Fireside chat

Mar 3, 2026

Ed Loye is the relatively new Chief Executive of Great Western Mining. He's been in the job for several weeks now, and he's been very busy. He's been over to PDAC, and this week came the announcement that more ground has been pegged around the Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project. Let's start with that, Ed. First of all, good to see you. How are you? Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. Good to be here. Tell us about the extra ground that you've pegged around Defender and Pine Crow. Why that ground in particular? Well, it's dictated by the geology. You could look at this and go, why did we not extend further? Well, if we extend too further to the northeast or the east, we're talking true granite country here, and unlikely to have the scheelite extension, in terms of the skarn mineralization. We just wanted to have that additional buffer, just so that we could get that wide overview for the geophysics survey and for the on-ground mapping that we're starting very soon. Yeah, starting mapping very soon. Winter's basically over. Let's say it's just about coming to an end, so there's a field season for Great Western Mining coming up there in Nevada. What's going to happen? Yeah. Winter's sort of coming to an end. We could still get the occasional snow shower on the ground, but it doesn't seem to last for long. It's actually been pretty low on the snowfall this year, so we're keen to kind of get out there, now the weather's better. We are booked. We are starting in three weeks' time in terms of, yes, detailed mapping between the Defender and Pine Crow tungsten occurrences, and then all the way down toward three kilometers down to the M2. We want to get a more detailed knowledge of the geology. This hasn't been mapped accurately ever. Obviously, there is a preexisting geological map, but that is outdated and there are errors, so we are revisiting and just making sure that we can get that really detailed and tight knowledge of the surface occurrences on that trend, ahead of planning our drill collars. We are planning to drill in July, and of course, we want to get the positioning of the collars in place within the next month or so we can prepare the pads and access for that. Out there next month, all the logistics around the upcoming drilling, obviously, we're going to be getting the geophysics results. The geophysics is starting within the next 10 days. We're doing gravity surveys, that we can look at this differentiation between the skarns and the host rocks, which can obviously feed into the kind of mapping exercise. We're also going to do some work on the current open pit area around Defender, and the possibility of doing a near-term metallurgical study. Because one of the advantages we have here is that back in the '40s, they just downed tools at the end of the Second World War, so effectively it's open, and we want to show that this could be a near-term producer. One of the advantages that we have over our peers even, is the fact that we have this surface exposure. Would you say that a great deal of the fieldwork that's about to commence is about working out where to put the actual drills? Yes. Preliminary, yeah, as a start, that's what we're doing, but we're also getting a better feel for the geology on that wider extension. Yes, the initial 500 m-600 m fence that we want to do, but also that further blue sky and our intent to show the connectivity between Defender, Pine Crow, and the trends down towards the M2 copper results. That's an area of great interest and intrigue, isn't it, whether the connection really is meaningful? This is true, and this is something that we're always going to be keeping in the back of our minds and testing. Of course, the priority is doing the initial drill fence. Also looking ahead, we're going to do this tight initial strike test, and then we can move forward from that once we have that feel, and we can deliver that initial maiden resource estimate. Looking ahead just to July then, what's the extent of the drill program at this point in your thinking? At the moment, we want to deliver around 2,000 meters of drilling. We're still deciding between the merits of RC and diamond. We have a contractor in mind, and we're just fine-tuning that right now. That'll be interesting to see how that develops and what your plans are. In the meantime, the backdrop is a strong tungsten price. Any thoughts about that, Ed? Well, obviously it's making a lot of news. I think a lot of people listening into this know what the metrics are behind its elevated price, and I think it's going to stay strong for the long term. Again, the metrics have sort of changed now. It's not just for military and defense use. We know it's so important in construction, drilling, any form of cutting, silica wafer cutting, and also the horizon of fusion reactors. Well, lots to look forward to then, against a very favorable backdrop. Perhaps to close us out, you could just reiterate what the news flow is likely to look like over the coming months. Yes. I forgot to mention, I think this is important as well, is that when we are out next month, we're also going to be doing a few more channel cuts. We should be releasing a bit more news and a few assays from some additional surface occurrences at Defender-Pine Crow, ahead of the full assays from the July drilling campaign. Between that, we'll do some updates on the mapping, and obviously any further kind of green lights that we have as the summer season progresses. Well, we look forward to watching that news flow coming out as you work up activity on Defender-Pine Crow. For now, thanks very much for joining us, Ed Loye, CEO of Great Western Mining. I should just mention that I'm also a Director of Great Western Mining, and enjoying it very much. Yeah. Thank you, Alistair.