Filo Mining CEO: We Are Advancing Filo del Sol Project to Prefeasibility

Filo Mining (TSXV:FIL,OMS:FIL) CEO Adam Lundin believes that the company’s project is ideally situated as it sits on the border between Argentina and Chile, giving the company access to benefits from each mining jurisdiction.

In the interview below, Lundin outlined the company’s progress in developing the Filo del Sol project, which has a recent preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and is heading towards pre-feasibility. He also discussed the project’s exploration potential beyond the outlined oxide portion of the deposit, with a near-term goal of a resource update later this year.

Below is a transcript of our interview with Filo Mining CEO Adam Lundin. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Investing News Network: Please give our investor audience an overview of Filo Mining and its flagship property, the Filo del Sol project on the border of Chile and Argentina.

Filo Mining CEO Adam Lundin:  Filo Mining is a great company and our main asset is the Filo Del Sol project, which straddles the border of Argentina and Chile. We currently have a PEA out on the project with an NPV (8 percent) of $705 million and a robust production profile of 50,000 tonnes of copper per year, 115,000 ounces of gold a year, and just over 5 million ounces of silver per year. We are currently at the PEA stage and we are moving forward to pre-feasibility.

INN: What are the implications of developing a project on an international border?

AL: Quite beneficial. There are a number of benefits to the project straddling Argentina and Chile. Ninety percent of our resource sits in Argentina, and we will be placing most of the infrastructure on that side when we go into construction. The remaining 10 percent is in Chile.

The benefit to being in both countries is that Chile and Argentina have put in place a bi-national protocol which covers the Filo project and allows our workforce to move freely across the border. It also allows us to tap into the benefits that each country has to offer.

On the Argentine side, we are able to pull water from the ground, where if we were entirely based in Chile, we would have to build a desalination plant on the coast and then pump water to the site. That would significantly hurt our economics. On the other hand, what’s beneficial about being in Chile is that we are close to grid power and are also closer to a port.

INN: Please tell us about the exploration activities you have been conducting on the project. Are there any key findings you would like to highlight?

AL: The exploration upside for Filo remains robust. This year we drilled 9,400 meters in a predominantly in-fill program. We are very pleased with the results. We had 130 meters of 1.25 percent copper and hit 40 meters of 1.5 g/t gold, and also had a four-meter intercept of over 1,000 g/t silver. This was all found within the oxide portion of our deposit, which will be the first area we put into production. With these high numbers, we are very confident that we will see a quick payback time.

INN: What is next for Filo Mining and how does that fit into the company’s long-term plans?

AL: The long-term plan for Filo Mining is to develop the Filo Del Sol project. We are currently at the PEA stage and just finished a drill season to support the ongoing pre-feasibility study which we expect to finalize in Q1 2019. In terms of near-term catalysts, you can look forward to a resource update this summer.

INN: Savvy investors know strong management is key to a company’s success. Are there any executives you would like to highlight on your board and management team?

AL: There are two board members I’d like to highlight. The first is my father, Lukas Lundin. He has been down in this part of the world since the early 90s. His first success story there was International Musto Exploration Ltd., which he sold to Rio Algom Ltd., yielding over 1,200 percent returns for shareholders. He also replicated that success with Argentina Gold Corp., which made the Veladero discovery, and was sold to Homestake Mining Co., yielding over 1,000 percent returns for shareholders. I hope to replicate this success for Filo Mining.

I would also like to mention my country manager in Chile and Argentina, Alfredo Vitaller. He has been with the Lundin Group since the early 90s and was part of the geologist team that made the Veladero discovery.

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