U.S. Gold Corp.

Thank you very much, uh, for finding your way down to Studio Four, and, um, we'll, uh, keep this brief and hopefully answer some questions. Okay. Um, I will, uh, let you read the forward-looking statements at your own leisure. Uh, US Gold, what makes US Gold unique? We're in the US, uh, solely in the US. Uh, we are developing a copper-gold deposit in Southeast Wyoming. Uh, we have a, a, a marvelous property, Keystone, in Nevada, just on the Cortez Trend, and Chalice in Idaho. So, um, a, a jurisdiction where we kn- we know the rules of the game, and, uh, we're happy to be, uh, uh, looking and advancing the projects in, uh, in the US. So, uh, management, directors, uh, we've all been around the block, uh, a few times. Um, you know, my background, over 40, uh, years in the business operating and developing mines. Luke Norman, chairman, uh, capital markets, uh, Kevin Francis, uh, and Eric Alexander rounding out the executive team. Uh, some great, uh, independent directors, Bob Shafer from exploration and a great explorationist, Joanna Fipke, uh, with, uh, currently with Fasken's, and Michael Walkowicz. So, um, it's quite a, quite an interesting, uh, space that we're in. Uh, obviously we're quoted on the Nasdaq, uh, uh, uh, bourse, and, uh, our symbol USAU. Um, fairly unique in terms of the shares outstanding, 16.5, uh, million, uh, shares outstanding, a, a very tight share register, uh, which we're proud of, uh, 'cause we're looking after dilution. Warrants, 2.8 million, uh, uh, warrants, most of which are in the money, um, a-apart from a few from our last financing. Uh, we got 30 million bucks in the bank, and, um, we, uh, we're seeing a market capitalization, uh, around, uh, a quarter of a billion dollars. Um, we, uh, we show there, uh, uh, the average daily volume, so we're fairly liquid. Uh, and, um, at the bottom you see the, the, the Lassonde curve. So our two exploration assets on the, uh, far left, uh, waiting for that sort of euphor- euphoria as we, uh, find something, which we're confident we will. And then, um, the, the sort of orphan pro- period, uh, we're just coming out at, out of that with the, uh, CK Gold project. So, um, straight into the economics really. We've just published the, uh, feasibility study for the CK Gold project in March, April. And, um, headline numbers, we're, we're just focused at the moment on our first, uh, 1.6 million gold equivalent ounces. That consists of, uh, a million ounces of gold reserves and 260 million pounds of copper in our initial pit. Um, it snuck over from, uh, 10 to 11 years, but it's, it's really a 10-year mine life operating at 20,000 tons per day through the process plant to produce, over the life of the mine, 85,000 gold equivalent ounces. Um, it's front-end loaded. A lot of our grade, our better grade is right up front, so, uh, it'll be a, you know, plus 100,000-ounce producer, gold ounce, uh, in the, uh, first three years with the copper on top. Um, AISC, uh, 1785, um, and to put that all together, we need a initial capital of, uh, 384 million. I'll talk to you a little bit about, uh, where that goes. So our base case, uh, we, um, we've used a, uh, 300, uh, $3,250 gold price, 450 copper, and, um, essentially at that level, um, after tax IRR 27%, we pay back in two and a half years. But, you know, at consensus, uh, gold prices, you know, that, uh, that payback, uh, uh, accelerates and, uh, we, uh, we certainly see an improved IRR. And this is really just the start of the story. So, um, let me talk to that. Um, I guess the other thing that's unique about this project is location. It's just like real estate, location, location, location. And, you know, the last project I was involved in, uh, developing the, uh, uh, the Veladero project up in the Andes, um, you know, a, a wholly different, uh, kettle of fish. You know, we had to build a man camp. We had to put generated power in. We had to build roads. Um, you can see there that, uh, the, there's, the area to the right-hand side is the city of Cheyenne, the capital of, city of Wyoming. Uh, our regulators are there. 20 miles away, the, the, the, the squares and rectangles, those are our mineral leases with the state of Wyoming, and we're surrounded by private land. The private land is ranch land. It's been ranch for, uh, five generations, and as such, um, um, it's well disturbed The, the- because we're on state and private ground, we, uh, with our current project, there is no nexus to the federal government. So we started this project from a cold start in, uh, 2020, uh, developing two years of baseline information, preparing the permits. 