This is gerardo del rio with resource stock digest joining me today is the president and ceo of midas gold mr. steven quinn steven how are you this morning good thanks getting in touch absolutely thank you for taking the time to sit down with us and chat a bit you had some news recently providing an update on the state and federal agencies permitting schedule for
Midas gold i’m a couple of takeaways that i’ll share here in a bit but i would love for you first to kind of provide a bit of context as to the news and and you know the slight delay that we kind of anticipated as a result of the government shutdown and then i want to get to some of the more positive aspects that came out of this latest delay sure so yes we’ve been
At a press release on tuesday and that the permitting schedule for the student i project has been extended from q3 to into q for 2024 a final decision so it is a delay you know there were two primary factors driving that one was the partial government shutdown the forest service which is our lead agency was one of the agencies caught up in that so that wireless
Shutdown lasted about five weeks and you know the reality is when people came back the net impact was you know dead longer than that so that’s you know one of the major factors in me in the timing extensions they’re not unsurprising and we cautioned when we put out a press release back at the end of january and on the permitting schedule at that time we portioned
That you know we anticipated some impacts related to the shut at the partial shutdown but we couldn’t make a call at that time because if you recall at the end of january when the government came back you know it was only for two weeks subject and potentially another shutdown was going to happen off to two weeks so we couldn’t provide any guidance at that time
And but now obviously now that second shutdown didn’t and so we have greater clarity and so the agencies have updated the schedule based on that so that was like it as a significant driver in that and delay in addition there has been some additional time related to looking at alternatives for the development of the project which is something the regulator’s are
Required to do by bylaws that they have to consider alternatives but you know it isn’t just a simple exercise of looking at alternative you have to read all the water modeling and geochemical modeling and various things like that and so i have knock on impacts when you start looking at some of those alternatives and so those are two main considerations in why the
Premium is you know been extended out a bit but as you say it wasn’t unexpected so the way that i understand it is this now puts the final ro d for the project in late q4 of 2020 is that accurate yeah that is correct oh you know just under two years from now excellent okay perfect and i mentioned off the top here that one of the positive things i wanted to get
To one of the the main takeaways for me anyway in this news release one of the positive things that came out of this is that first congressional district congressman russ folger where were snip knight project lies obviously said and i want to quote him he said one of my goals in congress is to bring new jobs and opportunities to rural idahoans the stibnite gold
Project proposes new high-paying job jobs while also cleaning up a brownfield site and other legacy impacts from the second world war we need regulators to do their jobs but we also need permits to move forward i am disappointed by the recent announcement of additional delay we need the project to stay on a reliable timeline and for the stip night gold project
To become a reality that is a heck of a statement and one that isn’t very gray it’s pretty clear can you comment on the support that’s got to be a positive from your end knowing that you have that kind of support with the congressman here yes and you know really appreciates it and and it was interesting that when the delay you know sort of got triggered by the
U.s. forest service that congressman filch’s office reached out to us and and said you know you know we’re very disappointed by this and we you know we they offered to provide us some information because they knew we put out a press release every every time there’s any changes in schedule or anything like that so that you know is them proactively kind of reaching
Out to us so that was a you know he’s encouraging and you know if in any kind of his statement really kind of summarizes the sort of you know the pros and cons and challenges you know that this is a major project in an area that could reuse these kinds of jobs in central idaho which is within his district and and you know recognizes the importance of not just the
Employment and economic benefits but the you know the the legacy impacts from the second world war and the fact that we’re going to clean all of those up and so i think he really kind of gets down to the point which is yes the regulator’s need to you know evaluates the you know everything that we’re doing and making sure it’s being done right but it also needs
To move forward in a timely manner yeah and you know provides some certainty because as you know shareholders know and investors know you know we’ve seen a number of delays over the last year or so and you know that you know we need to get to the end and get on and and get the cleanup done and create that economic benefit but having the vocal support you know
Of congressmen soldiers i was here you know a strong endorsement and you know we’ve seen that in the past from the congressional delegation for libido you know about a year ago where they all individually wrote or selectively wrote a letter and for them to senators to chrisman and we had the resolution from the state legislature in february last year and you
Know were a hundred and four out of 105 of the state legislators in both the statehouse state house and state senate voted to send a resolution to the president of the us and and the federal agencies to know that they’re behind the project and get on with it so you know it’s a really illustrates that you know that people understand the story but it’s frustrated
