Investing in Exploration: Which Teams Have What It Takes?

0:08 Welcome everyone to today's discussion on investing in exploration. We'll try and delve into the human aspect of this technical industry and determine which teams have what it takes. This is a live event so if you are in the audience and have a question that contributes to the conversation at hand, please submit it in the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen and I'll try my best to incorporate it into the discussion at hand. Today we are joined by Brian Skanderbeg, President and CEO of GFG Resources, Ian Bliss, CEO of Northern Shield Resources, Jim Atkinson, CEO of Advanced Gold Exploration, and Rob Bergman, CEO of relevant gold. Gentlemen, thanks for joining me today. Let's just kick things off with a quick round of introductions. Could each of you share how you came to be a CEO of an exploration company?

0:55 What drove you to take on this role considering the many hats required and the odds of success are stacked against you. Maybe we'll start with you, Rob. Sure. Yeah, well, thanks for having me today. I'm happy to join this panel with some of our colleagues here in the industry and looking forward to the discussion.

1:14 As far as kind of what drove me into the CEO role at Relevant Gold, it really was a natural progression in my career. I had been working on the private side of the industry for a long time, building a number of profitable businesses with our co-founder, Brian Lentz, one of which is one of the kind of top tier exploration consulting groups in North America, servicing a variety of majors, big rock exploration. And really, you know, I've always been attracted by a few things, things that are fun and exciting and challenging. Our group loves a good challenge. We love complex situations and trying to kind of dissect them. And so moving into relevant gold, there was a thesis, an opportunity there that really just couldn't be ignored and was something that we really wanted to pursue, take some big swings, and we're doing that now. And so, you know, again, kind of with my career path, it was an obvious and natural progression after leading a number of businesses in the private side and evolving into a big, big thesis in Wyoming with relevant goal.

2:25 Thank you for that, Rob. And Brian, how did you find yourself the CEO of GFG Resources?

2:31 Yeah, I'm a team player really. And I think when I think of GFG's path and why we set up GFG in my role as CEO is really just a desire to work with a team I really enjoy and do it from where I think my base is with my family and Saskatoon's home and ultimately GFG was a platform set up so I could apply technical work, a desire for discovery, technical talent and pair that with the business aspects that are required to fill the CEO position. So you just find the blend between capital markets and the strategic side and the technical aspects of running an exploration company really ideal for someone like myself. So right place, right time. And we had a good track record having ran load resources before, made discoveries, put them in production and sold the company. So there was enough people behind us that were willing to support us when we founded GFG. And ultimately, we all do what we do because of a desire to work with people we enjoy and really drive discoveries.

3:33 It's a little bit about my path and why I became CAEO. Thanks for sharing. And Ian. Yeah, well, my case is nothing deeply philosophical or scientific. I mean, my father was a geologist, so I was very familiar with the geology mining and exploration world, having been born in the bush in Southern Africa. But at that time, I'd been working in Greenland for about 7-years or 7-seasons and then each season I was spending 3-5-months sleeping in a pub pit, which I was getting a little bit tired of.

4:04 And there's also reasonably successful at finding minimization, generating targets and projects for the company I was consulted to, which was really the Danish government. So, after 7 or 8 seasons in Greenland, I started to figure, well, why not? If I can find this for others, why not find it for my own company, my own shareholders? And so that was one of the motivations and not having to spend the next 7 years in a pot tent. And so I generated some targets on my own in Northern Ontario, some PGEs, which is really my background, having my father's background too, and a few Kimberlite targets. And I remember taking my father up to Northern Ontario to stake a claim. And the idea was to fake the claim.

4:49 At the end of the day, we would traverse across magnetic target, which we thought was Kimberlite. And then on Monday, I go to Toronto and meet with some other pros, you know, the predecessors of the Rears and sell the project to them on Monday. There's one thing I learned after 25-years, it takes a lot longer to go from a stake in a claim to discovery and sale than a long weekend. But my enthusiasm hasn't waned and Whether you're a CEO, a geologist, a prospector, a technician or a shareholder, who doesn't like a giant detective game, which is what exploration is. You don't only have the satisfaction and the reward of putting the pieces of the puzzle together and, you know, finding the treasure, so to speak, finishing that detective game. But, you know, hopefully there's a financial reward at the end of that. And as I say, who doesn't like a giant detective game?

