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WHITE CLIFF MINERALS LTD (WCN) - Revolutionizing Mineral Exploration in Northern Canada

• Andrew Musgrave

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Discover the untapped mineral potential of Northern Canada with Troy Whittaker, Managing Director of White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN), as he unveils the company's remarkable exploration success at their Rae Copper Project.

What makes this story particularly compelling is White Cliff's strategic advantage - positioning themselves near Yellowknife provides exceptional infrastructure access that dramatically reduces operational costs. With an all-weather airstrip directly on their licence and proximity to an existing port, the company enjoys logistical benefits that many remote exploration projects can only dream of.

The results speak volumes about the potential scale of their discovery. Recent assays revealed an astounding 90 meters of 4% copper from surface at the Rae Copper Project, while deeper drilling intercepted 175 meters at 2.5% copper - with mineralization actually strengthening at depth. This suggests we're just scratching the surface of what could be a world-class copper deposit.

Equally impressive is White Cliff's financial strategy, having secured over $14 million at nearly a 40% premium through Canadian flow-through share provisions. This innovative funding approach minimizes dilution while providing ample capital for their ambitious exploration program set to launch in July. Using both diamond and RC drilling, they'll simultaneously target the deep Hulk prospect and extend along the 10-kilometre structure at Danvers.

With assay results expected from mid-August onward and money in the bank, White Cliff Minerals stands at an exciting inflection point. The combination of high-grade copper discoveries, strategic location, and innovative exploration techniques positions them as one of the most compelling emerging stories in the resources sector. Follow their journey as they continue to unearth the mineral riches of Northern Canada.

Andrew Musgrave Host

Welcome back to ASX Briefs, and today I'm joined by Troy Whittaker, the Managing Director of White Cliff Minerals Limited, a company that's focused on exploration and development of mineral resources, with a particular emphasis on high potential projects in northern Canada. The company has been making headlines recently with some impressive results at the Rae Copper Project and the Great Bear Lake Project, showcasing significant copper, silver and gold potential. Troy, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast. 

Troy Whittaker Guest

Thanks, Andrew. It's a pleasure to be here. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Now Troy for investors that may be unfamiliar with White Cliff Minerals, can you just provide a brief overview of the company? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

So White Cliff Minerals primary listing is down on the Australian Stock Exchange there under the ticker WCN. White Cliff, we have now wholly and solely focused on our Canadian projects. We have two projects in north of Canada there, the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories, which has Canadian Geological State Survey actually said it's got the highest probability of hosting IOCG and new, so copper, gold, silver and uranium in the country. And then we've got the Rae Copper project just across the border there where we've just completed our maiden exploration campaign and we've seen some fairly spectacular results there. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and can you also touch on the broader area that you've identified and the infrastructure and logistics that are in the area? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

I think this is one of the significant advantages that we've got, Andrew, is we're based just north of Yellowknife. Yellowknife's obviously an industrial hub, sort of set up to service the north of Canada. Has direct flights from all major cities in North America there. I suppose, just to provide a little bit of orienteering, you know it's only an hour and a half northwest sorry, northeast of Vancouver. Project, so the town itself probably has about 30,000 people. But you know your warehousing, your logistics, your mining services, all of that is situated in Yellowknife. 

And then from Yellowknife up to the site itself we're only an hour and a half in a plane. We have an all-weather airstrip that sits right on our licence. We saw through that winter campaign we've just completed. It was hugely advantageous being able to fly all of our people, plant directly into site. And then you know, once you're on site you sort of avoid the need for any material helicopter support because you're on the plot of land. And then if we move out to the east, there where we're only 70-odd kilometres from the town of Kugluktuk and that has an existing open water port, so in terms of location-wise and what's around us, we have a significant advantage there. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, now you're combining mobile MT surveys, LiDAR and traditional field work to build your targeting models. So how is this integrated approach improving your discovery success rate? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

One of the I suppose how we actually came about this project, and we'll circle back a little bit is when we came across this, going through the Canadian Mines Department that has an extensive list of old data, historic showings, mine expansions, and so we're working through that and that was sort of all paper based. 

