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XMFSinchiruna (28.56)

Live Chat with Alexandria Minerals' CEO - Dr. Eric Owens - 10am EST

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April 08, 2011 – Comments (48)

As this ongoing series continues to evolve into beautiful exercise in collective due diligence, and a poignant representation of the powerful potential of this medium we call our CAPS blogs home, I am delighted to invite my feloow Fools to join us this morning at 10am EST for a live chat with Alexandria Minerals CEO Dr. Eric Owens, as well as Director of Corporate Development Mary Vorvis. I think they'll be sharing a single login, but both will be here under the company's new CAPS username Alexandria2011.

If you have not yet had a chance to review our recent discussion of Alexandria Minerals as a particularly compelling option within the universe of microcap precious metal explorers, please take a moment to read this post and familiarize yourself with the elements of the underlying investment thesis. As you read through, or if you already have, please make note of any questions you may have that might help you to build a more thorough understanding of the company, its assets, its present valuation, its prospects for resource expansion and discovery, etc. This is an uncommon opportunity that we have here today, as corporations seldom harness the potential of financial social media like our own to connect directly with a community of investors in a two-way dialogue. I am very excited to be engaging in this experiment, and I hope to expand this experience by inviting representatives from other companies to join us as this series unfolds. I trust you will enjoy this experience, I encourage you to make the most of it, and I thank you in advance for your kind participation. 

I am posting this before the scheduled start-time to give Fools an opportunity to post any questions they might have for Dr. Owens that can get the conversation rolling with a running start. I have a couple questions of my own, but I want to give you all ample opportunity to participate. Please understand the conversation may not proceed at a real-time pace ... this is an experiment so I'm not sure what to expect. :) Please be sure to give them a warm welcome when they arrive, and to let them know how much we appreciate them taking the time to come here to our little corner of the investment world. I am thrilled that both Endeavour Silver, Caza Gold, and Alexandria Minerals have now each registered as members of our Foolish community, and I look forward to expanding on the trend.

Thank you for posting your questions, participating in the discussion, and please join me in welcoming Dr. Eric Owens and Mary Vorvis beginning at 10am EST.

48 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On April 08, 2011 at 9:57 AM, Option1307 (30.47) wrote:

This is a great opportunity, looking forward to what they have to say!

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#2) On April 08, 2011 at 9:57 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Hi All, thank you for visiting. My name is Eric Owens, and I am President and CEO of Alexandria Minerals Corporation.

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#3) On April 08, 2011 at 10:08 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

Hi Eric,

Thank you so much for joining us!

I'd like to kick things off with a question.

I've noticed some consistent success in your drilling efforts in the area between the main deposit at Akasaba and the East high grade zone. Is a major portion of 2011 drilling going to focus on that infill zone between the two deposits, or is testing the deposit to greater depths the greater priority?

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#4) On April 08, 2011 at 10:11 AM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Hi Eric! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer questions and address comments we may have here at TMF!  As someone new to investing in PM miners, especially junior miners, I have several questions I was hoping you could address for me.

In your March 2011 presentation, slide 3, it is stated that Alexandria’s global gold resource (GGR) is $29/oz.  Can you comment on how that value was calculated, what that value means and how it compares to other junior miners?  Where do you see the GGR at several years down the road, say 1-3?

Many, including myself, have been looking for more information/insight into the management team.  Can you tell us a little bit more of what you did at Newmont Mining and BHP?

Can you discuss in more detail the benefits with your various partnerships, including Carmax, Aurizon, NioGold, AEM, etc?  Are there any other possible future joint ventures with other organizations? 

Thank you again for your time addressing our questions and comments!  It is greatly appreciated!

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#5) On April 08, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Gonzhouse (67.27) wrote:

Welcome Dr. Owen and Ms. Vorvis.  On behalf of everyone on TMF, thanks for joining!

Alexandria Minerals has many exciting growth properties. We realize that you are still in discovery phase.  As estimates are formed, your best-case scenario is having too many opportunities to pursue.  Can you give us an idea of your financial capacity to bring these opportunities on-line.

