CEO.CA Chairman's Briefing

Charles MaLette: Hi Peter, nice to talk to you today.

Peter Bell: Great, thanks. And you're the CEO of Nine Metals.

Charles MaLette: Nine Mile Metals. And the symbol $NINE, which most people know.

Peter Bell: There's been a bunch of buzz around NINE this week. Here we are, Friday, June 10th, the market is closed, PDAC is in the days ahead, and you guys have stirred up much attention for a good reason. I would say kudos to you for giving investors a chance to get some information sooner -- the wait times at assay labs for some of these things have been outrageous, and the ability to have some XRF information out in a standardized and systematic way is a breath of fresh air.

Charles MaLette: Well, I'm glad you said standardized because that's one of the things we've been trying to achieve -- to do it in a lab-like way. Here's how we analyze the core. After it's split, it's turned upside down, and we have an XRF gun that's fixed, and it takes 40 readings every meter. That's 400 data points for 10 meters. We don't influence what part of the rock we're taking a laser picture of with the XRF. We spend much time at it to ensure it's calibrated correctly. We talk to the manufacturer and have blanks. One thing I'd like to say is that we will have assays, and when we do, we will compare them to the XRF numbers. We expect that they won't be that far off from the XRF.

Peter Bell: Just looking at the core and the type of mineralization you're seeing there, it's not like the XRF numbers sound particularly unrealistic.

Charles MaLette: Yes, and we do cut the core so we can see that all the way through that it may be supportive in terms of copper or zinc. Again, we're being careful. And another thing I would like to say is that there's no silver or gold numbers here but we have always had silver and gold numbers in assays.

Peter Bell: Well, the difference is several orders of magnitude for PPM versus percentage points. And the accuracy on something that's measured in PPM versus percentage points is drastically different, I would think. Good to stick to reporting the larger numbers measured in percentage points like copper and zinc as those are safer and more reliable. You know, one PPM is one ten thousandth of a percentage point and my understandnig is that it's harder for the XRF to get those more miniscule quantities exactly right.

Peter Bell: And I saw one person kind of questioning things, saying that maybe you zap the core at selective spots. I thought, "Have you seen the core?" You put pictures in the news releases and it looks beautiful. I am not particularly worried about you selecting hot spots to scan, although I know that is one of the things that can get people into trouble with XRF analyzers.

Charles MaLette: I wish I could send everybody a rock like this. When you pick this stuff up, you notice that these rocks are heavy. It's obvious they're filled with metal. It's much simpler than trying to see some gold that doesn't show up.

Peter Bell: And speaking of that, it sounds like you have found a home for a box or two at the event next week in Toronto!

Charles MaLette: Yes. We have a booth with a company that's been kind enough to share with us. When we started drilling, we didn't know what we'd come up with so we couldn't go ahead and plan for PDAC without something to tell people. So we didn't book a booth but now we are sharing a booth with a company you know called Windfall Geotek. Their booth number is 2149 and Patrick Cruickshank, who is doing the bulk of the work on the property in the core shack helping with everything, will be there with the geologist, Gary Lohman, and they'll have the core.

Charles MaLette: Again, it's booth #2149.

Peter Bell: Well done. I think that'll be a hot spot of activity. They're really cool. I'm afraid I won't be there myself but I hope you guys have lots of fun.

Charles MaLette: We should and these guys are working really hard right now to try to get more results out for next week.

Peter Bell: Once you get into it, the the rigs can produce pretty quickly. Especially when we're talking about targets near surface like this.

Charles MaLette: Yes. The drilling went smoothly. Actually, the XRF takes an hour per meter to be extra careful. Another thing I'll mention that we did put in the news release is that we actually shipped 25 meters of core, even though we put out XRF results for only 11 meters of this drill hole. We did ship the full 25 meters.

Peter Bell: I'm a little aggressive with some of this to stuff and I'd say don't be scared to send some off for preliminary testing as well, sooner than later.

Charles MaLette: Yes, as you know there's a lot to do.

Peter Bell: You've drilled copper, your problems are just beginning!

Charles MaLette: I am not the most experienced person in the Bathurst, but my understanding is that copper results like this are unique. They don't find nine percent copper in most of the drilling. And most of the drilling is different because this horizon is usually deeper. This kind of result is unusual and it gives us room to be optimistic.

Peter Bell: There was some useful chatter online at CEO.ca this week where some people posted some helpful information about the work that had been done prior to now, describing surface exposure and things to help get me in the ballpark with a rough understanding of what we're talking about here. It sounds like the private company, whose name escapes me, it sounds like they did a good job getting this project ready for the market.

Charles MaLette: Yes, they spent quite a bit of time and money doing a lot of surface work going over old results and obviously it's paid off for us. Another thing we said in the news release is that we did drill two holes for the geophysics and we have now got the permit, so we hope that will be done very quickly in the next week or two. That will give us a picture which we don't have now.

Peter Bell: Oh, the borehole EM is such a useful tool. Again, kudos to you for using that. Especially when you have these kind of podiform-shaped deposits where you think it's going to be small, but highly conductive, this 3d geophysics is so useful. I've been yelling at people about that for years and not many people I talked to wanted to do downhole geophysics, but just recently I've seen several companies talking about it and doing it. I'm really glad to see that tool getting used more widely, it's very effective when you're at the deposit-scale. It's not a project-scale tool to figure out where do we search, but it's a deposit-scale tool. Once you're in and around some high-grade, the question is how much is there? The potential to get some rough volumetric numbers, even if they are not definitive, is helpful to start wrapping your head around scale. I would appreciate a borehole em survey more than a scissor hole at this point.