2022, we submitted our, uh, permit application. Um, you know, as of the end of '24, we're fully permitted. Fully permitted with a mine operating permit, air quality permit, water discharge permit. Um, we are ready to go. We're just, uh, essentially, um, pausing at the moment while we arrange financing. So you can see here, um, that the infrastructure, we don't have to build a road. We're two miles off, off of paved road. Um, we, we have a local power provider. Uh, they are a power generator. Um, 7.2 cents per kilowatt hour, including amortization of the line, uh, into the project. Uh, so a really competitive, uh, uh, energy price. There's a refinery just down the road. Um, we have a, a Dyno Nobel plant, uh, right nearby Cheyenne producing prill. Um, we have a, a smelter in Salt Lake City, six hours down the road. Rail lines, uh, so we can get the, uh, uh, the material onto rail cars out to Horne, uh, smelter if need be, or down to Hermosillo for export over to the, um, Asian markets. So great location. People wanna live there at a competitive time for labor. Um, I don't think we'll have too much problem getting folks back, uh, in this area to, um, help us, uh, make this project a success. So the project is really simple. Um, that's my big, uh, KISS principle, keep it simple, sweetheart. Um, so mine with a 0.8 to one strip ratio, um, we'll take the ore to a primary crusher onto a stockpile into a concentrator. We will produce a very clean concentrate, uh, of, um, essentially the gold coming with the, uh, primarily chalcopyrite mineral. No arsenic, no mercury, clean concentrate, very much in demand at the moment. Uh, and then, um, you know, we're in the Western US. There's a drought. The responsible thing to do was, uh, elect for a, uh, dry stack tailings so that we, uh, filter and then reclaim the water, uh, and, uh, reuse it in the plant. So that's a process, dead simple. Uh, and at the moment we're, uh, we've worked with Haliard/Micon. Um, Haliard, a small boutique engineering firm. Uh, we chose them because we'll get their-- we got their attention, the best people. These guys are, a lot of them South Africans, ex-DRA and so on. Haliard bought Micon, so they did our whole feasibility study as a complete package. And we've got a full 3D, um, version of the, uh, plant and infrastructure. Um, so, uh, we also, uh, did, um, we hired, um, uh, ECI, uh, early contractor involvement, so that we could get people who are building plants at the moment to take the, uh, the estimates and the offtakes from the, uh, the design that Haliard did and put current prices in, um, to, you know, for, uh, piping, electrical, concrete, and so on. So we're very confident with the, uh, the, uh, $394 million, let's call it $400, uh, million initial capital. Um, the process is essentially, uh, from the stockpile, uh, we go into a SAG mill, ball mill, grind down to twen- uh, 90 microns, uh, produce a rougher concentrate, regrind, uh, scavenger cleaner to, uh, produce our final concentrate product. It's a 14% to 16%, uh, concentrate with, uh, 60 to 90 grams per ton of gold, um, and clean as I, as I mentioned. So, um, you can see from this slide that, uh, essentially we've got a very compact site. Um, there's two, essentially two state sections. Sections are a mile by a mile. Uh, so not only a small or, uh, uh, a low strip ratio, but short hauls, uh, helps you on the operating cost. And, um, we'll build that, uh, um, that, uh, dry stack tailings from, uh, uh, east to west. Uh, but, uh, really, uh, very, uh, uh, manageable. And the terrain is very amenable to, uh, putting that, uh, those facilities inf- infrastructure in. Um, what this slide shows is the reserve pit, and you can see a bigger pit, which is our resource pit. The reserve pit contains the 1.6 million gold equivalent ounces. Uh, that's what the feasibility study is, uh, based around. But you can see the resource pit, and within the resource pit at the back of our deck, you'll be able to see the measured and indicated. And at $3,000 gold, $450 copper, uh, that whole resource pit, um, essentially is economic. Uh, we haven't included it in our feasibility study, uh, because our feasibility study just focuses on the reserve pit, which was established at $2,100 gold and $410 copper. Uh, so very robust, uh, and then we can expand into the resource, uh, resources. Um, we're currently looking at and the, uh, the, the broader area and, um, you know, Copper King, um, up in the mid- is indicated up in the middle there, is, uh, well-drilled, uh, well-covered. Uh, but this all used to be part of the Silver Crown mining district. Was discovered when the railroad came through there in the late 1800s, and we've just updated, uh, more gravity and, uh, magnetic surveys and developing a, um, a drill and exploration plan. So beyond the reserve pit, we've got the known resources. Uh, we've got, um, uh, additional workings in and around, uh, so we expect the project to grow. So simple truck, truck-shovel operation, simple well-proven processing, crush-grind float. Uh, we're gonna be using Jameson cells and, uh, for the, for the, uh, filtration, Viper filters, uh, from Jord. Um, proximity to Cheyenne means, uh, you know, great, uh, support, labor, and, you know, we're in the heart of a mining area. So, um, you know, diminishes the, uh, need for, uh, warehousing critical spares, et cetera. We've started-- We actually started the project, and we paused while we identify the source of the additional $400 million. Um, but the access road, we're ready to go, shovel-ready, and we'll be moving along. So it's a real win-win for the state of Wyoming. We'll be paying them a 2.1%, uh, NSR royalty, uh, taxes or, and et cetera. Wyoming, uh, garners most of its revenue from the resource sector. Um, so, um, yeah, interesting area. As I say, mine operating impr- uh, permit was approved, industrial siting, and, and so on. Um, ops- lots of opportunities. Our current plan... Our current permitted plan includes a full closure. Um, that's going to get deferred, uh, and we actually think that the, uh, the pit will become an important, uh, opportunity for water storage