So, we had this raft of information that sat across the various plots and what we wanted to do was sort of you know, turn that into current age. So, we digitized all of that. That gave us you a fairly decent let's call it 2D model at surface. But then the mobile MT you know it's sort of you know, the next generation of electromagnetic survey airborne. We ran it across both licenses and that gave us you know that three-dimensional view X-ray into the surface itself. So, what we've seen today is it's provided us with a raft of targets. We're in the process of following those up now. We are that impressed with that, and we've seen results so far that at our Danvers prospect over there in Rae we'll actually fly Mobile MT across that towards the back end of this month, early next. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and the Rae Copper Project has delivered some exceptional assay results, where recent assays returned 90 meters at 4% copper from the surface. So, can you share more details on the exploration strategy behind these discoveries? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

So, at Danvers there, you know this was a licence that we picked up in November of last year. When we first went to the Rae project, you know we had that first mover advantage. We looked at the ground, we identified the ground, and we went out and staked this and I suppose that's an important point we like to make. There was no vent here, it was quite organic. But this particular patch was a patch that was owned by others. We didn't have it sort of in the portfolio, and after our raise back end of last year, we went back to these people and managed to acquire it for a small amount of paper, a small amount of cash. Our strategy has been, you know, start to digitise that data and you know that's a work in progress. But we identified that you know the historic estimate the mineralized envelope was a small, mineralized envelope. 

It was limited drilling, it was 1960s drilling, and so we've really put some effort into identifying areas that you know have a, have a higher grade, that was previously noticed, and most importantly, depth, and I think you know that the one hole that stands out there was. We drilled a deep hole down dip, so it was minus 75 but it was designed to test depth extensions and that pulled back 175 meters at two and a half percent, which is, which is true, truly remarkable. And you know, in the back end of that hole it ended in you know, more than four percent, so it was getting stronger, it was getting towards the depths you know. The hole was designed to target depth and unfortunately our little RC was tapping out at that particular meterage. But we'll be going back very shortly with a diamond to really push one down the guts. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, and you recently raised over $14 million at nearly a 40% premium using Canadian flow-through share provisions. So how did you secure this structure and what advantages does it offer for shareholders? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

The flow-through structure is, I think, a remarkable regime that the Canadian government put forward for Australian exploration companies that are focused in Canada and, in essence, what it allows you to do is raise money at one and a half times thereabouts, as was slightly more than that the price of shares, and ultimately that is a sensational result for shareholders as it's less dilutive. You know, I think you know, money in the door was about $10 million. Sorry, money raised was about 10 million. You know what that actually equates to is $14.5 million into the bank accounts. So, you know we're sitting here, first results delivered, $14.5 million into the bank now. We're setting ourselves up for an exceptional campaign due to start very shortly. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

And with capital now in place, how are you sequencing the next phases of drilling at Rae, especially with the Hulk target on your radar? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

I think the benefit that we've got and this sort of circles back to the infrastructure piece is given we are so close to logistics hub, we'll actually run a dual prompt attack there with RC and diamond drilling. So, the Hulk sedimentary target slightly deeper than what you've seen there, Danvers, which is more from surface. So, we'll be shortly mobilising a diamond rig out to Hulk and that will regionally test that sedimentary structure and then down at Danvers, you know the plan will be to start to step out along strike. We've identified, you know, a 10-kilometre structure that sits on our licence. We've just delivered some rock chips which were five kilometres along strike. So that project has plenty to offer as well, and we'll have the RC rig there. They're turning simultaneously with the diamond.

Andrew Musgrave Host

Now, finally looking ahead towards the rest of the year. What milestone should investors watch out for across your exploration and potential resource development pipeline? 

Troy Whittaker Guest

I think you know all investors just like to see results, results, results. So that's what we're focused on. So, as I mentioned, we're in this process of mobilising the rigs back to site. I'm expecting that to kick off during July. We'll have the mobile MT running that EM survey over Danvers and, if you assume we're drilling in July, it's assays from mid-August, throughout the end of the year. So, we are certainly geared up for a big exploration campaign and I know I certainly cannot wait for some of these further assays to come out, given what we've seen so far. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

Okay, Troy. Well, it's been great to speak today, so we wish you all the best and we look forward to further updates from White Cliff Minerals in the upcoming months. 

Troy Whittaker Guest

Perfect. Thanks, Andrew, appreciate it. 

Andrew Musgrave Host

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.