5:45 Certainly. And Jim? Well, I was, after I retired from a mining company I was doing exploration for them and sort of flopping around and I Ran into a guy that needed some help with a company private company that he had called Talisker Resources And Talisker was in a bit of trouble. They did have a small gold resource in the Wawa area, about 150,000 ounces, but they only had 500 square kilometer, 500 hectares, I should say. So they asked me to come in and help them out. The first thing I did was expanded the land position to 10,000 hectares and sort of made it worthwhile to have a go at, and then sold that project to Angus Gold and distributed shares and cash to our shareholders. And then we decided, well, we still have the company, let's take it public. So we went through the hassle of going public and became Advanced United Holdings. And then last year we decided to change our name into a gold company.

6:53 So I've been 50 years in the business and you know I never really wanted to be a CEO although you know I enjoyed doing it and I think I'm pretty good at it. But anyway, it just sort of happened that way, going from being a technical person into a person that has to apply other skills and work with other people. And that's just sort of how it happened. And that's how

7:17 I got, kind of got where I am. And Jim, we'll go in reverse order and yeah, work with other people. The question we're trying to cover today is what teams have what it takes. So what do you look for when you're trying to assemble a team of an exploration company? Yeah, I think a good team needs 3 or 4 different characteristics. They need a technical person, of course. I think they need a cheerleader, that what I would call a marketing person, and I'm very happy to have 6 working with us on that. They're doing a great job of that. We also need a finance person, you know, either someone who can control the finances like a CFO, because as geologists we tend to not understand about budgets, but anyway, but that's why you have a CFO. And I think also you just need some people who have connections in the business. And I think that would be a pretty perfect team if you had all of those things. The important part of it initially, of course, is the technical side.

8:18 But once you sort of get the technical side worked out, in other words, you have some good projects and you're working on them, drilling and doing whatever, developing models and all the things that good technical people can do, then you need help on the other sides, the marketing, the finance part of it, meeting with people. And so it takes that kind of a team, I think.

8:40 And that's kind of what we've put together. And I'm pretty happy with the way that's going. Now, there's still a crappy market out there, but I think we're moving towards something that's going to get a little bit better. Thank you. Ian, do you have anything to add on to that in terms of team? Yeah, I mean, I think, Obviously, you start from the ground up and that's a geologist. When it comes to geologists, I call the 2 Ps. I want to see them very principled and very practical. As a geologist in the exploration world, you really got to be practical. Showing me a list of 20 research papers on Neurium-Strontium ratios of biotite is probably not going to catch my attention on its own. And you must show a strong practical application of your geological knowledge and a respect for that science in here.

9:33 And any geologist has to be more than just a geologist in this day and age. It's a lot more complicated. You've got to be a jack of all trades, geologist on the exploration front, somebody in the forefront of community engagement, health and safety, logistics, budget, everything. So you need your geological staff to be really a jack of all trades. But what you want to see is from all of them, it's a drive to be part of the

10:00 discovery, part of the success and wanting to contribute to that. It's just not a 9 to 5 job. You want them energized to be part of that success. But building his team is more than just putting the blocks into place. It's growing that. And I mean, Jim was talking about CFOs. Very early on, we took our CFO up to some of the remote exploration sites, not only to show him how the money was being spent, but for him to understand the difficulties we're going through and learn our language. And so he became a part of the team as well. I took a lot of their early hire young geologists to broker meetings so they can see the other side of the game that they're involved in too. So it's not just the building blocks, it's continuing developing that team together and getting staff that would not normally see that like a CFO of the exploration world and vice versa. So it's very much, as Brian said too, a team building

11:09 exercise. Now pass it to Brian here, but I'll add on top of that, in terms of the question, just so we can get a little more out of it. How do you get top talent when you have to compete against the mid-tiers and majors? Yeah, I think my peers here have spoken quite well about what it takes to build a good team, so I won't elaborate on that. Attracting talent out of the mid-tiers is a challenge we all face and the people, labor competition is probably one of our bigger risks in the exploration industry. So when I think about it, you know, our path with GFG has been identify a very high caliber individual, you're probably going to have to promote them into the role. And when we think about like a VVP exploration position or a VP Biz Dev and IR, if they're really good at what they're doing, and if they're positioned in that position already, they're going to be compensated at a higher level already within those majors and mid-tiers. So, GFG is going to have a difficulty competing with them. So, finding and highlighting that right individual that's ready to move into the role, aligning them with the equity and participation, I think is one of the key differentiators in terms of what the junior sector can offer. And I've certainly taken that talk with some of our peers and even our VP exploration owners that joined us last spring. So he has a lot of equity. He stepped into his first BPX role. He was more than ready for the role and he left a mid tier to work with people he liked and people that resonated with him. So

12:39 I would say all of those 3 are really key, strong working relationships, equity, incentive, and finding the right person at the right time to promote.

