It has been almost 2 months since we last spoke with Frank Candido, Chairman of Delta Resources (TSX-V:DLTA) (OTC: DTARF). Since our last interview there has been many positive developments at DLTA not least of which has been the price appreciation of the stock of over 200% and the increase in visibility across the Canadian junior mining community.   

So, with all the moving and shaking, we wanted to get an update from the Chairman of Delta Resources, Frank Candido and see what is in the pipeline going into the recently announced and started summer drill program. 

The Resource Report: When we spoke in March, you mentioned that the some of the results from the last drill campaign which began in early January were expected in early April. You did not miss timelines on that! On April 12 you released some amazing results from 5 holes. The news release stated: 

All five drill holes reported herein intersected broad zones of favourable alteration and gold mineralization with drill hole D1-23-30, the easternmost and deepest drill hole reported so far returning assays of: 

• 4.23 g/t gold over 26.2 metres, Including a 1.10 metre interval of 49.91 g/t Au. 

• Within a broader zone of 2.06 g/t Au over 65.8 metres 

• And an even broader zone of 0.97 g/t Au over 162.8 metres 

In layman terms, can you tell us what the significance of those 5 holes are to the overall structure of the Delta-1 project and what the DLTA team is seeing now? 

Frank Candido:  

Before I answer that question, let’s just recap where we are. We still have 4 holes left to report from the last campaign. One of those holes, specifically hole 38, is a hole that is highly anticipated because we published visuals of it and there was significant visible gold (VG).  

The last 5 holes were just a confirmation of our hypothesis which is to continue to drill eastward. We drill 2 holes every 100 metres going eastward and so far there is no reason to stop. In fact, the recently announced 5000 metre drill campaign which began last week, will continue with this strategy. 

Getting back to the quantity of VG we are finding, it may be normal to see it occasionally in a deposit, if that’s the type of deposit you are in, but when you start getting visible gold on a consistent basis especially considering the 100-meter step-outs, you start to get very optimistic about what it could mean to the overall structure and grade of the mineralization.  

Given that VG is observed so often, the statistical relevance of these occurrences definitely increases. We believe that we can expect more of it and this is a characteristic of the deposit at Delta-1. That said, there is still much work to be done for us to get a real handle on what is happening. Keep in mind we have barely drilled 7000 metres in total into this mineralized zone since we began exploring this project in late 2019. 

TRR: During our first interview you said that there would be a brief pause in the program in April, which happened. Then, on April 24 the drilling resumption was announced. The first of these new holes will be the first to really test the magnetic low target called “Deep Blue”. Hole 38 which had significant VG and has yet to be reported, was just on the edge of this magnetic low.  

Can you walk us through  what a “mag low” is, what it means for building an exploration plan and the significance of the Deep Blue target which spans an additional 1.5km southeast from D1-22-38 where the significant VG occurrence was spotted? 

Frank Candido:  

A magnetic low simply means that rocks are non-magnetic. In our case, we think this is due to the gold mineralizing processes. Essentially all the holes where we have intersected gold are in a magnetic low. It just so happens that whole 38, which was our last hole of the initial drill program of 2023, is right on the edge of what appears to be a an intensifying magnetic low which we have since named Deep Blue. Based on the information we have and the maps which we have published, we know that Deep Blue extends over at least the next 1.5 kilometers to the east. This new drill campaign will confirm if we are right. 

TRR: So what is the overall strike length of the gold zone at the moment with and without Deep Blue now? 

Frank Candido: 

From the western edge of Delta-1 to the eastern edge where hole 38 is located we are at about 1.5km in strike. Deep Blue could potentially add another 1.5km giving Delta-1 a total potential strike length of approximately 3km. We of course have no idea how deep the deposit is – all our holes have been fairly shallow, 200 meters in depth or less. In addition, the Delta-1 property still extends another 1.5 kilometres east of Deep Blue! 

TRR: Stitching all this information together now, based on your experience and the evidence you are seeing so far, what deposit or district in the world could you possibly compare Delta-1 and the Shebandowan Greenstone Belt to? 

Frank Candido: 

About 50km away from us to the West there is already one deposit of roughly 6 million ounces of gold also on the Shebandowan structural zone. Delta-1 would be the second significant discovery on the belt and give a lot more validity to the mineralization of the region and district. 

Delta-1 is already a significant discovery. Internally, we already see this as a significant deposit. In fact we believe that with the information we currently have, all indications already point to a mine.  

