Can you tell us what attracted you to establish ATEX Resources and acquire the Valeriano copper gold project?

Back in 2010, when I was the VP of geology and exploration at Hochschild, we optioned the Valeriano property due to our interest in the high sulphidation epithermal (HSE) gold system and our belief that there could be a porphyry deposit at depth. Hochschild made the copper-gold porphyry discovery during two drilling campaigns, but we had other priorities at the time. In 2019, ATEX was formed and immediately acquired Valeriano and later staked several HS-Generative projects in Northern Chile. After divesting all but two of its HS-Gen assets in 2021, ATEX focused its attention on the flagship Valeriano property. We believe that Valeriano has many similarities to Filo Mining’s Filo del Sol project, both having high sulphidation copper mineralization progressing in depth into hypogene porphyry mineralization hosted in Permo-Triassic rhyolites.

How have you advanced the Valeriano property through exploration?

After acquiring the project in 2019, we began working on putting out inferred resource estimates for both the near-surface HSE gold oxide deposit and the copper-gold porphyry deposit. The results showed an HSE deposit containing 585,000 oz gold and 2.65 million oz silver in the inferred category, totaling 622,00 gold equivalent (Au eq.) oz at an Au eq. grade of 0.561 g/t. The copper-gold porphyry deposit contains an estimated 1.77 million t of copper, 1.84 million oz Au, and 8.62 million oz Ag in the inferred category, for a combined 2.30 million t of Cu eq.

We raised approximately C$3 million in late 2020 and commenced with a drilling program in early 2021 focused on expanding the size of the HSE gold oxide deposit and converting inferred resources to the measured and indicated categories. Although the HSE gold deposit is an interesting resource, we decided the real value in the property is the copper porphyry at depth and built a conceptual model of what the porphyry system could look like. This was followed by a C$8.5 million financing round to further drill the deposit. Our Phase II drilling campaign commenced in January 2022 and focused on extensions of the known high-grade mineralization zone defined by drill hole VALDD-14. We drilled two holes, one 200 m northeast and the other 200 m southwest of our best intersections, looking for porphyry extensions of the known high-grade zones.

ATEX raised C$8.5 million through a private placement in December 2021. What led to the company’s share price appreciation before this financing, and where will these funds be focused in 2022?

During and after the financing, ATEX’s share price increased almost five times, going from C$0.10 in October 2021 to C$0.48 in December. Getting Pierre Lassonde on board as a lead investor in a private placement attracted significant attention. All the funds raised went into the advancement of the Valeriano project. Our Phase II drilling focused on extensions of the known high-grade mineralization zone defined by drill hole VALDD-14, and we were able to significantly expand the porphyry mineralization outline.