12:49 Thank you. Rob, do you have any further commentary on this? Yeah, no, a great, great description there by my colleagues here. I echo a lot of that sentiment. I think as far as building the team, one thing we focus on internally is passion over paycheck. It's a simple way of illustrating, you know, that we're looking for the people who truly want to be a part of that discovery, that want to be a part of the team.

13:14 We're not looking for individual all-stars. It takes an army to make a discovery and it takes a lot of smart people. So that passion is a key component in the cohesion, right? The right types of people coming together can do magical things. So definitely, building a drama-free environment is something we try to focus on. As far as the competition with mid-tiers and majors, I'd say that's one of the things that we've done drastically different than a lot of groups in the industry. And a lot of this came from some of our mentorship from Peter McGaugh, even in the university days, but we built the toolkit first. So our first business was a technical consulting firm. We've now got 5 offices, 75 scientists in that group, a whole escalator of specialties, tools and equipment, everything from or microscopy and petrography labs, assay equipment, geophysical equipment, you name it, right? So that was kind of our first step, knowing that that was a gap in the future that needed to be bridged.

14:15 And it really gives us kind of a unique ability to tap into

14:19 that really top tier talent pool. You know, most of all the folks in our group are ubiquitously working predominantly for majors and mid-tier. So it's these groups that are coming to our consulting firm to get access to that top talent. And we've got that at our disposal kind of an ad hoc needed basis. So we reengineered the approach of really building that toolkit first,

14:46 you know, kind of having that depth of expertise, experience in all different types of deposits and parts of the process. And then from there have utilized that as one of our, you know, strong distinguishers in the industry is being able to tap into that depth. For individuals that just entered the room, I want to remind people we are accepting questions and I'm going to take this opportunity to integrate a question from the audience into the chat here. Terry Ann Willik, he asked, how do you balance old school exploration techniques with modern technology, team members with different philosophies and instincts?

15:24 Is it possible to integrate at all? Brian or Rob, if someone wants to kick off this. Yeah, I think you have to be willing to embrace that aspect to it. And part of building a diverse team is, sort of embedding that talent and that expertise on the side. If you recognize you don't have it, there's some groups that you can go to that you can insert into yours if you're looking for talent. And I would just take like social media marketing, like there's an angle that's taken off over the last 5 years or so, and it's a very unique little skill set. Some people will externalize that. 6 does a great job at it. And there's lots of little tips and practices that can be embraced to make our precious dollars go a lot further.

16:15 So I would say embrace some of that new technology, understand how to achieve it both in-house and externally. And the balance between old school and new school, I think if you remain old school and don't move forward, you're destined to be irrelevant.

16:35 I think where the old school comes in is the, I would call it the sort of due-diligent aspects of it. It's very good to make a beautiful model in the computer room in the office, but you have to go out in the field and do some work to make sure that it's real, make sure that you're actually representing what's out there. And I see this all the time with geophysics. Someone will do a geophysical survey, do a nice interpretation, go and drill a couple holes and get some answers that they didn't understand, they should go back and reinterpret the geophysics. And with the modern kind of tools that we have, you can do that. Back in the old days when you did a geology map you had to color the damn thing. Now if you do a geology map and you find something's wrong, you just do it over. It takes 5 minutes. And I think that's where I really think the

17:28 modern technology, if you want to call it that, is really valuable. There's a sense of it saves you time on things. It saves you time on changing your mind, redoing interpretations, redoing models. All that stuff is really where it helps a lot. And you're right, Brian, on the marketing side, digital marketing is something that we didn't even think about, as you said, 5 years ago. So, that's something that I think has become very important as well. We're just getting

17:58 the word out there. We said this before, well, before we were talking, before we came on, about how one of the things we have to do is try to educate the public about what it is we do, why we do it, how we do it, and how it's going to affect their lives. I know some of the organizations, Canadian Mining Association, prospectors, developers are working on that. And they're using modern, sort of marketing, digital marketing type technology to get that out there. And I think that's an important aspect of sort of the new technology that we can use. Yeah, I think another, oh, sorry, Ian. I was just gonna say, I think the critical, you know, component of that question, Terri-Ann, is balancing. How do you balance it? I think if you can balance it appropriately, that's where the magic happens, right? It's this collaboration and communication is really what is necessary to break down the barriers of old and new. We've got a trademark slogan, new eyes on old rocks.