Charles MaLette: Yes, me too. I talked to Patrick and we feel this is really going to be something that gives us a lot of information. Also, we have EarthEX AI Technology who are helpful. They take all the historical data back to 1980, with any drill holes they take a sample of the core and send it to the lab, then put all the information together with new data -- they fly the property with the drone and get all the possible geophysics information to put it all together in a 3d model for us. And once we get that, it'll give us more guidance. They spot the drill hole collars, the direction, the depth, and they've been very very successful. We are using them.

Peter Bell: That's a good competitive tension to have your core at the Windfall booth and the EarthEX guys in the background. Hey, just look at Goldspot -- they bought this company and that company. They've gone on a shopping spree, so who's to say that Windfall couldn't find some partnerships or whatever down the line with EarthEX.

Charles MaLette: We are thankful to these guys so that we do have a place to show this core. Everybody wants to see the core and we're hoping that'll bode well as we go along this coming week.

Peter Bell: And a shoutout to the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec, too. It has a significant copper mining history there and New Brunswick are not so far apart. And there is other stuff in Newfoundland, too. York Harbor has the market's attention. And I like what Spruce Ridge did with the Burnt Lake deposit. That's a little bit further along in terms of drilling off and they've got a PEA. I liked what I heard in their PEA about doing starter pits then shifting to underground mining at relatively small scale around 100 tonnes per day. It's not a mega mine, but it could be a win! It could be well.

Charles MaLette: Yes, and if you look at our project then imagine what we may see with a bulk sample.

Peter Bell: Well, if you put your headline through the Kitco calculator then you get like $1,450 rock per tonne. That's significant. There are discount factors for this and lots of details about what is payable and the devil is in the details, but it's a great litmus test to mine a thousand tons. I don't know if you could find a thousand tonnes of that kind of grade? It can be

Charles MaLette: Yes, I believe we can. I think that we could have that right now, almost certainly.

Peter Bell: And that's from surface without significant stripping? How much waste from how big of a pit would you have to wrap around that lens to get that amount of high-grade material?

Charles MaLette: It's too early to say at this point. That's something to talk about, but not something we're planning right now.

Peter Bell: And the regulators start to get upset when you talk about dollar values and mine plans without having tight drilling and high confidence of the metal endowment. But, at the same time, we need to upgrade the rules to match the technology. The Canadian mining business seems to be suffering relative to the Aussies, I'd say. And there's a question of why? Those are big questions that I don't have the answers for, but there's a bunch of stuff with 43-101 that's not clear. I've heard countless times from people who say, "oh, you can't do that." And I say, okay are you sure? Well, it turns out you can but it's just that some geologists told them that they couldn't. Or when they went to school, they learned that they're not supposed to do this or that. It seems like a bunch of bad habits permeate the business.

Charles MaLette: That's the thing with using XRF very carefully -- we want to be very careful when our assays come out. We'd like them to be right-on with the XRF.

Peter Bell: And anyone who's looking at your news flow versus your stock chart might notice that there was a run in the price that started around the time when you first press released the pictures of the core! Anyone who's really upset about you posting an XRF headline should also go and look at that news release because that's another thing that gets some people bent out of shape is showing drill core. But as an investor, I want to see as much core as I can! I don't just want a few pics of nice stuff, but I want to see every box. And if we can get XRF of every box with high-res photographs and even alteration with hyperspectral scanning of the core then please give it me! That information is valuable and quick to collect and distribute. I don't want to wait till next year for assays.

Charles MaLette: Yes, and you may have noticed that people commented how before we put that news out, the stock hadn't traded in a week! We were very quiet.

Peter Bell: What a market for that surprise strategy. It is scary out there for some people. It's a ghost town in some ways. But then look what happens when you give good results and do it in a meaning and careful way? Bullish!

Peter Bell: One other news release that I saw from you guys that I liked was your technical advisory committee. I think that that has some meaning as well.

Charles MaLette: Yes, we do have some people with some relevant knowledge here. One of our new directors, Jean-Luc, spent two years in Bathhurst working a long time ago. He ran a mine in the Congo for seven years as the mine manager. Patrick has a lot of experience, Gary has a lot of experience, and EarthEX have a member there who can help us enormously.

Peter Bell: I've heard weird things about New Brunswick, but then I'm seeing companies with success out there. I don't have a lot of experience there but it looks good.

Charles MaLette: The people from the government could not be more helpful. It took us 30 days to get the permit. Now compare that to British Columbia.

Peter Bell: For drilling?!

Charles MaLette: Yes. New Brunswick wants business. They want mining. And they are more than helpful. They're going to come have a look at the core. We've applied for grants and we're pretty sure that we'll get them. They could not be more helpful.

Charles MaLette: The permits for the downhole geophysics only took a week.

Peter Bell: Oh my god. This is another one of those things that is refreshing to hear. It is bucking the trend for worse and worse permiting timelines and uncertainty around the world. I think most of us have decided that's the way it is -- permits take five years and it'll be out of date by the time you get it. Wake up call, guys -- capital is global. It is mobile and it goes where it's treated well. Whether or not it's being treated well in the exploration business at large is a big question, but I care about the specifics and that comes down to management teams and jurisdictions. If you have you know a jurisdiction that's making it easy to operate then that's going to attract investment. And then it's up to the management teams to make the best of what they have in the ground.

Charles MaLette: I appreciate the call and I will happily have a call another time when we go down the road here. We will have a lot more information for the market.

Peter Bell: Thanks, I'd be happy to dive into the technical side sometime with one of your team members or two.

Charles MaLette: We're being a bit cautious now because we'd like to get a lot more news out to the market and then hold a call to cover any questions anybody has.

Peter Bell: Great, thanks very much Bud! Learn more about Nine Mile Metals NINE on the CSE. 

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