The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
Pinnacle Silver & Gold Corp. (TSXV:PINN) is an exploration stage company engaged in the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of precious and base metal projects in the Americas.
CEO Bob Archer joined us to talk about his experience in the industry and provide an outlook for the company moving forward.
TMO: To start us off, tell me about your background and start in the industry?
BA: Yeah, certainly. I studied geology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, which is a great mining town. My first summer job was in 1977 in a uranium boom; we’re sort of reliving all of that.
Then after graduation, I spent 15 years with major mining companies like Newmont, Rio Algom, Placer Dome, Noranda. I then moved out west, joined the junior sector in 1996, and I’ve been working in that sector ever since. So a little over 45 years total career. It’s been quite a ride.
TMO: When you reflect on your career, which highlights come to mind?
BA: Well, as a general note, working for the majors at the start of my career was a great training ground in a lot of different ways.
I had a chance to work with some great people and on exploration projects, right through feasibility studies, producing mines. So I really got a really good feel of the training for what we’re actually looking for in exploration. And I think that really prepared me well for the rest of my career.
Being with the majors, their targets were always that much greater in terms of gold – that would be in the 1 (million) to 3 million ounce range, you know, nothing smaller.
So, it really helped me to focus on larger sort of scale acquisitions and how to recognize the potential for that, which I think has really served me well through the balance of my career.
Since then, starting Great Panther Silver in 2004 with my business partner, a Mexican mining engineer, and really building it from two guys and an idea into a mid-tier producing company with three operating mines and another one on the way. And just acquiring past-producing mines, getting them back into production.
Those were all sort of highlights of their own and building a company that culminated at about a $600 million market cap with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and about 1,200 employees. That was truly a highlight of my career. And so now hoping to maybe do it again with Pinnacle.
TMO: Moving over to Pinnacle’s current activity, what’s the main objective for the next three to six months?
BA: With where we are right now we’re just going to look at getting ready for the next drill program at our Red Lake projects. The Argosy gold mine is a past-producing mine. It’s only about 10 kilometres away from First Mining’s Springpole project, which is almost 5 million ounces. So, we know that there’s certainly gold in the area. And with Argosy being a past-producing mine itself and, and quite high grade – it was almost 13 grams per ton. So we’d like to get back in there and prove that up.
My main focus through the summer, I think, is really going to be on project evaluation and an acquisition.
I’d really like to bring on at least one more sort of advanced stage project. And I’d like the focus to be on silver, but I tend to be opportunistic, I guess. And if we get an opportunity to acquire a really great gold project, then obviously we’ll chase that down.
I think (we’ll be) bringing on one more project this summer and looking forward to maybe another one. From there, just gradually setting the stage to rebuild the company.
TMO: Given the company’s current project portfolio, is it fair to say that the stock is somewhat undervalued?
BA: Yeah, I think the entire industry is really undervalued at the moment, and every CEO is going to say that their stock is undervalued as well, in the juniors in particular. Now from where we are right now, I see this as essentially a ground floor opportunity because we intend to start over and rebuild the company.
TMO: In terms of investment value, where do you see the company headed over the next year or so?
BA: My goal is to acquire more advanced-stage projects and move those forward through development. We might move those into production, depending on what stage they’re at. And if I can do that, then that’s going to create significant shareholder value over time and especially from these levels. I’ve got my sights set on some fairly high goals, and I intend to achieve them.
You can find Pinnacle Silver & Gold Corp. on the Venture Exchange under the symbol V.PINN or head to its website at pinnaclesilverandgold.com for more information.
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