19:01 And Dean Peterson, one of our technical advisors, says, I'm the old eyes on old rocks. And the reality of that is, it's finding the balance is actually kind of where the magic happens, right? It's where you get some of the younger mindset of technological advances, how to manipulate and interpret data in different ways. And then as Jim said, you get the deep knowledge of been there, done that, seen it a million times before. And when those things come together, that in my opinion is really where

19:36 some exciting things can happen for groups. Did you have anything else to add there, Ian? Yeah, I was just going to say, Especially when it comes on the geologic side, we really have no choice but to embrace technology. I think there's something set up for a little bit of old school, but deposits have become harder and harder to find. The easy ones have been found. So you have no choice but to embrace a technology

20:03 on the geological side as well. The easy ones have been found. 25 years ago when I started Northern Shield, most juniors were, it was a geophysical target and a drill program and that no longer works. We've got to look deeper, harder, under deeper cover. And to do that, you have to embrace technology. Definitely. Rob said something, it's like a balancing act between old and new. There's also a balance and act in regards to capital allocation, through marketing efforts and how much goes into the ground. How much should companies really rely on showcasing results and what is the level of importance of a well-crafted narrative to effectively communicate their vision.

20:51 How do you strike the perfect balance here? Maybe Rob, you can start this one off. Sure, well, I think that the balance is really dictated. The driver to what is in balance is dictated by the markets. I think the market conditions are a component of where and when you balance things from capital allocation, from the marketing perspective, and the exploration side, because we're all driven and at the kind of the whims of the market as far as capital raising, financing, equities, things like that. But ultimately I think that the results, this is what we're doing it for, right? You know, Ian described it as we're

21:35 treasure hunting. The results are really the key component of, we have an idea, we have a model, we're gonna go test that model. If we're right, this is what we're hoping to see, that the results really are gonna amplify, kind of, was your model accurate or were the inaccuracies surprising in a good way or a bad way, right? The geophysics examples, an obvious one where we get a shiny red dot and put some holes into it. And it's not always exactly what we would think or hope. So I think that that the balancing act of capital allocation is, you know, the component is is important. But the results themselves, this is what our shareholders are in it for. This is what we're in it for. As the largest shareholder of relevant gold, I'm like a kid before Christmas waiting for results to come in. And I'd like to think that all of our shareholders feel the same way. So I do think it's critically important to get the results out and to craft that in a way that is digestible to all audiences.

22:40 I think that's one of the challenges we face as leaders in the industry is how to actually put out good information in a digestible fashion, especially when the consumption of information for humans is increasing at a rapid rate as far as how quickly we digest things. So I think

23:01 the craftiness and the wordsmithing and how you approach your press releases is critically important. Yeah, you bring up a good point in regard to the press releases. I had a question prepared for that as well, because how do you construct this? What are the best practices for this day and age in regards to crafting a press release? Maybe Ian, you can start this one off. Well, I can tell you it's a very difficult balancing act there too, because on more than 1 occasion, I've had our chief geologist adamantly deny, worrying that I had drafted it in a news release based on the grounds that it was too promotional or insufficient geological backing. And then if I had directors who have a technical background tell me the news release is too technical and won't be understandable to the retail audience. So, again, it's a delicate balancing act.