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#6) On April 08, 2011 at 10:13 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

To open, I wish to bring out some introductory notions about the Company: we have one of the largest continuous gold property packages in one of the most prolific gold producing districts in the world (Val d'Or, Quebec); we have about 850,000 ounces of gold in the ground (43-101 compliant, eg. Measured, Indicated and Inferred) in an area with excellent infrastructure (4 mills close by); and we are aggressive explorationists with two drill rigs on site and one more coming in a month or so.

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#7) On April 08, 2011 at 10:15 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

I know Akasaba is the primary exploration target, and with very good reason, but I still can't help getting excited about this Whiskeyjack property that my fellow Fool skypilot informed me of after conducting some due diligence. Can you address the sigificance of this property by virtue of it being adjacent to Young-Davidson, and does Young-Davidson's continued expansion pique your own interest in planning some exploration work there? Could you discuss the conext of your Matachewan property in relation to Whiskeyjack?

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#8) On April 08, 2011 at 10:21 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

In terms of the drilling at Akasaba, our focus is two-fold: 1) in the very near (ie ongoing now), we are drilling shallow fill-in holes to help us lead us down the path toward constructing a reasonable estimation of near-surface, bulk tonnage resources for potential open pittable purposes, and 2) expansion or step out drilling. The former is good because it provides us with an easily available source of gold, and the latter is good because Akasaba is open along strike and to depth, and has much room to grow to a much larger size. We are early in this story, and feel there is much growth potentil here.

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#9) On April 08, 2011 at 10:34 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

I believe Mary Vorvis has joined us under the original Alexandria2011 username (Hi Mary!), and Dr. Owens of course is posting as Alex2011.

Thanks for the questions, everyone!

Keep in mind if for some reason the hour passes us by without sufficient time for them to answer them all, they may have a chance to log in at a later time to check back in on the dialogue. 

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#10) On April 08, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Alexandria2011 (< 20) wrote:

Good morning Fools, this is Mary Vorvis joining in.  We thank you for your interest in Alexandria Minerals.

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#11) On April 08, 2011 at 10:36 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Thank you for your comments, JBay76. To arrive at the $29 value of our formal gold ounces in the ground, that is 43-101 compliant ounces only, we simply divide our current market capitalization by the number of ounces per gold - that is roughly $24M mkt cap/850,000 oz = about $29 per ounces value that the market currently places on us. Keep in mind this only inlcudes formal resources at our Orenada and Sleepy projects, and doesn't include any future potential (eg at Akasba, or elsewhere on our properties).

It is instructive to consider that analysts value such resources between $50 -$150 per ounce, depending who you talk to, at current gold prices. It is also intstructive to review what projects have been purchased for by the majors: for instance in 2005/2006, Goldcorp purchased the Eleanor gold deposit (with no formal 43-101 resources, although all technical people "knew" they had close to 2 million ounces of gold), for $425,000,000, or about $225/ounce.

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#12) On April 08, 2011 at 10:39 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

Mary, we were talking yesterday about Alexandria's share valuation at beneath $30 per ounce of gold, and how that compares to typical share valuations for gold explorers. I think that's what JBay was getting at in the first question of his comment #4 above. Perhaps you would like to field that one, and speak to Alexandria's valuation relative to its peers?

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#13) On April 08, 2011 at 10:40 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

Oh.. disregard my comment #12 ... Eric is on top of it.  :)

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#14) On April 08, 2011 at 10:42 AM, ajm101 (33.95) wrote:

Thank you for joining us.  What do you see being the most exciting areas for new exploration today, globally (outside of the greenstone belt, of course)?

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#15) On April 08, 2011 at 10:48 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

In terms of management, our technical team is headed up by myself (I wear a few hats) and Peter Legein. Both of us are experienced geologists with lots of exploration background, particulrarly in the western hemisphere. I began my career with Newmont, back when it was a mutli-commodity company (copper, oil, limestone, etc.) in the early 80's, in the deserts of southeasternmost Cailfornia, where I worked as part of team (my first job out of college!) defining their first gold deposit external to the Carlin Mine. I had a great time, it got me hooked on the mining industry and that deposit became a mine, although too small for Newmont, a junior miner bought it an mined it out. At BHP in Toronto, much later in my career, by this time in the mid-1990's, I was a Senior Project Geologist planning and exploring base and precious metals projects principally in the Abitibi Belt. 