Although there is a lot of work ahead of us to prove the thesis of Delta-1 being a mine, we think the question to answer is not whether Delta-1 "Is this a mine?” but rather "How big a mine is this going to be?” And so that line of thinking is guiding our work programs, rather than focusing on infill drilling for a resource at this point, we prefer to keep pressing eastward to see how far the mineralization extends. We are drilling for scale. 

In terms of the impact on the Shebandowan Belt from the work we are doing, there are already a number of companies that have followed us into the belt and are currently surrounding us in all directions. Thunder Bay is a mining town and with the interest in the belt, it can only be positive. 

Even if the Shebandowan is smaller than the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, we think that our work could prove Shebandowan to be a very significant belt nonetheless. The Delta-1 property is a new discovery in an area which has been mostly overlooked. Our work and recent success seems to be changing that narrative in a positive way. 

TRR: On a very forward-looking basis, how does this all look for the potential size of an eventual resource at Delta-1? Are you guys inspired by what happened at Great Bear Resources in Red Lake? 

Frank Candido: 

It is funny that you bring up a Great Bear (GBR) because the comparison between Delta-1 and GBR probably happened around the time we came out with the October 2022 results. Since then that comparison has been repeated over and over again by many different people in the business.  

So it's a great comparison to have but we cannot give you a number, it’s just too early to derive any real idea or concept of the size of an eventual resource at Delta-1. That said, many can already speculate back of the envelope and come up with a likely number. 

TRR: Is the Company starting to think about producing a resource estimate? What are the costs, milestones and timelines involved there? 

Frank Candido: 

We are still very much an exploration company and Delta-1 is still in the early innings. At this stage we are not interested in really spending time and resources on publishing a resource estimate. We don’t believe that benefits our investors at this stage.  We prefer to keep extending the mineralization on strike and with relatively shallow drill holes.  

From a shareholder value perspective, we think the best return on the dollars spent in the ground is best achieved by extending the known zones along strike, testing and extending new zones of mineralization versus infill drilling.  

TRR: Going under the assumption that there is an economic deposit at Delta-1, do the metallurgical characteristics look favorable so far? What are the benefits of the mineralization for an eventual mining operation?   

Frank Candido: 

 We have not yet carried-out metallurgical testing at Delta-1, but based on the data we currently have, we do not anticipate any metallurgical issues arising. At some point we will do some met work, however for now, we prefer to keep pushing eastward. 

We haven't drilled deeper than approximately 200 meters vertical depth from surface. There is no reason at this point to think that nothing is happening deeper. In fact, the indications that we currently have suggest the possibility of increasing grades as we drill deeper.  

TRR: Now that the $8.0 million bought deal financing has been announced, what are the implications for the 2023 and 2024 exploration seasons? What is going to change from the previous plan? 

Frank Candido:  

Oh, it changes the plan significantly. Our all-in cost for drilling and assaying is less than $250 per meter, so $8 million in the bank buys us a lot of drilling!  We've already announced the 5,000 meter drill campaign which has begun. The financing would afford us the resources we really need to drill Delta-1. This property currently already warrants 20,000 meters or more of drilling and now with this cash we can get that done. We think that our new investors can see an exponential return on their investment. 

TRR: We published a piece in January 2023 called “Will Gold hit $3,000 in 2023”. Admittedly that’s an aggressive price target, but gold did rally over 14% from $1800 in December to $2050 in April and, at the time of this interview it seems to be settling around $2000. We would like to know what your opinion of the gold market is. 

Frank Candido: 

Since 2019 the gold market has definitely woken up but in terms of the grass roots of the industry where junior exploration companies exist, I do not think we are quite yet in the midst of what we would call a fervent bull market where there is so much capital flowing to the sector that speculative exuberance takes over.  

So there's a trickle-down effect as you may already know. Increasing gold prices first affects the majors in a positive fashion and then it trickles down to the juniors as market participants look for alpha in the sector. And you know, obviously with gold rallying here we are thrilled with the price action and we're very bullish gold for the following years. As gold continues to rally, focus on gold exploration companies such as Delta will also increase. 

But really, I think we are still very much in a relatively conservative and rational market for earlier stage gold projects – fundamentals and geology are extremely important and being looked at under a microscope by market participants of all sizes. There will come a day where all gold and gold related stocks and assets are flying for all sorts of reasons like other speculative asset spikes. I for one don’t think we are there yet. The day you see Long Island Blockchain, previous known as Long Island Ice-Tea, rebrand as Long Island Gold Corp., then you know we will be in a bubble! 

TRR: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us once again, and we look forward to the many more updates that are set to come!