Southern Empire Resources CEO Dale Wallster: Revitalizing Gold Exploration in Southern California

Southern Empire Resources CEO: Revitalizing Gold Exploration in Southern Californiayoutu.be

Southern Empire Resources (TSXV:SMP) is an emerging gold acquisition and development company focused on exploring prospective gold deposits in North America. The company’s CEO Dale Wallster sat down to discuss exciting developments and ongoing investor opportunities in this early stage gold exploration company.

Southern Empire’s primary focus is on their Oro Cruz gold project located in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains of Imperial County, Southern California. “That’s called the Caborca-Mojave orogenic gold trend. There are some terrific gold deposits,” Wallster said when describing the region.

This particular trend of rocks runs along the border between Mexico and the US and neighbors the gold heavyweight Equinox Gold (TSX:EQX,NYSE:EQX) and its successful Mesquite gold mine. With the profound success of Equinox Gold, strategically positioning a new gold company near the past-producing and rich mineralized regions of Southern California was an exciting opportunity for Wallster.

“Imperial County is one of the more mining-friendly counties in the state of California,” Wallster said. With operations underway, Southern Empire is amid a revitalization in gold exploration in what is appropriately called the Golden State.

In the late 1800s and later in the mid-1990s, the Oro Cruz property saw production, including 61,000 ounces of gold oxide from 1995 to 1996, and the low grade of that was put on heap leach pads, which still exist. The property has a historic resource of about 341,000 ounces, and the company believes the property has potential for greater than a million ounces.

Because of the previous work, another advantage of the Oro Cruz gold project is Southern Empire’s ability to leverage existing property infrastructure. After being passed through a handful of established gold development companies, including Morrison Knudson, the project has seen notable advancement to Southern Empire’s benefit. This groundwork has also led to valuable property surveying of what Wallster has described as several highly prospective gold targets.

“Our immediate goal is to get out and use sonic drilling technology to drill the existing heap leach pads,” Wallster said when discussing the company’s next steps.

This is made possible with the company’s full permit acquisition for the first stage of sonic drilling for its Padre Madre and American Girl historical heap leach pads on the property. With other permitting processes and mineral sampling underway, Southern Empire could see high-grade gold results over significant intervals.

The company currently has approximately US$8 million in working capital that it intends on putting towards furthering drilling and metallurgical testing campaigns. While this funding puts the company in a good position, its significant place in the rapidly growing mining and development company Bullfrog Gold (CSE:BFG) sets Southern Empire from other emerging gold companies. The company currently has 8.75 million shares of Bullfrog estimated at 14 cents per share, which can be transformed into a means of working capital.

Wallster is optimistic for Southern Empire’s future despite experiencing some drawbacks in acquisition and stock pricing in 2020. “We have a terrific project. We’re permitted to go drilling and we’re drilling,” the CEO noted enthusiastically.

For more on what Wallster had to say about the Oro Cruz gold project, watch the video above.