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#16) On April 08, 2011 at 10:53 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

To Gonzhouse, we currently have a total of about $6 million available to us in short term assets: cash, salable securities (mostly from Aurizon Mines due to their purchase of our Joannes township proeprty in Quebec), and an expected mining refund from the Quebec government in the Fall. Because we are ramping up drilling activities (we budget $250,000/month per drill rig) to at least 3 drill rigs (currently we stand at 2), preferably more, we will be spending at least $750,000/month on drilling activities. 

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#17) On April 08, 2011 at 10:54 AM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Hi All, we have a meeting to attend, but will return later to answer more questions. Thanks all

 

Eric 

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#18) On April 08, 2011 at 10:56 AM, mcornice1 (27.11) wrote:

Thank you both for joining us today.

My question relates to the strategic development of the company. Your drilling results are quite impressive and have gained some notice in the form of a few substantial ownership stakes from larger companies. My question is whether you are looking to further expand these relationships or perhaps even generate new ones? Or are you comfortable with bringing the mines to production on your own? Thanks again! 

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#19) On April 08, 2011 at 10:59 AM, XMFSinchiruna (28.56) wrote:

Hi Fools, I know Eric and Mary have a meeting they have to get to for 11am, so shortly we will have to bid adieu. It's amazing how quickly an hour passes!

Please continue to post questions, however, and I will make every effort to compile them and coordinate with Mary over the coming days to seek answers for you. If you posted a question that has not yet been answered, thank you for understanding the limited time we had available for the live portion of this discussion. As I said, I will coordinate with the Alexandria to get asnwers posted here, and it's possible one or both of them may log back in at a later time for that same purpose.

I want to reiterate my sincere appreciation for the time that Eric and Mary have taken to join us here today, and for taking part in this first-run experiment in direct two-way collective research here at the CAPS blogs.

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#20) On April 08, 2011 at 11:02 AM, kdakota630 (33.79) wrote:

Thanks to Eric and Mary from myself as well.

I didn't have any questions, but very much enjoyed watching from the sidelines.

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#21) On April 08, 2011 at 11:17 AM, outoffocus (24.54) wrote:

This was a great session. I learned things about miner valuation that I didnt know before.

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#22) On April 08, 2011 at 11:18 AM, outoffocus (24.54) wrote:

All this while we watch gold and silver hit record highs.

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#23) On April 08, 2011 at 11:29 AM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

A big thank you to Eric and Mary for joining us and fielding our questions, and to Sinch for coordinating this!

Eric, your response (comment # 11) to my question is very helpful and truly indicative of how undervalued Alexandria is, given that the resources from Aksaba are not included in your GGR.  I did not realize that previoulsy and knowing it now helps me to better understand the GGR value and how it is calculated.

And thank you for the extra info on your background!  You definitely have A LOT of experience and I think it is showing in your companies progress.

Per your comment # 16, what are the companies plans in 7-8 months once the 6 mil in assets is used?

And if possible, could you elaborate more on the partnerships with NioGold, Carmax etc.?

Thank you very much for your time and openess today with us!  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find my golden goose and put it to use, rhyme not intended

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#24) On April 08, 2011 at 1:25 PM, ChrisGraley (31.98) wrote:

Thank you for fielding our questions from me as well. 

Are there any red flags that you are looking for to predict a change of momentum in Gold prices?  A change in interest rates, etc...

Also, with the predicted Zinc and Lead shortages in the middle of the next decade, are you currently selling your secondary metals or storing them for the future? If you are selling now, are you planning on storing at some point?

Also, since Eric is a geologist, I was wondering if you could give a short comparison of your core samples for the Cadillac Break to the core samples reported by the nearby AEM location if you could.

Thank you ahead of time for your reply. 

 

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#25) On April 08, 2011 at 4:11 PM, tdonb (25.11) wrote:

Thanks to Eric and Mary for your time and compelling answers to the great questions. I look forward to hearing more from you both in the future.

I now have a small stake and also look forward to seeing how this company grows over time.

Thanks again.

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#26) On April 08, 2011 at 9:58 PM, skypilot2005 (< 20) wrote:

I would also like to thank Dr. Owens & Ms. Vorvis for taking time out of their busy schedules to further enlighten us.  I was unable to interact directly due to my work schedule today. 

