gold news

 [Music] welcome to CEO insights I'm Marilyn dezman with investing news.com I'm speaking with amand deep Singh DP of corporate development at Apollo silver I am hi there thanks for having us really excited to get to talk to you guys good to have you so first question you've uh recently announced the 2025 work program for the Calico silver project what are the key m that investors should watch for and how do these align with your overall uh strategy yeah certainly so you know we are a silver developer

Explorer you look at our Calico asset there's 160 million ounces of measured indicated resource there it's one of the it's the third or fourth largest primary silver deposit of the United States we've gotten to a point now where you know the next hurdles are are permitting hurdles that we have to do engineering studies but uh there's a lot of value that we can add to that that project uh in the interim before we take on that sort of big step and that and that's with the critical medals berite was uh

recently included on the USGS list of critical elements you know there's a supply chain uh issue that the the US government wants to fix for us having that sort of high quality beite resource we're looking to do a resampling program add that into a current resource along with that there was a gold discovery that we had made on uh in California we're going to do some follow-up mapping sampling some just some basic reconnaissance work there and it's just a way for us to deliver a bit

more value to our investors and and in terms of ultimately we look to use the critical Metals as as perhaps a bargaining chip for for future permitting or future water rights access stuff so certainly something that's important to do and uh I'm glad we're getting out there and getting it yeah he we talk a bit more about the the area where that project is the jurisdiction um like what are some of the advantages that you enjoy in that area certainly so you know what I've uh there's always

there's always been a tale of two californias I think you know to the overall investor population they you know a lot of them try to avoid California or there's this the stigma of things being slower it's hard to permit but you know what we are not in the redwood forest of California we are we are in san barino county we are beh we are in between a Rio tinto's borax mine and on the other side equinox's uh Castle Mountain so so certainly it is a mining friendly area as there are tons

of mines in operation there uh over the last 15 years $60 billion worth of resource has been permitted so you know I I I suppose if you look at it on a map we're closer to Nevada than we are to the heart of California and and and as a result you know it is it's very prom mining now in addition to that you also have a project in Mexico Cinco de Mayo corre uh what makes this project a valuable addition to your portfolio and what are the next step steps in development yeah so s De Mayo is a very

exciting project and and we really are looking forward to eventually getting down and and when working there uh I suppose uh if we were to take a step back you know we have this wonderful asset in California why why did we go out looking for this asset in Mexico well you know after we done the transaction with paname the silver price didn't really cooperate with us our valuation was depressed and we thought for our shareholders for us to raise money at a depressed valuation to put a project through feasibility and and

engineering studies you wouldn't get as much of a return on on a now Rising silver price so we thought let's go out there let's let's find a a high torque silver EXP ation asset with a lot of Sizzle uh enter mag silver and their Cinco deile asset this is an asset that most investors that the street is very familiar with it it commanded well over $400 million of Meg silers then market cap you know for for a number of reasons uh mag silver lost access to it some some some issues with the local

community arose and um and overnight $400 million of market cap was lost there we looked at this as an opportunity for us you know time heals all wounds fast forward 13 years certainly our group uh broadly speaking U you know we we were behind Prime mining Sierra Madre it it's something that we're used to and and then I bring up Prime mining because that's such an analog to what we're trying to accomplish here the Los Reus asset in caloa the community was not on side in fact um it was effectively an asset that

was written off as as a social situation that cannot be fix we came in purchased the asset you know got to work in the community built strong relationships and and we walked away with 30-year mining uh Arrangements in place with the community in caloa and uh and you should see the value we've unlocked at Prime mining now that is a that is a company that has a market cap that uh you know exceeds the original company it once came from so we are looking to lather rinse and repeat that Playbook bring it

down to Cinco de Mayo build great Community relationship ship you know come up with meaningful uh meaningful Solutions and meaningful uh agreements with the local community and hopefully we get back to work and um and for our shareholders restore every bit of that $400 million in market cap that mag once lost right so with two uh significant Assets in your portfolio Mexico and California are is there plan to develop and Advance them in tend them like what's the strategy for development so for us I think I think if you look at

the overall strategy what we do is unlock the potential Val at CCO de Mayo we we are hopeful that we'll be getting a rate and then at a higher valuation then we'll raise some more money to then fund the development in California and I mean look we're if you look at our group as a whole m&a is one of our Specialties and and certainly you know for the right transaction we we we could divest assets or you know develop them further and and that's something that we're going to do in the best

interest of our shareholders so what's the um uh what's what are some of the upcoming catalysts any uh news that coming that investors should watch yeah certainly so like I said we're going to do a beite resource in California gold exploration work in California uh and then I mean fingers crossed that um we can come to a meaningful agreement with the local community and and negotiate a surface access rights agreement you know having said that these things take time and um ultimately all the value we're building

in the work we're doing I think I think our investors are are looking forward to us unlocking Cino and and you know we we have to be confident that uh at some point in time we can do that we'll leave it at that thanks again amep for joining me today excellent thank you so much appreciate it and thanks everyone for watching join us again next time for another edition of CEO insights [Music]