23:56 And I think about more and more going forward,

24:01 technical aspects need to be brought into mutual leases because it also opens up your market. You have your retail market, but you also have other mining companies, analysts out there, and they want to see more of a technical description rather than too much of storytelling. But it is a very delicate balancing act. We tend to lean more towards the technical side. And I think partly

24:28 advanced projects are more easier to describe, especially if you're doing sort of infill drilling or definition drilling, where the earlier the story is, the earlier the project is, there's a lot of variables there that have to be brought across to the shareholders. And so it's a very delicate balancing act, especially with early stage storage, of trying to get the technical aspect across in an understandable way. But, you know, it's, but sometimes we have too much technical and sometimes there's too much storytelling as my chief geologist keeps saying. Yeah, I think, and just further on Ian's point, I really agree with that. One of the things that I find really annoying is you get beautiful pictures in the press release of something with lots of red dots

25:16 and lines and all kinds of colors, and really has nothing to do with what's being described in the description. Or, for instance, there's no description of why the drill holes were put where they were, or there's no description of how that's relevant to what they found. So I agree with what you're saying, but it needs to be thought about very, very carefully so that, you know, what goes out there is something that's understandable and logical and really makes sense for the story you're trying to tell. You know, it doesn't help to put out a geophysical survey that has nothing to do with the lithium deposit you're looking for or whatever. Or if it does, please explain why it does. Those are the kinds of things that I think I find annoying. Yeah, I would go on, you know, a little different tact and say, you know, recognize that those that are reading these releases are probably in 6 or 8 different baskets. So when we look at our press release, we try to structure it such that if somebody wants to stop and has no time to read it, we're

26:19 gonna give them the title and the 5 points right up front. And that's the message to take home. Even if they stopped at the title, they're gonna get it. If they read the first 5 bullets, they're gonna get it. And if you read my quote, it's going to be the so what? And that's the right after that. And if you want the technical detail, which many do and many don't, we're definitely cognizant to put that later in the release to have it there for those that want it. So I think it's a real balancing act and we've played with this and toyed with this with GFG, but I think most individuals that read these press releases don't necessarily take the time to read them all. So we're cognizant to give them what matters up front and really answer the so what. And I think Jim and Ian, you guys both mentioned this, somebody needs to walk away after reading a release and say, what are these drill results, geophysical data, soil samples?

27:15 What does it mean to the company or to the investor?

27:22 I like what you said there, Ryan, in regards to the format of the actual press release. Anyone else have any commentary or is that the blueprint? I do like that bullet point quote all right in your face at the beginning, but if anyone else has- Yeah, I agree with that. I echo the same sentiment. We're a headline society. People scroll, they get their news from what the headline is. Unfortunately, that is often the case. But, you know, echoing what Ian said, I think the technicals are also critically important for a specific type of audience in the sector. And so one of the methods we've been utilizing and, you know, quite honestly, I'm always open to feedback on it, is we'll embed a lot of links to the details. So, we'll give you the quick summation that's a bit more digestible to a broader audience, but for those analysts and those technical groups, the majors and the scientists out there that want to say, OK, they want to know what's the details behind the story. We've embedded some of that supporting material through our website into the news release itself to at least just provide that platform of research. And I think, you know, I'd argue that if people are digging that deep into your news releases, then that's also a really positive thing. Yeah, I think again, getting back to what we discussed before about new technology, of course, some years ago, you couldn't

28:46 do stuff like that. And that's again, how we're using the new technology to help us out because now we can do that. You know, now you can put on, you know, put out there, like you said, some links and anybody that's interested can delve into it in more detail.

29:04 I would just maybe add one piece too, that the craftsman of our news release is somebody that's focused on the market. So me being a technical individual, and yes, I have exposure to the capital markets, I rely on that individual, Mark Lepage, and I say, Mark, here's the 6 key themes that need to come across this and you craft the rest press lease, you know this market well, you are a market expert. And having that individual who crafts the lease release and really owns the message in terms of how it's formatted together is really critical. And many geologists end up being far too technical, and I'm probably one of those as well, where the message is just too detailed, it needs to be boiled down, resonated, and in the end, not so cloudy that somebody can't see the so what. And I think as a default, many of us technical individuals struggle with that piece. Yeah.

30:01 We get too excited about what we're finding.

