banger straight out of the gate — and that we did not get. 

But just to step back: we are drilling at the Belen Prospect. It’s over 11 kilometers. We’ve got three targets there. We’ve got an epithermal target, Vista Alegre, where we put three holes and reported today. We’ve got Ricardo Herrera in the south where we’re drilling now. And then Sortilegio in the north, which is undrilled and where we’ll be going in the next couple of months.

Our aim was to put a couple of holes — two or three — into each one of these systems and learn because we had never had a drill hole in these projects. There wasn’t a drill hole within probably 50 kilometers of this new belt we’ve discovered. No doubt, there are a lot of mineralizing systems. We’ve got 18 porphyry or epithermal systems, and this is the very first hole in.

So, what did we learn? We targeted some chargeability anomalies. The rocks looked interesting but the sulfides we drilled in the chargeability anomalies didn’t contain the gold we’d like to see. 

There was a little bit of gold — I hate using the term “technical success” — but there was gold in the system in the weathered parts so there’s gold moving around in the top 100 meters or so. Below that, grades were much lower. So essentially, we drilled the wrong geophysical anomalies; we were after the sulfides.

And then we scratched our heads and said, “Okay, what’s left at Vista Alegre? Where to next?” And remember, these are only three holes across 2.4 kilometers. Think about that distance, and then realize we’ve only put three holes into it so it’s far from done and dusted.

Most of the gold we have at surface — and there’s not a lot of surface information —c omes from quartz-rich boulders. And of course, those quartz-rich boulders are probably resistors not chargeable anomalies. They don’t allow electrical charge to pass through them. 

We have extensive resistivity anomalies closer to those boulders, and perhaps, in hindsight, we should have drilled the resistors first rather than the chargeable anomalies. But you never know where your gold is hosted until you start testing.

So that’s the technical success part of it: we now know we’re not going after the chargeable anomalies at Vista Alegre, we’re going after the resistors. And that’s not unusual when you’re targeting epithermal systems; you look for the resistors. Chargeable anomalies are more useful in porphyry areas.

So, definitely unfinished business. We’ve got to get back to Vista Alegre and drill more. But the first three holes told us a significant amount. And as we were waiting for those assays, we moved the rig to Ricardo, and we can talk about that too.

Gerardo Del Real: Well, let’s get into it. We do have a discovery at Ricardo Herrera. What we don’t know yet, obviously, is the grade and where that is. But clearly, it’s a confirmed porphyry system with mineralization. 

I’ll let you describe what you’re seeing in the core and what’s coming out of the ground and just how satisfied you are that, at the very least, at Ricardo, on the very first hole, you have an indication of which way to turn that rig.

Michael Hudson: Yes, we’re on our first hole. We’ve drilled it down to something like 600-odd meters. And most definitely, as we saw at surface, we’re drilling into a porphyry. 

It’s got veining, it’s got sulfides, it’s got pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite. But we don’t know the overall grade. We played it down in the press release as we don’t want to trump up what we’ve got until the hole is logged and assayed but we are drilling a porphyry.

The question is: what is the grade, and then where do we go to find more grade as we learn? There are a number of different intrusive rocks at Ricardo Herrera that we’ve been able to map. We know the early intrusive has more grade at surface while the second porphyry that cuts it has grade, but less. So we’ve got to work out exactly what we’ve drilled, and where we are in that whole chronology of overprinting intrusives.

That may be a lot of detail for non-technical people but the point is: we absolutely have a discovery. We’ve drilled a porphyry, and we’ve drilled it over 400 to 500 meters. That’s a great first result. Now let’s target in on the grade. That’s our job, and that’s why we’re still drilling. We can’t really say more until the assays come out.

Gerardo Del Real: Excellent. I like the approach. How are things coming at the Cripple Creek lookalike — “The Monster,” pick your name, pick your title — for the property over at Previsto?

Michael Hudson: Well, this is the main target. We found that discovery 22 kilometers northeast of the Belen area where we’re drilling now. And just one more point: I mentioned that we’ve got to go to Sortilegio after Ricardo Herrera so we’ll drill another hole at Ricardo and then go to Sortilegio over the coming months.

Previsto is earlier stage. We’re doing surface work and prospecting there. It’s a five-by-five-kilometer area where gold exceeds 0.1 grams in soils, and we’ve been able to trench hundreds of meters at gram levels in certain areas. 

Our challenge now is to find more of the high grade among the sea of low grade. We’ve got teams working consistently, collecting more data. There’s a lot of information in the lab at the moment. I think the scale of that system is lost on ourselves as much as it is on the market, and we’ve got to get information out to demonstrate just the sheer vastness of this opportunity. 

It’s no doubt an alkaline gold project, but equally, to the north we have another porphyry that is running very good superficial grades over seven or 800 meters of strike. It’s a massive system that we’re unpeeling. 

We’re going through permitting there; we’ve done all the work for a DIA, the Declaración de Impacto Ambiental that, as people who follow Peru will know, is the step toward drilling permits. All that work’s been done. We’ll put that application in to the authorities in October, and then it’s up to them to move quickly. 

I’d like to see it permitted within six months… and that’s the challenge I’ve put on the Peruvians. There are very good reasons for the state to support this project, and we are getting support from the very highest levels. 

In the meantime, there’s more than enough work for our geological teams to continue prospecting this 25-square-kilometer area and generating plenty more targets before drilling starts.

Gerardo Del Real: I know you’re conservative, Mike. You’ve guided that you expect a permit in hand if all goes as planned at Previsto by Q3 of 2026. I’ll play devil’s advocate and be my usual optimistic self here: if the challenge is six months from October, is there the potential we could be drilling sometime in April or May?

Michael Hudson: That’s what we’d like to see, absolutely. I can’t make promises because it’s not in my hands. But that’s the guidance I gave you and what we’re discussing with the authorities. 

Let’s see if they can turn it around. We’ve got a great team in Peru of people I’ve worked with for 30 years who are well-trained in working with all the stakeholders, government included, and the regulators to make it as fast as possible.

Remember, we were told we’d never be drilling in these areas and never be able to get to work. That’s absolutely been proven wrong. We’re drilling now, we’ve got a series of projects, and we’ve identified a new Miocene copper-gold porphyry belt stretching over 150 kilometers.

So we’ve advanced it, and the team has demonstrated it can achieve things others were skeptical about. And yes, we’re tainted with that optimistic brush ourselves. But you can’t get anything done in exploration without having that optimistic viewpoint. If you’re a pessimist, you’re in the wrong business.

Gerardo Del Real: I couldn’t agree more. Listen, I was writing checks when some of those voices were telling me there would never be a drill program executed in this part of the country. Clearly, that speaks to the approach, and it speaks to the methodical nature of you and the team. Kudos on that front. 

And it seems like we’ll be drilling here for several years and making several discoveries. We know the flagship is Previsto but I couldn’t be more excited about these three targets and the potential to get at least one or two discoveries out of this initial program. Anything to add, Mr. Hudson?

Michael Hudson: Grassroots exploration at its finest — that’s how I think about this project. I remain extremely confident after the first drilling that we’re onto these mineralizing systems. 

I can’t wait each day to see the photos from the drill rig coming in across the Pacific to where I’m based here in Australia. It’s just a buzz and a thrill seeing what every day brings.

Gerardo Del Real: Yep, that’s why we do this. That’s the fun stuff. Mike, I appreciate your time. Thanks so much for the update. We’ll chat soon.

Michael Hudson: Thanks, Gerardo.

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