for the city of Cheyenne, maybe even a pump storage scheme. Um, I've covered a lot of this thing. Upside potential, you know, being so close to, uh, Cheyenne, there's a lot of data centers, there's a lot of infrastructure, be it rail or road, uh, and then all the way down to Boulder, lots of development, lots of, uh, need for aggregate. And just three miles to our south, there's a Martin Marietta, uh, operation, the Granite Canyon Quarry. We've tested our waste. We tested it so that we could determine whether that waste was great for a, uh, uh, construction material. For our own purposes, it is great, uh, as an aggregate source. It even meets, uh, rail ballast specifications. So, uh, we look to be able to sell at a later date, uh, the waste rock, which will diminish our closure costs and provide another, uh, revenue stream on top of what we've identified from the copper-gold. There's also potential for increasing gold recovery. So fully permitted, advanced engineering. There's an aggregate market study out there, and we will be-- we're currently looking at financing. What you can expect, uh, is we're gonna be building out the team, appointing a financing, um, uh, financing, um, uh, specialist, uh, to look at some of the term sheets that we've got, and so on. Um, then as we, as this goes on, we can then turn our attention back to exploration in Nevada. Uh, what you're looking at there is the, uh, Nevada gold mines, uh, Cortez Hills complex, uh, operated by Barrick, Barrick-Newmont joint venture. Our Keystone project is 11 miles away on trend, and then you've got the McEwen, uh, Gold Bar mine, um, just down the road. So you can see the trend there. We've got 20, uh, square miles of real estate, um, and, you know, it's elephant country. Um, this is our 20 square miles, uh, se- you know, section. We've completed the, um, the, uh, geophysical testing. We've got all the soil sampling, uh, surface mapping, et cetera, and, um, we've just, uh, you know, confirmed with, uh, AI, AI, uh, uh, the, the VerifyA model the, um, opportunity to, uh, you know, our, our, our primary target is, uh, Greenscome Gulch at this moment, but lots of opportunity there. The, the key issue really is that the Cortez and Keystone have a lot of similarities. Uh, what we don't have at the moment is the 50 million ounces, but, uh, Cortez does, and, uh, we see analogy between Cortez with the Wendland formation and the Wendland formation, uh, at Keystone. So, um, that's the stack. We're happy to talk about that. We've got near, near-surface oxide and then deep sulfides, and then waiting in the wings is, uh, Chalice in Idaho, just down the road from, uh, Arnett Barrett, uh, Bear Track and, uh, near to Stib- Stibnite on a prolific gold trend there. So, uh, yeah, that about rounds it out. We're gonna do things properly. Uh, and we've got, um, a, um, a, uh, A rating from, uh, the DigBe, uh, uh, assessment, and so, uh, uh, very proud of that. Uh, promising portfolio. Um, I think we've done it before. We'll-- We can do it again. Accomplished explorers and builders, and, uh, I think this is a very compelling story. So with that, I will pause. Thank you very much for the presentation. Um, firstly, 16 and a half million shares on issue and a $250 million market cap. Firstly, congratulations. The question is two-pronged. First is, how have you funded yourself to date? And two, will you just take the time remaining to just give an, an outline of the, um, the funding options at your disposal to, uh, pay for the CapEx for the CK plant? Yeah, look, we've, uh, we've, uh, done, um, offerings. Uh, we've got a, a core group of shareholders. We've got some, uh, significant names, uh, and, uh, essentially done, um, uh, non-brokered, uh, financings to, to get us up to, uh, where we are. Um, and, uh, you know, that's been very successful, allowing us to, um, uh, keep that tight share structure together. So in terms of, uh, financing, um, we're very fortunate to, um, have, uh, had some, uh, folks following us and, uh, we have some indicative term sheets. Uh, but, uh, we have, uh, certainly some folks, uh, who are interested in securing our product, uh, at a time when, uh, copper's increasing, smelters are, um, um, uh, struggling to find feed. Uh, and, uh, so whether it's an offtake, uh, we, we're not too keen on, uh, putting a stream on the, on the copper and gold, but we've got 2 million ounces of, uh, silver. Um, and then there's a debt equity component. So from that perspective, um, you know, whether it's a debt equity, um, um, taking, uh, taking, um, an offtake, ta- offtake financing, um, I think there are n- multiple opportunities and avenues. Excellent. Thank you. Uh, just quickly, are there any further questions from the floor? George, there's a NSR of 2.1% to the state of Wyoming. Are there any other royalties payable to the landholders or anything of that nature? No other, no other, uh, royalties, uh, no other encumbrances. Uh, uh, it's clean, uh, no debt. Uh, we, uh, we essentially, uh, negotiated that, uh, 2.1%, uh, uh, royalty with the, uh, with the state and, uh, happy to pay it because it's earmarked for K through 12 education in the state of Wyoming. So, uh, it's a really good news story. Oh, fantastic. Thank you very much for your presentation, um, and good luck on the road to first production. [audience applauding] Thank you very much for attending.