The Underground Press

Today's Issue September 17/ 2009

volume 13 - Issue 19

Written By Mark Jackson

VMS - WHEN STACKED UP-THEY STAND OUT

Money, people, and a vast Manitoba land package are the three things that set his company apart from other juniors across the country says VMS Ventures CEO, Rick Mark. In a CEO Interview Program produced by Agoracom, Mark spoke exclusively with interviewer Al O'Grady about these traits, as well as their August 12th

Mark said the new geophysical anomaly is the stuff that dreams are made of and that it has geologists and others in the area beaming with excitement. "The anomaly is some two kilometres long and it stretches from a former discovery called the Highway Zone in a direction above our existing deposit, all the way down to the Tower Zone, which is on our property," he said. "It appears that it is from 200 metres to 400 metres deep and if it is mineralized, our deposit and the opportunity for this company is going to be much greater. It certainly gives us a lot more targets to look at in terms of building our Reed Lake Deposit."

The CEO notes that the Reed Lake Deposit rests on the border of a property VMS shares with HudBay Minerals. He acknowledges the fact that HudBay has a copper smelter close by, makes them the obvious partner for developing the deposit. He explained that the two companies already have a partnership on the northern part of this property, and with it, VMS can earn up to thirty percent of the deposit.

However, as Mark pointed out, the deposit also sits on VMS's 100 % owned property. "So we thought, and in our discussions with HudBay, the most sensible approach may well be to join forces on this deposit, get rid of the boundary line and look at what percentage of that deposit VMS Ventures would own and certainly then HudBay Minerals would take over."

Under such a plan, Mark says that HudBay would become the operator; they would put the project into production. A plus for VMS under this scenario would be

"So it's an exciting time for us," Mark continued. "We are waiting to see how HudBay wants to play here. "We are at the table with them and we are looking for the opportunity to become a partner with a producer."

As for what sets them apart from other juniors, the upbeat CEO listed three things. One is money. VMS has 14 million dollars in the bank, which from all indications is a flush account for a junior mining company, particularly in this economy.

The second trait is the people. Mark spoke with pride of the people within VMS's Manitoba operation. "Our exploration team are Manitoba based," he began. "The VP of Exploration is Dr. George Gale, who actually ran the government's Mineral Deposits Division for 35 years. George is a PHD in VMS deposits. It was through his leadership that we picked this land package in this particularly prolific belt. John Roozendaal, the President of the company, at one point in his career actually worked with George as a summer student on the ground. Then finally we grabbed a guy called Mark Fedikow, who is a world-renowned geochemist. Mark (Fedikow) is VP of Technical Operations. He's had public and private experience. In fact, he worked with George for about ten years in the government. But he has seen the world and brings that vision back to Manitoba with him. I don't think there is any question that we have the strongest exploration team in Manitoba working in VMS Ventures. These guys know the belt. They know the province. We know the government contacts. All of that is to our advantage. We know HudBay very well as well."

The third and seemingly most important trait that the CEO offers up as defining VMS from other juniors is their property package. Mark says, obviously a company can’t find a mine unless they pick the right property. He says those within VMS asked one important question before they went out and took their current properties on. That being, ‘Can this property hold, not just a deposit, but a major deposit?’ With 26 deposits discovered in the Flin Flon/Snow Lake VMS Belt, it is one of the most prolific belts in the world. "One of the reasons we decided to go there is that we know there is copper and zinc," said Mark. "We also have unbelievable infrastructure advantage. My goodness, our deposit (which has remarkably good grades in copper and is between 3 - 5 million tons) is 100 metres from the road, which is about an hour from one of the largest copper smelters in the world.

"Our exploration package is very large. But we believe its size gives us opportunity for more discoveries. So I think when you look at it; you know copper and zinc are there, you have a friendly government, you have cheap power, and you have a producing partner right in the neighbourhood. You can't ask for more than that when you set out to go find mines." MJ