This is a very positive exercise.  I have invested a small amount of time this week doing some D. D. to demonstrate my support for this endeavor. 

Sinch stepped “out of the box” and challenged us to improve the skills we use to evaluate potential investments as a group.  He said, “I look forward to hearing your initial thoughts and reactions to Alexandria Minerals, and encourage Fools to use this post as a compendium of collective due diligence on the stock.” 

I feel we have demonstrated that Sinch’s idea has merit.  In a short time, we have grown much more familiar with Alexandria.   But, I submit, this exercise wasn’t primarily about whether Alexandria is a good investment.  To me, it was about how effectively we could collectively evaluate Alexandria as an investment.   I made an investment in Alexandria and I am confident in a positive return.  But the best investment I made this week was of the time I spent learning how to improve my evaluation skills..

Now I humbly suggest we need to take the next step and evaluate our efforts.  I defer to Sinch as to when we should conduct our self-evaluation, if he feels that is appropriate.  If we do, here are some questions we could ask:

What company specific information is important?

What are some good sources for company specific information?

What are some good sources for interpreting technical data?

How did the question and answer session improve our knowledge of the company?  If it did, what types of questions were best?  What are some questions we didn’t ask but should have asked? 

If it didn’t improve our understanding of the company, why didn’t it?

I submit these questions as examples of questions we could use in a self evaluation if, Sinch thinks it is appropriate. 

 

Skypilot

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#27) On April 08, 2011 at 11:36 PM, awallejr (80.15) wrote:

Bought 5,000 shares today at .209 today. I am in the game.

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#28) On April 09, 2011 at 7:44 AM, skypilot2005 (< 20) wrote:

TMFSinchiruna (99.34) wrote

“I know Akasaba is the primary exploration target, and with very good reason, but I still can't help getting excited about this Whiskeyjack property that my fellow Fool skypilot informed me of after conducting some due diligence. Can you address the significance of this property by virtue of it being adjacent to Young-Davidson, and does Young-Davidson's continued expansion pique your own interest in planning some exploration work there? Could you discuss the context of your Matachewan property in relation to Whiskeyjack?”

Sinch,

Did Dr. Owens answer this question in #8 completely?  I am specifically referring to the Whiskeyjack property.  

In other words, does his reply apply to Young-Davidson, Matachewan and Whiskeyjack simultaneously?  One could assume Young-Davidson and Whiskeyjack are interchangeable in this answer because they are adjacent.  I would appreciate clarification.

I got lost somewhere between Young Davidson and Matachewan on the way to Shinning Tree - Ursa.  :)

Thanks. 

SkyPilot

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#29) On April 09, 2011 at 12:58 PM, silvercybin (< 20) wrote:

Thank you very much Eric and Mary! I look forward to hearing the future developments of Alexandria. Hope to see you on the fool once more. As for me, I'm in for 10k shares. Looks extremely promising. Good luck, Fool on.

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#30) On April 09, 2011 at 4:12 PM, reinman60 (< 20) wrote:

Thanks Eric and Mary for taking time to answer questions.  I'll be looking forward to hearing more from you in the future.

As an aside, if you're new to evaluating mining exploration companies like I am, here's a useful website, put together by a Canadian mining engineer.  It gives great, concise definitions of a lot of the technical terms that get tossed around by the geologists and engineers,

http://www.miningcompanybuilder.com/

 

 

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#31) On April 10, 2011 at 10:10 AM, skypilot2005 (< 20) wrote:

On April 09, 2011 at 4:12 PM, reinman60 (< 20) wrote:

 "

As an aside, if you're new to evaluating mining exploration companies like I am, here's a useful website, put together by a Canadian mining engineer.  It gives great, concise definitions of a lot of the technical terms that get tossed around by the geologists and engineers,

http://www.miningcompanybuilder.com/   "

Thanks!

I just bookmarked it.  I will peruse it's contents.  

Great contribution to our future "collective due diligence".

Sky Pilot

 

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#32) On April 11, 2011 at 9:58 PM, skypilot2005 (< 20) wrote:

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/companies/silver-mining/

 

I use company websites for the # of shares owned by insiders.