30:05 This ties into a question from the audience nicely. Their handle is CS. But would it make sense to have the more technical stuff on the company website? And I would just add on to that in regards to technology like Fair Verify, is it worth spending the money on those interactive types of programs? It's open to whoever. I will just to start with it with a technical aspect on the website that is one way but again it's 1 further step for someone to go to even some of the that's interested in the technicalities so you can put a lot more there but I still like some putting some technical aspects within the press release. Again, you tend to build it in at the end in the technical session but I think it's important to get some of it there

30:58 so you know because in the idea that keywords might resonate with other people in the technical sector. So yeah, you can put some on the website, but I still think it's important to get some of it out in your press release. Because again, it substantiates what you're news releasing. And maybe Rob, I'm pointing to you directly, What about those interactive types of programs where there's a monthly fee? Is it worth it all or does the photos do it justice for? Well, so I think the interactive softwares are as powerful as the data put into them. And so, you know, it really that decision, I think, for any group should be driven by what can they actually display. Now, the benefit of the Verify systems and those like that out there are it really gives I think investors and shareholders that sense of owning it, touching it, feeling it, living it. And I think that is a distinguishing component of those kind of new technologies and modern technologies.

32:03 That said, I also believe that there's an art to how you present still imagery and your decks and things like that. I think that there's a lot of groups out there, everyone on this panel included that does a really good job of that. So I think it's a bit of artistry in a way. And, you know, for us, we try to blend the technologies with, you know, kind of that old and new school thinking, largely because of cost. I think in markets like these, you gotta be cognizant of every dollar you spend. So again, if the data is not robust enough to make a program like that really go to work for you, then it's probably not worth the investment.

32:49 But it doesn't mean that that isn't a great way to illustrate prospectivity and information. Because again, it's that touch-it-feel-it, hold-it thing. You know, I've seen a lot of virtual site tours. I personally love that as a geologist, looking at other companies and our peers in the group all the time. It's great to be able to dig in and understand kind of the lay of the land and how everything interacts. So I would say there's definitely benefit to it. But Again, in a tougher capital market, you gotta be really cognizant of every dollar you spend. I think you said that well enough. We don't need to circle around that question anymore. Let's see here. Brian, I have a question for you, directed to you, but it'll be open to the group. I know GFG is in the world-renowned Timmins District.

33:37 If an exploration company were to hit it big, being an exploration company, an exit strategy should always be something you're prepared for, right? How do you view the most value creation opportunities for a company that hits it big? Is it all market dependent? You know what, I guess the key word that maybe I can take out of that is value and definition of value. I think about value in the context of a CEO and a founder, and value is one piece to shareholders, but I think there's a broader value that is stakeholders. So if we think about the discovery path, and there's discoveries made, and maybe they're sold and shareholder returns are made. But enduring value, and this came out of a strategy session we ran recently with one of the companies I was involved with, was something that is tangible in the long term.

34:30 And you can see examples of that where you found a mine, you've created a mint shareholder value, your employees have won, your communities have won, and 10 years later you can look at that, back at that asset. And I'll take Clode as an example, which is a company I was involved with. We sold it 7 years ago, 7 years down the line. Everybody's got a great pension. There's a 10-year mine life. They're making new discoveries all the time and they're owned by a mid-tier. And it was a win-win-win all around. And both shareholders won well out of that too. So I think that value creation mechanism and the exit strategy for a junior, obviously we're not all gonna be mind builders and many of us don't have the talent or capacity or niche talent, maybe on the exploration sector.

35:15 We're not mind builders. You know, I've played a lot of different roles across the mining spectrum. I think that value creation is best if you can, you know, and ideally unlock something that's enduring, finding the next human's mind that's gonna be there for 20 years. And that's real value. So that's the epitome to me. Yeah, I think that's important. It's important to even try to understand what value is right now. Brian, I agree with you 100%. You should be able to say what it's going to be 20, 10, 20 years from now. But at this point in time, when you're trying to make a decision and your shareholders are anxious to monetize what they've done so far, it's a little more difficult situation, I think. I mean, they're going to want you to sell it for the highest dollar or put it in production or whatever their motivation is. And that's a real challenge to try to understand that, I think.

36:17 The fiduciary duty we all have, and we'll all look after that. We're mandated to make the right decision for our shareholders and if we're not, we'll end up being questioned by them. But oftentimes you'll find a circumstance where it's difficult and you can't necessarily balance those 2. And that's the realities of the sectors. Sometimes everything lines up and it does work out really well. But I think that's what we'd all like to see if we thought about long-term value. So how do you make the market take notice if the market is not interested in regards to like, if you hit great drill results, How do you let the market take notice of it? Maybe we'll pass that to Ian.