By the time delays and related to getting it through the regulatory process well the one upside and i’m usually the optimist right the one upside that i see is that you know you may be getting your permits fingers crossed and let’s assume that that’s what happens right you may be getting your permits right at the beginning of a raging gold bull market if things
Continue to play out the way i think they’re gonna play out stephen so that’s a plus for for patient long-term shareholders or frankly new shareholders that get to buy at these depressed prices i can’t help but notice that you have also established the stibnite foundation and you’ve made a first contribution of a hundred thousand can we talk about that midas gold
And and in the the the interaction there with the community which i’ve seen firsthand i know the thorough work that has gone into that i know you work with the stip knight advisory council to make sure that you are discussing the various aspects of the project and the community needs let’s talk about midas golden egg foundation sure so when we took a you know
Different approach to community engagements and you know as perhaps common in the us and but perhaps more common in canada and really started reaching out proactively to the communities way back in 2012 2011 when we first started the project and said you know be clear this is a long-term project it’s not going to happen tomorrow but this is the kind of things as
It could happen and what our approach is to employment business development and the environment and obviously a lot of the locals are very you know focused on all of those different aspects of the project and so we’ve been you know characterizes informally engaged with those communities you know with most of the presentations to different town council’s county
Commissioners different social groups different things like that over the years but as the process to sort of move forward we said you know what we really need to do is sort of formalize that process and have it in a more structured environment surahs’ and dealing with dealing with multiple communities individually you know kind of communities work together and
Provide a sort of a common feedback to us and we build this off something that those communities had worked on the year before which was something a competition called america’s best communities and they collectively entered in into the that competition and sort of pulled all the communities together and we worked with a group of those people and who sort of
Been involved in that and said you know obviously that’s a good example of communities working together is there an avenue to see a similar relationship in respect of our project and that sort of led to this community agreement that we signed with eight communities late last year in the beginning of this year and and of to formalized aspects that came out of
That is the student advisory council which meets monthly to look at things that are concern and interest to the community whether it’s traffic or employment or housing or by mental and activities different things like that and provide them a better detailed understanding and then they can take that back to their community leadership and and you know discuss
What’s happened there and get feedback on that friend and the second side of it is you know we have been doing a lot of community and support activities over the years again it’s been informal and we were deciding as midas cold where those monies would go and whereas the this america’s best community process they went through they agree collectively how that
They would collectively work whether you know the most important things were to all the communities together so again we sort of built off that and said let’s set up the student light foundation and each of the communities appoints a representative to that foundation and the foundation decides where the greatest needs are and the most appropriate needs on the
Communities as a whole and so this is an initial contribution there will be making additional contributions that a milestone related there related to as the project progresses and we’ll also be providing some shares as an endowment and which would provide some long-term value added obviously should increase as we’re permitted as we go into operation and so on so
That long-term endowment is there and but the key point is that you know the distribution of the funds related to that are under the control of the communities as opposed to midas gold you know making the decisions but it’s really part of that engagement and working in a transparent manner with the communities to provide a floor where they can directly address
Concerns and issues and points of interest directly with midas gold and we deal with them collectively rather than individually well said well said well good work is always steven i appreciate you taking the time to give us that thorough update and talk a little bit about the support and everything that’s going on with the community and everything that you’re
Doing while you get the permits to the finish line so hopefully we chat again soon is there anything else that you’d like to add no i think it’s a you know that those obviously the recent developments and i think the key point that people always have to keep in mind as you kind of implied earlier this is this is a long-term story this is a very large high-quality
Low-cost mining operation and a good geopolitical jurisdiction in the united states and and you know the value cut you know those are rare opportunities and the value comes as you move these these things forward this is not a trading type opportunity this is an investment opportunity where there’s a very substantial material asset behind and you know the company
And we’re moving in towards step-by-step making sure we’re doing things right excellent well said stephen thanks again thanks ryder
Transcribed from video
RSD Interview: Midas Gold (TSX: MAX) CEO Stephen Quin – April 4, 2019 By Resource Stock Digest
