Transcript:
Fiona Marshall:
Welcome.
Brett Grosvenor, Executive Chair of Firetail Resources.
You hold a portfolio of battery metals projects and recently acquired a copper asset in Peru.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Brett Grosvenor:
Yes, certainly.
Thanks for your time.
Today, we hold some existing battery metals here in Australia and we were looking in the middle of last year to complement those assets with a copper project.
Fortunately enough, we were able to identify a really drill ready project, or nearly drill ready project in Peru.
And we basically went through that acquisition late last year that settled in around September, and we were on the ground drilling around about October last year.
The really exciting thing for us as a company was those assets that had been worked on by our partner or Valor Resources down there were in an advanced stage.
They’d done a lot of magnetics and IP work. We identified some existing targets and some really good sampling at surface.
And more importantly, we’ve actually seen that come to fruition during this maiden drill program as well, which we’re about three and a half thousand meters through already.
You know, that’s been really exciting to see that come together as a part of that acquisition.
We also picked up another set of land holding, Charaque, that came with an existing partner, Barrack, who has been working on that land.
We have a farming deal with them over the next sort of three or four years, and they’ve
got straight to work on that asset and have been working on that over the Christmas break and then looking to progress that really quickly.
So, yeah, for us it was a real strategic acquisition and in hindsight, I think very smart move given the state of the mineral commodities at the moment.
Fiona Marshall:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s great.
So you’ve talked about your drill program at Picha. Can you talk a little bit about the encouraging results you’ve seen and the progress so far?
Brett Grosvenor:
Yeah, the results down there have been really good and we’ve been very, very happy with the work completed to date.
The team has been very focused down there on the project.
We have strong team down there, around about 30 peoples with the drilling team at the moment. The most exciting thing to come out of it for us has been the fact that we’ve been able to verify our initial modelling of the region.
We’ve been able to take that sort of theoretical data that we’ve had and some of those magnetics but verify it through our drill program.
I think the other thing for us as well is we’ve got different types of hosted copper deposits down there, and we’ve really been able to confirm that.
We feel that we’ve got a primary type of copper deposit down there but we’ve also got this sort of secondary deposits as well, and these super genes that surface. So it’s now about really refining that program, understanding a little bit more, and seeing what we can do down there.
We’ve definitely got scale. We’ve got the ability to really put a world class progress on the table in a very new region. There’s two mines that exist either side of us around about 12 km away.
There’s a very, very strong line in the north, Beringuela, which is about 50km from us.
And we’re seeing the majors move into the region now that has been historically underdeveloped and or drilled.
So the fact that we can see partners like Barrick starting to explore that region and we’re down there putting the holes in the ground, it’s extremely exciting and it’s exactly what we hoped for, if not better.
Fiona Marshall:
Yeah, absolutely.
So what is the timeline on the remainder of that drilling program?
And then can you talk a little bit about what’s next at pitcher and also Charaque?
Brett Grosvenor:
There’s around about another about six to eight weeks left on the program.
We should be finished up by the end of April. Weather has been a little bit tough for us.
We’ve had a little bit of rain that’s inhibited some of the drilling speeds.
So it’s lasted a little bit longer than we hope. But that’s actually given us the benefit.
We’ve been able to readjust our drilling and understand the results.
So we’re going to keep pushing through with them.
We’re changing some holes. We’re going to really understand this super gene copper deposit that we feel that we have in Cobremani and Cumbre Coya.
We’re going to sort of focus on that, and in the interim, we’re going to analyze that data.
What we’re also going to kick off in the next three or four months is an extension to the existing environmental permit.
And we’re going to be looking to extend that in the northern part up through Maricate and some other good prospects that we’re seeing very, very similar mineralization.
And it’s basically going to give us a great Runway as we go into the back half of 24 so we can understand and look at future drilling programs.
Fiona Marshall:
Great.
It’s very exciting times.
You’ve touched earlier a little bit on the community relations that you’re seeing up there.
Can you talk a little bit about what it’s like to work in Peru?
Brett Grosvenor:
Yeah, look, Peru’s been fantastic region to work in we’ve spent a bit of time with the government.
The local team down there spent a lot of time with the government.
We have very good relationship with them.
They’re very focused on seeing Peru succeed in the minerals market on a worldwide scale.
I think they’re the second biggest copper producer already.
They’ve approved billions of dollars in future projects down there and they’re very, very supportive of this growth in the minerals market down there.
So we’ve got great government support and the local engagement has been, I think second to none is the best way to put it.
And that’s been from two benefits.
One, our team has been gauging with the local communities.
They have done from day one, they’ve involved them in the development of the project.
And secondly, the community really wants success down there.
They want the economic prosperity of this project and they want to be a part of it.
And I was able to see that firsthand on a couple of the visits I did last year.
And the engagement by the team and the commitment by the local workers is just outstanding and we just want to succeed for them as much as finding something pretty special.
I can’t be more complimentary of the government and the local community to see this project succeed.
Fiona Marshall:
That’s great to hear, Brett.
It’s been a really good update today.
Thank you so much and look forward to the news flow to come.
Brett Grosvenor:
Yeah, look, we’ve got some exciting stuff coming forward in the next couple of months, more results.
So there’s going to be a steady flow of news coming out of Peru and in the background
we’re also progressing some of Australian projects.
And yeah, it’s going to be a big year for fatal and we’re looking forward to some good results in 24, so thank you.
