Condor Resources Inc. (TSX-V:CN, OTC:CNRIF) has tapped an experienced mining leader to take the top job at a pivotal moment for the Peru-focused explorer.
CEO Chris Buncic, an accomplished executive with a track record of success, will lead the company as it puts a greater emphasis on carrying out its own exploration programs to drive growth. This will be supplemented by its project generator and royalty model.
“We want to change our trajectory to be more of a growth-focused company by looking at advancing our own projects,” Buncic told Proactive.
The company’s flagship project is Pucamayo, an epithermal gold target with a large alteration on surface. Work completed to date is encouraging enough to make the company believe it has something very special on its hands that is worthy of advancing towards development itself.
With 11 additional projects at various stages of exploration, the company also provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of assets in a top mining jurisdiction.
Condor was founded 18 years ago but is “relatively unknown to investors” because of the nature of the company as a project generator, Buncic explained.
“For a long time, the company has been active in Peru, identifying prospective mineral assets and advancing them technically before optioning these projects to other companies,” he said. “Our partners continue to develop the projects, and Condor retains an interest in them such as a minority position and/or a net smelter returns (NSR) royalty, in addition to staged cash payments.”
With the retirement of former CEO Lyle Davis earlier this year, the company is looking to change up its business model.
“My background is not as a geologist, but rather as a finance and capital markets professional, mine operator and company builder. This is what makes the fit for Condor and me a good one,” Buncic said.
Buncic founded Alto Verde Copper, a private exploration company focused on copper assets in Chile, acquired last year by Interra Copper. Before this, he was co-founder and CEO of Ascendant Resources which acquired and turned around the El Mochito zinc lead silver mine in Honduras as well as advancing its Lagoa Salgada polymetallic project in Portugal.
“I’m looking at ways to grow the business and we’ve got our eyes open for opportunities,” he said.
Flagship Pucamayo project
Condor Resources’ flagship project is the 85 square kilometer Pucamayo project, located 185 kilometers southeast of Peru’s capital city Lima at 3,800 meters to 4,200 meters elevation.
The project features a high sulphidation epithermal system with disseminated precious metals mineralization with a large lithocap alternation visible at surface.
“It’s very prospective, it’s large, and it’s got the potential to attract a major in the future,” Buncic said. “But in the meantime, we want to explore it further, moving towards development.”
The company kicked off an inaugural drill program in the eastern part of Pucamayo in October 2023. It drilled 2,353 meters in 9 holes to test a 600-meter by 900-meter area of the 4 square kilometer advanced argillic alteration zone exposed on the property.
Highlights from the drill program included 0.83 grams per ton of gold equivalent (AgEq) over 72.5 meters, including a sub-interval of 18.96 grams per ton AuEq over 2 meters and 1.11 grams per ton AuEq over 11.8 meters with a second interval of 0.53 grams per ton AuEq over 52.2 meters.
Buncic explained that, while not the headline figures the market had been hoping for, the drill results successfully demonstrated two key things: the significant presence of gold and the confirmation of a high sulfidation epithermal system with indications of a porphyry system close by.
“The mineralization is very supportive of our original thesis of the nature of that system,” he said. “So, it was not necessarily the fire that the market had been hoping for, but it was a whole lot of smoke. From a technical perspective, it was very encouraging. This potentially very large system requires more exploration.”
The company is planning to carry out a larger drill program targeting large anomalies in the south-eastern portion of the property, pending the securing of the required permits which is expected to be resolved in the next couple of months.
“They’re relatively shallow targets so we should be able to complete a substantial drill program as we look to make a discovery and move towards a maiden resource,” Buncic said.
Advancing Huiñac Punta
Condor Resources’ second high-priority project is Huiñac Punta, located on the eastern portion of the Mesozoic polymetallic carbonate sediment host belt in north-central Peru.
The company believes this property has the host potential for a large, high-grade carbonate replacement (CRD)-style silver-dominant polymetallic mineralization. “What’s great about this project is that it has high-grade silver outcropping on surface as seen in the sampling, and we view this as a carbonate replacement deposit hosted in a skarn,” Buncic said.
The company is in the process of completing its Consulta Previa process with the community, working towards a maiden drill program that would target this carbonate displacement type mineralization and a potential disseminated bulk tonnage silver, copper, and zinc deposit.
Buncic said grab samples collected at the property to date have been encouraging. During sampling, 28 of the 163 samples returned silver grades greater than 100 grams per ton, including “bonanza” grades of 4,115 and 3,225 grams per ton.
“There’s a significant deposit there potentially,” Buncic said. “The geophysics completed shows an anomaly more than a kilometre wide on the surface, so we’ll need to go and drill it to see what we’ve got. This reminds me of El Mochito which is also a CRD deposit and has been in production for 75 years.”
Open to opportunities
Buncic is also positive about advancing the Andrea project, located in the south-central Andes, approximately 480 kilometers from Lima. The project hosts a high sulphidation epithermal type gold and silver target within an approximately 800-meter diameter target area.
“The community near Andrea is starting to come around after years of inactivity in the area, with exploration out of favor,” Buncic said. “The temperature is changing and we’re excited about Andrea and getting more involved with the community.”
Regarding the rest of Condor’s project portfolio, Buncic said management will be “opportunistic.” “We have a number of projects on a number of concessions that we’ve been nurturing for the last number of years, and we probably won’t get around to exploring all of them in the short-term, as much as we’d like to,” he said.
The company has already optioned three large projects to partners: the Cobreorco project to Teck Resources, the Soledad project to Chakana Copper, and the Lucero project to Element79 Gold.
“We have retained interests in those projects, whether that is project interest or an NSR. They’re making cash payments to us periodically per the agreements,” Buncic said. “Those companies continue to advance those projects which is further upside for us down the road.”
Well-positioned in Peru
Condor Resources’ Lima-based exploration team is led by award-winning geologist Ever Marquez.
Marquez came to the company more than a decade ago from Newmont Peru Limited. He is credited with discovering the Breapampa-Andrea high-grade gold-silver mine in Southern Peru. He also has extensive exploration experience in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and the US.
Buncic highlighted that Condor’s in-country team has done a “fantastic job” over the company’s 18-year history.
“They’re focused on not only staking new project areas as they have been over the last decade but also managing the community relations there,” he said. “We’ve got people on the ground and what they’re doing is very critical for success in the country. This is one of our strategic advantages as a company.”
Looking ahead, the CEO expects to see progress from a social perspective, which he said is “always a precursor to new forms of activity.”
“We’re looking to be active at Pucamayo but our other projects as well,” he said. “Those will be things to look out for in terms of milestones and catalysts.
"Ultimately, we are looking to benefit our shareholders while making a positive change and contribution to the communities in which we operate.”