37:06 Well, I think you've got to prepare them with a background, prep the audience with the results, because results, even if they're spectacular, sometimes they're not meaningful, especially in these type of markets. And obviously, the more spectacular results, the easier it is to get the message across, but they're very rarely in that bracket. So, I think the key thing is to put some context into your results, make sure your shareholders, prior to the results coming out, understand the objective of that drill program, the surrounding geology and all of the understanding so that you need context for drill results, whether they're good or bad. And I think prepping your audience is a key ingredient of that, especially in these markets where it's tough, make sure they understand the objectives here.

38:06 Rob, when I saw that you would be joining the panel, I know you have a very successful consultant business with Big Rock Exploration, and you probably worked with many different outfits over the years. Have you noticed certain teams that are set apart from others and how so? Yeah, I think, I mean, honestly, I think the teams that really stand out are the ones that check a lot of the boxes we've already discussed on today's panel. The ability to collaborate, to put it simply, to collaborate without ego, which is incredibly challenging, especially in a technical audience or a technical team. And the groups that have a demonstrated ability to raise capital and then execute and follow through with their plans, those are the groups that have always stood out to us on the consulting side.

39:01 And I think that a lot of it really stems from the ability to work as a team. And that's that kind of collaboration component. I've worked with a number of groups throughout my career that have all the recipes, all the components of the recipe, maybe except for the chocolate chips to bake the cookies. But they end up not really being able to get to where they're really trying to go on the execution path because of the internal silos and barriers that are built. And a lot of that's built subconsciously. And that's where I think leadership is important. And good leaders help to foster good relationships, good collaboration, and understand the reality that we're all a link in a chain and without one of those links, the chain is broken. So, Brian and I have always looked at things with a flat-lying hierarchy and really just that team component collaboration.

40:02 And I think the groups that really illustrate that seem to be the ones that continue to stand out and continue to rinse and repeat over and over again in this industry. Thank you for that. Jim, you've been in this industry for over 50 years. Is there any questions I missed? I think this is a pretty all-encompassing conversation, but... I think so. Just the one thing that I always like to tell everybody is, yes, I have been in the business for 50 years. I've seen many cycles, they come and go. Don't get excited. Whatever part of the cycle you're at, don't get excited. So if you're at the top, don't get excited because it won't last. And if you're at the bottom, don't get excited because it won't last there either. So I mean, I think one of the things that we all demonstrate in this business, and I'm sure all you guys have it too, we're incredible optimists. And I think that's the only way you're gonna succeed in this business.

40:57 You have to be the guy that's gonna walk over that hill or dig the hole a little deeper or look behind that tree because that's the only way we're going to succeed and You know the optimism I think is what's kept me going for all these years So I think that's it. That's really all I you know all that I think I can really add to it. It's a cycle, don't worry, it'll go away. No, that's a good way to end this. We do have a few minutes left, so we might as well do a little one-minute elevator pitch of each of your companies, what to expect for 2024. Ian, why don't we start with you? What can people expect of Northern Sheo coming this year? Well, the properties that we explore for epithermal type Gold mineralization and porphyry Copper, the focus is the epithermal Gold has a tellurium associated with it.

41:48 We have disidentified that the Gold, it seems to be all on the fringes of a very large collapsed caldera complex. This is important because calderas often form very, very large deposits, especially in alkaline driven systems, which you've identified at Root & Cellar as well. Drilling late in the season last year, small program, 8 holes, 7 of the 8 holes hit epithermal Gold mineralization, the very tops of these structures. And now we see the geophysics, particularly IP, extending to the depth. We see a vast network of IP targets that now link up with some of the other showings within the property. So we have a very large footprint developing. It's about 2,000m long, 800m wide between the IP and the surface showings and the drill results.

42:37 And so we look forward to getting back drilling probably shortly after PDAC. We were supposed to be back there last week with a lot of snow storms in Newfoundland. That's left the delay on. But it's the scale of the system now that's beginning to withdraw attention in the epithermal world, not just the grays that we've been having. And I think it's going to be a very exciting year to start drilling off this large network of IP targets. Thanks for sharing. And Jim, what can people expect from Advanced Gold this year? Well, we have 2 areas where it's interesting Ian's talking about epithermal mineralization. One of our projects in South Carolina, which is pretty much in the same Avalon tectonic system that he's dealing with in Newfoundland, has just sort of, we've just had some discoveries of epithermal gold there. And one of the things that's starting to emerge from the Carolina gold belt where we are, like Hale is a large, large mine there. And what they've now started to develop is the feeder zone, the high-grade feeder zones for low-sulfidation epithermal systems that they've been mining there. So we have similar geology on some of our properties.