 

I “Googled” the company’s name and looked for pertinent links.   That’s how I discovered the other minerals’ mining potential they have and the Whiskey Jack Creek property.  Sometimes, it takes a few links “out” to get to the information.

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#33) On April 13, 2011 at 3:38 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Hi All, Eric Owens back to finish off what we started last Friday, been a hectic week so far, and just wanted to noted our press release yesterday in which we announced a great intersection from Akasaba in-fill drilling of 7.44 g/t Au over 8.50 m - at a shallow depth of just 50 m. Moreover, a few other holes also hit very good results, in particular from fill-in holes on the eastern high grade zone, including 48.15 g/t Au over 0.3 m and 23.9 g/t Au over 0.30 m. Drill rigs are now at Akasaba and also on our Sleepy project, the latter following up results from January which intersected 3.81 g/t over 9.00 m (true width), and which deepened gold mineralization by 100 m

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#34) On April 13, 2011 at 3:55 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

In terms of partnerships that we have formed, the single most important one at this time is that with Agnico Eagle. As a 10% owner of ours, this is a strategic partnership more than mmost in the sense that they provide a measure of risk-management (protection), but at a low enough ownership that they do not close doors. It is also an important relationship because they are one of the principal miners, if not the principal miner (with 3 mines) in the region of Val d'Or, and they own a concetrating facility about 15 km from our Orenada project. Our Orenada project is advancing through an economic study (formerly termed a scoping study), and we will be looking for partners on this one to do two things: 1) enlarge by drilling and 2) lead to production. There are a number of mill owners in the region, Agnico being one of them, that could participate in this project.

 

I think at the end of the day, our goal is to find and build the deposits, rather than personally turn ourselves into a mining company -- at least for the moment. So partnerships become important, especially in situations where we do not have  the manpower or expertise. On the exploration side we're top-notch, and we'll continue to conduct these activities with temerity.

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#35) On April 13, 2011 at 4:14 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

In reference to the Whiskeyjack question: the Whiskejack claims are but a small part of our Matchewan property, which as noted, is next door to Northgate's 4 million ounce Young-Davidson project (soon to be a mine). The Young-Davidson is an exciting project, and adds credibility to our selection in picking the property up several years ago -- in fact it was our second property acquisition before we took Alexandria public, and was in fact the "Material Property" for our IPO in 2006.

 

The Matachewan property is underlain by similar geology as that which underlies Young-Davidson, including the faults (Cadillac Break), the syenites and the volcanic rocks. The alteration system is large there, and looks highly favorable for a gold forming system. Our drilling - to date we have drilled some 10-12 holes - has yielded positive gold values in a few, and lots of alteration and sulfides, some of which warranted follow-up drilling, including on the Whiskeyjack claims. However, we haven't hit the big one yet there and will require another kick at the can. One prospect on the east side of the property, in syenite (much, if not most, of the gold at Young-Davidson is hosted in syenite) is defined by an historic hole drilled in the 1990's which reportedly intersected a true width of 27 m grading 0.79 g/t Au. This is an encouraging interval will likely be one of the next targets we test when we go out there.

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#36) On April 13, 2011 at 4:28 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

As far as exploration plays are concerned, geologically there are several great places to be. Unfortunately, politics gets in the way of many of them. I like Alaska -  as for all good exploration plays, it is a frontier area, plus it has good potlitics and infrastructure - or at least the capacity to put infrastructure in place in as efficient a manner as possible. Lot's of the majors are there (eg. Kinross, Teck, etc.), geology is reasonably well known, and it is underexplored.

Closer to home, the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario here in Canada, is another exciting place as a "new-found" region. As the initial discovery evolves into the initial production story, more will become known about this area.

I like parts of Africa -- parts are not so good, but there are a lot of good things going on in certain "safe" countries, like Tanzania, for instance. Obviously, there is a lot of activity in South America too, another favorite of mine. All these places have one thing in common - they are underexplored in terms of modern exploration methods.

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#37) On April 13, 2011 at 4:33 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

In regards to whether we stay with our existing relationships, or expand into new ones: the simple answer is that likely we will have new relationships at some time in the future. I believe this is a fluid thing, and is situation-dependent. As time progresses and new developments occur, different groups and parties have different mandates, and these all have to be explored.

