Hello, and welcome to Flagstaff TV. Today, we are joined by Brad George, who is the CEO of Orosur Mining. Brad, thank you very much for joining us today.
Always a pleasure, Catherine.
Brad, can you tell us a little bit more about your work in Nigeria, which seems to have been very well-received?
Well, I'm pleased that's the case and we were certainly quite happy with the results, and I'd like to say we weren't surprised, but it's always nice to get numbers that you expect to get. Yeah, we made the point that we didn't just peg ground at random. We chose those licenses on the basis of very specific understanding of the geology. We had pretty good idea. To go out on the first preliminary recon and come back with +2% lithium oxide was highly encouraging. That to us is demonstration that our model is, you know, correct, working and, you know, bode well for the future. You know, that's the first license. We began in the west just because that's where the crews were, and we're moving our way to the east.
Those numbers should be coming out in days, weeks. Yeah, we're very happy that we can at least pretend to say that we knew what we were doing.
Brad, the lithium price does seem to be under some pressure. Does that concern you at all?
Look, it doesn't concern us in the short term. I mean, we're obviously not a producer, so there's no impact on our bottom line. If you're a lithium miner, then obviously you're gonna get a hit, but you know, you can't go into any exploration project with a view on the short-term fluctuations in any metal price you deal with. They're up and down. You know, we're looking at what lithium price might be in five years' time. Yes, the price has come off, and that's probably entirely fair based upon, you know, short-term supply and demand. On the flip side, if you look at what's happening in Australia, which is probably a better gauge of the appetite, you're seeing, as a result of that price decline, you're seeing a lot of M&A activity going on down there.
You're seeing the opportunity being taken by some fairly major players to begin to put their feet on, you know, the big assets in Australia and elsewhere. Yeah, short-term pain in the lithium price, fine. I mean, it went crazy there last year. It's coming back to normal levels. Our view is what's going to happen in, you know, 2030, which is ultimately what's going to be the test of our exploration. All the numbers point to it being a, you know, a very good market in about five years' time or, you know, beyond this short-term dip. Not at all. I mean, yes, it does impact on sentiment, and yes, if we were a miner, you know, that would impact our bottom line, but for us as an exploration company, no worries at all.
Finally for today, moving on to gold. Do you have any other updates that you'd like to share with us today regarding your Anzá Project in Colombia?
Yeah, the question always comes up and, you know, I guess I've been saying for a while, I have no idea why the gold market has been so soft given the gold price is near record highs and yet the market just seems to ignore it. We're at $2,000 and whatever 30 bucks today. It's a spectacular price, and yet the market seems to be dismissing gold companies. We are seeing a bit of a, again, back in Australia, a bit of a reversion back to those gold miners out of lithium space. That's encouraging to us. You know, we're very happy that we are all so well-balanced in lithium on one side and gold the other side.
Anzá, yeah, look, it continues to move forward, and I'm not gonna make promises, but I've made the point on numerous occasions that we want the project back. You know, our objective has been, for most of this year, to either get majority control back. We'll get the whole project back, would be best case scenario for us, and we've been in discussion with our partners with a view to, you know, how we can find a mutually agreeable way for us to reassume control of that project. Now, yep, I'm very comfortable with Colombia. I'm very comfortable with the project, and being a smaller company, we have much lower hurdle rates or size hurdles for that project. So for me, that's a spectacular project. I just want the damn thing back.
It's been this frustration of the last six months or so of just not knowing how it's going to end. I think we are getting quite close to the end now and, you know, I know I've said that before, but I think we all agree that that us getting back control is the best outcome. It's just a question now of, you know, of how and what the details are. Watch this space. I know it isn't the answer you want to hear, but I said before, we are near the end of the beginning, and I'm fairly comfortable that in the very near term we'll get that project back and then hopefully the market will give us some credit for that and we can begin to work that project ourselves in the new year.
Thank you, Brad. Well, we look forward to hearing more about that very soon, hopefully.
Well, all the best.
Thank you very much for joining us today.