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Argentex Mining president on IFC investment in Pinguino project
By Justin Yan
Ken Hicks, President of Argentex Mining Corporation
Ken Hicks first set foot in Argentina in 1996 while working for a junior exploration company in the northern part of the country. At the time, the area was the new frontier in mineral exploration, he says. Since then, he hasn't looked back.
While living in Buenos Aires, the geologist, now president of Argentex Mining Corp. (TSXV:ATX) (OTCBB:AGXMF), came upon a chance to visit the greenfield Pinguino property. Hicks subsequently joined Argentex to lead its exploration programs after recommending the Pinguino project to the company in 2004. Today, that grassroots project has become its flagship deposit in Argentina.
Argentex recently announced a C$10 million bought deal financing and has completed its 2011 drill program on the Pinguino property consisting of 19,704 meters in 206 holes.
In October 2010, Argentex was the subject of a C$7.3 million investment by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
Ken Hicks discusses with TMX News its partnership with IFC and its effects on the Pinguino project in the prolific Patagonia region.
Why partner with the IFC?
I think that every junior company that has aspirations of advancing their project needs the guidance of a world class organization like IFC. Without that guidance, they sort of stumble along and try to make their own policies in community development and relationships. I think it's a real advantage for us to have that guidance to draw on at no cost, given their experience with environmental policies and community relations.
As part of the investment by IFC, companies are required to follows its international standards. How does that change the development of Pinguino?
They certainly have helped us set up company policy that we did not have in place. Of course we were always thinking about these things, but this really did push us to the next level, which was very good for us. You always want to act to the benefit of the community as well as to provincial and federal governments. The IFC standards gave us an overall awareness of what was not just required but what was a good company policy and good international standard to follow.
What does that mean operationally?
We now have more stringent policies in terms of employee conduct, driver training courses, safety training, and emergency response. We were already doing fairly comprehensive environmental work in terms of taking precautions with fuel tanks on site and ensuring that containment dams were supported by geosynthetic membranes so that really didn't change too much.
How do you think these policies effect Argentex's overall success?
I think it's very complimentary to the success of the company. Anybody that has a project worth developing to the stage of production has to consider these things at one point or another in their life. Having acquired both the mineral rights and surface rights at Pinguino, they come with the responsibility of good environmental stewardship of that land, together with the relationship with our neighbours and communities. I think it would do nothing but benefit the company, the people, and the organizations that we deal with.
Do you see that as an addition to risk management of the project?
Absolutely. We are in a fairly benign environment, not close to bodies of water or communities, but sometimes perception is a very effective tool. We want to be good stewards of the property.
What are Pinguino's defining characteristics?
It's a unique discovery with two different types of vein systems: an indium-rich polymetallic system as well as silver and gold mineralization. It's an extremely large vein swarm that was initially fairly subtle in its surface expressions. The company that was on the property previous to us prior to 1998, was Anglo, and for whatever reasons some of the subtle characteristics of the discovery were missed. I think it's a tribute to the geologists in the field there for actually making the discovery.
Are there any comparable projects in that area that have the same type of mineralization?
I would say no. The combination of both polymetallic mineralization and the precious mineralization is quite unique. Even in terms of the size of the mineralizing systems, it's one of the largest we know of in the area.
What's your outlook on the indium market, given the indium-rich component of Pinguino?
Indium is typically a byproduct from zinc or tin mining. Amazingly, Germany has decided to shut down all of its nuclear operations by 2022 and use renewable resources such as wind and solar. If a major powerhouse such as Germany is switching to renewable, I think that would do nothing but good for the consumption of indium in the near future as indium is a strategic component in the thin film solar cell technology. It is the wave of the future and we feel very fortunate to have a strategic component for some of this solar power technology within the Pinguino deposit.
What are the plans for the rest of the year in terms of property development?
We've had very good success in the program to date. We've expanded the program from what we originally planned and we plan more advanced engineering and metallurgical work. We're also looking to complete two updated mineral resource estimates, one oxide and the other sulphide, by fourth quarter 2011. Our global resource estimate from September 2009 was completed on nine of the currently known 51 identified veins on the property and was largely focus on the indium-rich polymetallic system. Since then we've discovered and drill test a number of near-surface high grade silver-gold veins which are really enhancing the precious metal aspect of the Pinguino project.
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