Angkor Gold Corp
(TSX.V:ANK)
CEO: Mike Weeks
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Interview Transcripts:
Juan Costello: Good day from Wall Street. This is Juan Costello, senior analyst with the Wall Street Reporter and joining us today is Mike Weeks, the CEO for Angkor Gold Corporation. The company trades on the TSX Venture and their ticker symbol is ANK. Thanks for joining us today Mike.
Mike Weeks: And thanks for having me.
Juan Costello: Anytime. Now starting off, bring us up to speed on some of the operations and projects in Cambodia?
Mike Weeks: We have about seven licenses covering about 2,600 square kilometers of land. We are the second largest license holder in the country and we think Cambodia is primed for mineral development. There are lots of minerals there.
Juan Costello: Well yes, specifically on the Banlung and Oyadao properties, you’re currently mining for gold, and iron, as well as other resources?
Mike Weeks: We’re exploring for gold, copper, and iron and other resources, focusing on gold and copper.
Juan Costello: Well talk about some of the trends right now in your sector and how well positioned the company is to capitalize on them?
Mike Weeks: Okay. We believe the opportunities are immense. Cambodia has a stable democracy that is extremely keen on economic development. They’re looking for long term investment in the country and the community, and they are very receptive in assisting companies such as Angkor to developing the country in a responsible manner keeping in mind the environment, the people, the land, and of course the resources. Probably our most significant responsibility in our industry is to educate the people, to educate everybody on the beauty and opportunities of Cambodia itself.
Juan Costello: Well excellent. So what would you say are some of the factors that makes Angkor Gold unique from some of the other players in your sector?
Mike Weeks: We have wonderful relationships with all levels of government right from the village chiefs where we work all the way up to the Prime Minister of the country. We have, as I mentioned before, large tracts of land. We have a team of professionals that everybody says their team is the best, but I believe ours are the best starting with our Vice President of Exploration, Dr. Adrian Mann. We put our money into the ground. We have an exemplary record of community development including drilling water wells for the local villages, working with the schools, and on and on. And this is completely funded by our management team. So all of our investors’ money is going directly into the ground. Most importantly though, we are drilling right now into areas that we had good results in the past, and we are ready. We are ready with that. We should have assays out in the next couple of weeks and a new announcement on some of this drilling.
Juan Costello: Well that’s great. So perhaps you can walk us through your background and experience Mike and talk about some of the management team, the key management team there which you discussed.
Mike Weeks: Okay. I’ll start with myself. My background has been in the exploration area for many, many years. A lot of it has been on the oil and gas side in developing countries. And one of my big strengths has been negotiating licenses with foreign governments in the third world. Next is Dr. Adrian Mann, our VP of Exploration who has a PhD. He’s been in the industry longer than ever and he evaluates projects worldwide for brokerage houses and he came upon our project and liked it enough that he stayed with us, so that’s very important to us. We have a very strong director/team of geologists and accountants. We also have our Vice President of Business Development, is Australian-based in the country. He’s the president of the Cambodian Mining and Exploration Association, and works directly with the government on some of their policies.
Juan Costello: Well good. So what are some of the goal and milestones there that you and the team are hoping to accomplish over the course of the next year?
Mike Weeks: We hope to be able to start mining our resource in two areas. And we are working on other prospects, looking at other licenses. With the relationship with the government, we get offered to assess other licenses. We’re looking at expanding our land base. And we are also constantly working other companies. Cambodia is booming right now with exploration companies from all over the worlds and for mining companies from all over the world that are interested in doing JV on projects, so we’re working with them as well.
Juan Costello: Certainly. And so in terms of investors and the financial community, Mike, do you believe that the Angkor Gold Corp story and your message and ultimately the upside are completely understood and appreciated by them? And if not, what do you wish investors better understood about the company or the sector?
Mike Weeks: I guess our biggest challenge is to educate people on the beauty and opportunity of Cambodia itself. Cambodian people are extremely polite, hardworking. They’ve had a bad rep from their history. Everybody remembers- All they remember of Cambodia is the Vietnam War and The Killing Fields. I’ve worked all over the world in third world countries and it is by far one of the nicest countries I’ve worked in, one of the most business-friendly and the friendliest people. Our Cambodian employees are unbelievable. They love working for us and work hard. So I guess the challenge is to promote Cambodia. It’s a big sell. I walk into investor meetings and people are scared of Cambodia. When I bring investor tours to Cambodia, they become our best salesmen on our company and also on the country because they see what we see.
Juan Costello: Certainly a good answer. So talk about a little bit about this Taste the World event which you’ll be hosting in Vancouver, as you’ll be up there for the Cambridge show and coming up here in a couple of weeks.
Mike Weeks: Well, I’m glad you asked that question. A big part of what we do over there is community development and working with the local hospitals, working with the local people, trying to get them clean water. Again I stress that is totally funded out of the managers’ own pockets. We were offered to- There’s a children’s hospital in Cambodia that is sponsored by a charity organization in Canada, great people. They asked me to fund their charity event which I’m more- or to sponsor it. I’m more than happy to do. There’s going to be some great people from the mining show attending and it’s another way to tell people about Cambodia and the wonderful people there.
Juan Costello: Well great. And so once again, joining us today is Mike Weeks, the CEO for Angkor Gold Corporation. The company trades on the TSX venture. Ticker symbol is ANK, currently trading at 40 cents a share. And before we conclude Mike, to recap some of your key points here, why do you believe investors should consider the company as a good investment opportunity today?
Mike Weeks: We purposely went into the QT undervalued. We just launched in October and remained roughly 40% above our launch price. We believe there’s a huge upside by getting in now. We know what we’re doing. We’re doing it well. We are in Cambodia for the long term. We’re continually being offered other opportunities within the country because of our relationships with the government. And we know and have started to prove that there’s a lot of gold in the ground there and we think it’s an exciting opportunity.
Juan Costello: Well we certainly look forward to continuing to track the company’s growth and report on your upcoming progress, and I like to thank you for taking the time to join us today Mike and update our investors on Angkor Gold Corp.
Mike Weeks: And thank you Juan for the interview.