VIDEO - Thunderstruck Resources: Next Steps at Key Projects in Fiji

Fiji doesn’t get a lot of attention in the mining space, but Bryce Bradley, CEO of Thunderstruck Resources (TSXV:AWE), believes the country is worth paying attention to.
“Fiji has a long been ignored because it was very remote and it didn’t have a deepwater port,” she explained at the recent New Orleans Investment Conference. “Even if you found minerals there, you wouldn’t be able to transport them anywhere, and they didn’t have infrastructure on the island until, say the last 80 years.”
The island nation has become much more accessible since then, and has a huge amount of exploration potential. Thunderstruck is working hard to take advantage of the situation with a portfolio of assets in the country, including the Nakoro and Wainaleka zinc-copper projects, the Liwa Creek gold project and the Rama Creek copper porphyry.
Watch the video above to learn more about what Thunderstruck has planned at those projects in the coming months, and for insight on what makes the Fiji a good place to operate. You can also view the transcript for the interview below.

INN: Can you start by telling me a little bit about your company and what you do?
BB: Thunderstruck Resources is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol AWE, and we have a suite of zinc, copper and gold assets in Fiji.
INN: Which project is your focus right now —or multiple projects?
BB: We have four assets, two of them are high-grade zinc-copper — 7 percent zinc and 1, 2 percent copper. We have a copper porphyry and we have a gold asset. Our focus for this exploration season — this is our first exploration season since purchasing the assets last year — we’re going to focus on the copper porphyry and the gold asset. We have the crew on the ground right now, as we speak. The season runs from, say April until the end of November. So we’ve got another month or so to go and then we’ll be able to assess the results over the rainy season.
INN: What will your next catalyst be? What news should investors be watching for?
BB: The zinc-copper assets are fairly advanced. They were drilled by Anglo American (LSE:AAL), [and] we have all the drill data and drill core. We’re going to do some metallurgy on that right now …. before spending too much money on drilling, and re-drilling and extending the asset along strike. We’d like to make sure first of all that we can separate the metals and get them out of the ground. So we’re going to do some very cheap metallurgy over the next month or so in order to prepare for a drilling campaign next year.
Our crews are currently on the ground for the copper porphyry and the gold asset. They’re doing IP, they’re doing geophysical work, as well as some geochemical work together with an assessment of all the previous data we have on those assets. That also will help us for a drilling campaign starting after the rainy reason — say March/April of next year.
INN: Can you tell me a little bit about Fiji? We don’t hear too much about it in the mining industry — what do you like about it?
BB: It’s on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is a series of fault lines that run in a horseshoe shape all the way from South America and Peru up through Alaska, and across through Japan and down to Fiji and New Zealand. It’s a hotbed of seismic activity where 75 percent of the world’s volcanoes [can be found] and over 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes. What that means for us, and for Fiji in particular, is that a lot of high-grade gold and copper has come out of the lava over the past many, many millions of years.
Fiji has a long been ignored because it was very remote and it didn’t have a deepwater port. Even if you found minerals there, you wouldn’t be able to transport them anywhere and they didn’t have infrastructure on the island until, say the last 80 years. Because of that … Fiji is one of the last underexplored countries in the entire world. It has a gold mine already on the island to the north. It has been in production for 80 years. Another gold mine is about to go into production also on this island, 500,000 people. The people who live there are very mining friendly because their parents and their grandparents, a lot of them worked with Anglo and they adhere to British mining laws, so they’re bureaucratic, honest and not corrupt. It makes it a very good, easy, safe place to work.
INN: Perfect. Final question — can you tell me about some of the people involved with your company. I know there are some interesting people.
BB: I co-founded Thunderstruck four years ago approximately with Brien Lundin, who runs the New Orleans Investment Conference, where we are today. He’s been a very strong supporter, of course. Also notably we have Doug Casey [as] an early investor; Adrian Day was an early investor and supporter. They like the commodities, they like the region. Of course they like management — how can they not?
Our geological team and advisors that we’ve brought on in the last few months, who are overseeing our exploration program, are also very, very highly respected in the industry. We’ve hired APEX Geoscience, they’re overseeing the entire program, and it makes my job so much easier. I just ask them, “what do you want us to do?” and I do it. I never have to second guess these guys, they’ve been around for awhile.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.
Thunderstruck Resources is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.