43:50 And as you mentioned about the alkaline systems on our property, we have something which is called the Faulkner Pyrophyllite alteration, and it's just solid pyrophyllite, and it's never really been explored. And, you know, again, when you're dealing with these alkaline systems, you have totally different kinds of alteration of surface. So we're pretty excited about that. The property already has some resources. We'll be drilling off that a little bit. But I think that's one thing that will get us excited this year. And the other thing is our property in the Kirkland Lake area, which has a bunch of veins with gold in them, typical situation. The interesting thing about that one is that It sits in the middle of a swamp. The only thing that's ever been explored there is the small outcrop where the veins, where the copper, I'm sorry, where the quartz veins are.

44:40 And last year when we did some drilling, we actually uncovered some altered porphyry dikes up to 18m wide, which have anomalous gold, which have never been explored and never followed up. So we'll be starting to get some exciting information from those 2 systems, I think. Thank you. And Brian, what about GFG? Yeah, our focus has been in Timmins for the last 5 years and we own about 800 square kilometers in this belt in 3 large land positions, Pandora and Gold Arm. This hosts a spectrum of targets right from initial concept stage all the way to something that's more developed and moving towards a resource stage like Montclair. In 2023, we drilled about 7,000m. We had great hits moving to depth, economic intercepts along mineable structures that are starting to show some scale and consistent with some of the big systems in Timmins. So we're excited with Montclair and following that up.

45:39 There's a secondary system called Aljo, looks very interesting. It's 30km away in the same land position. And the last press release we put out had a number of economic intercepts, both bulk tonnage and high grade. So there's some targets here we can certainly step back up into in 2024. We're planning about a 6,000 to 7,000 meter drill program, and we would anticipate starting that here in Q1 and Q2. Also, we have a financing in the market where we're raising about $3 million. We've seen some good support by Alamos, our largest shareholder, to endorse that and we would hope to close that in the coming weeks and fund some of the programs. Secondary asset, Rattlesnake Hills down in Rob's part of the world in Wyoming, 100% controlled by GFG and I'm hopeful that we can come back to the market and provide a strategic update with where we want to go with it. We are undertaking a strategic review with that asset. And I'm optimistic we can find the right partner or process to advance it and leverage some success that we've had down there, find the right partner or right path for the asset. So 2024 should be really exciting year for TFT.

46:46 Thanks, Kyle. Thank you. Excellent. And Rob, take us home. Yeah, well, you know, at Relevant Gold, we're really focused on defining a new mega district in Wyoming, specifically with connections to the Yavapiti. And, you know, we've been very diligently and systematically developing our portfolio out there. In the last 2 years, we've really finally got some drills into our initial targets. We've got some great results, proven up a couple of large fertile orogenic systems there. Again, these are near vertical systems, just like you see in the Abitibi. So we're gonna continue to build off of that success, looking at Lewiston and Golden Buffalo, 2 of our flagship assets, again, where we have demonstrated high-grade Gold, both at surface and at depth.

47:36 And we're really eager to follow up on those results and get a bunch more drill holes into it. It's kind of one of those things where if it were in the Abitibi, it would probably already have 100,000m plugged into it. So, we're a group that's really focused on building an exploration story for centuries to come. And, you know, and we've been diligently chipping away at that. So 2024 is going to be continuing to, you know, methodically navigate that plan. We'd like to get a significant drill program in at our heavy hand target at Lewiston and or over at Golden Buffalo, as well as some new targets that have come online and will be permitted this year. So we've got a lot of optionality, a lot of high-grade shears to penetrate with the drill, and we'll be looking to do just that. And simultaneously, continuing to work our regional portfolio up.

48:28 After this year's work, we've now got 12 truly district-scale high-grade targets with this strong connection to the Abitibi during the time of mineralization. So as we move through and navigate 2024, or our goal is also to move a number of those other targets into the drill-ready phase, get them permitted, and really have everything teed up for 2025 from there. Perfect. Gentlemen, thank you so much for the conversation and for everyone that attended today. If you did come in a little late, this was being recorded, so it will be available on YouTube within the coming days here. But thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it and enjoyed this discussion.