Can you provide an overview of Ascot’s projects?

Ascot acquired an option on the Dilworth property in 2007 and the contiguous Premier property in 2009. The Premier/Dilworth is our flagship property. It is a world class, high-grade gold and silver prospect in the Golden Triangle area of northwest British Columbia. We own our own diamond drill rigs and our drill costs are about a third of the industry average. These low costs are mainly due to the fact that the property is accessible by road from the nearby town of Stewart, the elevation of the property is low and, as Premier was a past producer, there is existing infrastructure in place.

Last year, we received an investment of $20 million from Eric Sprott. This money will be spent in 2017, we expect to do 140,000 meters of surface drilling and 27,000 meters of underground drilling. I believe this will be one of the largest drilling programs in the province. When we first started work on the property, we focused on the northern portion, defining a bulk tonnage target. We have a resource there of about four million oz. of gold, which represents about 30% of the total northern target. We are now focused on the southern part of the property, around the old Premier mine which is substantially higher grade. The reason we had not started at Premier was the wealth of existing data on this part of the property that needed to first be compiled into an up-to-date database.

Before the Sprott investment, our only realistic way forward was to define a reserve on a small portion of the property, go into production on that and use the resulting revenue to explore the rest of the property. Now, we have the luxury of being able to keep exploring first, which is less dilutive and our preferred route.

Premier/Dilworth is a 105 sq. km. property and this year’s drilling program is designed to come up with a high-grade resource of between two to three million oz. gold. We think that with the underground drill program, we can come up with a near-term high-grade underground operation. This will be our focus for 2017. In the bigger picture, we think, there is potential for a 10 to 20 million oz. gold resource on the property.

We have a very loyal base of shareholders who year after year kept us financed through the downturn.

Are all the permits in place for the drilling program?

We have the permits for the surface drilling program. We are in the process of applying for permits for the underground program.

How have shareholders reacted to these developments?

The shareholders regard recent developments as a validation of our asset. The property has huge potential but for a long time during the market downturn, it did not receive much interest. Progress was slower than we would have liked but now, we believe, we have exciting times ahead of us. The major mining companies are telling us that they have done all their trimming and asset disposals and are now looking to see where their future production will come from. This is where Ascot is ahead of the game because, unlike many juniors, we were able to advance our project during the downturn. 2017 will be a very telling year for Ascot.

How is existing infrastructure in and around the property advantageous?

This is where Ascot has another superb advantage. There is an old mill and tailings facility on the property, existing haulage roads and access to power. We have had a preliminary engineering study done that suggests we could put the property into production for under $200 million. This is significantly lower than other projects in the region.

What is the state of the company’s other properties?

In Washington state, our Mt. Margaret property is a huge copper porphyry deposit with a historic resource in the range of half a billion tones 0.3 to 0.4% copper. We believe, with limited drilling, we can double the size of the resource and improve the grade. The US federal government has faced opposition from environmental groups regarding permitting mining activity in the area. We are hopeful this situation will now change; we believe there is a resource at Mt Margaret too big to ignore.

Our other project is the Swamp Point which is sand and gravel property in BC. Currently there is no activity on the property.

Can you provide us with closing remarks on your expectations for this year?

We have spent $50 million in our flagship project to date and we anticipate spending another $20 million this year. This will be a defining year for Ascot. We will see if there is a real appetite for acquisitions from the majors. If not, we will take the property to production ourselves. I believe the Premier/Dilworth will be the next high-grade gold mine in the Golden Triangle area.