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#38) On April 13, 2011 at 4:37 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Adding to that last question and comment: I believe I already mentioned it, but will repeat here -  we are not a mining company, and in these markets it would be very difficult for us to compete against mining companies for expertise, personnel, etc., where everyone is going all-out. That doesn't rule out, for our part, contract mining, nor does it rule out mining in the future, but in the near-term, we'll stick to our knitting, exploration and development to a pre-mining stage.

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#39) On April 13, 2011 at 4:45 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Red-Flags for change in gold price: well, this is the magic question, and I don't know what the answer is. What everyone tells us about the fundamentals for gold price to remain strong is in place: govt. debt, insecurity, supply-demand, etc. Since much about gold demand, especially these days, is psychological, my guess is that a trigger that changes the investors' mood will be the cause of a gold price change: eg. unexpected rapid economic growth in first world countries (something that says debt has a chance of being paid down).

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#40) On April 13, 2011 at 4:59 PM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Hi Eric,

Thanks for coming back and addresing all our other questions.  Reading your answers led me to another question, I guess that's a good sign.  As an exploration company, how does Alexandria grow?  By finding more mine sites with good to great ore potential?  Or is by eventually selling all rights to a mining site which has great potential in addition to finding new sites?

Thanks

J

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#41) On April 13, 2011 at 5:02 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Comparison of our results to AEM's results -- actually the question specifically mentions core, but we don't usually get to examine other company's core, and I haven't seen any AEM core. I and our geologists, however, have been underground at two of their mines, Goldex (the close one) and La Ronde, and we do talk to people - geologists love to describe rocks and core, much to the chagrin of everyone else.

Goldex is different than any of our current active projects, mostly because its host rock is a granite-like rock -- ours are layered (eg volcanic rocks or sedimentary rocks). However, the host rock is important principally for the geometry of the gold orebody at Goldex; its probably not as important for the fact that gold is there in the first place. The important controlling geological features are faults, of which there are many on our properties, many of which host gold somewhere along their length (Orenada being one.)

La Ronde is an interesting comparison to our Akasaba project: both are volcanic-hosted, both have high concentrations of sulfides (Akasaba has up to 30-40% sulfides), both are polymetallic (gold, copper, zinc, silver), and both have multiple layers, targets or horizons on their respective properties. It is interesting to note that La Ronde, a 9 million ounce gold mine, was initially a zinc discovery, and Agnico mines both copper and zonc as well as gold. At Akasaba, we have zinc assays in drill core up to 6.35% over 0.3 m. It is also worth noting that mining at La Ronde currently is down to more than 2.5 km deep, and they are discovering more at that depth. We have so-far only drilled a few holes down to 300-400 m deep. We have a lot of work to do.

Finally, I have spoken with geologists who say our Orenada project is very similar to Agnico's Lapa gold deposit. 

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#42) On April 13, 2011 at 5:14 PM, alex2011 (< 20) wrote:

Hi J

I believe the ultimate hope for all us dreamers is to find the big one - the big discovery that makes a company's valuation move from a $20,000,000 market capitalization, or a $100,000,000 market cap, to $2 billion, or $4 billlion, as with Aurelian Resources with its gold discovery in Ecuador. Then the company gets bought out by a major, and the guys who did it in the first place set up another company and try to do it again.

However, in the absence of such a big discovery, we can build gold deposits as Alexandria is doing -- we have taken Orenada from 120,000 ounces of gold when we first got it to 700,000 ounces now, and Sleepy from 20,000 ounces to 150,000 ounces of gold (still growing too!), and we're doing the same with Akasaba. In these cases, we can sell them as they advance to a point where it looks as if they have a chance to be mined -- this is where we make our money. For example, our Orenada project is at such a point: we will look for a partner to earn interest in the project by paying us some money, doing some work, and when they produce we earn part of the profits. I am reluctant to say how much that will be for Orenada right now, but it could be quite profitable for us.

All the while we are doing this work, that is building deposits, we are doing the kind of work that could lead to the big splashy discovery. 

