Balmoral Resources – Management Interview

Tell us a little about you and your team’s background and any career highlights so far.

Darin Wagner, President & CEO

Mr. Wagner is a Professional Geologist with 28 years of exploration and corporate development experience. Mr. Wagner spent the first 10 years of his career with two of Canada’s largest and most successful exploration and mining companies (Noranda (now Glencore) and Cominco (now Teck)) before moving into the junior sector.

In 1999 through 2005 Mr. Wagner served as Exploration Manager for TSX-listed Platinum Group Metals through the acquisition, discovery, and early phase of delineation of the multi-million ounce West Bushveld PGE deposit in South Africa. In 2005 he took over control of Sydney Resource Corp. and engineered the successful merger to form West Timmins Mining Inc. in 2006. He then served as a President, CEO, Director, and Qualified Person for West Timmins Mining through the discovery of the high-grade Thunder Creek gold deposit in Timmins, Ontario and the acquisition of West Timmins by Lake Shore Gold (now Tahoe Resources Inc.) in an all share deal valued at $424 million.

Mr. Wagner and the Balmoral team have been twice recognized as Explorers of the Year in Quebec for Balmoral’s Martiniere Gold and Grasset Nickel discoveries. Mr. Wagner and the team at Platinum Group Metals were awarded the NWOPA Explorer of the Year Award in 2004 for the Seagull Pt-Pd discovery near Thunder Bay, Ontario. In addition to his duties with Balmoral Mr. Wagner currently serves on the Board of Directors of VR Resources and Palamina Corp, was a co-founder of Falco Resources, and a founding director of NewCastle Gold.

For my part I spent the better part of 10 years as an exploration geologist and project manager with the majors before entering the junior side of the business. Starting in 2000 I was fortunate to team with a very successful group of individuals which saw the discovery of what are now three mines (Thunder Creek (gold); Maseve (platinum) and Juanicipio (Silver)) and the creation of substantial shareholder value through the process.

One a personal level I was able to move from the coreshack into the executive chair (with one foot in the core shack) with West Timmins Mining and navigate it through the sale to Lake Shore (now Tahoe). This reinforced my view of the value to be created through successful exploration which was the primary driver for the creation of Balmoral - with the same roots as West Timmins - and my role as a director in other public companies.

BAR's team has now twice won the explorer of the year in Quebec for our discoveries on the Detour Gold Trend and continue to make new discoveries on virtually every program we run. The core of the team is also major company trained and they are backed by a number of dynamic young geologists keen to challenge convention and industry dogma.

The Board and balance of the management team are all highly experienced and successful in their own right and bring a diversity not always seen in the junior space.

 What recent news would you like to highlight to investors attending?

1. April 2017: We anticipate a series of new gold results from the currently on-going winter drilling program at Martiniere.

2. Recent results from the Martiniere drill program have been highlighted by broad gold near surface intercepts (including 115.45 m grading 1.40 g/t gold, 78 m grading 1.65 g/t gold) which include a high grade core zone (41.95 m @ 3.24 g/t gold (incl. 11.58 m @ 6.30 g/t gold); 18,26 m @ 5.41 g/t gold, 17.00 m @ 4.50 g/t) from expanding Bug South deposit

3. Fall drilling doubled the known depth extent of the gold system at Martiniere to 750 vertical metres - below which it remains open for further expansion

What is the focus of your management team for the next 12 months, and what are the key milestones you are looking to reach that you think will add value to the business?

1. Continued delineation / resource definition drilling of the multiple gold deposits that comprise the Martiniere gold system

2. Follow-up drilling of the multiple new high grade gold discoveries proximal to the Martiniere gold system

3. Continued exploration of the 1,000 square kilometre land position encompassing over 100kms of the major regional gold bearing deformation zones that host one of Canada's largest gold mines

What do you see as the key risks and challenges facing your company at the moment and how are you overcoming these?

Aside from frequently fluctuating commodity and market pressures, the primary challenge for the company moving forward is efficiently managing its resources and capital requirements while balancing the delineation of the Martiniere gold system and discovery potential of our land holdings. Asking our shareholders to be patient while we delineate the asset at Martiniere with as few holes (read: as little dilution) as possible, similar to our approach at Grasset, and thus maximize its impact on the shareholders and also provide them with the exposure to more discoveries in the near term. 

What is your main aim in coming to the 121 Mining Investment conference?

Our past experience with the 121 events has exposed us to a spectrum of institutional and high net worth investors who have both provided support for the Company in the public market and participated in equity raises. We are looking for continued introductions to those who may be unfamiliar with the Company and to update those we have met with in the past.

Over the last 12 months we have seen a significant increase in the size and scale of our principal gold project at Martiniere. We are currently in resource delineation mode on 4 deposits and looking to expand on four additional new discoveries within the system.

Investors like to see that management have “skin in the game”. Tell us briefly about your management team’s investment in the business.

I remain one of the Company's largest shareholders with a fully diluted position equal to approx. 3.8% of the Company. Despite their option positions having been well in the money on several occasions management has shown its faith in the projects but not chasing the money and still holds all of its option positions.

Balmoral provides to its shareholders a unique combination of high quality, expanding assets in one of the world's "go-to" mining jurisdictions, proven exploration savvy and success and exposure to discovery potential of one of the least explored segments of one of the world's richest mining belts; all through the filter of creating shareholder value.

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