4 minute read - Published 10:00 AM EST, Wednesday June 12, 2024
This article was authored by witan nook. for Austin Gold Corp.
One of Austin Gold Corp.’s key success factors is its all-star team of management and directors which has experience in discovering millions of ounces of gold and silver, and in building multiple billion-dollar mining companies. With this combined track record of business acumen and skill in discovery, Austin Gold Corp. rightly promotes its management and directors as one of the core drivers behind its success and value creation.
Geologists Duane Wrede and Robert Hatch with Austin Gold Corp. President Dennis Higgs | Austin Gold Corp.
Austin Gold Corp.’s President and Director Dennis Higgs has been instrumental in the growth of various mining ventures in the past, most notably with Uranerz Energy which was acquired by Energy Fuels in 2015 and is now valued at just over $1.0 billion. In 2005 Dennis engaged Glenn Catchpole and a team of uranium sector professionals to explore the idea of what became Uranerz Energy, which had its shares listed on the NYSE American in 2006. Initially focusing on the Athabasca basin in Saskatchewan, the management team eventually raised funds to acquire and develop several In-Situ Recovery (ISR) uranium projects in the United States. Uranerz successfully explored, permitted, built, and operated its Nichols Ranch ISR uranium project in Wyoming with the objective of building the largest domestic uranium producer in the United States, which they effectively did.
In 2017, Dennis was asked to advise in the building of another uranium opportunity. He joined Todd Hilditch, currently of Riley Gold, to raise funds and facilitate the listing of URZ Energy on the TSX-V. In this new uranium project, Dennis brought along former Uranerz executive officers and operated as an advisor. Trading commenced in 2017 and in 2018 URZ Energy was acquired by Azarga Uranium in an all-share transaction, to form a new US-focused ISR development company. Near the end of 2021, enCore Energy Corp. acquired all of the shares of Azarga Uranium which was effectively the second time that “URZ” had been acquired at a significant premium. enCore Energy is now listed on the NASDAQ and has a market capitalization of over $800 million.
Observing the Lone Mountain gold project in Nevada | Austin Gold Corp.
Austin Gold Corp.’s Vice President of Business Development, and brother to Dennis, Darcy Higgs, is a capital markets professional who was registered in Canada and in the United States. He has a proven track record of successful financings, including guiding Pretium Resources’ $75 million lead order for its initial public offering. Pretium owned the Brucejack gold and silver project, located in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle region, which grew into a “large-scale, long-life, low-cost mine.” In 2021 it was announced that total proven and probable mineral reserves at Brucejack were 3.9 million ounces of gold, 29.6 million ounces of silver, and that it had total measured and indicated mineral resources at 7.2 million ounces of gold and 48.8 million ounces of silver. Pretium Resources was later acquired by Newcrest in 2022 for $2.8 billion.
A dilapidated shack at the Lone Mountain gold project in Nevada | Austin Gold Corp.
Austin Gold Corp. was also able to secure the experience of two expert geologists, Perry Durning and Bud Hillemeyer, who are the sole two members of the company’s advisory board. Over their illustrious careers, they have discovered over one billion ounces of silver and over ten million ounces of gold. Mr. Durning has worked extensively throughout the western U.S.A., Mexico and Central and South America. During his career, he worked for Amax Exploration, SAGE Associates and Occidental Minerals, before becoming Exploration Manager and then President of Fischer-Watt Gold Co., Inc., after which he co-founded La Cuesta International, Inc. Mr. Hillemeyer has worked with an extensive array of clients including Kennecott, Meridian Gold, BHP, Mount Isa Mines, Hecla Mining Co., Crown Resources, Monarch Resources, SSR Mining Inc., Canplats Resources Corporation, The Electrum Group, LLC and others.
Mr. Durning and Mr. Hillemeyer were selected by the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) as the 2010 co-award winners of the Thayer Lindsley Award in recognition of La Cuesta’s multiple grassroots discoveries in Mexico.
A reverse circulation drilling rig at the Kelly Creek gold project in Nevada | Austin Gold Corp.
Over the course of two interviews, Dennis and Darcy Higgs have repetitively said that “the most important element for achieving success is the people involved. People that have a track record of success and creating value for shareholders.” In building the team of management and directors chosen to be the force behind what they hope will be the Austin Gold Corp. success story, emulating that of Uranerz, URZ and Pretium in terms of valuation, it is clear that the credentials of the management team were paramount.
As of now, Austin Gold Corp.’s drilling at the Stockade Mountain Project in Oregon has produced encouraging results that demonstrate the strength of the hydrothermal system and the potential for significant gold mineralization within the project area. They will also be advancing the Lone Mountain project (imagery included above) with surface work to better define targets for drilling.
This article was authored by witan nook. and paid for by Austin Gold Corp. in Canadian dollars
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