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#43) On April 13, 2011 at 10:24 PM, silverminer (40.64) wrote:

Eric, thank you so much for following up!! :)

I also wanted to post a link to your latest press release:

http://www.azx.ca/news/2011/april12.asp

Toronto, Ontario, April 12, 2011 – Alexandria Minerals Corporation (TSX-V: AZX; Frankfurt: A9D) reports today on results from 5 drill holes on its shallow in-fill drill programme at its Akasaba gold project in Val d’Or Quebec, where it has intersected 7.44 g/t Au over 8.50 m (True Width, 6.01 m), including 20.41 g/t Au over 3.00 m (True Width, 2.12 m).

The intersection in Diamond drill hole IAX-11-132 occurred from 64.40 m to 72.90 m downhole, around 50 m vertical depth, and 150 m east of the past-producing Akasaba gold-silver mine, in the vicinity of the high grade zone discovered by Alexandria geologists in 2010.

Eric Owens, President and CEO of Alexandria Minerals, said, “These results continue to progress our successful drill program at Akasaba. The broader widths we are encountering are particlarly encouraging as we further refine and enlarge the zone while we continue to search for the main zone.”

Drill holes IAX-11-131 and 134, like hole 132, are also located in the area of the eastern high grade zone, and have aided in further defining the high grade zone. Hole 131, located 50 m west of Hole 132, intersected 23.90 g/t Au over 0.30 m, and hole 134, 100 m east of 132, intersected  7.26 g/t Au over 2.35 m, including 48.15 g/t Au over 0.30 m.

Close to the Akasaba mine, drill hole IAX-11-136, which ended in mineralization, hit the target zone just above the underground workings, intersecting 1.57 g/t Au over 15.00 m, including 3.49 g/t Au over 3.95 m, above 20 m vertical depth. Hole IAX-11-138, also drilled just above the historic stope, 100 m east of hole 136, intersected 1.98 g/t Au over 16.95 m, including 3.39 g/t Au over 8.45 m.

Alexandria is in the middle of a two-rig, 20,000 meter drill programme, principally focused at Akasaba, aiming to better define gold-silver mineralization and enlarge the gold-bearing zone. The shallow level targets recently tested are designed to aid in the determination of gold potential in the upper 150 to 200 m in the main Mine Horizon, within which Alexandria has delineated strong gold mineralization over 1,000 m of strike length, still open along strike and at depth. Future drilling will broaden the exploration targeting to also include step out drilling and the testing of new targets along strike.

 

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#44) On April 14, 2011 at 5:59 AM, silvermind (< 20) wrote:

Alex,

Thanks for your participation with us Fools!  Many of us are taking positions in ALXDF.  

I was very happy to see your post #38 - "That doesn't rule out, for our part, contract mining, nor does it rule out mining in the future, but in the near-term, we'll stick to our knitting, exploration and development to a pre-mining stage."  That is encouraging.  

Per your post in #16 and the following unanswered question from JBay in #27, it seems reasonable that you have 6 months of operating capital prior to any need.  I am conjecturing that Alexandria may move into a partnership in August or so, and generate capital/income in that manner.  Is there another vehicle you are considering to create funds for continued exploration?

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#45) On April 14, 2011 at 8:56 AM, Jbay76 (< 20) wrote:

Thank you for answering my questions Eric!  It has helped me appreciate Alexandira that much more.  I wish you and the company continued and enhanced success!

J

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#46) On April 14, 2011 at 1:00 PM, silvermind (< 20) wrote:

Jbay76,

Did Eric answer your question regarding funding after the next 7 months (in post #27)?

Bill

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#47) On April 14, 2011 at 1:00 PM, silvermind (< 20) wrote:

Jbay76,

Did Eric answer your question regarding funding after the next 7 months (in post #27)?

Bill

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#48) On April 16, 2011 at 4:39 AM, silvermind (< 20) wrote:

Eric,

Sorry about the question in #45 and #46.  Looks like you pretty much answered that in #42: "For example, our Orenada project is at such a point: we will look for a partner to earn interest in the project by paying us some money, doing some work, and when they produce we earn part of the profits. I am reluctant to say how much that will be for Orenada right now, but it could be quite profitable for us."

We are looking forward to your partnering with a producer on Orenada.  Do you think we will see that this summer?

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